2017 Travel Plans

I'll keep this post updated with our 2017 travel plans.  We'd love to see you!  Let us know if this might be a possibility

6 March: Fly to Port Moresby

7 March: Fly to Brisbane

10 March: Eowyn's medical check-up

11 March: Fly to Melbourne

15 March: Arrive in Haslemere, Surrey, UK

19 - 21 March: Seeing family in Warrington

21 - 27 March: Visiting friends in Cumbria

27 - 29 March: Sunderland and York

29 - 31 March: Visiting friends and family in the Midlands

1 April: Move into our flat in Haslemere

8 -13 April: Attending Spring Harvest Conference, Minehead, UK

18 April: Start of school term for our children

10 May: Speaking in Stevenage

13 - 17 May: Seeing friends from Devon

29 May - 2nd June: Half-term school holidays (We're still free from the Wednesday onwards)

11 June: Speaking at The Stable, Barnet

18 June: At Barnet Brookside Church

21st - 25th June: Andrew and Clare's (belated) 10th Anniversary trip to Edinburgh

2nd July: At All Saints' Church, Guildford

9th July: Children's group in Haslemere

16 July: Speaking in Haslemere

21 July: End of school year

10 August: Fly to Florida

13 August: Speaking in Palmetto, FL

20 August: Speaking in Sarasota, FL

21 August: Drive to North Carolina

28 August: Heidi and Levi start school in Waxhaw, North Carolina

?: Weekend trips to Upper NE Tennessee and other locations

January 2018: Fly back to Papua New Guinea via Australia

And Now For Something Different

Last week the gospel reggae band, Christafari, performed in our valley, hosted by local pastors.  Around 5000 people from the local area came to the concert and heard the gospel message.

A lot of preparations needed to be carried out prior to the event, including building a stage from scratch.  Many of our friends were involved in the event in one way or other. 

Photo credit: Micah Trostle

Can you see the bright light in the background, shining on the crowd?   This light is powered by its own generator, and is the kind often used at construction sites.  Andrew was involved in repairing the generator in the days leading up to the concert.

This month's prayer points:

*We're still working with our travel agent on securing tickets for our 2017 furlough.  Thanks for praying about our travel plans; we now know which tickets we want to purchase.  We appreciate your continued prayer for the process of purchasing the tickets. (Making international travel plans always seems to end up being more complicated than we expect it to be!)

*We praise God that another motorcycle mechanic is planning to start working at Autoshop in the next couple of months.  Please pray that Andrew would have adequate time to train this new mechanic before we leave for our furlough in March.

Future Travel Plans

This photo was taken last time we were in the USA:

That was way back in 2011.  Clearly it's time to start planning another Home Assignment, so we're working on booking a trip to our home countries next year. In March 2017 we'll travel to Brisbane, Australia, where Eowyn has a check-up with the kidney specialist.  From there we'll fly to England, where we'll be based in Haslemere, Surrey, from April - July.  From August - December we'll live in North Carolina (where our organisation has housing), making sure we fit in trips to Tennessee and Florida.

We're looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible during our time away from PNG.  We'll also have the chance to take some training courses, have health check-ups, and make the most of opportunities for spiritual and emotional refreshment.  The children will get to attend school/preschool in their passport countries for the first time. (The little baby in the photo above will be in year 1/1st grade in 2017!)

Levi says he's most excited to see grandparents, while Heidi's aim is to ride a toy chicken on a merry-go-round!

If you would like to see us, please let us know!

We would appreciate your prayers as we start to plan and book our travel for next year.  There are so many things to think about including tickets, visas, clothing, speaking engagements, road trips, health insurance and preparing our house here.

On a different note, thank you for praying for the staffing situation at Autoshop.  We are very relieved that Andrew now has a temporary manager, and that the permanent manager is on schedule to return after Christmas. 

High School Graduation Day

In the 2005/6 school year, I (Clare) taught grade 2 at Ukarumpa International School (UIS):

Tonight, many of those students will be graduating from UIS.  This is what they look like now:

It has been wonderful to watch these children grow up into young men and women.  It's also very rewarding to think of all the ways their parents have been able to support Bible translation in the eleven years that I've known them.  Some did this by being directly involved in the completion of four New Testament translations.  Others supported the work in other ways: Planes that carry translators to remote locations were flown and maintained, students were taught, cars were fixed and the infrastructure of the Ukarumpa centre was maintained. 

Next month Heidi will begin Kindergarten in the classroom shown in the top photo.  Levi will move to grade 2.  Just like the parents who have gone before us, Andrew and I will continue to support Bible translation in Papua New Guinea, knowing that our children are receiving a great education at UIS.

Thank you for the part you play in helping us to continue serving here.