We wanted to share some good news with all of you back home in the USA…we are currently scheduling our 9 month furlough and we hope to be back in North Carolina at the start of December this year! I know 10 months away might seem like a far off date to announce our trip, or even start planning, but there are so many details. Sometimes they can take even a year to get lined up properly… like finding a car to drive, a house to live in, renewing drivers licenses, planning trips to our churches and partners and plenty of paperwork. And that list doesn’t even include the random details like the fact that we will show up in the middle of winter from a tropical climate with nothing warm to wear!
One thing that we are working to line up now is housing. We are currently planning to be at JAARS in Waxhaw, NC for the majority of our furlough. However, we would love to be closer to Charlotte if possible—closer to family, friends, and church. We would be needing a home to live in that will hold our family of five for two different windows of time: Jan-March 2019, and June-July 2019. So if you or someone you know might have a house that we could stay in for some of or all of those times, let’s talk!
So what are furloughs anyway? Furloughs are meant to accomplish a few things:
1. We get to spend time with YOU! It will be so joy filling to get to spend time with all of you at home. We want lots of coffee dates, play dates, nights of laughter around the fire, and hugs (loads of them)!
2. A time of spiritual filling. We will have not sat in a church worshiping or hearing sermons in our own language and culture for 3.5 years (we are so thankful for Church at Charlotte podcasts!). Furlough is a season of soul filling, to sustain us for another term in PNG.
3. REST. We love our life in Papua New Guinea—we are wild about the people and the land into which God has called us to pour out our lives… But it’s just that, we are pouring out. When we get back to the US, we look forward to plenty of rest so that we can come back healthy and ready to do it all again (John can take meds to finally get rid of the malaria that’s lying dormant in his body, but frequently pops up). We haven’t gone on a vacation, or a proper date even, the whole time we have been here… so we just need some time to rejuvenate.
4. Partnership development. There are plenty of life and budget changes that can happen in 3 plus years, so we will be traveling around and sharing about God’s work here in PNG and praying that God provides again for our next chapter here. We will have to be at 100% of the ministry budget that Wycliffe sets for us before we come back to PNG at the end of Summer 2019.
There is still so much to do this year before we return, and we are excited to see some of the new and cool ways God is really working here in this valley (even more on that next month). Please keep praying for us as we strive to finish our work this term well. Pray that God will provide someone that can pick up John’s work while we are on furlough. Please pray that God provides the right plane tickets at the right time and price. And as always, let us know how we can pray for you better this month to come:)
Thank you, thank you, thank you! We just want to send a major shout out to God’s provision through the many of you who have so generously blessed us in abundance—even more these past few months. We have been floored by the outpouring of generosity through special gifts and even increasing monthly partnerships! Thank you! We could not serve PNG without your faith in God's work here.
Maybe you know someone who has a heart for world missions and wants all people to have a chance to hear God’s word in their own language. Maybe you know someone (or your church) who is interested in learning more about our Wycliffe ministry here in Papua New Guinea and would like to get involved.
Send me an email and we'll talk! :) OR send them to our website (www.liveforGodandlive.com) via sharing this prayer update with them.
We love you and miss you but rejoice in knowing we will be in the same time zone this calendar year!
Much love and blessings to you and your families!
John, Kristi and the 3 wild ones (Nori, Banner, Millie)