Two Worlds

Pal church update

We've had several great conversations with Pal Bible teachers who are able to call even from deep in the jungle.  One dear friend, Taligum, shared how the ongoing conflict over land with a family from our outreach area has been confusing and discouraging.   Community leaders are wondering if they should pursue government help to settle the dispute.  It's not clear if the family causing the problems are believers or not.  But, we are super encouraged that believing men have stood for peaceful conflict resolution.  They are reviewing the book of 1 Corinthians with the believers.  Chapter 6 verses 5-7 say something so, so countercultural to any time or place:  "...Isn't there anyone in all the church who is wise enough to decide these issues?  But instead, one believer sues another - right in front of unbelievers!  Even to have such lawsuits with one another is a defeat for you.  Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that?  Why not let yourselves be cheated?"  

Please pray with us that the Pal believers and especially their leaders will respond in a godly way.  These cultural pressures are huge!  Pray that they will listen to God's Spirit as He reminds them of His Word.

Sunday afternoon disc golf in the redwoods

We're back in Northern California, and loving time reconnecting with our families.

For those of you who like the details, yeah, we still experience reverse 'culture shock' even after almost 15 years of traveling the globe.  A short list:

• Driving on the right side of the road, yeah, it feels weird.
• Grocery shopping at Winco last week made me feel dizzy - so many options!  We are blessed with cheap and plentiful food here in the USA.
• COLD.  We are SO cold here in the redwoods.  And HOT.  110 degrees in Vacaville?  We are used to a pretty narrow 60-85 degree range in our part of Papua New Guinea.  Can I add DRY to this list?
• Fresh milk. We love it!  Aaaaand I also picked up a tin of powdered milk to put in my morning tea.  Yeah, I know. Gross.

So what have we been up to for the last few weeks?

-Family reunions.  One last weekend with my (Elizabeth's) side of the family, complete with bears strolling through the campground and all.  One coming up next weekend for Nate's side of the family, a camp that we are helping prepare for.  

-Helping our teens through their adjustments to the US.  

• Nate took Tim and Elias to meet with the staff at the high school they'll attend this fall.  
• I took Noah to a dental appointment and we discovered (oh boy) that he has to have all four wisdom teeth removed.  We are praising God that He provided a summer surgery date for Noah with the one oral surgeon in our rural No Cal area.  
• Noah renewed his permit and is driving whenever possible to prepare for his license test, coming up next week.
• We got Tim signed up for driver's training and Elias signed up for German 1 via correspondence for the summer.

-Sorting through our belongings in storage.

-Cutting firewood for Nate's folks (no other heat source in the house) and helping with other needs around their large property.

-Getting started on some medical appointments for our short time in the USA.

-Nate is continuing on with many of his leadership responsibilities and has had a number of late night phone calls, zoom meetings and emails.

Please pray for our family as we adjust and enjoy time with family that we haven't seen for 3 years.  Pray that we will love and serve others well.  

A dawn walk to Lake Tahoe with a cousin