Labors of Love, not in Vain.
A couple of buddies learning to use our coworker’s camera.
A Walk in the Woods
Last Saturday our big plans for the day were to have a little hike to and a picnic at one of the local rivers and maybe after that a little family game time. So were our thoughts until on Friday night we heard that one of our friends (a woman) was still struggling with a pretty severe sickness (according to the accounts – she had not eaten solid food since the 29th of May). We had already accompanied her family to the clinic in another language group to get medicines for her and were expecting marked improvement.
So instead of taking a main trail to a relaxing spot, we found ourselves on a rough a slippery bush road carrying some sugary tea to a leafy shelter roughly described to us as ‘somewhere down there’. It was during the descent as we took turns slipping and tumbling that the Lord met me.
You see, there are hundreds of Pal folks about that are much more talented at walking the trails here upright than we. Also, no matter what we would bring, the underlying assumption in Pal that all sickness is based on spiritual causes means that medical instructions are ignored and doses of medicines (like antibiotics) are divided into many parts and shared around for all kinds of sickness (here, take two amoxicillin for your headache…). So, I was watching my wife struggle to stay upright only to slip and fall again and it was made plain to me the true nature of a labor of love. I was reminded of and encouraged by the verses in Corinthians:
Therefore my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Please pray with us for the souls of our friends here, that our frail efforts would be used by God to bring Him glory!
Everybody loves to see themselves in a picture… this young girl is no different.
More than enough.
Its supposed to be dry season here in Pal; you know, that time of year when the sun shines and the wind blows, but the rain does not fall. Well unlike Greece, our family voted early for austerity measures so that we could survive the coming drought. Four weeks ago, we began to take military showers, to flush the toilets sparingly (and then only with water that we caught from the washing machine), and even to save the water from dinner cups to wet our flower garden.
In the intervening weeks, there has been exactly one five day stretch in which rain has not fallen. Our 2000 gallon water tank is brimming. So, as the (seemingly) daily rain shower pounds away on our roof, Elizabeth and I can turn to each other and say with a smile “I guess we can flush today.” Truly our Lord has met us (in more ways than just with water) and shown us that He is more than enough. Will you thank Him with us this week?
Thanks so much to all of you who are reaching out to the Pal people with us,
Nate for us 5
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