It's Getting Hot!

Welcome to May where the land in S. Asia starts warming up rather quickly! So the hot season has officially arrived and it is feeling like the middle of summer on most days. We thankfully live in an area of the country that does not get as hot as many parts, but it is still hot. And it is not that it is hotter than most areas in the US, but the key difference is that most homes and cars that you travel in will not likely have an AC.

Our bedroom that we are currently using as a family has an AC so we run that at night, but the reality of no central AC is starting to kick in. The car that we are using also has no AC so I (Matt) usually wear one shirt to drive in and change to another when arriving. Unfortunately for Elliot he sweats like I do so he is usually uncomfortable by the time we arrive at a place, which can always be a lot of fun with a one year old!

The past month has been a great month of networking with national partners in both our local city and our focus area in our bordering state. These relationships have helped open up many doors for different ministry opportunities and also provided some friendships that we were strongly desiring.

Andrea has more clarity now as to what areas of ministry she wants to focus in on in order to make the best use of her time. She will continue to meet in neighbors homes as often as possible using creative ways to build genuine friendships and to use that as a platform for sharing the gospel. In addition she will soon be able to use her artistic skills in the painting of a home for women that are leaving the red light district and lifestyle.

Matt has continued to stay busy travelling, but he is getting a better grasp on setting up a routine travelling schedule. It looks like he will spend two nights a week away from the home in order to lead trainings and spend time with the group of guys that he is investing in. Just in the last two weeks he has also been given more clarity in regards to the specific areas that he is looking to target. It looks like he will target three districts, all made up of three million plus people. The key district where he will spend most of his time is considered an education and business hub for the area, so Matt's pursuit is that it will one day too be known as a church planting hub.

Life here seems to get easier and harder at the same time. Easier as we get to know the culture and language better and in many ways lower our expectations of daily living. Harder as we know that more time has past since we have seen our families and friends and the reality that life is moving on without us. Setting up times to Skype with family, friends, small groups, etc. has been one of the biggest encouragements to us as it shows us that people back home not only care about us, but they are truly partnering with us in different ways to see the gospel go forward here.

Please remember the following in lifting us up:

• Regular translator for Matt.
• Filtering process of obedient men for Matt to invest in.
• New language helper for Andrea.
• A part-time helper to watch Elliot so Andrea can focus on language and ministry.