We are feeling refreshed and ready for all that God has in store for us over the next months, after a cool, relaxing break in the Highlands at an NTM Home Office guest home. We are very thankful for the opportunities God has given us to rest, enjoy good food and hang out with friends. We were even able to take care of a few doctor’s appointments while we were there too. We enjoyed visiting our Bena friends who live around the Interface campus (where Jacob and I met and worked before moving to the Sepik). They were quite excited to see Jonathan and Naomi! We continue to pray for missionaries to join David and Wendy Lee and take over the work there, so that more Bena can join the family of God!
After five years, we were able to step foot on the old Interface campus. Our Bena friends were telling us that they have sold the Interface campus to a Lutheran mission so that they can use it for a Teachers’ College. They told us that we should go and look at it because they have been working hard every day to clean it up to get it ready for the sale. So we decided to do it, it was very sad, very surreal and really hard to describe the feelings we had. We left in July 2012 expecting our first child and expecting to return to a ministry at Interface. But we only now returned to a deserted, unkempt campus with broken windows boarded up. They have been burning the tall grass down in order to clean it up… so the lawn was no longer a lawn. We are thankful that God moved us to the Sepik and excited about all that we get to be a part of here. And we are excited that the Interface program continues to run in a different area of PNG with great success!
Praises!
-Arrival of the Hutteman family, our co-workers!
-Naomi, is now 13 months, she is healthy and crawling and walking a few steps at a time! No side effects from her NCM condition!
-Naomi takes good naps and goes to bed easily, as long as she is not too hot or too cold. 🙂
-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!
-God’s continued provision for our needs moment by moment!
-Celebrated American Thanksgiving with friends; roast chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, veggies, rolls and pumpkin pie!
-Finances for 45% increase of our medical insurance have been provided!
-Two supporting church families have increased their giving – our support has gone up 15%!
-Our new Ethnos Canada medical insurance will cover the cost of Beth and Naomi’s flights and lodging for Naomi’s yearly medical trip to Brisbane!
Prayer requests:
-Chen family, co-workers on an island nearby, as they recently found out that Gail Chen’s cancer has returned and it is worse this time.
-Amdu team as they teach literacy classes and prepare lessons for teaching the good news chronologically.
-Two new missionary teams as they continue on in the long process of learning the language and culture.
-Naomi would sleep through the night every night!
-Wisdom as we start Jonathan’s education
-Jacob at work… ability to balance work with rest, and prioritizing all that needs to be done.
-That we would remember that God holds everything together including us! And He is working all around us!
-Rest in God as we enjoy being parents of two children!
-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 laborers to minister to the Bena people.
Happy Thanksgiving to all our American family and friends!
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