The title for this month’s update is certainly true. Judith and Timothy arrived back to Lapilo on July 3rd and I arrived back from the US on July 9th. Since then we have been very busy getting caught up with our various ministries here in PNG. That busyness has been a bit of a blessing as we could have tagged this update as “good byes”. It seems that we have used that one a few too many times of late and it doesn’t make for a light hearted update.
The top picture was of Daniel and I as we had lunch with my parents when they dropped me off to head back to PNG. It was very hard to say good bye but that is what the Lord seems to have for us these days. My flight back to PNG went smoothly. On my flight from LAX to Fiji I sat next to a lady who had done church planting in Fiji. It was encouraging to swap stories about how the Lord has worked in those two countries. We can’t know all that God is doing but without a doubt He is at work. One other nice thing about this trip back was that it only took 29 hours from start to finish.
9 days after getting back to PNG I had the opportunity to head into the Lembena people group to work with the church planting team working there. I have been in there many times but this time was different in that all 3 men were able to complete their culture and language acquisition. This is a huge accomplishment for them personally but what excites me the most is that the people in that village are months away from the beginning of literacy with evangelistic teaching to start soon after that. I’m excited about what the Lord is going to do to build His church there.
Let me also add in here that Daniel is doing well in Oregon. He has gotten his driver’s license and seems to be staying busy working. Stephen is also staying busy in the flight program. He is still struggling with car problems so hopefully this can get sorted soon.
Judith’s Green Card Update
We now have 6 months before the first application is done
In Him,
Eric and Judith, Stephen, Daniel and Timothy
Prayer & Praise
- Praise that Judith, Timothy and I are back together at Lapilo.
- Pray for Eric as he is in a busy season as centre manager, consultant and with the Malaumanda church. Pray that he will find the balance needed to get everything that has to be done done.
- Pray for Judith as she is in the midst of determining what her ministry will look like for this next year. There are plenty of needs and yet we have some aspects to our lives that make this a difficult balance.
- Praise that all of us are healthy and settled in PNG, Dallas, Oregon and Spokane, Wa.
- Pray for me to find a time slot when I can get in to Malaumanda to begin laying the ground work for the teacher’s office. I also have some work to do on the house in preparation for a work team coming next year.
- Pray for Timothy as he will be starting into online school this coming week and at Numonohi Christian Academy on August 5th. He’ll have 8 classes this year so he’ll be a bit busy.
- Pray for Daniel as he has another 3 weeks or so before he leaves Oregon to begin his trip back to Wisconsin for Bible school. It will be great to see how God will use that time in his life.
- Pray for Stephen as he is balancing the flight program with trying to work when he can and then car problems. This is one of those times that it is hard to be so far away. He also has a lot of expenses for this coming year and we are waiting on the Lord to see what He will do.
- Pray for wisdom to both schedule and accomplish a large number of Tok Pisin and tribal language consultant needs.