The LORD Gives His People Strength

The LORD reigns as King forever. The LORD gives His people strength. The LORD blesses them with peace. PS. 29.10b-11

Dear Praying Friends,

We are so thankful to be writing you this morning from our quiet little abode in the States where we will be staying for two more weeks before we begin some traveling here in the south.  We arrived home just before CHRISTmas and were able to spend some beloved time with friends and with family…especially our two girls and their men.  It was fun to see our son-in-law Jonathan and our daughter, Madison, doing well with their first pregnancy and our second daughter, Sabra, become engaged on CHRISTmas day to a young man that we have all fallen in love with!  We are very blessed! We enjoying some rest and finding once again that the Joy of the LORD is our Strength. Thankful for His steadfastness in a mutual and sometimes chaotic world.

This month we are catching up on some translation projects.  Please pray as we work this month translating the book of Hebrews.  We hope to get it al least to the half way point before we begin our travels to touch base with our churches down south and visit with many of YOU!

As much as we love being home, as we begin to receive news about the EXCITING start to literacy in the KAJE tribe next door, it’s hard for our hearts not to long to be there, too.  We are so proud of the Goheen and the Myers families.  They have humble hearts who love the gospel of Jesus Christ, trust him, and love others. Many of you support and pray for them as well and they continue to just be such a blessing to us. They have worked so well with our Itutang church over the past few years and we are privileged to call them neighbors and friends.  Please pray for them as they begin literacy and teach over the next four months the FIRST KAJE READING classes EVER!  Praise the Lord!

Our home church in Itutang is doing well and they actually sent some words of thanks and some prayer requests to you.  You can see the video and the translation of their thanks here. it was good to spend a few weeks with the young men of our church at the conference in Madang just before we left.  There was SUCH a good response and some good time one on one with us and the elders of the church speaking heart to heart with our young men.  Please pray that the Lord will raise up a next generation of leaders who seek God and desire to live in obedience to Him. Speaking of the NEXT GENERATION…

We are excited to let you know that things are moving forward in the Ramu Valley School Project!  After many years of prayer in the Itutang church, we officially have a piece of beautiful waterfront property to build our school on!  This is a huge undertaking and we have no real precedence to follow, so we humbly ask that you would put us, the church, the NTM leadership, and this project before the Lord daily.  Please ask for wisdom, finances, and prepared students.  We have given over a decade to church development on the ground in the tribe and have seen the Lord do MORE than we could ask or think.  Now, we look forward to seeing what He will provide in the coming decade as we commit ourselves together with you and the churches of the Ramu Valley to Him and equip that next generation for His work of reaching the unreached in PNG.  We are thrilled (and nervous) about this opportunity, but know that with God ALL THINGS are possible.  Not just a cliché!

We will be building teams for fundraising, building & construction, teaching & administration, and practical skills and helps/discipleship. We hope to begin the building process January 2019 and enroll the first class January 2020, but there are some major milestones to hit before then! If you are interested in helping to make the Ramu Valley Academy a reality for the churches of the Ramu, please contact us at bill_housley@ntm.org or visit our project page with Ethnos360 here. Your help is needed both stateside and on the ground in PNG – for a month, or a year – whatever He might be nudging you to give. THANK YOU for your many faithful years of prayer and support.  We honestly could not and would not be here were it not for YOUR obedience to give and encourage us in this ministry.  We are thankful that we do not serve alone, that He walks with each of us and that our RAMU VALLEY TEAM includes YOU! THANK YOU!

By God’s Grace & For His Glory~

Bill and Kelley Housley