At Any Cost
I have become all things to all men, that I might save some.
1 Corinthinans 9:22b
TAN & VIV
Philippines
Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ. When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23
Our end goal is to see a mature/maturing church planted among an unreached people group with literacy, a bible they can read/ understand and solid teaching eventually coming from the people. To get to these goals we must learn the national language of our region (Bisaya) and then the language of the target people (to be determined). Right now we are in the first few years of our ministry and are learning the national language and culture. Our normal day looks like classes in the morning for Vivian and classes for myself in the afternoon. During these classes we follow a GPA* program which we are in phase 4 of. We speak for a total of around 4 hours with our language helpers in Bisaya to learn more words and sharpen our language ability. This takes up the bulk of our time and is our current main priority.
*GPA: The goal of the Growing Participator Approach (GPA) is not simply the acquisition of an unfamiliar language, but participation in the life of an ever growing community.
Tan & Viv's Prayer Requests
Our biggest and most recent need for prayer is for our housing situation. To keep things short I (Tanner) have needed to see multiple doctors for my breathing and health struggles as well as undergo sinus surgery. The surgery was a success but it is very apparent to us that the mold in our house has been causing me a lot of issues. We will be working with our leadership and fellow missionaries to find a new house to rent that meets our needs for a few more years until we finish our language studies and need to build a new house where we wish to allocate to an unreached people group.
Pray that the Lord would provide a new house for us to live in and that we will have the wisdom needed to discern what is best for my health moving forward.
