Christmas is Coming!

Anyone else feel like Christmas is coming waaayyy too fast? Ok, glad I'm not the only one.

Our First Christmas Tree!

That being said, I also have to say, I absolutely LOVE Christmas time. I know in many circles there's an air of commercialism. A spirit of killing the Baby and promoting the Stuff. I know in other circles there's a debate about whether we should even celebrate Christmas since it was originally a day to worship the sun, not Christ. But honestly, I think the idea of having a special time to celebrate the birth of Christ is a precious one. Of course, the gifts are fun. The decorations are beautiful. The traditions are special. But a Baby born in Bethlehem is the most beautiful and special gift of all!

With my own baby on the way, I've had a lot of time to envision what things must have been like for Mary. When she felt her baby kick, she must have been in awe over the fact that the Son of God who had created her was so small, so helpless, and so dependent on her for life. When she dealt with morning sickness, she must have wondered why God had chosen her to bear the Messiah. She must have marveled over the miracle of life, but even more so, over the miracle of God becoming a man. What an incredible experience that must have been for her!

I hope that you are enjoying your Christmas season, and may we all think often on the Christ of Christmas... the miracle Baby who came to save us all.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. - Isaiah 9:6

Giving Thanks

Yes, I know Thanksgiving was yesterday, but hey, being thankful should go the whole year round, right? I've been challenged this month to really focus on being thankful. I've been attempting (and failing quite often) to think of at least 3 things that I can be thankful for whenever I encounter a frustrating situation where I normally would tend to complain. It's amazing to me how gratitude can change your entire outlook on a situation and can make your day so much more enjoyable. Paul was definitely right when he exhorted believers to always be thankful!

There are so many things that we have to be thankful for.

I'm thankful for God's unconditional love. I'm thankful that He calls me His daughter. I'm thankful that He never gives up on me. No matter what.

I'm thankful for an incredible husband who loves me, takes care of me, and is my best friend. I'm thankful for the new life growing inside me. I can hardly believe I'm halfway done with pregnancy!

I'm thankful for my wonderful family. For my loving, caring parents who hunger after God and His Word. For my beautiful sisters who are so much fun and love me, God, and others. For the beauty of adoption. For wonderful in-laws who have welcomed me with open arms.

I'm thankful for a warm, dry home. For the truck God provided for us so Clint can haul firewood. For food to eat each day. For how God has met all of our financial needs.

I'm thankful for my church family here and around the world. For the freedom to worship God. For having access to God's Word in our language.

There are so many other things I could say. God's goodness is overwhelming. His mercies know no end. What a reason to give thanks!

PNG Fact of the Day (4)

Question: What's the first step in taking the Gospel to an unreached tribal group in Papua New Guinea?

Answer: I would love to say it's something glamorous and very missionary-ish like eating grubs or sleeping in a mud hut with mosquitoes eating your insides out (because after all, isn't that what all missionaries write home about?) while you then use a few simple phrases to speak to the tribal people about Jesus and then about 200 people accept Christ and there is a huge revival. (I'm not really sure if all of that counts as only one step, though some people kind of try to lump it all together like that)

BUT... that's not reality

Really, the first step is a lot of work, and most of the time, it's done way before the missionary team actually gets there. It's called People Group Assessment (PGA for short). What's PGA you ask (even if you didn't know you asked)? Basically, it's where small teams of missionaries visit various tribal groups in a country to find out where is the most need for new missionaries to come. Currently, there are at least 15 new people groups in Papua New Guinea that have had a People Group Assessment and where New Tribes Mission would like to place new missionary teams. We will most likely be going into one of these groups in the future.

Here's a pretty cool, short video just released by New Tribes Mission that tells a bit more about PGAs. Check it out. May not seem "glamorous", but it's definitely necessary!


First Step // New Tribes Mission from New Tribes Mission on Vimeo.

The Ways of the Lord

My heart breaks for our missionary friends, Jon and Adie Leedahl and their three young boys. We have so many wonderful memories with this family from our training days in Missouri. They have such a heart for God, for their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and for the lost.

In mid-October, almost a month ago, Jon, who is a highly skilled missionary pilot working in Papua New Guinea, had a terrible motorcycle accident. Both his legs were severely injured, and he lost almost all his own blood. Blood donations from other missionaries kept him alive until they were able to fly him to Australia for treatment.

Jon lost his right leg. His left is battered and scarred.

When we heard the news, we sobbed. Hard. Why, God?

"Well, I guess this must be God's will." Some might say.

Yeah, but just because He allows it to happen doesn't make it easy. Doesn't make it fun.

Sometimes God's ways are definitely not my ways. I wish I could be like Jesus, crying "Not my will, but Yours be done," even in the midst of terrible tragedy. But my humanity gets in the way so often. I hurt. I question. I don't like the results. I don't understand.

Through it all, I have to remember that God is good. So, so, so good. God is loving. He is kind. He hates evil and suffering as much as I do, yet He uses each bad situation for the good of those who love Him.

If He is the most loving Being that exists...that will ever exist, I know I can trust His ways, even when I don't understand. Even when I don't see the beauty in them.

And there will be beauty in Jon and Adie's lives. There already is. There has been an overwhelming unity of believers around the world who are coming together for one purpose: to lift the Leedahls before the throne of God. Such beauty in the midst of brokenness!

Perhaps Jon's accident will call others to go. Will challenge others to lay down their lives in the service of a King who is so worthy. Who is so, so good and loving.

Perhaps it will cause others to pause. Take inventory of their lives. Ask "What am I really living for? Am I really willing to count the cost of following Christ?"

All I know is, God will bring beauty. That is His way. Even though all I see is the broken, He sees the beautiful.

The ways of the Lord are good.

You can follow Jon and Adie's story at http://theleedahls.com/.

PNG Fact of the Day (3)

A lot of people ask us about the weather in Papua New Guinea. Let's just say, it's hot there. Like really hot. It wouldn't really be so hot if there wasn't like 98% humidity all the time (ok, well, I might be exaggerating a bit. It's probably only 95%).

So basically, it's hot and humid, at least most of the time. There are definitely times when it cools off, and certain locations at higher elevations (like over 4,000 feet or more) have slightly cooler temperatures. But usually, it's pretty hot and pretty wet (if it's not wet outside from rain, you're wet from sweat). Yay for being close to the equator.

The Joys of Motherhood

I think it's starting to really hit me that I'm going to be a mom really soon (um, wasn't I just a kid like a few years ago???). I had a prenatal checkup yesterday, and we got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time! What an amazing, breathtaking experience! I can't wait to meet this little one!

I also gave in yesterday and bought my first pair of maternity jeans. So much more comfortable than regular jeans for my ever-growing belly! I'm showing quite a bit now, at least to those who know me well. Other people probably just think I'm getting fat, which is probably also true, but I guess I have an excuse. :)

Even though I know that raising children is a difficult task, one that requires a lot of patience, hard work, and sacrificial love, I am excited out of my mind and so incredibly joyful to get to be a mom! I'm so grateful for the godly example my mom showed me. I hope I will be half as good a mom as she is!

Oh Canada

We had a wonderful (and very busy) first weekend in Canada! We spent most of Friday and Saturday at Peace River Bible Institute where Clint attended several years back. We got to sit in on the school's missions conference, and we also attended a class reunion on Saturday afternoon, which was a wonderful time of fellowship with some of Clint's friends and former classmates.

Yesterday, we had the privilege of sharing about our future ministry with Gospel Light Alliance Church. It was such a blessing and encouragement to interact with fellow believers who have such a heart for God, His Word, and spreading the Gospel to the ends of the earth!

We've also been blessed to spend quite a bit of time with several of Clint's siblings who are living in the area. It's been good to connect with them and get to see some more nieces and nephews (well, really just one nephew).

Thanks for all of you who are praying for us during this trip! We appreciate it! Pictures to come soon! :)

Fall is Finally Here!

It's finally starting to feel like fall here on the Oregon coast. The temperatures are starting to drop and so are the leaves (I really miss the gorgeous fall colors that we have back East!). Time to start breaking out my tea cup and warm blankets! :-)

I also love fall because, if you're lucky enough to live near an apple orchard, you can pick apples and make apple pie, apple cider, and all those other delicious fall-ish apple things. We picked a bunch of apples (for free!) last Thursday. The result? 28 quarts of canned homemade applesauce and 14 quarts of homemade apple pie filling plus a few large boxes of leftover apples that are going in the basement. Yum! All set for the winter months!

We're headed up to Canada early tomorrow morning. Looking forward to seeing a bunch of our Canadian friends and several of Clint's siblings who live up there, and we'll also be speaking in at least one church. And I'm also looking forward to taking Baby Teele to Canada for the first time, although I guess it's not really very fun for him because he can't see it. Oh well. :-)

PNG Fact of the Day (2)

Ok, it's time for another fact about Papua New Guinea.

I'm sure all of you are familiar with the story of the tower of Babel. Right? (if you don't remember, check out Genesis 11) But what you may not be familiar with is that God did a REALLY good job of confusing the languages. Don't believe me? Ok, take a guess at how many languages there are in the world today (and don't look it up on Google first).

If you said anything short of about 6,900, you're wrong. Yup, that's right. There are almost 6,900 known languages spoken in the world today!!! Pretty mind-boggling if you ask me!

According to the Linguistic Society of America, "one area of particularly high linguistic diversity is Papua New Guinea, where there are an estimated 832 languages" (click here for article)

So, your fact of the day for Papua New Guinea: there are over 800 different (and distinct) languages spoken in PNG! There is a trade language called Melanesian Pidgin English, but it is a very basic language with only about 2,500 words.

One of our jobs when we move to Papua New Guinea as missionaries will be to learn one of these languages so that we can share the Gospel with the people in their own language. It will be tough, but we're excited!

Learning a new language is hard work!

Teele Daily Life

Wow, where in the world has September gone? I just realized sometime in the middle of the night last night that I haven't posted much this month... and now the month is almost over! Yikes!

Anyways... the last few weeks have been very good. We celebrated Clint's 28th birthday last Sunday. I made him lasagna and a blueberry pie... he was in heaven. :) And then last Monday, all of Clint's hunting excursions (pretty much every morning for the past month) paid off when he shot a cow elk! It's a huge blessing to have all that meat for the winter! 

Pregnancy has been going well for me. I think the doctors would say I am at about 12 weeks right now! I haven't been that sick, which has been a HUGE blessing! I definitely have bad days, but overall, it's been a fairly easy pregnancy. I'm so grateful! And it's super exciting to start to see a little baby bump! :) Can't wait to finally meet this little one!

As the weather gets cooler, Clint is starting some part time work thinning fir trees on the property where we are living. We are very grateful for the work as well as a wonderful place to live!

Yup, so that's a glimpse into our daily life right now. A bit ordinary, but it's definitely wonderful and full all the same. I hope that this month has been just as wonderful and full for you as well!