As I thought about putting together this book and the word encouragement, the Lord brought me back to something I had written in March of 2004, a letter home to the church. I have edited it some, but offer it as a window opened to me that encourages me of something He has taught me, something I have learned and hope to walk in.

       Along with the physical work we accomplish, which at times seems rote because of sightlessness; the much harder spiritual work is reached for with the same loss of sight due to darkness or a shadow we find ourselves in. And as we are slowly enveloped by that shadow we tend to look down, forgetting that we have to but lift our eyes to see the light that drives out this darkness, to realize that the darkness is consumed by the light of Jesus, the light of the world. It is at these times when His word reminds us, “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms:” 

       Surely there is the ongoing ministry with the staff, students, villagers, visitors, missionaries, and pastors that we get to talk with but we, read I, sometimes neglect a personal ministry between God and me. One of the things the Lord has put on my heart (for which I desperately need prayer) is a book I am writing. The working title is, “Ramblings and Confessions of a Missionary.” 

       The gift of encouragement is what I have been hearing that I need to continue. My ministry here and when I lived in San Francisco was in encouraging the brethren, here in particular my friend who oversees this facility, Rod. Yet, from the moment I began writing this book discouragement had been the shadow that had enveloped me. I had allowed the seeds of discontent to sprout into a bitterness that almost consumed me. I praise God that I can write in the past tense of this trial knowing that “..all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 – KJV