Love is in the air!

Dear friends,

Since we last wrote you right around Christmas, much has happened. We are excited to share some big news with you both on the home front and the ministry front as well.

To close out 2018, we celebrated Ben’s wedding to DakotaKate Lamkin. We were so grateful to be able to be back in Texas to take part in this joyful event. They are starting their married life out right there in College Station, where Ben works for a small engineering firm, and DakotaKate is finishing her degree at Texas A&M. She graduates this May!

Not to be outdone by his brother, Andrew announced his engagement to Katie Davis on December 27. Again, it was a joy to be able to be home for another huge milestone for our family. We are so excited for the things God has in store for the lovely couple! Andrew and Katie will be married near College Station in late June.

Last, but not least, “our” Katie will be graduating from Numonohi Christian Academy this May 23. We are so proud of all she has accomplished and are greatly anticipating God’s plans for her future, though we are sorely going to miss her! (This doesn’t get any easier.) Katie plans to join her brothers and sisters-in-law in College Station to study at Texas A&M.

We will all be coming to Texas this summer so that we can help Katie get settled in school and be a part of Andrew’s wedding. We would appreciate your prayers for all of us as we tell another child goodbye in the USA. Pray also for Cara who will return to PNG for her senior year in high school without her sister!

God’s Word Going Forth

Across PNG there is much to praise God for. Just this past week the Beall family (fellow Aggies, by the way) announced that Ned has completed translating the final verse of the New Testament. All in all there were nearly a dozen different translations this past month that had verses checked by our translation consultants. A few of those are also nearing completion like the Tigak translation. So exciting to see this progress!

Elsewhere we have missionary teams that are preparing to teach their first evangelistic Bible lessons in four different language groups. Please be praying that God would prepare the hearts of the Amdu, Pei, Kaje, and Wantakia people. We will be updating you with news on these tribal groups in the coming months.

Don’t forget!! If you would like to get daily or weekly prayer updates for works across Papua New Guinea you can join our “Thirty” prayer group. Just reply to this e-mail and we can get you more information (or you can sign up on Facebook here). We have had over 100 people join this prayer group. Thank you!

Finally, please pray for continued open doors to serve the Lord here in Papua New Guinea. For many years we have enjoyed great freedom to serve here as missionaries, but recently some new rules for foreign workers are being proposed which could greatly curtail our ability to support our church planting effort. Please pray that God would keep the doors open for ministry. There are still many opportunities to go where the Gospel is not understood in the heart language of the people. Thank you for praying with us!

Grateful to have you as part of our team,

Neil and Becky Burleson, Katie & Cara