BY JEREMY HAMBRICE
In about a week, our entire family will finally move into the Wantakian Village of Pinji. Just stop and let that sink in. This has been years in the making. About seven years ago, Mandy and I sensed the Lord leading us to join Him in making Himself known to all tongues, tribes, and nations. We had no idea at the time it would lead to this – living in a remote village in the jungles of Papua New Guinea with two little girls, learning a new way of life, and loving people that could not be more different than us.
The crazy thing is that we are so excited!! Scared? Yes. Nervous? Yes. Overwhelmed? Yes. Despite all the mixed emotions, we are confident that God has lead us every step of the way, and we would not want to be doing anything else on the planet!
We want to share with you what the next few months will look like for us so that you can know how to pray for us. On Saturday, April 11th, our entire team will fly out to Pinji. We men have spent lots of time out there during the last few months building our houses and have developed a number of great relationships with the people. It is a little different for our wives and children. Our wives have been there twice for a visit, but our children have yet to set their eyes on the place where they will spend their childhood. We are hoping the girls will not be too overwhelmed with all of the attention they will get, but will instead sense that these people are so glad they have come to live with them.
After our arrival, we will spend a few weeks “warming up” to life there in the village. We hope to put the finishing touches on our house, but our main focus will be to begin building relationships with the men, women, and children of Pinji. During this time we hope our ears can “tune up” to the sounds of this difficult language, and we also hope to get a feel for what village life is like.
Once this initial warm-up time is over, we will have a language consultant flown in to give us our language “kick-off.” He will be giving us direction on the beginning steps of the language learning process. Once he leaves, we will start learning the Wantakian Language full time and will not finish until we reach a level high enough to communicate God’s Word to them!
This letter is a rally call as we step behind enemy lines. The enemy does not want the Wantakians to know God. He will do all he can to stop it. Would you please keep praying us through, every step of the way?
There is no way we could be here without you. Thank you so much for standing behind us.
For God’s glory among the Wantakians,
Jeremy, Mandy, Paisley, & Myli