April has been full of new life!

Are you seeing new life this season?  This Spring we are seeing new life in our village ministry and also at home, where prayers were answered for our family.

Osi was invited to preach in our village church for the first time this month!

He preached on Matthew 22:23-45  about knowing the Word of God and the power of God. 

This was an honor to be invited to preach after being members of our Tongan Methodist church for the past 4 years. 

IT was humbling because our church held a feast for us also, to celebrate Osi's first time preaching in the church. 

I (Jen) also was invited for the first time, to lead the Monday morning prayer and intercession "Fai Lotu". I felt honored but also intimidated to speak in formal Tongan language for a whole hour!  Plus there is a very specific format: greetings; reading and singing several Tongan hymns; reading Tongan scriptures; then intercessory prayer; devotional about the theme, and corporate prayer etc. etc. I was scared to death when I got on stage!

 But then God's peace that passes all understanding fell on me in the moment, giving me strength to do the job. Oh Thank you Jesus! 

"Enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise.  Give thanks to Him and bless his name.  For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness through all generations." - Psalm 100:4-5

A new home for Mele and Halatanu!

In the first week of April a young couple from our village, came over and asked Osi if he could help them by building them a little shack. They said they couldn't afford to hire a "real" carpenter.  But they wanted to move away from their in-laws and live together with their two small children.

They have a small piece of land and some building materials saved up.

 It was slow going at first because they had cheap warped wood, making it difficult to build a straight house. But praise God for giving Osi strength and wisdom to get it done, and it turned out much better than they expected!

Another blessing was after the first week of buding the foundation and framing, other guys came and joined in to help volunteer their time and tools. Working in teams is always our favorite way to serve and minister.  Thank you so much dear friend for partering with us in missions. May our generous God grant you wisdom also, in ALL of your work.

Our boys are all enjoying Tongan life and school!

They just finished their first semester of school so we went camping with friends...They also enjoy being in our village church youth group and Sunday school programs as a family.  We had a great visit from Osi's parents and our dear friend Ellen in April also. 

Of course the boys still spend most of their free time playing together outside and with all their village friends....lately they have been carving cricket bats and learning that popular British  sport.

Our Lights are Back On

We didn't have regular electricity for the past couple of months since returning to Tonga. Because a bug got into our solar inverter, causing it to short.  Trouble is it took us nearly 3 months to find an electrician who knows solar power and he fixed our inverter. Praise the Lord!
it was hard not having electricity and we are so grateful to have it on again.

Plaster Faster was a Success!

Thanks so so many of you who donated towards our project "plaster Faster".  So we were able to hire a team of skilled workers from our own village to cement plaster our house. This cement sealing helps to keep the wind, rain and Bugs out. Thank you!! 

Preparing for May!

I (Jen) had a visit from a dear church friend Malia recently. We talked about raising children (she raised 6) while sewing buttons on my boys shirts for Fakamae ❤️😄 We are so grateful to Taliaho Fonua Vaiomounga for sewing these 6 beautiful shirts for children's Sunday!!

Stay tuned for our newsletter next month! May is family month in Tonga so our village church will be celebrating children's Sunday, then Mother's Sunday, and then Father's day the third Sunday.