Judith and I were married in 2001 and so began our journey together through life and ministry. A couple of years later Stephen came along and he joined us in this journey. As you all know, he is at Moody Aviation preparing to be a missionary pilot. This is his own journey, and an exciting one at that. Last summer we had planned to take Daniel home to help him begin his transition into life in the US. The specifics of our plans changed drastically though God’s journey for our lives did not. This has been true for Daniel as well.
During our time here at Lapilo, Daniel has been busy with a number of different projects. He has been working side by side with many support missionaries on projects such as rewiring part of the HQ building and now building a new aviation hanger for our mission planes and helicopters. In the midst of serving as a missionary here in PNG, he has sensed the Lord leading him on his own journey.
About a month or so ago Daniel informed us that he had applied to go to Bible school back in the US. We have been training our boys to seek the Lord and make their own decisions as young men so it was wonderful for Judith and I to see this happening. He is following our example but following the Lord’s lead. We are proud of him in case you can’t tell. Oh, and he was just accepted to Bible school yesterday.
The questions that we are working through right now are just how we can help him make this transition. We know that we can’t go back to the US as a family due to Judith’s green card issues. Do we just send him back and trust that he will find his way from the West coast to Wisconsin in time for school? Daniel still needs to get his driver’s license. How does that get taken care of? Do I leave Judith and Timothy here and spend part of the summer with him working on these details? These are just a few of the decisions that we are thinking through. Please join us in prayer as we see where the Lord leads us.
In Him,
Eric and Judith, Stephen, Daniel and Timothy
Prayer and Praise
- Praise for good health and strength
- Praise that Stephen has passed the first half of his aviation mechanics certification tests. He has 2 more to go. Pray for him as he has just started the flight portion of his training. This will be a long and intense 2 1/2 years for him. Pray also for the funds that he needs for this portion of the training.
- Pray for Daniel as he continues to work here in PNG and for the details that need to be figured out as he makes a move to the US and eventually Bible school.
- Pray/Praise for Timothy as he is doing well in school and is on the basketball team. This keeps him pretty busy.
- Pray/Praise for Judith as she helps Timothy with his schooling while also occasionally helping out in the school. Pray for the processing of her immigration paperwork. As of right now we have 12 months left before the first application is processed. This can be a bit discouraging especially with Daniel leaving this summer.
- Pray for Eric as he has a very busy schedule right now. There are a lot of challenges here on Lapilo centre as well as some consultant tasks to be taken care of.
- Pray for the Lord of the Harvest to raise up some additional workers for the fields that are ripe unto harvest. We need some high school teachers, mechanics and several key leadership position in addition to more church planters.
- Praise that we are currently celebrating NTM PNG’s 75th year in this country. We are thankful that we are able to be a part of what He is doing here.