{"id":280,"date":"2017-07-06T08:04:12","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T13:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/?p=280"},"modified":"2017-07-06T08:04:12","modified_gmt":"2017-07-06T13:04:12","slug":"death-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/2017\/07\/06\/death-taxes\/","title":{"rendered":"Death & Taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking of his hope for the permanency of the (at the time) relatively new U.S. Constitution, Benjamin Franklin once wrote in a letter, \u201c\u2026in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death<\/em> and taxes<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 In much of today\u2019s world change<\/em> could easily be added to that list.\u00a0 Though we live and minister on the other side of the world from the place we call \u201chome,\u201d these earthly \u201cconstants\u201d remain.\u00a0 They are not cause for throwing in the towel and assuming an Eeyore-like approach to life, however.\u00a0 They instead spur us on in our faith, encouraging us to hold evermore dearly to the surety of what we hope for and the certainty of what our eyes have not yet seen.<\/p>\n

DEATH<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Amy, and our two youngest kids had the opportunity to spend part of their spring break in North Wahgi visiting one of the families who ministers among the people there.\u00a0 While there, they heard about the fighting which had happened recently between two of the villages there.\u00a0 It began over a refusal to lend some money (less than $2) and escalated to an all-out battle between these neighboring villages.<\/p>\n

In the course of this, in order to escape the fighting, some people from one of the villages came to stay with people from the church where this missionary family lives.\u00a0 While they were there, they were invited to hear the Foundational Bible Teaching (where they teach through Creation to Christ to present the gospel in the full context of the whole of Scripture).\u00a0 Two of these men believed and became new brothers in Christ.\u00a0 They went back to their village and told their families and others that they needed to hear this teaching because it is unlike anything they had ever heard.<\/p>\n

On the Saturday night that Amy and the kids were there, they received word that one of the men, Wallup, had been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer.\u00a0 After church they went with the believers from the North Waghi church to visit him and his family in their home.\u00a0 The missionary told the family that he knew they would want to blame someone for his death (he didn’t know it, but some were already planning to blame the man’s 2nd wife).\u00a0 He went on to explain that these things happen because sin entered the world with Adam and Eve, and though the believers there were sad that Wallup was dying, they knew where he would go.\u00a0 He would be with Jesus, but that was not true for the rest of them.\u00a0 He told them that they wanted to bring the teaching to them and encouraged them to listen.<\/p>\n

On Friday of that same week Wallup went to be with Jesus.\u00a0 We are thankful that the end came quickly for him as there is no hospice care here, but even more thankful that he was a believer.\u00a0 The North Wahgi church is planning to resume an outreach to this area in the coming weeks as the elections pass and things go back to normal.\u00a0 Please pray with us that many will attend, listen, and respond to the Gospel.<\/p>\n

TAXES<\/strong> \u2013 Being self-employed clergy, living overseas means there\u2019s a whole new set of rules and regulations which govern what we owe our government in taxes each year.\u00a0 Just a quick glance at it and it was clear, trying to bumble through it all on our own with some tax-prep software was not going to cut it this time.\u00a0\u00a0 How thankful we are for the team of dedicated professionals who work in our home office Tax Department.\u00a0 Their ministry investment in supporting us in the field allows us to invest in supporting those in the bush which allows those who have yet to hear the Gospel not only listen to the message, but respond, and grow to maturity in their walk with our Father.<\/p>\n

CHANGE<\/strong> \u2013 As we close in on our first year serving here in PNG, folks keep asking us things like, \u201cSo you feel settled in to your ministry here?\u201d or \u201cYou think you\u2019re hitting your stride yet in your ministry here?\u201d\u00a0 Uh\u2026no.<\/p>\n

We kicked off our time here with 2 \u00bd months of language and culture study, classes in the mornings and self-study in the afternoons.\u00a0 After that, I was off to the hangar and Amy was at home on the \u201cponderosa\u201d (as we like to refer to the support center where we live), both trying to figure out what this new normal was going to look like.\u00a0 I was learning the ropes as an aircraft mechanic here and Amy was getting involved in ministries around the campus.\u00a0 At the hangar and at home there\u2019s a lot going on\u2026at the hangar there are planes to sell \u2013 inspect – fix, new jobs like taking on the Maintenance Controller role, preparing to fill in occasionally for the Flight Coordinator (as our backup became the primary), and preparing to fill in for our CEO during his home assignment next year.\u00a0 At home Amy\u2019s juggling the all the household responsibilities without many of the conveniences we\u2019re all accustomed to in the US, and still doing things like reading to kids at the school, hosting women\u2019s fellowships each month, and going through Chronological Bible Teaching with her friend from the community who she\u2019s also leading through a literacy course.<\/p>\n

Our sending organization\u2019s name has even changed, from New Tribes Mission to Ethnos360 (though its vision and purpose remain unwaveringly focused on going wherever is needed to see a thriving church among every people).\u00a0 This means that we\u2019re now serving with New Tribes Mission Aviation and sent by Ethnos360 to support the work of New Tribes Mission PNG as they work to see God\u2019s Gospel brought to the unreached and new believers brought to maturity.<\/p>\n

In a dynamic environment like this we may never never \u201chit our stride,\u201d but we rest assured God will give us the grace and strength to \u201ctake it all in stride\u201d as we work to bring Him glory in all we do.\u00a0 Whatever the Lord brings our way, we count it a privilege to run this race together with each of you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speaking of his hope for the permanency of the (at the time) relatively new U.S. Constitution, Benjamin Franklin once wrote in a letter, \u201c\u2026in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.\u201d\u00a0 In much of today\u2019s world change could easily be added to that list.\u00a0 Though we live and minister […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1057,"featured_media":282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,34019],"tags":[1162],"class_list":["post-280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-family","category-ministry","category-the-journey","tag-change","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1057"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}