The Crucible
I hope that you all had a blessed holiday weekend. 😊 We mainly spent our weekend and the past week recovering from the crucible of the previous weekend.  We had an amazing time and I wish I could share lots of details, but we are “sworn to secrecy” so we don’t spoil it for you in case an AFM training may be in your future one day. 😉  I can share, however, the results of our weekend – bruises, scratches, smelliness, fatigue, soreness, amazing new insights, lots of laughs, gratefulness, a sense of accomplishment, and a strong bond with the other trainees and trainers.  As you can see it was rough, but totally worth it.

Our Language Helper
One requirement of training is to find your own language helper while we’re here.  Bo ended up finding a Cambodian Thai restaurant in South Bend.  We’ve made friends with the owners and the daughter, about 19 years old, has started having a weekly language class with us.  We have been so blessed to make this connection.  The daughter seems to really enjoy teaching us and was so hospitable to us even insisting that our meal was free.  She told us that she has a family of realtors in Phnom Penh and that she wants to find us a home to rent while we do our language learning there!  We were so excited to see how the Lord is leading and providing!  This sweet family is Buddhist and we are praying that we can introduce them to Jesus during the short time we have with them.

Listening
Today in class we practiced the skill of listening.  It’s amazing how little real listening we do with each other.  If you often hear the other person repeating themselves in a conversation it’s probably because they don’t feel that they’ve been heard.  It’s very helpful to paraphrase back to them what they’ve said until they feel that they’ve been heard.  The important part of the conversation is to try and understand “why” what they’ve said is important to them.  This usually takes a while, but is so worth the effort.  Usually both parties learn things about each other or themselves that they didn’t even realize.  This simple exercise could really be a game-changer in marriages and teams.

A Broken Foot
In my last Mission Monday I wrote about all the injuries that my boys had recently and I joked with Jaymi that she was next.  Unfortunately, she ended up tripping down the stairs yesterday and breaking her foot!  She broke the metatarsal on her left pinky toe.  It is close to the growth plate and they said she needs to visit an orthopedic specialist.  We’re praying for a quick recovery and that the growth plate will be fine.  I’m just so thankful that no one has been hurt worse than they have.

Also, Joel’s broken finger seems to be doing really well by this time. 😉

Upcoming Schedule
July 18 – Fairplain SDA, MI
Aug. 22 – Delaware
Aug. 29 – Oct. 24 – Open   *speaking
We plan on visiting all of our churches in September and October. If there is a Sabbath that would be better for you, please let us know. 😉

Prayer Requests
• That our lives will be transformed through this training process.
• For our teammates, who are ministering all by themselves in Cambodia.
• For the Great River People that God will continue to work in their lives and prepare them to receive the gospel.
• For some friends of ours who have some silent requests.
• For our language helper that she would be open to the gospel.

Inspiring Quote
“‘Go ye’ is as much a part of Christ’s Gospel as ‘Come unto Me.’ You are not even a Christian until you have honestly faced your responsibility in regard to the carrying of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.” – J. Stuart Holden

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