We always hear that prayers can be answered as, “Yes,” “No,” or “Not right now.” We have come to know that last answer very intimately over the past year. But praise the Lord, we have a different answer now! We have visas to enter Papua New Guinea and tickets to depart on November 10, arriving in Port Moresby on the 12th via Manila, Philippines. We were able to get our passports sent back to the PNG embassy, the visas processed, and on their way back to us within about 22 hou

At the beginning of August we had hoped to be sending out a “leaving for Papua New Guinea” newsletter. When we got news that the final approval for our visas had come through, despite issues and delays in Port Moresby, we anticipated that we would have our passports back with visas in them within a week or two. So we bought tickets for August 30, and made all the travel arrangements for getting back to our home in PNG. Now it looks like all that might have to be adjusted. Tec

Seven months ago we started on what has been a very common path for us throughout the years: renewing a couple of passports. This normally takes one to two months, then we are free to pursue other paperwork and travel. Little did we know that our October 6 applications for two of our boys’ passports would become a much longer saga. At the end of November, the two passports came back in the normal time, but with pictures switched. We called the 1-800 number within minutes, and

Recently another translation team in PNG published the Gospel of Luke and wanted to do 20 different picture booklets from Luke in time to sell them at the dedication of the first Gospel in their language. The advisor did the work of getting the text together, then a friend of ours in Australia put in the ISBN numbers and permissions. Then she was able to electronically send the files to Ukarumpa, where a couple of guys put them on a thumb drive so the large files could be flo

Why do you need to own a car? Why do our kids go to school for 12 years? You probably haven’t thought deeply about these questions. They’re just part of the background of the way our society and culture work, although both of those are fairly recent innovations. Why does “the gray ugly big monster” sound weird and “the big ugly gray monster” sound better in your head? It’s your built-in understanding of the rules of the English language. The Solos people, culture, and languag

New things are both thrilling and nerve-wracking. We like our routines—they are comfortable. But most of the time we have to break out of them in order to make specific progress. Having just arrived back in the USA, we are experiencing a lot of new things. Amaziah in the mission airplane for the first leg of our trip Transition is nothing new for us, but this time it’s a little bit different. We’re not on a regular furlough, where our job would be to connect with people and

Anxiety. Depression. Other mental health issues. These are not new to those serving in God’s kingdom, as Elijah experienced. They also don’t make sense, and can peak at times when things are going well. These issues are also not new to our family. Christy has experienced them to varying degrees for many years. At this time we’re planning to return to the USA for a while to seek treatment for these things, and for some lingering physical health needs, as well. It might take

Our first few months in Papua New Guinea have been busy, interesting, and even frustrating at times. After almost a year of virtually zero impact, COVID has begun affecting PNG in 2021 in a major way, with widespread transmission in some areas, and a large number of people getting seriously ill and some dying (see https://covid19.info.gov.pg). We started right in to working after our quarantine ended in March. The boys jumped into schoolwork even before quarantine ended. Chr

A missionary friend of ours mused about Deuteronomy 18:1-8 in a recent newsletter. “I was struck by how the Lord set aside some of his people to forego an inheritance of land, and thus income and sustenance, and to receive what they needed from the abundance God would give the rest of His people.” She pointed out that although there are differences between the Levitical priesthood and modern church/mission workers, “...the idea that God would bless most of His people and thro

In December, two hurdles loomed large, keeping the Doyles from being able to return to their work with Bible translation in Papua New Guinea. One was a need for about $1500 more in monthly pledges of ministry support, and the other was the cancellation of the only flight into PNG as of January. But neither of these needs was too big for God! In January, the final pledges of support came in, some from churches, others from individuals wanting to increase their monthly support,