 Supporting Tribal Church Planting in Papua New Guinea |
| “Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God.” -Heb. 12:15a “EEERRRRRK!” Rats. That is not the sound you are supposed to hear when you are pulling into a parking space. You’re not supposed to hear a sound at all. As I hopped out to look at the car next to me, it was as I had feared; I had scraped it. I tried to wipe it off, hoping that it was just dirt. Nope, it was a scuff mark. Ugh. I had never done that before. What was I supposed to do? I tried to remember. Oh, write a note with my phone number, I guess. So, I did. It wasn’t a big scrape, and I was thankful it wasn’t a BMW, but still, I wasn’t sure what the owners would do. I didn’t really expect them to call, but I expected to wait in anticipation for several days as I wondered what would happen. But I didn’t have to wait. They texted me that night. And they responded with incredible grace. They said they weren’t worried about the damage. They thanked me for taking the time to write them a note. They ended their text with wishing God’s blessings upon me. Have you ever had an experience like that? Where you knew you had messed up, you were filling yourself with condemnation, and you expected more condemnation, but instead what you got was grace? This isn’t the most dramatic time I’ve experienced this, but it is the most recent. (Thanks, random person in the Revive parking lot!) However, I have been thinking about grace a lot lately. I just finished a book called “Tender Care,” which ends with the author expressing their desire that every missionary experiences the grace of God (Heb. 12:15a). All of us need to know God’s grace, but sometimes I think that those of us in ministry especially need to be reminded of God’s grace. We know what we ought to do, and when we fall short of it, it can feel so devastating. However, we need to remember this, not just for ourselves, but for the people we are ministering to. This is at the core of the message which we preach. We mess up. We fail. But there is “now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!” (Rom.8:1). Wow, praise God. Our heart is that we can minister to other missionaries, reminding them of this truth, even as they are proclaiming this message to the world. Praise God, who gives us “grace upon grace” (John 1:16)! Till all know, Matt, Karissa, Ty, and Wyck |
 Church on Mother’s Day Praise God: – Matt passed the big test he needed to pass to be able to graduate!! – Getting more orthodontics put in for Wyck went well – We are excited to be on a break from homeschool – Matt and I celebrated our 16th anniversary last month  Wyck got an award for completing his whole Awana book!  We have been loving the warmer weather! Please Pray: – for Matt as he starts his new internship at Teen Challenge – that God will provide someone to rent our house when we go back to PNG – for perseverance for Matt as he finishes his last semester of school – that we can get some good time together as a family this summer |
What are we supporting? This month’s tribal focus: Praise God for a missionary able to return to the Kuyu work! Michael LeBlanc writes: “For nearly a year and a half, many of you have fervently prayed for our family – that the Lord would allow us to return to Kuyu. At times, it felt like it may never happen, but the Lord has been gracious and faithful to our family. Not because we got to come back to Kuyu, but because that’s who He is regardless of our circumstances. It is such a privilege to serve here as an extension of you—the Church. We thank God for His perfect timing. May we never rush past the trials He allows, lest we miss the deeper gift of His presence with us. We’ve now been back in Kuyu for just over a week and Morgan is feeling great. We believe this is due to a combination of factors…our houses have dried out, we repainted with mold-resistant paint, and we brought in two hospital-grade air purifiers. Up Next: With the Kuyu alphabet complete, our team will now focus our attention on our cultural write-ups. We anticipate finishing this over the summer and then developing our literacy curriculum in the Fall with hopes of starting our first literacy class in the new year. We are eager to jump back into life in Kuyu as there are so many exciting things to look forward to! Thank you for your continued prayers for our family, team, and the Kuyu people and most of all, that God would receive all the glory.” |
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