We're Leaving in 14 Days!!

Hey Friends! Happy New Year!
We are thrilled to let you all know that our plane tickets are booked, all our visas are approved, and in just two weeks, on January 14th, we are leaving for Papua New Guinea!  

Papua New Guinea, a beautiful, diverse country known as "The Land of the Unexpected"

It's a little surreal to type that! It's been years of preparation, training, support raising, studying, traveling, and prayer, all leading us to this point. At so many points along the way, God has amazed us by opening doors we could never have opened! He is so faithful and good!

Both Josh and I can say that we feel ready to go! In little ways over the past several months, God has continued to prepare our hearts and minds for this transition. While goodbyes are never easy and we are treasuring time with family during this holiday season, in many ways, our hearts are saying "Let's get GOING!" Years ago, we both surrendered to follow Christ's leading to do tribal church planting, and we knew that it would involve sacrifices. However, it's also really exciting now to be on the cusp of leaving and beginning the next stage of this work!

"SO WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET THERE?"

We've spent so much time talking about getting to PNG, and asking you all to pray with us.
Now, we're just 2 weeks away from leaving. So we wanted to fill you in on what our first several months will look like.

LEARNING THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE
Our main job during our first 4-6 months will be to learn the national language of Papua New Guinea (Tok Pisin or Melanesian Pidgin). This will be the first of two languages that we'll learn over the next couple of years.

Here's a sample of Tok Pisin. This is the beginning of Psalm 1 in the Bible. 

We'll spend many hours (30-40 each week) in language study. This involves working with a language helper, someone who speaks the national language. We'll share more in the future about how our language helpers assist us in learning the national language. We'll also spend time out experiencing the culture and interacting with PNG nationals. And of course, some of our time will be spent doing "book work" (or more likely computer work) as we decipher and analyze the parts of the language we are learning.

ADJUSTING TO THE NEW CULTURE AND CLIMATE
While we already mentioned that learning the national language is our main job, learning the PNG culture is just as important. Much of human communication is non-verbal, and we want to adjust our non-verbal communication to be fitting and appropriate for PNG culture. For that to happen, we need to work on learning and understanding their culture -  what they do, why they do it, and what is "normal" in PNG. During our first 6 months, we'll be living in the city of Madang, so we'll have easy access to PNG people and will be able to observe and begin to participate in PNG culture.

There are going to be seasons when everything is new and exciting and fun! (This is often called the honeymoon period when entering a new culture). However, that will end, and eventually, we'll experience culture shock and stress, as the novelty wears off, and suddenly everything is hard, and strange, and difficult! A new climate (very hot and humid), a new time zone (15 hours different), new sounds, and new surroundings, all of which can add up to less sleep and a lot more everyday stress. Although it's just part of the process of transitioning to a new culture, we will desperately need your prayers during those times of adjustment!

TEAM BONDING
We're really blessed to get to work with incredible teammates who share our passion for reaching the unreached people of PNG. They are already in Papua New Guinea, and they'll be living near us as we work on learning the national language and culture. Pray for our team as we bond together in this new country, and as we plan and prepare for the work ahead of us.
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Thank you for serving God through your care and support for us! We are so thankful for each person who has chosen to invest their time and finances in our lives and ministry!

Click HERE to download a pdf bulletin insert of this update.
Click HERE to find out more about who we are and our ministry.
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