29 Mar Week of Loy Visits

The past week has been incredible! We have been able to spend so much time visiting with our Loy friends.

Monks dedicating the house

Monday our one of the families moved into a new house they built and we were invited to come help them and celebrate. I didn’t realize we were walking into a Buddhist ceremony dedicating the house and “blessing” the family. It was eye-opening to be around but also great as we were able to pray and celebrate with our friends. So many people from the village came out to visit and I was able to spend some good time talking with folks that I normally don’t have a chance to talk with!

We had learned previously that a few of the boys from the village were going off to be monks for 3-6 years as a way for the parents to be able to afford high school for them. Strangely, the Lord had been really placing education and high school on my heart the previous week in prayer. So I knew we needed to do something to help these families get their kids into high school without sending them off to be monks. We visited the families Tuesday after talking it over as a team and Brandon was able to speak with their parents about the different options potentially available. We found a place for them at a local high school and they will go to do a placement exam this coming week. When we told them that we had found an opening for them at a local high school, one of the boys, Gungfu, started pumping his fists and smiling so big! I’ve never seen such an excited reaction from a young kid to be able to go to school (and also to not have to go away from his family and be a monk for 3-6 years)! Please be praying for the parents and kids involved that everything would go smoothly and they would be able to stay with their families for these next 6 years of high school (the equivalent of 7th-12th grade in the States).

Three of the boys and one of their dads at football

That evening we brought some of the boys and one of their dads to play football with us and our normal Tuesday night football group! It was SO much fun! :)

Grandmas helping us complete the initial word list!

Wednesday saw one of my dreams come true as I was able to be a part of documenting a language that has never been studied or documented before! Two of the grandmas went over 300 words with us as we recorded them saying each word 3 times. We will then send these to our SIL (Wycliffe) contacts who will transcribe them. I have such a huge desire to learn the Loy language, so this is extremly exciting for me!

Saturday we had a very informal Kids Club because it was only Tom, Angela, and me. We went to each neighborhood and hung out, colored, played games and then had some snacks. Every Saturday we go and play football in one of the villages with the kids. All of these times this week have really shown me how welcomed we have been into their lives and the relationships that continue to be deepened with them. It is all about relationship! I just included the bullet points, but could talk your ear off about this week and all that happened (and how we saw God move)!