| This has been a busy month here. It seems that the closer we get to the end of May and Stephen’s graduation the quicker the days seem to go. This month we were able to head down to Wewak for our regional conference. We stayed with our co-workers, the Huttemans, and were encouraged and challenged with the Word and with the fellowship of so many of our co-workers. This was Stephen’s last conference so it was bitter-sweet for him but also a good way to say his goodbyes. The day after the conference we left Wewak for Malaumanda. I will say that we arrived in Malaumanda pretty worn out. It is hard to get 4-5 hours a night for 5+ days and have a spring in your step. As is usually the case we had both a wonderful reception from the church community and an unwelcome reception in the form of an ‘issue’ with the house. The water pump on the house was broken so we ended up spending our 6 days in there carrying water in buckets for cleaning up and drinking. It worked but we are all much more appreciative of running water and showers now that we are back home. During our time there I spent a few days working with the guys to pour a slab of concrete for a new HF radio building that we are going to build. This radio will allow us to communicate better with the church there while it will allow the local folks to be able to contact MAF (flight operations) and the closest medical facility should there be a need. We also spent some time installing a different water tank on our house. This will be used for us while we are in there and for the rest of the community when we are gone. I also had the opportunity to teach 2 Timothy 3.1-5, 14-17 on Sunday. It is great to have the New Testament to open up and share with the body there. We did have some good times while we were there. Most days we went down to the Yafe river for a swim. Stephen came into Malaumanda with a good friend who is also graduating this year. Stephen and Brayden got the idea that they wanted to sleep out in the jungle one night. They ended up building a small ‘shack’ by the Yafe river; just downstream from where we usually swim. There were a lot of chuckles from the local folks but several of them gave them a hand. In the end, they had a good time and sure made a memory here at the end of their PNG experience. In Him, Eric and Judith, Stephen, Daniel, and Timothy |
Special Summer Supplication
Most of you know that we are taking Stephen back to the US this summer. This will be a very complicated endeavor so we do want to ask you to pray for a few specific issues.
- Judith, Stephen and I will need to get vaccinated. Please pray that we will not have any complications with this.
- I have been in contact with our travel agent and we hope to book tickets for our return next month. This is a unique time for us as we have 5 tickets to the US and then 4 tickets back to PNG in July. This will cost us in the neighborhood of $14K. The Lord has provided some of what we need to get to the US but pray with us for the rest.
- We have a small sedan in the US which Stephen will use at school but it will be good if we can find a second car to use for the 6-8 weeks that we will be in the Oregon/Washington area.
- Stephen will have a number of needs as he gets set up for school. We are still sorting through how this will work so pray for wisdom.
- We also have a couple of items that need replacement such as my 7-year-old laptop.
Prayer and Praise
- Praise that we are healthy and well.
- Pray for Eric as he needs to either get back in to Malaumanda to finish the building and then install the radio and solar power system. There isn’t much time and then of course the expense.
- Praise that we had a great time of fellowship at Sepik conference. The Lord still gives us the ability to engage with the church planting work in that portion of the country. What a Blessing!
- Pray for NTM-PNG as a field as there are several administrative/leadership ‘holes’ that need to be filled. Pray that the Lord will raise people up for these roles.
- Pray for the financing for the Malaumanda New Testament. Praise that around $10K has been raised already.
- Pray for us as a family as we try to transition well toward Stephen’s graduation and move back to the US.
- Pray for the Malaumanda church and the community there. They have seen some significant sickness and some deaths of late. When we arrived to Malaumanda two ladies left to go out to the local hospital. One was diagnosed with TB and the other has some sort of cancer in her abdomen.
- Pray/Praise The Malaumanda church leadership team is doing well though they still need some additional people to fill out the team; especially elders/pastors.