Greetings from Sunny Florida, where spring has sprung and it’s half-gone toward summer already. Time really flies when your life is full – yes, even in retirement. We haven’t had much news to write about, but it is time to update you on our activities and plans.

March-April was an eventful time for us.

 

  • Money from the sale of our vehicle in PNG arrived in the bank, and this aided our budget somewhat, which gets tighter as time goes on into retirement. We really are grateful for those who have stood with us with support.
  • We are enjoying the use of our new NTM Homes Chapel, mentioned in our last update.
  • Our cardboard crate containing 30 boxes of personal effects arrived via container shipped by Wycliffe from Papua New Guinea. It came here by truck from South Carolina. Now we’re sorting and finding places to put some things, replacing other things we used until they arrived. Included are many pictures, keepsakes, curios, some books, tapes and CD’s we didn’t want to part with.

 

  • Corinne and I have joined in with an outreach to one of the nursing homes in the area, this being Lake Mary Rehabilitation Center. Pray this will be an encouragement to believers there, and an opportunity for the unsaved to hear the Gospel.
  • We each had full physical exams with various tests, and the doctor’s nurse phoned saying the doctor proclaimed them all “normal.” We guess he means normal for our age. I saw him for further discussion and Corinne will see him soon to get more details about her reports. We have much to be thankful for, and indeed we are.
  • We had a short visit from Duane and Lori, all the way from Vancouver, Canada. They were on their way to a cruise with Lori’s family to the Bahamas. So good to see them because we are not sure when we will make it out west again.
  • They flew here on their way to Fort Lauderdale to embark on the cruise, and we took them down to join the rest of the group there. On the way we were able to visit my brother Ed, who hadn’t seen Duane for many years.
  • Then later we ourselves took advantage of a promotional deal for a short cruise to the Bahamas. It was our first real holiday/vacation in many years, had a nice time away for our 58th anniversary!

Now we look forward to Son Joel’s visit here next week. After leaving off his daughter Katie at a Christian camp in NC, he will drive on down and spend 3-4 days with us. While he is here we hope to work together arranging our photos and video clips into a presentation telling about our trip to PNG.
We are starting to plan a trip through the Northeast and Midwest of the U.S. to visit family, friends and supporters. We think it will be either in July, or else later in early Fall. We will be writing to some of you about dates when we decide. Meanwhile, if any of you would like us to stop in and visit you, even for a short hello, could you let us know? Thank you.
The order for printing the additional 4,000 Hamtai New Testaments is pending at the moment until we hear from our Hamtai church leaders in PNG as to whether there are mistakes that need to be corrected before the second printing. Praise the Lord, we have funds left over for this printing. We are not sure it will cover everything, so are asking the Lord to provide sufficiently to get that done and sent out to the churches. The churches have also collected money from the sale of the New Testaments, so that should cover the logistics involved in getting the 7 pallets of books up from Lae to the church office interior (our former house in the village.)
I, Tom, am spending most of my time on editing and checking the rough translation Malcolm did of nearly 6,000 verses in selected Old Testament portions. They include all of Genesis and Exodus, most of Numbers, then chapters and portions which complete the verses needed to cover the preparation of the wonderful Redemption story. These have been chosen as part of the Building on Firm Foundations, known as the chronological approach to evangelism and church planting. God is really blessing these truths in many language groups in PNG, and now even some urban churches who hunger for real basic teaching and grounding.
Thank you for your prayers, Tom & Corinne Palmer