{"id":444,"date":"2025-12-10T03:42:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T11:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/?p=444"},"modified":"2025-12-10T03:42:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T11:42:54","slug":"the-long-haul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/2025\/12\/the-long-haul\/","title":{"rendered":"The Long Haul"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>&nbsp;Towards the end of our missions training we were asked to come up with a 60 second explanation of what we would be doing, ours went like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>We enable church planting missionaries to live in villages in remote locations.&nbsp; Many of the people groups still unreached with the gospel are in hard to reach places.&nbsp; A trip that would take days by foot, car, and boat can be done in hours or less by plane.&nbsp; Aviation provides transportation in and out of the village, delivery of supplies, and medical evacuations.&nbsp; Our goal is to help sustain church planters for the <\/em><strong><em>long haul <\/em><\/strong><em>as they bring the gospel to the unreached.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The long haul is actually quite long,<\/strong> it\u2019s not measured in years, but decades.&nbsp; Here is an update from NTM Papua New Guniea including people groups you can be praying for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs a mission, we would ideally send three units into every church&nbsp; planting location. The work of translation, teaching and discipleship requires maximum effort from each of those team members. When one or more of the units have to leave for whatever reason, the workload does not decrease for those that remain. We\u2019ve made a commitment to those we\u2019re serving among, to teach them to read and write, to translate God\u2019s Word into their language, and to teach them through the Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have <strong>a long-term commitment to finishing what we\u2019ve started<\/strong> across Papua New Guinea. There are places where missionaries have been, but some or all of the team members have left, leaving a still young or stagnating church that isn\u2019t able to completely mature and thrive without further input.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In places like <strong>Kaul<\/strong> and <strong>Kuman<\/strong>, there has been a small church established, and the New Testament (NT) translation is complete. However, there is potential for further outreach in new locations, and the church needs further discipleship. In <strong>Kol<\/strong>, they\u2019ve completed 45% of the NT translation and could use some help completing the task. In <strong>Akolet<\/strong>, the missionaries are continuing with translation remotely, but aren\u2019t able to be with the church to continue teaching and discipleship. In <strong>Menya<\/strong> a small church has been born, and a neighboring people group has sent leaders in to teach and disciple, but the New Testament translation in the Menya language still needs to be completed. In <strong>Kovol<\/strong>, two families are preparing for the first Kovol literacy course and at the same time are translating the first portions of scripture needed to teach from creation to Christ. They have many years of teaching, translation and discipleship ahead of them and could use another family\u2019s help to finish the task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In each of these existing works, language material has already been developed. New missionaries would have the resources to learn the language quickly and would then be able to jump into ministry and partner with the church to see them really grow up in their faith. Pray for new missionaries to be willing to be a part of completing what we said we would do in each of these locations, so that a thriving church is established, our credibility for the next unreached people group remains strong, and God is glorified.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"720\" data-id=\"445\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/kovollanguageevalwes-720x720.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-445\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/kovollanguageevalwes-720x720.jpg 720w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/kovollanguageevalwes-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/kovollanguageevalwes-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/kovollanguageevalwes-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/kovollanguageevalwes-110x110.jpg 110w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/kovollanguageevalwes-250x250.jpg 250w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/kovollanguageevalwes-253x253.jpg 253w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/kovollanguageevalwes-80x80.jpg 80w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/kovollanguageevalwes.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Kovol<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" data-id=\"446\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/KovolTranslation-1536x1152-1-960x720.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-446\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/KovolTranslation-1536x1152-1-960x720.jpg 960w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/KovolTranslation-1536x1152-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/KovolTranslation-1536x1152-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/KovolTranslation-1536x1152-1-125x94.jpg 125w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/KovolTranslation-1536x1152-1-250x188.jpg 250w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/KovolTranslation-1536x1152-1-337x253.jpg 337w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/KovolTranslation-1536x1152-1-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/KovolTranslation-1536x1152-1.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Kovol<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Family News:<br><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;Travis\u2019s schedule keeps him flying several times a week. I know I said that last month, and I could probably copy that every time I write, as the demand for flights is often higher than the supply of pilots and aircraft.&nbsp; In November Nathan was able to ride along on one of Travis\u2019s flights.&nbsp; It was probably the highlight of his whole month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are very thankful that the aviation department was able to obtain most of the funding to update the flight simulator used in training this Fall.&nbsp; Most of the parts have been purchased and Travis has been working on assembling&nbsp; them.&nbsp; For Travis especially, this was a reminder that God knows our needs before we ask, and that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.&nbsp; Travis spent a good amount of time researching what was needed to update the simulator, made a list of parts and costs, put in a project request and was expecting to start putting the word out for people to donate towards this fund.&nbsp; Instead he heard back that the request was granted and there was already enough money donated to the aviation department to cover most of the cost of the project!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" data-id=\"447\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/4f68d006-ba1e-4f49-a169-2a166104848c-960x720.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-447\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/4f68d006-ba1e-4f49-a169-2a166104848c-960x720.jpg 960w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/4f68d006-ba1e-4f49-a169-2a166104848c-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/4f68d006-ba1e-4f49-a169-2a166104848c-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/4f68d006-ba1e-4f49-a169-2a166104848c-125x94.jpg 125w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/4f68d006-ba1e-4f49-a169-2a166104848c-250x188.jpg 250w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/4f68d006-ba1e-4f49-a169-2a166104848c-337x253.jpg 337w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/4f68d006-ba1e-4f49-a169-2a166104848c-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/4f68d006-ba1e-4f49-a169-2a166104848c.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"951\" height=\"720\" data-id=\"449\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/image0-3-951x720.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-449\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/image0-3-951x720.jpeg 951w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/image0-3-793x600.jpeg 793w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/image0-3-768x581.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/image0-3-1536x1162.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/image0-3-2048x1550.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/image0-3-125x95.jpeg 125w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/image0-3-250x189.jpeg 250w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/image0-3-334x253.jpeg 334w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/image0-3-600x454.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/image0-3-1920x1453.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 951px) 100vw, 951px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Prayer Requests: \u00a0<br><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Please pray for the <\/em><strong><em>people groups <\/em><\/strong><em>mentioned above, that the believers there would remain strong in their faith and that the Lord of the harvest would send new missionaries to help in these locations.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Please pray for <\/em><strong><em>good health <\/em><\/strong><em>for our family and our co-workers. &nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Thank you for your prayers, encouragement, and support as we serve church planters in PNG through aviation!<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Love,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Travis &amp; Becky<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interested in teaching in Papua New Guinea or working at the medical clinic? follow these links<br>Numonohi Christian Academy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ntmpng.org\/nca\/\"><strong>https:\/\/www.ntmpng.org\/nca\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Medical Clinic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ntmpng.org\/medical\/\"><strong>https:\/\/www.ntmpng.org\/medical\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Find out more about short-term and career missions with Ethnos360<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ethnos360.org\/go\">https:\/\/ethnos360.org\/go<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"405\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/FE8BF2DC-A321-4495-B6BD-83BCC7B6CB11-405x720.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-450\" style=\"width:438px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/FE8BF2DC-A321-4495-B6BD-83BCC7B6CB11-405x720.jpg 405w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/FE8BF2DC-A321-4495-B6BD-83BCC7B6CB11-338x600.jpg 338w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/FE8BF2DC-A321-4495-B6BD-83BCC7B6CB11-768x1365.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/FE8BF2DC-A321-4495-B6BD-83BCC7B6CB11-864x1536.jpg 864w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/FE8BF2DC-A321-4495-B6BD-83BCC7B6CB11-1152x2048.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/FE8BF2DC-A321-4495-B6BD-83BCC7B6CB11-62x110.jpg 62w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/FE8BF2DC-A321-4495-B6BD-83BCC7B6CB11-141x250.jpg 141w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/FE8BF2DC-A321-4495-B6BD-83BCC7B6CB11-142x253.jpg 142w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/FE8BF2DC-A321-4495-B6BD-83BCC7B6CB11-600x1067.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/FE8BF2DC-A321-4495-B6BD-83BCC7B6CB11-1920x3413.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/FE8BF2DC-A321-4495-B6BD-83BCC7B6CB11-scaled.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 405px) 100vw, 405px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Grace playing in the river with a friend.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_2683-960x720.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-451\" style=\"width:441px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_2683-960x720.jpg 960w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_2683-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_2683-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_2683-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_2683-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_2683-125x94.jpg 125w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_2683-250x188.jpg 250w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_2683-337x253.jpg 337w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_2683-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_2683-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nathan&#8217;s birthday, 9 already!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/ethnos360.org\/go\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;Towards the end of our missions training we were asked to come up with a 60 second explanation of what we would be doing, ours went like this: We enable church planting missionaries to live in villages in remote locations.&nbsp; Many of the people groups still unreached with the gospel are in hard to reach [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1177,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1177"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/travis-lesicka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}