Our first Easter in Papua New Guinea finds us encouraged in the Lord and challenged with fresh thoughts and images of Christ enduring the cross with His gaze firmly locked on the joy that was set before him. These fresh thoughts and images come mainly from the reading of The Master: A Life of Jesus http://www.amazon.com/Master-Life-Jesus-John-Pollock/dp/0896932443/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1303865769&sr=8-2 by John Pollock. We highly recommend the book to all of you. In reading it we have stumbled on a good annual, family tradition.
Other familiar traditions are being maintained in the Hatton household. We had fun including Meta in our egg decorating. As our children get older we are trying to help them grow in their awareness of the significance of these special days. Tiernan (our 4 nearly 5 year old) is getting a good grasp on what Easter is all about. During a Skype session with his Granny in Ireland, he informed her that “Jesus rised” on Easter.
Other special days that we have celebrated this past month are the days that we have received packages from home. We’ve been spoiled this month by some dear friends in America who have been thinking of us. We are so thankful for the ways that many of you express your love for our family. Among the many treats that we dug out of these boxes were pepperoni sticks, magazines for Mom, fun things for the kids, and chocolate chips! It’s great to be loved! Thank you so much!!
Our annual, regional conference was another great experience for our family. Every family from our region came together for five packed days of fun and encouragement. A team from the States visited especially to take care of all the kids so that the grown-ups could enjoy some time together during the mornings. They pumped our kids full of sugar and ran them around each day doing games and activities. It was a great experience for our children. Ron and Carrie Lindsay came and challenged us each day from the Word and their own lives. They were serving the Lord for years here in the Sepik. Having them return to challenge us was a real treat. Along with the daily meetings there was lots of fellowship and fun as we got to know the rest of our Sepik co-workers.
Since then, for the past month, Benjamin has been working on a new project. Since he has completed his language study he was asked to give his energy to assessing the needs of the region to try and determine where the next church planting team (hopefully us) should allocate. He is working alongside Tony Sutton and some others who have experience in this. It is exciting work that calls for a lot of research and field work that will see Benjamin visiting some pretty remote areas of the Sepik region in search for the next people group for us to work with. We will dedicate our next update to giving you more details, pictures and footage of this process so that you can be praying with us effectively.
We are continually aware of our need for miracles these days. The work of church planting in a tribal location is an extreme ministry that requires more than we have to give. We’re asking the Lord to provide for us so that we can continue to move forward in this endeavor. Without each of you standing behind us we couldn’t manage any of this. Thank you for your faithful sacrifice on our behalf. We are deeply grateful.
Benjamin and Missy Hatton