Reaches to the Skies

Skipping Columbus Day this year

2009-10-07T19:21:00.000-07:00

Our little family of 4 will not be able to observe Columbus Day this year, but will move from the 11th to the 13th of October. How can this be, you may be wondering--do we own some sort of time machine? Not exactly, but we will be traveling through time in a large winged metal tube at a high altitude to skip October 12th. And in the spirit of Mr. Columbus, we will be crossing an ocean, though at a much greater clip than his clippers ever could (OK, so maybe they weren’t clipper ships, but it makes for a better pun…).

That’s right—we are flying back to PNG in less than a week! We will be leaving the USA on Sunday the 11th (just shy of midnight from LA, to be exact), and will cross the international date line during our 14 ½- hour flight to Sydney, Australia, landing there the morning of the 13th! Then on to Brisbane, then Cairns (all in Australia) for a couple of nights. After 37-plus hours of travel (about 24 in planes and the rest in airports), we will try to catch a bit of extra sleep in Cairns before leaving for PNG on the morning of the 15th. By the beginning of the following week, Lord willing, we will be back in our village home again, ready to resume our ministry there!

Please pray for us as we travel. Although I think we’re now past the need for wearing bathrobes on the airplane (knock on wood), the challenges of transoceanic travel with 2 active boys (almost 5 and almost 2) still warrant some extra prayer for their parents! Add to that the usual adjustments and also for continuing strength and stamina as we leave the flat pavement and hit the uneven muddy mountain trails again.

We cannot leave the US without first acknowledging all of you and the incredible blessing you’ve been to us through these difficult circumstances through your prayers, support and encouragement.

To recap the situation for you, 7 months ago (in February), Chad began feeling some pain while we were in the village. This pain then worsened over the next several months despite taking a long course of several antibiotics. We were able to push through until the end of May, when we came out a bit early for a scheduled translation check of Romans (which went well, praise God) to see the doctor at our mission center. At that time, it was necessary for us to return to the US. The months of June and July were largely spent seeing doctors and looking for answers. During one of these visits, a small tumor “just happened to be” found in Chad’s bladder which was malignant. We praise God that he enabled the doctor to find and then remove it by surgery on July 1st.

Shortly after this first surgery, we were able to continue seeking answers for this mysterious pain. A neurosurgeon evaluated Chad and put him on some strong medications and steroids which led to no improvement and so we went back to our family doctor in Sanford. He then referred us to a specialist who “just happened to be” one of only 2 in the country and 4 in the world who has performed the type of nerve surgery needed to help Chad’s pain. He also “just happened to be” the only one in the world using a new robotic system to perform the surgery in a more non-invasive and precise manner. And then, he “just happened to be” located a 2 hours’ drive from where we’ve been staying!!! Do you see the “coincidences” just piling up one after the other here? Hmm, looks like the loving hand of God to us…

So after consulting with this specialist, we had (and still have) no answers to the cause, but now finally had a course of action to deal with the problem—surgery to stop a rogue nerve from firing in an endless cycle of pain. Early in August, Chad’s second surgical procedure, a nerve block, was more of a test to see how helpful the main surgery might be. Although results were inconclusive (and somewhat painful), we were convinced that we should still proceed with the main nerve surgery on Aug. 24th.

When Chad underwent this 3rd surgery of the summer, he was one of only 200 in the world to have it, and only the 32nd patient to undergo this doctor’s specific robotic nerve microdissection and cauterization to stop the pain. And we are pleased to tell you that the surgery was a success in ending the constant pain!! Wow, what a gift from God that has been!

Chad’s fourth and final surgery in the space of 2 months (the beginning of Sept.) was on his right knee, which had been injured back in April. The arthroscopic procedure cleaned up some damaged cartilage behind his kneecap and also took out some torn pieces of meniscus. And that surgery has been an overall success, too, with just some exercise needed to continue to rehab and strengthen the knee and lower back and core. These exercises are beginning to pay off as Chad feels progressively better on a daily basis.

Though we would never choose to go through an ordeal like this again, God has graciously brought us through this, and our family is ready to sacrifice October 12th this year and maybe a few hours of rest along the way in our eagerness to rejoin our co-workers and friends in Toboland.

Enjoy Columbus Day without us, and you’ll hear from us on the other side!!

Chad, Janeene, Elijah, & Zekey

Update from Toboland

2009-09-14T12:16:00.000-07:00

Hi again everyone!
It’s been a while since you’ve had news from Toboland. Our partners the Knapps have settled in and Jason has resumed the teaching of Romans, picking up where we left off at the end of chapter 5 and getting into the great meat of the book, chapters 5b through 8. Praise God!

Also, our partners the Williamsons are gearing up for their first home assignment in November. Jason recently sent out this update, which was a huge encouragement to us. We wanted to pass it along to you just as he wrote it, as we think you too will be encouraged! Enjoy!

God has been reminding me lately of just how lovingly and patiently He works with His children. I must confess that sometimes I look at this small group of believers here in Tobo and I often ask God, “God when is this just going to explode and we will see everyone here in Tobo hear your Word and believe?” Sometimes I find myself discontent with where the Tobo church is at and so with this kind of outlook I so easily begin to lose sight of the fact that God is lovingly at work in these believers lives. God faithfully encouraged me as I was reading from 1 Corinthians 3. I was really encouraged by the example Paul laid out for us. He says “I (Paul) was like a wise master carpenter.” The truth of this statement didn’t hit me at first but as I took time to meditate on it the Holy Spirit reminded me that God is our ultimate example of a wise and skilled carpenter in how He works in our lives. A skilled carpenter takes pride in his work and pours all of his love and care into that project. When he builds something, he doesn’t just try to get it done as fast as he can, cutting corners and working quickly. He takes his time to make sure every part of his project is done with skill and is done perfect.

Paul also says there in 1 Corinthians that God is the one that gives the increase, or does the growing. How true that is. So many times I have been waiting for a huge breakthrough in the lives of the Tobo believers, for them to stand up to their culture and see many more Tobo people added to our numbers here. But that is not how God is working here in Tobo, God isn’t concerned with our numbers! He is a wise carpenter and therefore is taking his time pouring his loving care and wisdom into this small “band of believes”. Because God has been patiently teaching them, I have been seeing just how solid they are in their knowledge and understanding of the Gospel, their position in Christ and eternal security. As they have really come to grasp these complex concepts they have been becoming more and more bold in what they believe. Just the other day Welsin, my good friend came to my house to help me with some translation. Before we worked I was telling him what God had showed me from 1 Corinthians and how God is our carpenter and is always at work in our lives. He then told me…

(Welsen)

“God is at work in my life too, and I want to tell you about a chance that God gave me. Just this morning before I came to see you, I was out in the Jungle with 8 other people cutting wood for a new house. I knew that these people didn’t believe that all we have to do is believe in Jesus and God would be satisfied. So I asked them ‘do you think that you can follow our customs and do good things and that God will see that and be satisfied with you and you will receive eternal life?’ They all just sat there and a few of them said ‘we don’t know’. So I told them that we are all sinners and because of that we have a debt with God. However God knew that we couldn’t do anything to remove that debt on our own, so God saw this and was sorry for us and He freely gave Jesus to us to pay our debt. There isn’t another way to be acceptable in His eyes, it’s only by believing in Jesus that we receive eternal life. After I told them this, they all just sat there and said ‘wow this is a really big true talk’.”

I couldn’t believe it, this man is in Love with his savior Jesus Christ and he allowed God to use him to share with some of his friends what Jesus had done for him. I told Welsin how excited I was to hear this. He could have gotten scared and dismissed the opportunity to witness, but God gave him strength and he trusted in that. We both stopped and praised God and also prayed for those people that Welsin witnessed to that God would redeem them to himself as well. This whole incident brought me back to our great God the Wise Master Carpenter who has been faithfully and lovingly at work in Welsin’s life and in the lives of the other Tobo believers these last couple of years. He hasn’t been cutting corners, but taking his time so that these people here will be strong vessels that will bring glory to His name here in Tobo.

Thanks for praying for the believers here, please continue to pray that they will be a bold witness here in this dark place.

Your Hands & Feet,
Jason, Nisae, Kadynn, Judah & Eden

Thanks for taking the time to read this update, and thanks for continuing to pray with us for Welsen and our other Tobo brothers and sisters in Christ as they grow in their faith and boldness to share the Gospel in Toboland!

Chad, Janeene, Elijah & Zekey

a time for healing and some more exciting news

2009-09-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

Hi again everyone,

Well, the dust is beginning to settle from the nerve surgery, and it appears for now that Chad’s pain level has gone way down, with only a few twinges of pain here and there which may just be radiating from the incision wound. The next weeks will give us an even better idea as to whether the pain will return or how much pain will come back, as Chad increases his level of activity. Overall, though, we are glad to report that so far it looks like the surgery has been successful and very helpful in eliminating his original pain at a resting level. Chad goes in on the 15th for another followup, and it looks like he just needs to continue to build up more strength and then we can head back to our ministry in PNG in October, Lord willing.

Chad’s knee is sore and stiff from Friday’s surgery, but he is able to walk around without crutches or a cane. Stairs are still a problem, and once those are doable again on a normal level, then it looks like he will be well on his way to full recovery. The stitches come out tomorrow (Friday), so that will give Chad the opportunity to ask more questions of the doctor about the timing and limitations of his knee in the coming weeks.

So all in all this is a huge praise to God! This time has been very painful and trying for our entire family, yet we have seen the goodness and faithfulness of God in our lives. He deserves every bit of glory for getting us through these days. Would you please continue to pray with us as we trust Him for complete healing physically and preparations for our return? We would also like to take care of a number of logistics involving the followup visit to Australia in January, as it is so much easier to do so from here in the US than once we are back on the field. Thanks for your love and prayers!!

We also have some very exciting news for you! Chad’s Mom Nancy has finished her second book, a novel entitled The Outcasts. This is a unique and fascinating fictional story told from the perspective of jungle-dwelling villagers. Please give Mom’s new website a look and consider getting a copy today! The site is nancymankinshamm.com.

The site includes information about purchasing The Outcasts and her first book, Hostage. It is also a good way to get in touch with her by leaving messages and even includes fun things like a contest! Check it out today!!

Once again, thanks so much for all your love and prayers,

Chad, Janeene, Elijah & Zekey

update on surgery

2009-08-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much for praying for Chad’s surgery on Monday. The doctor said that everything went really well, but Chad needs to “recover” from the surgery for about 3 weeks before we know if it has been effective in relieving all of his pain. So for the first week, Chad is on bed rest, limited moving around the 2nd week, and we’ll have another doctor’s appointment by the 3rd week. We still appreciate your prayers that the pain will be gone and that we can resume our normal activities and get back to Papua New Guinea quickly.

One other quick one… Chad will be getting one more surgery September 4th, to repair his knee (hopefully his 4th and final surgery this summer!!). We don’t expect this to be anything too major, but he’ll still need a couple weeks to get back on his feet. By the end of all of this, I keep thinking I’m going to have a bionic husband! :)

Thanks also for praying for me and the boys in the next several weeks—

when I am weak, He is strong.

Janeene

Upcoming surgery

2009-08-16T14:44:00.001-07:00

Last Wednesday’s nerve block unfortunately did not offer much in the way of relief for Chad. However, after a follow-up consultation with the doctor, we have decided to go through with the surgery as scheduled on the 24th. One reason for this is that the success rate for this surgery thus far is around 90% for either full or partial relief, and up to now no one has suffered an increase in pain as a result. The biggest reason for us to proceed, though, is that we don’t have a lot more treatment options at this point, and the benefits far outweigh the risks.

So please be in prayer for Chad on the 24th! Pray that the surgery would be successful and lead to a complete removal or at least a good reduction of his pain. Pray for his doctor and the staff during the procedure, which should last around 3 hours. And pray for a speedy recovery and that we can return to our ministry among the Tobo in PNG soon. If things go well, we’d like to plan to return at the end of September.

On another note, we’d like to thank you all for your years of love, prayers, and support—financially, emotionally, and spiritually. We know that many of you who faithfully support us have been long-suffering in that we have not had the opportunity to visit and see many of you in person. And due to the circumstances of this time here, it looks like the wait to see many of you will continue until our next home assignment, which we have tentatively scheduled for 2011. It is our fervent desire to touch base with you during that time. Please know that we love each and every one of you and will do our best to come see you!

In the meantime, we’d like to offer some more ways to keep in closer touch: We have a couple of sites for you to visit and post comments. While here in the US, we’ve been adding past updates to them and would like to post more photos and other items. So feel free to check these out:

www.reachestotheskies.com The place to go for reading the most current updates, checking out photos, posting comments (which we would love to receive), and even subscribing to if you like. Also check out our archives, which contain past updates and photos.

www.ntm.org/chad_mankins This is our ministry website. It should have lots of information about our ministry in general, and it too allows for comments and subscription.

Thanks for praying! We’ll keep you posted!

Chad, Janeene, Elijah & Zekey

Zekey, 21 mos old, into mischief as we pack suitcases

Elijah, 4 ½ yrs old, enjoying a day at the beach

A "Tex message" update from the Mankinses

2009-07-31T06:42:00.000-07:00

We are now in hot Dallas, Texas. We flew here last week to fit in a good 2-week visit with family once we had some dates set for medical procedures in FL.

Early last week, we saw a specialist in Gainesville, FL, who did some more testing on Chad, and as a result we were able to schedule the following dates with him:

We fly back to Orlando on Tuesday (August 4th). Then the next day (5th), we go up to Gainesville for a procedure called a nerve block, involving an injection of steroids into a nerve which may be stuck in a cycle of firing and may be responsible for causing all the pain. If this works, it will bring Chad some temporary relief (anywhere from several hours to several days of relief), and will then tell our doctor that we are on the right track to proceed with a surgery on Aug. 24th. This surgery uses cutting-edge robotic technology, and would microdissect and cauterize a specific nerve or nerves. If all goes well with this surgery and it resolves the pain problem, Chad would need several weeks of recovery. And then in about a month, the doctor could see him again and clear us for return to PNG. This would put our return at around the end of September.

So we would like to both thank you deeply for praying and continue to ask for your prayers in these times.

Also be in prayer for our partners these days. The Williamson family are still ministering in the village alone, and will be looking forward to the return of the Knapps the first week of August. As if that last week before leaving the USA wasn’t hectic enough for us missionaries, the Knapps have had a little extra stress recently, with their youngest son Malachi Knapp (5 yrs old) visiting the ER with a kidney stone! So we know that Malachi and the whole Knapp family could use some extra prayer from us, too.

Still In God’s Loving Hands,
Chad, Janeene, Elijah & Zekey

good news and...

2009-07-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

We have some good news and some more for you to pray with us about.

First, the good news…the pathology report came back, and although Chad’s tumor was malignant, it was the non-invasive low grade variety, which means that since the doctor got it all, we won’t need anything like chemo, but only periodic checkups. Praise God with us for that!!!

He said that normally he would have Chad checked again in 3 months, but since we are, Lord willing, planning on being back in PNG before that time, then he would recommend that we get Chad checked in 6 months. So at that time we will look into the possibility of a trip to Australia or another nearby country with good medical facilities to have that done and then a quicker return to the ministry in PNG.

Which brings us to our prayer item: For us to return soon to PNG, we still need to get to the bottom of what’s causing Chad’s pain. We have seen a neurological surgeon who looked at the results of the spinal MRI, and though a synovial cyst was found, it does not appear to be linked to the area of pain. But he decided to try putting Chad on some medication to see if there is enough improvement to warrant more treatment on his part. It’s only been a few days now, and thus far results are fairly inconclusive. We will continue to consult with doctors and weigh further options. So far this has been a real mystery, but God knows all, and we can rest in that—and in His great love for us. Thanks for your prayers—they are much appreciated these days!

Please pray for:

~Wisdom for our doctors here, as they search for answers and a course of action to treat Chad’s pain.

~Grace for Chad as he deals with the pain on a daily basis. Many of you live with pain and know how chronic pain can wear a person down over time. Please pray for the grace and the peace that passes all understanding.

~Contentment, as we have had to adjust to this abrupt interruption of the work we’ve been doing in PNG. We know that this is what God has for us now, but it is still a struggle for us at times, especially knowing that we’ve had to leave our partners the Williamsons alone in the village and have left the young church in the middle of teaching through the great book of Romans. But we do know that God will work all this out for His glory and our growth—ours, our co-workers, and that of the Tobo believers as well.

We just need to go back to that again and again and choose to rest in God.

~Guidance in the future as we will need to find a good place for followup on Chad across the big water six months from now. Pray for all the finances, paperwork, and other travel logistics, as well as a good doctor and medical facilities.

Chad & Janeene
Elijah & Zekey

My sweet boys :)

thankful

2009-07-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks for praying! Chad’s surgery today was successful and the entire tumor was removed from his bladder. We’ll see what next week brings with the pathology report. Also we have an appointment with a neuro-surgeon next week for a problem with Chad’s back which might be the source of the past 4 months of pain. We’ll let you know more when we know more.

We are so thankful for your prayers, and for each of you!!

Chad & Janeene

Elijah & Zekey

PS- Please also keep in your prayers our partners, the Williamsons (alone in Toboland), the Knapps (here in the US wrapping up their furlough time), and our Tobo brothers and sisters in Christ.

update on Chad's health

2009-06-22T19:53:00.000-07:00

After conducting some more tests, the doctor found a small tumor in Chad’s bladder which he said looked like the beginnings of a malignant tumor. He wants to surgically remove the tumor next Wednesday, July 1st, then we will wait for the pathology report.

Interestingly enough, he also said that he could see no apparent link between this tumor and Chad’s pain, and so we are going to pursue a few more tests including an MRI on Thursday.

So as you can see, we are still looking for more answers. But at this point, if nothing else, we can see God’s gracious hand at work in showing us this tumor so quickly. He has also been our Rock during these times of uncertainty and suffering. Many of you have sent emails expressing your love and prayer support of us. Thank you. We would also ask you to continue lifting us up as a family before our Father.

In His Hands,

Chad, Janeene, Elijah & Zekey

more doctor visits

2009-06-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for praying for Chad this last week and a half. Tomorrow, he is heading back to the doctor for more testing and procedures, etc, but so far we still don’t know the cause of all his pain. Last week the doctor started him on 3 more medications and wants to see if they’re helping or not, but in our opinion, they haven’t helped yet.

So please continue to pray that the doctor will have wisdom and that Chad could start healing soon.

We appreciate you all standing with us in prayer!

Janeene

for the family

safe arrival

2009-06-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

Thank you for praying for our travels. We made it to Orlando after 36 hours of planes and delays and layovers. Chad made it fine even with continuous pain and lack of sleep. Our 2 airplane-loving boys did great on the flights and Elijah even got to see a pilot and flip a switch in the cockpit (“Fasten Seat Belt” sign)!

We still will be adjusting to jet lag the next few days, but according to Elijah at 2am in the morning… “Mom, this is fun. We all get to eat as a family in the middle of the night!”

We have a doctor’s appointment on Monday and hopefully he’ll be able to determine what is causing all of Chad’s pain and get some solutions for him soon.

We appreciate your prayers!!
Chad & Janeene
Elijah (4) & Zekey (18mos)

please pray

2009-05-27T20:19:00.000-07:00

We would like to ask you to pray for us in these next several weeks…

Chad has been in a lot of pain, took antibiotics for a month, and still nothing has helped. After seeing our mission doctor again, he recommended that we need to get more help, leaving us with 2 options, going to Cairns Australia or back to the States. If we were to go to Cairns, we have to apply for a medical visa which would take up to 6 weeks to obtain. At this point in time, with the amount of pain that Chad is in, we feel that waiting 6 weeks to get help is not the best decision. We can leave next week and have a doctor’s appointment as soon as we get back. So that is the route we feel we need to take. We as a family will head back to the States on June 3rd and seek some medical attention.

Please pray for all the details of travel to get worked out.
Pray for travelling, especially for Chad to be able to sit in the plane for 25 plus hours.
Pray for the doctors to find the problem and for Chad to heal quickly.
And pray for a safe and quick return to PNG. Lord willing, we will return sometime in July.

This is not the ideal timing for us. We are just getting into the real “meat” of Romans, teaching about the Christian walk. But God knows all this, as well as what the young Tobo church needs for these coming weeks. We will choose to rest in God’s wisdom and timing in all this.

Thanks for all your prayers,

Chad, Janeene, Elijah & Zekey

PS- Please also be in prayer for our partners the Williamsons who will be holding down the fort by themselves while we are gone. Praise God—Jason has recently finished his formal Tobo culture and language study and is excited to jump into more in-depth discipleship ministry.

Bamboo joints and justification

2009-04-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

How would you explain the Biblical concept of justification to your nextdoor neighbor? How about explaining it to a recent immigrant to your area who is learning English? What about a group of people who speak a language with no one word for “justification”?

For us, one way to answer that last question involved bamboo joints and dirty sticks.

So what does justification have to do with bamboo joints and dirty sticks?

Well, a lot, if you happen to be a Tobo believer coming to our weekly gatherings to study Romans.

At the end of chapter 3, we discussed the fact that our faith in Christ does not mean that we stop sinning and become perfect people in our daily lives on this earth. But it does mean that God says of us, or declares of us, that we are straight and righteous people now. This not of ourselves, we know that we still mess up and sin on a daily basis. But the righteousness we have is that of our Lord Jesus Christ! When God sees us, He no longer sees our sinfulness, since Christ took care of the penalty for that when He died on the cross. Instead, He sees us as covered with the righteousness of His Son and our Savior. Wow! All that is wrapped up in that big term “justification”.

To communicate this important (and freeing!) concept of justification, I had Tingon bring me a nasty brown bamboo joint that was old and covered in dirt, and another freshly-cut shiny clean green bamboo joint (bamboo joints are hollow tubes with segments between the hollow spaces at top and bottom). These two joints were cut open at the top, and the bottoms left on, so they formed 2 long cylinders like large cups that a small child could reach their arm into. I then had Tingon bring me several dirty sticks, which I put into the dirty joint.

I had a number of curious eyes on me as I held up the dirty joint and pulled one of the dirty sticks out of it.
“Is this stick clean or dirty?” I asked.
“Dirty!” was the response.
“What about the bamboo joint?”
“It too is very dirty!”

I then took the stick and put it into the glistening green joint. “Is the stick clean now?”
“No, the stick’s still dirty.”
“That’s true. What about this joint?”
“The joint’s very clean!”
“Can you see the stick now that I put in down into the joint?”
“No, only if you take the stick back out.”

Then I put a few sticks into the clean joint, and left the rest in the dirty one. “These sticks are all dirty, and they represent us people. At first, we were all in the dirty joint, stuck in our sinfulness, in Satan’s joint and under the hand of (meaning control or power of) Satan and sin.
“Then, just as I grabbed some sticks and put them into the clean joint, God has put us into the clean joint of Yesu. Just as the stick is still dirty, we are still people who sin even after being placed into Yesu’s clean joint. However, just as the stick is hidden in the clean joint and all we see is the good cleanness of the joint now, so now God looks at us as hidden inside of Yesu and His cleanness. Because of the cleanness of Yesu, He now says of us that we are straight people in his eyes.”

At this point, there were lots of nods, smiles, and whispers of “Élok!’ (“True!”) from the group. I then asked them this:
“So, did God take some of these sticks and put them in there because they were a little bit cleaner or better than the other dirty sticks still in the dirty joint?”
“No, they are all the same, all dirty.”
“You’re right! So then we too are not better or cleaner than our friends who have not believed in Yesu. But we are now in a better place in God’s eyes, aren’t we?”
“Oh, yeah! We still sin even now, but God still took us out of Satan’s joint and put us into Yesu’s joint because of what He did for us!”

So, readers of this email, if you have trusted in Christ to pay the penalty for your sin once and for all, then you along with our Tobo brothers and sisters are all safely in His bamboo joint and God sees us in that special place as perfectly clean—not because we are better than other people, but as a result of the righteousness of Christ He covered us with when we first believed! Can I get an “Amen” now? Or perhaps an “Égat migi i élagék yamda,” (Tobo for “This talk is hugely true”)?

One of our “grandmothers” Alowe later used the joints to share a quick testimony

Thanks for continuing to pray with us as we explore the richness contained in Romans. Pray that these truths will find their way deep into our hearts here as we learn and grow and see God manifesting them in our daily lives.

Your fellow joint-heirs with Jesus,

Chad & Janeene (& Elijah & Zekey)

Jewish customs and...fig tree leaves??

2009-03-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

It has been a real privilege and joy to dive into the book of Romans with our fellow believers here in Toboland. We are currently poised to begin the third chapter of this incredibly deep and rich epistle, and so far we’ve been encouraged by the truths that are being picked up on and reinforced in people’s minds and hearts.

One prominent theme that has come out again and again in the teaching has been the gospel of grace through faith alone in Christ alone as seen in the key verses of the entire book, chapter 1 verses 16 and 17, and then in the rest of chapter 1 and into 2 and 3, the sinfulness of mankind and the wrath of God toward that sin which could and can never be satisfied by the good things we try to do to appease him. To many of us with a lengthy Christian background, these truths seem so simple that we often take them for granted. But even last Sunday, as we discussed the situation in chapter 2 of the Jews who were trusting in their religious heritage and ritual circumcision to make them clean in God’s eyes and clearly (in their minds) superior to the “heathen”, the application to the Tobo of today was not lost on many in our fellowship.

Stela Nangia, a very astute lady in our group, was tracking intently during the lesson and had this to share: “I have something to say. It is true what God’s Talk says here about how following many different customs like skin-cutting or doing other good works like going to church, how that cannot make us clean in God’s eyes. And many people in this area are doing just like Adam and Eve did when they sinned and then made the fig tree leaf clothes for themselves as a false covering to try to straighten their wrong. But we know that God saw it and was not satisfied, so He himself gave them the animal skins and covered them Himself and that is a good picture talk of how people want to cover their bad with their own good works and not believe in the sacrifice that God helped us with in Jesus. He is the only road to God, not these other things, and many people in this area have heard this but still do not understand or believe this. We need to pray for them.”

Many in our group are still quite shy about sharing their thoughts as they have been steeped in a culture of secrecy and reluctance to ‘go against the flow’ for decades and even centuries, so speaking up in this manner is still a stretching experience for people here, even believers. So you can see how encouraging it was, not only to hear this dear sister speak up in our meeting but also to hear how she’s really taken hold of these basic truths and going back to the gospel of grace!

Please be in prayer for us as we will soon be moving on from the universal guilt of man to a more in-depth look at how God is both just and justifier; that is, the amazing way that He in his righteousness provided Jesus as a sacrifice who properly took care of the sin problem and appeased His wrath and can now say of those of us who believe that we are right in his sight because the righteousness of Christ is covering us just as the new clothing God provided Adam and Eve covered them. These are exciting truths, and we would ask you to pray that our believers would all be faithful to come as we study these upcoming chapters of Romans which are vital to their growth as individuals and as a body.

Thanks for your continued faithfulness in praying for us. It is a real privilege to stand together with you as we watch God at work here!

Chad, Janeene, Elijah and Zekey

2008-11-28T06:27:00.000-08:00

Our little Zekey is now a one-year-old! We celebrated his first birthday by decorating the room with dinosaurs. Zekey wasn’t too sure what to think of his little baby triceratops cake, but once he got his fingers dirty and starting tasting that icing and chocolate, that was all she wrote!

It’s hard to believe that time has flown by so quickly—it seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home as a 2-day-old from the hospital in Orlando, and now here we are with a cute little guy with an infectious crinkly-faced grin sporting a new grand total of 8 sparkling teeth, great dance moves and a real gift of musical rhythm, and a hollow leg to boot (referring to his endless appetite, that is).

Zekey nowadays loves to pull himself up to stand and can walk along furniture and legs now, and though he’s still not as verbal as our Elijah (who is a little chatterbox), he communicates lots with grunts, occasional words, and several hand signals he’s picked up from us like “please,” “thank you”, “all done”, and “more (food)” (which we think is his favorite sign).

We thank God for giving us Zekey to love and raise along with his older brother. God has blessed us this past year, and one of the greatest pieces of evidence of this is sitting in our living room flinging toy racecars across the floor at high speeds punctuated by loud squeals of delight, joining in the raucous fun along with exhibit #2 of God’s (big brother Elijah).

Thanks to you as well. Your love, prayers and support all add to the heap of blessings at the hand of our God during this past year.

Love,
Chad, Janeene, Elijah, and Zekey the yearling

His words in our language

2008-10-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to express a verse like John 3:16 in another language? How about Paul’s epistle to the Romans? The Tobo language is a challenging language with its own unique set of words and phrases and ways of expressing things. In order for the meaning of Paul’s letter to get through to the Tobo people in a way they can understand, we have to know how to put words and sentences in the right order (which is often almost exactly backwards from how we do it in English) and not only do this, but also keep the essence of everything that Paul wrote as we communicate it in the Tobo translation of Romans. And of course we aren’t talking about translating a manual for putting together a bicycle or model airplane, but the written message of God himself to all people. Sound like a daunting task? Absolutely! One of our good friends has confessed to us that he would be terrified at the thought of taking on the responsibility of Bible translation. We too are extremely aware of our inadequacies for this work. Many great men of the faith have felt the enormous weight of the task. Consider the following quote from Martin Luther:

“I have undertaken to translate the Bible into German. This was a good thing for me, otherwise I might have died in the mistaken notion that I was a learned man.”

So we see the difficulty of the task and are sobered by it. This is good. But does this mean we shy away from it? To that I would say, many Bibleless people in the world are counting on someone willing to throw themselves and their inadequacy on the Lord and look to him for help as they take on this task so that these people too can read and understand what God dearly wants them to know. The book of Romans is an especially important message for people, as it tells us how we can be made right in His sight and enjoy everlasting fellowship with Him, not to mention how we as believers can live our daily lives in the power of the Spirit and growing in that even as we look forward to future glory with Him (yes, even in the midst of our often mundane and even painful lives here on this earth). This rings every bit as true for the American mom running ragged from shopping to school to soccer practice as it does for the Tobo mom toiling by hand on a steep mountainside harvesting sweet potatoes to help feed her family. The truths of Romans are just as relevant for the busy Christian businessman in the US tied up in meetings or in rush-hour traffic as it is for the busy Tobo Christian man outside of his village chopping firewood in a cold, steady rain and building log fences for his pigs.

So we are very thankful for the wonderful men and women God has provided to help us in this great work of Bible translation. The introduction to epistles translation workshop proved to be a valuable time of gleaning from the wisdom and experience of translators from PNG, Indonesia, and the Philippines. We spent most of our time during the 2-week workshop studying and working through the first 6 chapters of Romans and discussing how to communicate the truths in other languages so that God’s Word will truly communicate to the people in these their heart languages.

Many of us translators who converged on this workshop brought 1 or 2 of our local translation helpers along with us from the villages across PNG that we call home. A real highlight of our time occurred on the very first evening where a missionary friend and I went down to visit with these men around the fire outside where they were housed. My Tobo translation helpers Tingon and Kips were very excited to tell me that “We all just finished giving our testimonies. Every single one of us has believed in Yesu!!” They were so happy and the talk went on for several more hours. I had virtually nothing to say, just drinking in the enthusiastic comments in the common trade language of Melanesian Pidgin about the Lord’s work and the great things He has done. What an encouragement to those guys to see that no, they are not alone. They have brothers in Christ, some of whom are facing similar opposition from their friends and family and communities for their newfound faith. We are looking forward to returning to the village and sharing about this wonderful time of fellowship. Thanks be to God!

Kips with orange shirt, Tingon with plaid shirt

After the workshop ended, Tingon sat in as Kips and I evaluated the first 3 chapters of Romans in the Tobo language with consultant Wayne Baker. We were so thrilled to see that Kips was able to repeat back the content truly and consistently with the meaning of these Scriptures, and even some of the longer paragraph sections were no problem for him to pick out the main themes and supporting details of Paul’s arguments in these passages. The check went very smoothly, and we praise God for helping us see the good fruit of months of hard work and help from a number of people both on our missionary team and our brothers and sisters in the village. This is a huge encouragement as we press on in translating this incredible epistle.

I would encourage each of you the next time you grab your Bible to stop and breathe a quick prayer of thanks to God for giving that most precious of gifts to you—His words in your language!! And then also add a quick prayer for the Tobo people who are still waiting to get more of that gift.

Thanks so much for praying for us and for these our (and your) brothers and sisters in Toboland. We thank God for you!

Chad, Janeene, Elijah, & Zekey

in Madang town

2008-10-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hi from beautiful (and hot) Madang!

Elijah’s first question once we arrived was, “Are we going to be staying at the ant house?” Actually, we did end up moving to the other half of the duplex where those pesky ants were during our last visit here. We are happy to report that we’ve seen relatively few of them this time around and so our stay has been less stressful and more “ant-i-climatic” than before! J

These few weeks we are between our annual conference and a translation workshop, and so in the meantime we are taking a break and enjoying some good times together as a family. Janeene and Zekey have both been sick and feeling kind of miserable with some sort of cold-type virus, so that hasn’t been too much fun, but otherwise we are doing well and taking the opportunity to get in some fun and fellowship with friends here that we don’t usually see more than twice a year.

Chad has done some shopping in town, swimming and jumping on the trampoline with Elijah (though swimming on the trampoline has been challenging J), and trying to play nursemaid and chief cook (poor family!) and bottle washer. But before you feel too sorry for him, he’s planning to go scuba diving among the gorgeous coral reefs offshore this weekend. It’s rough out there, but someone has do it!

Janeene has been resting and trying to kick her illness and has still managed to get in some time internet shopping as she’s been up to it, and some of her friends have had some visits with her as well. It looks like she’s starting to feel a tad better now, but still unable to join Chad on the dive. L

Elijah has been eating up every moment out here, tagging along with the older kids, eating ice cream, grabbing frogs and chasing lizards, swimming and running around, riding his little bike with training wheels and yes, would just as soon set up a camp on top of the trampoline to stay there 24-7 if he had his way!! He is just bubbling over with excitement and energy and is never at a loss for words to describe how much fun he is having and wants to keep having.

Zekey has been crawling everywhere for some time now (and that at a very fast pace), but just this last week decided to start pulling himself up to stand propped up by low-lying furniture. This is often punctuated by loud peals of hearty laughter and funny faces, so I guess this makes him a “standup comedian” now. Naptime and bedtime is now preceded by an endless period of popping up and peeking over his crib walls to jabber at his brother or whoever else will lend him an ear. His vocabulary consists of such words as “da-da”, “gecko”, “koko” (the Tobo word for baby), and “ha” (which is supposed to be “hi”). Alas, repeated attempts to coax him into saying the most important word “ma-ma” have continued to fail. Much to Janeene’s chagrin, the little stinker will just smile and say “va-va”, “tha-tha”, and virtually every other consonant found in human language except “m”!

So what’s next for us? On Monday, we meet up with 2 of Chad’s translation helpers, Tingon and Kips. The 6 of us will then fly up to Goroka. Janeene and the boys will stay at our mission base with some friends, while Chad and the guys go attend a two-week epistle translation workshop. Please pray for us during this workshop, especially for Janeene and the boys who will be apart from Chad.

After that workshop, we will get Romans 1-3 checked by a consultant, then all fly back to the village to resume our ministry there of discipleship and translation. It has been a real joy to spend time with our Tobo brothers and sisters, and we look forward to getting back to Lengbati again.

Thanks for your love and prayers and your sacrificial gifts! We could not be here were it not for you, so thanks for your part in God’s great work here!

Chad, Janeene, Elijah, and Zekey

straight A's

2008-06-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

Animated and Adorable!!!

With most school graduations (at least in the US) still a recent memory, we thought we’d assign grades to the events of the past several weeks, and we came up with nothing but A’s (wait, does that mean everything has been perfect? Read on….)

Here are the straight A’s for you:

ASTHMA—2 days before we left the US, late on a Saturday night, we awoke to hear Elijah coughing and then gasping for air. His face was swollen and he had trouble breathing. So we quickly administered some allergy medicine and when his symptoms did not improve quickly enough, we rushed him to the ER at a nearby hospital. Once there, we were relieved to see that Elijah’s breathing improved and he was no longer in distress. The doctor suspected that our son may have had an asthma attack and gave him a shot to help keep his airways clear, another relief for us given the long air travel ahead. Ever since that night, Elijah has shown absolutely no more problems, and we still wonder—was it an allergic reaction to something specific, or does he suffer from asthma? We are hoping to learn more when we visit our mission’s clinic on Tuesday, just a day before returning to the village.

AIR TRAVEL---Thanks for praying. This was the most challenging trip across we’ve had so far (may be due to having 2 young children instead of only 1 or none on our previous journeys). However, in spite of the combined and largely sleepless 37 hours in airports and airplanes (so far) and in spite of the numerous episodes of Zeke spewing the contents of his bottle on his feeding towels, himself, his clothes, us and our clothes, we were encouraged by the friendliness of our fellow travelers, many of them expressing how good our children were and several who took pity on our family and helped with getting our groggy entourage and copious carryon baggage out of the planes and into the terminals. (Incidentally, it only took the second of poor Zekey’s infant formula eruptions for this thick-witted dad to finally understand the need for all that carryon luggage we wrestled from plane to plane. If I had to do it again, I would seriously entertain the idea of our family just wearing terrycloth bathrobes on the trip).

ARRIVAL in Papua New Guinea---When we made it to Madang, I was tempted to kiss the runway, except that I might have risked burning my lips on hot asphalt. We have been so glad to have the week here to adjust to the time difference, see good friends here, take care of supplies and travel logistics, and reacquaint ourselves with the heat and humidity of coastal PNG, the frequent power outages which make for some dark stretches of night, and ahh yes, that brings me to another A…..

ANTS! They are a fact of life in much of this country, and everyone here battles these little critters, who can find a speck of sugar left on a counter within minutes. However, once we settled into our temporary quarters on the base, it was apparent to us that there was a larger than normal colony of tiny red sugar ants who were not content to search for crumbs of food. Oh, no—they craved intimate acquaintance with every article of clothing we had in the house, and they boldly penetrated every seam and pocket of our luggage by the dozens. Camera, computer, envelopes containing nothing but papers—they were irresistibly drawn by the allure of all things Mankins. Thankfully, after a few days other housing opened up and we gratefully vacated the premises after hours of tediously and methodically extricating the pesky formicidae from our personal belongings. We have now been fully educated on all the nuances of the term ‘antsy’.

AMUSING ANTICS—How could a bunch of silly ants dampen your spirits when you have 2 great boys who are highly entertaining and amusing on a daily basis? Elijah has been enjoying the other missionary children out here on the base, tagging along whenever he can, and enthusiastically greeting each passerby in the hopes that they will invite him to do whatever it is that they are enroute to doing. He has been jumping on the trampoline, riding bikes, and playing toys with friends and even keeping his little brother entertained with his unique brand of silly charm. Zeke now has 4 teeth, a penchant for trying out various sound effects, including spraying his brother and parents with “raspberries”, and has recently perfected the art of the army crawl. He scootches on his belly across the room and seems very proud of his newfound ambulatory skills. To the delight of his father, his vocabulary still consists entirely of one word—“Dada”. Elijah, on the other hand, has a prolific vocabulary, which he likes to expand by repeating what he hears, including such gems as “exponential”.

ANTICIPATION---After no small effort by our shorthanded but amazing mission aviation program, we were able to book a flight into Toboland on Wednesday morning at the crack of dawn. We along with the Williamsons are all praying that the good weather will hold a little longer and allow us to get back into our village home safe, sound, and stocked up for the approaching rainy season. It will be so good to get back to our home and enjoy the fellowship of partners and friends and brothers and sisters in Christ, black and white. Oh, and did we mention—the only ants we see inside our mountain home are those that hitchhike in on boxes from the coastal areas and we deal with those quite easily. So we are quite spoiled in that regard.

We will be as busy as ants as we resume our village ministry, but what a joy it is to be involved in this task of discipling the Tobo believers and equipping them for their task of discipleship as well—a task which is the heartbeat of God—after all, we and they have been purchased with the blood of His only Son!!

AWESOME—This is who we serve---an AWESOME GOD who is faithful to work in and through our lives as we trust Him to do HIS work among the Tobo people of PNG.

Happy to report straight A’s,
Chad, Janeene, Elijah & Zeke

Thanks for praying for us—here are some specific requests:

APPOINTMENTS—we would appreciate your prayers as we see the doctor and get the boys immunizations. We are also hoping to get some medicine and supplies to be prepared just in case Elijah does have asthma while we are in the bush.

ADJUSTMENTS—the kids have been super, but we can tell that so many changes have taken somewhat of a toll on them (and us as a family). Thanks for praying for us as we return, get our living conditions back in order, brush off the language cobwebs, and deal with the struggles of slower communication with the outside world (radio reception remains horrendous, and there are often delays in sending and receiving emails from our radios in the bush), and also as we get up to speed with Jason and Nisae and all the happenings of the last 8 months, and adjust as a foursome to life in the tribe after our time in America (both places are wonderful, but wow are they vastly different worlds!)

ATTITUDES---along with all the adjustments and all, we are asking prayer that we would have Christlike attitudes through it all and remain dependent on our Lord. This is all about HIM, not us, and we need to be mindful of that when life throws all those other A’s at us—good and bad.

cleared for takeoff

2008-06-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

Good news—we got the visas & passports we’ve been waiting for! We will leave the US on Monday night (June 9th). Please pray for us as we make the looong trip from Dallas to LA to Sydney to Cairns, Australia, especially with an energetic 3-year-old and his 7-month-old brother, and then as we make our way up to PNG just a couple days later. Once we get our feet on the ground there, we’ll gather supplies (and our wits about us), and fly back into the village to settle in again. Thanks for praying for us during this time of tears, travel, transition and thankfulness!

Chad, Janeene, Elijah, & Zeke

Check out my first tooth!!!

2008-06-03T06:38:00.000-07:00

Ezekiel Wayne Mankins, coming up on 7 months old!

One Step Closer...

2008-06-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

Well, here’s some good news---the visas have now made it to the USA! Now we wait for the good folks of the Papua New Guinea Embassy in Washington, DC to process the visas, put them into the passports, and send the passports back to us.

Once all this happens, we will be free to jet across the big water and resume our ministry in the mountains of the lovely south Pacific and rejoin our new partners the Williamsons in the village just in time for our glorious rainy season. Our monsoons hit Tobo country in mid- to late-June, and it will be really nice to be in the village together during the months of clouds, rain, chill, drizzle, rain, fog, dampness, rain, closed airstrip, wet laundry, and oh, did we mention several meters of rainfall? It’s a little hard to imagine all that, when here in Texas we’ve been hitting low temps in the 70s and even 80 degrees overnight and lots of sunshine and mid-90s!

The people in DC have informed us that it will take them 7 to 10 working days to get the passports back to us. What does this mean? Well, we could get them a bit earlier, but then again we might not get them until early in the second week of June. So we are in the process of deciding on a new departure date, one that will not be necessary to change yet again, but one that is not too far into the future. We will let you know once we have firm dates for our departure, but now you have a reasonable idea of when we might be heading out (that most likely being a little over a week from now).

We are excited, a little saddened as we know our time with family here will be over all too quickly now, and humbled and thankful as we look back at the Lord’s gracious timing in our lives (He always knows best). We believe that he meant for us to have this extra waiting period here in the US and we thank Him for it.

Please take the time to look at the prayer points below and lift these to our Father God. We truly appreciate you and your ministry to us and for His glory!

A grateful Chad, a lovely Janeene, an energetic Elijah & a one-toothed Zeke

Prayer Points:

Praise God, He has been encouraging Williamsons as they labor alone in the village. We believe that God is answering our prayers in this. Also be in prayer as they are in need of a new computer as theirs is on the way out but they are facing tight times financially.
Praise God as the Knapps are able to get some help medically while in the US. Jason will be officiating at his brother’s upcoming wedding, but will be undergoing surgery to correct a heart defect this coming Wednesday. Kellie had some skin cancer which was removed, but the doctors will remove more tissue from her arm the following Wednesday to make sure they get all of it and then will undergo a colonoscopy several days later, so please keep the Knapps and their health in your prayers.
Praise God for the visas’ arrival in Washington, DC! Please pray for us as we set our dates and for the logistics involved in our return to the village (at least 7 flights over several days, with lots of work to get set up for a new little family member in our house as well as tasks like post repairs).

another delay

2008-05-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much for praying for us and our paperwork delays. Apparently God has decided to answer our prayers with another “not yet”.

Here’s a quick summary of our paperwork process: We have been thankful that He has allowed Zeke’s lightning-fast adoption and all the other stages of our paperwork to be ready for us even ahead of the normal timetables (that is, Zeke’s birth certificate, SSN and passport all came through more quickly than expected). So as soon as we were able to send in for the last paperwork needed (visas to get into PNG) at the beginning of April, we were very optimistic that we would have everything in order in time for our original departure date of May 1st (The timeframe is typically 2-3 weeks). Problem is, this has been nothing close to typical, as we are now over a month longer than expected. To be honest with you, we really thought that we would get the paperwork in time for our first delayed departure date of the 19th.

Our mission’s government reps continue to check daily on the status of our paperwork, but word is that there is a “mountain of paperwork” for the government to sort through and process. So our people in PNG are working hard on our behalf, but they are as powerless and unable to predict the future as we are.

With no way to predict the future, we are trying to walk the tightrope between being wise with our time and money (every change costs more money, yet it would be a shame to delay our departure too much longer than when our paperwork actually comes through). So we are looking at changing our tickets once again. We will likely try to reschedule for another 2- 2 1/2 weeks from the 19th, depending on the lowest fare available in that timeframe so that we will only pay the change fees again rather than tacking on the difference in higher fares.

Of course, for us this is yet another disappointment, as we are ready to return to our village home, to join our newest partners the Williamsons, and to get back into the ministry on-site. However, we firmly believe that God has other plans for us at this time. These include further bonus time with family here, opportunities to help them out with more home projects, more chances to connect with friends from church, and finally, some extra time to work on preliminary stages of more Romans translation which should give us a little head start once we get back and settled again in PNG.

Thanks again for praying with us! Below we have some requests to help you to pray more specifically.
Chad, Janeene, Elijah & Zeke

Prayer Requests:

Pray for the Tobo church, that the small group will continue to meet faithfully and grow in grace and in their understanding of (and hunger for) God and His Word. Pray for their testimony in the midst of strong opposition from the majority of the community. Pray also for our faithful brothers Welsen, Kips, Zanggo, and Tingon, who are leading the first Tobo outreach in the village and team-teaching a review of the evangelistic Bible lessons (Phase 1) on a weekly basis. Pray for the salvation of those unbelievers who come to hear their teaching.
Pray for our partners the Williamsons as they are facing some unanticipated extra time alone in the village. Pray for strength, peace, and encouragement for them in these days as they press on with language and culture study and building relationships with the people.
Pray for our partners the Knapps as they have recently returned to the US for their home assignment (aka furlough). Pray for a good time of needed rest as well as traveling safety, stamina and good opportunties to fellowship and share with their family, friends, and supporters about the exciting things God has been doing among the Tobo.
Pray for us as we wait on the Lord for the paperwork to go through, that we would continue to make the most of the extra time God has given us here in the US. Pray also for our health, as Chad has been down and out the last several days with allergies piggybacking on a nasty cold, and Janeene continues to suffer a long-lasting cough probably brought on or at least aggravated by allergies. (Praise God, the boys seem to be doing much better and are over their sickness).

crossing the Pacific again on Thursday (maybe...)

2008-05-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Dallas, Texas!

Our minds are sort of reeling as we look back in the not-too-distant past, the quickly-moving present, and the even more quickly-approaching future.

Since we last crossed over the Pacific to the USA back in October, so much has transpired…the loss of Chad’s Grandpa Chuck Mankins and niece Ellie Skees… the birth and adoption of our son Zeke…great times with family and friends..sweet fellowship with many of you friends from the churches who partner with us in the Tobo ministry…concern and then relief as Chad’s Grandpa Jim VanDelinder underwent surgery for colon cancer and then came through with flying colors and a clean bill of health pending regular future checkups…sadness that we missed so many of you in this last half-year…sadness as we depart loved ones…exhaustion as we burn both ends of the candle to wrap up loose ends before leaving…and finally anticipation of our next term in Papua New Guinea, and the feeling of unsettledness that lies over us as we are waiting in these last few days for word on whether or not the paperwork will make it in time for us to leave by Thursday (yes, that’s the day after tomorrow!!) or if we must change our tickets for another day in the near future.

Please pray for us in these next few days. Pray that the entry permits will get into the passports for Janeene and Zeke (they were processed together since Janeene’s had expired after we came back here) and that those important documents will make it here by tomorrow or Thursday so that we can make the evening flight. Pray for improved health, as Janeene has been battling a bug that popped up just over a week ago, and for stamina as we make the final “push”. Pray also for patience and that we would rest in God as we wait and even (might I say especially) in the event that we must change the tickets and re-juggle plans and grapple with more “logistic gymnastics”.

Please pray for our partners the Knapps, who will be leaving for their home assignment and will just miss us by a few days (as it stands currently), and for our partners the Williamsons, who will be awaiting us in the village along with our Tobo friends. Pray too for the Tobo church as they have been and will continue to be taking steps toward maturity. Pray that God will prepare hearts, ours and theirs, as we partner together with the young body of Christ in Toboland toward mutual growth, spiritual maturity, and that many more will come to know our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks again for your partnership with us. We thank God for you!
Chad, Janeene, Elijah, & Zeke

Still Stateside

2008-05-03T08:47:00.000-07:00

Our paperwork has not yet gone anywhere, and so neither have we. Just the day before we were to depart, we learned that the approval for Janeene’s and Zeke’s visas had still not been processed in PNG. At that time, it was recommended to us that when we change our tickets, we wait at least 2 weeks. So we will now plan on departing the USA on May 19th.

While we are somewhat disappointed by this turn of events, we can see some real benefits. One is that Janeene’s health is now on the mend and it should be much easier for us to travel with her back up to full strength. Another plus is that we will get some extra time here in Dallas with Janeene’s family, who really haven’t had all that much time with us during our stay here in the US.

So we are confident that God has a reason for keeping us here for the extra weeks, and we will rest in Him and enjoy the ride, even if it’s not yet in the air!

Thanks for praying,
Chad, Janeene, Elijah, & Zeke

Zeke's Special Day!

2008-02-11T08:50:00.000-08:00

On Thursday morning, we celebrated the official finalization of Zeke’s adoption, or as we like to call it, Gotcha Day! The Honorable Judge Theotis Bronson resided over the proceedings, and Ezekiel Wayne Mankins is now legally our son! Parents and grandparents on Chad’s side were able to attend and celebrate with us (Janeene’s family live in Dallas). We were able to read a brief statement to the court thanking God for our Christian family and for the opportunity to pass along that heritage to Elijah and now Zeke. Afterward, the judge took pictures with us and actually thanked us for adopting Zeke! Everyone in the courtroom was very happy and we were told again, just as we were told by the court officials at Elijah’s Gotcha Day, that they always enjoy this part of their jobs the best after all of the depressing cases they usually have to deal with.

After a nice brunch with family, the four of us took a drive and were able to celebrate Zeke’s Gotcha Day by seeing the space shuttle Atlantis blast off from Cape Canaveral (we sat on the edge of the bay and watched the launch from across the water). Elijah was sure to tell numerous people that he was going to be an astronaut when he gets bigger and fly to Mars in the space shuttle, and Zeke was just grinning and soaking in all the complements (—he is a good-looking boy and maybe he knows it). To cap off a fun day back home, the 3 of us sang “Happy Gotcha Day” to baby Zekey and Elijah helped his little brother open his present (some new beach clothes).

Looking back on the last few months (which have gone by rather quickly!), we can only shake our heads in amazement and praise God for blessing us so much and for the wonderful way He continues to enrich us as a family. We would appreciate your prayers for us as we desire to raise them up to be godly young men. On another note we, please also pray for that we would be able to get the birth certificate quickly (lately instead of 4-6 weeks, it’s been taking from 6 to 8 weeks). We cannot move on the other paperwork until this comes back to us, and then we will be praying that those papers will get finished in time for us to leave the US again by May 1st.

Thanks for your love and prayers!