.a bit of an update ya..

soooo…. things are going well here. its different now that the fasting month (for the mus.) has begun. alot of the nonbelievers are acting differntly now. seemingly more serious about things.. but it has been a good door for some conversations. josh S. and i have gone out sharing a few times. we took our buddy andi once to expose him more to sharing. he did good and with a few questions here and there i was able to help him with the direction of the conversation with one particular guy. i also took andi to play soccer with some nonbeliever guys i play with some. he was able to talk to a few guys that didn't speak any english. this guy Ifan and i have have been able to talk a few times. and he wants me to come to his village one day to meet his whole family but i'm not sure if it is going to work out. due to fasting month.

honestly a lot of the nonbeliever guys have kinda gone MIA for the fasting month. we started a free english course at our house on tuesday mornings. first week we incorporated adam and eve's story. today we had abraham and isaac. had a few guys come to that. and we have some new nonbees. we just met that we are hanging out with tonight. so its kinda hit and miss with some people but i have plans to continue to meet with andi and with another brother charles. and talk with them about sharing. ..had a great talk with charles about the importance of having a quiet time and how to go about it some. it was good. we have plans to go to another city later this week for a lil rest and family time, so ya i'm excited of course. oh and i also met some other believers and have played pingpong and soccer with them. and had a few meals and talked to one of them intensely about some resistance that a sister ch*r*h has gone through recently. he was in near tears talking about it. its def been more quiet now that the other group of volunteers are gone. hard to believe i have only a few weeks left. I believe that situations like this just require patience with G. to trust that his timing is not mine.. but also to realize that its really important that i be unselfish and make sacrifices of time and energy to share and serve.. to really try to live it out.

thanks for your prys peeps. :)

love you all

josh

OH GIVE ME A HOME.... WHERE MOTORBIKES ROAM

hello everyone. Sorry it has been so long. We have been very busy. HE is doing a lot of things here. which is great! i have had several opportunities to meet some local people. and He has been faithful to bring me across the paths of those who are English speakers.

The other day Josh, Betty and I went to our friend Achi's (who, by the way, took me on a tour of the city on the back of his Motorbike... talk about exciting. If you haven't seen the traffic in these parts of the world, then you just can't understand the meaning of that word "exciting." For example.. 75% of vehicles we pass, I could easily touch with my elbow. and that is not an exaggeration) annnywayyyy... Achi took us to his english school.. to do a cultural exchange.. (sharing about life in the USA and hearing about them).. however when we got there we found out we were tutoring that night.. so I had my own class.. haha. They just brought me in there and sat me down.. and the kids were very shy, but their teacher began to ask me questions, and they all warmed up. Ya.. and I probably beatboxed and sang a little bit when we were talking about music.. Beatboxing - just as funny in SE Asia as USA. it was fun.. a lot of laughter. It seems as though we are often going somewhere without exact expectations because you learn to just expect that your expectations will be wrong. :) it's been fun.

Still has been great to spend sometime with Josh and Betty. we've really been able to just laugh at things and enjoy the good moments. amidst the frustrations.

I'm seeing more and more the separation between classes. most of the people that go to the malls/nicer restaurants/pools/etc. are very rich so we will often see things that would be very nice or expensive from an American perspective. I have been able to have some great conversations about the Truth. and hope to be able to continue building these relationships with nonbelievers. Also there are some brothers I've met and been able to spend some time with already.. to go through the word together and to share and pr*y together. Josh Stewart and I are working on a new class where we can share truth through English lessons and stories. We are excited about it.

We had a group of 7 volunteers leave about a week ago.. so things have been very quiet and a bit lonely at times.. but He is still providing opportunities. Thank you to all who are lifting us up and thinking of us. many of these locals are very excited about the hearing the English stories.. and it seems to be a newfound excitement in the area.. so we believe He is moving! I have seen the enemy hard at work too.. to block opportunities or provide distractions.. along with personal discouragement which would translate to lack of motivation. So be lifting those things. Internet is a cross you fingers situation here so we just never know. sorry again for taking so long to write. thank you for everything. I see more each day how blessed I truly am.

josh