There are times in your life when you are able to look back and see the hand of God in how He orchestrated events to make things work out (big or small) for His children, and other times He allows you in the moment to see that His grace is present. This Wednesday our car officially “broke-down” for the first time, unable to putter to the next destination. By God’s grace we were not traveling around from state-to-state like we did a few days before and are doing again today, as we hear to New York. We had plenty of time, AAA came in 20mins, and the auto part store had the part we needed (the last one by the way!). Thankfully we were able to get our car fixed and back to us within hours…God’s grace is everywhere, yes!? But there is so much more! God provided a paying job for Seth that day, but because of the delay he wasn’t able to get to work until 1pm and didn’t finish it till 3am that day, but it more than covered the cost for the repair. God is too good to us! All that to say, please still pray for us in our travels and for our car to last. We do not want to pour money into something when we are leaving, Lord willing in January, our car is getting close to the 200k mark. So our car was dead for a moment, but then we were able get the car-starter changed within hours and now our Little Red Rocket is running strong.

On lighter news, God has provided 2 churches to visit/speak at, meetings with several pastors from other churches, connect with some supporters, and catch up with good friends all this weekend. That is what our Saturday-Wednesday looks like, just constantly connecting and re-connecting with people in order to: raise our financial support (currently 45-46%), and to raise the awareness of God’s heart for the unreached in the world. Pray we can get to our required goal of 75% by January, and that we can take people with us as fellow missionaries to the white and ready harvest fields of the unreached people groups throughout the world.

We also purchased most of our power (cordless) tools that we would need to take with us to the field. We want to say thank you to our good friends (O’Briens) 🙂 who purchased them for us, thank you! We got a reliable brand (we will be gone for several years at a time) and on discount during this holiday weekend. Another step in making preparations towards PNG, and proof that our God is not only good to us, but lavishes His love upon His children.

The Little Red Rocket

We Have Power…Tools!

Dem Kids

The father of modern missions William Carey said these famous words (above), he was an unlikely candidate compared to the likes of Adoniram Judson. But God is never interested in what we bring to the table; because He is the One Who does all the work in and through His vessels. He is the Lord of the Harvest, He said HE will build His church, He is the supplier, He gives us the words to speak and the power to be bold when we speak, every facet of ministry and reaching the lost is done through His mighty hands…it is a privilege to be His vessel and be used by Him.

We in and of ourselves are nothing “special”, but we serve a God Who IS faithful, powerful, and worthy to be served. We have many expectations from God throughout our lives, and we know God desires for us to walk by faith. So with that in mind, and with trying to figure out how to practically live out our expectation that God will answer our (and your) prayer(s) and allow us to leave for PNG by January. We have begun to gather our possessions, make some “big” purchases, and started the paperwork process to enter into the field of PNG. We bought our first bed! That is exciting; God provided lots of work for both of us this summer. We have begun to stage our possessions at our home church in PGH, and we are enjoying filling out the paperwork to get into the country. 🙂

This past weekend was very encouraging for us, we had another opportunity to share at a new church, the moment we walked in we were immediately greeted and the Pastor was already talking about partnering with us. If any of you have ever raised support or know of someone who has, that is a BIG thing. The remainder of our time there we felt at home, the church was not big in numbers but their heart was BIG. The congregation asked question after question, took many prayer cards, and seemed very interested in God’s ministry through us in PNG.

Seth has been back in the country for only a couple of weeks and we have already had several churches very interested in partnering with us, praise God! Continue to pray we would get more God ordained meetings; this past Sunday’s meeting came through friends who advocated to their pastor on our behalf, and that has been a pretty consistent pattern. Most of our support has come through people advocating for us, whether to a pastor at a church or a small group, this is where we have seen the most fruit in regards to financial partners. Please pray to our Lord and ask Him if you have any connections (churches or small groups) in which you could connect us with, be our advocate! Every connection leads to a potential partner that enables us to get to that required 75% (currently at 45.5%) before we are permitted to leave for PNG, and get the Gospel into the hands of a people who have NEVER heard of their Creator.

Let us finish this blog with a quote from a famous author A.W. Tozer,

““Where there is no such expectation, there is no true belief in God.”
So often when we pray, we don’t expect God to answer – and this inhibits us from stepping out in faith and “attempting great things for God.””

Tendi-Seth’s Buddy

We hope you all are enjoying your summers and are getting to enjoy the beautiful weather! Attached is our latest newsletter and re-cap from Seth’s trip to Indonesia. Please take a moment to read; this newsletter is not just a mere update, but we pray that is serves as an encouragement to pray for others and for us in the task of tribal missions.

Newsletter-June-July

Seth hard at work!

Seth & Dem Kids

Seth has been back in the states for less than 10 days; how the time has flown! We were separated for 34 days. After traveling thousands of miles, and taking 4 days to make the journey, he made it back mid-day Wednesday last week. He was able to be in church that evening at our home church in PA and see friends and enjoy the air-conditioning :). We received large packets of paperwork from the field of PNG while Seth was gone, and we have worked on them since he got back. It is exciting, overwhelming, and yet surreal. A January departure is looking more and more feasible the closer we get! Seth spoke at a new church 8 days ago in PA and yesterday in NY, both of which seemed very interested in partnering with us; we left both places very encouraged.

We are currently over 44% of our actual support raised! Praise God! We need to get to that 75% mark and it seems more realistic now that we are over halfway. God is so good to us! We have been on the deputation/support-raising trail for about 10 months and it looks like we will be able to leave in January, Lord willing. Would you pray that God would provide 30 more supporters at 1% of our support? 30 more partners! That is all we need to get to our goal! We spoke at significantly more churches than that in the past 10 months, so it seems within reach. We have had over 10 churches and 15 individuals say they wanted to partner with us as well, but have not followed through with their commitments just yet.

We are currently filtering through 9 hours of video and 1000+ pictures that Seth took while in Indonesia, we plan to make a video to share with all those who helped partner with us for Seth’s trip. Thank you to all of you who partnered with us through prayer and finances for that missions trip. Seth gained a great deal of skills and perspectives while over there; he fell in love with the people (who are very similar to the type of people we will be ministering to), and learned more about the practicality of tribal missions. Seth’s heart broke for a people who wanted to know the Creator and yet still cannot because the Bible has not been translated into their language (yet). There are several tribes like this, wanting (and some are even asking!) missionaries so that they can have the Bible in their language for the purpose of knowing their Creator and Savior. Please pray for laborers to go into His Harvest (Matt. 9:38); there is still so much work that needs to be done!

We hope to emphasize the need of missions more while we share about our ministry. We will try to make the video ASAP, we will post an update on Seth’s trip soon as well, and the latest newsletter will come out this week! Stay tuned!

Plane Landed in the Tribe

Hey everyone! Just want to get our prayer team praying, so here is the latest: Seth’s plane JUST left from Jakarta heading to Tokyo. From Tokyo he heads to San Francisco for a 10 hour layover. Then on to Pittsburgh! Keep praying for safety and for quick and easy connecting flights. Also, pray for all the luggage to arrive in one piece. So excited to hear all about the trip! We will update everyone as
soon as possible. Thank you!

Seth has been gone for almost 3 weeks now. In times like these, we fully rely on God that He will protect us while we are away from one another. Since he is in a remote tribe, we have had very little communication. This time away from modern technology is good practice for us for when we go overseas full-time. Without reliable Internet, it is like going into a time warp and jumping back 40 years.

On a side note, we are over halfway to our goal! About 40%! Praise God! We have had several new partners and churches schedule to have us share the ministry that God has given us. During this time in the tribe, Seth keeps talking about how he has been “changed” and has gained tremendous insight for our future ministry. We see that one of the main reasons God provided this trip is so that we can have a better understanding of what tribal work is like in order to bring more awareness of the need of tribal missions, especially regarding unreached people groups. We thank God for this opportunity, for this time of growth, and for the experience and knowledge Seth has gleaned.

Pray we all continue to conform into the image of His Son, and burn with His passion for our world in furthering the Gospel until every tongue, tribe, and people group is reached. Pray for more partners to join our support team in reaching the unreached people of Papua New Guinea with the Gospel.

(Fast) Internet: A Luxury

Seth: On an Island Far Away

Just a quick update: I heard from Seth that the wood cutters arrived in the tribe the day after I posted this prayer request! Thank you all for praying! They are working really hard to get as much as possible done during this last week in the tribe. Keep praying for safety and for the energy to finish strong. Thank you prayer team!

Yesterday I received a phone call from Seth from in the Tribe! How amazing is technology!? Seth said they are doing well and are getting a good bit done, not as much as they would have liked, but progressing at a good pace. Since the lumber had run out on site, they had to hike about 30 minutes up-hill to gather lumber and bring it back down to continue working on the house. A big PRAYER request now is for more wood cutters to be able to come in to the tribe to cut lumber at the site of the house. This will allow them to get a lot more finished during their last week or so in the tribe. Continue to PRAY for safety and health for everyone. Seth said this trip has really helped give him experience and better vision for what this phase will be like for us, in the not too distant future. We cannot wait till the day we move into a tribe in Papua New Guinea! Thank you everyone for your faithful prayers for Seth on this trip and for us as we are apart.

Working Hard & Having Fun

For all of you who have prayed for Seth as he traveled and are wondering how it went…

Latest update from Seth this morning: He arrived safely in Indonesia! All is going well! ALL luggage arrived and was safe and sound! Nothing broken and no bags lost! This is a HUGE PRAISE! God has and will continue to answer our prayers. He is having a great time and was able to sleep almost 70% of the flights even though he was cramped into the small airplane seats (not built for a 6 foot 2″ man). He feels rested and is ready for the next two days with the family then Tuesday they head into the Dem Tribe. SOOO excited, or should I say I’m Stoked! 

Continue praying for Seth and the family as they get ready to head into the tribe for 3.5 weeks. Pray for safety as they fly in/out via small plane. Pray for physical safety & energy and for everyone to stay healthy while they continue working on getting the house finished. Thank you for all the prayers and checking on me (Nicole) as Seth is gone. I am having a wonderful time here in NJ with my parents. It’s been a blessing to be here! I will post pics and updates as they come. 🙂

Last week (16-20) we were separated once again. Nicole was with our home church’s youth group at camp and Seth worked. We are thankful for opportunities to work; we appreciate that whether in Pittsburgh or in New Jersey, God provides for us. Seth worked quite a bit last week; working 10-14 hour days plus almost an hour-long drive each way. Seth left worked encouraged each day being able to talk to fellow Christians and to be able to minister to those who are unsaved, praying to be a light in their lives. With Seth working long days it worked well for Nicole to be at camp.

Nicole had great opportunities ministering and connecting with many of the youth. She poured into them day in and day out, using times after the service to intentionally talk and question the girls. Following the pattern of Christ to minister and expound on the sermon after the message was given. That time of discipleship is quintessential to grow as Christians. Nicole had fun, heard great messages, fellowshipped, discipled, and made great friends. 🙂

Pray for the teens (40 from our home church) that went to camp and the commitments they made to God. Pray they make and keep eternal decisions. Pray for the men Seth worked with, that the seeds planted would grow and bring God glory.

Nicole & Some Of The Teens