Packing and Sorting

Today Neil is delivering: delivering boxes for storage and items for eBay. (We reason Tony will outgrow his snow board and want the money for those new basketball shoes he ordered last night). While I find moving more difficult the older I get, there is something to be said for packing and sorting. You look at something and ask, "Do I really NEED this?" or "Will I remember if I throw it out?". Traveling light is a priority as any seasoned traveler knows. It's good preparation for life.

These last two years have been full of uncertainty as to how we would proceed. We are thankful for the understanding, support and love you have shared with us as Neil returned to PNG, and we began to make the necessary adjustments to see this work completed in the manner we believe the Lord desires.

Door have opened, door have closed and a new picture has emerged as to how the Lord would have us minister in our remaining time with the Mesem. While truthfully, it would have been much simpler to keep doing what we've done in the past, it was not the most effective way to minister in the time that remains.

We will be relocating when we return. That will take time and involve a lot of energy we had hoped to save for something else. Yet we have a PNG friend who has already found a house with security, wired for electricity and handy enough to the transport routes we need to travel to the Mesem. Mesem men have begun translation checking in the village and this responsibility prepares them for continuing in that role and ultimately pursuing Old Testament translation in the future. We will have freedom to host Bible studies and engage in outreach in a way previoulsy not available. He has closed old doors, and opened new avenues.

We'll keep you posted on the sights we see on the journey and thank you for traveling with us this far. In 1987, we left home with these verses as a theme and I share them again here from the 84th Psalm:

Blessed are those whose strength is the Lord
Who have set their heart on pilgrimage
As they travel through the Valley of Bacca they make it a place of well watered springs
The autumn rains also cover it with pools
They go from strength to strength
Till each appears before God in Zion