With the beginning of 2020 we are both excited to see what God is going to do in the new year and overwhelmed by our need of Him to see everything fall into place. That isn’t a bad thing. There are many circumstances that we find ourselves in that can only have a God sized answer. When God does accomplish His purposes then all glory to Him. One other nugget of truth that I have been reminded of of late is that there is no substitute for me simply submitting myself wholly to God. That is my rights, ‘wisdom’, attitudes and actions have to be grounded/founded in Him. And on top of that I need to submit myself in love to my brothers and sisters in Christ. Wow! No small order is it?! It is fun to see when it happens, and makes life so much more enjoyable.
This month has had a couple of interesting opportunities. Stephen got signed up for driver’s ed and has started that. He already had more than 60 hours of driving before he started the class so he is well on his way toward becoming a good driver. He should be done with the course in March and will get his license in April. This is a major praise as when we return to the US after his graduation in 2022 he should be set up and ready to transition into independent life here in the States.
You can see from the picture above that we spent some time up in the snow as a family. This is something that we have wanted to do for a very long time. While living in PNG the closest we get to this is by sticking our head in the chest freezer. We had the use of a nice condo near the town of Sisters for 3 nights and spent most of one day up at the Santiam Pass snow park. The boys did a bit of sledding but then decided that it was more fun to live out their inner hobbit. Even when we weren’t in the snow we had a great time as a family.
Thanks so much for your prayers and support.
Eric and Judith, Stephen, Daniel and Timothy
Eric & Judith at Santiam Pass snow park 
The guys at Santiam Pass snow park 
Daniel at his 14th Birthday 
Daniel received an electronics project starter kit and has enjoyed working on it.
Prayer and Praise
- Praise that the boys continue to be doing well in school. Stephen has exams this coming week so we are praying that he will do well.
- Praise that we had a great time up at the snow. This has been on our family bucket list for a long time.
- Pray for me (Eric) as I have just a few more, though rather time consuming, steps before I send off the translation to the folks who are doing the final formatting.
- Pray for Judith and I as we have some opportunities to speak this coming month. Pray specifically that we can find a good balance to our schedule as the boys seem to have a fair few things that they are involved in; especially Stephen.
- Praise/Prayer that our support has come up. We are still lacking a bit over $700/month. We are so thankful for everyone who is supporting us and those who hold us up in prayer.
- Pray for wisdom as we look to purchase plane tickets to head back to PNG in late June. We have seen some tickets that were a pretty good deal though they go through Hong Kong and Singapore which doesn’t seem like a great idea at the moment.
- Pray for our family. Eric’s younger sister is struggling with mental health issues. Judith’s Dad has some heart related issues and is waiting for an appointment. Judith’s brother in law just had a heart attack and is recovering from that. Eric’s Uncle Carl is in the hospital with the doctors trying to determine what his current sickness is about.
- Pray also for a believer and leader in the Malaumanda church by the name of Albert. He is a younger man with a wife and a number of kids. The doctors have told him that he has a terminal disease of the liver and sent him back to the bush. It is impossible for us to know what is wrong but we can certainly pray for God’s healing.