Dearest Friends,
HOME
I have enjoyed my time at home and am anxious for the great adventure that we begin tomorrow, July 10th. All week we have been practicing and repairing equipment. We also had the joy of sharing at 2 youth prisons yesterday. I will write more about that in the next letter. This is a lovely group of young people that the Father has given me this summer for a puppet team. They have great enthusiasm for the Lord and I am so thrilled to have them as partners. Please pray for Seth, Jared, Paige, Heather and Christa as they serve this summer. We will be traveling all over Tennessee; Baltimore, Maryland; Hanover, Pennsylvania; Ticonderoga, New York and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I am still trying to schedule a show in the Cape Cod area. Please contact me if you know someone who would be interested. We already have housing arranged. Hold us in your prayers.
The following words were written as I traveled home June 29th:
I am sitting on the airplane as I write these words to you. It is dark outside and almost everyone around me is asleep. As usual I cannot sleep. I’ve been crying, I’m still crying.
My heart is full with wonder at all we saw God do, but I keep thinking about all the children that we saw, their lives are hard. You cannot imagine how hot it is where they live and there is no relief. There are no fans, no air conditioning, and no electricity except for a few hours at night. All the comforts that we hold so dear do no exist for them. My leather watchband rotted in half, and my leather cane cover disintegrated. It is also very humid.
However, the worst part of the children’s lives, the really terrible part is that most of these children really know nothing about Jesus. They may know His name, but they do not know His stories. So many times we have all heard how to put our trust in Jesus. Most of the children along the 1000 plus rivers in the Amazon region have never has this hope explained to them once.
Many of you wrote me while I was on this trip and told me that you thought we have a lot of courage to take this trip. That is simply not true. We simply needed to obey. I’m not a brave person, but I pray every day that my Father will kindly make me obedient. That is the deep need of all of our hearts.
I have learned so much on this trip. Obedience requires endurance. Everyday we all prayed for strength. This trip was not easy, but I will tell you what I thought about when my body was arguing with my heart. If I were a child living in these places, I would want someone to come and tell me about Jesus Christ. Whatever it took, no matter the costs, no matter the discomfort…. I would want some to come. A person who is drowning hopes for rescue; these children need the rescue that only Jesus can give. Please don’t stop praying for them because we are coming home. Please pray for God to show us new friends that we can partner with on other rivers, so that we can reach more of these children.
There is one more truth that I want to share with you. Courage is not required for going, but is necessary for coming home. As always, home without Mike is hard. My children live far away and I miss them all terribly. At moments like this, when such deep loneliness threatens my peace, I think of my Father. I trust God’s steadfast love. I hold to His promises, I know that all these hard separations are only for a short time. God is so faithful! I have hope! Thank you all for praying and giving!
In Jesus Linda for,
Paige, Christa, Heather, Seth, and Jared