How you can tell God is working....

Two things happened of significance today.

First, we got a call from a supporting church wondering what has been going on lately in our ministry. We have been struggling to figure out a new medium to convey what is happening since prices have really skyrocketed in printing and mailing out a regular newsletter... over $900 the last time we mailed out in November! As we have tried to email out updates, we have discovered that our server only allows 100 to be sent at a time so many people were never even getting our updates at all! (We have over 600 on our mailing list!) We are now reconfiguring our address book so that everyone will receive them but it is taking a lot more time than we anticipated.

The church representative also mentioned that some people in their congregation are wanting to support a missionary who actually lives overseas. We certainly understand that position and at one point in our lives, we would have agreed. Now, we see how God has been leading so many to consider the Harvest fields of East Asia, how 21% of all decisions made at last fall's National Missionary Convention were from Central students, how I just returned from Taiwan with a group of 17 students, half of which have expressed specific interest in returning to work full time, and how at least 12 students have inquired about taking Chinese classes for Dezi's third year in teaching the beginning course, we believe this is where God wants us, and though we'd rather be living and working in Taiwan, for now, here is where we are doing a greater good. Over 60 are in the pipeline to work in China or Taiwan from Freshman to Graduate students including other non-traditional students. (These are students who have been out of school for some time and working in secular jobs or ministry and have returned to complete their education. Most have families.)

The other significant event? A young couple who went with me on the Taiwan trip, Devon & Megan Pinkerton, just came into my office this afternoon and expressed how they made a decision this weekend to no longer say "if we go to Taiwan" but "when we go to Taiwan". Making a difference?