So it's November here… and I guess its November were you are too, only it looks a bit different as Fall is well under its way for you :) Please enjoy a few blustery days with the leaves swirling around you, and take a minute to lay under a maple tree as the sun is setting through its firery branches, try to eat an apple right off the tree… and of course do it all while wearing warm boots and cozy sweaters! think of me as you do them and know my heart is there with you and you bask in these glories God is blessing you with.
For you I will enjoy the 1/2 sunny 1/2 rainy days and the rainy nights, purple Jacaranda petals dancing through the bright blue sky on the back of the wind, and mangos that are now in season (only I won’t eat too many at one time so to cause a rash around my mouth!)
My mom was here for 2 weeks visiting last month. Thanks for all of your prayers that carried her here and back home safely. It's funny how we haven’t seen each other in 1.5 years and it felt like we could pick up right where we left off. She was just as I remembered and I found this to be more of a comfort than I expected. Praise the Lord for mothers! Of course, the mother-daughter interactions paled in comparison to the Grammy-grandkids interactions as you might expect. I hope it was a gift to her as much as it was to us to share this piece of our lives with her.
I am beyond words with joy over my new 7th grade girls Bible study. It was one of those things that I really struggled with taking on, but as always God’s plans are better than mine. Those girls are amazing and probably teaching me more than I'm teaching them!
The kiddos are doing well. The other night Nori just ripped, and I say "ripped" as she had to (and with all her might), another tooth out. It was a molar this time, and wow that thing would not stop bleeding. That is one determined girl! Banner is over the moon that we get to do sports day at school this year, more of that to come ;) and Millie is just a joy, making us laugh all the time… but isn’t that what a 3rd child is suppose to be like? She has become the family storyteller and makes up all kinds of wacky tales for our enjoyment.
Something new! We have invited a single gal, Katie, to come live with us for the remainder of her time here (through April). Katie was in our POC training course with us, so we have known her for a while now. She needed a place to stay and a family to share, so we shuffled around to fit her in. Katie works in Language Survey which does important research about the vitality of the many different languages here in PNG. Please pray for Katie :)
Pray for John he is having a hard week, one of his guys lost his 6 month old daughter Monday. Death is such a normal part of life here, but this one feels especially tragic and personal.
A couple other BIG prayer requests: John is headed out on November 14th to go build a village house for the Wade family in East New Britain (big island off the east coast). He will be gone for approximately 3 weeks (that's right, over Thanksgiving!). Please pray for the preparations for this project; so many unpredictable things have to line up just right or else a lot of time and money could go to waste. Pray for good health, good weather, safe travels, prompt material deliveries, peace in the area, hospitable power tools, and a host of other things that only God can think of. Pray for our team: LaVeryl, Joshua, Able, & Don. And of course pray for Aaron Wade who is leaving his family to help too, is lining up so many things even as I write this; and he's still working with his Mamusi co-translators all the while! Also John's role at CAM has shifted lately and has gotten quite stressful. He has rewritten the procedure for how we hire people from around the valley. The intent is that it is much more fair to all than it used to be. This has ramifications that directly impact the security of our missions center. Please pray for patience and wisdom as they move forward.
I miss you!
kristi