Invitation Confirmed
Once a location is identified by the missionary team, the next step is to prepare land for housebuilding and sign land agreements.
Once a location is identified by the missionary team, the next step is to prepare land for housebuilding and sign land agreements. Our team completed a comprehensive assessment of the Kuyu people and confirmed the open invitation to come work amongst them.
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What seemed like endless waiting has turned into a falling trail of dominos
Welcome to the Crew
Our team just got a whole lot bigger! We are thrilled to announce that the Ames family will be joining us and the DeValves to complete our church planting team. These are familiar faces as we all met in 2017 and spent several years in training (stateside & PNG) together.
Jonathan and Devon are from Pensacola, FL, and have five kids (from left to right: Selah, Carter, Jackson, Isaac, Leah). Shortly after marriage, Jonathan joined the Marines and was deployed to Iraq before becoming the plant manager at a manufacturing company for several years. They were challenged by God's heart for the nations and have faithfully pursued church planting ever since.
We are thankful for the many gifts and skills that the Ames family brings to our team! Read more about their journey here.
Kuyu Helipad Approved
The R66 helicopter has arrived in PNG! Many of you flew in this same exact chopper during our event last year. Now it has landed in one of the most remote places in the world.
The Kuyu helipad has never been used before until last week. One of our pilots along with Ethnos360 Aviation’s chief helicopter pilot completed the inspection and approved it for use. This will save us between $10,000 and $20,000 over the next six months as the R66 is significantly cheaper than our existing fleet.
However, because the R66 is the first of its kind in Papua New Guinea, there are certain limitations in place to ensure its safety. For the first 6 months, the pilot is unable to do any sling loads, which is the primary means of transportation for housebuilding materials. Because of this, we have been researching commercial helicopter options for sling loading. Please pray with us as we work on comparing quotes and meeting requirements for different aircraft.
WHAT’s NEXT?
We will be heading to Kuyu on survey May 10-16 to complete a comprehensive assessment of the area. After this survey, we should be able to make a final decision on the area. If we decide to move forward, we will make several trips to the coastal region to explore some mountain roads and potential shuttle points for a helicopter. Then we will source all of our supplies for housebuilding as we prepare for allocation sometime in 2022.
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:
Wisdom and guidance on our upcoming survey
Logistics and planning as we enter the housebuilding stage
Transition for our family as we enter a very busy season
We would love to hear from you!
Looking Ahead
We are continuing to serve in the central area of PNG, but are excited to take the next steps ahead!
We are continuing to serve in the central area of PNG, but are excited to take the next steps ahead!
Spring Update
We’ve been back home for 5 months now and are preparing to head back to Papua New Guinea!
We’ve been back home for 5 months now and are preparing to head back to Papua New Guinea on May 3!
Kuyu: 5 Years of Waiting
7 days hiking through Kuyu to put this people group on the map!
People groups all across Papua New Guinea have been writing letters for years asking for missionaries. Once a request is received, New Tribes sends a team in to survey the language and culture and complete a people group assessment.
7 Months in Country
When we initially landed in Papua New Guinea…
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.
We would love to hear from you!
Headed into to the Bush!
We’ve moved two times since our last video update and are prepping for yet another move!
We’ve moved two times since our last video update and are prepping for yet another move! Check out the video to see where we are headed!
Want to Hear Us Speak Tok Pisin?
See how we learn culture/language + hear us speak some Tok Pisin!
We just had our first language evaluations. See how we learn language/culture + hear us speak Tok Pisin!
Welcome to Papua New Guinea
We finally made it to PNG after 6+ years of prep and 3 long plane flights. We've hit the ground running and are grateful to be here!
We made it to PNG! Check out the first stage of our ministry - orientation in Madang, Papua New Guinea to learn the national culture and language. This step is crucial as we adjust to the field and learn the trade language and customs throughout the country.