Language and Culture Study

These last few months in Lembena have been very encouraging as we have reconnected with our friends in the village and gotten back into language and culture study. We knew that our time would be short but it has been worth it. As our ability to speak the language has increased, we have been able to dive deeper into the worldview of our people: what they believe about life, death, spiritual forces, right and wrong. In many of these areas our people are confused. They know what their ancestors traditionally believed but they have been told by many that this thinking is wrong and bad. Many times their answers to our questions are that some people say one thing and some people say another but they aren’t sure what is true. We have tried to use these opportunities to point ahead to the message that we are bringing and telling them that when we share God’s talk, they will not be confused about what God says. They will know the truth and that it doesn’t matter what other people say but it’s only what God says that matters. It has been encouraging to have so many people saying they are looking forward to our teaching and wanting answers. Even our conversations with the religions leaders in our village have been encouraging. Micah explained to a group of them that presently we missionaries are students and they are our teachers as we learn their language and their culture, but when we stand up to teach, they will become the students. He told them that there are things they know about the world around them but there are other things that they themselves admit they do not know about God, and we will make those things clear and correct their wrong thinking. It was surprising how excited they were when they said that they would sit under our teaching like little children and shut their mouths until our teaching is complete. Please be praying for our people as we get closer to the day when we can share clearly the incredible message of the Gospel. Pray that the Holy Spirit continues to soften hearts and prepare the way for our teaching. 

Full Team

It has been such a blessing to be able to work alongside our team these last few months. We’re so thankful for how God brought us together and has allowed us to remain unified and work so cohesively together. We have spent many, many hours together trying to crack the code of this language and seeking to understand how our people view and interpret the world around them. The Lord has been faithful to keep our team safe from major sicknesses and injury (though minor injuries abound-ask Micah why he isn’t allowed to feed pigs by himself anymore) and we realize how rare it is that a team is able to stay fully intact through years of being involved in a ministry such as ours.

Our two male coworkers just had a language evaluation last week and praise God both men on the team are at level 7 out of 9 in language! This puts all of the men in about the same spot language-wise. Being this close to finished begins to put a lot of things in motion. Soon we will be able to start planning for literacy classes, diving into the deeper levels of language with a discourse analysis workshop, and finishing up a write-up of the grammar of Lembena. This is going to be a busy season for our team and we are leaving for a few months right at the start of it. But we trust God’s timing in it all, as we know He is faithful and sovereign even when the timing doesn’t seem convenient for us. 

Travel Plans

As we write this we are currently in the capital city of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby. We had hoped to be in Cairns, Australia by now but we haven’t yet received approval for our medical visas. We’d planned to spend the next few months in Cairns awaiting baby #3 before returning to the village once all the required documentation for baby is processed. We decided it was best to postpone our departure a few weeks in order to finalize the requirements for the medical visa submission instead of going on a temporary visa that would likely not provide us enough time to receive all of the necessary documents for after the baby arrives before the visa expires.  Please be praying for all the details to come together for our Australian medical visa to be approved, as it has been very expensive living in Moresby waiting for the approval, and we are running out of time to leave the country before Laura won’t be allowed to travel due to travel restrictions while pregnant.

Why do we plan to deliver in Australia instead of the US, you may be asking? The biggest factor is time. The Australian government is known to be faster at processing the required documentation (birth certificate, passport, visa, etc.) than our home government, which means less time away from the Lembena people overall. Had we decided to deliver in the US, we would be gone from PNG for 6-7 months, whereas in Australia, we are hoping to be there no longer than 3-4 months. 

• Pray forour team during this next year as we seek to finish language and culture study and begin preparation for literacy then teaching.
• Praise: Our team had a great language evaluation and has good direction for what needs to happen these next 6 months to keep moving forward. 
• Pray that we would be able to get all the paperwork needed to be able to head to Cairns soon and for a safe delivery of baby. 
• Praise: We had a great few months with our people, made good connections with friends in the village and got to be a full team again. 

In His Strength and Power Alone,

Micah, Laura, Adalia and Declan