School Break and Travels to Come

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Hang out time during school break!

Beginning of the Gym Project – work team is coming!

Jonathan and Jacob with their instructor

School’s famous people dress up date – Julie Childs

Hanging out with long time Sepik friends

Happy 6th Grade Graduation!

A year ago today we tried to celebrate Jacob’s birthday but Beth was full of many different emotions as she scrambled to get things wrapped up here, so she could head home to be with her family for her sister’s funeral. We are thankful that we can be together and enjoy a celebration weekend of Jacob’s birthday this year. But last summer was a crazy summer and a very hard time for our family. Its hard to believe it has been a year without Sarah. But we are thankful that she is happier now and enjoying life with her Savior in heaven.

We don’t know for sure what this long school break has in store for us. But we know that we have a loving God, so we wait to see and enjoy whatever it is. For now we have plans to head out to Brisbane, Australia on June 12^th to take care of some medical check ups for Naomi and Beth. Please pray that all test results come back clear. Then we will enjoy a week break in Brisbane. We are thankful that for the week of Naomi’s appointments we have the privilege of living across the street at the Ronald McDonald House. We have stayed there in the past for our three other visits to the Brisbane Children’s Hospital.

After our time in Brisbane we will head back to PNG, but we will stay put in Port Moresby, the capital of PNG, for three weeks to help Nate out at the NTM Centre. We are thankful that he will be gaining co-workers in January! Please pray that we will be a help while we are in POM and enjoy some good family time as well. We will return to Goroka two weeks before school begins again to help welcome friends back and welcome new missionaries to PNG!

Since our last update, Jonathan and Naomi have been enjoying school projects, Tang Soo Do Tournament, twin dress up day, learning new musical instruments, famous people dress up day, Aviation field trips, graduation from 6^th grade pool party, many fun time with friends and all the lasts at school. We are sad to say goodbye for now to some friends who are heading home for a few months or a year, but we are excited to welcome back some good friends this July/August!

Jacob has been working with three citizen carpenters in the joinery doing a lot of training on the basics while building a floor, walls, counter tops, fixing many tools, and making a straight line rip saw out of the old table saw. He has also been involved in training another security dog for one of our out-stations, repairing broken doors, lights, and fixing our golf cart tire once again. We are so thankful for the provision of a couple of new tires.

Beth has been up to her usual … overseeing the guesthouse staff, cooking dinners, organizing airport runs, attending management meetings, helping our kids with homework, and planning the time we will be away. She also added in a new employee, Simau, as a prep cook/cleaner to the guesthouse team. Simau is fitting in well! We are thankful for a few ladies who will be able to oversee the citizen ladies that will cook and clean for the guests while we are gone for 5 weeks.

We are privileged to be a part of assisting the church planting work by hosting many different people at the guesthouse: Bible translators, returning itinerant missionaries, Ethnos360 Aviation, new church planters, teachers, friends from our days in the Sepik who have established churches, friends and family visiting missionaries, co-workers getting ready to leave and cleaning out their houses, missionaries from Gospel Fellowship Association, and US Embassy staff. Next week we also have a few former missionary kids, with their families, returning after many years away for a Memorial Service done by the believers in the village where they grew up. They will attend a memorial dedication to their parents who passed away this year and worked there in the village for many years.

Before we head out on June 12^th we are excited to say that we have a work team of 9 people here at the guesthouse from one of our co-workers churches. Jacob is helping lead the team as they do some renovations on the gym. They are only working for four days, but they are getting a lot of work done!! Please pray they can finish the job in the next two days!

Praises! 

• Opportunity to host many people from all over the world!
• Opportunity to host a work team here to renovate the gym.
• Many of our leadership roles have been filled.
• The 3 carpenters in the joinery are learning.
• The workshop’s joinery tools are working and the shop is functioning!
• Thankful for our Guesthouse team of four citizen ladies who cook, clean, organize and buy market produce, our citizen driver who does guest airport runs.
• The Guesthouse golf cart is up and running again!
• Another couple will join the Port Moresby Centre team in January so our good friend Nate will have co-workers on site!
• Increase in in monthly support! Half the funds for our Brisbane tickets and lodging have come in!
• A God who loves us so much He continues to guide us in our steps day by day and moment by moment.
• Because we are God’s children we have abundant daily life and REST in Him.
• God’s continued provision for our needs moment by moment!

 Prayer requests: 

• We need Teachers, Doctors, Mechanics, Maintenance Management (long term)!
• Wisdom, strength and healing in life transitions for Jacob’s parents, Stanley and Cheryl Devine.
• Healing and comfort for Beth’s family and parents, Dennis and Corrine Weaver, as they grieve the loss of Sarah, their daughter, one year ago.
• Wisdom, strength and safety as Jacob trains three citizen carpenters in the joinery and is involved in various projects at the Guesthouse.
• Citizen carpenters will keep learning and building confidence in their work.
• The workshop’s joinery tools will continue to work and the shop will continue to function.
• Missionaries to manage and train in the Maintenance of our center.
• Wisdom in making good decisions as Beth represents our coworkers on both the school and community councils.

• Ability for Beth to balance all the different aspects of ministries that she is involved in… Guesthouse, Family and School life
• Rest of the finances for our medical trip to Brisbane (flights and lodging) in June 12-28 for Naomi and Beth’s medical check ups.
• All medical checks to go well.
• Finances to become 100% supported… we are in need of only $270/month which is about 10 people giving $27 or 5 people giving $54 a month.
• That we would remember that God holds everything together including us! And He is working all around us.
• Wisdom and Love as we teach our children how to walk with God daily.
• God would continue to raise up more missionaries to come to the PNG and bring the Gospel to those who have never heard it their own heart language.
• More laborers to minister to the Bena people.