NOVEMBER PRAYER LETTER

Dear friends and prayer partners,

We are well into November and many of you are thinking about your Thanksgiving plans with family and friends. We have much to be thankful for in this last year. The year hasn't been without stresses and challenges, but we have seen God's faithfulness in the midst of each of those circumstances.

A lot has happened since our last prayer update. We did go to Lae to fill in as the managers at the center there for 3+ weeks. We thoroughly enjoyed our time and had a great staff who helped us make things run smoothly. The variety of work to be done fit well with Sam's personality and he thrived on it. He was also able to meet with a number of church leaders in preparation for some meetings that happened in October and November. Being in the office was a good change for me from what I have been doing too. The kids enjoyed school break and being able to swim in the pool. Abigail even abandoned the life jacket the last week and was starting to get comfortable being in the water. Even though there weren't lots of friends around, they still had fun eating out for their birthdays and even snuck in a little party with some friends who came down for a few days. We are so thankful for the time we spent there and the refreshment we received.

Both Sam and I are very busy with work related issues. Sam continues to divide his time between programming for Aviation and working with the church leaders. Please pray that he could get some focused time to devote to this Aviation program, so that he can complete that and not have it hanging over his head. He is seeing so many opportunities of ways that he can be involved with the church leaders, but really can't do more than what he is currently doing until the programming for Aviation is finished. God is doing some exciting things here in PNG and we look forward to seeing how He wants us to be involved with that. The church leaders have been enthusiastic about finding ways they can be a part of the Bible translation work. I have been doing lots of office related work for the Church Engagement office, but feel I need to cut back a bit as things are feeling a bit out of balance at the moment.

In recent emails, we have asked for prayer for the security situation in the area. At the moment, things are quieter. However, there have been a number of large issues that have come up in the last two months. Please pray for long term resolution to these situations and for wisdom for our administration and the leadership in local villages to know how to proceed. Because of Sam's involvement in the local villages, these things have been taking a toll on him.

Please pray for us as we try to balance all the demands on our time and that we could get good rest at night. Pray especially for Sam as he wakes up feeling exhausted even after sleeping all night. We are both weary and in need of some rest. Pray for wisdom for us as we raise our kids, that we know how to lead them in God's ways.

Thank you for continuing to lift us up in prayer. We know that your prayers are what keeps us going when we are weary. You are vital to the work of getting God's Word to the people in PNG.

In His Grip,
Deb, for Sam, Nathanael, and Abigail

Smucker Photo Journal

Nathanael's 6th grade class went to the nearest town of Kainantu to do a skit and pass out tracts. Brent (another missionary) and Sam also spoke to the crowd about becoming Christians and living right. No matter where you are, you can always draw a crowd to hear what you have to say. Nathanael is the tall boy in khaki shorts in the middle of the picture.