“Give thanks to the LORD; his faithful love endures forever!”
2 Chronicles 20:21
As we write this month, our hearts are full of thanks. We have had people write and encourage and pray for us as we transition back into life in PNG and we can feel it. This transition was a bit different for us and after getting some input at home, we are settling into a routine that will hopefully keep us more emotionally and physically fit in the coming years. It stinks getting old, but is sweet to see the Lord continue to walk with us and reveal more and more and to create more and more opportunities for dependence and obedience toward Him. We are thankful for the team here in Madang – both students, staff, and Itutang friends who have made it a joy to come back. Daily struggles arise – as one of the orientees reminded us this week speaking from Colossians- but thank God…He is faithful and forgives and never leaves us or forsakes us as He works to complete the work that He began in each of us. There is truly NONE like HIM.
We are also thankful for the sacrificial gifts that we see many of you have made towards the school for the sake of training a strong new generation of believers to help us reach PNG. There was a total of $27,178.01 in donations received this month!! We are so thankful for the friends who are providing the matching grant that doubled all of those donations! So blessed! That leaves us about $179,000 left to raise before we hit our goal. THANK YOU! Joshua and Amelia, our Itutang co-workers, came over to ask how it was going and we talked about how more people had given again this month and how we were getting close to the goal and Amelia’s eyes teared up and she said, “Tell them we said ‘Thank you for remembering the poor line (people) here.’ It is hard to give to people you don’t know, but God makes it so that we do things like this to help each other.” Yes. Yes, He does. We are humbled thinking about how many of you are bearing this burden with us and praying and giving as we move forward. Bill is excited to be back here on the ground now and is gathering specific price lists of materials between translation hours. Some things will need to be shipped from the U.S. and will take many months to get here, so pray that the rest of the funds will come in quickly so that we can get the ball rolling on this side. We have so many people ready to help and this, too, is a joy for us to see!
We want to ask for special prayer for all the new PNG missionaries and also for our co-workers here in Madang, Aaron and Lori Luse, who are functioning now in our former roles as Church Development Director and Orientation Coordinators training new missionaries. They have strong hearts for the church and the gospel and also still have school aged children at home. They are doing a fantastic job and we would appreciate your prayers for them for wisdom and strength as they carry a large burden together as a family to help the NTM-PNG team. Also, pray for the Centre Management Team, Garry and Sylvia Krobel, who are a huge blessing and are serving away from their four grown children who live in Canada. Mission life is so fulfilling and we all love our jobs very much, but we still need prayer to keep us content and focused when the pain begins to stab at our hearts.
By God’s Grace & For His Glory,
Bill and Kelley
inapangministries 