Hamb Fambly

A new source of entertainment.

2011-12-29T00:24:00.001-06:00

Most times while shopping in town we find something amusing on the shelves. We have started trying to take pictures of these unusual things so we can share them with you.

Just in case the regular stuff doesn't do the trick.


Feeling a bit unloved, we've got the solution.

We still laugh at this one, the joke hangs on our refrigerator.

No guilt here!

Hopefully these will bring a smile to your face. If not at least you can talk about the Hambs' strange sense of humor.

A melon and the widows mite........

2011-12-23T02:55:00.000-06:00

It is funny how little things can be so humbling. I think of Jesus sitting near the treasury watching as many rich people were putting in large amounts of money, then an old widow drops in her last few cents and Jesus makes a statement that seems to make no sense "she has put in more than all the others!" This year as with last we picked out a couple gifts for each of the center workers. We try to find things that they don't normally get, things that would be fun for them. We don't spend a lot of money or time although for them it is a fairly expensive present. But it doesn't even compare to the gift we received back. We don't expect anything from them as they are basically living below poverty level yet God continues to use them to be a blessing to us, and to remind us that it is not the size of the gift that matters but the size of the heart that is giving.
This year, again, one of our workers brought Christmas gifts for us. He saved watermelons from his garden to give out as gifts to a few of us here on the center. Watermelons are highly prized and often stolen from gardens. His wife carved a small note in them personalizing each melon. I couldn't stop smiling after he gave us the gifts and I saw the smile on his face. Below is a picture of the watermelon and the inscription which says "to mr. math (Matt) we wish you all a happy merry christmas God bless you all love from Patrick and family." We bought gifts out of our abundance and they out of their poverty they gave far more. I would love to keep the melon as a reminder but alas we will be eating it so a picture will be all we keep to remember this wonderful gift. You are probably thinking how wonderful it is to hear stories of God working in the hearts of His children but Patrick is not a christian and has never heard the real gospel in a way that makes sense to him. Many religions have taught him that he can somehow work hard enough to appease God so he doesn't understand the Gospel of Grace. The one gift we would love to be able to give him and his family is the gift of life. Whenever you see a watermelon we hope it reminds you to pray that God will open doors of opportunity for Patrick and the other workers to hear the truth of God's word and receive the gift of eternal life.

Manam

2011-12-09T23:03:00.001-06:00

We wanted to give an update on our ministry here in PNG. Recently we have been talking about the possibility of reopening a work on Manam island. This last week we had 3 men from Manam come to our center to meet with 3 bible teachers from the Itutang church. The purpose of the meeting was to begin discipling the guys who are currently leading the Manam church. They are needing help and have asked that we do something right away. We feel that we can assist this small church now by providing some good Bible teaching from other mature PNG believers. Christine and I are praying that we can become more and more involved with the Manam church and eventually move into full time ministry amongst this small group of believers. Other religious groups have been influencing the believers and they are struggling to stay true to God's word. They really need some in depth teaching on the function of the church and the life of the believer. This first meeting was to begin teaching on Acts and we just assisted/facilitated the time by providing the place for them to meet and helping make sure they had food and other necessities. It was so encouraging to be able to help out these 2 groups of believers and see our resources used in a more direct way in seeing mature churches established. We want to thank all of you who have sacrificed your time to pray for us and your finances to help support us and we know the Manam church will thank you some day as they grow and mature in the Lord and begin reaching out to others around them who have not heard the Good news.

Here is a picture of the guys who came. From left to right they are; Anton, Markus, Kletus, Jems, Leo, Jems #2 and me (I didn't come, I was already here).

We are excited to be a part of what God is doing here in PNG, especially as we come alongside the local church and assist them. To think that we are assisting a tribal church in reaching out to others and that they are helping us to be better prepared for discipling is amazing and really stirs our hearts. Please continue to pray for us, for the Itutang church that is reaching out to these guys and especially for the Manam church that is crying out for help.

...a man who is obviously filled with the spirit of God."

2011-11-08T15:30:00.000-06:00

As I have been preparing to share a message on the value of a spirit controlled life in our Sunday fellowship time I was really challenged by the life of Joseph. I focused on the early part of his life from Genesis 39:1 - 41:38. With 41:38 being a key verse as it really summed up the character of Joseph. You may be saying "hold on" the Spirit didn't indwell people in the Old Testament, you would be right but God did allow His Holy Spirit to work in and through people even if it was temporary, and if you read Genesis 41:38 you will see that even Pharaoh recognized the Spirit of God in Joseph. "Who could do it better than Joseph? For he is a man who is obviously filled with the spirit of God." (NLT) This wasn't just, God was with Joseph and God was causing everything Joseph did to prosper, I believe Pharaoh saw something inside of Joseph that he had not seen before; a man yielded to the Holy Spirit, a man who had a spirit controlled life. The part that was so challenging to me is that Pharaoh, an unbeliever was able to discern a "spirit-filled" laborer. Do the people I work with and those whom I rub shoulders with every day see something in me as Pharaoh saw in Joseph; a man who is obviously filled with the spirit of God?

We already have all of Him, everything to live a life of godliness is at our disposal if we will just yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit.

Charles Swindoll said this about Joseph; “You see, the Lord God remained first in Joseph’s life; He(God) was the focus of his life. The lens of God’s will stood between Josephand his circumstances, enabling Joseph to see God in them, to read God in them– enabling God to use him in them.”

Good communication........

2011-07-07T06:57:00.002-05:00

We were encouraged last night by a local pastor, when he said that we are very good at communicating our ministry through our email updates. And because of that he knew our needs and felt the Lord urging his church to help out. So they committed to helping with 1/3 of our return ticket cost.
We often feel that we are falling short in the area of communicating our ministry with everyone and we know there is room for improvement, but it was a great encouragement to hear that we are doing all right.

Below is a slideshow of our first year in PNG.

School activities

2011-05-16T19:55:00.007-05:00

We have enjoyed being able to see the kids participate in some school sports the last week. The first was field day on center, then a volleyball tournament in town. Below are some pics of Matthew and Meghan participating. We have begun the process of decorating for graduation and should be very busy over the next couple weeks as we help the senior class with all the preparations. All the kids seem to be feeling the end of the school year approaching and need your prayers to work hard and finish strong.
The volleyball pics will have to be later, they don't seem to want to upload now. So you will have to check back soon to see more.

Goodbyes

2011-05-03T00:11:00.006-05:00

We are saying a round of goodbyes again. Most of these are temporary until we return in July. Our friends from the village next door came over and brought us a gift, it was really special as we know they used a good portion of their paycheck to get something for us. They know Matthew is headed home soon and they will probably never see him again and they constantly talk about it. Matthew is also aware of this big transition coming and asked us to give pictures of him to a few of the local friends we have made, that he has spent some time with and he wants some pictures of them. What a great experience God has provided for a young man beginning his adult life.
Below is a picture of Godfrey and Katie and the gift they brought us.

We said some of the goodbyes are temporary because one family we have lived on the center with and grown to love are leaving the Madang area to finish the work they began in a tribe in the Sepik region of PNG. They recently completed the entire New Testament translation and are now finishing Bible lessons and wanting to be closer to the village in order to disciple and encourage the believers there. Over 20 years of their lives was poured into this people group and God has been faithful to raise up a church that is growing and maturing. Now they are in the last few years of service on the field and desire to finish strong. They will be retiring in a couple years when they reach 65 and returning to the UK. We will miss Andrew and Ruth.

We're back.......

2011-04-13T03:49:00.004-05:00

Well we are posting an update finally. Between our busy schedule and our blog being inaccessible we have not posted anything here in a while.
Christine has been busy taking care of the guest house and housing here on the center and Matt just finished up 2 big jobs in the print shop. We are slowly getting all our plans together for our return to the States in June, to bring Matthew home after graduation. We have purchased our flights home and plan to return to PNG in July so Meghan can start her junior year at NCA and we can continue helping support our bush missionaries. Also we will be looking into where we can fit into a tribal work. There are a couple options here in the Madang region but we don't have any teams to move ahead with yet, so we may end up moving to another region to join another team. We also will need to raise our support and get some money saved for our initial allocation into a tribe.
Both the kids are doing well and Matthew is excited to return home and begin his own life in Michigan. Below is a picture of some of the high school kids leading chapel last week. Matthew and Meghan are singing on the right side. Yes Matthew died his hair.....again.

Transitions……

2011-02-22T16:45:00.002-06:00

We have returned from 5 weeks living in a remote bush location. Our time in the tribe was great and we really enjoyed getting to know the missionary family in there and the people. The area was beautiful and quite a bit cooler than Madang. We enjoyed the cool temps but were ready for some warm weather again. While in there we got a glimpse of life as a tribal missionary and continued to work on becoming fluent speakers of Pidgin. Hopefully our next language check will be our last and we can relax and just enjoy getting to know the PNG people. We are currently in Lapilo visiting the kids, having some meetings and attending a couple transitions seminars. Friday the 25th we will return to Madang to begin transitioning into our ministry positions for the next year. Matt will be working in TRC, which is the print shop, and Christine will be taking care of housing and guest house. We are excited to move out of orientation and into roles that allow us to serve others.

Matthew is graduating in June and has decided to return to the US to start working and saving for Bible school and future pilot training. We are praying about how all of this is going to come together. We would like for all of us to fly back together for 2 months and get Matthew settled back in but aren’t sure how all the finances will work out. We thought we would have another year to save for the airline tickets. Please be praying with us about this.

Here we are in the mountains of PNG during bush orientation.

Here is one of Matthew’s senior pictures.

Again we want to thank all of you who have partnered with us and made it possible for us to be here in PNG.

If you feel God leading you to partner with us in reaching the unreached people of Papua New Guinea please click on the links below. We would love to hear from you if you have any question, comments or encouragements, or if you would like us to pray for you.

Prayer Partners

Financial Partners

Better to give........

2010-12-22T03:52:00.012-06:00

-- 2 Corinthians 8:1-3 NLT --

Now I want to tell you, dear brothers and sisters, what God in his kindness has done………………….. Though they have been going through much trouble and hard times, their wonderful joy and deep poverty have overflowed in rich generosity. For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford but far more. And they did it of their own free will.

Today, Patrick a friend and workmen on the center brought a big bag of corn from his garden to give out as Christmas presents, we got 5 ears. Sometimes it's better to receive than to give.

We have been to Patrick's home so we know how little they have, but he was so happy to share with us and others on the center.

Just another reminder of Gods goodness and faithfulness in our lives.

A day in the life.......

2010-12-14T14:39:00.005-06:00

So what do we do everyday.
We start early every morning, about 6-6:30 with some coffee, waking up isn't a problem here. There is a little bird the locals call "3 oclock" because that is the time the bird likes to sit next to your house and sing its songs. Matt uses the morning time to read. Then after checking email, facebook, etc. we spend some time in the office (kids room when they are not here) practicing phrases, listening to recordings, reading material on PNG. After some time in the office we go out to get some "exposure", visiting with the people, doing things with them and recording stories from them to listen to later. When we are not out with the people we are doing more office time taking any notes or recordings we have and "processing" them. Putting them into the computer and talking about new things we learned or mistakes we made (we make plenty). Christine uses the evening time to read and do her bible study. Forgot to mention we often change clothes a couple times throughout the day after they get soaked with sweat. One day a week we go to town shopping which ends up being most of the day. We usually grab a bite to eat in town either from a little restaurant or from a kai bar (PNG fast food). Saturdays are usually open for us to relax and do something other than learning language. Sunday we go to church in town with another family (pidgin service). Soon we will be able to speak well and hold good conversations in Pidgin, and hopefully be given opportunities to share our own beliefs instead of always asking them about theirs.

Here is a picture of a "Kundu Palai" a lizard whose skin is used to make a kundu drum. The workers found it in our trash bin outside and insisted it needed to die because it is dangerous.

Here is a picture of our friend Malai helping load the helicopter with supplies for a family in a remote tribe.

We will have our second to last language check today (Friday the 17th) and then will be spending the next 3 weeks with the kids while they are on Christmas break. During this time we will only do minimal language study so as to take advantage of the short time we have together as a family again. Thanks for all your prayers and support.

Busy, busy, busy but enjoying what God has given us.

2010-12-03T14:49:00.007-06:00

We have been working on the paperwork for the occupation training visa for Matthew also where and with whom he will work after his time with NTM aviation. The 2 of us are looking into what areas we might be able to serve in for the year after he graduates while he is doing his occupational training. We also are preparing for our time in bush orientation which will begin after January 10 and last 6 weeks. In 2 weeks the kids come for Christmas break and we will have our second to last language evaluation the same week they arrive. God sure knows how to fill our time. Being idle isn't an option. Although God does give us time to just enjoy life here and marvel at His glory.

We have been reading the Pidgin Bible starting with Genesis 1:1 and the story of God creating all the living creatures has taken on a new meaning. After 4 months in PNG we are even more amazed at the diversity of God's creation. Everyday we see evidence of His glory through all the different creatures he has made. We found this little gecko the other night, he was small enough to sit on my finger tip. Then a couple nights later we found the beetle that was almost as big as my hand with his legs stretched out. When we touched the beetle he would stand up at attention open his big pincers and march around making noises that sounded like a wind up toy. We did have fun tormenting him before he marched off the porch. After all the trips over the Tagog village we still see new things every time we go. We feel like little kids in a toy store and each new toy is so exciting (and distracting), needing to be investigated. We are sure the people here find us entertaining. We hope you enjoy these little glimpses into our life in PNG.

Family time

2010-11-20T16:53:00.001-06:00

We have had a great time visiting the kids this last week. We got to eat pizza in the dorm with all the dorm kids then watch some Tim Hawkins together. They both played in the provincial tournament on Friday. Meghan is playing basket ball and Matthew is playing soccer. On Saturday they had "Sadie Hawkins" night and had to dress up for the "up in the air" theme. Meghan went with Matthew's roommate Adrian and Matthew went with Meghan's classmate Lucy. There are not that many kids here on the center so everyone has something in common. They all had some great costumes, you can see some more pictures by clicking HERE. Monday we return to Madang to continue our language learning. Thursday is Thanksgiving and we are sure thankful for the time God gave us to visit the kids. Enjoy some pictures of the kids below.

Matthew and Lucy were Peter Pan and Tinkerbell.

Meghan and Adrian were lost luggage.

We have been so encouraged to see how God is working in both the kids. They seem much more focused on their relationships with God. Funny how God gives us children to raise and then He does the work of growing them into the adults He wants them to be despite our attempts at parenting.

Saksak soup....

2010-11-01T15:56:00.003-05:00

For a language session Christine asked Katie to help her cook some sago. This time we had the opportunity to watch the process and Christine even joined in to help. Matt sat and talked with Malai while the ladies were busy having fun and making soup. It is a great time for language because it is an uncontrolled environment and we must pull from all our resources to keep up with the conversations. If only our resources were greater, someday we will be able to converse without having to ask them to repeat, slowly, what they said several times. We had a great time and enjoy sitting with them and just getting to know them. We wonder if they get tired of all the questions we ask. Christine has made a new friend, Jessica is Katy's daughter and likes to touch Christine's hair and skin and joke with her. You can see her in the picture putting greens in the soup. Christine meets regularly with Katy to get help with language while Matt visits some of the men in the village.

We have links to our pictures on facebook over on the right side of this page plus some other links you may be interested in.

That's holy water huh?

2010-10-21T15:12:00.004-05:00

Yesterday we went in to a tuna canning factory to ask some questions about labor, wages and work ethics. We talked to an employee for a while, who was selling food in a little trade store during his off hours. It went so well we got most of our questions answered by this one man. One funny thing that happened was, we were asking what he called a soda, the only word we knew was "loliwara" so Matt says "em holiwara a" of course the man just stops and as soon as I realize that I said holy water instead of soda everyone starts laughing (there were plenty of people standing around watching and listening). We left there and decided to head down to a couple markets and see if we could find some bananas, to no avail. We did find a little roadside market cooking something so we stopped and bought some fresh yellow fin tuna and potatoes, freshly grilled. It was a very good lunch.
Today we will be walking over to our nearest neighbor to "tok sori" (tell them we are sorry and give a small gift of food to the family), the family just lost their dad who died after being sick for the last year. Their mournful cries carried on throughout the night. Once again the reality of life without Christ is hitting us. We live amongst a people hopelessly lost in animistic beliefs and religious practices. The only way they will ever be freed from the lies they believe is for someone to tell them the Good News.

Here is a picture of our lunch from the little market.

Autumn in PNG....

2010-10-15T19:57:00.007-05:00

The other day we were asked to take a local family to the hospital, that had flown out from a tribe. It seems their baby fell into a fire and was severely burned. We were in town that day so we picked them up and drove them over to the "house sick". The father's pidgin must not have been too good as he was having problems getting to the right area. That feeling of helplessness was overwhelming as we could see the look of concern in the parents eyes and we couldn't communicate clearly what we needed. We thank God someone finally understood the severity of the situation and got us to the right room where they instantly admitted the family. We haven't heard yet how the baby is doing but we will be praying for the family, especially since they haven't heard the Gospel yet. Sometimes it is so frustrating not being able to talk to these people but we know that it is a process God is bringing us through and we will be able to communicate clearly soon.Rainy season is approaching and we are starting to get a fair bit of rain in the evenings. We know how important the rain is but it also means more mosquitos, warmer temperatures and higher humidity. Right after a rain, especially when the sun is shining, we feel like we are in a scooby doo cartoon and we could cut holes in the air it is so thick. We do miss the changing seasons and the beautiful fall colors. That is just part of life in the tropics and we feel privileged to be here. Below are some pictures from the time the kids were home. Don't forget to check out our pictures we have uploaded to our facebook albums, you can see them by clicking HERE and HERE.

The first picture is when the kids flew down to Madang, the man in the back is a teacher and dorm coordinator in Lapilo. I guess that is a cure for air sickness. The second and third pictures are from when we went out to an island for an afternoon to snorkel and water ski. Meghan got stung by a jelly fish while snorkeling so she stayed on the beach under the umbrella while Matthew skied. It was a beautiful island that we can see from our home. We cherish the time we got to spend having fun with kids, now we are back to full time language/culture study while they are away at school.

A full schedule……

2010-10-08T00:36:00.001-05:00

Between spending some quality time with the kids, hosting 2 men from the church in Scotland and 5 days of regional conference we have been busy. Yesterday we realized we hadn’t updated our blog, forgot to send out our monthly newsletter and hadn’t uploaded any pictures in a while. So today we are trying to make up for it.

Conference was amazing. It was a great time of fellowship, prayer, tribal updates and challenges from God’s word. The team from Scotland was such a blessing and really ministered to us all. Matthew and Meghan helped with “VBS” for the little kids in the morning then in the afternoon they had youth meetings. The adults met together in the morning for songs, prayer and a challenge from the pastor before eating lunch. Everyone came back together for dinner each night then a time of singing along with either games or some great Scottish stories about God’s faithfulness. Tribal updates reminded us of why we are here and encouraged us to keep pressing on.

Monday we say goodbye to the kids for 8 weeks, till Christmas break. We would appreciate your prayers for us coping with an empty house again and for the kids as they move into their 2nd term at school. God has been so good to us with everyone adjusting well and settling in quickly.

Below are some pics from conference.

The last picture is the team from Scotland and the missionary family whom they support. We are sure going to miss them, and their accents.

Faithfulness

2010-09-23T02:18:00.007-05:00

There is a dentist here in PNG who is a missionary with NTM. The clinic they run on the Lapilo center offers dental work for the cost of supplies only. So we scheduled the kids to have a cleaning and check up. They both had some cavities that were fixed and Matthew ended up needing some orthodontic work. Below are some pictures of him getting braces this week. We are so thankful that God has provided this service for us. Just another testimony of His faithfulness.

We had our first language check today and it went very well, Christine is at basic mid level and Matt is at basic high level. So you are probably thinking "WHAT?" This is just a tool to gauge where we are now so that as we progress we can see how much or little we have improved. There are 4 main levels each with a low, mid and high sublevel. Eventually we will be at a proficient level. We both were nervous even though everyone told us not to be. Then on top of that, as we were talking in the village with the language consultant more and more people started gathering around to listen and stare. We feel very encouraged by our progress and once again are thankful for God's faithfulness in our lives.

As always we are so thankful for all of you who are a part of our team.

16th of September

2010-09-18T15:17:00.003-05:00

....is independence day here in PNG. This last week they celebrated 35 years of independence. It is one of the biggest holidays here with festivities all over town. A few of us men from the center went in to town to see the celebrations and got a few pictures which you can see below.
A pastor from the village next door passed away on Thursday leaving behind a wife and 3 girls. It is another reminder of the urgency of getting the Gospel to those who have never heard. Several of the families here gave some small food gifts to the family to help feed all the people who would be coming for the service. While delivering the food we stopped to talk to one of the men who has helped with language learning. He has been sick with a fever so we dropped off some cold (clean) water for him and the conversation turned to "white man's" magic water. These people call themselves "Christian" and some are even called "Pastors" but they are hopelessly lost.
The kids are coming down on Friday to stay for 3 weeks and some ladies taught Christine how to express her feelings about them coming. "mi amamas long lukim ol, taim ol i kam." Which means "I am excited to see them when they come." We will also have our first language check this Thursday to see where we are and what we need to work on. The language check will be a written grammar check and an oral check, and we would appreciate your prayers as we will be sitting down with a villager and talking with our limited Pidgin at the direction of a language consultant who will determine what level we are at. The only nice thing about our first language check is that since we started out not knowing anything we will have made great progress.

Enjoy the pics of some celebrations during Independence Day.

PMV.......

2010-09-06T01:47:00.007-05:00

What?
A PMV is a Public Motor Vehicle. In other words it is a public transportation vehicle. They come in many forms, mini vans, flatbed trucks, large buses and boats. We made a day long trip to town and out to a fishing island last week as part of our NCLA. We walked out to the main road where we boarded a bus PMV then rode into town where we found a boat PMV to take us out to an island. It was actually a nice change. We got to see more people and experience their culture in ways we wouldn't have in our own vehicle. The boat ride was interesting as there were about 35 people in a boat meant to hold about 10. There was literally less than 2 inches of boat left out of the water crossing the ocean to an island. The local people do it all the time, we on the other hand will be doing it less often. We had a great day. One side note, while out on the island we saw the skin of a rather large (enormous) saltwater crocodile that the villagers had killed. We also ate lunch at a market next to the sea where they bring fresh fish and other things to fry and sell. It was a really good meal that we look forward to ordering again. This week we begin the process of meeting people and finding language helpers. We definitely need your prayers as we step out of our comfort zones.
The kids are doing well in school and seem to be enjoying dorm life, we get to see them in just over 2 weeks and we are so excited. We hope to have some current pics of the kids soon so check back later to "see" how they are doing.

Here we are in the PMV boat.

Of Course the kids all wanted their picture taken.

Here is a lady preparing for fishing.

This lady was a relative of the Language helper that accompanied us. Her baby was sick so we gave them a bottle of water.

Jesus said that whomever drinks this water will thirst again but whomever drinks from the water He has to give will never thirst.

NCLA.........?

2010-08-29T01:00:00.010-05:00

This week, starting Monday morning we will begin our official NCLA (national culture and language acquisition). It is a program set up by those who have gone before us that will help us to acquire pidgin and understand the culture here. This first week will be mostly reading, then starting the 2nd week we will begin going out into the surrounding area to find people willing to help us learn pidgin and answer a lot of questions about their culture. We feel like we have a good jump start since we have been here almost a month now and have already picked up some basics about the language. The man in charge of NCLA has been on furlough the last year and just arrived back here a week ago, that is why we had to wait and extra week before starting.
We have been helping out in the administration building this last week, Matt helped in construction building bins and work benches for tribal supply, and Christine helped move the library to it's new location along with cleaning and organizing some things. It was nice to get out and do some physical activity and we got to work along side some of the national workers. Some of these workers will end up being language helpers for us.

Here is a picture of our first meal at the neighboring village of Tagog.

We enjoyed our meal and hopefully have made some new friends to help us learn this new language.

7 days…..

2010-08-16T17:32:00.001-05:00

It took God 7 days to create everything and enjoy a day of rest. So far in a week we haven’t accomplished much. We do know our way around Madang a little better and understand how things work on the center. We have been seeing some interesting things and taking a lot of pictures. You can enjoy a couple of our recent pictures below. This week we will be spending some time in town, getting used to the stores and market, walking into the villages around the center, eating a meal with one of the village families, and Matt will ride into town on a PMV (which is a public motor vehicle) to get his drivers license.

We received 2 emails from Lapilo (the center where the dorms and school are located), 1 from the dorm parents and 1 from the dorm coordinator. They both said the kids are doing great and everyone is really enjoying having them there. They had a skate night Friday and all the kids had a really good time. This coming Friday is a softball tournament, and since over half the high school is on the team there is no school. The tournament will be held in town so it will be a field trip for the high schoolers.

This sunset reminded us of a scene out of Jurassic park or Land of Lost.

Here is the foliage around one of the center houses, the 3 trees are papaya.

We spent one afternoon down on the beach and went swimming. This is a short walk from our house.

We had church on the center last week, we met for breakfast then a time of studying God’s word and some testimony from the new family (us) and a couple from the Faroe islands.

This is a faroese couple who came to volunteer, they went into a tribe and helped in the building of a house and did some projects on center. They had a great testimony about their time here.

We had to get a picture of the beetle, there are many of these around.

We are so thankful for our God and His provisions, He is the one who sustains us here and He is using many of you as our partners to accomplish His purposes. Thank you for allowing Him to use you in our lives and ministry.

Firsts

2010-08-10T17:15:00.002-05:00

We finally made it to our new home in Madang. It is really beautiful here and there are so many birds singing all day. God has really blessed us, living among palm trees, bananas and pineapples. Who would have thought that God would consider us worthy to be His voice to a lost and dying people then give us the opportunity to live in a tropical paradise. All that said there are some things here that will take some getting used to. We don’t have air conditioning and it is hot and humid, meat is very expensive, we can’t communicate with the people yet, and of course we don’t get to see the kids for long periods. But we know this is the very best for our family cause it is where God wants us. Thank you all for your prayers on behalf of our family and for your financial sacrifices that make it possible for us to serve God here in PNG.

Firsts

Riding on the opposite side of the road
While boarding the plane it is announced that there is no chewing of beetle nut
Vegemite on our toast (not to bad)
Riding a 6.4 earthquake (not to bad either)
Living in a house on stilts
Hopping on a Cessna for our ride home
Finding a cold shower pleasurable
Our first pigin saying, “name bilong me Christine”
Seeing a real live rainforest tree frog

Meghan and her roommate Rachel

The dorm family

Mealtime in the dorm

Numunohi High School

Flying out of Goroka to Madang

View from our front porch

That's our house

Rainforest tree frog

We are really here.

2010-08-04T17:53:00.001-05:00

It is official, we are now living in Papua New Guinea. After getting the kids settled into their dorms this week Matt and Christine will fly out to Madang to settle into our new home. We are so thankful for God’s faithfulness, from having a safe flight to being welcomed by so many understanding people. We are already feeling at home and so are the kids. We have been enjoying the new sights and sounds especially the lorakeets, little parrot like birds, that come out in the morning and all the different plants and flowers. Poinsettias grow into trees here. The weather in Goroka is pretty much perfect, warm during the day and cool at night which makes for great vegetables/fruit in the market. Fresh pineapple, papaya, bananas, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, potatoes and sweet potatoes, tangerines, bell peppers, avocados, and ginger are all in abundance at the markets. So far we haven’t felt culture shock, although we have been staying on a NTM center. So far the people have been great, they smile and want to shake hands and greet you whenever you pass. Now we just need to learn some pigin so we can talk more.

Enjoy some pictures from our flight over and trip to Lapilo center.

Leaving Sydney after spending the night.

Flying across the ocean from Australia to PNG.

Coming in to Port Moresby.

Flying over Port Moresby.

Coming in for the landing.

Boarding our final flight to Goroka.

A shop on the road from Goroka to Lapilo.

The road to Lapilo.

The entrance to Lapilo.

We are excited to be here and hope and pray you will feel our excitement and are able to share in our ministry through our updates and pictures. As always we are so thankful for all your prayers and sacrifices.

First changes

2010-08-03T05:28:00.003-05:00

We have changed a tab above and added a contact page for those of you who wish to mail or email us. We will be updating with some pictures soon so please check back often. We hope to start a new update on the blog that shares some of the many firsts we will be experiencing on this new adventure.
We would cherish your prayers as we spend the last couple days with the kids and will be saying goodbye for 8 weeks next Monday. We know this is right where God wants us and there is no better place for us or the kids to be than right in the middle of God's will, but it is difficult to leave them with someone else to care for.

Departure date set......

2010-07-15T17:48:00.004-05:00

Once again we are completely in awe, seeing God continue to meet our needs. If you check our adopt a project page you will see what we are talking about. After July 28th we will be updating from Papua New Guinea, so please check back to follow our adventures as we serve God and the people of PNG.

More summer travels

2010-07-12T11:05:00.001-05:00

We spent about 9 days in Texas visiting with some churches, supporters and friends. We had a great time and were very encouraged with everyone's excitement about our ministry in PNG. It has been exciting seeing things coming together for our move. Matthew and Meghan have their new class schedules for Numonohi academy, which won’t actually start until the first week of August. They have their senior retreat on July 22nd and have asked if Matthew will be attending. We had to email them back today to let them know that he won’t be able to attend the retreat. Matthew was a little disappointed that he will miss out on the time to get to know his new classmates but we are trusting that God has even better plans for him. Our plan is to arrive before the start of school and we need your prayers to see this happen as our support is still low and we are lacking the rest of our funds for airline tickets.

We are back in Arizona working on our last bit of legal paperwork and looking for more opportunities to share our needs with churches, small groups and/or individuals. We would appreciate your help in making our needs known.

Below are some pictures from a little park in Texas where we spent some time with our pastor friend’s family. As you can see from the pics the adults enjoyed the equipment as much as the kids.

The last picture is of our pastor friend, he really enjoyed the little kids park :) notice the sign above.

We are so thankful for each of you, for your friendship, encouragement, sacrifices and prayers. Without you we would not be able to see unreached people in PNG reached with the Gospel.

Summer Travels

2010-06-23T14:53:00.001-05:00

We have been enjoying time with Matt’s family. We went camping by Payson on the Mogollon rim and Matthew and Matt have been spending some quality time together playing disc golf. We are headed back to Texas on the 26th through July 4th, visiting some churches and some individuals. Please continue to pray for our visas to be approved soon so we can begin looking for airline tickets and set a date to arrive in PNG. We are very excited and a little envious to see many of our friends from Bible school and the MTC arriving on the mission fields and beginning to learn new languages and cultures as the prepare to bring the light of the Gospel to people living in darkness. Seeing the pictures and hearing the stories of God’s faithfulness is so encouraging to us and we, less than patiently, await our own arrival on the field, trusting that God has all the details worked out already.

Thanks again for allowing us to be your missionaries to PNG.

Second generation missionary?

2010-06-12T08:39:00.001-05:00

We are in Arizona now enjoying the warm weather. By warm we mean extremely hot. We decided to pass Texas and make a return trip later this month. We left Missouri with a new pilot in our midst. After many many months and thousands of dollars Matthew has earned his private pilots license. His desire is to continue on to become a mission pilot. We are so excited to see God challenging our kids to serve Him as missionaries. We are the first missionaries in either of our families and are seeing God raise up a second generation. We have also encouraged to see God raising up more partners for us. We are currently at 35% of our support and believe we will break the 40% mark soon with some new commitments. We are still waiting for our visas so we can begin looking for airline tickets. The time is getting shorter now and we are trusting that God is still stirring hearts to partner with us.

We thought you would enjoy some pictures of some tribal airstrips in PNG since we will be using some of these soon and Matthew will be flying into and out of airstrips like these one day.

Thanks again for partnering with us, without your sacrifices we wouldn’t be able to take the Gospel to PNG.

Alabama to Arizona....

2010-06-01T10:15:00.014-05:00

We have just returned from the first of many trips this summer. After packing and cleaning our apartment we headed to Alabama to visit our home/sending church and share in 2 other churches. It was a very encouraging time as we were given some wonderful gifts, picked up a couple new financial partners and made a new church contact. We said some more goodbyes as we will most likely not see many of these friends and partners again until we return from PNG in a couple years. We are back in Missouri for a couple days while Matthew finishes his last few hours of flying and takes his final check ride for his private pilots license. We will be leaving Friday for Texas where we will be helping some friends with some minor repairs to their home before heading to Arizona to drop off our trailer for storage. We plan to visit as many churches and individuals as possible along the way.

We have gained some start-up funds and increased our monthly support to 31%.

Our passports and visa applications are at the embassy in Washington DC awaiting the visa approval, until we have our passports and visas in hand we can't buy airline tickets. We are in the final stretch and would appreciate your prayers.

Enjoy some pictures of some kids from PNG.

As always we thank you for partnering with us, please check back often to see how God supplies and prepares us for ministry in Papua New Guinea.

2 weeks

2010-05-07T14:52:00.001-05:00

With just over 2 weeks left in Missouri we have been trying to get rid of all the stuff we have acquired over the past 3 years. It has been difficult deciding what we will keep and store in our trailer and what we don’t need. Some of the things we are packing in boxes we may not see for several years, and some of the things already in boxes we haven’t seen in several years.

Matthew passed his written exam for the private pilots license, now he is completing the last few hours of flying time so he can take the flying part of the test. What a huge relief it was for him to pass the written exam, a relief for him and for us. Now comes the expensive part, but it will be worth it to see him serving God as a mission pilot.

Matthew has prom this Saturday then in a couple weeks both Matthew and Meghan have a high school banquet/masquerade ball to attend. These will be the last events they get to share with all the friends they have made here in Missouri. Please be praying for them and us as we prepare to say goodbye to friends again, many of whom we may not see for a long time.

Another step closer……

2010-05-01T07:52:00.002-05:00

Our work permits have been approved and we are now applying for Visas. The Visa approval process has been very slow recently so we would appreciate your prayers. Today, May 1st, Matthew is taking the written part of his private pilots exam, I know he would appreciate your prayers, he has been studying hard the last couple weeks and he often gets nervous for tests and doesn’t do well. We had more gifts given towards our ticket fund, please check the adopt a project page to see how God is supplying our needs. We only have about 31/2 weeks left here in Missouri. It will be tough to say goodbye to our friends and fellow classmates, some of whom we may never see again. When we leave Missouri we will be traveling until our departure.

We are looking forward to our future ministry in PNG but want to take advantage of all opportunities to minister here where we are. If you would like to hear about how God has been working in our lives or how He is building His church in PNG please contact us so we can make arrangements to visit with you.

A new look, and a new hobby.

2010-04-14T11:44:00.001-05:00

As you can see we have been working on this blog. With the new look comes some new features. Right above this post title you will see some tabs like "home", "financial partners", etc. These are pages we have made to provide some information about different areas of our ministry. Please click on them and see what we have been doing. Also don't forget the links to the right that also will take you different areas of interest.

We have been introduced to "geocaching" recently and have found a new favorite activity. Since we are leaving next month we decided not to renew our fishing licenses and have felt like we needed some other outdoor activity to enjoy when we need a break. Geocaching has quickly become a favorite "pastime". Whenever we are out running around we look for some local caches to find. If you are not sure what it is then click here to learn more about it.

This last picture is just after someone spotted a big tick on their shoe and everyone started frantically inspecting their bodies. After that we all felt like there were things crawling on us. It didn’t help that the cache container was full of an ants nest and they swarmed out of the end when Meghan opened it.

Enjoy the pics below of some tradition ceremonial dress from some of the PNG tribal groups.

There are even geocaches in Papua New Guinea that we will be able to find as we explore our new home.

Christmas in August…..

2010-04-03T08:38:00.001-05:00

We delivered our trunks to an organization called Friends In Action, who, among other things, provide shipping services for missionaries. They will be crating our trunks and having them shipped to North Carolina where the crate will be loaded on a container bound for Papua New Guinea. The container isn’t leaving until the end of May so we won’t be receiving our things until the middle of August, we figure it will be like Christmas morning opening all those boxes to play with the goodies inside. It was exciting to say goodbye to most of our worldly possessions knowing we will be reunited later this year. We know they are just things but they will help to make our new home in PNG feel like “home”.

Our van loaded with 7 trunks, 1 box and a shipping tube.

The entrance to FIA where our stuff will be crated for shipping

Our trunks in the warehouse awaiting their crate.

International shipping is a slow process, it will take about 3 months for our crate to arrive in PNG. Thankfully it won’t take that long for us to travel there.

Thank You, thank you, thank you

2010-03-29T09:57:00.001-05:00

We are so grateful for all that the Lord has done for us. He continues to bless us through many of you and so, with all the thank you cards we send, Christine has started making her own. She has really enjoyed making them and she feels that it is a better way to express our gratitude. Below are some of the cards she has made recently.

The hard part is finding the time to sit down and make them, it seems as soon as she finishes some they are in the mail, on their way to another person or church that God has used in our lives to show His great love for us. Again we thank you for being a part of our lives and ministry and allowing God to use you.

Communication is critical

2010-03-16T12:23:00.001-05:00

We have begun to realize the importance of good communication recently as we have had a mix up in our shipping plans. This international shipping thing is all new to us so we had no idea what to ask and to whom. We felt we had asked all the right questions to all the right people leading us to believe that we had our shipping details all ironed out. Needless to say we didn’t quite ask the right question, and we didn’t ask all the right people, and since most of the people we asked were familiar with the whole international shipping process they answered our question accurately. Now we are looking at shipping our items through a new company at the end of May which means we won’t be getting our things until the middle of August. Thankfully the home we are moving into is fully furnished when we arrive. Below is a picture of Christine repacking our trunks as we had to itemize them again. She says she does all the work but I keep telling her taking pictures is important also.

We are leaving for a trip to Texas on Friday and are looking forward to sharing in a new church on Sunday morning and then visiting with some friends/supporters throughout the following week. We would cherish your prayers as we seek to share God’s heart for the world and challenge people about missions. We are trusting that God is preparing the hearts of those whom He desires to partner with us in ministry. Matthew and Meghan will be staying home in Missouri so they don’t miss anymore school, Meghan will spend the week with her friends family and Matthew will be home alone.

Last week Christine decided to start preparing for life on the field by baking using less than modern conveniences. Below is a picture of her making pita bread.

Just kidding, one of the neighbor girls came over to visit and when she heard Christine was baking she wanted to help, so she ran home and got her easy bake oven. We had fun spending a couple hours playing games, baking and watching half a movie with her.

Below is a picture of one of our favorite winter pastimes. Whoever invented this idea was a genius.

It is cheap entertainment, although we have found that some of the movies are less than entertaining.

Enjoy some more pictures from PNG.

Many of the tribes have some very unique ceremonial dress. We can’t wait to see them in person and take some of our own pictures.

“Anticipayation is………….. making me wait.”

2010-03-03T11:02:00.002-06:00

It has arrived safely in PNG. After nearly 4 weeks in transit we were relieved to hear this morning that our wave 2 paperwork is safe and sound in PNG. In our excitement to see things moving forward we rush to get through paperwork, just to find out that the rest of the world is working at normal speed. The old ketchup slogan rings true to our ears these days.

It is exciting to think about what lies ahead in PNG, but we tend to focus on that sometimes and not on the present. There are still many things that need to happen if we are going to move our entire family to Papua New Guinea this summer. We are praising God for His provision for our practical needs list. Thanks to many of you we have finished purchasing all the items on our list and will be preparing to ship them next week. We are trusting the Lord to challenge others to join our ministry team, helping us to bring the Gospel to those who have never heard. Currently our support level is 23%, but we need at least 60% to be able to go. We would cherish your prayers in this area as we tend to focus on what we don’t have instead of focusing on what God has done. A wise older man reminded me the other day that faith is the “evidence of things not seen.” God is and always will be faithful and we can trust in that.

Here are some more pics from PNG:

These are pics of some of the local foods we will be enjoying, yes we will be able to get COKE.

February really is the shortest month…….

2010-02-22T10:12:00.001-06:00

Once again the days flew by then turned into weeks and we realized we hadn’t updated our blog again. We have had a very encouraging month so far with 1 trip to Alabama and 2 to Kansas. Just when we are starting to feel discouraged God brings along someone or something to encourage our hearts and remind us of His faithfulness. We had some great gifts given recently that allowed us to almost complete purchasing the items on our needs list and had an old friend/pastor write us recently whom we had not talked with in quite a while. We also made a new contact in Kansas at Christine’s sister’s church and are excited to see God continue to grow that relationship. We thought we would start including some pictures from PNG to show you what life is going to look like for us after we move there. Enjoy the pics and please write if you have any questions or if you or someone you know would like us to come and share about this awesome ministry God has called us to.

Above are some aerial photos of the center were we will be living for our first year while we learn the language and culture of PNG.

Below is a picture of one of the houses on the center (one of which we will call home) and the fellowship hall.

Thank you again for being a part of our lives and ministry. Check back soon for more PNG pictures.

It’s been a while…..

2010-01-29T21:18:00.001-06:00

We haven’t been very faithful the last couple weeks to update our blog, sorry. We have been busy but most of what we are doing is paperwork, emails and shopping. So we figured we would give you some pictures of what we have been doing. Some exciting news, we have started our ticket fund (for purchasing our airline tickets) thanks to a couple who gave specifically towards tickets. We have been very encouraged to see God raising up people who are excited about what He is doing in PNG and how we will be a part of that.

We found some great deals on our dishes and silverware, 50% off.

We were given the money for fishing equipment and found these beauties at the Bass pro outlet.

We have been packing some trunks with the things we need.

We have been doing some paperwork. We finished wave 1 and are nearly finished with wave 2. We now have the kids passports also.

We don’t have pictures of this but, we also have been emailing people to set up appointments and share about this ministry God has called us to, giving them an opportunity to be a part of the great commission by partnering with us. So far we have only one for sure date in Alabama with our home/sending church on valentines weekend. We also have been asked to come back and speak to the Wednesday night “All-stars” at Christine’s sister’s church on the 17th of February and to join them at their missionary banquet on the 21st. Please pray that God would continue to raise up people and churches to partner with us as we help take the Gospel to PNG.

Winter Wonderland

2010-01-13T09:14:00.001-06:00

We are so grateful for some warm weather and sunshine. It has been in the 30’s and we are loving it. We did enjoy the winter storm that left us with below zero temperatures and several inches of snow. We took a couple walks around the campus and snapped a few photos for you to enjoy.

We found a couple hairy angels.

Meghan decided to wrestle with mom.

Looks like mom wins.

Here is the ice that formed on the inside of our windows. (they are dual pane insulated)

Here is Christine enjoying some time at the beach.

“No Wake, idle speed only beyond this point!"

They have some of the most beautiful and large icicles we have ever seen, these were about 12 feet tall hanging next to the highway.

All the days we spent inside has left us with some major cabin fever. But we were able to accomplish a few projects including a new PowerPoint. We have also just completed our first wave of paperwork for PNG and have applied for the kids passports which should arrive in February. We are very encouraged to see God raising up people who desire to help us purchase some items for PNG and we have already begun crossing item off the needs list. Thank you to each of you for the part you are playing in helping us to expand the reach of the Gospel.

European Christmas

2009-12-30T10:25:00.001-06:00

Well almost……We had our 1st Christmas dinner on Christmas eve with our neighbors the Ellis, Moritz and Simons families. Then we had our 2nd Christmas dinner with our friends Robert and Rosemarie (British) and Wayne and Yola (she is Polish). The 1st was a traditional American meal but the 2nd was a traditional English meal. We started the 2nd with a course of traditional Polish soups, beet soup and mushroom soup. Then the rest was all British. Some was not much different than our American dishes but some was different. After the meal we played games and did a white elephant gift exchange and watched the Nativity movie. It was a good time with good friends.

We pray you have a wonderful new year, experiencing God’s grace throughout 2010.

Renaissance and bell ringing

2009-12-14T10:43:00.001-06:00

Meghan spent part of her Saturday ringing the bell for the Salvation Army in front of Wal-Mart, as part of the key club at school. She was so excited and could hardly wait for this weekend.

The Choir at school has been preparing for the renaissance feast and this weekend was the big production. Matthew is in the back row as part of the royal courtiers. They did great and sounded incredible.

Things have been hectic lately with the holidays, partnership development and preparing for our departure in 6 months. We will be mailing out Christmas cards and newsletters this week, so be watching for them. If you don’t receive them but wish to, please contact us and let us know.

Christmas

2009-12-10T22:30:00.002-06:00

I love this cartoon clip.
I hope you enjoy it also.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-01T08:08:00.001-06:00

We had a great time in Michigan for Thanksgiving with our friends Pete and Peggy. Great food, great company and the weather was great, although the kids would have preferred some snow. We went to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn on Friday and really enjoyed seeing all the exhibits.

Half Marathon

2009-11-11T10:37:00.001-06:00

On November 1st Christine ran her first half marathon (13 miles). She came in at 2 hours 1 minute. She was 23rd out of 96 in her age group and 301st out of 898 total. She did great and she really enjoyed it. She started running about a year and a half ago and after running a 5k (3 miles) and a 10k (6 miles) she decided to start training for a half marathon. Below are some pictures taken by a professional sport photography company Action Sports Images.

The last picture is of Christine just after crossing the finish line. Matt was supposed to spend the 2 hours window shopping inside Bass Pro but they didn’t open the store until 9 am and by then Christine had finished the race. We did walk around in the store later though.

What’s next?

2009-11-10T13:03:00.001-06:00

Now that we have officially completed our training with NTM. We will spend the next 8 months preparing for our departure. We need to be in PNG by July so that the kids can start school. Here are some of the things we will need to be doing to prepare.

Partnership development (raising support)
purchasing airline tickets
purchasing needed supplies for the field
arranging shipping of our supplies to the field
completing legal paperwork here
completing legal paperwork for the field
storing our belongings
passports for Matthew and Meghan
arranging for people here to take care of our personal and legal business while we are overseas
vaccinations

Our plan at this point is to stay here in Missouri and keep the kids in school while we travel on the weekends sharing our ministry with anyone and everyone who is interested in hearing about the work God is doing as He builds His church.

A day in the life……..

2009-10-27T08:27:00.001-05:00

Once the kids are off to school we begin our usual day.

Matt sits down at the kitchen table with all his papers and trusty computer to analyze Cantonese and write a paper describing the language. Below is a picture of his work area. They say organization is half the work of analyzing. Oops, guess he missed that part. He has found the time alone in the house very difficult and looks for any opportunity to get out and help around campus. On Tuesdays He works in the morning with the HVAC department and in the afternoon in the Tech Center.

Christine heads off the the toddler room where she takes care of up to twelve 2 year olds with her team. She enjoys being able to teach the kids during “circle time”. Not only do they learn letters, numbers, shapes and other things like that they also get a Bible lesson everyday. Christine has been teaching them Chronologically, the same approach we use on the field. She has really enjoyed the time preparing Bible lessons, working with kids, getting to know the parents and working with other team mates in class.

Thanks again for checking in on us and being a part of our lives as we serve God with NTM.

Practical skills…..

2009-10-24T09:20:00.001-05:00

We had the opportunity to hike in with the 3rd semester class and help haul/setup their shelters for the weekend camping trip. We had fun and enjoyed helping out, we will be going back in on Sunday to help take down and haul out all their stuff. With Christine in childcare and Matt doing linguistics we don’t get much of a chance to interact and get to know other classmates so this was a great opportunity to do that.

Your going where………..

2009-10-20T07:43:00.001-05:00

As we said in our last post, we have decided to pursue PNG for our field of service. We have posted some maps for those of you who are wondering exactly where Papua New Guinea is.

PNG….

2009-10-09T07:04:00.001-05:00

P (Papua) N (New) G (Guinea)

After weeks of emails, family discussion, and much prayer we have decided that the door is open for us to pursue PNG. We have begun the process of applying to the field and are excited about what God is doing there. There are 5 regions in PNG, the Highlands, the Sepik, Madang, the Islands and Lapilo. We currently are looking into the Sepik region. Our prayer is that by November we will have solidified our field of service as we begin partnership development. The kids are excited also, PNG has a great school with dorms, which Matthew and Meghan think will be awesome. We had a woman come and offer to take portraits for free as a ministry to the student/staff here on campus this week. Here is one of the photos she took of us. Keep checking back as we update and inform you about our future ministry in PNG and thank you for your prayers and support.

New video from NTM

2009-10-05T22:05:00.001-05:00

Meet some more friends…

2009-09-05T08:09:00.002-05:00

The Hobbs family is currently serving at the NTBI, helping prepare people for the work of planting churches. So I guess it is obvious where we met them. Funny story though, we were in northern Arizona this last summer, camping with Matt’s family and decided to go on a hike on the mountain behind the campground. As the three of us (Matt, Christine, Matthew) were beginning a fairly steep climb we hear Matthew say “is that the Hobbs?”. Sure enough there they were hiking the same trail, it had been over a year since we last saw them. We all laughed and thought how cool it was that God brought us all together there on that mountain. They came back later to visit with us in our campsite. We are thankful for the Hobbs and their willingness to sacrifice their lives so that God can use them to grow, mold, and transform His children into the image of His Son.

Here is the link to their NTM website. CLICK HERE

What do the statue of Liberty, hot air balloons and the Hamb family have in common?

2009-09-01T08:05:00.001-05:00

This weekend we were able to visit Silver Dollar City in Branson. While there we toured the Marvel Cave, which is the original attraction for the park, around which the entire theme park was built. It was an interesting story the man told us as we traversed 500 feet below the surface with our guide Austin. Many years ago the whole area was covered by an ocean, a sink hole formed on the ocean floor. As the water ran through the hole it caused a great whirlpool that formed the cathedral room at the entrance to the caverns. Of course the waters eventually receded leaving this huge cavern for all of us to enjoy. This cathedral room is one of the biggest, holding 5 hot air balloons at one time (they have pictures of them). They say the entire statue of liberty will fit inside this one room and the torch would stick up into the original sink hole opening. We were impressed. The entire tour was awesome with some spectacular sights and beautiful waterfalls. Meghan’s job was to count the stairs during our time underground, after an hour we went up and down 600 sets of steps.

On the left side is the structure built to hold the staircase that winds down into the darkness. You start out just below the original opening which is just to the right of the top of the stairs.

Funny thing is that we had heard the story of how the cave was formed before, when we read it in our History book. Genesis chapters 6-9 give the most accurate account of how this and many other caves were formed.

First day of High School

2009-08-19T13:00:00.001-05:00

Today was Meghan’s first day of High School. She seemed pretty excited, and of course was ready to wear her new clothes. She also cut her hair off last week as you can see from the picture.

Kick-off/Orientation day

2009-08-17T10:46:00.001-05:00

Well Christine started her first day of child care today. They have a lot of kids this semester so she spent the weekend getting the room ready and making name cards. She is excited about working on some new Bible curriculum for the toddlers. Matt spent the morning in chapel hearing some great challenges, one of which was from a veteran missionary who has spent the last 16 years working in a tribe in Mexico. She shared something her grandfather shared with her many years ago; “All god wants from us is to be a vessel He can use, wake up every morning and ask; God what will you have me do today?” That is something all of us can do because it is no longer us trying to do something but God using us as He wishes.

Every year the MTC comes up with a new statement reflecting the goal of the training center, this semester’s new motto is:

It comes from Romans 10:14.

Meet some more of our friends…………..

2009-08-06T07:13:00.002-05:00

They are the Halls. Like so many of our friends, we met the Hall family while in Bible school. They actually graduated ahead of us but we met up again at the training center. We are privileged to be able to call the Hall’s team mates as they also will be heading to S.E. Asia. We are excited about being able to serve alongside this Godly family.. The Hall family has spent this last year in partnership development preparing for their move. Christine and I were listening to a song this morning called “Mighty to Save” there is a bridge towards the end that says;

“Shine your light and

let the whole world see,

we’re singing

for the glory

of the risen King, Jesus”.

Shine Halls Shine.

Here is a link to their website so you can check out their ministry and see how God is using them for His glory.

Work and a new(er) car…………….

2009-08-04T07:28:00.001-05:00

Matthew and I (Matt) have been replacing 12 windows in an older house. We were hired by a man who works at the Tech Center here in campus. It gets us both out of the house in the mornings and provides a little extra cash. It has been a great opportunity for me to teach Matthew some practical skills and gives us some quality time together as men. So far we have replaced 7, we did the easy ones first.

Matthew has been trying to sell his pickup for a while now and two weeks ago it finally sold. He found a little Kia Rio a few days later that he liked and after looking at several Junkers decided that was the car he wanted. It gets over 40 miles per gallon which was the biggest selling point to him. We are praying it is a dependable car that will last him a few years. He is planning on storing it while we are in Cambodia so that he will have a car when he returns for college. Below is a picture of the car from Craigslist. It has a few dings and dents but seems to be a decent little car.

Preparing now for ministry later……….

2009-08-03T06:54:00.002-05:00

There are a few things that we will be purchasing, while still here in the U.S, that will be of great benefit when we get to the field. So many things we take for granted here that other countries don’t have. Things like quality tools, dependable electricity, good water and so on. We will be picking up a few things over the next 8 months that we can take with us that will help us cope with the rigors of life in a developing country things like a water filter system, surge suppresor for the computer and a great little tool set. Thanks to a godly couple, the Cheniers, we have our little tool set with everything we will need to do home repairs and eventually help build our home in the tribe. The Cheniers are committed to helping missionaries with some very practical needs. They are putting together these tool kits, including a hand made cedar box and making them available for a great price. Below is the picture of us with our tool kit. If you have any questions about the tool kit, the Cheniers or being a part of our ministry please contact us via the link on the right.

Meet our friends

2009-07-27T08:41:00.001-05:00

This is the Marzett family. They are Missionaries with NTM and are preparing to head to Africa to begin Church planting. God has brought them on an incredible journey. We first met them at Bible School, then continued on in the training with them at the MTC. They originally decided to go on staff at the Bible Institute, helping to train future missionaries but God has redirected them to tribal church planting in West Africa. They are currently raising support and finishing their last semester of training before leaving the states to begin learning French (the national language where they will be serving). You can check out what they are up to and what God is doing in their lives by clicking HERE.

Some pics from Arizona and Texas

2009-07-21T17:34:00.001-05:00

Here are some more pictures from our travels.

8 weeks later

2009-07-21T17:13:00.001-05:00

59 days
8225 miles
17 states

and we are sure glad to be home. It has been a long summer for sure but we have thoroughly enjoyed our time with family, friends and supporters. We have seen God work in the hearts of his people to bring more partners onto our team. We were reminded recently of one of God’s names “Jehovah Jirah” which means “the Lord will provide” and that is exactly what He has done.

Meghan will begin band camp next Monday and Matthew is out looking for a job as I type. They are sure glad to be home in their own rooms, with their friends and out of the car.

Thanks again to everyone who took care of us and made sacrifices to make us feel at home, we appreciate all of you and couldn’t have made the trip without you.

Some pics from the Southern California car show

2009-07-09T10:51:00.001-05:00

While we were in southern California visiting Christine’s brother and his family we went to the Pismo car show. The unique beauty of these cars reminds us of the uniqueness of God and that we were formed and fashioned by Him in His likeness and with our hands are able to make things that reflect His beauty and glory.

Final stop Alabama, over 7000 miles so far

2009-07-09T10:50:00.001-05:00

We are in Alabama now nearing the end of our summer travels. We left California headed to Arizona then a quick stop in Texas before arriving in Alabama. Just a couple more weeks and the kids can stop asking are we home yet? They have been such troopers so far, and we thank God for their great attitudes and patience.

Please continue to pray with us as we will be sharing our ministry here in Alabama, trusting God to raise up more partners.

Meet our Friend

2009-06-29T17:53:00.001-05:00

Along our trip we have had the opportunity to visit family and friends here is our friend Aimee, also a Missionary with NTM. Check out her blog here: http://aimeehedrick.wordpress.com/ We met Aimee at bible school and were privileged to be in her class at the training center.

She is also in Partnership Development looking for people willing to team up with her as she shares the Good News with those who have never had the privilege of hearing it. She continues to be a woman of faith and has been a great encouragement to us.

Keep checking back to see other people God has placed in our lives as friends and partners in ministry.

Some pics from the Northern California coast…….

2009-06-23T18:28:00.001-05:00

Here are some more pictures of our trip, this time from our week visiting Matt’s parents on the north coast. We really had a good time camping, fishing and visiting. We even volunteered at a mission thrift store that helps out men in need.

We fished on a charter boat, drove through the Redwoods, hiked on some beautiful trails, played on the beaches and ate a lot of fish.

Arizona, almost 5000 miles down

2009-06-23T17:44:00.001-05:00

We finished our visiting in California and are now in Arizona enjoying the summer heat. Today at lunch time while waiting at the in and out burger drive thru it was 107 degrees.

We will be spending the next week visiting with Matt’s sister and brother in law and their three girls and working on the house. We will also be sharing pictures and videos about our future ministry in Cambodia and camping for a couple days near flagstaff.

Some pictures from Montana

2009-06-12T11:50:00.001-05:00

Here is just some of God's beautiful creation that we were so privileged to see during our time in Montana, we know a picture isn't quite the same as the real thing but we hope you enjoy looking at them anyway.

We are currently in California and we hope to have some new pictures up of the California coast soon. Thanks again for checking in on us.

2814 miles down, California Sunshine...........

2009-06-04T12:19:00.001-05:00

Not really, it has been cold and rainy since we arrived here on the north coast. We are enjoying the time though, the beach is always fun. We will be traveling back to Oregon this weekend to visit some close friends and go to church with them, then we will come back here to Crescent City for a few more days.

Here are the kids looking for treasures in the tide pools. We found some really great shells and enjoyed playing with the hermit crabs. What kids don't like hanging out on the beach? Keep checking in on our trip and we will try to keep updating when we can. Thank You following our lives and praying for us.

Big Sky Country

2009-05-26T14:19:00.001-05:00

Well we made it to Kalispell Montana. It is really beautiful here. Our trip went well, we ran into a few rainstorms, one of which was a downpour that almost forced us to stop and wait it out. It was a great trip overall.

We should be leaving Montana next week, headed for California. We don't have Internet, other than the local coffee shop, so we will update when we can. We are going to be presenting our ministry this week to a local church pastor then possibly to the church body. Please pray that God would speak through us and touch some hearts.

The beginning of our summer trip.

2009-05-23T22:02:00.001-05:00

Well we made it to Wall South Dakota today, about 814 miles. The trip was pretty uneventful. We ran into two thunderstorms with some really heavy rain.

Go ahead and stare at the picture below for several minutes, just focus on the truck up ahead and after you have stared for a few minutes look below the picture to see what's next.

Great now its as if you are right here with us. That is pretty much what we looked at all day. Thanks for joining us. :)

Please continue to pray that we have opportunities to share with others along the way and at our stops. Thank You.

High School Banquet

2009-05-18T20:44:00.001-05:00

This last weekend the high school youth group on campus had their “banquet” it is kind of an alternative to Prom. Here is Matthew all dressed up for an evening of eating fine food and hanging out with friends in a formal atmosphere. He seemed to have a really good time and was excited to get dressed up for it, even though it seems to contradict his ‘punk’ attitude. He did say the girls looked really nice though. He acts like he is not interested in girls but we know better.

Please continue to pray for Matthew as he is becoming a man and needs to recognize the importance of a growing relationship with the Lord.

Running…………..for fun?

2009-05-12T18:51:00.001-05:00

Christine started running last year for exercise and has grown to really like it. This last weekend she ran in a 10K (6.2 miles). She has been training for over a month and did really well. She ran the 6.2 miles in just over 57 minutes. She is already looking for another race to enter in the fall when we get back home here in MO, she would like to enter a half marathon (13 miles).

Here she is on the first lap after 3.1 miles.

Here is the group of girls from the MTC whom she ran with. It was a lot of fun for all of them and for us husbands that watched and cheered. The lady in the back with the headband is Christine’s running partner, a staff lady whom Christine has built a good friendship with.

I (Matt) can’t see the fun in spending an hour pounding your body but I am also a little overweight and a lot out of shape.

Linguistics class

2009-05-08T10:15:00.001-05:00

Here is my linguistics class. We meet here everyday for at least 4 hours and I have sat in this room for as much as 8 hours working on assignments. It has been a blast working in a small group and getting to know everyone more personally. Two of the people in this class went to Cambodia with us and are returning to serve there with their families, so they will be future team mates.

Linguistics has been very challenging and at times almost overwhelming so we would like to thank you again for faithfully praying for us.

Hamb who?

2009-05-02T08:56:00.001-05:00

It has been a while since we updated our blog. We feel like we have been out of touch with everyone for a while and we haven’t been very faithful to you all. Many of you are probably wondering what is going on with the Hambs. Well, we are all doing great. We’ve had our bouts of sickness this winter and with the weather being unfriendly for so long we haven’t been doing a whole lot. We hope to have some good pics and videos coming soon as the weather gets nicer and we get more active.

Here is a picture of a moth that was on our window this week. He was about 3 inches long.

Here is Christine playing disc golf, we have been getting out in the afternoons and playing a round of golf when the weather permits. Even Matthew has been joining in playing. He is really enjoying it and it gives him and dad some good time together.

Please check back soon to see what we are up to these days.

Childcare

2009-04-08T07:14:00.001-05:00

Here is a picture of Christine with one of the other childcare workers Rachel and all 11 kids. She is still enjoying working with the children although by Friday she is pretty worn out. She gets to teach “circle time” 2 days a week which has been fun for her. During circle time they teach the letter and number of the week and a Bible lesson. Christine has been enjoying preparing and teaching the kids from God’s word, it is challenging to present the truth in a way that is relevant to 2-3 year olds.

Meghan’s wood shop project

2009-03-15T17:57:00.001-05:00

Meghan is in woodshop this semester and has been making some really cool things. She started out a little frustrated with learning how to use the tools but has grown to enjoy the class. Here is a picture of her latest project, a coat rack, she did all the work herself from cutting out the pieces to staining it.

Meghan is very excited to be in marching band next semester and is saving her money for a new “open hole” flute. There is a girl that graduated who is selling her flute for 1/3rd the price, the band director is recommending that Meghan gets it. It is supposed to be a really nice sounding flute.

The sermon at church this morning was from Luke, the passage about not worrying, so we were able to talk to her about getting the new flute and how much it costs and worrying about how and when she was going to get it. She actually made the application to her own life without too much help. It is exciting to see the kids growing up, not just physically but in their walk with the Lord.

A day at the park

2009-02-23T07:45:00.001-06:00

We decided to spend some time at HaHa Tonka state park this Sunday and really had a good time. We hiked some trails, looked in some caves and pretended to do some rock climbing. It was a cold day as you can tell from the icicles, but we kept warm by keeping active. The park is really a beautiful place to see. What better way is there to spend a Sunday than enjoying God’s creation.

childcare

2009-02-23T06:46:00.001-06:00

Sorry we haven’t updated our blog in a while, we have been busy (not that we have a good excuse). Matt’s linguistics is going well, it has been very challenging but good. He is enjoying the small class sizes and stretching his mind. Christine is keeping busy with childcare, and loving the time with the kids. Here are a couple pictures from childcare.

Matthew and Meghan are doing well, Matthew got his drivers license the other day and has been enjoying a little more freedom. Thanks again for checking in on us.

enjoying the view

2009-01-29T16:38:00.001-06:00

We are sure enjoying our new home, we feel blessed to have such a nice home with so much room. We are excited that we can invite people to our house now because we have plenty of room. We are on the hill so we have a much better view. The weather has been crazy lately, below are some pictures. One of a sunset from our front window and the others are of the snow we have been enjoying the last couple days. The kids have enjoyed the snow but probably enjoyed the snow days from school more.

Yes the lake froze again, it felt like we were back up north in Michigan. Sure has been pretty though, we are grateful that God has given us the ability to see and enjoy His beautiful creation.

Crazy winter weather

2009-01-02T09:30:00.001-06:00

Well we woke up to a very cold morning the other day. It was 1 degree with a wind chill of -15. Then a few days later we woke up to 67 degrees. We never know whether it is a light or heavy jacket day until we go outside. The picture below is of the cold day, the lake froze all the way out to where the cove meets the main arm of the lake.

We have been busy moving. We were given a new apartment to live in so we spent the last couple weeks moving into it and cleaning up our old apartment. It is really nice to be in a house with our own shower and washer/dryer. No more walking to the shower in the morning or carrying our laundry to the wash room.

Graduation pictures

2008-12-23T08:35:00.001-06:00

We gave the kids our camera and asked them to take pictures of Graduation for us. The first picture is of Matt, the second is of Aimee who was just after Christine, (somehow they missed getting a picture of their mother).

As you can see they took a lot of really nice shots of the back of somebody's head, and some great poses of the projector. We all had a really good laugh when we looked at the pictures. We did graduate though and are officially members of NTM as of January 1st. Thanks again to all of you who have made this possible, through prayers, support and encouragement. Most of all we thank God for being faithful even we are not.

Graduation

2008-12-15T16:23:00.001-06:00

Here is the graduating class December '08. We are in the middle, Matt on the second row down, Christine below Matt. Graduation is this Friday. Many of the people in this picture we have lived next to for over 3 years. It will be tough to say goodbye to so many. Many of these people we will not see again until heaven. Thanks again for checking up on us and continuing to pray for us.

Flute

2008-12-08T13:02:00.001-06:00

Meghan is progressing into quite a good little flute player. We really enjoy listening to her practice in her room. This Sunday the school had it's holiday concert. Meghan was 1st chair again and we thoroughly enjoyed the concert. She want's to be in band again next year which means high school marching band.

Jingle all the way

2008-12-08T07:32:00.001-06:00

Christine has started running and is really enjoying it. There are a few girls on campus that also love to run and enter 5K runs, so Christine entered the jingle bell run Saturday with 3 other girls. The run raised money for the arthritis foundation. It was a lot of fun and she really enjoyed it. She finished the 3 mile race in 28 minutes. Two of the other girls ended up sick so only Christine and our friend Jenna ran. Check out the pictures, they dressed up with holiday attire, it was about 37 degrees out there.

solo

2008-11-28T12:28:00.001-06:00

Terror gripped us............ no not really, we flew with Matthew on Wednesday. It was fun and really made us think about our little boy growing up. What an opportunity God has given him to be able to begin his training now to become a mission pilot. At the age of 16 Matthew has flown solo. He and his instructor were both really excited about him soloing today.

If it wasn't enough that God sent his Son to restore our relationship with Him and give us life, He continues to provide in ways only He can. Thank you for all your prayers, support and encouragement. Together we can "Expand the Reach of the Gospel".

Fishin

2008-11-26T11:04:00.001-06:00

We went fishing the other day and caught a handful of nice hybrids. This was the biggest at 18 inches. The smallest was 15 inches. The picture was take just a few hours before he became dinner. We have some pictures of Matthew flying we will try to post in the next couple days. Thanks again for checking on us.

The Cave

2008-11-14T07:35:00.001-06:00

While on our little camping trip a few weeks ago we did an exercise in the woods to navigate to a point on a map using a GPS then a compass. Our final destination was a neat little cave. Here are some pics from the cave. No matter where we go God's creation reminds us of how awesome he is. (Romans 1:19-20)

sharpening our skills

2008-11-02T14:08:00.001-06:00

We had a day when they taught how to use, maintain and sharpen chainsaws. Since I have already done all that Christine did most of the hands on, everything except cutting down a tree. The young lady who cut down the tree is a single girl named Rebecca whom we met at Bible school. It was good training as a lot of the students don't have much experience in these kinds of areas. We have a few more pictures from the practical skills class that we will post later. Right now we are in some translation and curriculum development classes. Good stuff but very deep, completely opposite from the last couple weeks.

Need a hair cut?

2008-10-27T07:14:00.001-05:00

We had a class on cutting hair last week. Several professionals came and helped teach us the basics of hair cutting. We also had several missionaries who have been cutting hair for years help. It was a lot of fun and I (matt) cut Christine's bangs. It is funny to think that I will be her hair stylist someday on the field. Thankfully God is preparing us for that day so we can be the most effective at taking the Gospel to the unreached.

cooking in staff homes

2008-10-22T13:57:00.001-05:00

We had the opportunity to cook our lunch meal at a staff home on Monday. It was part of our practical skills class. There was 10 of us altogether. We were at the Birkemo's house who served in Africa for 9 years. It was fun to work together with other couples and to be able to gain some insight about cooking in areas of the world where you can't run down to Walmart and get what you need. We made some beans in the pressure cooker, a roast in the pressure cooker, a salad plate, fruit plate (mango, papaya, coconut and pineapple) and Manioc fries (yucca root). We really enjoyed to manioc fries. We also made fresh limeade and bissap (a red drink made from the flowers of a hibiscus). It was all delicious.

Camping Trip

2008-10-20T13:15:00.001-05:00

Well we had our weekend of camping and it went great, we really had a good time. It was fairly cold but we found the hard ground to be the most uncomfortable part of the weekend (maybe it's our age). We left the campus around 2:00 pm, drove to the place where we all parked then started hiking, it probably took about 45 minutes to hike there. Once there We built our little shelter and helped Matthew get his hammock and rain fly up then built a fire ring and started our fire so we could eat dinner. Saturday we navigated through the woods to find certain landmarks and ended up at this neat little cave. Sunday we broke camp and headed back to the vehicles to get a good nights rest.

Our little shelter

Matthew's hammock

packs on, ready to go

Meghan didn't go, she spent the weekend with her friends, they stayed in a motel Friday night, had a carwash Saturday to raise money for camp then went to a Christian concert Saturday night. She was roughing it.

Homemade Bread

2008-10-15T12:41:00.001-05:00

Well we started our practical skills/simple living class this week and our first assignment was to make homemade bread. Since Christine had made bread before I (Matt) made the bread. Below are some pics of the bread making class. We will be doing a primitive camping trip this weekend where we have to build shelters out of plastic/tarps and live for 2 days and nights. Should be a lot of fun. Thanks for checking on us, Check back to see what else they have us doing this week. We pray you recognize God's blessings this week.

measuring ingredients

Kneading the dough

finished product

it was good bread

Flour Baby

2008-09-27T10:40:00.001-05:00

Meghan has a class called "family and consumer sciences" (what we called "home-ec") and in this class they made flour babies. Basically a flour baby is a 5lb. sack of flour, baby clothes, a styrofoam head and some stuffing made into a baby. The kids have to take care of the baby for a week, giving it a name, writing a family tree and taking it home with them. It has been the high light of this semester for Meghan. For a week before they started all Meghan could talk about was making babies. We don't know if it was the project or just the humor behind using the phrase "making babies" that was behind her talking so much about it. She really did enjoy the project, she named her baby Cameron Jacob Hamb and got an "A" for the baby. They are still working on a baby book where they have to chart the growth of a baby and compare to the measurements of the one they made. Here is a picture of her and Cameron.

(By the way Cameron will soon become a batch of cookies)

Consider Cambodia

2008-09-22T06:53:00.001-05:00

Field fair went well this year, we were really challenged by some of the speakers and saw some great footage of tribal works going on right now. We felt a little intimidated being surrounded by veteran missionaries who have been out there on the field but it was fun to set up the table and talk to people about Cambodia. We also had the opportunity to sit down and talk to Larry who is part of the leadership in Asia. He asked about our trip and answered a few questions. We felt very encouraged after the time with him. Please pray for all of us here at the MTC that we would remain encourage in the Lord and continue to be excited about serving Him wherever He leads us.

Field Fair

2008-09-19T06:59:00.001-05:00

Well it is time for field fair again. When representatives from different fields that NTM works in come to challenge us and share the needs they have. It is a time for God to confirm for some where they will serve, for others it may be a time to redirect towards a different work, or even for some to begin making a decision about where they can best serve the Lord. It feels good to know where we are going to be serving. There are so many needs throughout the world. Jesus said the harvest was plentiful but the workers are few and that is true today.

We have been given the awesome opportunity to set up a table and help represent Cambodia since there is no one available this year. Below is the picture of our display, it was a team effort with the Carlton's who also went to Cambodia this summer and are looking to return to serve.

Please pray for us as we challenge others about the needs in Cambodia and encourage those who desire to go there. Sometimes we forget that it is not us that are building God's church it is Him and we are just His tools.

and we were nervous about him learning to drive!

2008-09-13T10:33:00.001-05:00

Here is a couple more pictures of the new Kodiak plane NTM will be using.

As many of you know Matthew has had the desire to be a pilot and more specifically a missionary pilot. Well it looks like he is going to get the opportunity to become a pilot. A couple students here at the MTC that are pilots have offered to give Matthew flying lessons for free. We will only be responsible for paying for the flight time, that means the rental of the plane, which is still a considerable amount. We are very excited for Matthew and thanking God for putting this all together for him. We have accepted the offer and are trusting that the Lord will provide for this expense of helping to see our son trained for a future of serving God as a pilot. Please be in prayer for him that he would take the training very seriously and realize how much God loves him and has provided this for him. Also be praying for us as we must shell out a significant amount of cash to see this happen and we feel that it is an opportunity we cannot pass up. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers.

3 days in Phnom Penh

2008-09-05T13:10:00.001-05:00

Our friends and future co-workers, Ron and Sally Carraway, have just arrived in Cambodia to begin language learning. Here is there recent blog entry with some pictures. (click here) It is really exciting to think that we will be right there were they are soon (after finishing our training and building our support base).

Please be praying for the Carraways as they adjust to this new culture and language and as they prepare to start welcoming new missionaries over the next couple years. Thank You for all your prayers and encourage.

Kodiak event pictures

2008-09-01T08:42:00.001-05:00

Matthew and Meghan both had the opportunities to ride in little planes. Matthew really enjoyed the trip and even got to help steer the plane. Meghan on the other hand was a little green when she got back and said it made her sick.

The new "Kodiak" plane is pretty cool and should be a great asset to the mission. It has a higher payload and can take off and land on very short runways. It will make expanding the reach of the Gospel an easier task.

Christine and I enjoyed the day, it was great to see so many people from the local area coming out to see the plane and ask questions. As you can see Christine really liked the hotdogs.

The Apostle Paul and his companions helped to spread the Gospel throughout much of the known world at that time, and they were on foot. Imagine what could be done with this new plane, designed specifically for remote missionary work, if we all were as committed as Paul.

Kodiak airplane

2008-08-29T06:49:00.001-05:00

We are having a big Kodiak event at the airport this weekend. The Kodiak is a new plane NTM will begin using to replace the old planes. Christine and I will be helping by greeting people and giving directions. We are praying Matthew will get the opportunity to fly in a little Cessna and it will excite him about being a pilot.

click below to see the story in a local paper

Kodiak event

Dobu.................HUH?

2008-08-28T14:56:00.001-05:00

Well we have began our Dobu sessions. I know you are wondering what is Dobu. It is the practical part of our culture and language acquisition class. Dobu is the name of the people group on whom we are practicing our language and culture acquiring techniques. It is really just the staff dressed up as "Dobu" people set in a replica village (which is pretty cool) here on campus. Yesterday was our first session with a Dobu man. We are split into small groups (4-6) and go to meet and talk with a Dobu man (called a helper) who is helping us to learn the culture and some language.We are being evaluated as if we were really on the field. They expect us to begin understanding the Dobu people and begin picking up some common phrases. By the way Dobu is a real people group so it is not as fictional as it sounds. We will try to post some pictures and other things as we move through the class. It will last until the second week of October. Here is a picture of our Dobu helper, we call him Gosiana (go-see-on-uh).