Our jungle-living experience significanlty improved the other day when our co-workers, the Tousches, finally rejoined us here in the bush! Yay! The old adage “better late than never” has never proved more true.1 Having them back with us has been SUCH a blessing!
We hadn’t quite realized how starved we were for interraction with other westerners until the helicopter lifted off again, leaving us alone with them. Our poor Frenchy friends hardly had two minutes of peace after they touched down! As we helped them “freshen up” their house,2 we spent the day filling them in on all that has been going on in our village while they’ve been away.
It has been so good for Rochelle and I to be able to catch up with Andre and Aurelie, and the boys have been LOVING being able to play with western friends again! Our family is finding no small amount of comfort in having our teammates here with us as we finish up our last two months in Papua New Guinea. And, obviously, our Iski friends are just thrilled to have Tousches back with them again. 3
In other joyful news, we have been greatly blessed in the last months by our supporters, friends, and family, who have been exceedingly generous in their giving towards the costs of this transition. Through their kindness we have been able to purchase all of the bedroom items off of our Amazon list for the boys’ room in our stateside home (along with several other housy things)! Seth’s parents have also been able to help us with the logistics of procuring a vehicle, which is a HUGE detail to have squared away!
We have not yet booked our return tickets,4 but we are still planning on repatriating around the middle of April. There are a few different details to get worked out (booking tickets, getting COVID tests, NOT getting our flights cancelled…), so please feel free to pray for those things as they are brought to mind.
So, in summary, we are SUPER thankful that we have…
- Our co-workers back in the bush with us.
- Amazing supporters.
- A home in the States and some new furniture in it.
- A vehicle in the States (technically, the papers haven’t been signed yet, but we’re still claiming it).
- Around half of the cost of our plane tickets in hand.
Please join us in thanking God for His provision for our family and His great attention to detail!
We will continue to try to keep you apprised of our situation as we get closer to our departure. Thank you so much for your love and prayers for our family and the work among the Iski that we have been blessed to be a part of!
