One of our dearest friends, Brian, arrived from the States this afternoon. His visit is long-awaited and much needed and the minutes-long hug that David gave him inches from the MAF mini-plane door said it all. David needed him. He¹s here. (And yes, I cried when they hugged like that.)

My joy is only tempered by the sadness that his wife Amy, one of MY best friends, is not here too. The original plan was for the whole family to join us for a month. But seems God had other ideas. Aim sent about a ton of American goodies (which we are still anticipating opening!) as her contribution to Brian¹s visit (well, not to mention sending her HUSBAND.)

People have been seriously dying here, I¹m not sure why there is such a convergence of death but there seem to be burials everyday. Today David and Brian stopped in briefly at the burial of one of the biggest men in our area¹s, daughter. Almost everyone in our little community was there; friends, workers, and fellow missionaries. And just now when I stepped outside to check on the kids, I discovered Naomi and her friends ³burying² a whole family of stones complete with the culturally accepted grave markings and planted trees to commemorate the dead. I guess the death is impacting their minds as well.
Our first educational consultant is here and he¹s keeping us all very busy. Meetings with various interested parties are going on non-stop and we have been learning a lot from the interactions. Please continue to pray for his work and the decisions that will come out of it.