Just before we left for PNG in 2009, our home church had a commissioning service for us. As part of that service, everyone present grabbed hold of a long thick rope to symbolize that they would be “holding the ropes” for us in prayer. It is encouraging to us that people still occasionally comment to us that they are “holding the ropes”. We need the prayers of our team back home just as much now, if not more!!
To help you pray specifically and knowledgeably, here are some current prayer requests for our family.
1. Next week two of our language and church planting consultants will be flying into our tribe to give us our first language and culture evaluation! These men were in our position not that many years ago – learning a tribal language and subsequently seeing churches planted in the tribes in which they are working. Now on the other side, they are able to help others through the process. We have been studying language (full-time for Bart and part-time for Emily) for a little over 2 months now. While there is still a huge amount that we have to learn, we are encouraged that we have made progress in understanding what we hear and are at least haltingly able to answer and carry on some simple “conversations”. Our consultants will officially evaluate our progress and help us to see if there are areas in which we can improve as we continue on with language and culture study.
**Please pray for us from September 5 – 9 – that this evaluation would give us an accurate picture of where we are in the language and what areas we need to improve on!**
2. Since we moved into Amdu, it has pretty consistently rained just about every night. The gutters on our house send the rain water into a tank (really it’s called a water bladder) under our house. We can then pump it into our house for drinking, bathing and doing dishes and laundry. So far we have not had to be concerned about having enough water. Well, a few days ago we had to begin rationing water for the first time! We had been so used to having plenty of water that it was a bit of a jolt to think that we might run out. Thankfully the Lord provided a good rain last night and we are back to having enough water.
**Please pray that the rains would continue and that we would have the water we need.**
3. Relationships, whether with family members, co-workers or friends, bring opportunities for encouragement and edification as well as for tension and disagreement. It’s just a part of life in our fallen world. It’s pretty rare for people in a close relationship to totally agree and get along 100% of the time. We are ministering here in Amdu as a team of three missionary families. Each family has unique characteristics, abilities and ways of thinking. We work closely together, live very near each other and have many major things regarding tribal ministry and church planting that we have to discuss and decide. Add to all that the stress of living in an isolated place among a group of people who speak, live and think very differently from any of us and it provides the perfect opportunity for division to come up. We know we are in enemy territory! These people live in the darkness of sin and separation from God. And Satan would like them to stay that way. One thing that could hinder the Amdu people from hearing the Truth of God’s Word is if there is division and strife on our team that causes our team to be broken up or be ineffective in the work here. None of us want that to happen!!
**Please pray for our team as we work closely together in this important task of reaching the Amdu people with the Gospel. Pray that our team would be characterized by unity and love that would then flow out to the Amdu people as well. Pray that we would not allow any conflict to remain unresolved. Pray for wisdom as we make decisions and for unity as we work towards the common goal of learning this language and eventually seeing a church planted among the Amdu people.**
4. The only feasible way for us to get in and out of the tribe is by airplane. We were told by a friend here that one “town” that is fairly close by air (15-20 minute flight) would take a week to get to if you had to walk (and of course it would be much more for the missionaries)! So, we are dependent on the flight program of NTM as well as some other organizations. Right now NTMA (New Tribes Mission Aviation) here in PNG is going through a very rough time. There are not enough pilots and mechanics to maintain the airplanes and provide flights for all of the tribal works. Next year we will be losing the larger airplane that is used for medevacs because there will be no pilot to fly it. Currently our team is having to rely on another organization for all of our flight needs – getting supplies, flying in our consultants and getting out for breaks or medical needs. The field of PNG is trying to raise enough money to buy a Kodiak airplane to help cover the needs of the tribal works and also for medevacs. We’ll write more about that in our next post.
**Please pray for the remaining pilots and mechanics as they have a very tough job and are often being stretched to the limit. Pray for more pilots and mechanics to come to PNG! Please pray for the funds for NTM-PNG to be able to purchase a Kodiak airplane. Please pray that we will be able to continue to be supported by other organizations for our flight needs in and out of the tribe.**
Thank you for “holding the ropes” with us as we serve the Lord here in the Amdu tribe of PNG. Your prayer support makes all the difference here. If you pray for us, would you take a few moments to send a note letting us know that? You can use the contact page above if you don’t have our email address. It would be an encouragement to hear from you.