The Thyngs

BUSY!

 

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support on our behalf.  It is a great joy and privilege to serve the Lord in PNG.  Life without Tyler is extremely difficult.  Please pray for strength and faithfulness.

One word can describe the past few months, and that is BUSY!  Dan started teaching for term 3 about a month ago.  He is teaching Daniel/Revelation and Youth Ministry.  It is truly a blessing to be able to train our students to reach their own people.  However, there are many challenges in discipleship and confronting unbiblical aspects of the culture.  Please pray for the students’ school fees.  A number of students have been removed from classes and cannot return until term 3 is paid in full.  Please pray also for discernment of God’s will for our students graduating in November. 

Dan has also been busy carrying out administrative work at the college.  He works with Mike Kewi, our national deputy headmaster.  The college is raising funds to build a new home for Mike and his family.  The current need is $30,000.  Please contact us if you are interested in helping with this project.  Dan’s role of management has required constant involvement.  Please pray for strength and good time management.  Please pray also for discernment in dealing with student and staff issues.

We headed to the “bush” a few weeks ago for a conference with one of our former graduates, Pastor Rodney Kavo.  Kate loved the “camping trip” and there were a number of individuals saved.  Please pray that they will be baptized and effectively discipled.  Since then, Pastor Rodney has told us that the church has experienced growth and is excited about the future.

The organization process at Hosanna Baptist is progressing nicely.  Dan and Pastor Abol have been teaching through the doctrines of the Bible the past couple of months.  After teaching through a new doctrine, time is given to the church to share what they believe about that doctrine.  Later that week, Dan works with the leadership to complete that portion of the doctrinal statement.  It has been very helpful to review all of this with the church members.  Amy has also started teaching through the Story of Hope, a chronological Bible-teaching tool created by ABWE, with the children each week.  The kids really enjoy it, but it is a challenge to get them to memorize their verses!

We started a discipleship class for the teens of our married students and staff here on campus, meeting once a week.  Four of them have trusted Jesus as Savior.  We are using discipleship material created by ABWE called The Way to Joy.  The youth love coming each week, and they especially enjoy getting a coke and a yummy snack!  Please pray that they will grow toward spiritual maturity.

Things at the clinic continue to go well as Amy and Rachel learn about PNG medicine.  We’ve been very short on ACE bandages of any size, and if any of you are thinking of sending things our way, these would be greatly appreciated.  We love you all!

Love, Dan, Amy, Tyler, Kate & Claire

P.S.  Claire’s finally walking everywhere and into everything!  She’s started talking, which is too cute.  Kate continues to develop a tremendous heart for God and a great love and longing for Heaven.

 

Additional Prayer Requests:  Please pray for…

1.    The organization of Hosana Baptist Church.

2.    The great need for additional missionaries with ABWE in PNG (Kerowagi in particular).

3.    Overcoming cultural barriers in sharing the Gospel with the lost here.

4.    Daily strength for life without Tyler.

5.    Our individual relationships with Jesus Christ.

6.    Good health for all of us (PNG has a lot of new bugs, so it is STILL rough in that respect).

7.    Amy and Rachel Prigge as they learn to diagnose and treat illnesses.

8.    Graduation and Pastors’ Conference next month.

9.    College budget needs and needs of our national staff members.

10.Increased teacher work load at GBBC.

11.Various administrative duties at the college.