3rd day

God is doing some great work among the 52 adults and 30+ kids, and more than two dozen staff emembers taking part in Candidate School. I can see it in the creativity of people expressed through worship, in the sparkle of kids' eyes, in the excited voices of a Tucson couple I first met in 2004, and in myself, as my hope is being renewed. One of the couples I'm working with is going to join a team in Northern Iraq--the following is a recent story I penned, based on a team, email, about their efforts. I encourage you to laugh and cry at the goodness of God as you read what He's doing to help the hurting:
“Jane” and her husband, “Jim,” recently moved their church-based Frontiers team from a nearby country into Northern Iraq. Last month, while Jane was returning home from the bazaar with a friend, they managed to hail “the oldest taxi in the entire city.”

After climbing into the vehicle, their Kurdish driver quickly learned they were American, and he became intent on learning if they knew about an organization that helps kids with disabilities, like his own daughter, who has cerebral palsy. Jane offered to send “Sonja,” a physical therapist on the FRONTIERS team. When Sonja and Jane later arrived at his home, they were heartbroken to see his daughter, “Sadie,” lying on the floor of a 20 square-foot house, where she has been most of her life. No bed. No therapy. No hope. Until Sonja arrived.

The team leader, Jim, writes, “[Sonja] has been amazing and has [the family] on a program to help Sadie gain some control of her muscles. We’ve told them that [Sonja] can only go so far with Sadie – the One in whom we really hope is the One who will have to heal Sadie.” The team also purchased a car seat for Sadie, with straps to hold her upright.

After just a few weeks of therapy, Sadie’s condition has drastically improved, with her muscles getting stronger and an unexplainable peace covering her. Jim adds, “We of course know Who’s doing the real healing, and we pray that as [Sonja travels] to help her patients that God’s Spirit will continue meeting these people and heal them beyond their physical ailments.”

First day of Candidate School

It was a real blessing to be with more than 4 dozen (mostly 20s and 30s) young people today, in Candidate School, who are zealously pursuing full-time service among Muslims overseas. Today was mostly an orientation day, but it started out with some passion-filled worship involving kids and percussion instruments. By far, the best part of the day came during the last couple hours, when the candidates introduced themselves. I learned new things about the people I've been working with--like one of my AZ clients who is getting his doctorate in astrophysics and admitted today that he "almost" discovered a planet with the help of a gigantic telescope. Still, this family's highest ambition, it seems, is to share the gospel where it hasn't yet been heard. Maybe the Arab Gulf?

During lunch, my partner, Jan, and I met with 7 people we're responsible to assess/help during Candidate School. They hope to head out to Central Asia sometime in the near future. The 3 couples and one single woman all seem like very high qualified people to me. One man, whom his wife describes as a genius, admitted his apprehension at being psychologically assessed with the help of some psychological tests. He didn't want to be boxed into a category, he said. But when we explained that the personal meetings with counselors helped us to see whether the tests they took were accurate (trumping them, so to speak), he claimed he felt a "hundred times better." Praise God--some of these folks are under enormous strain, having just traveled here from great distances. They need prayer and encouragement, and I hope to stay well-stocked with it, so I can pour it out regularly.