Shari’s South Asia GO Trip
What an encouraging trip it was for our GO team. We are thankful to the Lord for the opportunity to be a blessing to friends from our local fellowship who have lived and served the Lord faithfully in South Asia for many years. The day after our team arrived, we were able to be involved in a marriage conference held at the Bible college where our friends teach and minister to students representing a few different countries. There were also believers who came from several churches in the province, some from about six hours away. It was such a joy to have the opportunity to help lead the singing and to share with the ladies from God’s Word including her testimony of how God has worked in my life over the years. I loved meeting different sisters in Christ and getting to hear some of their stories as well.
The following Monday the Jungle Journey Cruise VBS began, and each day the kids learned about a different key event in Biblical history. It was great to see about 25-32 kids from ages 2-17 coming for five days and listening to the Bible lessons, singing songs with Biblical truths, doing crafts, and playing games. I enjoyed getting to work with the youngest group of about 10-13 preschool kids each day and was thankful that a few of their moms stayed to help. Another highlight was being invited to share the Simbari Bible dedication video with the students at the Bible college as well as our friends’ local fellowship, and to see how encouraging it was for them to hear of the impact of God’s Word among the Simbari people.
Introducing Grandkids #7 and #8
In July we welcomed Dakota Liv born to Simon and Chandler and little sister to Colson and Eisley. They live nearby so we have been blessed to be able to see them and babysit the grandkids fairly often.
A few weeks ago Shari flew up to Oregon to help our daughter Esther and her husband Tim who had just welcomed a new little boy to their family. Older siblings, Daniel and Talia were happy to meet their new little brother, Christopher David, who made his appearance the day before Grandma Shari arrived. Grandpa David drove up to Oregon to join the family for Thanksgiving and to enjoy lots of snuggles with the three grandkids. It was a very special time!
PNG trip plans
We have begun looking at potential dates for travelling to PNG early next year to visit our Simbari brothers and sisters and get some much-needed projects done. We have been in communication with the field and just when we were ready to set a date we got a letter about the country-wide fuel shortage becoming critical again. We can’t get in or out of our remote location without fuel for the mission aircraft (and hiking isn’t an option). So we will have to check up on fuel availability later and we are hoping and praying for enough fuel to make the trip sometime in the 1st quarter of the year. We have heard that getting visas will be a little easier this time so that should help if we need to travel with short notice.
