“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” – 3 John 1:4

(We just had a conference for all the NTM missionaries in the central region of PNG.  Look at all these people who are laboring for the Lord here!)

We’ve made our first disciple here in PNG!  Last week Ty prayed to receive Christ as his Lord and Savior!  We have been talking about this for a long time, and God has been working in his heart a lot.  He now understands that he is a sinner, in need of a Savior, that Jesus died for his sins, and rose from the dead.  Now we get to continue to disciple him and teach him about Jesus- what a privilege!  We are so thankful to the Lord for the work He is doing in Ty’s little heart.  Ty has also begun to pray for Wyck’s salvation.

(Wyck with our neighbor’s cat. He LOVES the cats!  He also turned two this month.)

We have some other big news to share with you all- at our last evaluation, both of us checked out on Tok Pisin, the national language!  This doesn’t mean we don’t have more to learn (because we do!), but it means that we are fluent enough that language learning will no longer be our main job.  We are thankful for how the Lord provided language helpers and helped our minds to learn.

(During conference, the kids got to have a VBS and have lots of fun.)

So, now our main focus is trying to find other missionaries to partner with.  This mostly looks like just getting to know each other and having conversations with other couples about all kinds of things, like ministry philosophy, parenting styles, theology, thoughts on simplicity, strategy, and other things that impact how we will work together as a team.  There are a few different couples we are having conversations with.  Please pray for God’s guidance in this.
While we are getting to know potential teammates, we will also soon start another ministry to either serve other missionaries or people in the local community.  This week Matt is on a trip helping to build a house for some missionaries who are moving into a tribe, and Karissa is holding down the fort at home.

(Us at Conference!)

Thank you for all of your prayers for our language learning.  Please pray that God will provide His team for His church in His timing.

Till All Know,
Matt, Karissa, Ty, and Wyck Long
(Tribal Church Planters in Papua New Guinea)

Founded in 1942 as New Tribes Mission

Please Pray:
– That God will provide us with coworkers and guide us in this process
– That we can continue to disciple our kids well
– That we will be able to survey the Umeda tribe soon (This means going and learning more about the status of the tribe and area)

Praise God:
– For what He is doing in Ty’s heart
– We have a new nephew– Malachai!