NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Here we go!

Mason is not getting better and needs some further medical testing. We cannot get what we need here in Papua New Guinea. We attempted to go to Australia, but could not find a neurologist there who was willing to see him in a timely manner.

That is why we are headed back to the United States soon.  We plan and hope to return to Papua New Guinea in 12 weeks. Only God knows what news we will receive and what recovery will look like.

We have flown half way around the world with small children many times now and I thought you may enjoy what we have learned along the way..

1. If you want to see a flight attendant get very upset…toss a dirty diaper in the trash along with your dinner leftovers when they come by for trash

2. Bed wetters become airplane seat wetters on overnight flights…be prepared.

3. Escalators and elevators provide hours of fun for little boys.

4. If you or anyone in your family appear to have pink eye – wear sunglasses – otherwise they will threaten to quarantine you

5. An adult sweatshirt can be easily fashioned into a pair of pants for a toddler who has had an accident

6. If someone steals the runway lights from the international airport, you cannot land until morning.

7. If a flock of bats is hanging out on the runway this will also keep you from landing

8. We’ve lost strollers in Japan, the Philippines, and New Zealand…and we got them all back eventually.

9. Airport security checkpoints are way more fun if you call them “secret tunnel tests.” The boys are always thrilled when they “make it through.”

I wish I could write each one of you who have written to us and prayed for us. Thank you so much. We are doing well and reminded daily of God’s love for us and that His plan is perfect.

Please pray for our trip – especially for our very active 1 year old and for Mason

Resting in the Lord,

Kim and Mason

In the last couple of weeks I have spent a good deal of time unable to speak without stuttering, unable to walk without tottering, and unable to use my hands without shaking. Medically speaking, my body has been having a reaction to stress (according to 2 doctors and a neurologist) that results in my nerves firing almost constantly and eventually resulting in the muscles throughout my body becoming one big knot. The sources of stress are most likely me worrying about my wife having been sick and having to accept that I am completely unable to use my right hand for any of the computer work that is so much a part of what we are here to do. Spiritually speaking, it is clear to me that God just had some things to teach me about myself and about Him. For the sake of brevity, I’ll just share one of those with you all.

1 Cor 1:26 says, “For you see your calling brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.” It goes on to say that God chose to save and use the foolish, weak, and of no account on purpose so that nobody could boast in His presence. I don’t know about you, but I have to admit that when I read the not many among you part of that verse, I assumed that I must be one of the exceptions. I guess I figured God chose to save me because of my usefulness to Him, my perseverance, my ability to speak, etc. I somehow missed the point of the closely following verse that says, “Of God you are in Christ who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”
I somehow failed to remember that I
-quit playing junior high basketball because I didn’t want to deal with the kids on the team who gave me a hard time
-quit playing baseball because I matured late and was discouraged by how I compared to others
-quit competitive swimming in high school after 2 years of pretending to be sick at practice because I was lazy
-lost a college tuition scholarship in my first term of school because I was too lazy to study
-and eventually became a lying, stealing, drug using, college drop out (and then I got saved)

A lot of my drive to finish and be successful in the work in Pal is me trying to prove to myself that I can do something of worth. So far my moments of greatest personal effort have resulted in my losing the use of my right hand and most recently in my temporarily losing the ability to walk and talk. In short, God is teaching me this – “Apart from me you can do nothing.” Funny to me now that I could have thought something different, but it seems pretty obvious to me at this point that I am yet another one of the foolish, weak, and of no account that God has chosen to save and use so that He might be praised for the work that is accomplished. “As it is written, ‘Let him who glories, glory in the Lord.” Currently my physical condition leaves me able to continue in the work and yet almost constantly reminded, through pain and shakiness, that it is by the power of God that the church in Pal will be born.

Thank you for standing behind us in prayer. We’ll be heading back to Pal as soon as seems wise.

If the first 15 years of my Christian life could be described as a steady pushing ahead, it is my hope that the one’s I have remaining might look a lot more like a wobbly legged, quivering lipped, shaky handed man being carried a long by an undeniably divine source of power.

Stuttering on the Rock, (you have to be able to laugh at yourself sometimes)

Mason for the Lockwoods

Hey out there, Having some physical issues I wanted to ask you to pray about. For a couple of weeks now and currently I (Mason) have been experiencing a pins and needles sensation all over my body. A couple of days ago I went for a jog and the whole left side of my body went numb for about 8 hours. After seeing a family doctor here in PNG, we started on some vitamin B complex. It is possible that my symptoms are related to a vitamin B deficiency. If about a week of vitamins doesn’t fix the problem, we will likely be needing to head to some other country (possibly Australia or the Philippines) for an MRI and other tests. The list of possible things that would cause my current symptoms range from pinched nerve to multiple sclerosis, hence the potential need to get some testing done.

Praise the Lord that Kim is feeling good and God has been supplying for our needs.

We could use prayer for:

1) Wisdom as me make decisions about if, when, and where to get tests done.

2) Healing (It would be such a relief to us to see this clear up and be able to get right back to serving in Pal).

3) That we might be sustained in peace and joy as we fix our mind on the incredible hope and deep love we have in Christ.

Meanwhile we have been very burdened for our friends in Pal. The blindness and bondage that the enemy is holding them in has been very apparent lately. We want to head back in there, finish up language and to get going on what we are there to do. Please pray that we could be back there soon!

Thank you to those of you who took the time to read and pray – I appreciate it and have hopes that the Lord might have in mind to respond to His people on this one by sticking a healthy Mason and Kim back into the midst of the Pal people for the sake of His glory among them. Thanks again, Mason and Kim

Holding one of these in each hand while learning to rollerblade could end up being a gutsy experience…

After 11 months of language study Mason is somewhere around 2/3 of the way towards fluency in the Pal language.

Mason went back to Pal this past week for the language evaluation and enjoyed seeing our friends and co-workers again, as well as gathering more language recordings to work through. We are eager to return! I (Kim) will be evaluated next time.

Every day is bringing us closer to the day that the 1300 Pal speakers will have their first chance to understand what Christ has done on their behalf!

We are still studying language out in town while continuing to explore some medical concerns. January we plan to return to living among the Pal people.

We are thankful that in our absence, our co-workers are faithfully loving people and working hard to learn the Pal language and culture.

Merry Christmas! Enjoy the fact that you were born into a language group that can read God’s Word and know Him as your Savior.

Please pray

For fully restored health for Kim

For plans and flight schedules to work out so that we can get back to Pal soon.

For continued progress for us and our co-workers.

For prepared hearts among the men, women, and children in Pal.

Thank you for praying for us and for God’s work here in PNG!

Mason and Kim Ian, Andrew, Isaac and Brayden (and the toads that join our family occasionally)

Last week while most of you were:

Eating turkey, Christmas shopping, and putting up the tree…

Some of our friends in Pal had a different sort of week:

Someone died (awhile back).

The death was blamed on sorcery.

The alleged sorcerers paid the authorities to come and punish their accusers.

The authorities got some payment.

Everyone went on with planting their yams.

We have some good news of answered prayer to share. I (Kim) found out that I had been suffering from a massive amoeba infection, which had a lot to do with how I was feeling and why I had been so run down. Now that is gone, and I am feeling great. We are working on language study and excited to get back to Pal.

We are not at home in the bush at the moment, but I cannot eat Thanksgiving dinner without a Christmas tree up. So I made one out of twist ties and palm leaves.

TB or not TB…that was the question that brought us out of the bush.

The answer was that I (Kim) do not have TB.

In the past 6 weeks I have had the stomach flu, then pneumonia, then malaria, then pneumonia again and then a sinus infection. (There were 2-3 head colds in there too). The mission Dr. wanted us to come out and just make sure something more serious wasn’t going on, as I had symptoms that made him suspect tuberculosis. I had also spent a lot of time with a friend who died of TB last summer. We were thrilled when tests all came back good.

We kept up language learning and life in the tribe through most of the sickness, but are thankful for this unexpected time out in town to recover fully. A little rest and we should be back to normal soon.

We plan to head back in Dec 12th just in time for our first language evaluation (someone comes in and checks our level of fluency). We brought out hundreds of recordings and hope to keep up some language study while we are out. Meanwhile our boys are missing the jungle, but excited about going to school here for a few weeks.

Please Pray

For full recovery and good health

For continued language progress for us and our coworkers (who are in there alone)

For God to prepare the hearts of the Pal people to accept the truth

Thank you for making it possible for us to be here,

Mason and Kim Lockwood Ian, Andrew, Isaac, and Brayden

My Saturday Morning:

4:00 am. Our friend Kogster woke us up. He was yelling and whacking the bamboo siding on our house. His wife was having baby #8

4:15 am I entered a smoke filled hut and found the new mom in a corner with her new baby boy on the floor. The cord got cut, and the baby just laid there. “Are you going to pick it up ?” I asked. “Nope. We just watch it,” was their reply. This may be one of the reasons half of the babies here die. This one though is cute, chunky, and healthy.

6:00 am I’m showered and back in bed. (because I smelled like a campfire…as usual)

8:00 am The kids have tummies full of pancakes and run outside to play. (because 4 little boys are very noisy)

8:02 am “HELP! THE CAT IS GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!” The kids found our cat eating a 6” centipede. Mason grabbed a machete and took care of that. The cat is fine.

8:30 am I called my mom on our cell phone. Technology is wonderful. One day a little old bent over woman, topless, with a walking stick came up the trail. She would have looked the same 500 years ago. She walked up to me and said, “I don’t have cell phone service today.” It would have made an awesome commercial.

9:00am The breakfast dishes were still in the sink, and there were 5 ladies on my porch to chat. We discussed childbirth stories, gardens and how I talked to my nephew, brother and mom. Brayden (8 months) was grinning at everyone and showing off his new teeth. I learn a little more language every day.

9:30 am We had a team discussion about a dying woman. Our co-worker was chosen for the hike over to plead with her husband to go for medical help.

10:00 am My co-worker Elizabeth and I hiked the 2 minutes to the village to check in on the new mom. The ladies there taught us all about childbirth in their culture.

11:30 am I was trying to help my kids negotiate through an argument. Our big boys (Ian, 8, Andrew,7 and Isaac, 3) spent the morning sledding down a landslide on cardboard, and playing soccer with the village kids.

12:00 am Time for lunch….and a nice big pile of dishes. Which are done now, and I am writing this to you! (it is 2 pm)

Lots of things in our life are the same as yours. We still have dishes to do and a toilet to scrub. We still have to choose to be patient with our kids and walk with the Lord each day.

Thank you to all of you who pray for us and support us so that we can see people understand the completeness of what Christ has done for them!

Pray for wisdom for us as we live here hoping to show forth the love of Christ Pray too for wisdom as we raise these 4 precious little boys

A week in our life…

Monday: we bought supplies for the next 2 ½ months

Tuesday: we got on the helicopter and came back to the bush (after 6 days in town)

Wednesday: we found out an orphaned baby we had been praying for and trying to help had died. Her adopted family came to ask if we knew why it had happened.

Wednesday night: Lightning struck our house. (we are fine!)

Thursday: The stomach flu struck our family (or maybe it was the parakeet/possum soup we ate the day before?) Praise the Lord that our computer, which got puked on, is still working.

Friday: Folks from 3 hours away showed up today to sit down and eat another pot of jungle rat soup with us. We had to decline due to sickness, but Mason will hike over another day to eat and talk with them.

We recently went out for a weekend retreat for missionaries and were encouraged to remember that in every situation “for this too we have Jesus.” As I look back at this past week I remembered often that in all those situations, Christ was our wisdom, our comfort, our strength, and our protection.

We long for our Pal friends to be able to say the same thing. Pray that one day they will!

Have you ever wondered what you would do if you were really lost in the wilderness?

The other night I (Kim) discovered what I would do….

My co worker Elizabeth and I followed some folks for a couple of hours into the jungle to help a woman who was having complications from childbirth. She died before we got there. Then we decided to head back alone.

They would have led us back…but we figured we could find our way back through the jungle. (don’t ask me why we thought that) (= So after about a half hour on our own, we could not find the trail. We went up…all we could find was thick bush, we went down and it was the same way. So here’s what we did.

1. Sit down

2. Pray

3. Yell/scream really really loud.

4. Shine our flashlights to the mountain villages

What did we yell? Well, we perfected our Pal yodel (The way they yell from village to village). We yelled “the white ladies are stuck in the bush!” in 5 different languages. (the Spanish and French were just to mix it up for our sakes) We figured as long as we were making noise, it could attract help.

We yelled once or twice that we didn’t have any toilet paper so someone really needed to help us. (=

Eventually (a couple of hours later) two young men from the next mountain range over (yes we had been that obnoxious) came to get us.

So we were home before 11pm and slept safely in our own beds.

The Pal language group on the other hand is truly lost. They do not understand that the only way to the Creator is through Christ. Their lostness has been so evident here this week, the fear of the Spirits and of death bringing grown men to tears.

Pray that our relationships with them would deepen so that we could understand them better Pray for us and our co workers to learn the language very quickly Pray for energy for us as we are weary at the moment

Thanks for standing behind us and making it possible for us to be here!

Kim and Mason