Category Archives: PNG Updates

Current News, PNG Updates

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord… We’re so thankful that He does!

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Over the Ocean – close to Cairns, Australia – a LONG flight (14 hours).

According to the dim glow emanating from the LCD screen in front of me, I am writing to you from 34,000 feet approximately 500 miles off the eastern coast of Australia.

What a whirlwind of activity the last few months have been.  Packing up our home in the Philippines, preparing for the quadrennial General Assembly in Indianapolis (June), arriving in the States on May 5th, speaking across the nation from the West Coast to Ohio, officiating our Niece’s wedding in Central California, a family reunion in Idaho, a mission open house at Mission Aviation Headquarters in Nampa, taking EVERY opportunity to love on our kids and grand baby, and now…preparing to descend to a new chapter south of the equator!

Brunch with Family before heading to the airport.
Officiating our Niece and Nephew-in-Law’s (Elise and Igor) wedding.
Sharing Passion and Purpose at the SDMI Convention with my Brother Pastor Sam Tamayo!
Loving on our granddaughter.
Precious moments.
A final family picture before heading to security.

We’re glad that the Lord has promised us, “He knows the plans He has for us,” because a year ago and even as late a today, I certainly wouldn’t have anticipated this plan!

Making sure we hit 50lbs each and not more!
Baggage Embargo – means unloading and re-packing.

On Thursday morning, we met at a local restaurant with our kids and parents for a late brunch and then headed to the Boise Airport to say our good byes.   At the airport we were informed of a baggage embargo (limiting the number of checked bags allowed during this period of the year) and so we began the process of unpacking our action packers to turn 6 packers into 4.

Our prayer is always that we represent Christ well, regardless of the circumstances faced, and so thanking the counter agent for her understanding (as she processed our passports and tickets and gave us time to go and re-pack all of our bags) we started unloading in the lobby of the airport.  The young counter agent was from Guam and we had shared our connection of living in Micronesia back in the 90s and how much we had loved Guam and the people there. There was a connection and I think she was amazed that we weren’t having a typical “passenger meltdown.”

About 25 minutes later, as we were repacking, the counter agent came up to us and said that she had worked with her supervisor, had pulled some strings, and that we were going to be able to send all 6 bags, and be charged no luggage fees for the extra two pieces!  Connie was in tears of joy!  So we re-packed a third time and sent the bags through.  (Thank you to our girls and parents for helping us navigate this small hurdle!)

And then our flight was delayed….  Before we even said goodbye to family, we were informed that the smoke on the West Coast had snarled traffic in Seattle and that our flight was pushed back an hour, giving us just 9 minutes connection time in Seattle.  Then pushed back again, and now we would be arriving after our connecting flight was to have departed.

I’ll tell you, technology is great!  While we were sitting at the gate, we received an email from Delta alerting us that they had gone ahead and cancelled our reservations for today and re-booked us for Saturday, getting us into Cairns late Sunday night.  Not what we wanted to hear…but at least we were informed (thank you Delta for doing a good job of keeping us informed!)

Connie, seeing challenges as opportunities to make new friends!

And so… quick keyboarding by desk agents, some more “strings pulled” a reroute through Salt Lake City, and rather than having to go home, come back and repeat the checkin, security, wait game a day later, we made it to LAX and are flying on our original international flight and will be landing in 57 minutes in Sydney.  What did we gain?  New friends and new connections with more people who will hear about what God is doing!

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”  Jeremiah 29:11-12

Connie and I rest in the assurance that He does have our plans in His hand.  Our job is to remain patient and to look for the opportunities to be “Salt and Light” and to respond in a counter-cultural way…to respond with grace and peace regardless of what we are facing.

Then God can use us wherever we go.  I just smiled in amazement once again as the desk agents came up and gave Connie a hug after closing the gate and leaving (while we stayed waiting patiently for our re-booked flight).

Thank you Lord for another day to serve!  And thanks to each one of you who continue to pray and encourage us along this journey.

Todd and Connie Lou – from Cairns to you!

Current News, PNG Updates, Prayer Requests

And then…The New Chapter Begins!

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It is truly amazing how the Lord works.  If you had told Connie and I that we would once again be serving on the front lines of missions through mission aviation, we would have smiled and told you, “that chapter in our lives has passed.”  We so truly believed that it had…and then…

You know…that is one of the greatest statements when we are serving the Lord, “and then.”   And then something that we never imagined happening…happens!

In October of 2016, we were contacted and asked to consider the Country Director position with Mission Aviation Fellowship in Papua New Guinea (follow this link for a more detailed  review of the assignment).  We turned down the idea as a “distraction.”  We were very happy with our ministry on the Asia-Pacific Region and in Manila, and we didn’t see any need for change.

And then…a contact in December, and then again in January of 2017, finally got us to really thinking and praying about whether the Lord could be in this request.  After discussions with our Regional Director and the Global Mission Director (Nazarene Missions) we were given the green light to pursue additional discussions with Mission Aviation Fellowship.

In February we travelled to visit the Mission Aviation Fellowship operations base in Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea, met with the PNG National Board for MAF, and then visited the leadership / support team, office and facilities in Cairns and Mareeba, Australia.  The trip was very enlightening and the Lord’s hand was evident.

Church service with some of the MAF team in Mt. Hagen.
Fresh day for a flight!
Praying for the delivery of the new Caravan from Mareeba to Papua New Guinea.
Todd checking out the Caravan at the MAF Mareeba base.
Todd and Stephen Charlesworth standing in the shade of the wings!
Checking out the Caravan at Mareeba, Australia.
Arriving at the MAF, Cairns, Australia office for meetings.

The rest has now become history!  We returned to the U.S. and had a very heavy speaking schedule through May and June, finishing with the quadrennial General Assembly in Indianapolis, Indiana, the last two weeks of June.

Now it has been meetings, orientation, paperwork, finalizing details with the Nazarene Missions and working through the transition with our World Mission Communications Team.

The days are short!  I (Todd) had the incredible opportunity of officiating my Niece’s wedding in Central California last week – what an honor and privilege.  This next week we are spending a few days with family for a family reunion,  having an open house / reception on Sunday, July 30th, (see this link for details) packing up our bags and heading to the new assignment on August 3rd.

Your prayers are greatly appreciated! Please pray for:

  • Wisdom as we make the necessary arrangements prior to our departure.
  • Family relationships and time together.  It’s challenging when we spend so many months away from our biological family.  We dearly love them and miss them greatly when we are apart.
  • The transition  as we learn a new culture, language, and mission team.  That God would give us sensitivity and wisdom way beyond ourselves as we learn our new roles and understand the ministry that He has called us to.
  • Resourcing.  This is a partner-funded mission assignment.  We truly believe that what God calls us to He will provision. This has been our experience for all of the years that we have been serving in missions.  We just need to be faithful in praying for connections with those whom God is leading to partner with us in the very tangible area of finances.

So many of you have travelled this mission journey with us for many years, for than 26 now.  We are so very thankful for your words of encouragement, prayers, and financial partnership.  We couldn’t be on the field, crossing borders and barriers with the gospel,  without you here praying and paying the price. THANK YOU!

We had a favorite verse that we shared in our publications back in 1991 when we first started our journey into Mission Aviation.  We are proclaiming it once again as we close:

12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service.  1 Timothy 1:12

Rest assured that we will be sending out more updates as we begin this new chapter….and be prepared for hearing the incredible stories of…. And Then God Showed Up!!!!