Our Team - From left to right - Allens, Parrys and Hattons

We are very joyful, thankful and praising the Lord that He has recently answered that prayer!!!  We know many of you were praying for us specifically over the past several weeks as the Hatton and Parry families traveled to our center in the Madang region for more concentrated meetings to determine if our families should form a team together.  Thank you very much!  We had many full days of spending lots of time together as families, eating meals together and having important discussions on topics that often tend to cause problems on teams.   In general, we enjoyed time to just get to know each other better.   By the end of the 9 days, we were all confident that the Lord was leading us to work together!  Please praise the Lord with us for His direction!

Please continue to pray for us as we move ahead as a team.  What’s next?  Since we live in different  parts of PNG, the next major hurdle is figuring out a time and place when we can get together again to talk about team strategy and make plans for moving into a tribe.  The big decision that we need to make is regarding the tribal group in which to locate!!  The needs that remain in this country are great and we need the Lord’s wisdom as we narrow down the choices.  We’ll keep you updated as things progress.

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!

Introducing Caleb to PNG

Mumu and singsing in a nearby village

Thanks for looking at our photos!

As we approached our most recent meetings with the team, we were asking the Lord (among other things) to give us encouragement and peace about moving ahead. He did exactly the opposite.  Without going into a lot of detail, in the days following our first meeting, the Lord was showing us that His answer was “no”.  We then began praying that the Lord would confirm that this was His will by having the other two couples come to us thinking the same thing. When we met again, we were all in agreement that it would not be wise to move ahead with us joining this team!

So, on one hand, we are disappointed that we will have to wait longer to get into a tribal work, but on the other hand, we are rejoicing for yet more evidence that our Father hears and answers when we cry out to Him for wisdom and direction. We may not know right now what tribe He wants us to work in, but we know that if the Lord said “no” to this opportunity, then He must have something better in store for us.   And in the meantime, the Lord is using us here on our NTM center to help support those missionaries who are already working in tribal locations.

Thank you again for praying with us regarding this decision. We are humbled, encouraged and blessed to have such a great support team who faithfully prays for us and the work the Lord is doing here in Papua New Guinea. Please rejoice with us that the Lord has answered and also continue to pray with us as we seek the Lord and take steps toward finding a team and tribe in which to work. Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” The Lord has been faithful to direct our path up until now. We know He will continue to show us what He has in store for us!

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!!

Well, we are in a waiting phase right now.  For any that are new to reading this blog and as a recap for the rest of you, here’s a short history of the past few years for our family.

- Two years of Bible school
- Two years of missions training
- One semester of linguistics training
- Almost 2 years of raising support
- Arrived here in PNG in December 2009
- Completed orientation and learned the national language (Melanesian Pidgin)
- Went back to the U.S. to have our 3rd son Caleb
- Returned to PNG in May 2011

Throughout this time, we have had the goal of being tribal church planters.  And that remains our goal. However, at this time we don’t know what tribal group we will be working in or who we might have as co-workers.

If you have been reading our updates or following the  articles that we have posted on here, you know that we are in the process of evaluating the newest tribal work in our region.  We have been talking with the two families that are currently working there (they are in the early stages of learning language).  We even took a trip out to California when Caleb was just a few weeks old so we could meet with the team (both families were on furlough then) and talk about us joining this work.  Everyone wants to be sure that moving ahead with us joining the team is a good decision – for us and for the team.  Working through this process just takes time.

So, that’s where we are right now – waiting!!  Currently one family is on furlough in the U.S. and the other family is in the tribe.  The earliest time we can all meet together again is at the beginning of August.

Will you please pray for our family as we wait on the Lord for His direction and guidance? And in the mean time we are keeping busy serving on our NTM center that supports all the tribal missionaries in our region.  We are also working on planning our tribal house and ordering equipment such as solar panels, batteries, etc. that we need to ship over from the States.  We long to get to work in a tribe but until the Lord opens that door, we want to faithfully serve Him where He has us right now.

Off to the garden

Lots of peanuts

Baby taking a nap

Caleb got his first ride in one the other day.   Our friend Katie wanted him to try it out, but he wasn’t too impressed.

"I'm not sure I like this!

Yes, that is Caleb in there

He did have a good time meeting some of our friends though.  A huge blessing since we’ve been back is that Caleb has adjusted so well to everything – the heat, new house, new faces…

Caleb and Godfried

Caleb and Pelsi

Emily and Caleb with Katie (Godfried's wife) and her two girls Jessica and Emily (10 months)

Everyone here loves the white baby!!  Just about everywhere we go, people want to touch Caleb.  Despite his somewhat slow start at gaining weight, he’s getting to be a little pudgy now and everyone loves that!