Hello Friends,
Hi All,
Hi All,
Moses (covering his nose and ducking): No, mom! It might be my beard starting to grow!
“Jacob Christian!! Why on earth did you do that?”
“I wanted to see if I was strong.”
“You are. Now take your strong self to the time out corner. We don’t throw people or things down the stairs.”
Dan said, “I don’t think you should play it because it has some really scary things in it.”
Moses replied, “No, Dad. It’s okay because I SHOOT the scary things.”
Me: You have the choice to be best friends or enemies. What do you want to be? Are you going to be best friends and be kind to one another and have fun together? Or are you going to be enemies?
Ben: Mom, you are supposed to love your enemies too!
Me: …. YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT!
Moses: Mom, Mom! I have news! Darth Vader is Luke’s father and the empire struck back!
Seriously?! I can’t make this stuff up.
Hello Friends!
Hello Friends and Merry Christmas Season!
It’s been busy around here. Grandma Sonia has come and gone, and we had a fantastic time with her. The icing on top was that her migraines miraculously disappeared while she was in Pucallpa! We also made a our trip to Lima to get Micah’s visa, and that went smoothly as well. Thanks for your prayers!
We wanted to update you on a couple of HUGE things that will determine much so far as our team’s involvement in Tsoroja is concerned.
The first is the ongoing issue of obtaining permission to land on Tsoroja’s airstrip. SAMair is working on this issue and has submitted paperwork to re-open the airstrip. They are supposed to find out whether or not things are approved tomorrow. From what we have been told, if the request is granted, all goes back as before, and we can return to Tsoroja whenever we want. If it is denied, it is unlikely that they will even be granted the temporary permits.Another big bump in our road is a possible visa crisis. A new law goes into effect January 13th that will require any evangelical entity requesting visas to have 10000 members within the country. This will impact all of the foreign missionaries in Peru, and the law is being challenged by the National Evangelical Council. We get our visas via the National Evangelical Council and like most other evangelical organizations, they don’t meet all of the new requirements. This council has people lobbying the Peruvian congress with counter legislation. On the most positive side, the council is successful and all remains the same. On the most negative, our visas are void on the 13th, and we have to leave the country. We could return as tourists with visas that can be renewed every 6 months, but besides being a hassle to travel out of the country that often, it can have some other problems (for example, tourists cannot have drivers licenses). There are other possible scenarios such our visas remain current for another year but we will have to find a way outside of the National Evangelical Council to renew them. Honestly, we have no idea how this is going to play out.Dan and I feel pretty emotionally exhausted from all of the ups and downs over the past 2 months that we’ve been back. We wonder is God closing the door on Tsoroja – getting kicked out the the country and being denied the right to land in the village look like huge, blinking-red-light closed doors to us! But at the same time, we want to be faithful to see this ministry to God’s end whether that means next month or 10 years from now. It’s hard to live in limbo not knowing if we should be packing up for our spring trip into the village or otherwise.At this point, Dan and I are not even totally sure what to pray anymore. We met with the Welshes (our teammates) the other day to discuss the issues, and while much was left unresolved (because who knows what will happen), we all realized a couple things are certain.1) God is far more concerned with His church and the souls of the Caquinte than we could ever be.2) We have no idea what God actually wants to accomplish through us. He generally only sheds enough light on the path so that we can see the next step. As we’ve walked in obedience, most certainly, we’ve seen Him do H.U.G.E. things in us, and we’ve seen Him do things through us in Tsoroja as well. In some ways, these seem small and not hardly enough for God to have bothered bringing us all the way here for. But again, we are not called to know what He is doing, only to press on toward where we can see He is leading.For now, we are praying that God would do whatever it is that is best for us and for the Caquinte. We have no idea what that is going to mean for our family, but we are trusting that when the time comes, the next step will come clearly into focus. I can’t say that we don’t care about the answer, but we do care a whole lot more about conforming to God’s will and not forcing ourselves through a closed door. Please pray with us for clarity and for God’s purpose for us and our team to be clearly laid out before us.With Much Love,Dalaina for the MaysPSOfficial Release!This week, my book, Yielded Captive, was released. I’ve been getting e-mails from strangers who have read it (generally because they got early copies from the publisher) to tell me that they enjoyed it. It’s still so strange to me that people have and want to read what I wrote. Don’t know if I will ever get used to that! Anyway, I have no idea what to expect so far as the whole author thing goes, but it is a pretty fun ride at the moment! You can find it here: cartpioneers.org/yielded-captive/
Hi Everyone,
Dalaina for the crazies
Hi Everyone! Happy Thanksgiving from all of us! We had a marvelous time celebrating Thanksgiving with 102 of our friends in the Pucallpa missionary community (wow, didn’t realize there were so many of us). We had turkey, stuffing, pecan pie and all the goodies in between. What a blessing it was to us to be with these “family away from family” this year.
Some other things we are thankful for:
Dan – “That my wife and son made it safely to today.” Last Thanksgiving, we made the announcement about Micah’s upcoming arrival, and as you know, we’ve had a crazy year getting him here. Thanks, God, for good health for all of us!
Dalaina – “That God is never surprised.” It’s easy to feel anxious about the unknowns (like getting back into the jungle). I am learning to trust God that His plans are based in His eternal knowledge, and I can’t really mess them up so long as I am walking close to Him. Thanks, God, for Your continued guidance.
Ben – “For getting to jump on the trampoline today!” We get to have lots of adventures together as a family, and we’re thankful for one another. Thanks, God, that you have given us the gift of family, that even when life is constantly in transition, we keep one another stable.
Jake – “For Veggie Tales!” Carrying that idea further, we are grateful to live in this time. While many bemoan the state of the world, I am grateful to live in a time when technology enables us to remain a part of our community back home. Unlike ever before, we are able to easily keep in touch with our friends, family, and supporters back home (whom we are also VERY thankful for!). Thanks, God, for the brains and creativity of scientists who continue to make it easier to reach the world with the Gospel.
Micah – that my grandma is coming to see me! We just made plans to have Grandma Sonia come visit us the first week of December. She will watch the big boys for a couple of days while Dan and I are in Lima with Micah finishing up his residency visa, then we will return and enjoy the rest of her visit. Thanks, God, for the surprises that you love to give to us.
Moses – “For this whole world full of God’s glory.” Yeah, he really said that. And he’s right. There is so much more to be thankful for than we could ever put in an e-mail, and it all comes down to that. Our families, friends, adventures, and pleasures all come to us from God who is eternally glorified and delighted with our joy. EVERY good and perfect gift is from above, coming down to us from the Father (James 1:17). Thanks God, for all you do for us, but even more for who You are!
We hope your Thanksgiving was also full of joy! Love, Dalaina for the Mays
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us! We had a marvelous time celebrating Thanksgiving with 102 of our friends in the Pucallpa missionary community (wow, didn’t realize there were so many of us). We had turkey, stuffing, pecan pie and all the goodies in between. What a blessing it was to us to be with these “family away from family” this year.
Hi Everyone!