This month was shorter in length though it seemed that we had a lot more than usual packed into it. We are thankful for the health and strength to tackle the various activities that the Lord put before us.
Let us start this with another green card update. This portion of the process has been more encouraging than the previous 16 months as we have finally had something to do. Now that is not to say that what we have had to do has been easy. For instance, we found out that the police clearance that we had was wrong. We spent 2-3 days in town trying to get Judith finger printed at the Goroka Police station. We then sent that form via DHL to BC, Canada to a company there which just last Thursday submitted it to the Canadian authorities. Our biggest concern is that it will be accepted and processed as the company was concerned the clarity of the prints. The Lord knows.
I have been spending time this month working on Revelation lessons for the Malaumanda church. Pastor Jim did make a request for Ephesians and 1 Corinthians lessons to be printed up and sent in so I shifted to that for a while. The lessons were already written though 3 of them are missing so I am re-writing them. I need to get these done quickly as I want to bring in the completed lessons all printed out when I head in to Malaumanda on March 19th.
This brings up another activity for the month- prep for the work team that arrives in 2 weeks from Judith’s home church (King Rd MB church). We have been getting things ready for the tasks that they will be doing here at Lapilo as well as the teacher’s office that we’ll build in Malaumanda. Pray for us in this. Judith’s mom comes with this team so that will be an added blessing.
One more highlight for the month was the opportunity that we had to look after the dorm here for 3 nights so that the dorm parents could get a mini-break. We moved over to the dorm and instantly became a family of 11; Judith and I and 9 teenagers (including Timothy). The parents of all of the kids are church planters in the bush. They are great kids and it was fun as a change of pace. Judith also enjoyed the opportunity to cook and bake to her hearts content.
Well, we shared a bit more in this update than we usually do but believe me when I say that this is an abbreviated version of what actually happened. We do thank each of you for your prayers. We couldn’t be here without you. We also look forward to the potential of reconnecting with you when we come on home assignment in hopefully the near future.
Blessings in Christ,
Eric and Judith, Stephen, Daniel and Timothy
Prayer Requests
- We have had some sickness this month but Praise that we are currently back to full speed.
- Pray for Judith’s Canadian police clearance to be processed quickly. Pray also for us as we request for the final stage of the green card process to be done in Port Moresby, PNG instead of going to Montreal, Canada.
- Pray for the work team who are arriving soon. There are a lot of logistics to prepare for including flights in and out of Malaumanda. The weather has been less than ideal of late so pray for a shift towards dry season as well.
- Pray for all of the lessons that I am working on. I am working on this when I am not helping new missionaries here at Lapilo with their pidgin study.
- Pray for Stephen and Daniel as they continue in school. They seem to be doing well though it will be good to connect again as a family. Continue to pray for Daniel to get a job. There are some possibilities though it has been a challenge to work through the logistics as he does not have a car.
- Pray for usas we seek to persevere to the end of our term on the field. We don’t really know when we will complete Judith’s green card process so it does make it very hard to plan. That is not to my liking so be praying for us. We do know that we’ll need a vehicle and a place to stay amongst other things.
- Praise that even in the midst of a life in flux that we have a God in heaven who walks before us.