2005-08-13

Greetings – Today’s weather report in Taipei, Taiwan is “hen ru??? meaning, a very hot 91, with a heat index of 104!

THANKS!
Thank you for your prayers for our summer schedule!
The escort trip from HK into China was a fantastic experience as we partnered up with the TX team from our own Lake Pointe Church. We are so thankful for the sacrifices they all made to come serve the children of some of our fellow m’s. Besides leading the kids through a great week of VBS, they had opportunities to share their God stories with locals during an English camp and a coffee corner. Many seeds of faith were spread and planted during their visit to a land full of people who need to hear the message of the gospel.

We both have made some progress during our 10 plus hours per week of language study. However, developing some simple grammar skills and a minimal vocabulary still leaves us lacking in confidence to make the simplest of conversation in Chinese.

Although traveling and language study has kept our summer days full, we can’t help but hope that many of you have taken the time to develop memories with your families, because sometimes it’s the memories tucked in our hearts that enable us to peacefully live far away from our family.

The “Beloved??? Bible study group has gone great and we only have one more week to meet. It’s been a humbling privilege to minister to these ladies who have hopeful hearts & changed attitudes in their present situations.

NEW WEBSITE:
Jackie has worked hard to develop a new & fresh website. We don’t know if you have been able to take the time to visit lately, but it is a great way to see some of the places we have traveled and to read our “journal” entries.

POLL:
Please take a minute and go to our website and vote. We want to know how you would prefer to receive our newsletter. It is important to Jackie, he truly wants your feedback. Your input will influence him in making a friendlier newsletter and webpage.

5 YEARS on the field ALREADY!
It’s hard to believe that we are approaching our 5th year on the field. In some regards, time has truly flown by, but in some ways it seems we have been away for a very long time. We miss regularly seeing our kids, our family, and our friends. We so desire to stay in contact with everyone through email and over the phone. Please remember, just email us and ask for our Dallas phone number. We prefer to send it in a personal email, because we are not comfortable posting it on the website or including it in the newsletter. We’d love to hear your voice sometime!

UPCOMING EVENTS:
We will meet with our East Asia language evaluator Aug 19th to re-evaluate the best strategy for further Chinese study.

BSF begins soon. We will travel to Hong Kong Aug 18-20 for our Area Workshop which will prepare us for the Genesis study that begins the first week of September.

Jackie will travel to Thailand August 28-Sept 3 for 2006 budget work with East Asia field supervisors.

Jackie is TEXAS bound! Jackie patiently remained in Taiwan a couple times while I went home during our first term of service. Now, he says it’s his turn, so he will be in Texas (without me) for a two week vacation the first 2 weeks of Oct.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
*Pray Jackie’s time with the kids and family will be a blessing to all & pray for Fran to not be too blue that she can’t go too!
*Pray for the details to be worked out to schedule our 2007 stateside assignment. We need to decide how long to take, where to stay, transportation etc.
*Pray our BSF classes will get off to a good, strong start & that many non-believers will be attracted to the Genesis study.
* Please continue to pray that the Chinese language will fall off our tongues with confidence.

We appreciate your care and your committed prayers.

Our Love is founded In Christ,
Jackie & Fran
Ephesians 3:14-21