7 Months in Country
WHERE ARE WE…
When we initially landed in Papua New Guinea, we spent 3 months in Madang for orientation. Cut short due to good ol’ Rona, we flew up to our mission’s headquarters at Lapilo (Goroka, PNG) for some medical workshops and orientation to NTM’s support hub. After a month in Lapilo, we moved up the street to Sobega (a support base near Goroka, PNG) to fill in for some urgent support needs in the central area. Then, we flew into Waghi to learn from the church there and complete our time in orientation; however, we were medevac’d out of the bush after 4 weeks due to a nasty case of dehydration that required medical attention. After traveling for the past 7 months, we have finally settled for a bit at NTM’s base at Sobega (Goroka, Papua New Guinea) where we will be for the next 2 years before allocating into a remote people group.
…AND WHAT ARE WE DOING?
Lapilo is the main support hub (aviation, medical, education, admin, IT, etc) and services the entire country.
Sobega is the support base specifically for the Central Area missionaries in Papua New Guinea.
Here at Sobega, Morgan and I are currently helping out with the following departments:
Business Office - managing national workers, finances, and administrative tasks necessary to keep Sobega running.
Centre Operations - maintenance and oversight of utilities, grounds, and projects.
Central Area Security - all central area missionaries are required to check-in once every three days. If no contact is received within three days, aircraft is sent to the bush location to check-in on our missionaries.
Tribal Resource Center - print shop to produce all of the necessary materials for literacy courses and bible translation.
Guesthouse - Central Area missionaries come to Sobega for two weeks out of the year to rest and recharge before going back into the bush.
Church Liaison - partnering with national churches and assisting in their goals for deeper connection and maturity.
Community Relations - maintaining relationships with the community around Sobega to ensure healthy operations.
As you can see, we are wearing a ton of hats! But it has been an immense blessing as we have gotten exposure to a number of different aspects of church planting here in Papua New Guinea. We have committed to a support role until Summer of 2022 as we wait for the arrival of our 3rd coworker unit!
TOK PISIN PROGRESS (SO CLOSE!)
Last Friday, we had our 3rd culture and language evaluation for Tok Pisin. Both Morgan and I reached level of 8 of 9 and are looking to finish up in the next month or two. Morgan is crushing it, spending nearly half the time in language study, but still reaching the same mark. God has uniquely gifted women as this is often the case with the women on the field…that, or us guys are just slow! In our final months of Tok Pisin study, we are working to master the discourse features of the language while telling longer stories and preaching for a longer period of time.
WHAT’s NEXT?
With COVID adding additional travel restrictions, our plans to survey different indigenous groups has been slowed. However, we are still hoping to fly into a couple different people groups this fall! During these surveys, we will be making 1) initial contact, 2) assessing their desire for missionaries, 3) recording samples of their language for analysis, and 4) assessing the feasibility of a missionary team moving into the location.
PRAYER REQUESTS
We covet your prayers and are so thankful for the team that God has given us to support us in this way. Please pray for the following items:
Diligence as we finish culture and language study well as we juggle other responsibilities.
Wisdom as our team discusses a variety of topics.
Peace and unity as we finally settle down after months of moving around.
For our friends out in the bush that are currently working to bring churches to maturity in difficult contexts.
We praise God for you. Seriously. Especially those that read to the end! May the Lord bless you and keep you in this current season of your life. He is faithful and so so good to us.