Partyin', partyin' (YEAH!)

7.15

An i soma. It's Friday night, and we just got home from movie night at the Hoovers'. We just watched a movie about a single woman who lives in Portland. She is a columnist for a major newspaper who inherits her sisters 5 Amish children because of her death. It was a pretty good movie. Petty cheesy, but pretty good. The highlight... A "high speed" chase - a buggy pulled by a single horse managed to chase down a Ford Explorer.

Here's an update on life here:
This past week we have been working on our translation of Luke 7:11-17 from Greek into the local language. The process has been both challenging and rewarding. Tomorrow we do our consultant check, which is the final step before completing our translation of this short passage. I guess I should explain some of the process.

First, we chose a passage short enough to complete in just a couple weeks time. Then we got together with a national who is fluent in at least 3 languages and well-versed in others. He is the one who translated our rough draft. From there, we were able to look at the rough draft and, using a couple computer programs, revise the rough draft for a more complete draft to work with. After a few days of work, we went out into the community and read the story (through our translator) and asked them some comprehension questions to make sure it makes sense. After the feedback, we made more revisions, and now we're almost done!

So we will have completed our translation by Monday, and then we will be off to the village by the middle of next week. That is expected to be our most testing week here, but we are not worried. Personally, I am very excited, and I know some of the others feel the same.

I have a couple prayer requests, then I will share a story. Please pray for our health. I have had a cold for the past few days, and before that one of my teammates had some kind of sinus or lung infection that required an antibiotic. And now another one of my teammates is coming down with a pretty vicious cough. On top of that, one of the missionaries, the one taking us to the village, is now sick. Praise God that our bodies have remained healthy overall, but ask Him to keep us healthy so that we can continue to learn and grow during our time here. Also, pray that we will be able to keep our focus here, and that we will not be longing for home. It's important that we do not lose sight of what God has set before us. It is easy to talk about the things that we miss. And knowing that we will be home in less than a month can be a hindrance. There is a temptation to stop what we are doing here and focus on what we need to accomplish when we get home. School, work, family, relationships... All these things are important, but right now they are secondary. It's very hard to balance, and each of us has our own situation. Thank you for your prayer support. I miss and love each of you dearly.

Story time! I mentioned that our passage was in Luke 7. It's a story that you should read for yourself, but I'll let you in on it. Jesus is coming into a town called Nain, and he raises a young man from the dead. We chose this passage intentionally. We knew that we would be sharing this story with the public, and we wanted to, in whatever way possible, spread the good news of Jesus' power.
So we were out on Wednesday with a few guys our age. And upon hearing this story, one of the guys made this comment (in his own language), "This is a good story. If this is really true, people should really follow Jesus."
We honestly didn't think much about it at first. Of course, if there's a person who can raise people from the dead, really and truly, who wouldn't follow him? Then we remembered something. We remembered that we have read these stories, heard these stories, and accepted them our entire lives. I go to a school where I talk about the miracles of Jesus every day. For me, and for many of us, his power has lost it's charm.

However, the story is different for the people here. They have all heard of Jesus, and they even accept him as a great prophet of God, but they don't have access to reading things for themselves. A few of them have heard some stories, but they have nothing substantial to remember them by. I can open an English Bible in 20 different versions and access these wonderful miracles every day. But to one young man who heard this story for the very first time in his life, Jesus is still this mystery. He has this power to raise the dead... Even he himself came back from the dead. And the Christians say that he now sits at the right hand of God? How wonderful that would be if it were true...

You and I know the Truth, but these people don't have access to it. Join me in prayer and ask the Father to reveal this great and mysterious and powerful Truth to those who, present day, are not even allowed the chance to consider it.

Thanks for reading. Peace and love.