Why would we be sad?

Why would we be sad….

The other day I was jogging on the airstrip, and three little girls joined me. As I was huffing and puffing to keep up, Adopo (far left) says, “Keoi (Moi language doesn’t have r’s or l’s so my name sounds a bit different here), do you realize all three of us don’t have mothers?” Me, “Oh, you’re right. Awww.” Menadi says, “Well, actually Pideondo’s (middle) mom abandoned her, but our two moms died.” Me, “Oh so true, hmmmm. Do you girls have sad hearts because you don’t have moms?” All three, “Why would we be sad? We have the Creator God as our “mom” and Protector. Jesus is like our “mom.” All we can do is thank Him and offer our bodies and hearts to Him.”

Their joyful, thankful attitudes convicted me. May we willingly give of ourselves however the Lord wants to use us.

A highlight for us last month was having our good friends Buzz and Myrna come visit for a few days. They also work in the province of Papua, and we’ve enjoyed their friendship since we moved to Papua in ’98. We’re excited that their son Ben is dating Ashley.

It was fun swapping stories and ideas over coffee; what a treat to have them around!

They brought a soccer ball with them, and the Moi loved having Buzz play with them a few times. Now’s he’s a legend soccer player in their eyes.

Stephen finished rough drafting 2 Corinthians this week and started into Hebrews today. I heard him say a number of times that 2 Cor. was the most challenging book yet. (Hmmm, I think he’s mentioned that on a number of Epistles. )

Would you pray for the Bible translation final check for Mark, Revelations, Thessalonians, and Titus this coming week. Bob, our translation consultant arrives Monday. Bubabo, Omakapiya, and Pupuiye will be the Moi listeners/checkers.

I’ll keep their bellies filled. 🙂

…give your bodies to God, because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice… Rom. 12:1b

The Lantern of Hope school for the Moi kids just finished their first two months of school. It’s thrilling to see how much the kids are enjoying it and how much they’ve learned already.
Bubabo, teacher assistant on the left, has been a big help as an interpreter for the teachers to students/parents.

The girls are together in Fort Myers, Florida where Ashley is working at Echo. She’s loving the agriculture research and work involved in all that.

Mariah is on a much needed fall break from her intense Junior year of nursing. She would certainly appreciate your prayers for the weekly Wednesday tests that involve an enormous amount of memorizing, especially pharmacology class.

We’d be lying if we said we didn’t miss these two.

This beautiful lady Wameaindo has been so excited about owning and reading her own Bible. She’s already read it through once since she got it in July (this latest Moi edition of the Bible has about 3,200 verses in it).

Last week she was sitting by me in church, and I asked if it was hard for her to hike so far to come to church. She was like, “Are you kidding; I go to sleep Saturday night with a heart full of anticipation because I know I’ll wake up and get to gather with believers and hear God’s Word.”

With all the building going on in here, we are keeping our pilot Nathan very busy. He services many other villages and remote airstrips, so please pray for him and the many other missionary pilots around Papua who we coworker with.

Pictured, the Moi are helping load their aromatic bark (cash crop) to be sold in the nearest coastal town.

Winner of “cuteness of the month!”