How Are the Husas?

You might be wondering how we might be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. I'll summarize first by saying we're fine right now, and that we're definitely affected in many ways, much like you all are back home, yet with some differences. More on that after I write about our recent time as a family in Mibu.

The Mibu Ministry continues despite COVID-19. I happen to have the perfect job to keep going in this situation… sitting in an office, translating God's word into the Mibu language. Prior to the heightened reactions here to the pandemic, we had the wonderful opportunity to go into Mibu as a family! I've been in several times on my own, and once with Skyler. But the rest of the family hasn't been back in since we moved out nearly 2 years ago! The short version of why that is has to do with the extreme costs of getting in and back out. But the Lord graciously provided the means to make it in together this time; something we're so very grateful for!

It was such a joy to be back in the house again that the kids basically all grew up in! Our family dynamics are so different in there and it was nice to step back in to that if even just temporarily. It reminded us of some dynamics we'd like to be sure to hold on to when we got back to our town lives. We had a steady flow of visitors in our house, and we did our share of visiting as well, enjoying catching up, doing meals together, and enjoying the fellowship we share together under the common hope that we have in Jesus! It was such an encouragement to see how the church and it's shepherd-leaders continue to stand firm and grow in their faith!

I had all 10 of my days filled with translation tasks that are harder or impossible to do from town. I almost exclusively focused on checking 1 and 2 Thessalonians and also Revelation (all that's been translated so far) for comprehension. I was able to get one more solid round of this checking done for all of that, and now have some areas to focus on cleaning up a bit based on those checks. It was a good time sitting and going through all that material with a handful of folks who were super encouraged not just to see more of God's talk made clear in their language, but to be following the messages of that talk. For some it's their first exposure to those particular letters. But it's all the more Jesus-focusing for them to hear, strengthening their faith and their walk with the Lord.

While we were in Mibu we continued to follow closely the developments around the COVID-19 pandemic. Watching the events and reactions escalate the way they did in just those short 10 days (and continue to even today) hardly seemed real! The whole thing reminds me that we definitely tend to live in an illusion in which we perceive a great deal more control over our lives than we actually do. We have systems and habits in place that we make up our 'normal', and we take for granted the fragility of all that. This pandemic reminds me of how little control we actually have over many of our circumstances. When that illusion gets stripped away, looking through the initial fog of anxiety, I'm reminded where we really get our peace from… our Creator God who DOES have control, and who does have a purpose, and who calls us his, and who continues to love and care for us through any and all of life's circumstances. He is where our hope is.

So how are we experiencing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic? In many ways it is not too unlike what our many friends and family in the US and in other places around the world are experiencing. The big difference is that we are overseas, and any opportunities to repatriate to the US have dwindled if it ever came down to it for us. Thankfully our family has not felt the need. But we're thankful that a number of our friends and co-workers were able to make it through one of the last remaining windows before it closed. School has ceased and so Shannon prepares to take up homeschooling our kids for the remainder of the school year. As of now there has been only one confirmed case of COVID-19 in PNG, and it was an imported case with no evidence of local transmission. For now we remain commited to making whatever adjustments are needed and continuing with Mibu Ministry as much as possible with restrictions in place. We continue to follow the news and connect with family, and to pray for you all. We would ask that you continue to pray for us here as well!

Thank you so much to everyone who prays and who gives for this ministry to happen! We couldn't be here without you all holding us up!

Please Pray - Opposition Continues

In our last update we were praising the Lord for moving in the heart of someone who was strongly opposed to the gospel in one of the locations where the Mibu church is doing an outreach. I'm still amazed by that. Keep your eyes out… I just recorded one of the church leaders telling the amazing story from his perspective. I need to put subtitles in it and then I'll post it!

What I'm writing about today is the other group I wrote about who was still opposed to the gospel and causing trouble for the church. That opposition continues to grow. If you remember, there was a family in the village of Joso who was opposed when the Mibu church was invited there to bring the gospel message. Their son, Semi, who you see in picture below with the swollen neck and face, became a believer despite their protestations. He chose to stand firm on the work of Jesus on the cross and the hope that is assured through his resurrection rather than the cargo cult beliefs and animism that his family and ancestors mixed in with shallow religious practices. Semi, about a year after becoming a child of God, died from some kind of cancer. His family is blaming those who brought the gospel message to them, saying that their son died because he listened to 'Satan's' talk. Semi's father has been going around blaming not only the church but also Ethnos360 (NTM) for his son's death. Unfortunately there are quite a few people in the surrounding area who are latching on to the things Semi's family has been saying.

The rumors are being spread, and now in one of the other outreach villages, Kookwik, about a day's hike away, where there has been a maturing church for a few years now, some opposition leaders severely beat one of the bible teachers, Banai, and his wife. Thankfully they are both recovering from their injuries, though she may be left with a permanent issue in her hip as a result. The growing opposition is threatening to burn the teachers' homes and belongings with gas. They're actively going around trying to dissuade anyone else from paying attention to the gospel teaching.

The church in Kookwik sent word via one of their teachers, Davison (pictured below), and are asking for help from the church in Mibu and from us. Sesi and I met with Davison, heard some of the difficulties that are being caused over there, and prayed together that God would protect the church there, and that he would do what only he can do, change the heart of man. Meanwhile we're contemplating some possible actions to try to keep the peace and not have the spread of the gospel hindered as the opposition intends to do.

I wish I had recorded the prayer of Sesi today as it was a prayer of deep faith and dependence on God and trust in his Word!

Would you please join us in prayer with us over the coming weeks for this issue; for protection for the believers there who are being persecuted, but also that God would change the minds of those who are so violently opposed to God's word.