August 2021 Update

Dear Praying Friends,

Yes, in a remote bush, through God’s power one can still reach milestones!

A milestone – and BIG answer to prayer: Our PERMANENT RESIDENCE VISA has been approved! Thank you for faithfully praying!

A second milestone – Baimuru Baptist Church voted to increase Pastor Danny’s wages to a level that makes him supported primarily by the church! We were blessed to see them take this step, bringing them closer to the status of self-supporting, one characteristic of an indigenous church.

The third – in September Liberty Baptist in Huruta, pastored by Maisa Epe (2016), will be holding their first mission conference! This conference is specifically to send out a couple from their church (John and Dorothy Hailai, 2019 grads) into a church planting ministry! The church wants to do something that makes it clear they are all 100% behind their first home grown missionary! Trina and I will be at this weekend meeting, and will let you know all about it!

The fourth milestone – Maria’s funeral. I do not know if you remember Maria’s story from long ago. He was the Kururua man chopping down the first fence posts the students had put in! He became a friend, and then a brother in Christ. This was not the first person we have led to Christ that has died, but this was the first time all the rest of the person’s family was lost – and we had a chance to clearly give the gospel to the whole Karurua clan! Please pray for fruit from this opportunity!

We recently took a short trip to visit a few of our graduates. They are always encouraged by a visit, and we were eager to hear how they were doing and see the progress on two building projects. It is a blessing to us that these pastors and church members build their own meeting places with their own means. Hope you enjoy the pictures! I was so encouraged by the work they had done, and even more so by the reports of over a dozen salvation decisions amongst the graduate’s ministries over the previous month! Oh! One more thing! Ricky and Linda Kaika (2016 grads), after spending the last two years growing under missionary John Gray in Kerema, are just beginning outreach in Malalaua with the goal of seeing a church started there! This is a larger community east of Kerema, but still in Gulf Province.

At Baimuru we have been busy stringing over 10,000 meters of fencing wire, doing housing repairs from termite damage, and building new toilet and washing facilities. These projects are necessary for both incoming students and the December Teen Bung. We have both a single female and a single male coming among our new students, and need to prepare housing for them. We would like to see a new three year class begin at Baimuru Baptist Bible Institute in late September, having students and their families move onto the campus around the holiday for PNG Independence Day, September 16. Please be praying for the right class members, the right start time, and for our safety and supply as we get ready!