I just left a parent-teachers conference with Will & Katie’s teachers and the other parents. Our children are settling in and they are in for a wonderful quarter! Again, the international flavor of this campus and its deep spiritual roots provide fertile soil in which to plant their young minds and hearts.
We met the parents of two girls in Will’s class. They are here on sabbatical after 7.5 years on staff with Ygroup in the middle east. With tears the mother expressed her gratitude that her children could come out from under the oppressive spiritual atmosphere of the Islamic culture they were serving in. She wanted her kids to know that there were other children who were receptive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I had a chance to pray for them after class and ask them a few questions. They related that while they had spent these past years in a different country, they had also been in a developing Muslim country for years before that. They told me that in the developing country the gospel was more readily accepted and, seemingly, bore more fruit. The weight of poverty and the memories of oppression under Soviet rule offered far more fertile ground than that of the far more prosperous economy and culture of their newer home.
In that new home they are well-received. The people listen to the gospel and are “glad for the Christians” but they reject that Jesus is for them. Even people who have seen healing works in the name of Jesus are still reticent to accept him as Savior. Please pray for God to send more workers to the Middle East.
One thing they told me was that it is far safer in the Middle East than the media would have us believe. Missionaries can share their faith and live among those of other faiths in Arabia! In fact, they need more missionaries who are willing to go and share the gospel with Islamic people.
As I prayed for this lovely couple, my heart was singing for joy with them that they were here in Kona. I was also grateful for myself and my family to have the chance to fellowship with them.
“As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ -Romans 10-15 … Today I can certainly testify to this! It is truly a blessing to be here pressing into God and meeting so many beautiful people from all over the world.
Please keep us in your prayers as well as we continue to seek God’s face about where we are to serve him when our DTS is completed! And pray for our children especially. They are bound to do so much more than we ever could!
Blessings!
Sam
[Reset]tled.org 
What a good reminder: that the harvest is plenty, but the laborers (especially in the hard places) few…
Also good reminder: missionary life is hard! Glad you could encourage this family, and encouraged for your father’s heart to believe so much for your children and future generations… Amen!
Sam, you are a writer, and I hope you are keeping all these pieces of writing in a safe place, or journal, to share perhaps in time in a full volume of written form. What an incredible calling, to follow Jesus into a foreign land! Like candles in the darkness, the Light of His Kingdom goes wherever you go (and others called to the same purpose), for ‘the Kingdom of God is within you’, and the darkness has not (and cannot) overcome it. I am praying for your family, that the Lord will make His will very clear, that no doubt will be able to enter the path where the Lord directs your steps. “Oh, the places you will go!” comes to mind. Stay blessed, Armstrong family!