We have been able to conduct children’s ministry in Mamarei village! It’s truly joyful to see how, after about ten years, our boys are now serving other children—just as we once served them. How quickly they have grown!
Activities at our kindergarten will resume next week! We expect up to a hundred little Papuans aged 4 to 6 to come to learn to read and write, but most importantly, to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and begin their journey with Him.
Dear friends, we would like to ask for your support in providing financial assistance to our teachers on a monthly basis. Since education at our school is free, we lack the resources to pay the teachers. Although they have worked as volunteers for all three years, we understand that they need to feed their families, and schoolwork takes up all their time.
Therefore, we ask you to prayerfully consider a monthly contribution to support our teachers, who work very hard to teach the little Papuans not only the basics of grammar but, most importantly, to introduce them to Jesus.
We are aiming for a minimum of $50 per month for each teacher—we have six of them. This is the least we could do to thank and encourage them in their challenging work: among them are single mothers, families with many children, and elderly people. Thank you!
I don’t know when was the last time I slept more than 5 hours, and yesterday I didn’t even have time to do my hair. Welcome to the realities of missionary life! This month has been very intense. Tribal wars, jungle trips, dances, earthquakes. Teacher training, baptisms, small groups, and printing 400 T-shirts. Three youth camps, three teams from abroad, and tons of laundry in between. The bread is ready, the soup is boiling, the laundry is waiting for me to sort it out – and I set a timer for half an hour to send this email in one breath before the kids come back from school. Because in the evening, I’m not a missionary, I’m a mom. And my favorite form of service is serving my family.
Miroslava celebrated her 11th birthday on January 6th (in the morning). She went to a remote village for service (in the evening). And on January 7th, she got baptized! As I mentioned before, this month we were able to hold three youth camps in the villages of Asas, Obura, and Atuka – huge thanks to the team from Seattle who selflessly served the Papuans during these three weeks, despite all the discomforts of jungle life. They were very joyful, and that alone became the best preaching! There was much repentance in every village, and those who already knew the Lord experienced another renewal of their relationship with Him.
Last month, as in all the past six months, we actively preached the Gospel – in church, in prison, in remote villages, at markets, in the shade of trees, and from house to house. Many people accepted Christ, a peace treaty was signed between two warring tribes, and many also responded to the call to renew their relationship with God.
Also, in January, we expect a team of five brothers who will work for a week in three of our other campuses in camp ministry. Two of these villages are very remote, several hours on foot to the very center of “nowhere,” please pray for the three camps that will take place soon. We expect 150+ children and teenagers in each village, a total of around 400 people will be able to hear the Gospel.
And our “D” groups of discipleship continue to develop and multiply, we are grateful to the Lord that He gave us the command (1) to preach the Gospel and (2) to make disciples. Our goal is for every member of our church to be in a group of discipleship, and over time, to lead their own D group – step by step we are moving towards this. Our youngest D group members (including our Miroslava) – the girls’ age is from 10 to 14 years old, were able to serve with us in the remote village of Asas, creatively preaching the Gospel with skits, games, and visual examples.
We thank the Lord for His protection during the two-week trip to Indonesia! And although the last days were overshadowed by bouts of malaria, nevertheless, Eugene and his team were able to preach the Gospel in many schools, prisons, and simply on the street.
People in Indonesia are very open to the Gospel – dozens of repentant souls and many new contacts that have given us a platform to further develop our ministry in the West Papua province. The Lord has put it on our hearts to organize a church there, and there are already two pastor families from our central church who are ready to lay their lives on the altar and carry the light of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Please pray for David and his wife Evelyn, as well as Pastor Paul’s family (his wife Anna and four children), who are preparing to move to Indonesia. Also, please consider the possibility of regular monthly support for these families so they can work for the Lord full-time.
Being married to a missionary, when he, sick with malaria, fearlessly preaches the Gospel somewhere in a foreign country – and you’re at home, knitting a blanket, baking a banana pie for the children, biting your nails and in prayer remembering all the Scriptures that talk about protection and safety. Some may shake their head or twirl their finger at their temple – we signed our death warrant when we answered “HERE I AM” to the Lord’s eternal question, “WHO WILL GO”?
In the last 3 weeks, I spent 10 hours in the kitchen daily. Don’t even ask me how many people I have fed during this time and how many times – I’ve long since lost count. Somewhere in between, I turned 35, but I hardly noticed. Every day, I wake up at 5:00 AM with only one prayer on my lips – that what I have in my hands, Lord, use for Your glory. After all, He said in John 21,“Feed My sheep”
“Feeding the sheep” means explaining the Word of God to them. Interpret the Holy Scriptures. Preach the Gospel. Engage in discipleship. But the more I delve into this passage, the more I realize that it’s much deeper than it seems at first glance. As it turns out, the command is the same for everyone – “Feed the sheep”. For some, this looks like a pulpit. For others – like a dark kitchen at 5:30 AM, where we tread so carefully not to wake anyone. And, as it turns out, He doesn’t ask us, “Can you do it?”, “Do you mind?”, “Are you ready?” – but “Do you love Me”. If I love Christ more than anything, then whether I have a microphone, a hammer, or a kitchen knife in my hand, I know – I am fulfilling His commission. I am feeding His sheep. And I will do it with joy!
Thanks to constant prayers and financial support, we can work here in Papua New Guinea, one of the most remote and forgotten corners of the world, but not by the Lord. As you know, one of our main ministries is medical, and very often our morning starts in the middle of the night, not with coffee, but with the next patient (patients) waiting for us to help them. Someone got cut with a machete, someone got into a fight, and someone else has a fever that won’t go down – and if you’re a missionary, you’re kind of like 911. I am very glad that they turn to us, and not to a shaman – it means that faith in the Word of God and the power of prayer surpasses the folk beliefs in the power of persuaders, and for this, we praise the Lord.
We buy medicines from a pharmaceutical company in a big city (3 hours drive from us), and we treat people absolutely free of charge, as we see it as a ministry. Very often people accept Christ right there, while we dress their wounds, – and then we bless these people also with the New Testament or an audio Bible.
We ask, if possible, to allocate funds for the purchase of medicines! We could help more people, but we are only limited by the means to buy medicines. And even more, we need prayers for the complete healing (both spiritual and physical) of those people we help. May the Lord bless you!
