HoveyServinGod

Thank you to everyone who has joined the ranks in praying for our daughter, Moriah!  Last week, we sent out an update letter sharing that she has been having some issues with her tummy and skin irritation.  We were advised my our mission agency to consider coming home earlier to try and get some answers to these issues as we have been treating symptoms and not addressing the root issue.  After prayer and deliberation, we have been pursuing the option of coming home sooner. Currently we are trying, Lord willing, to come back May 30th.  Because our part of the world is mostly in lockdown or closed borders, that is the soonest that we could realistically try to leave.  We have applied for special transit visas to travel through Australia and we would appreciate prayers that these are granted because if they are not?  We will not be coming home yet.    Thankfully, we can trust our omnipotent Heavenly Father.  We can also place our ...

  There has been much talk about quarantine, self isolation and restrictions about going out around the world with the global pandemic at hand.  As we have heard others talk and have read articles about life in the US currently, we must admit there are some striking similarities to being a missionary.  Let us explain... The first is being separated from your "normal" life and really not knowing what to expect.  You can't go visit friends, catch a movie, or go to a nice restaurant.  The world can become very small and isolating.  When we first signed up for missions full time, we expected a lot of things to be the same as going on short term trips or even the couple years we served in Chile.  However, we changed fields, so things changed a bit more drastically for us.  We also went from serving in a first world context to a third world/developing world context.   We were in for many cultural adjustments!  Phyllis didn't know how to wash ...

Have you ever thought about what is church…...most would instinctively say it’s a building, maybe a place of worship?  Undoubtably your definition of what church is has been changed or restricted over the last few months.  The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the church as a building for public and Christian Worship. So, what happens what we can’t meet in this building…or in our case what if we don’t have a building…. does this mean the church stops or doesn’t exist? I (Brian) heard an interesting thought the other day about early Biblical leaders…..Do you think Paul asked Timothy, “Did you go to church this week?”....or Peter ask John, “What church have you been attending?”  I personally don’t think so, because their definition was different than what is common today.  So, what was their definition and what was the early church?  To start I looked up and found the word church is used 108 times in the Bible (New Testament only).  The first time th...

I reread a story in my Bible tonight that really got my attention in light of the current state of the world and the pandemic, COVID-19.   It reads as follows: Jonathan, the son of Saul, had a son who was crippled in his feet.   He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled, and as she fled in her haste, he fell and became lame.   And his name was Mephibosheth. 2 Samuel 4:4 Our Gunner will turn five in just a couple weeks.   He can’t wait!   Hahaha….isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?   Children should be celebrated as they are a gift from God. :0) Mephibosheth’s dad, Jonathan, died when Mephibosheth was only five years old .   That hits a little close to home!   Given the recent pandemic prognosis, it would be easy to become anxious at this possibility living here in PNG.   Weighty stuff to consider on a Sunday evening. Still, this story so captures the effects of ...

I have heard it said that your instrument of choice reflects something about your character.   I chose the cello.   I tried the piano, and I play limited guitar.   I have often wished I had stuck with piano lessons rather than cello because the piano seems more available and can be accompaniment, not just for solos or ensembles.   However, as I have thought on it as of late, I never would have made it as a pianist….I can’t multi-task for ANYTHING!!!   Hahahaha!   However, I DO see me in the cello. I do better supporting the melody rather than carrying it by myself, as a violin would.   As a mom I’m doing dishes, laundry, meal prep, etc. and while those tasks seem routine a lot of the time, they also hold the ensemble together! The song that comes to mind, when I think of me and my cello part is Pachelbel’s, Canon in D for a string quartet.   I had the privilege of playing that in an ensemble in Jr. High.   While I was tempted to cal...

🎶 I have decided to follow Jesus/I have decided to follow Jesus/I have decided to follow Jesus /no turning back/ NO turning back! 🎶 -?-  (emphasis added ) We have been trying to write a blog for several days here, but it is difficult to know what to say.  Is there risk?  Absolutely.  Are we going to stay? Until God directs us otherwise, YES. WHY, you may wonder?   Because Jesus Christ gave ALL to save us, and we love Him!   Papua New Guinea has caught up to the rest of the world and is in shut down mode.  All schools have shut down, flights grounded, and any ground travel not recommended.  We have been locking down the Bible College, however much of the country continues to do what they want as there is little to no enforcement.  There is a general sense that something is going on and a brew of panic as we go into any store.  Technology is not very prevalent here and most of what people hear is through word of mouth...and if yo...

Undoubtedly your last week has looked far different than you expected with the panic that is spreading across the world due to the corona virus.  We have been told there are no confirmed cases in PNG yet, but in reality there has not been testing for it either.  So as we see the news stories and information spreading it seems to be a bit of a title wave encroaching at our doorstep.  We can’t control what is coming, but we can decide what we are going to do with it....  Sometimes when it rains, it pours...literally.   You might be surprised to know that our little fellowship at Makia didn’t meet this Sunday.   It wasn’t because of the feared virus.   It wasn’t government mandated.   It wasn’t because our numbers necessitated it.   It was due to rain. There were no livestream options available to our believers.  There wasn’t another Bible believing church they could reasonably walk to.  We did try to gather, but our pop up canopy and...