A Visit From a Friend and Some Useful Instruction

Just completed a 4-day workshop on how to go about effectively learning a tribal language and culture. As we prepare to once again spend most of our time each year living among the Ash people in order to advance in our proficiency of their language and our knowledge of their culture, we look forward to putting into practice what we learned in this seminar.

The instructor is a lifelong friend of mine, including my best man in my wedding. So good to see him again and benefit from his knowledge in the area of linguistics and church planting!

Pray with us that in the next couple of years the Ash people would be able to begin to hear God's Word clearly taught in their own tongue. Pray that we as the missionaries would be faithful to apply ourselves to learning their language and culture so that we can effectively teach!

-Brad

Old Eyes

Well, I'm not sure if it was because the subject of my birthday being today would come up now and again or what, but we got a good chuckle out of Koleman last night during our Uno game together. I was complaining about the lighting in the room here and how I couldn't see the colors on the cards very well and Koleman, in all seriousness, attributed my problem to my "old eyes." There is some truth to that! Praise God for another year of life, a godly wife, and a son that tells it like it is!

-"Old Eyes" Brad

I kissed a stranger in the mall yesterday!

Happy belated Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.  I'm so thankful that God has allowed me to be a mom.  Also, I'm so grateful for my own sweet mother who puts up with my ranting and raving on the phone so often.;)

So, yeah, I had a new experience yesterday as we went to the mall here in Pucallpa to celebrate my existence...but really, it was celebrating my son's existence which makes me a mother.  We were going to celebrate by eating ice cream at Dulce Latte.  When I went up to the counter, I was so happy to see that once again they had my favorite coffee flavored ice cream with real coffee beans mixed in.  The mall was the most crowded we have ever seen, so as I was deciding how I wanted my coffee ice cream, I accidentally bumped a lady who was obviously another mother trying to pay for her treat.  So, after saying excuse me, I decided to be a little extra brave with my Spanish and added, "Happy Mother's Day."  Not only did she forgive me the bump, but drew me in for that Peruvian right cheek to right cheek kiss.  Wow! that was a little unexpected.  In my one year of limited Peruvian experience, I've only been kissed by people who have been introduced by name.  No introductions this time, just the kiss.  It really made my day!  I felt like I did something culturally appropriate and was rewarded for it.  Thank you, Peruvian mother.  Hope you enjoyed your milkshake.

-Rebecca