A Balancing Act 

Dear Family and Friends,

It's not uncommon here in Asia to see laborers straining under the weight of their loads the old fashion way, balanced on their shoulders. In Christian work, the balancing act of personal, organizational and family time is even more precarious than the fellow above experiences with his baskets laden with fruit. There are times when our work involves helping people to establish wise boundaries for these different areas of their lives. Sometimes it means they're engaging more purposefully with their teammates: other times it means disengaging to a place where they can better manage all areas of their life. Thank you for your prayers for this second China trip. We felt it was successful in developing trust and addressing challenging circumstances. 

We did make it up to 13,000 ft. for a lunch with friends. Some nomadic shepherds passed near to our picnic site with their herd of yaks. Speaking of yaks, we enjoyed some great yak burgers on this 'leg' of the trip! 

Prayer Requests: 

1. Pray for us as we take a short R and R in south Thailand Nov. 3-7. We've been going pretty strong since we returned in July and are looking forward to a few quieter days.
2. Pray for us as we ramp up to help facilitate a member care training Jan. 18-22, 2017. This training was scheduled for next October but we had to re-schedule it because Alberta will need to be on campus next fall at Columbia International University, Columbia, SC. 
3. Abby, The daughter of a TeamJapan family, was in a serious vehicular accident in Indiana. She had serious head injuries and is on the road to recovery. Let's pray for steady progress in healing. 

Serving Christ with You, Steve and Alberta