God is Good in the midst of Challenge

by | Dec 23, 2021 | Family Updates

2021 has been an interesting year for all of us. Lockdowns, restrictions, and just the inability to know what the immediate future holds can lead to a rather unsettled existence. That being said, this year has been an amazing one. We have had so many opportunities to be involved in people’s lives; both here at Lapilo, out in the bush and in Malaumanda. We do have a number of topics to get to so here we go.

Consultant trip
As I mentioned last month, I was scheduled to visit a tribe and do some evaluations for 1 ex-pat couple as well as 10 of their co-workers who are believers from a neighboring tribe. This was a unique opportunity and I really enjoyed my time there with the team. The team is functioning very well and most of them are making good progress in culture and language study. There are young believers from that tribe that helped us with the evaluations which was fun too. This church plant might not be following the same exact procedure that we used in Malaumanda but they are seeing fruit and I am excited about what the Lord is doing there. The picture at the top of the update was from the morning that I left the village.

What will 2022 look like
As we get to the end of one year we then inevitably start looking forward to what the next year will hold. Starting in January we do know that school will start back up for the boys and that I (Eric) will be heading back out to the bush for a couple of consultant trips. Right after those trips then I’ll head into Malaumanda with my co-worker John to do some leadership training and discipleship. It has been a while since we have been in for a visit so we are looking forward to this. Of course, I still have some work to do in my preparation for the lessons but we still have a few weeks to get that taken care of. Also, Judith and I will be working with a new couple as they go through the orientation program. 

2022 will be an interesting one for us as a family. Stephen will be graduating from High School at the end of May and we will be traveling as a family back to the US to get him settled into Moody Aviation (Lord willing). At the end of July, we’ll travel back to PNG to be back in time for the beginning of the next school year. Now all of that sounds simple and straightforward. Unfortunately, international travel is anything but simple and straightforward these days. We haven’t even started looking at tickets yet though that is something that we’ll have to look into after the first of the year. Mandates and restrictions can make this challenging as well so we’ll work to keep you updated on how you can pray.

We do want to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas. We are so very thankful for each of you who hold us up in prayer and give so faithfully to our ministry.

In Him,

Eric and Judith, Stephen, Daniel and Timothy

I gave Bosco a few Bible verses to explain and teach to one of the local men.
I had Selu do simple things like counting how many bananas there were. I attempted to make this as fun as possible.
I spent time evaluating several ladies as well.
I spent some time with the whole group sharing from the Word and encouraging them.
This sort of evaluation was something new to these tribal church planters and they were all pretty tired by the end of each session.

Prayer and Praise

  • Praise for all that God has done in 2021.
  • Pray for Eric as he is trying to get caught up on write ups, Bible lessons and consultant materials. I am wanting to get everything done before I head out again.
  • Praise that the boys are done with school for this term. They did pretty well and are enjoying their time away.
  • Pray for Stephen as he is in the midst of his last Christmas here in PNG. Actually he will be going through a lot of ‘lasts’ in the next several months. He is excited and yet it will be a hard transition.
  • Pray about a conflict that is going on in one of the communities here near Lapilo. Quite a few of the workers here at Lapilo are not able to come to work until it gets resolved. This is not too uncommon in PNG but it is sad to see.
  • Pray also for one of the tribal groups that NTM works with here in PNG. The Mibu tribe is suffering from a serious law and order problem in their area that has a group of criminals attacking people, burning houses and stealing. The police are involved but it is no small matter to deal with these sorts of problems. Pray specifically for the many believers who are effected by these criminals.
  • Praise that covid 19 has just about stopped in this area of PNG. There are very few restrictions. We are hoping that this continues.
  • Pray for me as I head into Malaumanda in January with John.
  • Pray for the final formatting work to be done on the Malaumanda New Testament. My part is basically done but I am still waiting for the official formatting folks to complete the final tasks.
  • Pray for 2022 to be a year that will see the Gospel of Christ grow and expand in its influence here in PNG.
  • Praise that we ended this year fully supported. This has not always been the case and we are thankful to God and Humbled by all of you that sacrifice for our life and ministry here.
On the 23rd we had some people over to do gingerbread houses with us. Stephen and Daniel did a truck instead but I think that was just for the purpose of loading up the truck with Skittles and M&Ms. Boys will be boys!