inapangministries

So thankful to have had the opportunity to host believers from several people groups around PNG this week at the Madang Training & Recruitment Centre for various meetings. Three of our own Itutang elders and one of our literacy teachers joined our PNG literacy consultant team for the introduction of some new literacy software that is going to make constructing the materials for new indigenous literacy programs much easier and more accurate.  They did a great job and we are excited to try it out on our own literacy materials and do some revisions as we move into a more kid-oriented program in the future as adult literacy is coming to an end in our language group. Thankful for the McDaniels, our NTM International Literacy Consultants, who flew in for this workshop with us. What a blessing to learn from them!

Besides the literacy workshop, the Field Leadership Team was also in full swing.  Two of the elders from the Islands area of PNG sat in with our Directors to discuss some key Church Development issues, which is affecting some of our tribal churches.  So thankful for these wise men who are able to think biblically and are concerned about the gospel, for its opportunities outside their borders and for their next generation of believers.  We also had a few men from another area here in Madang who shared a burden on their hearts concerning partnering with a local church to so a cross cultural outreach.  Please pray for the tribal churches of PNG!

Many nights this week, Bill was found out with the men listening in the background to the conversations between these tribal church elders.  Thankful especially for Kaikou and Kewaka who have been to Itutang several times before to give us church evaluations and just spend time with the leaders in our church.  Our elders carry such a large burden as they look after their church and support the other 7 churches in the Inapang language group.  So, it was good to see them be able to discuss their own worries and concerns and have other older elders listening and giving input.  What a blessing.  Spending nights out talking with all of these amazing believing men and women, we are reminded once again of the realness of the need, the urgency of the task and the stewardship that we have to do what we have been sent here to do. Thank you for your monthly prayer and support that allow us to serve the Inapang churches and work to train men and women who have come to join the team and help in the task. 

A short story:

You will remember hearing about Joshua and Amelia.  They are an Itutang couple who moved out to Madang with us when we began living itinerant here.  They have been excellent and faithful co-workers and have been such an encouragement to every new orientee family who comes through the training program here as they pour into their lives.  We absolutely love their hearts. 

A man named Ato stood before the class of new families and pointed out the places on the map around him.  Places where they have family and friends who are asking to hear the gospel, but no one working in that language group yet.  Amelia was shaking her head as she listened and whispered under her breath, “God, please send someone to help them.” As they listened to these men from the Mibu tribe share their story and needs, they were both burdened. They wanted to help.  What could they do?  As you can imagine, living on the centre here, they receive a lot of clothes and small things from missionaries who are passing through. They keep an action packer full of these things for times just like this.  They pulled out the box and took out some clothes and things and packed them together and went to find the two men.  Amelia came over so excited the next day because they were already wearing the clothes that they had passed on to them.  She said, “This is what we are supposed to do.  Some people give to us and we give to others.  This is what the Body of Christ does.”  Amen and Amen.  Please pray for Joshua and Amelia as she is now pregnant with her second child.  She has lost one in labor before, so please pray for a healthy delivery here next fall!

Today, about 30 men and women from Itutang and Mbongen village came to the centre in Madang to pick up our elders and take them back up North Coast Road to catch the motor canoe back into our little neck of the woods called Itutang. Anton shook hands hard and looked in our eyes and said, “Thanks for taking care of the needs of our bodies, but also for hearing our underneath thinking and strengthening us to keep doing the work of the Lord.”  And, I thought of what Amelia had just said a couple of days earlier, “This is what we are supposed to do.  Some people give to us (you all – financially and prayer/encouragement) and we give to others.  This is what the Body of Christ does.”  So as you look at the picture attached to this email, please take time to see the faces.  This is the Body of Christ – our brothers and our heroes of the faith – men who need love, support, and encouragement just like you and I.

We are reminded of this in George MacDonald’s Unspoken Sermons when he writes, “-we shall never be able, I say, to rest in the bosom of the Father, till the fatherhood is fully revealed to us in the love of the brothers. For he cannot be our father save as his is their father; and if we do not see him and feel him as their father, we cannot know him as ours.”

Thank you for your continued prayers for us and our family and the Inapang churches.

By God’s Grace and For His Glory~

The Housleys

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Photo creds: Haleigh Schaeffer, Etched in Time Photography

Dear Prayer Warriors,

Just writing a short update to tell you all of some encouraging news from this past week and pass along some points of prayer.  Thank you for always being there to take us, our family, and the Inapang Ministries before the throne.

First of all, we had a good trip into ITUTANG which is always an encouragement and a much needed rest for the soul. The helicopter was already taking Bill and a few other consultants into a neighboring language group and they were able to drop Kelley off with Haleigh, one of our interns, into Itutang for a couple of days.  We slept the best that we have in months!  We took in a new set of literacy supplies for the new classes that they are beginning with the younger kids.  We’ll include a little bulleted update for literacy there for those of you who specifically support that ministry:

• Not only has the gospel itself  been spread to 9 outlying villages, the literacy teacher teams also have effectively taught more than 70 classes throughout the language group and we are so very proud of them.  Our advisor, Markus, who faithfully gave oversight to all of these literacy programs has now transitioned and is serving on the local government school board and is a helpful liaison between the programs. Please pray for Markus, Ambo, and Vinansus as they join us for some literacy meetings that will be held here at the Madang Centre.
• Most adults throughout our language group in 9 villages have had the opportunity to attend literacy classes.  We are switching gears now and dealing mostly with children and trying to be creative about how to bridge them from our 5 step program into the government schools.  Our classes are recognized by the provincial government now and the children can test into either grade 4 or 5 depending on their ages and scores. They have the first and second step classes beginning again and we listened to their plan that will allow them to be ready for steps 3, 4, and 5 as the children graduate through these classes!
• After 9 literacy and gospel outreaches and one cross cultural outreach, the Itutang leaders have been just a little worn out.  When they finished the adults and reached the younger children, they took a break from literacy for a bit and we have been waiting to see if they pick up the ball on their own and begin to teach literacy effectively to the children on their own.  So I was thrilled to be in Itutang and see one of our church elders had put together a small teaching team and began leading them in teaching literacy to the children. Praise!
• Please be praying about the ongoing educational needs of the second generation.  We have a strong desire to work with one of our believing PNG friends in Goroka to establish a small school in the village and to one day see a Christian high school available to our Ramu Valley churches here in Madang town.  So much potential.  Please pray for wisdom for us as we wait on the Lord!

In Itutang Village…

While we were in Itutang, we met with the teachers, the church elders, and some of the women and were so encouraged again by their faith.  There are many changes going on in their lives that bring stress and uncertainty right now and yet to hear them verbally commit themselves to the Lord again and again was honey for our hearts.  I watched one lady as she spoke about how God’s Word keeps giving her strength as she walks through this hard life and keeps her focused on heaven.  I kept thinking, “What a privilege it is to know this sister! I hope I am able to be there to hear the Master as he takes her into His Everlasting Arms and says to her, ‘Well Done, my faithful daughter!’”

We also visited a family who has been struggling for the past year as the father has been pulled under by some of their life circumstances.  We were able to talk and listen and encourage and would ask you to be praying for them as well. We heard testimonies of what the Lord is doing and prayer requests as they see Satan attacking within and without.  We told them we would be writing and asking you all to continue in faithful prayer for them as they live on their tribal clan ground, but now as sojourners – looking to a new family and a new ground that will be their eternal home.  It is always such a blessing to spend time with these folks and we are thankful for the digicel service now that lets us keep in touch even when we are away working at the training centre in Madang.

Tangguat – Promise came in as we flew out and now has her parents visiting and they will probably be heading back out of country by the time this is posted.  Pray for Promise as she continues to live in Itutang alone under the supervision of the tribal church elders there.  Thankful for her parents’ visit and for her heart and stamina to serve alongside the church there as she works on the Tangguat translation. Pray for Tim Lanier as well as he makes a visit into the tribe following their time stateside.

In the Ramu Valley neighborhood…

Thanks to those of you who pray for and support these missionary families working with the Itutang church!

Iski

is a couple of weeks from their halfway mark – heading towards the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Deliverer .  Everyone in the village is still coming and attending quietly and listening well to the Creation to Christ teaching.  Please pray that many will hear and BELIEVE!  Pray for the Iski team as well as the days of teaching every day for 4 months is a stressful and busy time for juggling families and the daily needs of ministry.  Thankful that they are willing to be there so that souls might have hope!!!! To sign up for weekly emails and see what God is doing in this people group write to jason_williamson@ntmpng.org or  andre_tousch@ntmpng.org

Kaje

is finishing up all the tasks that come with completing language study: discourse analysis, phonemic analysis, orthography, cultural write ups, grammar write ups etc etc.  Once  these are done, the Itutang literacy team and the NTM literacy consultants will be working with them to get their program up and running…the precursor for reading God’s Word!  There is  a lot to do, but they are taking it step by step and doing a great job of getting things done right and in order.  They continue to be a blessing to the Itutang church as they call, talk, and hike  to visit with the Itutang church leaders. To sign up for email on what the Lord is doing in Kaje, write to taylor_goheen@ntmpng.org or jonathan_myers@ntmpng.org

Back at the centre….

Things are getting busy in our lives. 🙂  As you know, the mission field is always short of help, but we have felt this keenly in the last few months.  Our Madang Centre co-workers, the Rodges, who went home with a brain tumor are doing well spiritually and emotionally and are receiving radiation and chemo, but would appreciate your prayers as they move through this process. We miss them both dearly. We still have 6 families and 2 interns in the field orientation training here in Madang and they are all doing great, but have been through a week or two of sickness that spread through the centre and would appreciate your prayers as they get back into the swing of things and complete an overnight hike to stay in a bush house this week.  They also have their half way evaluations this week.  We are so proud of how hard they have worked and with the way we see them leaning on Christ to balance their sweet families and their sweet PNG Friends who are teaching them language and culture! We have been especially blessed with how this little group has embraced the national church next door  and how the church has embraced them and their children during this program.

In our hearts…

This has been a long and hard year for us in many ways.  We have been at some of our lowest points in life and yet have seen God’s grace in deeper ways than ever before as well.   So thankful for our two girls and our son-in-law who are a constant encouragement to us an keep pushing us on toward the goal every day through texts and phone calls.  We are blessed.  Thanks for those of you who write and encourage us personally and for those of you who pray so regularly for us.  We honestly FEEL your prayers at work in our lives and know that some days can only be explained by the sheer Grace and mercy of God, the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the miraculous team that we have had standing behind us for the last 12 years. So thankful that we are not here alone!

By God’s Grace and For His Glory~

Bill and Kelley Housley

“In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.”

Proverbs 14:26

We want to say thank you once again to all of you who faithfully work and give so that we can be here and faithfully work and give – we love being part of your team.  Every month, we are amazed again and again by the faithfulness of God and of His people.  Thank you for investing in the Inapang Churches and entrusting us to this work.

We haven’t written much since the new orientation classes have begun, but just to catch you up, here are a few bullet points from this Spring’s NTM-PNG Equipping & Training program:

• The Lord has blessed us with workers and we have the largest program to date with 6 families and 2 interns. In July, we are back to the normal numbers with 3 families on the books. Please pray for those who are already here in country and those who are preparing to leave.
• The Lord brought on more staff families to help us with this larger program and they have all been huge blessings to us. It has been an added bonus being able to work with Bill’s mom and dad.  God is so good!
• This year’s e2 student team is another amazing group of men and women. We are super privileged to be a part of their lives and ministries for the next few months.  We are encouraged by their love for the Lord Jesus, their desire to obey him in the day to day things, their learning to balance their lives while stepping out in what we call +1 culture and language study and their willingness to “become PNG” and be part of the national church next door. Such a blessing to have them all here.

Please pray for us as we work side by side with them.  And, please continue to pray for these new families as they adjust to being a family in a new place and serving Jesus together in a new culture.  Pray that they will see every day that HE. IS. WORTHY.

We had the special treat of having Promise along with two of our Itutang church elders and two translation men from the Tangguat church visit this week.  Promise was able to check off more translation that will now be usable for the Tangguat church.  Thankful for the hard work she has put into this!  Our elders co-taught one of the modules with us called “Living as Elders” and it was so encouraging for all of us.  There was much wisdom passed on from these PNG believers to our new missionary families here on centre.  The Q&A that stands out the most to us is when one of our students asked the elders about how they look after so many churches and help with the Tangguat outreach and still have gardens and families – how do you keep doing these hard things?  Kletus didn’t even skip a beat as he replied something like, “Mi save pret long God, olsem na gutpela taim na taim nogut, wanem wok em I givim mi long mekim long dispela de, mi save mekim wok bilong en tasol. Em i lukautim mipela.”

Translation: I fear God and so whether it’s a good time or a bad time, I just do the work that the Lord gives me today. He looks after us.

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us and our girls through a hard time of being apart.  So thankful for our girls who write truth to us and encourage our hearts to keep pressing on for the sake of the gospel.  Praying that God will indeed as the verse above says continue to be their refuge.  He is so faithful.  Please keep praying for us that in the good times of joy and strength and in the lonely, hard, and ugly times, too, we will just follow in obedience like Kletus and do what He gives us today – in His strength, in His power, for His glory, and by His Amazing Grace.

Over a decade and we still love this job. That’s your prayers at work.  Thank you.

By God’s Grace and For His Glory~

Bill and Kelley

New Tribes Mission

Dear Praying Friends,

We are back in the land of the semi-connected and are so thankful for every one of you who dutifully remembers us in prayer. We can feel them at work in our lives as we live and work here in PNG.

Inapang Bible Conference Update

Thank you especially for praying for this very sweet time spent in the Word – IN THE INAPANG SCRIPTURE!!! – with the Bible Teachers and elders and deacons of the 8 Inapang churches and the Tangguat church.  Some of these amazing men we had only heard their names and so it was very good to see their faces and hear their stories in person. For three days, the ladies cooked meals, the elders taught, the leaders gave a report from each of their churches, they broke into prayer groups and prayed for each of the churches and other needs, they sang and held extra night devotional meetings and best of all…they bonded. It was so good to see them together laughing and praying and thanking God for bringing the GOOD NEWS to Itutang and then out to the rest of the villages. There has been a bigger and bigger separation between “community” and “church” and the Conference came at a time when the Itutang believers, in particular, were feeling weary & beaten down by things going on in their lives and the work of the church. The conference teaching encouraged everyone so much they couldn’t stop saying thank you for putting this together. They each received the printed portions of translated New Testament that are finished and checked and we told them that it was because of YOUR WORK AND SACRIFICIAL GIVING that we are able to print these 600 books and get them into the hands of the Inapang believers.  Even one of the Tangguat teachers took one and was so encouraged to see so much of God’s Word in the Inapang language that he got more excited about helping Promise and wants to get his language printed as soon as possible!

 Other December Tribal Happenings & Quotes from the Church:

We arrived in Itutang via helicopter and hiked back out (another update on that little adventure).  It was nice to be back in our little one-room open bush house and sharing a backyard with our neighbors and church leaders, Anton, Kletus, and Igi. We loved being out in the village in the evenings, eating from house to house and hearing all the village news, and having those early morning chats with people walking to the river to check their fishing nets.  It may be a forgotten little dirty swamp, but it’s where our family called “home” and where our hearts forever are.

• We attended one of my favorite activities – the children’s Christmas quizzing. I am always amazed at how many facts, figures, stories, and names these little guys know.  I am also always amazed at the church elders who come up with hundreds of challenging questions off the top of their heads as they throw out candy to those who answer correctly.  LOVED THIS CHRISTmas ACTIVITY.
• Christmas was a day like every other. The church was filled with hot humid bodies and air and we swatted flies and heard many many thanks go up to Jesus for his work, for sending His Word, for the translation project, and for the conference and the encouragement that they had received.  It was a precious Christmas service for us.
• We were able to spend time with Promise who has been flying solo in the tribe for over a year now. It was fun to watch her interact with the church leadership and with the women and see the discipling that is going on in a casual and purposeful manner.
• We attended a court for a break-in into the Lanier’s house. The man from Tangguat is pleasantly loony and breaks into many homes, so it was difficult to come to a decision, but after many hours, the poor crazy man’s family settled the “heavy” with the Laniers via the three of us on the ground in an appropriate customary way.
• Bill was able to teach the elders through the book of 1 Peter, which they will now teach to the church over the next several months. We are amazed at the intelligence of some of these men.  Bill was able to talk them through more discourse features to look for as they find the main point and exegete Scripture, like “for” and “therefore.”  One of the elders came to our house later that night and said, “Bill, I know that you’ve taught us things like this before, but this time I’m ‘holding its thinking’ and I am very happy about studying this way in 1 Peter and looking for these “joiners” (connecting words) now.”
• Kelley was able to do another Parenting Class with the elders’ and deacons’ wives. It was such a good time of laughing and talking through the trials of daily life when you have little ones all around.  Again, one of the deacon’s wives who we don’t see as often said, “Friend, this isn’t the first time you have taught us these things, we have heard them straight from your mouth so many times, but we feel like we are at a place in the road now where we can start to walk in them a little stronger than before.  Pray that we will do our work and train our children.”
• Right before we left there was kind of a last minute shared meal that our elders put together and they kept reiterating how thankful they are for God’s Word and that we left people and our culture and things behind in America to bring it to them. They expressed thanks to everyone who works there in America every day so that we can have food and travel and print and serve this language group.  Then they said that they had gotten into a hole – feeling like they were worn down and weren’t feeling strong enough to fight the battle anymore, but through the conference and seeing other believers who they normally don’t see and hearing their stories and realizing that they are in similar situations, they were standing up in God’s power and were ready to do more hard things for the sake of the church.
• We have been praying for many months now for the Identity of this maturing church. That they would be able to see themselves as believers  – together in the “spirit clan” of Christ and we have seen this begin among them through these hard times. One man told us after a long discussion about this, “It’s true what you have told us.  We work in ground clans because we live here on the ground and that is how it must be, but we can never forget that our spirits have a clan as well. We will be only a short time with our ground clan, but forever with our spirit clan. We need to pray for each other when we are falsely accused by those on the outside.”  
• Another prayer we have had for many years is that the people will learn to seek ways to better their living conditions, while still carrying an attitude of contentment in the circumstances where the Lord has given them to live. We have been happy to see three copper houses go up with guttering and water tanks so that their children will have fresh clean water.  Others are saving up as well. But, we were also so encouraged by one of our dear friends who Bill went to visit out in the sak sak swamps while his family was harvesting.  He told Bill, “Yes, this is hard work.  But, we know about Adam and why we have this work now.  I know that just because I heard God’s talk, this ground work won’t finish.  I will continue to have to work hard until I get to heaven.”  Sak sak is hard work and before our team presented the gospel, the Cargo Cult teachers were saying that once they heard the gospel, they would never have hard work of harvesting sak sak again. So, with that dream never coming to light, those who are more concerned about the cares of the world walk away and those who have set their minds on heaven grow stronger in their hopes and desire to be with Christ and enter into his REST.  So sweet!  We have a video interview of Nimankar and will post his thoughts when we get our internet and blog site running in the same direction.
• Overall, it was super encouraging visit all the way around. We love these dear brothers and sisters so much. They are friends who we have laughed with and cried with.  We have watched children and parents and brothers and sisters die together.  We have feasted and famined together.  They are our heroes of the faith.  The unspoken ones who faithfully labor and continue to spread the gospel where they are today. 

Thank you for your faithfulness and may 2017 be Blessed in your Home!  Please continue to pray for the churches of INAPANG!

By God’s Grace & For His Glory ~ The Housleys

Day one of the conference went sooooo well. Two more to go. This is truly the best CHRISTmas present ever. Thanks to all who are praying. About 55 Bible teachers from 9 churches were present. So encouraging. Especially our time of prayer together at the end. We are taking video to share with you when we are back in town with better internet service. Please keep praying!
by Gods Grace and For His Glory~
Bill and Kelley

This Christmas will be a very different one for us.  Last Christmas was the first one we would’ve spent alone without either of our sweet daughters with us…but then one got married! As Madison and Jonathan celebrate their first wedding anniversary, we will be spending Christmas in the village with our Itutang brothers and sisters and Promise, our co-worker.  We will be dropped off in the Pal tribe tomorrow and meet with the family there and then on Wed. us and our month supplies will be dropped in Itutang. We are so thankful to be headed back to yet another “home.”

This week we were excited to have two of the elders from Itutang come out to Madang to catch up with us and do some shopping for our Bible Teacher Conference this month.  So thankful for these guys.  So full of Scripture and so full of Christ.  They are taking some hard knocks from neighboring communities and the unbelievers in our area and are still standing strong and speaking truth.

Bill asked Anton and Kletus yesterday a question after hearing that some of the ones who heard the good news early on and walked away are still clambering after a “quick fix” to their material needs problem.  He asked them, “What do you think the difference is between you and them when you think about things of the ground.  I know that you think about things of the ground as well and do business selling cocoa and other things.  Why does it consume them and not you?”  I loved their answer. Anton said simply,

“It’s because we have set our hope in heaven. We know our time on this ground is short.  We can lose or gain things of the ground and it just doesn’t matter because this is not our real home.  When you think like that about things of the ground, then they can’t consume you because you are thinking stronger about going to heaven one day than you are about those things.”

Beautiful.  Anton spoke these beautiful words sitting beside us in bleach stained shorts that we have seen him wear for the last 4 years.  He has one of Bill’s T-shirts from our first term in Itutang on that says “King of Kings” and his wife is at home, squatting in the dirt over hot fire and ash.  And he speaks profound truth so matter of fact that it humbles the two white skins sitting in the room.  Now, if we in the west could just learn a short lesson from this dear sweet wise Bible Teacher – a man who by appearance may not be allowed in some assemblies, but of whose spirit and wisdom the world is not worthy.

Later, on Saturday some boys from Itutang arrived in town. A really good group of bad boys whose parents are strong believers and praying their hearts out for their rascally hearts.  They came and ate with us and Joshua and Amelia and the elders here on Centre and then Kletus invited them to the national church next door (Some of you have donated money to their permanent building. THANK YOU FOR THAT…some of the funds haven’t processed yet, but they will be writing you thank notes soon.) 🙂 Anyway, they left and we prayed.  Prayed that they would come back and hear our pastor here in town say the same things from the same book that Bill and I and the elders and their parents all read and live by every day.  God heard.

The next morning saw about 14 boys/men from our home church in Itutang walking down the road to attend Dabelle Baptist church here in Madang.  The message by God’s amazing and sweet sovereignty this morning was an evangelistic message that hit the CORE of these boys. One of the older Madang believers as we were talking about it afterward said, “God is good and gracious that way.  He knows what we each need.”  Amen.

Afterward, Pastor Jefet, a Provincial Gov. worker,  spent some time with our group of Itutang boys.  He gave his testimony which involves growing up as a PK and being into every drug and drink available in the country and the turning after God struck him with a terrible sick that almost took his life.  Then he asked them about some of the cargo cult “company” work going on in surrounding villages and helped them work through the false claims that are being made.  They listened with quiet mouths.  We all came back to the house, shared a meal, and listened as the elders talked to these young boys about truth, God’s Word, and the lies of culture.  BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER!!!! We love this job!

We will probably hike out about 11 hours to the road to be picked up some time after Christmas.  We heard today that the cell tower was cut down that services our area, so not sure if we will be able to communicate again with you before Christmas, but please know this: We are THANKFUL this CHRISTmas season for CHRIST, for you and your eternal part of this ministry, and for the CHURCH that he is building all around the world.  Come, Lord Jesus!

Please pray for wisdom as we seek to disciple and work with the church leadership while we are home. Pray that we will be an encouragement to all. Thank you for praying sending giving and encouraging us. So thankful and indebted to Christ for his goodness to us.

Merry Christmas.

Love,
The Housleys

Home Again!

Thank you for praying us back to PNG! Tomorrow, we will finally see our Madang “home” and do a few days of supply buying before taking the trek back into the little village we call “home.”

We just finished two weeks of meetings in Southeast Asia and our hearts were so encouraged by the preaching, the global vision that was casted, and by the friendships with others who are doing hard things for the gospel and the task of discipleship all over this globe.  Thankful for an opportunity to catch up with some old friendships from one of our sending churches and mutually encourage one another while we were there.  And, thankful for new friendships with both national and ex-pat missionaries from Africa, Mexico, India, South America, Europe, Asia and Pakistan.  SO humbled to be on the same team with all these men and women of whom the world is not worthy.  And yet, they wander like sojourners and work – looking for a city with eternal foundations whose designer and builder is God.  This Thanksgiving, we are thankful for global workers who are still busy about the Great Commission!  And, thankful for YOU who are part of that global team and keep us serving here through your love, prayers, and support.

THANK YOU!

The next upcoming task for us and our HUGE NEED FOR PRAYER is our visit to Itutang and the Bible Teachers Conference.  There will be 8 Inapang churches and 1 Tangguat church represented.  Guys, we need your prayer.  We are just not enough to know how to even prepare for the needs that are surely there.  We will be spending a lot of time  listening and hearing what the Lord has done in the last few months since we saw them last.  We need God’s wisdom as we love on these guys, encourage them and exhort them to keep letting God transform their lives through His Word and to evaluate every aspect of their life through His lens. So thankful for all of you who support us – you have contributed to this printing of the checked NT translation portions and we can’t WAIT to get it into their hands!

SATAN is at work as well.  Not long after we set the month for the Bible Conference, we heard that the Cargo Cult movement in our area is building a meeting house in the next village to do a conference of their own.  Coincidence?  I don’t think so.  The news of this has been spread all the way up to the other end of the Ramu Valley and is concerning to our church leaders.  BUT, we all know that this is also part of the winnowing process that we have all been praying for.  So, we rejoice for some conflict that will help us and our Inapang brothers and sisters learn to trust in the Lord in deeper ways. The leadership is welcoming a little conflict and one of our elders told us (tongue and cheek) during our last visit that when the church gets old and begins to fall down, that they wouldn’t rebuild it.  He said that they were just going to meet house to house so the ones who were sitting in the back just being “socially comfortable” would stop coming and fooling themselves into thinking that they have a relationship that they clearly don’t have.  Hmmm….not exactly a strategy that is often heard stateside.  Again, we are thankful for men who are concerned about the purity of the church.  Please pray for the Inapang Bible teachers.

The Conference will be in December and in all of this we need wisdom to help and encourage and point to Christ with every word and every action.  Pray for the teachers as they review the gospel, their roles as leaders, fathers, and husbands.  Pray for boldness and a spirit of prayer and unity.  Pray that we will let the WORD transform us for we know that God desires for our beliefs to be turned into behavior as we grow in holiness. (2Tim 3:16-17)

WE.NEED.YOUR.PRAYERS. Please, in this advent season, remember us, your brothers and sisters and the 9 churches who will be meeting together.  Pray that CHRIST WILL BE GLORIFIED for HE IS WORTHY!

By God’s Grace and For His Glory~

The Housleys

Sobega Center in the Goroka Valley, Central Area

Thanks to all of you who prayed and encouraged us as we headed back to PNG after a visit home with our friends and family in the US.  It was one of the smoothest trips we have ever made back and we are super thankful for that.  We landed in the Goroka Valley last Sunday and Monday kicked off a week of meetings. This week, we are here at our Sobega Centre catching up on some work and making our translation work schedule out. And then, we actually will be out of country again for 10 days representing PNG at some international meetings in Southeast Asia. Please pray for safe travels and for Bill as he interacts with the global team there.  So thankful to be part of a larger mission team and for the information that we hope to glean while we are there. A BONUS! We will get to meet up with another missionary family from one of our sending churches at home during our travels.  This is a rare opportunity that we are super thankful for.   The Lord is good! We LOVE the beautiful Sobega centre…AND we are happy for these upcoming opportunities and the ones the Lord already provided over the summer to visit different tribal churches and be an encouragement in those…BUT we haven’t been home to Madang or Itutang since May and we are missing it more that you could imagine at this point. Please pray for content hearts as we wait a little longer before heading to the bush.

So we are “home”….already, but not yet…in more ways than one.  🙂

What is “home” anyway?!  We are really taking this sojourner thing seriously these days.  🙂 After the Asia meetings, we will FINALLY be able to spend some time in our bush “home” – the one in the village that forever changed who we are on this earth.  It will be the middle of rainy season with lots of water and little food as we return, but we are SO excited to be with this little tribal faith family again.  Some things that we are praying for while we are “home” in the bush over Christmas:

• That we will be an encouragement to the believers and the elders and deacons who have taken some hard hits over the past few months in regards to their stand and their faith. As we all know, leading is often hard on the soul and we want to encourage them in the work the Lord has given them.  We always love the life-on-life time with these beloved ones when we are together again.  They always exhort us, too, by their simple lives of trust and their amazing views and hope in heaven.  When we start complaining about moving around and not being “home”, we always think that we need to be a little more like them when it comes to keeping a true view of the reality of this life.  We don’t get to be here long.  🙂
• That we will be an encouragement to the Tangguat church as it is facing some struggles and needs some support and input.
• For the BIBLE TEACHER CONFERENCE that will happen in December.  This conference will be an opportunity for us to work with the Bible teachers and elders/deacons in the 8 Inapang churches and in the Tangguat church as well.  Please be in prayer that this is a time of unity where the Holy Spirit works in hearts and a time when the Word of God and Prayer reign.  Please remember these leaders as they come together to study and learn and encourage one another.
  • The conference is three days with these main topics:
    • A Review of the Gospel – Eternity to Eternity
    • A Review of the Calling of Elders & Deacons – Buk 1 Timoti 3:1-7 Buk 1 Timoti 3:8-13 Buk Aposelə 20:17-38 and
    • Our lives lived under Christ – Buk Jems 4:1-10, Buk Song 51:1-19, Buk 1 Tesolonaika 2:1-12, Buk Hibru 11:1-6
    • Marriage and Parenting Review
  • There is much to plan for.  The villagers will be providing food& housing, cooking, and hosting.  Please pray for these interactions that through them others who may be visiting or the lost still in our community would be drawn to the Savior!

THANK YOU FOR PRAYING!  We lost a very dear prayer warrior a couple of weeks ago, one who didn’t let being in his 80s stop him from visiting the people in ITUTANG whom he had been faithfully praying for.  As we felt this great loss,  it reminded us again of the necessity of having a team behind you who is really interceding for the spiritual battle that is going on in every tribal church.  They need your prayers and so do we.  Thank you for being part of the Inapang and Ramu Valley ministries.

By God’s Grace and For His Glory~

The Housleys

Well, there is a time for everything under the sun as the wise King Solomon teaches.  And, our lives are no different.

A Time to Rest The Lord Blessed us with an amazing and providential rest from our ministry labors for a few months through a short stateside visit.  We have been able to take a mental break of sorts and to spend time with our girls, our family, and some of YOU, our faith family.  He knows that we are but dust and knows when to make us stop… and breathe.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.

A Time to Work The Lord Blessed us with a stent of physical labor fixing up a house that our son-in-law and daughter will now move in to.  What a blessing to sweat and work hard physically and finish  project like this.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.

A Time to Laugh The Lord Blessed us in the middle of physical labor with spiritual and emotional refreshment through your love and friendships.  Thanks to all of you who came alongside of us and allowed us to work in your homes with you and who came and helped with our projects too.  Laughter is surely sweet medicine from above and we experienced much of it during this short visit home.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.

A Time to Cry The Lord Blessed us with some sweet times of vulnerability where tears punctuate our conversation and reveal our ministry struggles and longings for our brothers and sisters in PNG.  People are messy.  The Church is messy.  We are messy.  We are thankful for people in our faith family who aren’t afraid to be messy with us. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

A Time to Wait The Lord Blessed us with a period of Waiting…and even threw in a Women’s Retreat at one of our supporting churches on “Waiting” to make sure we got the point.  🙂 One thing that we have been waiting on since April is the arrival of our translation books.  These books have the translation that has been done and checked up to this point and is bound in book form.  We have been excitedly waiting for the books to arrive so that we can set a date for a conference for the 9 Inapang and Tangguat churches.  We were thrilled today to open a picture (above) sent by our co-worker, Promise, who was there when the 30 some odd BOXES of books finally arrived by helicopter to the village!  THANK YOU LORD!!!!  This means in our little corner of the world….it is A TIME TO READ and be encouraged with these written words of God in the Inapang language! Please pray as we wait for the completion of this project.  Pray that we will not grow weary in doing good and that the last 40% that needs to be drafted will be done in a timely manner and will be used by many to know Jesus more!  We are also waiting for the Lord to give us direction on a plan for a secondary education centre for the Inapang and Ramu Valley works.  Please join us in asking God to show us how he wants us to invest in the second generation of believers in these tribal churches.Blessed be the name of the Lord.

A Time for Action The Lord has Blessed us with an opportunity to sit under David Platt during a recent chapel service and although the great Commission and the nations and the Inapang people group are our constant heartbeat, it was nice for the Lord to provide a little “kick in the seat” as we look at leaving family and friends and comforts again to go back home to PNG.  What a phenomenal time in the Word (1Cor.15).  I was asked yesterday about going back and if it would be hard and replied, “If the resurrection were not real, it would be hard.”  One of my life mentors and friends, Jodi Ware, gently corrected me and said, “If the Resurrection were not real, it would be impossible.  It will still be hard.”  What a blessing to be surrounded by men & women who  think rightly about the brevity of our lives and can encourage us to embrace the hard things of life with JOY as we set our minds on things above. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

A Time for Thanks The Lord has Blessed us with so many of you on our team who inspire us to be more like Christ.  Thank you for your lives of integrity, your others-centered views of life, your passion for the gospel and your appreciation and love for the all-sanctifying blood of Jesus Christ.  Pray for us that our attitude will be as we sung last night at prayer meeting….”All I have is Christ, Jesus be my Life!” Blessed be the name of the Lord.

By God’s Grace and For His Glory~

The Housleys