Head First Into the Deep End

                             Isaiah 43:2

When you go through deep waters,
    I will be with you.

Oh that feeling, a mix of excitement and suspense, as you step up to the edge of something new. Staring into the deep can be unnerving. We are willingly going in way over our heads! But God's grace has been deeper still, and staring into the depths of his love is an anchor for our souls.

We've been moving towards the "deep end" for a long time now. The time has finally come to dive in head first! Alex passed his final Tagalog language evaluation! This means we are closing that chapter and moving on. We are officially doing full time PGA (People Group Assessment). This is the process of deciding all the specifics of our long term ministry.

Alex and Cole will be spending a lot of time in the coming months making trips out to villages and towns to gather more information and connect with people. It's quite the undertaking so we desperately need prayer. The guys also have a great opportunity to share during communion on Easter Sunday at a small church out in one of the villages. We are really looking forward to connecting to this body of believers on a deeper level. Who knows how God will use those relationships for His glory, our growth, and the spread of the gospel.

We have SO many pivotal decisions to make. Please pray with us as we...

• Make final decisions on what language we will minister in. (Yeah it's complicated!)
• Continue to better understand the people group we are going to be living with.
• Search for a strategic place to base our ministry in.
• Get in touch with people who have the authority to let us move in to their area.
• Find land to build a house.
• Eventually build said house.
• All the while, laying foundations for the gospel to be preached.

Like I said, head first! I think we're going to need some arm floaties. 

Looking Back and Looking Forward

2017, it was honestly a blur so we'll give you the non-blurry, nutshell version of our highlights. Then we'll lay out our hopes and dreams for 2018.

We started out our year in Indiana, where we had our baby girl (the best thing about 2017!) and spent time with our church and family. We moved to Oregon in the spring and finished our furlough there. We returned to the Philippines in August and life got even blurrier. But this is the nutshell version so we'll leave out the whirlwind details. We moved to northern Luzon, and Alex picked up where he left off in Tagalog study. We finished out the year by celebrating the holidays with friends and refocusing on our plans for the upcoming year.

That leads to... drum roll please....2018! Do I dare write down all that we hope to see come to pass? It's intimidating to say what we hope for because of the disappointment that follows if it doesn't happen.

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." Prov 13:12.

We are certainly longing to "get our hands dirty" for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our goal is to finish Tagalog study by early March. We can then get into full time PGA (People Group Assessment). This is a time and labor intensive process that involves many trips to the region we'll be ministering in. It's the beginning of so many relationships that we hope to see grow into a mature church one day. This process helps us decide where to build our home, how we will approach ministry, and who our primary audience will be. There's even a possibility we could start studying the Isnag language this year if everything moves along.

Prov 16:9 "The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." This verse brings so much comfort and excitement. What relief to know that the Lord is the one in charge of all this, and how exciting that He wants us to be a part of the planning process. It's such an honor to be a part of what God is doing to build His church.

Maybe this time next year we'll be writing you from our new home out in the middle of the jungle!

                                       
                                                  This little cutie wants to wish you a happy new year!

Thanksgiving in Dibagat

Part of picking a ministry location is doing lots of research in order to really understand how God is already working in the area. Cole and I spent two days in Dibagat celebrating Thanksgiving and asking tons of questions. In this small village the New Testament was translated by some very faithful missionaries about 35 years ago. Their work has been greatly used by God. 

With the New Testament and portions of the Old Testament translated all that's needed are teachers willing to go. We've made three trips into this area and have met three great young men who are doing just that. With roughly 40,000 Isnag speakers there is much more to be done in the surrounding villages. That's where our families believe we can be a part of sharing God's Word with the Isnag people. 

Language Jar Reboot

During furlough I had several people ask about the jar of beads we were using to show hours logged in Tagalog study last term. Well, I dropped the ball and never showed you where we left off. I'm not one for cliff hangers so here's the current level of beads. The green beads at the very top are the new beads added since we've been back.

To make a long story short, it's been decided that we will only learn two languages. This means that we will finish out Tagalog then move on to Isnag. It was foggy for a long time what language we would study next, but we finally got enough information and the green light from leadership to use Tagalog as our main trade language and Isnag as our ministry language.

Some of you have already realized that new beads means that Alex found a language helper! This helper has been such a good fit. It's like he's been doing this for years after only a few training sessions. Unfortunately for us he is a full time college student as well so Alex doesn't get to get in as much time as he would like. This means that we are still on the look out for another language helper to fill in the gaps.

This week is packed with great things. Our two language consultants are coming to help Alex and Cole fine tune their language learning. We'll celebrate Thanksgiving with them and our coworkers. Then the boys are going to take a trip out to Isnag land to visit a small church for their Thanksgiving Celebration. This church is one of the few small pockets of believers in the Isnag people group so we are excited to forge relationships there and see what God has in store for the future. He's been at work in hearts long before we ever arrive on the scene so it's always humbling to see the path that He has prepared ahead of time for us. Be on the look out next week for an update about their trip out to the village!