New Church!

We are so excited with the growth in the Tigak church. We left to go to Christina’s graduation in May. At that time the Tigak church building was in shambles. There were lots of holes in the roof which made it difficult when it rained! In just one month they tore down the old building and almost completely built the new church building. Seeing the church come together in unity and make this happen was a huge encouragement to us! It is great to have a place to worship without worrying about whether the rain will hit or not.

The men had been planking wood for months and preparing materials. Terrans, one of our young believers, loaned his chain saw and time for the church to use. This is his source of income so it was a sacrifice for him to do this. Our coworker, Noe, had some donations from the USA to help match (one for one) the metal roofing that the Tigak church purchased. They used money earned during their sea cucumber season along with church fishing trips to purchase metal roofing materials. Fish are most of the Tigak people’s main income. Typically, the men fish and the women take it to market to sell so they can buy rice and vegetables and other food that cannot be grown on our island.

We are proud of the church for building the church with their own resources and efforts. We do not want them to be dependent on western missionaries for anything!

Christina obtained scholarships to attend a two week reentry retreat for missionary kids. She is the first of our kids to have this opportunity. Please be praying for her during this time through July 26th. It is so valuable for our missionary kids to have time to work through the many issues they will be facing in a new culture on top of the rigors of college life.