Thursday, December 16, 2010

The Conflict!

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
 a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
 a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
 a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 1:1-14

I just want to start out by saying “Thank You” to everyone who has written us and been an encouragement to us in that way. The power of prayer is amazing and I can honestly say Ben and I have truly felt up lifted these last few weeks.

 I know that our updates have not been quite as consistent these past weeks. That is partly due to the extra stress that I (Ruth) have been feeling. I know that a lot of things can play into stress here, foreign country, different languages and culture, three little girls, pregnancy, homesick for the holidays, still dealing with the loss of my sister, etc... I found that I had come to the end of my rope and felt that I could no longer continue to function here in Indonesia. Ben and I talked about what we thought the possibilities were for us at this point. It seemed like there were only two; continue on until we reached the Taliabo tribe and pray that God gives me the strength OR for the sake of my sanity and for the welfare of our family return home to the U.S. Praise the Lord for you prayers and for the guidance of leadership! There was a third option presented to us. After talking to leadership at home and here on the field, it was suggested that maybe we need to take some time to settle in one place for a while. Looking back over the past two plus years, we have never fully unpacked and been able to call one place home. In fact I think we have moved about 8 times during that time! Option #3 is for us to take sometime here in Manado to do just that. We are greatly excited about being here in that this is where the national New Tribes Mission training center is located. The national training center is a 4 year course (same as us) and right now has 45 students that represent 25 different tribal groups here in Indonesia. Ben would be able to teach and help equip the nationals to do the job that is so close and dear to our hearts, the job of reaching the lost here in Indonesia. This is what we are praying about now. It would mean putting the Taliabo tribal work on hold for now, and letting me catch my breath, in a manner of speaking. We know that the life of a missionary is always stressful (this is normal and is said by all missionaries that we know...). But there are somethings that we can do to help reduce or minimize that stress, and that is what we are looking to do at this point in our lives.


 Please be praying with us about this and future direction from the Lord. We would really appreciate hearing from you about what you are thinking and feeling on all this. We know that this might be coming as a bit of a surprise as it was for us as well. Please write and let us know. We are truly a team and know that we have to take this next step together.
 

Your partners in Christ,
Ben and Ruth Kane
Chloe, Gwendolyn, Adelaide, & Baby in February.


1 comment:

labatterie said...

For now we'll just have to use our normal camera for a while. life goes on...