We made the trip again to another part of PNG (and another NTM support center) where the other two families on our team are living.  We will be here until the beginning of April and we are trying to make the most of the time we have together.  We are making good progress, but at times the magnitude of all that has to be talked through and done before we can move into a tribe is overwhelming!

Plenty of teams have broken up and the tribal church was negatively affected because of a lack of communication on the topics that we are discussing.  It’s not a waste of time to build a good foundation for our team!

Your prayers for us are greatly appreciated!  Satan does not want us heading into his territory and we can feel the heat of battle already.

Here are a few recent photos so you remember what we look like!

Our Family - March 2012

Happy 7th Birthday, Titus!

Caleb by the coast

The Allen Boys

January 2012 newsletter-web

God's Word in the Gende language

The picture here doesn’t mean much to the vast majority of people in the world.  But for a small group of people in the Gende tribe tucked away in the rugged mountains of PNG,  it means the world – it is a portion of God’s Word in their language!   One of those Gende people is a young woman named Agnes.

Many of you have been praying for Agnes (read this earlier post for more on Agnes), whom we go to visit in prison.  Thank you so much!!  We asked you to pray for her salvation so we wanted to give you an update about our last visit with her.

Usually when we go to visit Agnes, we are given 30 minutes with her and then the warden tells us that our time is up and we have to go.   Since our time usually seems to go very fast, on our most recent visit we got right to talking about the Bible lessons and Scripture that we had given her last time to study.  (Without any explanation, this time the warden gave us almost an hour with Agnes!)  Now just in case you are unfamiliar with the typical New Tribes method, here’s a short explanation.  After years of working with animistic tribal people, it has been proven again and again that in order for these people to truly understand the message of the Gospel they have to be given the proper foundation starting in Genesis. Without an understanding of God, sin, substitution and many other key doctrines found in the Old Testament, they will very easily just add Jesus to their list of “spirits” that they need to appease.  So, the lessons and corresponding Scripture that the missionaries in the Gende tribe gave us to pass on to Agnes is just that – foundational teaching starting in Genesis and leading up to Christ.  For the last several weeks, Agnes has been reading and studying these lessons.

Here’s another little side note to help you understand a bit more about the culture here.  It is very common in PNG for people to say what they think you want them to say in order to please you.  That’s not too hard to believe since appeasing the spirit world is at the core of their worldview.  We have also heard that prisoners are encouraged to “repent” and change their ways while in prison.  And if a person thinks that saying the “right thing” will bring them some benefit, they will not hesitate to do so.

So, these things are in the back of our minds as we sit and talk with Agnes.  We also know that only the Lord truly knows her heart.  But, from our most recent conversation with Agnes, we believe that she does understand salvation and has been taken from the kingdom of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of Light.  Praise the Lord!! But will you please continue to pray for Agnes?  Prison is a tough and lonely place.  Please pray that she will grow in her new faith and be a light to those around her.  And please pray for us as we continue to go visit her and take her more Bible lessons and Scripture in her language.

Would Agnes have studied God’s Word like this if she had not been sent to prison?  We don’t know the answer to that.  Maybe prison was exactly the place she needed to be in order for God to get her attention.  And we’re thankful that the Lord has allowed our family to have a part in Agnes hearing and understanding the Good News of salvation.

Bart, Luke and Titus helping to push the plane back into the hangar after a recent flight

Okay, now on to the details.  Papua New Guinea is a country about the size of California with over 800 different language groups.  Because of the rugged terrain, many of these people groups are very isolated and the only way for missionaries to effectively reach them is by helicopter or small airplane.  The tribal people here who are still unreached with the Gospel are hard to reach because they are in hard-to-reach places!!  Because of the ministry of New Tribes Aviation, what would take days of hiking to reach a tribe can be accomplished in a few hours or less.  These missionaries are truly a blessing to so many and they are vitally important to the continued spread of the Gospel here in Papua New Guinea.

But, they need help!!!!!!  Right now the need for pilots and mechanics is critical.  For more information, please follow this link – New Tribes Mission Aviation.

Would you please join us in praying for more laborers? Besides pilots and mechanics there are needs for teachers, church planters, supply buyers, builders, dentists, doctors, nurses, business managers and the list could go on – all are needed to help in the task of reaching tribal people who are still lost in their sin and without hope apart from Christ.  If you know anyone who might be interested in serving the Lord here, even for a year or two, would you please share these needs with them? Link to PNG Needs List

Here are a few photos from a recent trip we took – flying over a part of PNG where we had never been.

Volcano on Manam Island

The Sepik River

Passing the time while flying over jungle and mountains

Agnes

We go to visit Agnes, a young woman who is serving a 12 year sentence for a pretty serious crime.  We don’t know if she is guilty or if she is just taking the blame for someone else.  Agnes is from a tribal group where an NTM couple has been working for years.  These missionaries asked if we would be willing to take Agnes the Bible lessons in her tribal language for her to read and study.  These are the same lessons that the missionaries used to present the Gospel to her tribe several years ago.

No one else in the prison speaks her tribal language so when we first gave her the lessons and she was able to read her language again, it was a very special time! She told us on our next visit that the book (containing the Bible lessons and verses in her language) was now her best friend!  We don’t know how many times she has read through the lessons – probably lots.  This next time we go we will also be taking her the complete books of Genesis, Exodus and Mark that the missionaries have translated.

Now, of course, we don’t speak Agnes’ tribal language, but we are able to communicate with her in Pidgin.  So, Agnes reads the lessons on her own and then when we visit her, we talk to her about what she has read.  We only have about 30 minutes with her each time we go.

That we know of, we are the only visitors she ever has.  It is a really neat opportunity for us and for our kids to be able to be a blessing and encouragement to Agnes.  All of us really look forward to our prison days!  Luke and Titus enjoy the long walk from the prison entrance – down a big hill, back up another hill and then on to the actual fenced-in women’s prison area.  While we sit and talk with Agnes, they either play and talk together or make up a game with whatever they find lying around.  Caleb just smiles and tries to grab the books!  Of course, all the ladies in the prison love to see and touch the white baby!  Having never been in prison, I can only imagine what it must be like to be separated for that long from your spouse and children.  Our arrival usually brings a smile to lots of faces.

Reading the Bible lessons

Will you please be praying for our family as we spend time with Agnes?  Pray that we would be able to clearly communicate with her as we talk with her about the lessons and Scripture that she has been reading and studying.  And please pray for Agnes -that she would have good understanding of what she is reading and that she would believe it!  Please pray that Agnes will trust in Christ alone for her salvation!

1. The decision about joining a tribal team.  We have shared in the past few months that we are investigating the newest tribal work in our region and are asking the Lord to show us if this is the team we should join.  We will be meeting with the team again at the beginning of August.  Would you please pray for clarity and unity for all of us as we meet together?  We are also praying that God would give us a clear “yes” or “no” so that we can move ahead – either with plans to move into this tribe or begin thinking of other options.
2. For our support needs.  We are praying that the Lord would provide the balance of our needed monthly support either through new churches and individuals or through an increase in giving from some of our current financial partners.  As we look ahead to moving into a tribe (quite possibly one that is accessible only by helicopter), our monthly expenses will increase.
3. For more laborers for the harvest field of Papua New Guinea.  In our region alone there are at least 70 unreached tribal groups.  There is so much need as well as opportunity to serve, but there are not many new missionaries coming.  Besides tribal church planters, the need is great for teachers, maintenance workers, administrators, nurses… the list of those needed to support the tribal works could go on.
4. For wisdom as we interact with our friends and neighbors in the surrounding villages as well as with our fellow missionaries.  The longer we are here in PNG, the more we learn about this culture and what the people think!!  Almost every day situations arise for which we need much wisdom to respond in culturally appropriate ways.
5. For health and safety for our family.  We are living in a country with very poor medical care/facilities.  Any serious illness or injury would require an expensive trip to Australia.  Please pray for the Lord’s protection so that we can continue to serve Him here.

Thank you for partnering with us through your prayers.  We appreciate you!!

NTM Church Planting Timeline

For those of you who have been following our ministry or who heard us share in your church, this timeline hopefully looks familiar!  The Lord faithfully led us through the New Tribes training as well as through our time of partnership development (a.k.a. support raising).  We arrived here in Papua New Guinea in December 2009.

We are excited to be able to share with you that we have now completed our field orientation as well!!  What does that mean?  Of course, there is always more to learn and we will continue to grow in our understanding about both the language and culture as long as we are here.  However, we have finished all of our required culture investigation and have both reached the Capable High level in our speaking ability so our formal Pidgin language and culture study is now officially over!

So, what’s next?

The homes of the missionaries in the tribe we are going to visit

We came to PNG with the goal of being part of planting churches among unreached tribal people.  And that remains our goal.  There are still so many needs here in this country and many places in which we could work.  Our prayer at this time is that the Lord would clearly lead us to the tribe where He wants us to serve Him.  On October 11 we will be taking a 9-day survey trip into the newest tribal work in the Madang region (the region where we are living).  The team there moved into the tribe in March of this year and is in the early stages of learning the tribal language and culture.  They are in need of another family to complete their team and they have asked us to consider joining them.  We are praying that the Lord would make it very clear if this is the place for our family or not. Would you please pray with us for the Lord’s clear direction?  He has faithfully led us up to this point and we know He will continue to show us the way.  If He closes the door to this ministry, then we will wait for Him to open another!

Once we return from that trip we will be packing up our house in preparation for returning to the States in mid-November.  For those of you who have yet to hear the news, we are expecting our third child at the end of January 2011!!  After several miscarriages in the past few years, we are excited and thankful for this new addition to our family.  So far, Emily has not had any problems with the pregnancy and the baby is healthy and growing.  Because of the inadequate healthcare facilities here in PNG, it is not advisable to remain here for the birth of the baby.  Our plan is to be back in our home area of Meadville, Pennsylvania until the beginning of May when we will return to PNG.

How you can be praying for us:

- For safety as we fly to the tribe on October 11 – apart from about 3 days of rugged hiking, the only access is by helicopter

- For wisdom as we interact with both the tribal people and the missionary team – and that the Lord would clearly show us if we should continue to pursue working in this tribe

- For strength as we pack up our house and then travel back to the U.S. – almost 11,000 miles and 24 hours of flying

- For all the details of our upcoming “baby furlough”

- For continued health and safety for Emily and the baby

Thanks for praying with us!

-          Time to unpack all those things that we shipped over in the container!

-          For endurance as we set up our house

-          For the adjustment of going to a church where a different language is spoken

-          For the boys as they make new friends

-          For us to find a good schedule for homeschooling

-          For ears to quickly adjust to the sounds of a new language and for alert minds to be able to begin studying full time

In a few hours we will head to the airport.  As Bart shared yesterday at church, we are now off on the adventure the Lord has for us!  Here are some more prayer requests for this coming week.  Thank you for praying!

December 7 – 13

-          We plan to leave Meadville on Monday before noon for Pittsburgh

-          For airline check-in personnel  who are kind, understanding and in a good mood

-          For all of our luggage to be checked in without any trouble

-          Saying goodbye!

-          For all of our connections to be smooth and on time

-          From the time we leave Pittsburgh until we arrive at our final destination in PNG will be about 80 hours of travel!!

-          We have an overnight in Seattle and then 23 hours in Singapore

-          That the boys (and us too) would be able to sleep on the plane

-          For no trouble as we pass through customs

-          For our adjustment to the extreme heat and humidity of PNG (it’s been in the high 90’s and is supposed to get hotter)

-          For strength and flexibility as we adjust to a new language and culture

-          For wisdom and grace as we meet and get to know our new teammates and coworkers

November 30 – December 6

-          For the packing process – we are allowed 8 pieces of luggage each no more than 50 pounds.  We have to decide whether to spend the extra money to take an extra piece or two of luggage if necessary.

-          For wisdom to decide on final purchases as well as possibly deciding what will not go if we don’t have the space/weight allowance in our luggage

-          There are lots of little things that need to be wrapped up before we can go

-          For the final packing up of things that will be stored in our shed

-          For patience and understanding with each other as we have many added stresses

-          For the busy day of the commissioning service (Sunday December 6 at our home church in Meadville, PA)

-          For strength and courage as we say goodbye to friends and family

-          For our immediate family here who will be adjusting to us leaving

-          For a peaceful and restful night’s sleep on Sunday night as we anticipate leaving on Monday December 7

Thanks once again for praying for us.  Our lives are going to change drastically in the next few weeks.  We rest in the knowledge that even though we are facing many unknowns, the Lord will be with us all along the way!