Monday, May 18, 2020

Update Letter

**I realize I haven't posted in a really long time and there is a lot to catch up on. To be fair I did warn you that once I started teaching I would probably never blog again. I'm still not really "blogging" because I am just going to post our most recent update letter here. I'm not in a place to emotionally or mentally where I can write out all my uncensored thoughts and feelings about all that is happening like I normally do here, because honestly those thoughts and feelings seems to change by the hour. So anyway, I'll just put this here for informational purposes only..


Many of you have followed the intense journey we have been on over the last month through email and Facebook, so you know that the last 30 plus days have been a whirlwind of events and emotions that in some ways seem indescribable. Somehow, I am going to try to describe them here, and share some news about some big changes happening for our family and the Hewa ministry.

As most of you know, I (Jessi) have been dealing with some significant health issues over the last few years that have had us traveling back and forth from PNG, Australia, to the U.S. to try to find answers and relief. We spent a year in the U.S. in 2018 to try to find solutions to the various things going on with my health. It was a difficult year for us as most of those “solutions” could not happen as long as we lived overseas. We had a difficult decision to make then: do we stay and treat my conditions or do we go back to PNG until I can no longer function?

After a lot of seeking the Lord’s direction in prayer and weighing all of our options, we felt like we needed to go back to PNG to try to finish the task we started with the Hewa ministry. We wanted to see a mature church planted among the Hewa people, and we were very close to that conclusion as elders and deacons had just been appointed in the church. We knew, however, that those elders and deacons needed more teaching, guidance, and discipleship before they were left on their own. We also knew that nothing I had was life threatening, and could wait another year or two for treatment.

We spent the year on our mission’s largest center so we could be close the medical clinic and doctors for when I had flare-ups. John Michael continued lesson writing and discipleship with the people, and I was able to teach fourth and fifth grade at the mission school. We spent the entire year in prayer about our future in PNG, weighing what was going on with my health with where the Hewa church had needs. We came to the conclusion in March that our time in PNG would end in June at the close of the school year, and when John Michael finished writing lessons for the Hewa church on the book of James. The elders were doing a great job, and our co-workers also decided to move out of the tribe permanently to let the church stand on its own two feet. This is the natural progression of a tribal church plant, to work ourselves out a job, and we knew that we had come to this point in the ministry.  We spent early March discussing our plans and decisions with our leadership teams in PNG and the U.S. and planned on sending an email to all of our supporters and churches in April to let you know that we would moving back to the U.S. in June.

However, just like most of you, our lives were turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. All missionaries on the field with underlying health issues were asked to leave the field by our leadership team and doctors because borders were closing, and treating us would become more difficult and dangerous. Although, we were devastated to have to leave our home and country of service for the last nine years so soon and so quickly, we agreed with and respected their decision. We packed up and sold everything as quickly as possible, said the goodbyes that we could and desperately scrambled to get back to the U.S. before all the surrounding countries that we would have to pass through closed their borders. We purchased and then had to cancel a total of 4 different sets of tickets because borders and countries were closing very rapidly without notice. It was devastating to us that we would not be able to go back into the tribe to say goodbye to our Hewa brothers and sisters, but we are praying that the Lord will allow us to go back one day to see them and properly say goodbye. Our trip home was full of unknowns and rapid changes, and we even had a very close call in the country of Singapore where we were told that we would be turned over to immigration if we didn’t get on a flight before the country closed its borders in the next few hours. We were so thankful to the Lord for sending an airport employee who worked incredibly hard to make sure we got on a flight to the U.S. just minutes before the deadline to be out of the country.

We arrived home exhausted but thankful to be back in America even though our luggage was still in Singapore with no way of knowing when they would get it to us with all the cancelled flights and border closings.

However, after only two days of arrival, John Michael began showing symptoms of COVID-19 shortly followed by myself, his dad, and finally his mom. Through all the chaos of trying to get home, we had no time to find another place to quarantine, so we came to John Michael’s parents home where we got sick, and then infected them as well. Most of us had what are considered “mild” cases of the virus, but we still felt pretty bad for two weeks. His dad, however, did have to be hospitalized with pneumonia. Thankfully, he never had to be put on a ventilator, but stayed in a regular room on oxygen while he received treatment for a week.

Currently we have recovered from the virus and are continuing to shelter in place as much as we can just like the rest of the country and most of the world.

Right now, our plan is to continue to stay on with Ethnos360 (NTM) until the month of July, so that John Michael can finish the James lessons and email them to our area leadership who can put them into the hands of the Hewa church elders. We ask and pray that you would continue to support us as we make this transition so that these lessons can be finished for the Hewa church. Our family will still depend on your support to get this done. Please know that we are still passionate about missions, particularly reaching unreached people groups and Bible translation for those without God’s Word in their language. We are leaving with heavy hearts, but good standing with the mission and feel like the Lord will always have us involved in His work even if it is voluntary. Ethnos360 even offered us options to serve in ministries here in the U.S. but for now feel like Mississippi is where the Lord wants us. We have loved our time with Ethnos360 will continue to promote and encourage their ministries around the world.

While we are continually looking back at all the Lord has brought us through, and thanking Him for his protection and provision, I have to admit that we are questioning and wondering why He would bring us to this place of huge transition out of the life and ministry that we have be involved in for over a decade at what seems like the worst possible time. To have us completely start over, career-wise, while the world is shut down and most people are not hiring is frightening at times. I have frequently asked the Lord, “WHY?” over and over. But we have seen Him do incredible things in our lives in what the world would consider impossible situations, so we are clinging to the truth of His word and His track record of 100% faithfulness.

I apologize for the length of this update, but we wanted you all to have as much information as possible going forward with us. Again, we ask and pray that you would continue to support us through Ethnos360 through the month of July, so that John Michael can finish his work of Bible lesson writing for the Hewa church. After that time we will seek employment elsewhere, although right now we have no idea where that will be or what we will do. We desperately need your prayers for God to provide jobs for us in Mississippi where we plan to live for the foreseeable future.

There are no words to express how thankful we are as a family to all of you who have prayed and given financially to us so faithfully over the last nine years (13 for those of you who have been with us since our time in East Asia). We most certainly would not have been able to do any of this without your love, prayer, and support. We are praying for you all constantly during these turbulent times, trusting that our Creator who holds all things together (Colossians 1:17) will be faithful to us all through this current crisis.

With all our love,

The George Family
JM, Jessi, Lucy, Mattie, and Mia

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