Dear Faithful partners,
After 3 days away, it’s back to work. Our time away was very relaxing. It’s amazing how relaxing it can be to sit by the ocean and just listen to the waves. The Lord gave us beautiful weather. The ocean was very clear. We even got out snorkeling one of the days.
This past week we met with each of the 4 orientation couples to spend time talking about their transition and adjustments. We had each of them take the CernySmith assessment. This assessment measures who they are doing in 5 areas;
- 1-2. Foundation and Resilience – This looks at their self care, and how they are doing coping with life.
- 3-4 Relational and Cultural – This looks at their relationships. How are they managing their relationships in their family, their extended family, and across cultures in the PNG context.
- 5 – Organization -How are they doing in relationship to the organization.N
It was really neat to go through this exercise with each one and watch the Lord highlight areas that are strengths for each of them, and areas that are challenges. Over the next few months we will be working with each family to improve in the areas of challenge they identified as the ones God was pointing out in their life. Pray for us as we shepherd each of these families.
Prayer Requests
- Pray for the Cyphers family. Last week I mentioned our dear friend Sandee who had a heart attack. Sunday evening last week, the family agreed to taker her off life support. She passed away not too much later. Pray for her husband Dyke, and their family.
- Continue to pray for the situation here in PNG regarding the on-going travel restrictions. Pray things will lighten up by August for those who are hoping to return.
- Pray for Robin and I as we begin the one-on-one formal discipleship with these families. Pray the Lord will bring to the surface the things that need to be talked about. Pray we will have the boldness to say the things that need to be said, and that He will direct us to the right questions to ask.
- Pray for Hannah and Noah. This week is the due date for baby Kay!
- Pray for our students as they begin language and culture study. Pray for healthy consistent relationships. Pray that they will be culturally sensitive.
- Pray for me also, that I will make the time to get out and learn language also.
News
This past week was not very profitable for me in the area of language learning. With trying to meet with each of the families, as well as getting ready for our break, I didn’t get out in the village at all for language study. Hopefully this week will be a little better.
One of our consultants came down this past week to help give our families some direction for language learning. He went out with them and showed them how to initiate a language learning session. They were all very encouraged with his help. I am looking forward to trying some of the things he suggested too.
So far I have learned the basic greetings, and about 20 vocabulary words. Here’s a couple examples of the greetings:
- Good Morning = tudomungua
- Good Afternoon = shishagua (except the “sh” sound is made with the tip of your tongue touching the roof of your mouth instead of the front of your mouth)
This is going to be quite an adventure.
