Voices from the Field

Lunar New Year is the most important festival of the nation. In tradition, people return to their hometowns from working places hundreds or thousands of miles away and celebrate with family members and beloved ones.

There is much surrounding us that can cause us to get disheartened, but we also have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus. I was reminded of that through the Lent and Easter season.

As I started writing this, we were in Nigeria in the Mission House in Gembu. I had been in Nigeria for a month, and Sonya joined me Palm Sunday.

Spring in Japan is full of flowers and new life. I love watching as one tree after another, one bush after another, declares the beauty of our Creator.

The worldwide COVID plague is hardly over, and our attention is now forcibly switched to the wars and rumors of wars in Europe. It is so comforting that our Lord Jesus told us to “see to it that you are not alarmed.

What a difference a year makes! This year of home assignment has been a tremendous time of healing and restoration, and as I have shared with multiple groups lately, I am thankful for the journey of the past few years despite its many challenges…

We are hopeful that spring is just around the corner.

We have been busy visiting our supporting churches. It was so great to meet the people who have supported, prayed for, and cared for us over the last five years.

This spring we had the privilege of connecting with many partnering churches. Our travels brought us through four time zones and all kinds of weather, ranging from hot sun to blowing snow. One travel day we got both of those conditions within a span of a few hours!

You prayed, and the Lord answered for an NAB church plant here in Utah. Our prayer is that this is the beginning of many more in this needy place. In Utah County, there is one evangelical church to 40,000 people. We recently visited a supporting church in a small town of 1,000 that had nine evangelical churches. There are some counties here in Utah where there is only one evangelical church.

Mexico represents a very special place in the Schmor family’s heart, especially in relation to our work in international missions through the years. Let me explain a bit more. . .