Nov 23, 2006, Notes From the Hardistys

Greetings to you all from Chicago. Our time in the Buffalo area was such a blessing to us. Both of the conferences went well and we were blessed to hear of what the Lord is doing in other portions of His great vineyard. It was good to have time with George Bristow in Buffalo and to learn of the work the Lord has entrusted into his care in Turkey.

Since arriving in Chicago we had a good meeting in Springfield, about 3 hours south of here. We spent Saturday evening with Floyd and Helen Pierce, who were missionaries to Brazil for over 30 years. It was encouraging to hear what the Lord did through them, and what they are involved in currently.

Over the course of the last couple of months the Lord has laid upon our hearts a burden for those in the mountains north of Manila on the main island of Luzon. As I began showing slides regarding the work of the Lord in the Philippines and shared concerning the mountains and the work that Mike and Bev Smits carried on there for a number of years, I would give out the plea for someone to go up into the mountains with the gospel and to see a new testament assembly planted there. As I continued to plea for someone, or another couple to go, the Lord spoke to my heart saying, Why not you?. So I began to pray and seek His desire in this. One morning about a month ago, I was laying this concern before our Lord and asking Him to make it clear to my heart, if this was indeed His leading. I was quite fearful and concerned about moving up into those remote areas. After prayer, I went inside to read. My daily reading for the morning brought me to Haggai. I read through the two chapters and thoroughly enjoyed it. So I decided to read through it again. As I began to read, these words in Chapter one stood before my eyes as though they were raised from the page, not that they were, but it was as if they were the only words on the page. Go up to the mountains. Then, on the next page, I am with you, says the Lord and My Spirit is with you, do not be afraid I believe the Lord shared those very words with me in answer to my prayer.

Our plan is, in the will of the Lord, to return to Manila for the first year, or perhaps less, and get our visa situations in order. During that time we are praying that the Lord will open up a way for us to learn Igorot, (the language of the mountain people we desire to reach), at a school in the Manila area. It would be good to learn the basics of the language in a school setting. That would give us a good understanding of the grammer and construction of sentences and teach us how to conjugate their verbs. From there we can pick up vocabulary as we go along. Pray with us!! It was difficult to learn Tagalog while in our 30's, but now in our 50's to be learning a new language may prove to be quite a challenge.

From Manila we plan to make frequent trips up to Baguio City, a small city in the mountains that is quite built up and has served as a resort type of area for those wishing to escape the summer heat of the lowlands. We desire to help out the assemblies in that city while continuing to learn the language and then moving up into Baguio. From Baguio we will begin to reach out into the more remote areas with a goal of eventually, Lord willing, moving up into Sagada which is several hours north of Baguio and in a remote area. We covet your prayers for us.