A Difficult Trek

October 1, 2013

This is hard. Easily one of the most difficult things I have done in my life. We believe strongly we MUST do it, we are passionate TO do it and we WILL NOT give up, BUT, learning the Tigak language and culture is still very very hard. We were told early on in our language […]

An Underwater Adventure

August 9, 2013

Language & culture study can be a drag sometimes. The daily routine isn’t always exciting and new like it was in the early days when we first began. Its a lot of hard work and takes lots of prayer, dependance on the Lord and personal discipline. On the flip side, the culture aspect of study […]

Sludge & Solar

May 17, 2013

It just couldn’t wait. For about five months our drains were not draining properly, our washer would spin out and water would come pouring off our porch like a waterfall leaving drenched wood and a lake of bubbles under the house, any time any amount of water over half a gallon would try to drain, […]

Meeting Place

February 18, 2013

I get a real kick sometimes when I try and visualize our home church in Michigan operating in the same way as church in the village does. Trying to combine the two distinctly different atmospheres always leaves me in inward stitches! I can just imagine for instance, people arriving and choosing to sit on the […]

Shadowing Jude

January 26, 2013

The best way I have found to slow Jude down while on a walk through our village is to make him wear shoes. 🙂 Only while his feet are constrained to civilized attire will he actually WALK with me (as opposed to run) as we visit our friends here. Life is like that for Jude-full […]

1st N.I.P. Believers Conference!

November 25, 2012

I love “firsts.” As the mother of young children I get to experience them all the time and there is nothing quite so wonderful as being able to be there for something happening that has never happened before! I get to stand back, watch it and rejoice! We have just been able to be a […]

Your Questions Answered, Pt. 1

October 29, 2012

Recently we posted on facebook that we would be answering any questions YOU have about our lives over here in Papua New Guinea. As a result, we received many great questions and are excited to present to you Part 1 of Your Questions Answered! We both answered most questions, so to distinguish, my (Tom’s) answers […]

“Wearing A Laplap” for Dummies

April 13, 2012

All the women and a lot of men in our village can regularly be seen wearing an article of clothing called a “laplap.” A laplap is a wrap around skirt, roughly five and a half feet long and about three feet wide. Locally, it can be purchased in our provincial capital at the main market […]

Therefore Encourage One Another

December 18, 2011

It’s nice when official business can also be fun, that was the case this past week when we enjoyed having some visitors. Chris & Erin Lujan are a couple who are part of the church planting team among the Siar people here in Papua New Guinea. If you keep close taps on NTM News you […]

This Language Isn’t Going to Learn Itself!

December 18, 2011

I have been in official Tigak language & culture study for a little over a month now and I am starting to feel the enormity of the job in front of us. Learning the Tigak language will require us to not only learn thousands of vocabulary words, but also how to arrange those words into […]