//If you’re interested in watching a video version of this update click here//
News about our family, what we’ve been up to and what we’re praying about doing this summer.
Let’s start somewhere else though…
On the other side of the world in Papua New Guinea, the Menya people live.
They’ve had a team of church-planters developing a relationship with them for the last few years. This team has been able to teach the Menya in their own language from God’s Word for the last 6 weeks. And they just finished…which means that a church has been ‘born!’ The Menya have responded to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Praise God with us for this miracle!
The creator of life, the creator of all people desires for all of His creation to know what it feels like to be loved by Him and by His grace, the Menya now know what this feels like!
The team living with and teaching these people made an incredible video of the day that they taught the final evangelistic Bible lesson and it is SO worth watching. Check it out here
What’s going on closer to home?
The last time we updated you, we talked about traveling.
Well, I’ve done a lot of that which is a good thing.
One of my goals this year was to deepen relationships with other people in Ethnos360 who are working in social media and my trips have all been about that.
This meant four different trips to five states and later this summer I’ll travel to our Pennsylvania location and be a part of the annual enrichment conference hood missionaries who are just back in North America on their home assignments, encouraging them as story-tellers and helping them connect with their communities.
The potential of all of these new and reinvigorated relationships is a sweet thing as I continue to serve as a sort of brand ambassador.
I’m also really pumped to have an intern that I will be working with for the summer! Isaac and I will work closely as he explores what building relationships through Social Media can look like. I’m also anticipating the chance to invest in this young man’s life as he prepares to serve in the future with Ethnos360.
And, having an intern works out GREAT because we are in the early stages of planning a coast to coast road trip in order to visit family, friends who are like family and supporters who are also a part of our family. We plan to be gone for three weeks so my intern will be a HUGE help while I’m gone.
Three weeks on the road is crazy right?! But since we see so many of our missionary friends making these epic road-trips, we decided it was time for one ourselves AND we’re really looking forward to showing our family more of the beautiful country we live in.
Jack’s health
Thanks for praying for Jack. He’s doing better today…but his condition means that can change quickly. He just saw yet another doctor, a motility specialist, this week as we try to get a better handle on how to help him feel better long-term. That appointment yielded some new possibilities as well as some more tests that he’ll undergo later this summer. But he’s had a lot of tests already and is apprehensive about these next few. Would you pray for his heart and mind as he undergoes these challenges?
Jack continues to live with primary immune deficiency and so his condition isn’t curable. But it does provide a bespoke opportunity for him to learn the nature of his loving Father in heaven who is in control and loves him wisely through everything in life.
The next few weeks
We’ve mentioned in a prior update, the need to complete some house repairs after last year’s hurricane Irma. It’s time and so we’ve already kicked off work (I should say that Bethany has done it all!) to replace roughly 200 feet of fencing. Our shingle roof is being replaced this week and we also repaired a long-leaky irrigation system.
I mentioned the coast-to-coast trip already. We were already planning to travel as a family to California this summer to connect with our support team out there as well as with our family. Lynn and Bethany are originally from San Diego and we will kick off our time there. But, as Bethany and I drove for hours through the southern half of Arizona on a recent trip we made, we were struck by how beautiful the terrain was and it made us think that maybe now is the time to take that epic road trip with our family that we’ve considered and put off for so long.
We prayed and thought more about it and see that the time is right. So we plan to actually fly Jack and Lynn out to San Diego (it’ll be better for both of them based on health factors and the fact that Jack would be so disappointed if he didn’t get to finally fly in a plane again ????) five days after Bethany, Owen, Kate and I head out via van. Then we’ll travel extensively in CA before turning around almost three weeks later and at this point, we will ALL drive back home together.
After returning, the remaining summer months are slightly less packed so we hope to recoup a bit as a family. The kids will all three head back to summer camp for a week in there too!
Prayer Requests
- Menya Believers: They are taking their first steps into a big and sweet world with much to learn yet and also the potential for persecution and cultural resistance. Pray for your new sisters and brothers!
- Travel: Please pray for our safety on the highways and in the air. Pray for better than average health and refreshing connections with friends and family!
- Jack: Insight into how we can help him manage his symptoms and grow wise as he ‘grows up’
- Wisdom: As we manage financial obligations, needs and our ministry support
- Stewardship: Of our home as we make repairs. This takes energy and coordination
- Wisdom: Like yours, our life right now is complex. Caregiving for a parent, caregiving for a child and raising kids all while serving in full-time ministry is a heavy load we crave your prayers for!
Thanks for sticking with us!
It would be our honor to pray with you in what’s on your minds as well. Please let us know!
