I can’t tell you how great it is to hear from you all. Thanks for all your encouragement and wisdom. Each of us is greatly used by the Spirit to teach and encourage one another.
Click on a picture to enlarge it in a second browser window.I think that Joel and Andy and I are really beginning to enjoy this place and these people. I believe as we begin to quit focusing on ourselves and our own struggles/ doubts/ comforts/ etc, our eyes are opened up to the beauty and the majesty of the Father in a new way. We’re at something like 3,500 feet up here in the mountains, and it’s beautiful. The terrain is extremely varied and we’ve been able to take some hikes up the mountains into the clouds on overcast days.
We live in a little village of about 200-300 people and there are about four of five other small villages close by within about 15 minutes walking distance. We’re getting to be pretty well known in the area and somehow people hear about pretty much everything we do. Andy, Joel, and I shoveled poop out of our family’s animal house/ barn the other day and I got blisters on my hands and 
somehow word must have gotten out about it, because I’ve had random guys want to look at my hands to see the blisters. I guess it’s kind of like Mayberry in that way. We live in a mud house that has some interior concrete rooms. It’s really not good that I like to fiddle with things, because
I’ll find myself picking at the outside wall and suddenly realize that I’m just slowly tearing down the house. Don’t worry, I’m learning to control myself.
We live in a family of 10 people: the grandma, grandpa, their three sons, two of which are married, and three grandkids. The grandma really seems to love Andy and keeps telling him that he needs to find a wife here. That’s one of our daily topics of conversation. Even though pr seems to be one of our daily topics with men outside the house, most people here don’t seem to be very devoted to their re-l-igion. It’s just something that’s ingrained into every part of their culture and their normal daily lives. From their t.v. sitcoms, to the way they eat their meals, to their call to pr that can be heard over the loudspeakers all over the mountain five times a day, re-l-igion is just something that they are constantly exposed to, even though most of them don’t fulfill their daily obligations and don’t know much about their holy book. I’ve learned that just because they’re not extremely devoted doesn’t mean that they’re not blinded by the enemy in a great way, and it doesn’t mean that they’re not without the hope of true everlasting life.
Please pr that any barriers that the enemy has placed in these people’s lives from the lies that are so ingrained into their minds would be removed so that they would respond to the good news.
Pr for more workers to come to this area to bring the good news to these people.
Please continue to pr for our language learning as well. We’re seeing some progress, but it seems to be coming along pretty slow.
Pr that our teeth won’t rot out from drinking extremely sweet, hot mint tea and coffee five time a day. You weren’t lying, Kurt. Mom, you’d be happy to know that I’m brushing my teeth twice a day now.
I greatly appreciate you all and thank the Father for you.
Grace and Peace,
Jason