Update on Some Current Needs

I wanted to quickly update you on a few specific needs for Mibu Ministry.

 

Upcoming Trip to Mibu

 

I'm planning to head back to Mibu soon but still need an additional $1,500 to make it happen. Additionally, there's a fuel shortage in PNG, which is another hurdle we need prayers for. With the current fuel shortage flights into bush locations are severely limited. So I'm waiting for a change there before making solid plans.

 

New Internet Systems

 

When I go back, I'd love to bring at least one, possibly two, new, smaller internet systems. Each system costs around $600-$650, including the active internet plan.

Office Space

 

My current workspace at home isn't ideal. I've found an office space nearby in Mesa that I can rent for $300/month. Having a dedicated workspace away from the house would be super helpful. Would anyone be interested in sponsoring this?

 

Monthly Support

 

Our regular monthly support is down to 57% of what's recommended. This shortfall has led us to spend more time on other income-generating activities, which is unsustainable for full-time ministry. We're making a push to bring our support levels back up so I can focus on translation and lesson development.

 

Social Media Campaign

 

You may have seen on social media (Instagram: @geoffhusa, Facebook: Geoff Husa) that I've been sharing the amazing story of what God has done in Mibu! We need more people to join us in seeing this ministry through. If you see my posts, please do more than just 'like' them—leave a comment, ask a question, or share it! Those actions help increase visibility on the platform, which in turn helps grow our support base.

 

Thank you for your prayers and continued support!

 

 

 

 

Thriving in the Midst of Turmoil

This last year has been one of great heartache and angst for all of us as we've followed all that's been going on in Mibu with the Hetwara Terrorist Group. The incredible pain we're watching our friends go through, the seeming helplessness, the frustration as we try to get help from the government… it's all been overwhelming for us watching and helping and praying from afar, but much more so, as you can imagine, for our friends on the ground in Mibu.

However, it's encouraging to know that despite the ongoing threats to their safety, the refugee situation with so many displaced from their villages and relocated to Mibu, and the resulting shortages of food and other basic supplies, as well as increased illness, THE CHURCH IN MIBU IS STILL LIVING OUT THEIR IDENTITY AS GOD'S PEOPLE, THE CHURCH, A PILLAR AND BUTTRESS OF TRUTH IN THIS WORLD!! Many of the refugees in Mibu are from areas that have been asking for the gospel to be brought to them for years. The church in Mibu, always eager to share the good news that they've so passionately embraced, have been teaching the gospel to these refugees over the last few months. Just recently we got word that out of about 40 people they've been teaching, about 28 have come to faith, with a number of others still contemplating the radical message they've just heard! How amazing that the message of God's love supersedes even these circumstances and gives hope to those who have none!

I'll put a link to some pictures and video we compiled here.

This last year was a very busy year for us, with Shannon taking a part time job, Geoff helping in any way he can for the situation in Mibu, consulting with church leaders, and also continuing to develop lessons. We're seeing good momentum with the lessons again! We're getting closer to being done with the book of 40-something lessons prepared for the training of elders in Mibu. This year we should also make some great progress too on the lessons for the book of Revelation, which was the latest thing translated. Geoff also put a lot of energy into looking for great deals with real estate. That business is moving too, though more slowly than we'd like. We have funding partners ready to bring all the capital needed to buy the real estate when the deal is right, but getting the right deals to buy is the tough part! Clearly it's going to be some time to really start to see the difference real estate can make in our monthly income.

The kids continue to do well in school. Skyler is a junior and Maddie is a freshman at Valley Christian High School. We're so thankful for the ACSTO tax credit program which allows folks in AZ to contribute to their school at ZERO cost to them. Both girls' school is nearly paid for this year! We do need a bit more for Madelyn to finish the year. If you're in AZ and would like to know how you can help at NO COST to you, please let us know so we can get that info to you! Actually here's a link… https://pages.acsto.org/sxwe2k/

Abby and Ethan are at Center for Educational Excellence in Tempe and both are doing well there, though they can often feel out of place being at a non-Christian school.

Coming up soon, in the Spring, the older 2 girls are planning on doing a short term missions trips with their school.. Skyler  to Kenya and Maddie to Mexico! They're both really looking forward to the opportunity to go to another culture and language outside of what they know and serve some of the needs in each place. Maddie's trip is completely funded, but Skyler still needs to raise about $1700 before mid-February. If you'd be interested in helping her on her way here's a link to help you read and understand more about her trip and consider a tax deductible donation… https://vcs.managedmissions.com/MyTrip/skylerhusa

And then we hesitantly signed Abby up for an educational trip with her school to Greece in 2024. Hesitant only because of the cost, and the fact that it's not really something to do fundraising for. We ended up deciding with Abby that we were going to try to see if she can work to earn the money for the trip. We have until Feb 1 to decide if that's going to actually work or not. We've got a few jobs lined up, but we're not actually sure she's going to be able to make the needed $288/mo for the next 14 months to pay off the trip. So we're looking for ideas appropriate for a 12 year old to work in the next year or so! Yes, we're feeling a bit crazy for trying this, but excited to see our kids wanting to spread their wings.

For us as a family 2022 marked a year of getting established back into a different kind of life, at a different pace, and really a different everything after moving back from PNG. The Lord continues to be so so good in providing for us each step of the way. These kinds of transitions don't happen quickly or easily, as we're learning first hand. And to be honest, it comes with a bit of crisis of identity for us.

We're looking forward to continuing to serve and grow this year and for many after! Thank you to all who are praying for the church in Mibu, for the situation there and for the resilience of the church. And thank you for your prayers for us as a family and your financial support of the Mibu Ministry!

 

 

Move complete... Moving forward!

Greetings from Papua New Guinea! We thought it would be a good time to check in and catch you up to date on the latest with the Mibu Ministry!

If you recall from our last update we were getting ready to move again. That move is now complete, and we're mostly settled in to our new place for the next 7 months. We're so thankful to be here, if even for just a short period. Since we moved into a place that already is furnished, we decided it was a good time to simplify our lives a bit and sell off a bunch of our furniture so we don't have to store and deal with quite so much when we come home on furlough this next year. We also packed up quite a bit of our own personal belongings (the ones we aren't selling yet) as if we're going on furlough now, so that we don't have to do it again later when we do get ready to go.

School was originally slated to start up again in September here, but due to all the cancelled flights because of covid, the school staff just hasn't been able to get back. So the next date they're going to try to start is in Jan some time. Till then Shannon continues to homeschool all four kids, and has even volunteered to help a local neighbor with one of their kids who is in Abby's grade. So five kids altogether! Shannon is a rockstar, people! The kids' school is all laid out on a computer program that they follow. Definitely different than what they're used to!

Speaking of school. Next year when we're home, we're planning on putting at least one of the kids in a Christian school (hoping we can get in at Valley Christian). Arizona has a wonderful tax credit program called ACSTO where families can get a tax credit (not a deduction, but full tax credit) for giving toward a child's education in a private school. We'll be putting some more information out as the time gets nearer, but we'd appreciate anyone willing to consider giving toward this next year of education for our oldest at Valley.

And speaking of coming home, Shannon and I have been enjoying getting a head start on shopping for a house for our time home, and have even found ourselves fascinated by the world of real estate investing. We've been learning a lot in our evenings particularly in the realm of creative financing and rentals since we'd like to be able to rent this place out as an investment when we're away.

Other than about a month long interruption for moving, the translation project continues along nicely. I've managed to draft up to ch 20 in Revelation! Getting so so close to the finish of that book! I should be working with my translation helper at this point, but all our communication with Mibu has been cut off because of an issue with the power out there. We've been unable to get out there to fix it yet, so it's been about a month without much communication at all. The latest has us hoping that either Chris or myself can get out there in November to fix that and get the system up and running again. It just highlights again how many cogs in the machine all have to be working in order to get our work done! So while I can't work with my translation helper at the moment, I continue to draft ahead. I hope to maybe finish drafting the book before I work with him again, maybe toward the end of the year.

The little bit of communication we have had has been all positive reports of how the church is doing. We've heard some little tidbits that sound like there may be some rising persecution in a couple of the outreach areas, but we haven't been able to determine for sure. But overall the church remains strong, people continue to meet and encourage one another in the Lord and to move forward in hope! This is such good news to us to hear even just little tidbits from leaders who remain encouraged in their service! Yes!

Thank you all for your continued prayers and regular monthly support! Your partnership means so much to us! We're so humbled to have you all a part of the team! For those who may not have had an opportunity yet, you can follow this link which will give several tax deductible options for how to give. https://ethnos360.org/missionaries/geoffrey-and-shannon-husa

March Onward

Someone recently asked me for info about our blog. I had to ashamedly ask myself… "When was the last time you posted anything on your blog, you doofus?!" March! March is the last time I posted anything to our blog! For those who follow us exclusively via email or via our blog here, our apologies. Even more so since with all the events of the world and back home in the US, March seems more like forever ago! So much has happened! So let me catch you up on what's been going on here with us and with the church in Mibu in Papua New Guinea!

You may recall we had a wonderful opportunity to go into Mibu as a family back in March, right when all the covid stuff was starting to explode in the news.

I've said it quite a few times, and I'm sure you can recall at least once, but often when I'm making trips into Mibu I have a mountain of translation tasks to get done in there that I can't do from out in town. Well I've been experimenting with and training some of my helpers to do more and more of these tasks over video conferencing! It's been going surprisingly well so far!

Just a few weeks ago our family was able to make it into Mibu again. It might be our last time in there as a family before we head back to AZ for furlough next year! I was so encouraged and proud of the leaders in Mibu, just to see how they continue to do, their faithfulness and their zeal for the Lord and for his work in their own lives and in the community! I'm also really happy to report that after I did a bit more training with a handful of people on the video conferencing thing, I ran out of any more of the translation work that needed to wait till I was in there to do! No more backlog and trying to catch up with all those comprehension checks! We've been able to do the whole process over video now! Not that there wasn't anything to do for the remainder of our time. No ma'am! Plenty of other little tasks that I can just pick up and do wherever I am. So those are how I finished my time there.

Have I ever told you that after we do all that work translating into the Mibu language, we get to translate it BACK TO ENGLISH. Yeah… not my favorite task, but essential none the less, so I tend to save that for filler work, to break things up.

The kids all enjoyed their time in the tribe again. Skyler was able to bring a friend from town too! It was her friend's first time in the bush and was quite the experience for her!

After we flew out as a family, and were back in town for only a week, Skyler and I WENT BACK into Mibu for another week. We joined a team from Finisterre Vision who wanted to meet with the church leaders and talk strategy regarding some upcoming surveys that they're planning, and just to talk about other areas of ministry potential. Skyler came along to help serve the parents by caring for their kids and freeing them up to have meetings and to get out and be with people. She was such a blessing (proud daddy!). For one of the families it was their very first time in a remote bush location. It was just good all around for them to be able to meet with and hear the heart of the Mibu church and its leaders. Once again I was really just blown away to sit and listen to the leaders talk about strategy and vision for taking God's word to the people around them. They're so well thought out and are so good at communicating their vision! Just so cool to see!

Since coming back out I've continued working on Revelation, the everlasting translation project! No really I love it, but this one has just taken so long. I'm seeing the end here soon as I've just rounded the corner into chapter 18! I'm so pleased with how well the translation communicates. The people I've checked with are able to follow it well and are encouraged by its messaging! I can't wait to put lessons together for it and teach it!

One thing that's been big on our minds lately is regarding our upcoming furlough next year. Yup… already! It might seem a bit early to be thinking about that, but there is a lot that goes into planning for that year home. We need to figure out housing, cars, school for the kids… that's a biggie… where are we going to send them??? We're slowly getting a handle on some of those logistics. School is still a bit of a mystery, especially if we need to apply for the ACSTO tax credit program far ahead of time. Whew!

One really big thing that we're moving toward is finally buying a house this time. We've hemmed and hawed about it over the years, never feeling right about pulling the trigger. This time, we're ready! Well mostly. We're still trying to save like mad to be able to pay for it, as well as a van and maybe a small car, and some medical stuff we're going to need to do. But yeah, we're committing ourselves to buying a house this time! Let's do this! With the age of our kids and just where we're at in life, it's clearly time!

Speaking of housing here, we're actually planning on… gulp… moving again here back to the main center where we can be closer to the school and the help that's needed with school. We actually really really really don't relish the thought of packing up and moving again here, but we're compelled just because of what it means for the kids' success in school and also for the reduction of other non-work interruptions that our current location imposes. So we're thankful to have a house available there the last 9 months or so before we come home on furlough.

Oh and school is scheduled to start up again September 15th! So very grateful that it seems we're able to get all the right people in place to start the school year up, even if a bit late!

I think that catches you up on the latest with us and with the church in Mibu!

Once again we just want to express our gratitude for all of you who pray and who give to this ministry. We could not do it without you, and we appreciate your partnership! We're so humbled to have you all a part of the team! For those who may not have had an opportunity yet, you can follow this link which will give several tax deductible options for how to give. https://ethnos360.org/missionaries/geoffrey-and-shannon-husa

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!

Exciting New Mibu Ministry Video

As we head into the closing season of 2018 I’m reflecting on the phenomenal things that happened this last year. This video sums up how these years of language learning, bible translation, teaching, and discipleship came together in a huge ministry milestone; the appointment of the Mibu church’s first elders! Check out our vimeo page for the longer versions (18 min and  46 min) if you’re looking for more of the details.

https://vimeo.com/user21492032

Thank you all for partnering with us in this ministry! It’s been so encouraging to see the fruit of this ministry over the years!

If you'd like to know how to contribute to the ongoing expenses of Mibu Ministry please check out our Ethnos30 page here. 
https://ethnos360.org/missionaries/geoffrey-and-shannon-husa