A few days ago the church in Malaumanda experienced the end of an era. Lepasa was an amazing lady. When the Gospel was presented back in 1999 there was no doubt as to whether she understood and embraced the Gospel. She has always been an incredibly strong lady but this applies to more than the work she performed or the loads that she could carry. Even as she got older and older she still had an incredible understanding of Biblical truth. Most Sundays she would sit near the front and closed her eyes for most of the sermon. I wasn’t offended as she was an old lady. The amazing thing is that when I started asking review questions at the end she would open up her eyes and promptly answer all the questions. Incredible! Even when all her teeth were gone she still had a smile that we will all miss. Let me also add that Jim (Pastor) told me that while they did cry at her passing that the body of believers there also rejoiced at her home going.
This news did give a bit of perspective to the ministries that we have here at Lapilo. We only have the energy and opportunities that the Lord gives us today. That doesn’t mean that we don’t plan for tomorrow but we can’t live in our tomorrows. We also can’t accomplish tasks that our Father has given to others but not to us. At times I can struggle with this as I see an abundance of needs. I want to help but it is the Lord who will accomplish…and get the glory.
We do want to thank all of you who so faithfully pray for us as a family. A few of you have stepped in and helped Stephen with some of his Moody Aviation tuition needs. This is huge for him, and for us. This is another area where the Lord is showing us that we are not in control.
Blessings to you all,
Eric and Judith, Stephen, Daniel and Timothy
Prayer and Praise
- Praise that we serve a Faithful, Ever Present God. All our problems are God-sized.
- Pray for Eric as he continues in his role of Lapilo center manager. There never seems to be an end to the challenges and to the opportunities to learn and grow. Pray also that he will be teachable as the Lord leads him through.
- Pray specifically for wisdom as to how we can more effectively train the many citizen employees that we work with each day.
- Praise that the boys are just about done with school for the first term. You can Pray for Daniel specifically that he can get caught up and progress quickly through his Spanish 2 correspondence course. Judith is working with him now so hopefully that will help.
- Pray for Stephen as he has several mid-term tests this coming week. Also Pray for Stephen to find a different job that will allow him to get more hours.
- Pray for the printing to be done of the Malaumanda New Testament. You can also Pray for patience for me as I can be a bit grumpy with the lack of progress.
- Pray for Judith as she is coordinating the meals for our upcoming Sepik conference. She is also overseeing the food for the high school spiritual emphasis week (SEW) that is coming up in early November.
- Pray for our time at Sepik conference.
- Pray for our expenses as we get to the end of this year.
- Pray for the lost and dying world both here in PNG and in the States/Canada. Without the Gospel what hope do we have? What other hope can we give but Christ?