Elinor’s 2020 Spring to Summer Newsletter
It has been years since I lived in the world of this photo, but lately it has been unusually strong on my mind. Read why.
My memoir.
Joy in the Broken: Elinor's Story
Last newsletter I said I would know in May whether I am among the finalists for a Cascade Award, the annual writing contest run by Oregon Christian Writers. I entered my book and guess what -- it is one of the top three in the Unpublished Memoir category!! The winner of the finalists in each category will be announced in August.
Being a finalist is huge. That addition to my book proposal will be a big help persuading literary agents and publishers that the book is worth their while to represent and publish. I'm through most of the book proposal and a FINAL final polish of the book manuscript. When those are done I will start sending the book proposal to agents.
Over these years of working on the story, I have become more and more convinced that this story is one God can use to bring inner wholeness and joy to broken lives, and also give His people confidence to press on through their challenges, knowing God will use them to display His greatness.
Great Commission Kids
We also made the story of how God made me a missionary the topic of the current GC Kids, assuring them that the Lord can help them, too. There were two reasons: these issues might be good for Bible Visuals International to have to promote their project of producing an illustrated version of the story for children, and also because the World Team supervisor said it was time we do that. So, here you are. Download and print it from https://us.worldteam.org/gc-kids. To request a FREE subscription to printed and mailed editions, email GCKids@worldteam.org.
Bible Visuals International Story Project
This pencil sketch is a peek at the concept of the fifth illustration for chapter one of the illustrated story tentatively titled Beautiful Feet or Beautiful Feet on the Mountains. Hunting for photo scenes for the illustrator to work from is a challenge. Even though I discovered new stashes of old photos to hunt through, often I can't find one that will work, and have to resort to extra description. I would bet you don't know the story behind this sketch. You'll just have to get the final illustrated story when it is finished. (grin) The project is fully funded and moving forward. And I keep photo hunting.
Explore all Bible Visuals materials at biblevisuals.org
Mission Chat
Zoom. Have you heard of it? Ha! Who hasn't!? Mission Chat by Zoom rather than physically in my sitting room was an initial learning curve for me, but I got it figured out. Enough. Kate even joined us from her country for the March Mission Chat, but it was 1:00 a.m. her time, so we haven't seen her since. (wink) With Zoom, we reached further to bring in guests. That may not have happened otherwise. But it is SO good to be back together in reality. However, when a member is too far away to meet, we now know we can Zoom them in.
Kimyal Connections and Beyond
I love keeping in touch with current generations of Kimyal students, pastors, workers, and other Kimyal friends who have internet because they live out of the remote mountains. Many of my old friends are in Heaven now, but their children or grandchildren find me on Facebook and want to chat. Sometimes that is live video chat through FB Messenger. SO fun!
Then there are random people all over the world who find the Bad Legs Video or my website and email me.
Most recent was a young Indonesian doctor who had gone to Korupun in 2018 but had just found the Bad Legs video. While at Korupun he had done health checks including the school kids like the boys in Sekolah Lentera Harapan Korupun (Korupun Lantern of Hope school). Thanks to a private school system with dedicated teachers, Kimyal children are getting a great Christian education. It warms my heart! These faces show typical Kimyal spirit. Bright, determined, confident, and a bit mischievous.
And More....
If you are inclined to pray, ask the Lord to use waves of these generations of Kimyal people to reach the world with the Gospel. Some already are.
The International Children's Bible version of Matthew 28:18-20 says, "Then Jesus came to them and said, “All power in heaven and on earth is given to me. So go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything that I have told you. You can be sure that I will be with you always. I will continue with you until the end of the world.”
Think About It!
