October 2015 Update

“This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who leads you in the way you should go.”‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭48:17‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

Has it only been five months since we left?  Has it already been five months?  We could fill up many pages with all He, our faithful Counselor, Provider, and Protector has done for us.   Today I want to take a minute and introduce you to some new members the Lord has brought to Team Wade.

Shortly before The Lord began to reveal which language group He wanted us to go visit, we were approached by two families that live here, expressing their desire to be our Support Team.  What is a Support Team, you ask?  A support team’s main purpose is to provide logistical, emotional, physical, and spiritual support to language teams (that’s us!) living in a village:  from watching over any property we’ve left behind, providing meals and picking up some groceries when we return to Ukarumpa, to communicating via radio while we’re gone about needs, victories, or struggles we have had.  Having people who are also Wycliffe missionaries living in Papua New Guinea to lean on when times are hard or frustrating will prove to be invaluable.  These are the people who can physically hug our necks, weep with us, celebrate with us, and join hands in prayer with us.  Of course the vein that runs through the wide variety of tasks they will perform is prayer support.  Since they are Wycliffe missionaries as well, they also have a team of partners that have sent them here to Papua New Guinea to support Bible translation.  What a joy and a privilege to link these three teams answering God’s call to give towards Bible translation!

So who are they??  I’ll get on with it.  Both of these families went through POC with us, bonding us in ways that I could never adequately explain.  They were also eye witnesses to the misery brought on by all of our new food intolerances, so we don’t have to worry about them accidentally poisoning us. :-). Both families have become dear friends to everyone in our family.  The first family is the Craig family.

John and Kristi Craig are from Charlotte, NC and have three children: Nori (8), Banner (5), and Millie (3).  John is the building section head of our CAM (construction and maintenance) department, bringing a wide variety of skills that the PNG branch was desperate for.  Kristi is a wonderful and gifted homeschool mom whose organizational skills and strategic thinking have already blessed us!  Currently we are renting neighboring houses so our children are playing together practically every day, a true joy!

The next family is the Smith family.

David and Melissa Smith are from Mississippi and have five kids:  Makaylah (11), Sophia (10), Isaiah (7), Nehemiah (4), and Talia (2).  David is a talented software developer for our CTS (communication and technical services) dept.  Melissa is a sweet, dedicated mom whose compassion and encouragement have already tremendously blessed our family!  They live just a few minutes from us and our children are close friends and those that are old enough attend the school together.

These two families you see have eagerly agreed to keep our children for us while we’re gone to New Britain November 10-17.  This is our first preallocation trip to visit the Mamusi people of New Britain, an island of Papua New Guinea.  Aaron is back from the Sepik, having solidified many of the logistical details for our documentation project coming up January through March.  As we are getting to know the Mamusi area and people, praying about the possibility of settling there long term, the Craigs will be caring for Judah, Zeke, and Silas and the Smiths will be keeping Evie and Abel.  Our friend Greg, an experienced translator who has completed a NT in a neighboring language, will be traveling with us.

Prayers for our pre-allocation trip:  Will you please pray for our kids as we’re away, for their safety and adjustment?  Pray they will give these families love, joy and kindness and that these homes would be flooded with peace.  Aaron and I will be waiting on the Lord to confirm whether Mamusi is the place for us as we travel inside her borders.  If the Lord continues to assure us that this is the place for us, we’ll be looking for specific things:  the right village to settle in, a safe bush house, and reliable sources of food and water for our family.  We’ll also need to start making decisions about timing our move out there, all while missing our sweet children.  Please pray for wisdom and clarity for these things, and also for clear communication with the people.  As we anticipate and pray about meeting them, we can feel our hearts beginning to love them.  We can’t wait to tell you all about the Mamusi when we come back.

Here are some fun photos from the past two weeks.  The older three had sports day at school, and the younger ones are just plain cute!  As you can see we’ve managed to cook sweets without sugar or wheat flour, yea!

Evie and her friend, another daughter of a translator, and the three legged race

Abel, winning second place in the long jump

Judah and the sack race, Evie barely standing the pressure of it

Zeke and the cookie

Silas and the cake batter

All our love,

Aaron and Rebekah Wade
Evie, Abel, Judah, Zeke, and Silas