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About to get on the plane.
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Carter and some of the boys.
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Leah's hair was quite the hit! :-)
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Selah loves any kind of baby.
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Visited the local primary school (grades 3-8).
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Carter does pretty good with all the attention.
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Trip #3 (6-10 Sept): This was also a really worthwhile trip, but maybe not quite as we envisioned with regard to the land. We slept in three different house boys in three different communities, and this was very well received. Throughout the trip, we also interacted with a few different key leaders who seem ready to work things out on our behalf. A particular land owner has offered to give us a very suitable piece of ground for us to build our houses, but they are confirming first that their extended family is in agreement with the land owner's offer. God’s timing. It's good to see that the community is still very much in support of us coming and working amongst them. In a sense, the work has already begun with foundational relationship building, clarification of who we are and what we are coming to do, and maybe some pre-evangelism. We've expressed that it's important that we get to know the community well, and that the community gets to know us well too. One key leader expressed that he wants everything to follow a healthy process, so that we will not have any issues later on with regard to land agreements; we are thankful for his insight. Another leader said that they've interacted with westerners, but they've never had them come sleep in their house boys and interact with them side-by-side. He later said that we have planted a seed, and he asked that we not allow this seed to die. He encouraged us to keep coming and going until everything is figured out for us to come live with them permanently. Another leader expressed that there are some amongst them that still think that we might be coming to find gold or something like that. Again, very worthwhile trip on a foundational level. Here are some pics:
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Pol and Rodney (far right) came with us on this trip and are always a huge help. Their ability to communicate and their sensitivity to cultural cues and norms far surpass our own. :-)
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Ornamental posts of a newly built "house boy". On the left is an octopus, and in the middle is a bird with a dead snake.
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Lots of interest in this community.
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Walking...
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This is a somewhat typical landscape of where we would be building our houses.
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Some pretty amazing waters on the flight in...
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Homefront: Homeschool is back in session! Nothing quite replaces the structure of a normal classroom for our kids, but Devon is doing a great job teaching Isaac (8th grade), Jackson/Leah (7th grade), Carter (4th grade), and Selah (1st grade). We use a mix of curriculums, including Sonlight, Apologia science, Bob Jones grammar, Teaching Textbooks math, A Beka for 1st grade, and Dad for Bible. Sometimes the faces aren't so smiley, but they're doing great! :-)
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Materials and furniture: It's been fun and practical to make some basic furniture for our bush house, including a dining table, benches, and beds, etc. They are bolted together, so easily disassembled and reassembled. We also have good options in town as well as out of Australia. Our solar electric system will be arriving soon from the Offgrid Tech services of Ethnos360. The blue truck is loaded with flooring from a local lumber company.
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Specific Prayer Points:
- For humility, wisdom, selflessness, boldness, unity, courage, and dependence on God as we move forward with next steps, land agreements, house building, and beyond.
- For the land owner's family to be in agreement about giving land for us to build our houses on.
- For the community leadership to be in agreement and to facilitate a smooth entrance into their community.
- For our next trip to check on things (very end of Sept). Brody Pav will get to join us guys on this trip, and all our families will get to be together for the first time ever the following week (1st week of Oct)!
Thanks so much for your continued prayers and support!!
Love you guys,
Jonathan & Devon, Isaac, Jackson, Leah, Carter, & Selah
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