This is Oliver and I am writing my first blog. Today Jude and I went on a hike with my dad's language helper, Giye, and his sons. We hiked from our house to Giye's pig house. A pig house is a second hut they build to look after their pigs.

When our boys learned to read, we encouraged them with the words of our pastor: "Now you can hear from God yourself!" Learning to read means we can read God's Word, the Bible. What's why we need a strong literacy program here in the village! Oliver began reading the Bible right after his sixth birthday: February 2020, with a Bible given to him by his Aunt Sandy. In these 4 and a half years, he has plodded well, and on the 18th of October, 2024 he read the last chapter of Revelation! This is cause for celebration in our family. He had picked out a new Bible in the US and we gifted that to him and ate cake. The next morning, he began his second reading through the Bible. How different his understanding of Genesis must be at ten years old versus six!

Our mission organization, FinisTerre, recently sent a new family to do ministry in Madang. The Ruscios only arrived in PNG in July, so they are just starting to learn PNG culture and the trade language. As part of their orientation, they came up to stay in the bush for a week. We SO enjoyed getting to know them. Frank and Jacklyn have three boys and a girl, so it was a fun week for our kids, too! Eki gave them a proper welcome:

We have been back in the village for almost a month now! It has been a season of adjusting physically (cloth diapers, cooking, laundry...!) and relationally, doing the final unpacking/minor projects, and getting back to work. We are well, we are grateful, and we are moving forward with ministry! Here are some pictures. Jude and Oliver recruited some old friends to build a little shelter:

Much has happened in the last two months. Zach, Bryan Twombly, and Brett Stuart flew to the village in May for Zach's LAST build trip. They finished plumbing, painted the whole house, finished cabinets, and moved all our personal bins and furniture inside.

Happy birthday to Jude! Jude is the man. Quite literally. Our first born officially no longer qualifies for children’s fares on airlines or anywhere else such discounts are offered. He is certainly growing—now a towering 1,486mm (that’s 4 feet 10.5 inches for those not in the metric world). Jude does everything at full speed. He reacts quick to situations (too quick at times). And his reactions are big, be it big joy or big disappointment. He reads at blinding speeds and seems to finish a book a day. His consumption of food has started to rival his dad’s. He loves spice and lots of it — he’ll add buffalo or sriracha sauce to just about anything. He loves salt, butter, tacos, dessert, and dreaming about American fast food. Jude is a lover of people and adventure. He is quick to make friends with anyone his age, and usually leads the charge in whatever shenanigans they set their mind to. He notices when people are happy or hurting and intuitively knows how to sympathize. He has embraced life next the ocean with all the exploring, fishing, and snorkeling it has to offer. Jude is also growing in wisdom. He reads the Bible every morning and thinks deeply about eternal things. It has been so exciting to see the Lord growing Jude in his faith and repentance — especially as Jude faces the challenges of living overseas with a greater understanding of the costs. We love this buddy!

Thank you for praying for trip 9. The team from Countryside in TX were able to do so much! It was not only productive, but spiritually encouraging to have those guys visit and help.

Thank you to all who had prayed for the last build trip! With the three guys from Orland, the floor, frame, and roof were finished on our new house:

Double digits for this guy! Oliver brings so much laughter and beauty to our lives. He is the family funny man, with so many jokes, humorous anecdotes, and a contagious laugh. He also takes after his grandpa Bruce with his love of art, music, film, and all things beautiful. He is learning to play the piano, edit photos, and loves to draw and color. And while reading is not his favorite, he loves a good story. He enjoys people and becomes fast friends with whomever is around, whether we're in a city or jungle. He loves junk food, knives, screaming at the top of his lungs, pestering his sister, climbing trees, swimming in the ocean, and finding new ways to be Jude's best friend and worst enemy (Tom Sawyer would be proud of this kid). We're proud of him too. His actual birthday was low-key since his dad was on a building trip with friends from Orland, but he did want to go to Eden with the Twombly family: