HoveyServinGod

With much thanksgiving and rejoicing, we were able to spend our holidays this year with friends and family in the States!  What a blessing!  We got to have snow this year too that was right outside our doorstep....much different than observing it from a distance on the mountains in Chile. Gunner celebrated his first Christmas which was a privilege and joy to be a part of.  Unfortunately, the poor little guy was sick on Christmas Eve and still under the weather on Christmas Day.  He just had a runny nose and was a little out of sorts.  We are happy to report though that he is back to himself.  He  is enjoying the gifts he got this holiday and is growing like a weed!  He turned eight months right before the Christmas festivities. January is a big month for us as we will be voted on by two churches to begin receiving financial support.  Please pray that God would clearly direct His people in this matter and bring unity regarding the deci...

Merry Christmas from the Hoveys!  It has been an eventful last couple of weeks as we traveled home from Papua New Guinea (PNG) and tried to quickly regain our feet under us here in MN...it took longer than we desired, but we are home and ready to run the race! To recap our time in PNG, we would have to say it seems to be the place God is calling us!  In the time we were able to spend there, Brian was able to help out with various projects alongside nationals, and I (Phyllis) was able to help out here and there with odds and ends.  Since we have arrived home, we have gotten some basic questions we wanted to answer for those interested. WHO will we be serving with? Right now, the ministry team in PNG consists 4 families: the Bill and Lori Smith family, the Steve and Gretchen Root family, the Zeke and Meagan Magill family and the Tim and Leandra Hawes family.  WHAT will be doing? We anticipate being involved in a variety of things there, but since we...

We had the privilege of taking part in a traditional PNG meal with a national Pastor and his wife.  The meal was at a fellow missionary's house.  It was called Mamboo and was very good!   It started with lots of cutting up and dicing of the ingredients..... Our cookware is shown above.....fresh cut bambo. All the ingredients were then packed into the bambo and a specific leaf was packed in last to seal it all. They were then placed in the fire and rotated as needed.  The moisture in the bambo and the semi-sealed end made the whole thing like a pressure cooker. After a couple hours the food was all done, and I (Brian) must say it was delicious!!   The whole process was an adventure in and of it self, but with it was a great opportunity to talk with Pastor Rex and his wife regarding life and ministry in PNG. Even though the rain has started the drought is still being felt daily here.  The majority of people here eat what they gro...

EWe have been in PNG for nearly a week now and there is no way we can capture our thoughts and experiences in one blog.....but we"ll start with one!  Upon arriving to PNG it truly is nothing like either of us have experienced.  For me (Brian) it has some commonalties to my trip to Africa, but it also is still very different.  People are often seen walking roads or piled in the back of flat bed trucks.  There are very few paved roads and many trails that lead into the thick forests.  Yet, ministry continues in ways we seldom think or imagine back in the US.   I was able to attend a very early start of a church plant.  What does that mean?  Well there is a village half way up one of the mountains that the missionaries first were in contact with through a medical evangelism where the Gospel was presented and a few accepted Christ as their Savior.  There is no church in their village but the missionaries have begun a Bible study there once a w...

We have started the awaited survey trip to Papua New Guinea.  We left Sunday November 1st and flew to Los Angles, CA.  After a few hour layover, we flew to Brisbane, Australia where we currently are.  We are truly blessed to share that the journey has gone well so far, and Gunner has been doing great! We give God the Gory for that and truly do covet your prayers.  Tomorrow morning, Wednesday....kind of crazy we lost Monday in the flight and time change....we will start the first of two flights to Goroka, PNG. So a question has been floating in my (Brian's) mind through the craziness of airport security, baggage, and so many unknowns......why do this?  I have been asked several times in the last week, why did you decide to do this?  "This" being missions.....leaving the comforts of home, family, friends.  The answer, when boiled down is very simple, because I made the decision that Jesus Christ is more important than anything else in this life.  No...

I once heard a story of a man who attended a tent revival meeting and tried to give himself to God.  Every night at the altar, he would dedicate himself to the Lord.  Yet as he left each evening, the Devil would come to him and convince him that since he did not FEEL changed, he was not truly redeemed. Again and again he was defeated by the Adversary.  Finally, one eveing he came to the meeting carrying an ax and a large wooden stake.  Aftere dedicating himself once more, he drove the stake into the ground where he had knelt to pray.  As he was leaving the tent, the Devil came to him as usual, trying to make him believe that his commitment to God was not genuine.  He quickly returned to the stake, pointed to it, and said, "Devil, do you see this stake? This is my witness that God has forever accepted me." Immediately the Devil left him, and he never experienced doubts again.   From the Still Small Voice As of late, I have driven my own stake in ...

Recently, I (Phyllis) have joined the group MOPS.  It is a group of women that encourages moms of preschoolers and young children.  This week, there was a speaker who talked about the 5 different love languages.  Based on Gary Chapman's book, the speaker shared that each person has a specific way that they receive or feel love best.  She suggested that in order to reach your children, husband, and other treasured people in your life, it is best to know their love language and speak to them THAT way.  As Brian and I prepare to parent Gunner in the years ahead, I think the information will be very beneficial.  So?  I thought I'd share!  Love Language #1--Physical Touch--Whether it be an embrace, a pat on the shoulder, or a kiss on the cheek, children who speak this love language feel it best when there is physical contact. (This is me holding Gunner in an embrace....:0)) #2--Quality Time--People who speak this love language feel loved when ...

Right now the Hoveys are in the middle of big changes....we are in the process of putting on an addition to Brian's parents home.  Brian and Gene (Brian's dad) have been busy with planning and executing those plans to keep the work moving forward.  They are in the thick of things daily and are not afraid to get their hands dirty!  Gunner would be out there helping too, but then he'd get his hands dirty, and right now everything goes to his mouth!  While I am sure there will be days when Gunner will eat dirt in the future, I'm not ready for the repercussions of that yet! Here is some of the work done so far.... This is a picture of the original house from the driveway looking over. This is a picture of the original house from the front yard. (It's very similar shot to the one above)  Here is a picture of the tree in the front yard cut down and the front porch torn off.   Here is a closer shot of the guys working on putting up the hou...

As of two weeks ago tomorrow, our Gracious God spared my Mom's (Phyllis) life in a terrible car accident.  Mom's injuries included many broken bones (four vertebrae, three ribs, scapula, and collar bone) and lots of bruising.  Below is her vehicle after the crash.  What you can see in the photo is that the accident was bad.  What you CAN'T SEE is that there is good coming out of it, but truly, by God's mercy it is true! God not only preserved mom's life, but He gave her a new life to enjoy......Gunner's.  Since mom's accident, Gunner and I have spent substantial amounts of time with her.  She told me just the other day that it has been a gift to be able to get to know her grandson.  While she can't change his diaper or feed him and do that kind of stuff, she gets to SEE him grow.....she gets to talk to him and kiss his cheeks.  She gets to SEE him. In my mind, this is a gift for both mom AND Gunner.  Lord willing, in a couple years fr...

Well?   We are moving forward in pursuing Christ with our lives.   It has meant a lot of letting go this last week--letting go of the temporal and pursuing the eternal.   What is REALLY going to last and what should REALLY be my priority? Allow me to explain…… Brian and I are moving forward with the sale of our first home together.   As we seek to give our all to Christ, it has included giving up the tangible dwelling to pursue a greater eternal one.   In all honesty?   It is hard and wonderful to be coming upon this new season of our lives.   Hard because there is so much to surrender at times; wonderful because Our God has asked us to, wonderful because we get to do the journey together, wonderful because we are having to live by faith as we embark on this grand adventure, wonderful…….wonderful for so many reasons! As we press forward and say good-bye to our earthly home, I can’t help but reflect on what it might have been like for our dea...

We successfully made it back to MN and have taken this last week to get a few things back to normal……a new normal.  We are still far from being settled into a routine which I (Brian) am sure Gunner will appreciated greatly soon!  Our time on the east coast this last month was one filled with great challenges, but also some really wonderful times.  We had lots of information filtered through our minds and we also were able to hear of amazing things God is up to around the world. So the question arises….what is next for the Hoveys?  Well I can tell you with first-hand experience, I would love to know!  We do know that God has called us into full-time service and that is what we are pursuing one step at a time.   As we mentioned in a previous post our plan is to take a survey trip to Papua New Guinea (PNG).  Lord willing we will be taking this trip in November of this year and will be there about 5 weeks.  This trip will be necessary to ga...

We just wanted to take a minute to inform all our readers that the Hovey family has officially been appointed as ABWE missionaries!  We are praying through a location TBD, but we have narrowed the world down to two fields where we feel we can best serve......Papua New Guinea and Chile.  We will, Lord willing, be taking a survey trip to PNG at some point this fall to see the ministry there and meet the team.  It would then be our hope to make our final decision.....please join us in praise to the Lord on this special day and also in prayer for the Lord's continued direction and will for our lives! 

We are here sitting in a hotel near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  We arrived here on Tuesday afternoon after a lengthy drive from Minnesota.  We had left Sunday after church.  Thankfully the drive went well, we did not hit any major construction, and Gunner was a champ!   Yesterday was the first big step forward as we went through an oral doctrinal exam at ABWE (Association of Baptists for World Evangelism).  What that means is we were questioned for a couple hours by a few individuals about our beliefs, and how be can prove those through Scripture (The Bible).  To God be the glory we passed the exam and were permitted to continue forward in the process!!!!!  Today was the first day of the Candidate Seminar.  To understand what this is I have included a snip-it below: PURPOSE To instill into the candidate a growing understanding of, and identification with, the ABWE spirit and philosophy of ministry To complete the screening of potent...

Well, Brian and I are happy to report that we all made it to MN with NO ISSUES!!!  Praise the Lord!  Gunner was a trooper on the plane and in the airports.....he even did better than me and Brian! (We were a little overtired.)  Gunner got enough sleep for ALL of us though, thanks to the many who coupled with us in prayer over this matter.  We also did not have an issue getting out of the country as we had to work through some last minute visa changes.  To God be the glory we made it one step further on this journey! Here are some of the people he's met so far..... He is drumming up Chilean spirit with the cousins! Cousin Kilee, Uncle Pete, Cousin Makenna, and Aunt Heather Aunt Evie Great Aunt Doreen and Grandma Thomas Grandpa and Grandma Hovey Great Aunt Margaret  Grandma and Grandpa Thomas Great Grandma Thomas Soon-to-be Aunt Marcheta and Uncle JW Uncle Maynard We also took Gunner visiting to P...