Greetings from the two of us!

We trust that your summer went well in spite of some of the differences that this Covid virus has brought to our way of life. This is a big month for Jeanne’s mom as we just celebrated her 101st birthday yesterday! She has already outlived her mother who was just a couple of months shy of 101 when she passed. She is not one for birthday parties but we were allowed to go inside the care center where she lives and have a small celebration with her. It is a wonder she even recognized us with the hazmat suits they made us put on – ha.

For her birthday we brought in cupcakes for the staff and also had an array of balloons for mom – her favorite. Jeanne also had a nice blouse for her in a gift bag. I don’t think the blouse went over too well but we can never go wrong with balloons which she will have in her room for days and weeks to come. This past month we were advised to put mom on hospice as she hasn’t eaten anything for over 3 months now and is slowly declining – losing weight, and stuggling with her memory. She is surviving on what little nourishment she gets from her juice and Ensure. She isn’t in any pain and says she is comfortable so we are thankful for that. She is also in perfect peace knowing that she is headed home to heaven to be with Jesus.

This past month we have been in a lot of discussions with our leadership committee in regards to my Autumn schedule. I had international tickets in hand for departing on September 14, but as of today the government there is still not issuing any visitor visas and probably won’t be through the end of the year. With that we are rescheduling my trip for next spring and trusting that things will be opened up again by that time. United Airlines has been great to work with and have given me a 100% refund via travel voucher to use for obtaining future tickets. My travel insurance agency did the same so I wasn’t out anything – praise the Lord!

Even though I can’t be there in person to meet with our believers this fall, the Lord has opened up some other avenues for me to be able to teach and disciple our church leaders. Two of our largest Wana village now have either satellite Wifi or cell phone tower, so we have been able to schedule teaching times via programs like Skype and WhatsApp. In fact I was able to preach a few weeks ago at a Sunday morning service! They sat the computer on the pulpit along with external speakers, and also turned on the video so I could see them. I felt like I was standing right behind the pulpit looking out over them! They have asked me to do that from time to time of which I am very glad to do. I am also working with three of our tribal families on lesson development and we are able to do this very easily remotely. We are currently working on three lesson projects developing lessons in the tribal language for the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and also revisions on the lessons for new believers. So in spite of the virus we are glad to see things continue in a positive direction.

Even though there are still travel restrictions in place for those in country, we have been able to resume flight service with our Kodiak airplane. Two weeks ago we were able to fly a fellow who was having heart issues to town for help. There was no way to get him out overland in his condition so we were very thankful for the use of the airplane which undoubtedly saved his life.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. We count it a privilege to serve together with you as together we expand the reach of the gospel in Asia Pacific.

God Bless you,

Ed & Jeanne

Church Planting Asia Pacific

“With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding” – Job 12:12