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Summer Zimmer, Communications Manager
Papua New Guinea: September 2022
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So, I'm doing a Bible Study through the book of 1 Peter with some incredible, godly women.  Women who challenge me with their love, understanding and remembrance of God's Word. Two ladies join us online from tribal locations and nine of us are meeting in my house, but it seems like we're never all here at once. Our group is from Germany, the US, South Africa, Canada and Mexico!

It's a pretty in-depth study, and at the end of each lesson you're meant to write down a plan of how you're going to implement what you've learned. But I can never figure out what to plan on changing within the next week. I do all the study of the passages, and then I have to leave the application portion blank.

Well I was especially challenged with our study of 1 Peter 1:13-25. Verse 17 in the New Living Translation (NLT) says, "He will judge or reward you according to what you do" (this is not about salvation, to be clear, we're saved through trust in Christ alone, not by our actions). My friend pointed out that we're judged not by our knowledge or our good intentions, but by what we do with them. And verse 13 says, "prepare your minds for action."

So all the study of God's Word I do, should be to prepare me to act . . . act in this new life that God has given me as I have trusted in Christ and placed my faith and hope in God.  We talked a lot about what that means. How do we prepare our minds for battle? Because we are in a spiritual battle if we're believers, no matter where we live. How do we prepare our minds to "fix our hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (NASB95).

For me, I can get so stuck on the little frustrations of this world and the things I can't control:  a rat, cockroaches, maggots in my bananas and the disappointments of ministry when things aren't necessarily going the way I thought they should and it feels out of control.  How can I remember in those moments where my hope is and who is in control?

How do I prepare my mind to remember those things?  The ladies had some good ideas, and that is why we need each other in the study of God's Word for our growth into maturity:
  • Listen to worship music to remind you of truth.
  • When something is coming up that you know is frustrating to you, plan ahead to redirect your thinking with scripture.
  • At the beginning of the day, ask the Lord to prepare your mind.
  • Bring situations you know are coming to the Lord
  • Memorize scripture and post it places where you'll look at and read it.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it says.
James 1:22
Above:  Thankful for our Bible Study group starting up again. My exercise group had to say goodbye to one of our favorite co-exercisers and friends this past month.  These comings and goings are hard on all of us. Two of my favorite shopping buddies— I can be a bit slow to find all the things I need, so I'm grateful for those who are patient. And a spontaneous game night with one of my favorite families out of the tribe.

Below:  Our ICT (IT with Communications in the middle) team. Grateful for the team of diversity in culture and skill that the Lord has brought together. I've been able to host several ladies' dinner and two game nights. I was even able to play Splendor, which is my favorite game and someone owned it here!
What's next?

This Tuesday, I head to Kimbe, in the eastern area of PNG, on the island of New Britain. I'll be running a ladies' debriefing retreat at a resort there. This is a unique opportunity*. Normally during these retreats, I'm cleaning up dishes and making meals and quite busy. I'm interested to see what the Lord has for me in the quiet spaces as I lead the other ladies through reflection activities but won't have the normal cooking and clean up to do. It could be quite a challenge for me to be still!  There are three ladies able to attend, and while I'm still praying for one more, I know the Lord has something in store for the four of us.

Following the retreat, I'll return to our Eastern Area Support Center and hope to meet with families there about any communication questions they may have and walk them through the communications website and resources available to them.  I'll also go into a neighboring church planting work and shoot some video.

I've been quite busy leading up to this trip with a video project for the Global Partners Leadership Forum. I was able to finish it, but I want to edit it down to make it something useful for our whole team. Hopefully I'll be able to share that with you next month.

When I return from the Eastern Area, I'll be speaking three different times!  I'll be sharing with our current support orientation class, then at the Central Area Conference Ladies' Luncheon and then about communication to the whole group at the Central Area Conference!  I'm also grateful to be able to start the next Missionary Care Discussion Group at the beginning of October. This group has churches spread out across the four time zones of the US!

*Thanks to Warsaw Community Church for financially making this retreat a possibility!
I've been working on a surprise project to bring encouragement.  I don't want to go into too much detail in case a recipient reads this newsletter, but could you please pray that each person present would be encouraged?
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I was able to go to town recently. These are the random treasures I was able to find there! While I was able to get five shirts for $4 total second-handing, I wasn't able to find a third of my list. Hopefully, I'll have better luck next time, in a few months!
Praises

For God's Word in my heart langugage and the ability to grow and learn and discuss it with other ladies who challenge and enrich my life.

For the Lord's provision of co-workers in ICT.

For the Biblical teaching that has started in a new people group. Pray for the Maliyali people and their hearts to be open to the truth they're hearing.

The center where I live did feel the recent earthquake in PNG, just as we were gathering together for church.  We're grateful here that there was very minimal damage and no injuries. For me, I'd say it affected my blood pressure more than anything! Please do pray for continued protection from such things and for those who were negatively affected by the earthquake in other areas.

Prayer Requests

Pray for the Lord's guidance as I pack and finalize the details for this retreat. Pray for the Lord's work in our hearts as we spend time with Him and share with one another.  Pray that all of my efforts to lead them well would be done in dependence on the Lord.

Pray for my ability to be an encouragement to those both in Hoskins and at the Central Area Conference as I'm able to interact with families I don't normally get to see.

Pray for the Missionary Care Discussion Group starting in October, that the participants would all be committed to attending and would connect well.

Pray for my opportunity to speak at the Ladies' Luncheon, that I would be able to encourage the ladies and also that they would be open to fully engaging in the activity I have for them.  I also have a few things coming in the mail for that conference.  Please pray with me that they'll arrive on time.

Since the earthquake, our internet has not been as strong or as stable as before.  Please pray that it will be restored in the coming week, so that we can still include the two ladies in tribal locations in our Bible study, I can meet with the Missionary Care group over Zoom and we can still have our International Prayer time for PNG over Zoom.
Just for fun . .  .
Grateful for a friend who will go on an adventure with me to set up hammocks and read for the afternoon. And I just love our fresh produce and how colorful it is!
More stories of what God is doing in Papua New Guinea can be found through social media:
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My mailing address is:
Summer Zimmer C/O New Tribes Mission
PO Box 1079 Goroka, EHP 441 Papua New Guinea

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