Christmas Season in Lembena

We hope you all had a great holiday season reflecting on the coming of our Lord and are looking forward to another year of being able to serve Him! We are doing well here in the middle of the jungle. Each day we learn a little more about how the Lembena people speak and how they think. Laura has been homeschooling Addy, entertaining Declan, taking care of baby Colter as well as being able to spend time with the people learning language and culture. She really is a super mom. Micah has been working hard on filling in areas of the Lembena language and culture that have not been searched out yet. We had a great holiday season here in the bush with the Ferguson family and with the people. We also put on our annual New Years Day party with the Lembena people and that was a great time for all of us. 

Sepik Conference

In October we were able to go to our annual conference in Wewak where all the missionaries in our region come out for a great time of being refreshed and rejuvenated. The conference speaker this year was a teacher we had at New Tribes Bible Institute years ago and he again had us taking notes furiously. It reminded us of our Bible school days where we felt like we were trying to take a drink out of a fire hydrant on full blast. It was a very encouraging time spent with our fellow missionaries who have walked in our shoes and done what we hope to do very soon. We were able to return to the village energized and motivated to keep going.

Language Evaluation

Many of you have been praying for us and for this language evaluation. Thank you! The eval went really well and Micah was placed at level 8 out of 9. Just one more level to go! The consultants told our team that it seems really possible that the men could all be finished in May of this year. Praise the Lord! We are making that our target goal and trying to get all the cultural summary papers, literacy documents as well as other papers finished by May and, Lord willing, begin Lembena Literacy this summer! PLEASE pray for hope to become a reality! . 

Planning for the Future

Our coworkers, the Hughes, had an unexpected medical furlough to the US as they seek to find answers for Tami who has been struggling with some long term health issues while living in the bush. Pray for them and that the doctors would have wisdom as they seek to diagnose the symptoms that she has been having so they can return soon to Lembena. 

We are making May our goal for finishing up this mountain of tasks and are having to be disciplined more than ever with our time. Our goal is to have our first Lembena literacy class summer of 2025. When we first moved into our village we made four promises to the people. We told them we were coming to: (1) Learn their language and culture so we could speak in a way they understand. (2) Start a literacy program in their language so they could read and write. (3) Teach them “God’s talk” in their own language so they could understand it clearly. (4) Translate “God’s Talk” into their language so they could read it for themselves. For years, we have been sitting under our people as they have taught us how they speak, how they garden, how they live life and we have been telling them over and over again how important this message we have to share is. Starting literacy this summer is marking the beginning of a new season for us as we transition from being students to being teachers.

Lembena Literacy

We have a very busy season ahead of us with the goal of having all our paperwork and filing done by May to wrap up the Culture and Language Acquisition phase of our ministry! We are working hard getting lots of stories checked and prepped for that first literacy class.

Looking ahead to this next phase of ministry, we will need to build an office as well as a literacy school. These buildings will be a huge benefit for us when we begin Bible translation, lesson writing and literacy. We have already begun milling lumber and ordering supplies for this project.  If you would like to be a part of giving to this project, you can donate to Ethnos360 and designate the gift to the “Lembena Ministry Account”. Feel free to reply to this email if you have more questions about this project or are interested in helping in other ways.

Below is a video a friend of ours made talking about the need for literacy among the unreached. He is a missionary among the Kuyu people in Papua New Guinea and they are in a situation very similar to ours as they are finishing up language learning as well. His video editing skills are much better than mine (just insert “Lembena” everywhere he says “Kuyu”). Check it out!

• Pray for the Lembena people. Pray that God continues to prepare them for the Gospel, that we can continue to develop deep relationships with them and show the love of God even now. 
• Praise: We are all healthy and adjusting well to life with a new baby in the middle of the bush. 
• Pray for our team during this next year as we seek to finish language and culture study and begin preparation for literacy then teaching.
• Praise: Our team language evaluation was encouraging and they told us we could be finished with culture and language acquisition very soon.
• Pray for Jason and Tami who are on a medical furlough. Pray that they would get answers, that Tami’s health would improve and that they can return to Lembena soon. 

In His Strength and Power Alone,

Micah, Laura, Adalia, Declan and Colter