As soon as Eli knew that the mail was for him he tore the envelope open quickly. Inside the note was very simple, it read: “Dear Eli,
I did not forgit about Eli.”
I wish I had captured the look on
his face as we read the note together. With
tears in his eyes, he turned to take the note to his room. Like buried treasure, he wanted to quickly
find a safe place to put the note so that he could find it later. What a priceless gift!
I know he will treasure that note
for a very long time. He will not
treasure it because it is elaborately decorated or because it has a really cool
drawing on it (though there is a good drawing on itJ). But he will treasure it because it is from
his friend Evan and because Eli has prayed over & over again that his
friends would not forget him. Thank you
Evan for the reminder that God hears and answers our prayers!
Please don’t read this and think
that I am asking for pity because I am not.
In fact, instead be happy for us that we are doing what God has called
us to do. Though there are days that we
do feel sad and miss our family & friends, we also know that God is at work
here in Madagascar. He is at work in us. He is stripping away the things we still try
to cling to for comfort, stripping away our pride, stripping away the things
that hold us back from doing everything that He wants us to do. He is also at work in our kids. As they struggle through missing family &
friends, He is drawing them to Himself showing them their need for Him more than
anyone else. He is at work in our people
groups. I don’t know this firsthand by
seeing it through my fleshly eyes, but I know this by seeing with my spiritual
eyes because I know our God and how He is always at work in the hearts of the
people He loves because he doesn't want any to perish.
So please know that we still want
& need your prayers. Though we know God is at work, there are many
times that we feel we know very little about our people groups. There are days we feel like we are moving
forward, but then Satan tries to distract or discourage us with frequent sickness
or problems with our house. We want you
to know how much every prayer, every card, every phone/skype call, every care
package and every email/ FB message means to us. We
have not forgotten you, we only ask that you tell us how we can pray for
you also.
Recently I was reading the Bible
story, “Who is the greatest in the
Kingdom of God?” to the kids. When Jesus’ disciples asked him this
question, he responded, “
Truly, I
say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will
never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Please pray that we would humble ourselves
and pray fervently like Eli, believing that God will answer our prayers for our
people groups. And on days when we are
doubting His plan & we are being oppressed by the enemy, that we would be
reminded that God
did call us here
and he wants us to know…”
I did not
forget about you.”
 |
| Eli doing the bungee trampoline at the Carnival |
 |
| Eli & Zoey at the French School's carnival! |
 |
| The kids playing with one of Zoey's friends from school |
 |
| Zoey trying out the bungee trampoline |
