{"id":449,"date":"2021-01-10T21:47:37","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T03:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/?p=449"},"modified":"2021-01-10T21:47:40","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T03:47:40","slug":"looking-back-looking-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/2021\/01\/10\/looking-back-looking-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking Back, Looking Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"Supporting Tribal Church Planting in Papua New Guinea<\/td><\/tr>
“I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt, leaving out what it lacks. \u00a0The future feels so hard and I want to go back. \u00a0But the places that used to fit me cannot hold the things I’ve learned. \u00a0Those roads were closed off to me while my back was turned.” -Painting Pictures of Egypt, Sara Groves (This song is a good description of how missionaries can feel as they process their “two lives” and transitions).


As the glass doors opened, we were hit with a wave of intense heat. \u00a0We saw the tropical plants and unfamiliar city. \u00a0We smelled smoke and heard unfamiliar languages. \u00a0As we dragged our heavy suitcases and held our tired children, we were both hit with the same thought, “What have we done?!”

That was four years ago now, when we first moved to PNG. \u00a0Though there have been ups and downs, through it all, God has been so faithful, and we are so thankful we get to be a part of what God is doing here to bring the gospel to some of the least-reached corners of the world.

A couple of weeks ago, I (Karissa) had the opportunity to attend a debriefing retreat. \u00a0The purpose of the retreat was to look back over our first term, reflecting on the highs and lows, and process all that has taken place, so that we can better move forward towards our first furlough and the process of re-entering our home country.

I’m really thankful to have gotten this time, and now I’m looking forward to a new short chapter before we come back this summer: teaching junior high English. \u00a0The school here starts next week. \u00a0I will be teaching junior high English and homeschooling Wyck, and Ty will be attending second grade. \u00a0Matt will continue to serve as housing coordinator and manager of the Crisis Management Team. \u00a0He is very busy right now, mainly with helping missionaries to return to PNG as it much more complicated right now.

Please pray for us as we enter a new and busy season these last five months. \u00a0Pray that Karissa can do a good job teaching a new class, that Matt can have endurance working on the CMT, that Ty will enjoy second grade, and that Wyck will do well with the change in schedule.

We are so thankful for all of you! \u00a0We continue to be blown away by your faithfulness in supporting us.

Till all know,
Matt, Karissa, Ty, and Wyck<\/td><\/tr>
\"\"
The kids are happy that we have new neighbors now!

Praise God:
– for what He showed Karissa at the debriefing retreat
– that school is able to start this month
– Matt’s counseling classes are going well
– Karissa’s headaches continue to be better with this new medicine
– Covid continues to not be affecting the people of PNG too much

\"\"
The boys love climbing the walls!
\"\"
When you’re an MK, the only time you use American money is for Math class

Please Pray:
– that the 68 missionaries hoping to return in January are able to do so- for endurance for us as we haven’t had a break in a long time
– that the transition this month will go well for our family
– that Karissa can do a good job teaching
– for wisdom in how to balance things<\/td><\/tr>
What are we supporting? \u00a0This month’s tribal focus:\"\"Ok, so this month it’s not actually a tribal focus. \u00a0It’s a focus on our aviation department. \u00a0NTM PNG currently needs new helicopters, so I wanted to share with you about this need. \u00a0I also thought it might be interesting for you to see why aviation is so necessary for reaching the unreached. \u00a0Some of the people we serve here at the center are the pilots, mechanics, and others who work in the aviation department. \u00a0Check out this video:\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=n5WbGye-0Qo&feature=emb_logo<\/a>
Read more about the need here:\u00a0https:\/\/ethnos360aviation.org\/projects\/helicopters-for-png?fbclid=IwAR1mzyLWY2QbT9mkad1-e6lR8dUJaPnkTY6cyXZf4jYrkAc880uE-ZWiQRo<\/a>

\u00a0Here are some pictures from the debriefing retreat:<\/strong>\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Supporting Tribal Church Planting in Papua New Guinea “I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt, leaving out what it lacks. \u00a0The future feels so hard and I want to go back. \u00a0But the places that used to fit me cannot hold the things I’ve learned. \u00a0Those roads were closed off to me while my back was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1074,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}