The Winds of Change

 

It's been over four years since I first came to Papua New Guinea (PNG) in 2009 (I had just arrived in the picture above), and the privelege that it's been to serve here has been huge.  I'm sure that by now most of you have heard about the changes coming up for us here - the outpouring of support and encouragement has overwhelmed us!  After over 20 years of existence in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, the Interface (ITF) campus will be closing down this year.  A year ago none of us could have guessed that our lives would be changing so quickly!  Over the years we've seen a drastic decrease in the number of students coming through our programs - a trend that, sad to say, hasn't just affected us, but many different organizations around the world.  We fought hard to make this place survive, but eventually realized that change was inevitable.  Soon, the current Interface property will be closing down and moving locations to an existing New Tribes Mission (NTM) orientation center at the coast.  

 

At Interface we exist to teach, and if there aren't enough students our campus suffers.  At the coast, however, by joining the current missionary orientation program with Interface we're helping keep Interface alive.  The program as we know it will look drastically different, but we know that while we only see the small scale of things, God sees the big picture and sees that this is GOOD.  And still our hearts break to see the end of this incredible place. To us Interface isn't just a program - it's these buildings and this community and the people in our surrounding villages and the memories of what God's done in us and through our students.  And so we've mourned this loss. 

 

I mentioned this quote from the book Streams in the Desert in a recent update:

 

"God often seems to place His children in places of deep difficulty, leading them into a corner from which there is no escape. He creates situations that human judgment, even if consulted, would never allow. Yet the cloudiness of the circumstance itself is used by Him to guide us to the other side. Perhaps this is where you find yourself even now.

Your situation is filled with uncertainty and is very serious, but it is perfectly right. The reason behind it will be more than justified by Him who brought you here, for it is a platform from which God will display His almighty grace and power.

He not only will deliver you but in doing so will impart a lesson that you will never forget. And in days to come, you will return to the truth of it through singing. You will be unable to ever thank God enough for doing exactly what He has done."

 

And so we praise Him...not because we like what's happening but because we're trusting in the One who sees the end result and knows how this is working together for OUR GOOD and HIS GLORY. 

 

(below is the Interface family (minus two families in the States right now), March 2013)

 

So what's next?

 

Although Interface will still exist, just in a different setting, most of us will not be moving with the program to the coast. For no particular reason, really, other than we feel that with the closing of this property our time with Interface is finished and God is creating something new.  Some families are moving into other areas of work with NTM in Papua New Guinea, others have finished their associate (short term) work here and are returning home, and one family will be moving back to the States to work at the New Tribes Bible Institute in Michigan, USA.  And me? God made it very clear, very quickly that my time in PNG was done and He had something new planned for me.  I ache at the thought of leaving my home in PNG, but at the same time am excited to share that I'll be moving to Ontario, Canada to work at the NTM Headquarters and Training Center. 

 

(below are myself and my graduating class (plus some staff) at the training center in Ontario in 2005) 

  

 

The two years I spent in the training from 2003-2005 were life altering for me, and I've often thought of the possibility of moving back there over the years.  God was faithful (and very blunt) in closing those doors each time, but was just as faithful to open the doors very wide last month when I was asked to join the team there.  Many students who complete the Interface program end up returning home and going through the entire missionary training with NTM (and with many other organizations).  I'm excited to get a chance to be involved with this next phase of students' lives, especially knowing how it impacted my own life. 

So often I shy away from pain and difficult circumstances.  But I'm convinced now more than ever that as we entrust our lives to Christ, the circumstances He allows in our lives are perfectly right and perfectly justified, and if we cling to Him we'll find that we will be unable to ever thank God enough for doing exactly what He has done.

"I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known, I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight.  These things I will do for them, and not forsake them."  Isaiah 42:16