While many of you are enjoying winter with white snow and cold days, we are enjoying rainy season with lots of rain and muck! The green mountains and flowers that God has created are a great reminder of His amazing love and power. It is nice to be surrounded by lots of green grass, unless you drive over it… then it turns to muck! And laundry day is a totally different story then dry season. 🙂 But we are thankful for the rain! Beth remembers the year of the great drought when our well went dry. We are thankful for our drinking water!
Our new co-workers arrived yesterday! They will be spending their first weeks at the New Tribes Mission’s main center. It will be a time of orientation to the culture and language and getting to know all the “ins and outs” of how New Tribes Mission works in the country. They will also visit the capital of the province, Goroka, and see the different stores and types of food and goods that are available. It is always a fun and exciting time but it can be overwhelming as well!
Things are going well for Jacob. He has taken up dog training in his spare time. Here on campus we have several dogs. They are pets, but they also guard the shop and the campus when we aren’t around. Unfortunately, some dogs don’t get along too well so when they get loose by accident we have a big dog fight on our hands. So, Jacob has taken on the ambitious project of keeping our dogs from fighting. And hopefully training them how to guard the houses and shops like they are supposed to. He doesn’t have much experience in this area but is trying his best. If you happen to know of any good resources to train dogs then he would be happy to hear about them. He is also praying about the possibility of taking a dog training course when we go on home assignment in just 7 months!
Speaking of Home Assignment Beth is busy planning our schedule. There is a lot that has to come together; speaking at churches, visiting family, visiting supporters, checking in at the New Tribes Mission Home office in Ontario, getting a presentation together, etc. One of the biggest challenges is the price of the plane tickets but we are excited to see how God will provide. When we look back on our lives we see how He has done so much more than we could ever imagine and it is comforting to know that He never changes and nothing surprises Him.
Beth is also getting ready to train her replacements, Cherie Peachy and daughter. (and hopefully a volunteer named Anna too!) We are very grateful that God provided this family to take over Beth’s responsibilities and are looking forward to working with them. She has also been keeping busy with contacting alumni and finding out where they are and what they are up to. It is fun for her to find out all God has done in their lives since their time here at Interface. And she enjoys being able to encourage the Alumni through email. In the future being in contact with all our Alumni will help Interface evaluate how effective it is being and hopefully provide some solid, up to date statistics on our program and the students that complete it.
The campus is pretty empty now. Our co-workers, Jack and Janie, had a medical emergency and have just gone back to the states. That leaves just us, the Doerksen family, Julie Koop and the three German interns here to hold down the fort. So, we are really looking forward to the return of the Scholls, and the arrival of the Rays and the Peachys. Having three more families around here will really help with the work load.
We appreciate your prayers and support. If you would like to meet with us while we are on furlough please write and let us know!
Praises!
– Ray Family has arrived in PNG! They will be at the NTM center for the first few weeks to start their orientation and culture and language study.
– The Peachy family has their work permits, visas and are in the process of purchasing tickets!
– Little Levi Scholl’s visa has come through! The Scholl family will return Feb 15th!
– Hank and Margaret Demark, Lesley Doerksen’s parents, will be coming to visit! Hank is an expert with cement so the guys will be replacing the classroom floor in Feb!!
– Anna has applied to come to PNG… she would like to help in the kitchen while we are on home assignment.
– Jonny, Marco and Diemo, our German Interns, a huge help with everything that needs to be done!
– Great team of co-workers!
– Slower pace of work to tackle projects that have been on the back burner for a long time!
– The Bena church is meeting every Sunday and Wed mornings now!! David Lee, missionary to the Bena, is here visiting for 6 weeks from Australia!
– God’s faithfulness and perfect plan for His children! God’s provision for our needs moment by moment. God’s amazing blessings!
– Wonderful friends and family who are always praying and supporting us!
Prayer:
– That God would grow us closer together and closer to Him each day.
– Interface students at home, that God would continue to grow them closer to Him as they reflect on all God has taught them.
-Janie Miles, co-worker, back in the USA for her home assignment. Pray that she has an encouraging and restful time at home.
-Marco, Jonathan and Diemo continually adjusting to life at Interface, learning English, North American culture and PNG culture!!
– Rays as they adjust to life in PNG.
– Peachy family as they travel over with 4 kids to join our staff.
-Jack and Janie Housley, they went home unexpectedly because of white spots found in Janie’s mouth, pray as they have follow up appointments with doctors!
-Anna, short term volunteer, as she applies to be an Interface student and stay to help in the kitchen.
-Staff unity as we continue to learn how to work together as a team, especially as new staff join our team.
– Jacob, as he and Pete, continue to work together in the workshop organizing work projects and overseeing the Interns.
-Wisdom and strength as the guys tear up the old classroom floor in preparation for the new floor being poured in Feb!!
– Continued peace among the villages.
– Provision for tickets… we need to buy the tickets by Feb 6th in order to obtain a good price!
– Provision for a car during our time at home, August 2012 – April 2013
– Provision for an apartment while home in MA, USA – November 2012 – March 2013.
– Rich and Dawn Foster and family as they at home on home assignment and adjusting to life. The Bena believers to continue to walk with God while the Fosters are away.
– God would enable us to live for Him moment by moment by doing ALL things through Him and nothing at all in own strength.
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