Whew! We can hardly believe we have almost been the US for 2 months…some
days it seems a lot longer and other days it feels like just yesterday we
conquered the trans-pacific flight!

We spent the first 7 weeks traveling around the East Coast (and some of
the Midwest) visitng friends, supporters, churches, family and attending our Cadence
Conference in Wisconsin. We were so filled up and excited to see what God
is doing through our friends and through our mission to glorify God in the
nations. As we watched fellow missionaries being honored for their 50 (yes,
FIFTY) years of ministry, everyone cried knowing that this is just a sliver of the
party we will experience in heaven as each of lives out faithfulness in whatever
venue God has called us to. There was not a dry eye in the room as God
gave us a glimpse of what it will be like to hear “Well done, faithful servant!”

As we have settled in Roanoke, we are beginning to feel the extent of the
loss of leaving our dear friends and ministry in Okinawa. Our kids randomly
say, “We miss Okinawa” and our hearts sink as we can completely relate to
them. It has led to many discussions on contentment and God’s plan for lives
and our obedience to it. Buddy is (of course) attacking his multiple ministry
hats with a vengeance, and I am neck-deep in school and keeping the kids from
either killing themselves or other people with “treasures” from Dad’s garage.

We are experiencing the lostness that being in a place where we know few
people and looking to make, find and love the “new normal”. Pray with us to see
God’s purpose through sometimes lonely glasses. Buddy has found an ultimate
Frisbee club and the other night they mentioned to him that he could invite any of
his other friends…little did they know that they were the closest things to friends he had!
It is as if we went from feast to famine, but we are more than sure of God’s
provision and plan for us in these next 6 months.

Thank you so much for all your love, prayers and giving to us…we love you!

Buddy, Jen, Adrianne, Jack and Megan.

We have been sending students to DTS’s in Taiwan and around the world since 2005. This past fall we had four students involved in DTS in some capacity. During the fall each of the students spent time sharing the gospel in closed countries that were under either Communist or Muslim control. Emily, who was only 18 at the time, told me that during a particularly scary time where they main contact in a village was not a christian and they had been questioned multiple times by authorities, that she just surrendered her life to the Lord. A great peace came over her when she no longer was worried about what would happen to her on earth knowing her eternal destiny.

I used to often joke with my students how proud I would be to hear one day of one of them being martyred. While I would still be very proud of one of my students giving their life for the sake of the gospel, I know longer joke about it as it has become a real possibility with the number of students we have around the world sharing the gospel and their lives with others.

In July of 2011 we are looking to have our own DTS for students and families coming out of Cadence ministries around the world. We will be running it out of Chiang Mai in the northern part of Thailand. Jen and I will be running the DTS which will consist of 9 weeks of training about 7 weeks of outreach. They will specifically be targeting ministries and people that Cadence already works with and places where there is a greater chance of young people getting pulled into human trafficking.

Today is Kate’s last day in the office. Some of you may know that two years ago I was close to approaching burnout. My boss had recommended that I get an Admin Assistant. I didn’t want to spend the missions money on something so frivolous. What I didn’t realize then was that it was essential to me being able to do my job and be healthy.

Immediately I hired one of our volunteer staff Crystal who did a phenomenal job. Six months later Kate and Heather showed up. They were both a huge blessing and Kate took over all of the administration/financial/details/paperwork stuff. Heather has since left Okinawa and become a full time missionary with Cadence. Kate was wondering and practically did all the prep work for our last retreat. She ran a missions trip by herself over Spring Break. In addition she did a great job loving on the girls here in Okinawa and spent many afternoons over coffee and evenings singing Karaoke with the girls. We’ll be out gate one tonight singing Karaoke if you want to join us.

Some of the students who have been helping us out with Stop Slavery, helped to put together care packages for the people that the Free Burma Rangers minister to. It is always so fun to see students step up with time, money or talents to help projects that further the Kingdom of God around the world.

I thought I would throw up a picture of what will turn out to be our last Impact retreat.

More to come soon. Also if yo would like to receive our physical prayer letter but don’t currently receive it let me know.

One day on a junior high retreat I got to spend some time with him on the beach as he schooled me in the art of making drip sand castles. I’ll teach you sometime if we have some free time kicking back at the beach.

I spent today with a good man. One who is making a difference in the lives of others. His name is Sareth. He survived the reign of Pol Pot and the killing fields in Cambodia. At 5 he was ripped from his parents. He had no clothes and his only possession was a blanket from his mom until that was taken from him. He would often sleep like a frog; His body in the water with his head on the bank because the water would be warmer than the air during the long winter nights.

After horrible experiences during that time his heart became very hard. God rescued him and drew him to himself at the age of 19. He went on to Paris to study environmental engineering and then the Philippines to attend Seminary and get his Masters of Divinity Degree. He now lives in a small house with no running water, no electricity and no Internet in a village of 540 families. I asked why he had chosen to live here instead of in town where he could have some of the modern conveniences that he had experienced overseas.

There are two reasons he told me. The first was to see what was going on in the border area first hand. (He has named his house the Minefield Hospitality House because of all the mines laid there during their conflict with Thailand) The second was because he heard there was a bad man who was trying to take the land from the people. The land owner had sold off the land but was trying to force the villagers off the land through a variety of means or at least hope they would not be able to make the meager payments and he could resell the land to others.

Sareth moved into the village two years ago and began helping them communicate and understand the different things that were going on in this battle for the land. He started a church and has since hired a pastor that he provides for monthly so that he can pastor the people of the village and not have to work. One of the keys to the land battle was the access to the land because the land owner was trying to sell the land between the village and the road. Sareth, with the help of others from Cadence and LightBridge purchased land to develop a road.

He sent letters to the village leaders, district and provincial leaders and to the largest local city council asking for permission to build a road, which would add legitimacy to their claims to the land. No one responded. He sent another letter to all of the same people asking them to deny permission to build the road. No one responded again. So he moved forward building the road. The road was completed yesterday.

I visited the village 4 months ago and it seems like a different place. A few years ago the only way into the village during rainy season was to walk through mud soaked paths. The new road has opened up the village. At the front of the road the property has a small place for a small store for the villages to sell their goods and produce.

In addition to the land owner the village leader was a corrupt man as well working with the land owner against the villagers. Sareth and others prayed against this man. He ended up in jail for other corruption. A few months later he had to sell his house (one of the nicest in the village) and land for $700. The house alone was worth $2000. Sareth purchased the house to extend his ministry in the village and provide a place of hospitality to others.

Yesterday the 30 village leaders got together and asked Sareth to be the new village leader. He said that he would continue to be their advisor, pastor, counselor and friend but that they needed to elect someone from within their own ranks to lead them.

One of the ladies told him “The road from the Lord Jesus gives us freedom.” They have hope for their future and there is an excitement in the village. I can’t wait to see what the place looks like in another year. Plans are in the works for an elementary school, playground, community center and soccer field. The land has been leveled and construction will soon begin.

Evil was defeated, Jesus Christ has been glorified and hope is growing in the minefields because one good man did something and made a difference in the lives of over 2500 people.

They tried to explain to her that they couldn’t buy the baby but they would care for it and see that it was raised well and got to go to school. Later they decided they could give her bus money to get back to Phnom Phen but they wouldn’t buy the baby.

She left and they haven’t seen or heard from her for a couple of days. Her backup plan was to drop the baby off in front of one of the Casino’s. In the states it’s not a big deal to formula feed a baby but here they were mostly worried that the baby wouldn’t have good chance of making it to out of infancy.

In this picture Paul and Sareth are taking to the Pastor’s wife who had agreed to raise the kid. Paul was willing to raise the money needed to take care of the baby. It was really cool to see a family willing to take on a baby and the compassion that the christians there felt.