Waiting on the Lord is a must in the Christian life. Obviously, it is not our favorite lesson. We thoughtfully and prayerfully (usually) make our plans and preparations. Then we ask/expect God to bless and expedite. Right? Isn’t that how it’s done? Isn’t that biblical?
No, it is not and we are learning this lesson, again. It is easy to get caught up in the urgency of the task of reaching the unreached for Christ and all that that entails. Allowing the task to rule our lives rather than the Lord Himself. It is for us to humbly submit, trust and obey Him. However, waiting on the Lord eventually involves, GO.
We praise the Lord that Andrea’s mother, Diana, is doing better. Please continue praying for her as she endures and recovers from the lasting effects of Shingles. She has her independence back and does enjoy that. She misses spoiling on her “live in” grandchildren, but we are confident that Grammy is not missing the bedtime chaos and the lingering stink of dirty diapers. But we all miss Grammy.
As well, we recently put out an urgent request to our praying churches that due to unexpected costs during this home assignment and our lower support level, we were unable to afford our $7,000 return tickets to Papua New Guinea (PNG). Remember, we’re learning to stop and trust His timing and plan. Please praise the Lord with us as He has begun His answer. The Lord has provided $5,000 through a small church in Colorado. Their pastor got a hold of Andrea who was home alone with the kids in Maryland. She passed the message along to Paul in Idaho while at an aviation training course. This pastor was happy to inform us that they, as a church, had decided to contribute towards our need. PRAISE THE LORD!
We are moving forward with airfare as our March support (including the $5,000) was such that we can avoid debt when purchasing our airline tickets. We have been prayerful before the Lord as to if and when He would want us to return to PNG. From where we sit it appears HE has turned all our yellow and red lights to green. We are excited to go, but also overwhelmed at all that needs to happen prior to our early May return. This is an unavoidable reality, especially when dealing with long-term international travel for a family with young kids. We would appreciate your prayers in this welcomed transition back to life in PNG.
Shopping Sprees & Training Course
With our departure date set we have a few doctor’s appointments, packing, lots of shopping, packing and shipping to fit in. And more packing. As you know we have two not so little ones that are getting bigger every day. (What do you mean those shoes don’t fit anymore?) We praise the Lord for the benefit of a good kid’s second hand clothing store, church friends with hand-me-downs and sales racks.
Along with those mentioned items we also need to stock up on Paul’s allergy meds and that list is pretty long and expensive. Paul’s new diet has improved things in regards to his allergies. However, we need to make sure we are prepared as PNG is a harsh environment and supply runs are few and costly.
Paul just finished an aviation training course in Sandpoint, ID with Quest for their Kodiak airplane. We hope and pray to receive our first Kodiak in PNG soon. If you would like to know more about the PNG Kodiak airplane, please visit ntm.org and type in “Kodiak for Papua New Guinea” in the search box.
Praises:
God has supplied most of our needed travel funds.
Andrea’s mom Diana is steadily improving from her shingles illness.
There is a new NTM aviation pilot family in PNG training with Wycliffe.
Our support level increased to 75%.
Prayer Requests:
That we would be willing to trust & obey with happy hearts what the Lord asks of us.
Wisdom, grace & patience as we raise our children in all the transitions of missionary life.
Healing as our family is struggling with head colds.
We fly (four flights / 26 + hours) to PNG with grandma Lavon in early May.