The Columbines are now about half way through the SPLICE program at MTI.  In the last week and a half we have learned so much about God and ourselves.  One of thing that we were reminded of is that ministry is about our love one for another.  If we do not love our team mates then Christ's love will not be demonstrated to those we will be going to.  We also looked at God and His faithfulness and how He may not be safe but He is faithful and good.  This week we have begun to work on conflict resolution.  This has really stretched us and helped us to understand why we react the way we do and how we are perceived by others.  We also looked at some of our weaknesses and the steps we can take to begin working on these.  We are so thankful for that God has permitted us to partake in these preparations before going to the field.

Michele and I have been so blessed by the last two weeks of PILAT.  PILAT stands for Program In Language Acquisition Techniques.  It is just that, techniques on how to learn a language.  We came not sure we were going to be able to learn the needed languages and have been encouraged to know that we can because we already have.  We all have learned at least one language that being our mother tongue.  So with these techniques and the empowerment of God we now feel that this is something we can do.  It is going to be hard and we will need a lot of encouragement and prayer but it will happen.  Thanks so much for standing with us in this.