With world and national events in chaos, hurricane destruction devastating so many regions of the USA, and health & other personal issues barging into the lives of loved ones and friends, it’s good to refocus, to consciously stop and reflect on evidences of God at work. He is still in control and He will be faithful to care for His own, regardless of how disconcerting events sometimes make life appear. I know, that’s easy for me to say when I’m not directly dealing with such perplexing issues personally as many of you are, but for the moment, here are some evidences of God at work!
Exciting things have been going on in Papua New Guinea!
Through the faithfulness of missionaries Poul & Carol Joenson, the New Testament in the mother tongue of the Sorimi people is now in print and delivered into their hands!
The New Testament for those living on Biem Island has had its final consultant check! It can now be formatted and readied for printing! The missionary team (Brandon & Rachel Buser, Wayne & Gail Chen, and Thomas and Petra Depner) hope to be able to have this tome ready to deliver to the local church by the summer of 2025.
Among the Maliyali people, missionaries Nathan and Rachel Mueller along with Chad and Martha Earl have recently held their second Maliyali baptism. They now have 80 baptized believers in their community. They also taught on communion and celebrated the Lord’s Supper together with the believers for the first time, making it a really sweet time with the church in Maliyali land!
Dear friend and missionary cohort Lisa Kappeler is one of the key consultants in PNG for other missionaries working to translate God’s Word into the mother tongues of the various people groups where they live and minister. By God’s amazing grace, Lisa has survived a year-long battle with cancer in her brain, and was given the “all clear” late in the summer! She has now returned to PNG to take up her various ministry commitments once again!
Besides being a translation consultant, Lisa primarily lives and ministers among the Uriay people. Her co-workers there, Jason & Laken Cizdziel are continuing foundational Bible teaching. They have taught the lessons on Adam to Noah elaborating on truths that challenge the local animistic beliefs. Jason recently posted: “This week I was encouraged by the groups of people standing in front of the clothesline (holding the teaching illustrations) able to retell each story as they pointed to the pictures. Even a group of kids were telling the stories to each other, ‘That’s Adam and Eve, they’re getting kicked out of the garden.’”
It was recently the muchly-anticipated and appreciated conference time back in my ole stomping grounds. Yes, I still get “homesick” for the good ole days in PNG. I remain so very thankful for the years YOU helped make it possible for me to have been there. I’m thankful too for avenues to hear of the ongoing work God is doing in Papua New Guinea. My thanks to you now for your continuing interest and prayers for the people God yet wants to draw to Himself there on the other side of the globe.
God is still faithfully pursuing His all-encompassing oversight of our individual lives, too. It’s a hard choice sometimes to hold fast to that confidence, but our all wise and understanding Heavenly Father is able to help us in that respect as we chose to concentrate our hearts on Him, and His all sufficiency no matter what.
So for the “Meanwhile, back at the ranch” page:
Thanks to your prayers, we have been in residence here in southeast Missouri for nearly 4 months now! You lovingly kept pace & prayed us thru the heartaches and events God used in getting us out of CA and back “home.” Since arrival, He continues orchestrating events and necessities into place!
We’re still shoehorning our super abundance into exceedingly limited space available. Some remain reluctant to let anything go.
Everyone seems contentedly settled into the church I’ve attended here in town.
10 year old great-nephew Julian does well in the 4th grade at the local Christian school.
Julian’s mother Naomi has submitted applications for work at numerous places and now awaits call backs and God’s direction for employment.
My medical stuff is all caught up with no residual issues even after a year of neglect.
My sister Faith – After years of NO annual checkups, she too is nearly caught up with her medical appointments. No serious issues have been found – though no diagnosis either for her chest pains and shortness of breath. She’s doing physical therapy to help her mobility and stability and will begin dealing with her eye, dental and hearing as finances allow.
Faith’s youngest daughter has finally found a primary care doctor and we will begin her round of assorted appointments by the end of the month. We’re praying for referrals to Biblical counseling rather than mere worldly Band-Aids for her needs.
So – with family things settling into place I now have time to look into sending a tote of May River Iwam New Testaments to Papua New Guinea. These are the ones I’ve had on hand to show (and occasionally share) with interested prayer partners. It’s time now to send them on their way to hopefully soon be in Iwam hands. Shipping has become more complex than I had anticipated. This is where God has proven Himself once again! I e-mailed the missionary in charge of receiving container shipments into Papua New Guinea and he advised me that I have to produce original invoices for the printing costs of the Bibles. Yikes! I admit I save WAY too much stuff, but a piece of paper from 2008???? No way I would still have that! In fact, since all the printing details were handled by our mission headquarters staff, I really don’t remember ever seeing that document! …………… God had it though!
I contacted our mission headquarters and asked them if they per chance had a digital copy. They said no, they didn’t keep records that far back. I persisted, asking if the 2 men who had been most hands on in getting the Iwam New Testament into print were still living. That query went out late one afternoon – and since God doesn’t need to sleep, by the next morning I received an e-mail back from headquarters – with the invoice attached!
Now perhaps a simple piece of paper isn’t all that exciting to YOU, but hey! This means I can indeed proceed with shipping these New Testaments, along with a triglot booklet of spiritual terminology translated specifically for the Iwam, to PNG! I currently am awaiting information back from the stateside missionary team who will handle getting this lone tote onto a container headed that way, Lord willing in November! What blatant evidence that God remains in control – no matter what! He uses the obstacles to challenge us to cling to His total sufficiency, wisdom, strength, kind & gracious loving care as He works out the impossible for His own.
Thank you for being a part of the prayer and encouragement team that has kept Him in my focus these many years! May He bless you bountifully in return, with His continuing inspiration and support as you plod thru your life, keeping Him foremost in your hearts through the demands of your days.
Because Christ came and is coming again, we have ……………. HOPE !!!!!
Hope Sharp – retired NTMPNG
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