Mission Safari Update for January 2006

"A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." Proverbs 16:9

Dear Friends,

A year ago today, I was making final preparations to travel to Sri Lanka to participate in the disaster relief. I didn't know what to expect. But it was a life-changing experience for me. I saw first hand the hope the Gospel offers in the midst of total devastation.

Obviously, I didn't "plan" to participate in the relief effort to Sri Lanka. In fact the it occurred I had made much different plans for the first couple of months in 2005. But God directed my steps. This trip "set the tone" for the rest of the year; I made plans, but God directed my steps.

And, so as I look forward to what 2006 has in store, I wonder with anticipation (and some fear) to see what God has in store for me and my family. I have made some definite plans for the year. But I realize that God will, in His providence, direct my steps. Pray that I will be ready to move at His command and not get caught flat-footed!

For now, I look forward to getting more involved in my new role as Clinical Director of Emergency and Family Medicine Services at A.K.University Hospital. I look forward to meeting again regularly with the medical students in our mentoring group. I look forward to the Healthcare Leadership Conference that we have planned for February. I look forward to visiting U.S. medical students in February and March. We all look forward to coming home for a short HMA in the summer. And we all look forward to finalizing our adoption of a little girl from China.

Please pray for all these events coming up. And as you do, praise God for the following answered prayers.

Praises:

1. Some of you were aware that when I joined the Faculty at AKU,N I had to re-apply for a new work permit. I was told it would take 2-3 months. However, we have been able to secure a "special pass" that will cover me during this waiting period. We praise God for this!

2. We received approval from the U.S. Embassy to move forward with the adoption. We have mailed our last bit of documentation to our attorney. In a few weeks, the completed paperwork will be submitted to our adoption agency. We are relieved. One major hurdle is cleared. Now the hard part starts - waiting. In fact, as a special prayer request, please pray that this process moves forward quickly. When we first started the paperwork, we were told that once all our paperwork was submitted to the adoption agency, it would be a wait of 4-6 months. We just received a letter last week that the current wait time is now 10-12 months.

3. God is opening up relationships at the A.K.University with a couple of the faculty who are Muslim. Pray that God will open their hearts to the Gospel.

Looking forward to His Direction,

Tim

Comments

[Gabi Greve]

Dear Tim,
all the best for the work you are doing !

I work on a collection of season words from Kenya and Africa, for a worldwide database to be used for Haiku Poetry.

I found your blog by chance, but I added it immediately to my list and forwarded it here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kenyasaijiki/message/10

Best wishes from Gabi (a german living in Japan since 1977)
http://darumasan.blogspot.com/

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[Lelia Foreman]

Hi. I love reading your posts which I found starting at Jolly Blogger and then skipping around linked blogs. Anyway, did you know that Muslims think adoption is bad and should be (and is in many Muslim nations, part of sharia) illegal. As a mother who adopted two children of another race, I was shocked when Muslims told me that. I wish I had been clever enough to talk about how God adopts us.