Monday, February 3, 2014

Back in Action


It has been an embarrassingly long time since we last posted anything new. I suppose I could excuse myself and claim that I got “time off” for good missionary behavior. Translated that means I’ve been incredibly busy. Here is what we’ve been up to:

During Christmas time, we had our “vacation” in the US. While there, we enjoyed family time and good food and all the other perks that go with a visit back home. But for me, it was also a time to finish up some new curriculum for one of my classes. This new curriculum was the culmination of an intense 2-3 month project. It resulted in a 130 plus page resource for our students on the doctrines of salvation (aka, Soteriology).

Then we began the New Year with a new semester ahead of us. I taught all the bible classes during the month of January. We started January with two weeks of Old Testament History, and then went into two weeks of Soteriology. Add all of my usual translating to the mix, and we had a very FULL month.

God deemed it wise to stop me in my tracks. Friday evening (the 31st), was my last day of classes and that same evening, I came down with a pretty nasty cold. I’ve been quarantined in my apartment with nothing but tissues, tea, and some TV shows for the past few days. The first day was spent almost entirely on the couch (near death). The second day was a lot of couch time mixed with some restlessness that had me cleaning up around the house.  And, today I am still feeling pretty poorly but I’ve decided to quit moping about and really tackle the day!

Part of my plan for today is this thing called blogging. Blogging and I used to be friends, but then it just got complicated.  Now, I am sick and during this brief pause in my healthy (hectic) life, I’ve decided to reacquaint myself with the blogosphere. Typically my blogging impulses are short-lived, and it could be that this doesn’t make it too far either, but I will try to do a much better job at keeping up with you. I actually have a few more posts up my sleeve so hopefully they’ll make their way on here soon. Stay tuned.

February is looking pretty crazy, though not as busy as last month. Nevertheless, please keep these things in prayer for us and with us:

1 .)    Colossians, Feb. 4-7 (this class will be delivered by a guest teacher, Dave Marvin)
2 .)    Interpreting Seminar, Feb. 11 (I will be delivering this class to our students)
3 .)    Parent’s Encounter, Feb. 13-18 ( Our students’ parents and friends are coming for a visit)
4 .)    Interpreting/Evangelism Class, Feb. 18-21 (Ashley and I will work together on this class)
5 .)    Friend’s Veterinary Opportunity, Feb. 22-March 5 (More on this below…)
6 .)    GAP Mission Trip, Feb. 25-28 (This will require a lot of planning and a lot of prayer!)

Our friends, Bill and Peggy, are coming down to work with a local Fire Dept., help out at SCORE, cheer us up, and connect with our veterinarian and her students. Our vet has a clinic but also teaches at a nearby University. Because Bill and Peggy were also vets, they’ve built a connection and will (Lord-willing) be able to do a couple seminars, Q & A’s, and – most importantly – share the Gospel with local vets and vet students. Please keep this (and the other requests) in prayer. Thank you!