Reaching New Fields: Hello from the USA!

Yes, you read that title right! We are back in the United States.

Since we know that’s a surprise (honestly, it developed fast and even surprised us in some aspects), here are the details of why we’re back on furlough, what we have planned, and what we don’t know yet.

Here's a glimpse of our flight path back to the USA. 38 hours in flight, and 12 hours of layovers = 50 hours total.
We definitely had to take the long route home because of COVID restrictions,
which keep us from transiting through airports that would allow for a shorter route back.

WHY WE’RE BACK

We’ve been in PNG for almost 2 years, and we’ve always liked the idea of trying to take a shorter furlough home every two years. However, when we left for PNG, we had anticipated that this first term overseas would be closer to 3-4 years, based off the timelines our team was shooting for and what we expected.

However, most of these past 2 years haven’t been what we expected, and timelines have been hugely affected by several things, especially COVID. You all have walked through those things with us and we know you’ve faced those types of life-changing, unexpected re-directs in your lives also.

One of the things that has been on our radar as we approach 2022 is that we are two years overdue for having Autumn’s cancer check-ups done. They are supposed to happen a minimum of once a year, and we had arrangements made to get them done in Australia, but we aren’t allowed to travel to Australia because of lockdowns for the past 2 years. We praise the Lord that Autumn is overall feeling healthy and there haven’t been any clear signs of the cancer spreading, but we want to be wise and not ignore good medical advice.

We’re also taking this furlough because honestly, we feel a huge need to rest, recharge, and get some encouragement after an extremely difficult past year. If you had the opportunity to see our team’s update video which we shared this past summer, you hopefully remember hearing from our teammates that the past year had been very hard for their family. And we shared at that time that we were being affected by those struggles as well. Since then, there have been additional challenges for our whole team. We have been spending a large amount of time trying to work through these difficulties, first on our own, and then in recent months with the assistance and input of outside individuals who have been asked to help.

Missionaries aren’t perfect people. We face intense spiritual battles, we struggle to communicate well with each other, we get tired and worn out, and despite lots of time seeking God, weeping, and praying, at times we don’t really know what the “next right thing” is.

As Autumn and I have been praying, we decided about 4 weeks ago that the Lord had made it clear we should come back for a short furlough to the US.

Since we were only planning to be in the USA for 3-4 months, we thought it would be fun to try to surprise some family members. Hence the reason you haven’t heard anything from us about this trip before now.

(Here's a video montage my sister made of us arriving home and making visits to surprise some of our family members.)

The week after we booked tickets to come back, our church and mission organization leadership recommended that our entire team come back to the USA for a break, time to rest, and more time to invest in our team and hopefully prepare to go back stronger together.

WHAT WE HAVE PLANNED

Honestly, in light of our entire team coming back for a furlough, Autumn’s and my plans are shifting. In light of that recommendation, our furlough length will most likely be extended beyond the 3-4 months we were initially aiming for.

We still intend to take the first several months to rest, recharge, seek counsel, and be built up after this hard season in ministry in PNG. And we’ll get Autumn's test done soon after the holidays, Lord willing. After that, we’ll be spending some time continuing the conversations with our teammates and with leadership as we seek to grow and work through the difficulties of this past year.

Our initial focus is on those tasks, because our desire is to be able to go back to PNG, strengthened and ready to press on.

When we originally were planning to only stay for 3 months, we weren’t planning to focus on traveling or sharing at churches. And right now, we still aren’t making plans to travel and speak. However, depending on how God leads us and how long this furlough needs to be, we’re open to that as a possibility down the road, and perhaps we’ll end up getting to connect with more of you during this furlough.

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW YET

There is so much that we don’t know! If these past two years have taught us anything, it is that no matter how well we try to lay out our plans, the Lord will interrupt, change, and redirect them as He wills.

We don’t know exactly when we will get to head back to PNG, although we are hopeful it could be in 6-8 months. But we’re trying to hold any timelines very loosely right now. In many ways though, our hearts already long to be back in PNG! We have such a passion for the work God has called us to of reaching the Pano people with His gospel! And we want to move forward in that work.

Thank you for praying with us for God’s clear leading in every aspect of this furlough. Pray that our time with family, friends, and mentors would be encouraging and healing to our hearts. Pray for good communication and strengthened relationships on our team so that we can love each other well and be a testimony in our unity. And please continue to pray for our dear Pano people who have been waiting so long for the gospel!

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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(Here are some other pictures of packing our apartment in PNG,

traveling back, and our first few days in the US!)