New to the Family!!!

April 28, 2013

We had been waiting to hear it all morning and then there it was… the togui. Paska blew the conch shell (“togui”), the weekly signal to everyone who attends our gathering on Sunday that it was time for us to start. This was the day, the day that months of teaching had led up too, […]

Angasik Lavu

March 29, 2013

Angasik Lavu means “big help” in Tigak and is what we are looking forward to receiving in July of this year! Mid-July is my sister-in-law Debi (Tom’s sister) and her husband Russell will be making the oh-so-long treck here to our world in PNG to offer us this very wonderful thing: BIG HELP! We are […]

So-Called Missionary Call

March 22, 2013

I don’t believe in the “missionary call.” Well, at least as it is classically understood as a special, unique or personal calling that an individual receives directly from the Lord as confirmation that he or she is to become a missionary. A lot of people expect when you are a missionary that you can provide […]

Your Questions Answered, Pt. 2

March 17, 2013

A few months back 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 2 of Your Questions Answered! (Check out Part 1 HERE!) We both answered […]

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 […]

Nathan & Abby

October 29, 2012

In just over two weeks, on November 14th, Beth’s younger sister Abby and her husband Nathan will be MOVING to Asia Pacific! We are so excited for them and feel like just yesterday we were leaving the comfort and security of our home country to head into the unknown of moving to another country. It […]

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 […]

A Very Good Place to Start

August 31, 2012

Maria was right. The beginning is a very good place to start. “Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do” were the first musical notes the Vontrap family children needed to master to become the talented group of singers they would later become. In the classic film The Sound of Music, Maria knew that before […]

Great(er) Expectations

April 24, 2012

Beth and I enjoyed some small talk with our premarital counselors Todd & Ruth Ann. We were still a couple of months away from our wedding, and each session of premarital counseling brought us closer and closer to the big day. We had asked them to do our counseling since we had observed their marriage […]

This Little Light of Mine

February 26, 2012

“For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing…” (2 Cor. 2:15) We have been in Tigak language & culture study now for nearly three months, and it is tempting to feel like we are still waiting for our “real ministry” to begin. […]