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| “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus– the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” – Acts 20:24 My Grandpa had a great Easter plan.While my grandma was getting the eggs ready for the Easter egg hunt, my grandpa took one of the eggs and marked it for himself. All of the other eggs had one piece of candy, but this special egg was packed full of all the best candy. He told us kids, “When you find the egg that says ‘Grandpa,’ make sure to bring it to me.” However, unbeknownst to Grandpa, between the egg filling and the egg hunt, my uncle had found Grandpa’s special egg, taken out the candy, and filled it with old leftover corn. When the egg hunt had finished, Grandpa made a big show of opening up his egg, asking, “Hmmm, I wonder what could be in this egg for me.” When he opened it up, instead of his favorite candy, out poured warm, smushed, corn. “Ahhh! Icky corn!” my Grandpa cried. He expected something great, but was disappointed by the reality of the contents of the egg he had put his hope in. I think we do this a lot- I know I do. I put my hope in earthly things- family, friends, comfort, finances, achievement, stability, fun, approval, food, entertainment, and so on. These are wonderful things, but they inevitably disappoint. They are not enough to fulfill me. Corn is good- when it’s hot and buttery and on your plate. Put it in the wrong place- an Easter egg- and it’s pretty disappointing. It’s the same way with earthly blessings. When they are in their proper place, God-given gifts to enjoy for what they are, they are wonderful. When they are in the wrong place- what we are looking to for our satisfaction and ultimate fulfillment- they are as disappointing as mushy corn in an Easter egg. We’ve enjoyed a lot of wonderful blessings while on home assignment, and it’s really, really hard to leave them, but we also know that the ultimate goal of our lives is not to seek our own happiness in earthly blessings. The ultimate goal of our lives is to glorify God, obey Him, and enjoy Him. And so, while we prepare to leave people and things that we love here in America, we look forward to how we can obey, enjoy, and glorify God in Papua New Guinea. Till all know, Matt, Karissa, Ty, and Wyck   Top/Left: Karissa speaking at Camp Lebanon about how Jesus restores us. Bottom/Right: Us saying goodbye to our old church building, where our church has met since 1853! We are excited for this next phase of our church as we begin meeting in a new location. Please Pray: – For our struggling friend – For our work visas to be approved quickly (they are taking longer than usual) – For various details that must be accomplished before we leave – That we can find a helpful medication for Karissa’s headaches before we leave. Although the last one seemed promising, it hasn’t worked. – For our kids in this upcoming transition Praise God: – Jesus is alive! We had a wonderful time celebrating His resurrection with family. – Karissa’s speaking at the women’s retreat went really well! It was SO fun to share with those women truths from God’s Word. – Matt’s mom was able to come up for a visit. – Matt was asked to fill a member care role when we return, which is where his heart is really to serve. – Karissa is excited to teach junior high and high school English when we return. |
 What are we supporting? This month’s tribal update: Pray for the work among the Koval people. Recently the missionaries returned to their village after being gone for a while to find that the people were moving their houses away from the missionaries’ houses! After some investigating, they found out that rumors had been going around that they were bothering the missionaries and getting in the way of their work (they figured that must be why they hadn’t learned the language yet), and that their pigs were destroying the missionaries’ gardens. So, the missionaries had a meeting with them saying that they came to be with them, and they can’t do their work of learning language if they all move away. They also tore up their own gardens so that people wouldn’t worry about that! Please pray that the Kovol people will understand and move back. Pray for the missionaries as they continue to learn this very difficult language. Pray that God would guard this work from any more of Satan’s attacks. |