An interesting time to be alive

Do any of you have the feeling or impression that we are living during a time that will impact the rest of our lives in ways that we really can’t see right now? We are in the midst of circumstances that have us puzzled. That doesn’t mean that God doesn’t have a plan. I can imagine that Joseph had a few days where he really wondered why he was sitting in an Egyptian jail. What was going through David’s head when, after he had been anointed to be Israel’s king, he found himself running for his life from King Saul? We know the end of these stories and enjoy reading about Joseph becoming the 2nd in command in Egypt and David becoming King. Neither story came to completion quickly though. I am praying that the Lord will help all of us to, by faith, patiently wait on the Lord to accomplish His great plan. 

While we wait to see how life plays out we end up spending a lot of time helping the boys with school. This has gone fairly good though I will say that my algebra has been a bit slow to come back to me. I praise the Lord for math apps on my iphone! The boys have had a fair few writing assignments which I feel more equipped to help them with. Our combined Bible class has been a great way to start the day as well.

When we aren’t doing school with the boys I do end up spending a bit of time on the internet trying to figure out how things are going around the world concerning Covid 19. In PNG there are just 8 confirmed cases as of this writing and several of those have already recovered. While that sounds positive and hopeful, we still wonder whether that will last. The main question that we have is just when PNG will open up so that we can return. It is closed until at least the beginning of June though nobody would be surprised if that gets extended. The Lord knows. More specific requests below.

Thanks so much for standing with us during this time. We appreciate all of you.

Eric and Judith, Stephen, Daniel and Timothy

Featured Image: This is taken right outside the house where we are living. Spring has come and the views are beautiful in every direction.

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Prayer and Praise

• Pray that the boys will be able to finish up strong during this school year. So far so good.
• Pray for wisdom as we consider what God wants us to do this coming summer. Here is the crux of our decision. Judith has until May 28th to leave the US because of her visa. It was always our plan for her to go to Canada and then have me and the boys join her around June 12 when school is done. Given that we will probably need to spend the first 2 weeks in Canada in isolation we are praying about whether we should just all travel up to Canada on the 27th and thus do that together. Of course this is assuming that Timothy and I (Eric) will be allowed to cross the border as non-Canadians. #CovidCraziness
• Next we are praying about when we should re-book our tickets to head back to PNG. We are looking at tickets that have no change fees as it may need to be pushed back further than when we book them. Will it work for us to head back in mid to late July? August? More than anything we want to sense God’s leading in this decision and then rest as we walk through the details.
• One immediate Prayer request would be for the sale of a Ford Explorer that we were given by a supporter. We don’t need it anymore but after about 50-60 inquiries we still haven’t found a buyer.
• Pray for the Malaumanda church and community as one of the deacons passed away about three weeks ago. Yapata was at a hospital away from Malaumanda when he passed so it wasn’t possible to get his body back for burial. This is really hard for the family, and we will be Praying that the Lord will raise up someone to take his place in service to the Lord and that body of believers.
• Praise that we and our extended family have been enjoying good health.
• Pray for us as we desire to connect with people but find it hard to do during the social distancing that is the current reality for all of us.