This month we have some exciting things to share with you concerning what the Lord is doing here in PNG. It is an honor and a privilege to be a part of what God is doing here even if at times it isn’t terribly comfortable. More on that later.
Every year or so the tribal churches in the Sepik get together for a time of teaching and mutual encouragement. Because of the challenges and expense of traveling this is usually broken up into two meetings – the upper Sepik and lower Sepik. This year one of the churches nearer to Malaumanda, Yembi Yembi, invited leaders and their wives from all of the churches in the Sepik to come to Yembi for a leadership conference. There were 15 different people groups and close to 300 people who attended the conference.
During the conference, we met from 8 am til noon and then again in the afternoons. The speakers were two PNG church leaders from the province of West New Britain and one missionary who regularly works with them to encourage the national church. It was a great time to be exhorted to be leaders functioning as a part of the grand plan of God.
Our co-workers, Bob Kennell and John Hutteman, were also there so we had many opportunities to sit down with the Malaumandans and discuss some issues that are in the church at the moment. We also included some mature leaders from the Waxe and Bisorio churches to help us discuss the topics. There were a lot of these sorts of discussions during the weekend.
We do want to share one more exciting bit of info. As you probably know from past updates, we have been in a seemingly endless holding pattern concerning the printing of the Malaumanda Bible. Well, a bit earlier this month that scenario took a significant change for the better. Lord willing we should have a quotation for the print job by next week. Once that is in hand then we can determine if we have the funds necessary for the project and move ahead towards seeing this project completed. Our hope is that we can get the Bibles to us by the end of the year so that a Bible Dedication can be scheduled before we head on home assignment in late May of 2024. There are a lot of details that have to fall into place in order to see that happen but we will trust the Lord to see that happen.
In Him,
Eric and Judith, Stephen, Daniel, and Timothy
Prayer and Praise
- Praise the Lord for the health and strength that He has given us to serve here in PNG.
- Pray for the quotation for the printing of the Malaumanda New Testament to come through quickly. Pray also for all the logistics related to getting this project done and Bibles into the hands of the believers BEFORE May of 2024.
- Pray for the boys as they have one month left before school is out for this school year. There will be a LOT of challenging transitions for them as they say goodbye to friends who are leaving on home assignment.
- Pray also for them to be faithful til the end of their classes.
- Praise/Pray for Stephen as he too has 1 month left in his first year at Moody Aviation. He has some decisions to make as to where he will be in June and July and what he will be doing. Pray specifically that he can find a job that will give him a LOT of hours.
- Pray for us as we will be moving down to Wewak right after school gets out. We’ll be there for the month of June and for half of July to help out with the needs there.
- Pray for Judith as she balances helping out in the school as well as engaging with ladies here in the center.
- Pray for wisdom as we engage with the Malaumanda church from afar. We have two specific items that need our attention. We need to build a new teacher’s office and then we also need to spend some time with one of the men who stepped down from leadership last year.
