We are on our way back to Papua New Guinea!
It seems a little bit surreal to write that. As you read this, we've completed 2 of our 5 flights, and have several days of travel still ahead of us before we arrive in Madang, PNG.
Thank you so much for walking on this journey with us and regularly sharing your love, support, prayers, and encouragement! As I reflect back on all that the Lord has chosen to lead us through over the past 2-3 years, it is amazing seeing how He has brought the pieces together. He led us by closing some doors, ending some journeys, changing many plans, and opening other very unforeseen doors. Through all those changes, we have seen multiple times when He has answered prayers before we had even verbalized them.
I sit here in awe of our God, who from eternity past into eternity future works all things after the counsel of His will!
As much as we are truly grateful and excited to be headed back to PNG and into ministry in the nDo people group, we also recognize that there are more challenges and uncertainty ahead. In fact, that is just the nature of ministry and life, whether in PNG or in the USA. However, I have been reflecting on how David spoke when he was going out to meet Goliath and remembering how the Lord had already helped him against the lion and bear. Like him, we can look back at God’s faithfulness in and through each moment of the good, hard, and unknown. Like David, dwelling on this truth builds confidence as we lean into trusting our God with many things in our future.
Thank you again my brothers and sisters in Christ! Thank you for your part in seeing us return to Papua New Guinea! To Him be the glory for ever and ever!!!
Josh, Autumn & Rowen Miller
Thank you so much for walking on this journey with us and regularly sharing your love, support, prayers, and encouragement! As I reflect back on all that the Lord has chosen to lead us through over the past 2-3 years, it is amazing seeing how He has brought the pieces together. He led us by closing some doors, ending some journeys, changing many plans, and opening other very unforeseen doors. Through all those changes, we have seen multiple times when He has answered prayers before we had even verbalized them.
I sit here in awe of our God, who from eternity past into eternity future works all things after the counsel of His will!
As much as we are truly grateful and excited to be headed back to PNG and into ministry in the nDo people group, we also recognize that there are more challenges and uncertainty ahead. In fact, that is just the nature of ministry and life, whether in PNG or in the USA. However, I have been reflecting on how David spoke when he was going out to meet Goliath and remembering how the Lord had already helped him against the lion and bear. Like him, we can look back at God’s faithfulness in and through each moment of the good, hard, and unknown. Like David, dwelling on this truth builds confidence as we lean into trusting our God with many things in our future.
Trusting God with…
Our Travels
As we are currently in transit to PNG, we appreciate your prayers for smooth travels, for gracious words and calm minds through the tiredness we feel, and for safety on each leg of the trip. When we arrive in PNG, we’ll be 15 hours in the future from where we started in Florida, so that is a massive time difference for our bodies (and especially Rowen’s body) to adjust to.Our Son
Speaking of Rowen, as we’ve said in past updates, becoming parents has predictably changed a lot about how we feel and think this time heading back into a remote mission context. We have to regularly preach truth to ourselves, knowing that our God will provide for what is best and care for both us and our son, even in a remote place like the Finisterre mountains. We're so grateful for him, and already on our travels, it's been fun to see how he is a point of connection with other travelers around us.Our Finances
We have been so humbled to see God continue to bring together our financial support for this work. The first time we went to PNG, we left the USA with 85% pledged support, and yet every single month of our time overseas, the Lord provided 100% of our needed support. Once again, we can look back, see God’s faithfulness and provision, and have our faith increased. As we leave this time, we are right about at 100% of our needed monthly support; since our last update, the Lord has provided an additional supporting church and several additional individual supporters, as well as current supporters who felt called to increase their monthly giving. It’s a unique thing to live off the support that comes in each month; we can’t “work harder” and increase our finances. So, trusting the Lord to maintain our support is one more area where our faith is grown as we remember that He knows what our specific needs will be before we ever know or communicate them to you all. We are also still needing about $10,000 to finish off our one-time start-up expenses. However, each month, the Lord has provided more that fund, and we believe He’ll continue to do that in the months ahead, as we go ahead and move overseas and start the building process.Our Next Steps
Once we arrive in Madang, we’ll be heading into the housebuilding process fairly quickly, which will mean that I’ll be separate from Autumn and Rowen for 1-2 weeks at a time during multiple build trips over at least the next 4-6 months. Pray for our family during that time; pray for the Lord to enable the process to go as quickly and smoothly as possible, so that we don’t have to spend extra time apart, and pray for yielded hearts for whatever He chooses for us.Thank you again my brothers and sisters in Christ! Thank you for your part in seeing us return to Papua New Guinea! To Him be the glory for ever and ever!!!
Josh, Autumn & Rowen Miller
 |
| The most important thing we're taking with us to PNG! |
No comments:
Post a Comment