Important Conversations

This post will be short for several reasons: I don't have any exciting pictures, I can't really mention specific names due to the sensitivity of those with whom we've been meeting, and I'm about to go to bed.

This is one of the maps of the people groups of the Himalayan
region. So much work has gone into mapping the groups and
languages and by so many different organizations, it is
stunning. I hope to share some of these with you.

We've had several very good conversations with some key people today. Two in particular. The first is an area leader over the Buddhist Himalayan region people groups for one of the largest evangelical mission organizations in the world. The second is a strategic missions leader over our target country. Both of these individuals were extremely knowledgable and helpful. Both seem to be affirming of the strategy we are forming based on information we have gathered during this trip. And both have expressed a desire to partner with us as we proceed. We could not be more delighted and thankful for these people and their organizations. I have rarely met more serious, qualified, humble, and determined people who have given up so much to make Christ known in this spiritually starving part of the world. I really wish I could tell their names and organizations, but it would jeopardize what they are doing here. Some have to keep a low profile so that they can do their work, others must operate with a high degree of secrecy when they are working with/in peoples of closed countries. Some of them could even face physical harm if their identities were known. Please understand that this is a very serious issue.

Here are just a few of the facts we learned today:

• There are 25 unreached people groups in the nation we are targeting. That's amazing. Just think--God may choose to use us, Providence, to reach some of these. That would be profoundly great and eternally significant.
• The only people group that is even partly "reached" in the target country is a minority group that is being sent out of the country. Many of these people are refugees. Some of them are being sent to make a new life in Tennessee (yes, you read that right).
• Outside of this partly reached minority group, there are only 75 total individuals who are Christians in all of the target nation. Some of these few Christians have begged for Christians outside the country to come and disciple them and teach them the Bible.
• The first translation of the New Testament in the official language of the target country has just been completed. The completed Old Testament will be coming in a few years. The first printing of these New Testaments have just started making their way into the target country.
• There are at least a dozen languages in the target country that have no Bible translated in their language at all. 

These are stunning facts. We (our whole church) must consider the opportunity to be a part of changing them for the sake of God's glory. I beckon you to pray about how God may want to use you. Yes, you. 

This is what a happy man looks like. Just behold the size
of that steak! And man, it was good.

Ok, here's a picture. After all the meeting, talking, listening, and learning today (no kidding, I seriously had a headache!), we went to eat at a steakhouse. Madison's been telling us about this place all week, and we had skipped lunch in anticipation of it. He said they have a filet mignon (beef tenderloin) that is as big as his forearm. We've been questioning his veracity. Well, he was right. In fact, it was bigger than his forearm. Forty ounces, to be exact. And we all ate our fill for about $7 a person. This alone makes me consider moving here despite all the other inconveniences and dangers of this area!