A Task Unfinished.

"Oh Father, forth on your mission send us to labour for your sake."

This base and its function is running in a tangible way that our visitors can see! With the amazing help of a work team from one of our precious supporting churches in Georgia, we are in the finishing stages for the Round Robin house! Everyone worked so hard in this intense heat - painting, installing window molding, light fixtures and switches and after some grueling repair work to the concrete floor, they began the installation of the flooring! The exterior plumbing was connected to the septic tank after the ditches were dug out by the most hardworking and loving 73 year old pastor that you’ll ever meet, who also spent considerable time on the tractor bush hogging the pastures and even leveling out the yards of the missionary housing base - things that have been in sore need of doing but for which Vann has had so little time. This team had the unique opportunity to meet three of the families that we house and support on this base. We had lunch with each family as they shared about their tribal ministries and how living here facilitates their mission work. What a neat opportunity for visitors to witness the function of this base from the perspective of those who live within it and are served by it - praise God!

New Union Baptist Church work team

We are so thankful for the cheerful, hard work that was given by this group of godly men, but even more precious was their visit and encouragement to us. This church has come down many times over the years and have now adopted our kids in North Georgia into their church family making sure that they’re well fed and cared for - physically and spiritually. They are an answer to many years of our prayers for our children’s well being after they launch into their lives as young adults so far away from home and everything familiar to them - that they would be involved in a loving, Spirit-filled, Christ-following body of believers, and this church is an amazing answer to those prayers!

Vann came down with a gnarly cold that went straight to his lungs, and I went into hibernation the weekend after the team left. During that time, the Sunday School teachers from the indigenous tribe across the lake from us brought all the kids over for a swim in the pool. They know that there are bins of swim suits available for them to find which size and kind matches each child’s needs. The young people of a neighboring mission came over to play disc golf and swim, and several other young missionary families also came to the pool. It just delights me that all of these people know that they’re welcome to come, rest and enjoy themselves here at Petra Base - even without us personally entertaining them if we’re under the weather. The infrastructure and facilities of our hospitality center took a long time to build, but it was so worth it all!

Clara turned eighteen years old earlier this month! This was the last of the birthday parties that we have had the pleasure to throw for our children. It is the end of an era which feels a bit surreal. We are so very blessed to be her parents and to have watched her grow from our shy little girl into the beautiful young woman that she is now. She loves Jesus and others so well, and we cannot wait to see all of the amazing things that God will do through her precious life!

Thank you all for your love, care, and prayers for our family and for this mission. We absolutely cannot do this without you, and we are so thankful for your support and God’s amazing grace that holds us up. A huge thank you to those who came to serve and to those who sent them; it is a sacrifice of time, effort, and funds, but it is all for the glory of His great name and nothing is wasted!

“Facing a task unfinished, that drives us to our knees, a need that, undiminished, rebukes our slothful ease, we, who rejoice to know you, renew before your throne the solemn pledge we owe you to go and make you known.” - Frank Houghton