Homeward Bound!

Just one week until we board the plane here in the Sepik of Papua New Guinea to head out on our trip around the world! We are excited to start our Home Assignment in North America… to see our family and friends and update ya’ll about what God is doing in the Sepik!

Thanks for praying! God continues to heal and strengthen us for these last days here in PNG. Jacob has finished all but one project… just a bit more mudding today on the water resistant dry wall in an apartment next door. Hopefully the dry wall and the hard wood in the bathroom will keep the termites far away so no one has to redo the bathroom again next year! Also, we are very thankful for the Depner family. They arrived this past week! They work with a tribal group on an island, but they have moved here to the NTM Center for a few months so that Thomas Depner can take Jacob’s place doing maintenance and security until our co-workers, Bill and Jen Morlang return in January. So Jacob will be showing Thomas the ropes this week and passing everything on to him!

Beth has handed over everything in the Business office to our co-worker, Hope, and she is doing a fine job! So thankful for that! Our house is looking bare but messy at the same time and we have made a lot of progress packing! Pray we can finish up all the last items this week!

It has been a crazy 2 ½ years of adjustments, unexpected blessings, challenges and crazy circumstances but God has shown Himself faithful in so many ways! And we have learned so much about our walks with Him in our daily lives and His promise of provision when big things happen or hard times come our way.

We want to ask for wisdom and strength as we journey back. We board four planes and make stops in Hong Kong and Germany along the way. We are excited to see our friends as we travel and excited to watch Jonathan as he takes it all in! But pray we can keep some sort of schedule for him so he doesn’t get too overwhelmed with all the changes.:)

Since our miscarriage we have prayed about changing our home assignment schedule a bit. We will still arrive just in time for American Thanksgiving! And we will still do some traveling back and forth between Nova Scotia and Massachusetts during the holidays. But then we are praying about a big road trip south starting in mid-January to PA, VA, TN, KY, MO, IN, MI, OH, NY and then up to Durham, ON Canada. At the end of February we hope to end up in Durham, ON which will be the beginning of Jacob’s 6 months in Canada in order to establish his residency. We will be back in Nova Scotia mid-March. We look forward to visitors while we are in Nova Scotia! Then we will move to MA at the end of August until our return to PNG. At this point we are unsure when that will be, because we are praying that God will give us another little one!

Please let us know if you would like us to stop in for a visit on our road trip or anytime while we are home. Or if you would like us to share about what God is doing in the Sepik of Papua New Guinea in your church, small group or Sunday school in the next year.

Praises!
-A God who sent His Son to die for our sins and rose him up so that we could have daily life abundantly and
REST in Him!
-Jonathan is handling our packing very well and excited to fly in the “big jet airplane”. :)_
-God’s continued provision for our needs moment by moment!
-God’s provision for our tickets to North America for home assignment!
-Arrival the Depner family to help out for a few months!
-Bill Morlang, co-worker, had a successful knee surgery and will arrive back with his wife, Jen, in January!

Prayer requests:
-Ability to choose gratitude instead of our default of ingratitude in the circumstances of our daily lives.
-Rest in God as we enjoy being parents each day.
-Continued healing and finances to replace all of the stolen electronics after the robbery.
-Wisdom as Jacob passes on his responsibilities to Thomas Depner this week.
-Wisdom as the Shonteres decide the best treatment for Courtney’s back issues. So they can return quickly!
-Ability to finish packing and wrapping up our ministries here before we leave next week!
-Smooth flights over the next few weeks as we travel home.
-Healing of our friend, Elissa, so she can work full time in PNG.
-Logistics and planning that is involved in traveling around the world and living in our home countries for a time.
-God would continue to raise up more missionaries to come to the Sepik and bring the Gospel to those who have never heard it their own heart language.
-More labors to minister to the Bena people.

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement!

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” 1 Corinthians 4:17