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With six years since the last time we visited Florida, a trip to the other corner of America was long overdue! We are so thankful to the Lord for the opportunity to spend most of the month of January with our Florida family and church. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us during our travels and preparations.
(With long flights and overseas travel ahead of us, we took every opportunity to practice on this trip!) Florida was a great time to reconnect with friends from Frank’s childhood and church. The first Sunday we were there, a Sunday school class organized a potluck and an opportunity for Frank to share pictures, videos and stories as well as answer questions about PNG. We were encouraged and blessed by their thoughtfulness and intentionality to organize, set up, and engage with our ministry. On the following Sunday, Frank was given the privilege to preach for the Sunday morning service. It was an honor and blessing to have the opportunity to share as well as be sent off by the church in prayer.
 Helping Nanu cut down the banana tree! During our trip, we also had lots of wonderful quality time with Frank’s parents. We were thankful for their generosity and hospitality, and for all the sweet memories that were made! As we get closer to leaving the country, we feel the specialness of time with family even more acutely and thank the Lord for a sweet time!
Now that we are back in Spokane, we are taking the next steps towards our move. The biggest task occupying Frank’s attention recently has been applying for his PNG work permit. Yes, it gets more real every day! Other next steps include additional support raising, fixing up our home to rent, and preparing and packing for our move. In April, we plan to head to Arizona for a month of final missionary training, more family time and church reconnecting. Please continue to pray for us in this season that we would keep our focus on the Lord in whatever He has for us each day. Pray for our kids as they process new layers of transition and also try to keep focused on their schooling in the midst of all that's going on. Pray that this would be a season of growth for each of them and that God would reveal Himself to them in new ways. Many of you who are supporting us financially have asked when is the time to do a switch from Proclaim to FinisTerre. It’s time!
Here are two simple steps for the transition:
We are grateful for each one of you - Thank you for your prayers, encouragement and support along our journey.  Praise the Lord for a wonderful and productive trip to Papua New Guinea (PNG)! Thank you for your prayers as we traveled apart from our kids. Everything went smoothly and we are grateful for so many servants of Christ both here in the states and in PNG who have invested in us to make this trip flow smoothly and benefit our family greatly as we prepare to move there in the months ahead. Thank you to all of you who have invested! We have tremendously enjoyed our last few days together as a family reconnecting with our kids. By far, the hardest part of our trip was leaving our kids for so long and traveling so very far away! And by far, the sweetest part of our trip has been the gift of wonderful families who have cared for and loved on our kids so very well in our absence. God is kind and the body of Christ is a wonderful blessing in our lives.  Here are the missionaries who hosted us in Madang. One of these families is wrapping up a short term trip and will return to the States very soon. They will oversee our final training in Arizona. Another family is praying about joining Team Madang long term. It looks like we will either have one or two families to team up with for the ministry in Madang. One of the goals of our trip was to build relationships with our teammates. This was accomplished above and beyond what we expected! We are so thankful for the time we had to get to know these families and very much enjoyed the sweet fellowship with each one. One family, the Twomblys, just moved to Madang a few months ago. They will serve as field director and lead the outreach ministry in Madang. They just put out a great 5 minute update video that shows much of the area! What Will our Ministry in Madang Look Like?What will our Ministry in Madang look like? The role we plan to fill on Team Madang is "Logistics Coordinator". Basically, we want to do everything we can to support tribal church planting in the Finisterre mountains, and church outreach in Madang. Practically, this looks like overseeing items such as government documents, finances, base/vehicle maintenance, guards on base, supply buying, coordinating travels/housing, etc. The driving question behind all this will be, "What can we do to keep our church planters encouraged and focused?" Every step of their journey, we're excited to help any way we can. Watch a clip of driving through Madang.
Here is the church that our teammates are currently attending. They described it as a church "where there is sometimes a clear gospel preached", which is unique from other churches in Madang. Generally, animism is still deeply intertwined into any understanding of the Bible. A version of the prosperity gospel is also rampant with many believing that if they act like a Christian, they'll be able to manipulate God to get what they want - just like they do with all the other spirits. Watch clips from our church visit. Market/Stores in Town We visited the market a couple times as well as all the stores in town to get a feel for what is generally available for us to purchase once we arrive. This was very helpful for us to get an idea of the things we need to bring when we move. The market and grocery stores were very helpful for us to know what foods Jacklyn will be able to eat while we are there. As far as food goes, it looks like it will be very manageable! Unfortunately, there are quite a few other migraine triggers there that we did encounter and we are thinking through what that will look like and how we can work through those to manage well in a long term setting. Watch clips from our market visit.
On Saturday, we drove from Madang to the village of Bahor. We we spent time visiting with a man who was rebuilding his home and explained the process. His house is built on stilts, like most houses in PNG. "Everything grows in PNG!" We have heard this said many different times over the years, but we actually saw this in the supports on his house. He had cut up bamboo poles to brace the main beams, and with one end buried for stability, they had grown roots and sprouted once again! We also walked down to their beach through all the villager's gardens - it was neat to see how they garden. At first glance, the land looks a little wild and overgrown, but it's actually all mapped out and tended carefully! Watch clips of our trip to Bahor village.
As we continue to prepare for our move overseas, we are even more confident of how much we need the body of Christ to make it all possible. Cross-cultural missions belongs to the whole church, not just the missionary! We depend on the body of Christ to make what we do possible! Thank you for all your prayers, financial gifts, and practical help invested into our family for this trip and over the years that have brought us to this point!   Finisterre Mountains off in the distance  In Papua New Guinea!Thank you all for praying for us! We arrived safely and so far have had a full, productive 3 days here drinking from a firehose of information and culture!  We nearly missed our flight to Madang! Because our flight was canceled, and the rebooking was complicated for them, we waited quite a long time at the check-in counter. As the time ticked away while they tried to sort things out, we were sure that we would not actually make it on the flight. However, 4 minutes before scheduled take off, they sorted it out and told us to run. Yes, run all the way down the breezeway to the domestic terminal, run through security (twice actually) and all the way to the gate, then outside down a long walkway to the plane. By God's grace, and maybe a little PNG culture, we actually made it on the plane!
...however, our bags did not! We came out of the baggage claim (pictured above) with no luggage and were thankful for the advice passed along to us to have a few extra changes of clothes in our carry on! And we are also thankful that after 2 days we did finally receive our bags.
Above is a picture of the market we went to the day we arrived. It was great to get an immediate taste of PNG culture, see the plethora of local fruits and veggies available here, and help us stay awake until bedtime and fight jetlag!
One goal of our trip has been to get an idea of what is available to purchase locally so we can plan and pack more efficiently. In recent years, much more has become available in Madang and purchasing many things locally when we arrive will help save on packing and shipping costs stateside. So most afternoons we have made a trip into town to see and learn. Some places we have visited include the the market, the butchery, the grocery store, hardware stores and even a clothing store. Many things can be purchased here but certainly not everything. It's helpful to find out what would be most beneficial to ship across the ocean! Off in the distance across the bay, you can see the Finisterre mountains. This is where we hope to send more church planting teams to bring the Gospel to the many unreached tribes.
Even though it's the end of dry season here, and not as green as normal, we have still enjoyed some of the beautiful flowers around. Thank you again for all your prayers - This trip has been a huge team effort and we are so grateful for each and every one of you who have helped us and prayed for our family during this season!
Our kids are doing well, and are being well loved on as we are away, but please continue to pray for all our hearts as we deeply miss each other. |
The Ruscios
Sending, supporting and encouraging church planters living up in the Finisterre Mountains of Papua New Guinea. Archives
December 2024
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