Reflections from our Second Term in PNG

We are wrapping up our second term of service here in Papua New Guinea – it’s amazing how quickly the time has gone by! It seems like a good time to pause and reflect on the changes our family and our ministry have been through in the last 2 ½ years. So here it goes…

• COVID went from being a major challenge to travel to being no concern whatsoever – when we arrived in PNG, it was on a special UN-chartered humanitarian flight that we only qualified for given our specific type of visa and the nature of our work here in PNG.
• Our youngest boy was only 4 and not yet in school, now he has finished Kindergarten. For him, going back to the US is going to feel like going to a foreign country.
• Our oldest boy was in the middle of Grade 5, now he has finished Grade 7 and is a teenager. For him, going back to the US is going to feel like going home.
• We made 9 trips out to the Domung language area – some of them as a family, some of with Jon going alone. That’s sort of like making 9 international moves in 2.5 years. We have to pack and weigh every single item – down to individual cans of tuna in some cases – to make sure we are not overweight and that we have enough food and clothes and supplies to last us for our trip. If we forget anything, there is no way to go out and buy it in our remote jungle village. It’s hard to describe the amount of ‘head space’ such transitions take.
• We finished renovating the house we live in on our mission centre.
• We built an entirely new house from the ground up among the Domung people requiring an incredible amount of support and organization from people all around the world.
• We identified 3 new Domung translators and started training them how to do Bible Translation.
• We improved our fluency in the trade language of Tok Pisin and also (at least a little bit) in Domung.
• Jon nearly finished his Master’s degree in Linguistics (he hopes to finish it during our furlough).
• Jon struggled through a season of discouragement and depression, but God faithfully pulled him through.
• We experienced a massive earthquake and dozens of smaller ones – both on our mission centre and among the Domung people. Jon sometimes wakes up with a start when he hears trucks drive by on the gravel road thinking it may be another earthquake.
• We finished developing the trial alphabet for the Domung language and taught some Domung speakers how to write their own language. We then collected and typed up dozens of stories in Domung.
• Our Domung co-translators started translating dozens of short Bible stories and the book of Esther into Domung.
• We completed preliminary sociolinguistic research and literacy surveys among the Domung people.
• Jon taught or helped to teach several courses for new Papua New Guinean linguistic consultant trainees.
• We helped to coordinate and facilitate several training workshops held on our mission centre for our Domung co-translators.
• We learned how to pick and process and roast coffee.
• We got to co-lead a Bible Study with friends from all over the world.
• Jon was able to preach several times to the Domung people and had at least one person repent and profess faith in Christ.
• Jen took on a new role at the clinic involving procuring all the medicine and supplies for the medical clinic on our centre.
• We said good-bye to several dear friends and started building relationships with new ones.

It’s been a very full term! Looking back on it, we can clearly see God’s faithfulness and provision. When we are weak, He is strong. When we are weary, He is working. When we are overwhelmed, He gives rest.

So when we get back to the US, please ask us about our time in PNG! We’d love to share about it. But don’t be surprised if we stumble a bit and struggle to summarize all the changes and challenges and joys of these last 2 ½ years.