"The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." Prov. 16:9.
This furlough has been NOTHING that we thought it would be, yet God has been there every step of the way just as He promises. Our life is usually full of adventure punctuated by times of waiting. We've done a complete reversal of that pattern since the world came to a screeching halt back in March. The entire world has been turned upside-down because of Covid, including us. Our original plan was to return to the Philippines after Easter in April. That has long since passed; we are still "stuck" in Oregon and we have no idea when we will be allowed to enter the Philippines again. They aren't currently allowing any foreigners to enter the country. With their Covid numbers climbing, it's impossible to tell when they will start giving out visas to foreigners again. It's an odd feeling being in this unknown for so long with no end in sight. God is giving us peace about a situation that is totally out of our control, but we do long to be back in the Philippines.
What now? We wait on the Lord as He asks us to be patient and trust Him. Alex has been able to help out around the church here in Keizer and Erin has been taking care of the kids. Hinley is thoroughly enjoying her cousins and Beau is getting more personality every day. If we have to be "stuck", Oregon is a nice place to be, especially in the summer months. Alex's parents have been gracious enough to let us live with them while we are in this limbo land.
For those of you who heard about Hinley being sick, she is doing well now. We took her to the hospital with suspected appendicitis. After several days of tests in the hospital we learned she has a lymphatic malformation. We're being referred to a specialist for further care but it doesn't seem to be anything serious, praise God!
Our coworkers, the Hinderagers, are out in the village doing language study. We get to video chat with them now that we have internet out there. They are doing well in spite of the craziness this pandemic has brought. They're also graciously keeping an eye on our house for us. We certainly never planned to leave it empty this long so it'll be interesting to see what jungle life has moved in when we finally get back! We've been working towards this next step in our journey for the last 10 years. We are ready to get on with our plans of language learning and relationship building, but the Lord has given us a detour so we will wait on the Lord.
Please pray for the Isneg people.
- Pray that God will be making their hearts ready to hear his Word.
- Pray that we can make real relationships with them.
- Pray that we can understand the way they think and live so we can teach in a way that hits directly at their hearts.
- Pray for them during this pandemic. Our area is still doing quite well as far as Covid goes but the Philippines as a whole is dealing with economic difficulties caused by Covid on top of the virus itself.
