The longer furlough lasted, our time in Papua New Guinea seemed to fade from
reality until our four-year adventure in PNG felt like no more than a fading
dream. Then the day came to jump back into the dream.
When we returned to Papua New Guinea the fading dream did not yet turn into
reality. We lived on a New Tribes’ center for a few weeks, but while we
were now in a different country, it still felt much like home in the states.
We were surrounded by other Americans on the center, living in a comfortable
house with many modern conveniences, near a town with a large shopping
center where you can purchase most anything you might need or want.
Our brief time there came to an end, and a one-hour helicopter ride landed
us in a whole new world, slamming us abruptly back into that fading dream.
As a whole family, we flew into Pal in the morning of February 9th. Crowds
of people gathered to greet us and, as we saw faces and shook hands, their
names slowly poured back into our memories. We haltingly greeted and
conversed with them, attempting to quickly erase thirteen months without
hearing or speaking much Pal. Three hours later we excused ourselves and
entered our abandoned jungle home.
Wonderfully, our house still stood where we had left it, (our house sliding
to the bottom of the hill is a real concern here in the land of mud slides),
the structure standing strong atop the ridge, braced against the pounding
rains and howling winds of the Adelbert mountains. Neither snakes, mice,
nor rats claimed our home as their own. Only a thin layer of dust had
claimed the empty dwelling and we quickly moved in and reclaimed what was
ours.
It is good to be back among our Pal friends and continuing the work here of
seeing them grow in their understanding and love of Christ. We have jumped
right into discipleship, teaching, and translating, along with the continued
schooling of our own kids. Thanks for praying us through the transition
time, and for praying for Maggie’s health.
Maggie’s health at this time is such that she can live and function well
here in the tribe. So, here we will remain until God declares otherwise.
Please pray that we would be able to obtain the medicine Maggie will
continually need. The medicine we brought with us will run out in another
month, and so far much red tape has crossed our path as we seek to resupply
the medicine.
Please continue to pray for the work here. Pray for us as we engage in
tasks that are way beyond our abilities to complete on our own. Pray that
we would rely on our Father and His spirit that he has given us as he guides
us. And pray for the Pal people as they hear the Word of God and learn to
apply it to their lives.
Lastly, some needs have arisen since we returned and we would love some
financial assistance to help us meet these needs. Our fridge that was on
the fritz before we left for furlough has completely bitten the dust. We
are currently borrowing our teammates the Fachners’ fridge while they are on
furlough, but we’ll need to purchase a new one before they return in a few
months. Also, our washing machine (which runs from the power of our solar
panels) takes an agonizing three hours per load. In this land of limited
sunshine, it has become quite the burden and is not meeting our washing
needs. Lastly, as a team, we are looking to build a small office building
so that we three guys can work in close proximity and have a central place
for meeting with Pal believers as we work with them in translation,
discipleship, and teacher training. If God is leading you to financially
aid us, click the ‘give’ link at the top of our homepage and all the
different options for giving will be presented to you. You can include a
quick memo if your gift is for one of these three items.