Heading to the capital of PNG
Happy Birthday to Jacob!
Happy Mother’s Day!
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We will miss our Guesthouse team! Dan and Marty, Guesthouse managers Friends!
Best of Friends!
Jonathan is taller than Kiso?!
We are in a state of astonishment. It is surreal…we are visiting friends in the capital of Papua New Guinea because we have just finished packing, cleaning our house and training the new Guesthouse managers, Dan and Marty Nelson. Thank you for praying for all of this chaotic packing, cleaning and training. Thank you to the Nelsons for stepping in and loving on people while we are away for a year! God has been moving things around unexpectedly for us once again as we helped Cherith Hamilton (future guesthouse manager) with accommodations and meals as she suddenly came out of the village early on her way to Australia for a medevac, just 2 days before her switch over to NTM PNG Guesthouse manager role. At the same time the Gunthers (future guesthouse managers) discovered some new medical information and found out they would no longer be able to come to PNG. Once again, we were left in dismay and ultimately left in complete dependence on God… would Cherith’s back surgery take her back to the US for many months? Who would run the guesthouse for the rest of our Home Assignment since Gunthers could no longer come as guesthouse managers? We prayed a lot and thanked God for Dan and Marty Nelson who arrived on May 12th to start training in the guesthouse manager role. Thankfully Cherith’s back surgery went really well and after a few weeks of Physical Therapy in Australia she will be ready to come back to PNG in a couple weeks to join her aunt and uncle, Dan and Marty, in running the guesthouse. We are so thankful for her willingness to help!
Please continue to pray for our NTMG PNG team as many people have left for Home Assignment and finished up their time in PNG. Pray for more missionaries to come to fill the gaps: teachers, tech services, business office personnel, doctors, maintenance personnel, and more church planters. Dan and Marty Nelson and Cherith (on loan from GFA Missions -Gospel Fellowship Associations) will serve as Guesthouse managers for NTM PNG and supply buyers for GFA until October 2026. We are thankful that Cherith has been serving in PNG for a few years so she knows Pidgin English well so she can help her aunt and uncle (Nelsons) interact with the citizen workers. Please pray for a new plan to cover the Guesthouse manager role after Oct 2026 until July 2027 when we return. There is one possibility that may work out well, pray for the doors to open for the guesthouse manager role to be filled for the rest of our Home Assignment. We are continually reminded that ultimately God is in control and He moves people/details/schedules around by the moment and day. And so, we need to trust that He has a good plan as we are tossed around in this ever-changing world, knowing that God is in the storm and it is not chaos to Him. Please pray for calm and peace in the storms that come our way.
Tomorrow, we start our journey from PNG back to North America via Germany to see many friends from our Interface days and former co-workers. We are excited to see many of the Interface Interns and see where God has placed them all. We will fly into Boston on June 22 and enjoy 2-3 weeks with Beth’s parents and settling into North American life, reinstating our bank cards, scheduling medical appointments, etc. Although Jacob will need to leave early, to be in Canada in order to keep his residency. He needs to reside in Canada every five years for a 6-month period. And five years is up on July 6th, hard to imagine! But first we will enjoy celebrating USA Independence day together with my parents! After this we will be through Chicago, IL for the World Tang Soo Do championship. Jonathan and Jacob are excited to participate and represent the Goroka Tang Soo Do Club, the only one in the South Pacific?! And then on to Ethnos Canada headquarters in ON for a few weeks before making our way over to Nova Scotia to settle in before Jonathan starts 8th grade and Naomi starts 4th grade. We appreciate your prayers for all of the transitions our family will experience in the new few months.
Please pray that we will be able to attend the Alongside Cares Counseling Renewal and Growth retreat for missionaries in August just after our time at Ethnos Canada. This would be a good time of rest and debrief for our whole family and highly recommended by Ethnos360 and Ethnos Canada member care. They have recommended that missionaries attend a family debrief retreat during home assignment in order to be able to process and heal from the hard of the term. If you are interested in giving funds directly to this retreat, please let us know.
While we are in Nova Scotia, we look forward to being able to share about PNG and our ministry at the guesthouse. If you would like us to share at your church, bible study, small group, or just get together to visit, just let us know! We will be in Nova Scotia until the end of the year. Then we will move to MA, USA for Jan – June 2027 before returning to PNG.
Praises!
- Returning and new families joining our Tech Services team over the next few months!
- A missionary team is moving into the Gende work soon to start learning language with the goal of planting and church and translating.
- We have finished packing and cleaning our house in PNG.
- Dan and Marty have been trained to manage the guesthouse and are doing a great job!
- Jonathan and Naomi are doing well and finished 3rd and 7th grade!
- Jonathan hurt his foot in couple months ago but thankfully it was not broken! And now the sprain is fully recovered!
- We have all the funds for our tickets to return to North America for our home assignment.
- Provision for housing and a car while we are on home assignment!
- God took care of Cherith as she headed to Australia for a sudden medical surgery, arrival of her dad and physical therapy.
- Cherith will arrive in PNG in a couple of weeks, after back surgery and Physical therapy, to help the Nelsons manage the guesthouse.
- 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, Finance office personnel, Maintenance Management (long term)!
- The Gende team as they start house building.
- Dr Kang and family and the Tech Service Family’s visas/work permits process
- Citizen carpenters will keep learning and building confidence in their work.
- The workshop’s joinery tools will continue to work and we have wisdom to maintain them. Also that the shop will continue to function well and safely.
- Missionaries to manage and train in the Maintenance departments around the field.
- Dan and Marty Nelson as they manage the daily guesthouse responsibilities balancing it with the supply buying ministry of GFA.
- Cherith Hamilton and her dad as they finish up the Physical Therapy in Australia and make their way to PNG in a couple weeks for Cherith to join the Guesthouse team.
- Finances to go from 88% to 100% supported… we are in need about $964/month which is about 20 people giving $50 or 10 people giving $100 a month.
- Transitioning from Life in PNG to live in North America.
- For our kids to find good friends in Nova Scotia and MA.
- That we would remember that God holds everything together including us! And He is working all around us.
- To be able to attend a Missionary Debriefing retreat at Alongside in August.
- Nate, good friend, wisdom in decision for the next chapter of his life.
- 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.
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