Josh and Mel Simmons connecting you to tribal missions Now boarding our Coach Passengers!
How awesome would it be to fly on this Beast with all the paintings!
Well we did it, we took the plunge! We now have one way tickets to Papua New Guinea! We will have a one night layover in Brisbane Australia to give the family a break from Planes, trains and automobiles. We depart Monday February 20th at 6:15 pm from Norfolk International…and arrive in New Guinea on February 23rd…not sure which day of the week though. We cross the International date line on our flight over the Pacific and somewhere along there we completely skip Tuesday, February 21st! The only way I can explain that is “Time Travel,” eat your heart out Captain Kirk. He had to sling shot around the sun and all we have to do is fly west…for a long, long time! Anyway, we end up in Brisbane Australia on the 22nd which will be Wednesday…I think??? Whatever…not only will we have traveled into the future on this trip, but we’ll also have crossed the equator into the Southern hemisphere! I recall crossing the equator one other time in my life while in the service, but it wasn’t very pleasant. Some of you know all about the Shellback initiation all sailors have to endure the first time they cross the equator. I remember my knee caps were raw and my hands looked like hamburger from crawling all over the ship for hours, hanging my head over the side shouting for flipper, and crawling through a tunnel of a weeks worth of spoiled leftovers from the mess deck.
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Cleared for Take off!
Entry Permits to Papua New Guinea have been granted! PNG here we come!
Today was a very exciting day in the Simmons Household. About 11 o’clock this morning I heard loud banging on the door and jumped up to investigate the source of the interruption. To my surprise as I opened the front door where a very kind looking gentlemen stood decked out in a Fedex uniform with his hands extended gesturing for me to sign for a package. I looked at the parcel in his hands and my heart leaped with excitement as I my mind registered what my eyes beheld. I hurriedly signed the electronic pad snatched the package out of extended hands, closed the door and began tearing into the Fedex envelope. As I opened the parcel and peered into its dark depths I spotted 5 small blue booklets…Our Passports! The PNG Embassy in D.C. had sent our Passports back to us…but were they stamped with our Entry Permits? I fished one of the passports out of the envelope and fumbled through the pages. As I flipped over the 4th page my eyes glimpsed a yellow peel and stick label with the the PNG bird of paradise on it that read and I quote “This permit entitles the holder to enter and stay in PNG until 07OC14.” A wide toothy smile of victory began to spread across my face as a huge weight slid off my shoulders. This was the culmination of over 6 months of hard work that included countless copies, endorsements, waiting, expense, and nail biting. Finally the waiting was over and we had our Papua New Guinea Entry Permits (Visa’s) in our hands. I just sat there staring at them for a couple of minutes, holding them, caressing them, and pinching
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Thankful Thoughts
Giving thanks for the Feast before us...dig in... Pass the Collards please!
Thankful Thoughts…
Just thought I’d share a few thoughts about what I’m thankful for this year. First, I’m thankful that God has allowed us to serve Him. Melody and I are constantly blown away by the Lord’s graciousness towards us. We have been extremely blessed this year as we have prepared for our journey to Papua New Guinea. The Lord has taken us through some deep valleys, for example when He closed the door on the ministry in Aviation that we had been striving for. He has also guided us up to some mountaintop experiences, as when He surrounded us with the body of believers which encouraged us and nudged us forward through another open door leading to a Tech ministry. It’s incredible to see all the details and decisions that lead to our current situation perched on the edge of a new chapter in our lives. All of this was made possible by the Lord’s love, compassion, and chastisement I might add.
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Down the home stretch
Siawi people hearing the Truth of the Gospel
Hello there everyone. Well as you might expect, the days have been exciting as of late for the Simmons clan. We’ve had about all the moving, packing and planning we can handle, but there’s one more BIG move coming…and it’s coming fast! We’re in the home stretch of our journey towards ministry in Papua New Guinea and have been blown away at the generosity of God’s people throughout it all. We are now at 67% of our monthly support goal and only have little bit further to achieve 100% before it’s time to begin our ministry in New Guinea.
We would love the opportunity to share the ministry God has for us and challenge you to become more involved and more engaged in the battle raging for the souls of men. Scripture tells us that there is no difference between you and the people across the globe, and that the same Lord is Lord over all. It also says this, “For whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent?” What will you do about that passage? Will you Go? Or, will you stay and send someone? Or, will you stay and send no one?
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Packing, Planning & Purchasing
NTM PNG Highlands Center where we will be serving
Melody and I pray all is well in your respective households. We are doing fantastic. We just wanted to give everyone a quick update and let you know about a couple prayer requests. Most of you know that we are now in the final stages of preparation for a ministry in Papua New Guinea with New Tribes. Our status just updated last week to “En route”, which is very exciting for us as it’s been a long time in coming. Currently, we are engaged in full-time partnership development, which means building the support team that will help us with prayer and financial needs.
Josh sawing straight and true!
Well its been a while since I’ve written and for good reason. We’ve been going non stop for months. As many of you know we finished the Advanced Tech Specialist course in May. The course was extremely beneficial and I learned many skills that will prove invaluable in the remote tribal locations of Papua New Guinea where we will serve. For example who knew one could weld with a couple car batteries and set of jumper cables! Or, that one could make a soldering pencil out of the core of a D cell battery! We performed many experiments like these and even took part in training the next class of missionaries in their missionary technology class. We focused heavily on Solar power, Gas appliances, building, and water collection and purification.
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“Good” Friday??
Ok, so you get to hear from me, Mel. We are being spoiled at Josh’s parents’ home this weekend while we celebrate Easter! This is one of the few times I get blocks of time without the constant “sweet distraction” of my 3 little girls. This morning I was just reminding Sarah (our almost 6 year old) about why we call today “Good Friday”. It seemed so sad to the disciples that Jesus would have to die on the cross…and He had NEVER done one wrong thing. His heart was the kindest, the noblest, the most gracious…He was God’s Son! So why do we call it “Good” Friday? Because the BEST thing that could EVER happen for the disciples & for you and me would be the day that Jesus told His Father, God, that He would become the sacrifice for our sins. He would die FOR us, when it should have been each of us that died because of our sin. It was “Good” because the day Jesus died, though heartbreaking, was the day that would bring the ultimate hope to the world! Can we all take time some time today and thank the Lord for giving us such an amazing gift?! I hope we do. A young mom in our local church here in Missouri just went to be with Jesus last Saturday after battling breast cancer. She’s getting a front row seat this Easter Sunday!! Because Jesus paid the price for all of us, this sweet mama is able to kneel at the throne of God in heaven this Easter and worship our RISEN LORD!!!! Have any of you lost a loved one this year? If they put their trust in the Lord, they too are having the BEST Easter they have ever had! WITH their Savior, face to face! Maybe we can call today “Best Friday”.
God + Nothing
Josh's Tech class checking Solar Panel efficiency
Well gang, its been a long time since I last put pen to paper or finger to key. I’ve struggled to formulate my thoughts on what I wanted to say in this post. I guess the first thing I’d like to say is thank you to all of those who have been with us from the beginning of this journey into missions. Your thoughts and prayers are an encouragement to us. The Lord has lead us on a path through many trials and forks in the road which have tested our faith and motives. Melody and I have been drawn closer to the Lord through these experiences and although we wouldn’t wish to endure them again, we believe they were necessary for us to come to the point in our lives where we desire only to please God. We also realize that God doesn’t need us to achieve his goals, but He allows us to be apart of His amazing effort to open the eyes of humanity to his promise. As Paul Fleming once said,” God + Nothing.”
As many of you know we have decided to shift our ministry focus from Missionary Aviation to Tech Specialist. During my brief Pilot Training at NTMA in McNeal, AZ God began to reveal to me that I wasn’t going to be a missionary pilot. You might think this would have come as a shock to me, however it felt as though I already knew and just needed God to confirm it for me. Nevertheless, this was a hard thing for me to digest. After seven years of pilot and mechanic training all leading up to this moment …and it was not going to happen.
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Tags: Tech Specialist
The Solid Rock
Greetings to all,
As many of you know it seems the Lord has decided to redirect my family and I from the path of Missionary Aviation He has had us on for many years. That may and has come as quite a shock to many of you, as it did me several weeks ago when I first realized that a change or redirection was coming. Melody and I were heartbroken at first, but as we sought out direction from the Lord we discovered a peace through the trust and confidence in Him that He can give. Through the past couple of weeks we have personally contacted many of you who faithfully support us through sacrificial giving and much coveted prayer to inform you of this change of focus in ministry that our family is pursuing. We have found that we have been blessed with an amazing group of family and friends who have been gracious in their encouragements to see us continue on in ministry and to press on toward that mark of the height calling to follow Christ where ever
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The Air up there!
Hello to all our faithful followers!
I thought I’d give you an update on the happenings around the Simmons household. First things first, God is Awesome and He never ceases to amaze me! I’ve never seen sunsets like I have here…they’re absolutely mind blowing! Such a great testament to the creativity and majesty of the God of the Universe! On a slightly lower note, flying in the desert, and taking off and landing on 1400 ft airstrips ranks right up there with…uhhh…well, its pretty sweet! Sorry, I had writer’s block there for about 30 seconds. I’ve been flying my tail off, and loving every minute. It hasn’t been without its hiccups though. I’ve had to re-learn a lot about how far my abilities can take me and how much farther the Lord is graciously carrying me. Flying the Cessna 206 Turbo Stationair is like nothing I’ve ever flown, so not only am I learning a totally different style and way of flying, but I’m also learning a much more powerful machine.
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Tags: Cessna 206, Flying, God
