Shortly after 9am on a beautiful Friday morning we landed back in Malaumanda. The airstrip was filled with people who greeted us as we got off the plane. As we walked down to the house we were welcomed again on the trail by a group of believers who were singing praise songs and shaking our hands. The rest of the day was spent between cleaning the house and spending time out talking with friends.
It had been a number of years since the Malaumandans had seen all of the boys. They couldn’t get over how much taller they are. Stephen in particular was the topic of much discussion. Even now we spent some time explaining his plans to become a missionary pilot.
On Sunday morning we met as a whole church at around 9 AM. It was a clear, sunny morning and a great day to go to the Yafe river. The whole church walked down to the river together where we had a time of singing and prayer before we started the baptisms. When we first arrived it only looked like 6 people would be baptized but in the end, 13 went into the river. It was great to be able to hear their testimonies and see their obedience to Christ. All the kids enjoyed a good swim before we headed back home. Maybe the kids would always sit still during the service if they knew there was a swim afterward.
We left Malaumanda on Thursday to head to Wewak. There were some sad goodbyes but also a few plans for what our next couple of trips in will be about.
Thanks so much for your prayers and support. We are so encouraged by each of you.
In Him,
Eric and Judith, Stephen, Daniel and Timothy
Prayer & Praise
- Praise that we had a great time in Malaumanda.
- Pray for Eric as he will be strategizing with his co-worker, John Hutteman, as to when we will get in to Malaumanda and just what we will be teaching on.
- Praise that our co-workers, John and Christina Hutteman, are back from their home assignment. They are half way through their quarantine and we trust they will be able to get down to Wewak soon after that so that we can get caught up.
- Praise that we can still function here in PNG amid various covid related restrictions.
- Pray for the final formatting work to be done on the Malaumanda New Testament. It is getting towards crunch time as we try to get this project completed.
- Pray for a large group of missionaries who are traveling to and from PNG this summer. Traveling is not getting much easier these days.
- Pray for us as we seek to find some additional church leaders in Malaumanda. We are close to marking one new deacon and have 2 men we are working with concerning their involvement as elders.