Romantic Getaway

This morning I'm really thankful for the last couple of days that Sarah and I got to spend up in Northern Wisconsin. We left the kids with grandma and grandpa and visited some of our favorite places up North. We enjoyed camping at Clam Lake, mountain biking in Cable, and trail-running and swimming at Copper Falls State Park. It was great to spend that time enjoying life in God's creation and connecting as a couple!

Traveling

We left Papua New Guinea on Friday, March 31st, PNG time. We flew out of Goroka to Port Moresby. After a three-hour layover in Port Moresby, we made our connection to Sydney. We arrived in the Sydney airport, claimed our bags, and got a taxi to our hotel. We spent the night in Sydney, then grabbed some breakfast in the morning before heading to the airport again. We got on a really big plane and settled in for about 12 hours of flying. We arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 1st, U.S. time. Once we arrived in L.A. we caught a shuttle to our hotel. We stayed in L.A. two nights and got a chance to see my brother and also some good friends of ours. Then it was back onto an airplane again to get to Chicago. This time ended up being a bit more stressful as we missed our first flight, and then a couple of connecting flights as well. At the end of the day, we made it safe and sound to my parent's house in the Chicago area! We spent two nights at my family's house, and it was really great to be reunited with them. On Wednesday, April 5th we finally made it to our new temporary home in Baraboo.

We had asked many people to be praying about our travel, especially that we would make our connections and that the kids would do well. Praise God that He answered those prayers! Even though traveling with two small kids was still challenging, the kids did really well overall. Thank you to all of you who prayed for us.

Jason Bourne, Reading & Pizza

Yesterday was our weekly rest day, and it was really nice to relax and unwind. I was thankful for time to read in the morning. I also was thankful for time to work out in the afternoon. Sarah made her amazing homemade pizza and breadsticks for dinner, which was cause for much rejoicing! After we put the kids to bed we watched Jason Bourne, which the team from To Every Tribe brought for us, and ate homemade rocky road ice cream. It was a nice, relaxing day. Thankful for the rest that God gave us.

Sawyer's Buddy

Every Wednesday we have two ladies come over and do landscaping to keep our station looking good. One of the their husbands comes as well and has become a good friend of mine. They have a young boy that has become Sawyer's buddy. They get super excited when they see each other. The baby's name is Aula, and he will just about leap out of his dad's arms to get down and play with Sawyer on our deck. Thankful that God has provided a friend for Sawyer!

Clarity of Thought

Yesterday one of the other missionaries and I were going over the To Every Tribe PNG finances. This can be a rather long process and is a lot of thinking work. I was thankful that God blessed us with clarity of thought as I explained the systems that we've been using.

Friends and the Work of the Holy Spirit

Last night we had our weekly fellowship group. We typically spend a bit of time sharing a devotional, then spend some time praying, and then watch a movie. I've been sharing some big ideas from Jerry Bridges' book "Respectable Sins" during our devotional time.

Last night there were two things that caused me to be thankful. One of them was just seeing the way that Sawyer interacted with our national friends here. Two of my best friends are always hanging out here and talking to Sawyer, and he really likes them. Last night he was sitting on their laps and giving them hugs, which was really fun to see. I'm thankful to see my kids doing well here.

The other thing that I was thankful for last night was the work of the Holy Spirit. In our devotional last night we were talking about how the Holy Spirit is always working in our lives and making us more like Jesus. It was cool to have a discussion about how the Holy Spirit changes our desires and conforms them to Christ. The old, worldly things that gave me happiness don't have the same allure. The things of God fill me with joy. Things like watching "War Room" and seeing the older lady getting fired up and praising Jesus for the work of God in the family of the woman she is mentoring. Things like hearing the testimonies of God's work in the lives of the people in our church. And then there's preaching. That's definitely one of my favorite things now and fills me with such joy.

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6

Praise God!

Sharing the Load

One of the things that I was thankful for yesterday was friends to share the load. Last night one of the guys in our village told me that the community water supply pipe had been broken the night before. I took a look at it with one of my friends, and he was happy to work on fixing it. I was able to continue eating dinner with my family and the rest of our team while my friend got it straightened out. It was great to have the help, and it was great to see that he had learned how to fix the pipes by helping me pipe in our water filter.