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Hi everyone! Tomorrow is D-Day for our team to take off. We’ve had a couple of team meetings since my last update, and everyone should be just about packed. Our team is starting to feel more comfortable around each other, and I’m sure that will accelerate quickly once we’re traveling together. There are eight of us travelling from Portland, and a ninth who will meet us in Iraq. A couple of us are on the tail end of colds & coughs, but overall our health is good.
Many of you have asked how you can be praying for our team right now. I would ask for prayer in three areas:
-
Team unity. Our team is off to a good start, but we’ll soon be mashed
together in tight quarters and new surroundings with people we don’t
know all that well yet. Please pray the God will protect our team from
any seeds of division that would be sown in the coming days.
-
A listening spirit. We expect this trip to be very relational, and we
will shape our activities there to meet the needs we see, both physical
and spiritual, as best we can. Please pray that our team will hear the
voice of God’s Spirit as we discern the tasks and opportunities that he
has prepared for us.
-
Strength. This past week, I’ve been contemplating the reality of going
into a city of 80,000 people with only maybe a dozen known Christians -
and most of those are missionaries! While I don’t know exactly what this
reality will mean for our team, I suspect we may face considerable
resistance from the enemy. Please pray for and with us as we wrestle with forces
in the spiritual realm.
Thank you for your prayers! It is an
incredible encouragement to hear from you and to know that others have
our backs for the next two weeks.
I understand that I’ll have
internet access in our host’s home and will try to post some updates
during our time there. If you’d like to get a hold of me for any reason,
email is your best bet. Love you all! Cheers!
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