Robert & Joanna Burdett
Baptist Missions to Forgotten Peoples
September 2022
As I sit here pondering what has transpired I am thankful. One reason I am thankful is because I am sitting down. The last few months have been amazing, but not much time for sitting!
When I say amazing that word has many different aspects. Some times it has been amazingly hard, amazingly sad, amazingly stretching, amazingly tiring and at times amazingly rewarding. Through it all God has graciously been working, and that is amazing.
The Hardship: In the past two months we have seen spiritual warfare on a couple different fronts. We received a letter saying the local airport authority was kicking us out and taking over our hangar. This started a several week process just to discover they were mad at us because I had reported an unsafe runway condition to the Aviation Authorities and in turn the local authorities tried to get rid of us. For me personally this was very hard to not return evil for evil, hence the stretching. Around the same time we were battling our second round of Typhoid and Joanna miscarried (not related). This was a deep sadness to all of us. At times it was easy to want to walk away. I even wrote a prayer letter in the middle of it but ended up not sending it because I felt I was more venting than communicating “prayer requests.”
In August, we had two major church activities going on. First, 8 students completed our second Bible institute course. I was pleased to see the growth of the students and at the same time I was made painfully aware of how much I need to grow in my own teaching abilities. And second, we took 12 teens to camp. Richard was able to come out and help us transport the teens to and from camp (Thank you so much Richard and Ruth for helping in this!). At the start of the trip there were four teens I was praying for specifically in regards to salvation. To the glory of God, by the end of camp all four had either made a profession of faith or affirmed their faith in Christ. Of the rest of the teens who had previously been saved and baptised, many made renewed commitments to follow the Lord on a deeper level. Any time there is a successful camp, the return trip is always full of challenges. This year did not disappoint. The trip took us 52 hours. Of the four cars we used, every one of them had mechanical issues including frames cracking, axel shafts breaking, multiple tire blowouts, fuel pump issues, ignition issues, road blockage issues. Ya know, lots of fun stuff happens when you have 12 kids depending on you! Through it all, God showed himself strong and, I believe, strengthened the faith of the teen believers.
For those who are wondering, the plane is doing well and the relationship with the new maintinece company seems to be going really well. The hangar situation seems to be resolving. Thank you so much for praying!
And now we sit.. at least until this afternoon. We will be, Lord-willing, boarding a flight today back to the US for a short furlough for rest, doctor visits, meeting some of the new pastors that have changed during this last term, and allowing the Lord to renew our vision for the upcoming season. We appreciate your prayers and support as well as look forward to seeing many of you in the coming months!