Furlough 2025

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Thank you from the depths of our hearts for praying for us. As you know, we’ve been preparing to build our houses among the Gende.

A couple weeks ago, I started building a kitchen table for our bush house; I was short a few clamps, so I decided to run to town. While driving to the hardware store, I pulled slightly off the narrow road to make way for a few people. The ground gave way, and the vehicle rolled sideways down a hill to the right of the vehicle. As it tipped, I braced myself, and for a split second I recognized it might be the end. But after one full roll, the car landed on the driver’s side and stopped.

Community members rushed over, thinking I might not have survived. By God’s mercy, my only injury was a bruised shoulder with torn ligaments. I stood on the driver’s side window, opened the passenger door above me, and asked, "Is anyone else hurt?" The response came, "No, it's okay." And so I climbed out of the passenger side door with the help of a couple PNG guys. Two weeks later my shoulder still hurts, but it is healing well. The vehicle’s body took damage, but many reminded me that what truly mattered was God sparing my life. It was deeply encouraging to see coworkers and community members rally to help recover the vehicle and encourage us.

Our time in PNG has felt like one step forward and two steps back—coming to the end of our own wisdom and learning to seek God’s instead. While God has shown His comfort and faithfulness to us along the way, the last two years have been difficult. The mental toll of the accident has compounded other stresses on the field, and we need to take a break before we can continue on in a healthy space. Originally we had planned to build our bush house and then take a furlough, but after talking with leadership, we recognize we need to take our furlough before building.

We’ll be coming back home to North Carolina for six months. Lord willing, we’ll start our trip home on the 28th of September and arrive in NC on the 1st of October. During our time home, we hope to rest and recover and raise the remaining funds we need to build our house in the bush. We look forward to seeing many of you soon.