August is upon us, and I actually got to buy an apple in the store today! It was shipped in from Australia, and was a bit small, but it was an apple none the less. This lovely fruit we take for granted in America is a luxury here, and just getting to share one with the kids brought me home to NC thinking how apple harvesting is about to begin… now if we could only find a way to get grapes and peaches here we would be set… oh and blackberries… and maybe some plums while we’re at it… ok needless to say we will be gorging ourselves on fruit when we hit the states! Missionaries think about the food they miss from home often. I fear that if you listened to us when some craving that struck us, that we might sound like the stereotype of a pregnant woman craving pickles and ice-cream. Please don’t get me started talking about sushi… or Mexican food!
Anyways, I thought I should update you on some of our prayer requests from last month since they were many.
- The elections here are over, but still they are surely at the top of this list. Tensions from the supporters of the various candidates are high and we have already been experiencing some effects from that here. We want you to know that we are safe and just ask you to please continue to pray for this nation and the people here we have been called to come serve and love. Below is SIL’s official statement about what is going on.
As PNG National Election results have been announced, there have been pockets of civil unrest break out in various parts of the country. Concerns about potential unrest in the Aiyura Valley have caused some SIL paid staff to remain in their home villages. Their absence from work hasresulted in some Ukarumpa department closures. As a proactive security measure, a decision was made on Sunday night to close today's centre market. On advice from the Police, the market willremain closed for the remainder of the week. The SIL-PNG Directorate and Security staff are continuing to monitor the Valley situation to determine if additional security measures are necessary. Please pray with us that God will enable a peaceful transition to the new government, at local and National levels.
P.S.- for those of you that don’t know or don’t remember, SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) is the Wycliffe entity that we officially work with here in PNG.
- Lice… ahhh we thought we got them all and were clear for a whole 3 weeks, but alas we found more on Saturday on all 3 kids :( Just pray they all die, that’s all.
- School is going GREAT! The kids are loving this year, especially science, we are studying the human body. Please pray that they just keep eating it up, as it is such a blessing to my heart that they love it so much.
- John is feeling much better. After his last bout of malaria, he got this chest cold that knocked him off his feet. He is up and running full steam ahead again, and we know your prayers were such a help with his recovery. Thank you!
- Please be praying for the 3 new guys (Ete, Maricus, and Lloyd) that John just hired to join his crew in the Maintenance Section at CAM. Mostly pray that they will be accepted well by the other guys and that work will transition well for all. Blood (family) runs really thick here and John may have to pacify many upset guys, just because he didn’t hire somebody from their village. Similarly, these new guys will be seen and treated as outsiders for a while–regardless of whether they are doing a good job or not.
- As much as John builds and fixes stuff around here so that the Bible translators can do what they do, his major ministry has really become discipling his work guys at CAM. Please pray for God’s wisdom for him as he walks through some of the most bizarre relational situations on a daily basis.
- We are still about $4,000.00 short for our solar project. Still praying God will provide the rest of the funds needed to complete this build as it really would help out our monthly budget greatly long term. Thank you again to those of you who have jumped on board with helping us with this!
- After reviewing our ministry budget with a fine tooth comb with our Wycliffe financial advisor, we have our new numbers in. We are currently $1,823 short of what we need to live here each month. We simply ask you to join us in praying for God to provide. I will just reiterate what we said last month:
- Pray that God will surprise us with new partners to help support our work here.
- We ask that you too prayerfully consider raising the amount you support us monthly.
- And please pray that God guards our hearts from discouragement–that we will keep our hope in Him and continue to trust in His generous provisions, even when things seem daunting.
Here is the link to our ministry page if you want to share what we are doing with someone:
Thank you, thank you, thank you for praying along side of us!
John and Kristi (and Nori, Banner, & Millie)
P.S. please keep your prayer requests coming… we love praying for you too.