 Supporting Tribal Church Planting in Papua New Guinea |
| “If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the LORD and rely on your God. But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires” -Isaiah 50:10b-11aThe Hero of Wheaton!I once saved Wheaton, Illinois from burning down! Twice actually, but the second time is a story for another day… I was walking downtown with my friends going to “The Popcorn Shop,” which was the coolest candy store ever, when we noticed the mulch next to a wooden telephone pole smoldering. It wasn’t a huge fire, but we knew that it could easily spread, from the mulch, to the telephone pole, to the downtown buildings. Now, we were tweens, and it was the 90’s, so we didn’t have cell phones. We decided to go into Starbucks and tell them about the problem. We were sure they would hear about it and know what to do– probably call the fire department. However, they looked at us unconcernedly and said, “Um, you can have some cups of water if you want.” This wasn’t the response we expected, but we weren’t sure what to say, so we timidly took the cups and walked out to the fire and started sprinkling. Thankfully since we had called attention to it, someone noticed us, pulled over, and called 911. Soon, the firetruck came roaring down the street, sirens blaring! By this time, the fire was blazing, engulfing the telephone pole and everything around it. The firefighter doused the fire, the town was saved, and all the townspeople lifted us up on their shoulders and cheered us as heroes! Ok… that’s not what happened. The firetruck did come roaring down the street, sirens blaring. The firefighter jumped out, looked around confusedly, stomped out the little flickering pile, hopped back in, and drove away. My friend and I stood standing on the corner. Had we done the right thing? Should we have done something differently? Something more? Something less? What if we had done nothing and the flames continued to grow? What if we really did save the town? Or what if we just wasted our time? Was this whole thing just stupid? I’ve been feeling like middle school me lately. There are some things going on that make me feel like I’m standing on the corner, noticing things on fire, and wondering what I should do. Should I jump in and say something? Should I sit back and pray about it? What if I do? What if I don’t? I’m a person who wants to fix problems, jump in immediately, and always say my piece. But I also want to be led by the Holy Spirit and trust Him to be at work in situations. How do I take action and also trust God? I know those aren’t opposed, but a major struggle in my life is knowing just how and when to balance those things. I don’t want to live by my own light and warm myself by my own fires. I want to rely on my God, my light. Pray for us for God’s wisdom as we seek to minister to those around us, both in the U.S. and PNG, now and in the future. Till all know, Matt, Karissa, Ty, and Wyck |
 Matt and I celebrated V-day at the first restaurant we ever went to together Praise God: – Karissa’s shoulder is healing up well – We are really enjoying connecting with our church family – We are almost done with our various medical appointments – God has been giving us good opportunities to grow our relationships with others  Sledding as a family  Ty and his cousin celebrating their February birthdays Please Pray: – Wyck has an appointment next month with an ENT to look at his vocal cords. Pray that it goes well and that he won’t be so nervous – For God to be at work in the situations we are concerned about – For God to give us wisdom about what He wants us to do – That Matt will get accepted soon at a good place for his summer internship (the deadline is soon!) |
What are we supporting? This month’s tribal focus: Pray for the Iski outreaches: The Iski church is now doing an outreach in a village across the river. They have been teaching through the Bible and will soon share about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Missionary Jason Williamson writes, “Last week I was able to make a quick trip in and while I was there Leo, an older man who is hearing God’s message for the first time, found me and with a huge smile on his face said, “This talk is giving me life! Jesus, the promised one, is the only way I can be made right with God. I have put my faith in this talk!” This guy’s smile was huge and he just kept holding and shaking my hand. Please pray for clear understanding and responses to the gospel as the initial outreach comes to a close. The new believers will continue to meet as a group there (under the teaching of our Bible teachers) with the hope that they will become the new local church body.” |