It has been 30 years since I first came to PNG as a missionary. This country is certainly different than the US or Canada though for me it has become ‘normal’. That being said, normal in this day and age is not what it use to be and we are seeing that here in PNG these days. There are a lot of changes and challenges here these days.
I won’t go into too much detail but simply put there is a significant supply issue for fuel within the country. This includes diesel, petrol and aviation fuel. We are still trying to figure out how this will play out. In the short term the main airline in the country is functioning normally though we as a mission are having to make some significant adjustments concerning our flights into the bush. Please be praying for this situation to be sorted out as we are still planning to come on home assignment in June.
While these sorts of disruptions to normal life are a bit unsettling, we are reminded that God is still at work. As I mentioned in our last update, several Malaumandans are in the midst of an outreach. Just yesterday they completed teaching on the death, burial and resurrection; including a skit on it. They have been asking questions to the 30-40 people who have been coming to the teaching. I heard this afternoon that there are 37 new believers in Ninim. Jim was also really excited about how the Lord is using the other Malaumandan leaders who are serving together with him.
Jim, a Malaumandan pastor, has also been describing to me that two other language groups in the area have been asking them to hear the teaching as well. One of these groups, the Paiyelans, have been very antagonistic in the past so this is a big change. We will be praying for the Lord to raise up some more missionaries to be able to serve in these areas. And of course we need to pray for the stability of the country so that we continue to have the ability to serve here.
Thank you so much for standing with us in the ministry here.
In Him,
Eric and Judith, Stephen, Daniel and Timothy
Prayer and Praise
- Praise that we are healthy at the moment.
- Praise that the boys are doing well in school. Daniel is days away from being done with Spanish. Woohoo!
- Pray for Eric as he is in the midst of a stretch of about 12 days of meetings. Thankfully they are all here at Lapilo.
- Pray specifically for the discussions about the challenges surrounding the fuel issue here in PNG. This effects most of our bush locations as they are dependent on aircraft to get in and out and for all of their supplies.
- Pray for our home assignment. We are still waiting on a few more $$ before we buy our tickets. The fuel issues in country could play into this.The national carrier should have fuel until the middle of May but we are slated to leave for home assignment in June. The Lord knows.
- Pray for Judith as she is busy with school activities as well as the normal (for us) hospitality events that we are a part of. For instance, we had 19 people over for pizza last night.
- Pray for Judith as she is also preparing for some visitors early in March. We will be enjoying a visit from John and Linda Scianna and Mark and Jeanne Byers.
- Praise that it looks like we have a potential place to stay in Oregon for home assignment. My parents are going to take a look this week.
- Pray for us to find a vehicle for our home assignment.
- Praise that the printing of the Malaumanda New Testament is done. 26 copies have been delivered to my parents in Oregon.
- Pray for the shipment of about 1700 copies of the Bible that are currently en route to PNG.
- Pray for the details surrounding our plan for a mini Bible dedication in early June.
- Pray for us as we start planning for our summer travels.
- Pray for 2024 to be a year that will see the Gospel of Christ grow and expand in its influence here in PNG.