What can we say about 2024? To be honest, we find it rather difficult to process through our various experiences this year. At the beginning of the year we enjoyed a visit from some friends from the States. We were so looking forward to spending more time with them during the summer though that didn’t happen.
Stephen was able to fly back here for when Daniel graduated in late May. This was a special time as a family; especially as we were able to fly into Malaumanda shortly after the graduation. Being in Malaumanda for the Bible dedication was such a blessing. Even traveling as a family back to the US afterwards was fun.
We were so blessed by the generosity of many when we got to the States. We had a place to stay, a vehicle to drive and a schedule for the summer that was full…but not to be. This is the part of our 2024 story that we still don’t know entirely how to process. By the time we got to the end of June we really had no idea what was happening and where the Lord was leading us. By July we saw Him leading us back to PNG.
In September we completed our trip back to PNG and settled back into life here at Lapilo. I was very quickly back into the flow as centre manager here at Lapilo. Judith was helping Timothy as he was doing his schooling online. It took us a number of weeks to get Daniel settled and into a consistent work flow. Thankfully he has been very busy with working at the new hanger project.
It is December now and we are celebrating Christmas here in PNG. The tree is up. We just finished day 24 of our advent calendar. We have a Christmas eve service this evening. Christmas morning we’ll open gifts and then in the afternoon we have two families coming over for dinner.
This year is ending in some ways the same as 2023 though with less clarity for the future. The questions that we are still asking is what will 2025 look like? When will Judith get her ‘Green’ card so that we can return to the US? Where will we live when we get there? How do we engage fully here in PNG when our future home assignment is very much up in the air? The Lord hasn’t shown us any specific direction so far other than to keep our eyes on Him.
We do want to say thanks to all of you who have been standing with us this year. The Lord has used you all to encourage us during this time.
In Him,
Eric and Judith, Stephen, Daniel and Timothy
Prayer & Praise
- Praise that we are settled here at Lapilo and enjoying our ministry here.
- Pray for Eric as he has a lot of challenges that he is working through on Lapilo centre. He is thankful for the group of people that he works with.
- Praise that the boys are both doing well. Timothy is succeeding at his online schooling and Daniel is doing well at working here in the area.
- Praise/Prayer for Stephen. He completed his course work for the Air frame and Powerplant portion at Moody. Pray for him as he has FAA testing in January and February to get his license. Pray for him as he start flight in January. This will be the beginning of 2 1/2 years of training that is both challenging and expensive.
- Praise that Judith has been able to help Timothy with his schooling as well as engaging with some of the other ladies on the centre.
- Pray for Judith’s green card paperwork. For some reason the first form that we turned in is not scheduled to be completed for another 13 months. We would then have another application to turn in. Now we have no idea why it is taking this long. We are going to try to connect with an immigration attorney again after the first of the year to see if they have any answers.
- Pray for the ministry of the Malaumanda church. They are still in the midst of their outreach to Minini which is going well. Pray specifically for the leaders in training to continue to grow into their roles.
- Pray for the need that we have here at Lapilo and on the field as a whole for additional leaders and tradesman people. We are lacking in both areas.
- Pray for 2025 to be a year that will see the Gospel of Christ grow and expand in its influence here in PNG.