I heard their question and I can’t wait to answer it! That’s how I feel every time I’m interacting with someone who has approached us at the back of a church as we stand next to our display table covered in all kinds of things from our beloved home and place of ministry- Papua New Guinea. The last few months have held a good amount of opportunities for us to share about what God is doing among the Tigak people and those opportunities have called for a bit of travel.
It is a total privilege to be able to engage people on the topic of missions (generally and also specifically about the Tigak people), to encourage interest, attempt to explain the confusing, but most of all- testify to the abundant grace of our God. 
We have been blessed to speak at churches, in classes, in small groups and to talk one on with many people about one of our favorite topics. 🙂 After sharing at several places here in Michigan it was a good time for us to hit the road allowing us to connect with more family, friends and a supporting church.
Thankfully our two “village kids” are still totally enamored with riding in the car and think it is super special! I really think that fact helped us as we spent more than 36 total hours in the van driving across the country with stops in Missouri and Kansas!
The first stop on our road trip was NTM’s Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Missouri, the place where we were trained to do what we are doing now- reaching the unreached with the gospel! Needless to say this campus is home to many people who are very dear to us- people who have poured into us, pointed us toward dependance on Christ and helped prepare us for this great task we are privileged to take part in!
Tom & I were invited to do a chapel at the MTC and were humbled by the opportunity to share with the student body about many things that were on our hearts about ministry, walking with the Lord and life oversees. We remember exactly what it was like to sit where they are sitting and being able to invest in these future missionaries for that chapel time was a joy for us. Over the time we spent on the campus we were blessed by many chances to engage the students & staff and talk about very important things!
On Sunday we journeyed to one of our cherished supporting churches in Missouri and enjoyed having the service time to update the congregation on what God has been doing among the Tigak people. It was a joy to spend time with that body, answer many questions and have different individuals commit to pray specifically for Tigak people who are unsaved. It never ceases to amaze us how the Holy Spirit has knit the “church” together no matter how far apart we may be. We are family IN HIM! Amazing!
Next we continued on to Kansas to enjoy visiting some of Tom’s family including his Mom and brothers family. It was wonderful to see them, spend time catching up and also meeting our sweet niece Avery for the very first time!
Seeing the way Jude and Iris seemed to immediately accept and bond with Tom’s Mom and their aunt, uncle & cousin was really special. Even the occasional squabbles between the cousins were fine because at least we were getting some time with them. 🙂
Tom’s Mom treated us to a fun trip to a Science Museum and “Uncle Miah” showed us an awesome feature of the Kansas plains-Buffalo! We will cherish the memories we made over the visit.
All in all it was a very good trip. Tiring or not it was very encouraging, fun for our family and a great reminder of how well God has provided for us, both in the past and present with people who have invested in us, support(ed) us and pray for us diligently.
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