Ready to Move in

Merry CHRISTmas from the Millers in Papua New Guinea!

Coming into this holiday season, there is so very much to be grateful for. Autumn, Rowen and I are all doing well and have settled into life in PNG, we are healthy, we have friends around us to provide mutual care and sweet fellowship, and our house in the nDo tribe is move-in ready - what a HUGE praise!

Just thinking about housebuilding being complete brings another whole list of praises, including the fact that after 4 months of being away from my family at least 50% of the time, we don’t anticipate any more extended times apart. We are also grateful that the housebuilding process not only went well, but was much more smooth than we even expected for what is “typical” here in PNG. There were no significant injuries during the build, and the Lord provided all the flights we needed, which is significant during a time when there is a shortage of mission helicopters and pilots here in country causing lots of rescheduling and adjusting for most missionaries. The flights from SIL and NTM enabled us to get the supplies that we needed for building into the village right when we needed them.

THE BIG PICTURE

There is plenty more to share about house building of course; yet I know I need to remind myself to not get too fixated on what is right in front of me, without stepping back to reflect on the big picture as well.

Last week, as I flew out of the village on a mission chopper at the end of our last build trip in the Finisterre mountains, I was joined by three additional passengers from a remote village in nDo. This young family was coming out to town for medical help. As we arrived in Madang town and these people who live in the remotest jungle saw the holiday decorations here, they stared in awe! A believing PNG friend who was also with us didn’t miss a beat, and although he doesn’t know the nDo language, he did his best in Tok Pisin to tell them that, yes, there are a lot of good things about the holidays and we should be grateful for those things, but those are not the reason to celebrate. The reason to celebrate is because God sent His Son to the earth to die on the cross for our sakes. What a sweet reminder as I heard him witness to this family.

I too enjoy and am grateful for all the good and special things we get to enjoy, especially around the holidays and for the many blessings from the Lord that we have been experiencing, including His gracious help in completing our jungle house. However, I also need to remember that the only reason that we can move into the nDo tribe with a message of hope is because of how Christ took on flesh and came into the world he created, in accordance with the will of the Father.

LOOKING AHEAD

As I look ahead, in many ways, this is a time of changing focus, from housebuilding to moving into the village and beginning ministry there. Although life in PNG typically requires juggling multiple roles/hats, I have been primarily “wearing a construction hat” since we arrived back in country.

During this last build trip though, I sensed housebuilding taking more of a backseat in my mind, and instead, my heart has been more pastoral in its focus, as the Lord filled my mind more and more with the spiritual needs of the people we will be ministering among. I rejoice in that change of internal focus, since that is the reason we’ve come, to serve our God as we serve and minister to the nDo people.

Please continue to pray with us as we endeavor to be useful in the Master’s hands in the village of Mawerero. Pray for the souls of the lost, the maturing of those who have heard the gospel and believed, and the wisdom we will need to know how to navigate so many aspects of ministry. Please pray as well that the Lord gives us strength to withstand any attacks from the enemy in this ministry.

And yes, pray that we can be grateful for the blessings and the trials we will experience, and maintain our focus on the gospel message.

A few details about our move-in plans: we just recently received confirmation for our move-in flights on January 14, so Lord willing, that will be the day we move into the village permanently.

A FINANCIAL NEED AND PRAYER REQUEST TO CONSIDER

When we started this project, I couldn’t have imagined it going as smoothly as it has and for things to have turned out as well as they did. That being said, as I estimate the last several flight expenses that haven’t been charged to our mission account yet and then consider the upcoming flight costs of moving us and our household items into the tribe, I am anticipating that we will be going over what we budgeted and raised for housebuilding. As always with these kinds of projects, we did the best we could to estimate what the costs would be with the assistance of others who have done this before us. The actual building materials were about what we had budgeted; however, the flight costs were higher than we anticipated. If the Lord directs you to give a one-time gift towards those additional expenses, we would be grateful.

Thank you again for your prayers, support, and love for us!

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Here are some pictures of our house in and after the final stages of the construction process.

*Special thanks to those who donated construction materials and furniture several years ago, back in 2020 our first trip to PNG. countertop laminate from Mark Steiner, linoleum flooring from Darwin Thompson, and poly lawn furniture from Yoder's Wood Shop.

We started to do the work on the office in the village this last trip since the structure that we remodeled and added on to for our house is no longer the office that is needed in the village.

I said goodbye to my friend Johnathan who spent the last 4 months working alongside me faithfully to see this project completed, Words can’t express how grateful I am for his help, the sacrifices he made to do this and the memories that we made together.

Here are some other pictures from the past months of work and life in PNG.

Many of you already saw these pictures on social media, but for those who didn't, here are a few other pictures to give glimpses into the housebuilding process since our last update.