Dear Family and
Friends,
The newest
addition to our family, Benjamin Tyler Thyng, arrived on March 29th. He
weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. Thank you all for
your prayers for his safe arrival. Amy’s sister, Jenny, came over from
America to help out with Kate and Claire while Amy was in the hospital.
However, Ben decided to make his grand entrance a little later than
expected. He was five days overdue, and it was a really tough wait.
Jenny scheduled to leave the country the Thursday after he was due, so we were
very worried that the baby wouldn’t come before she left. It was a very
stressful time, and all we could do was simply trust the Lord. We are so
thankful that He allowed Jenny to be here when Ben was born. She was such
a huge help to us, and we also had a wonderful visit with her while we waited
for Ben.
When Tyler was
still with us, he really wanted to name his next brother, Ben, so we named Ben
for Tyler. We gave him Tyler as his middle name so that he will always
know how much he is loved by his big brother. As Ben grows older, we know
that he will truly love being named after the best big brother ever. The
two of them will have such fun together in Heaven someday.
Ben is doing
well, and his big sisters just adore him. He has grown to a little over 9
pounds now and has started giving us a few precious smiles every day.
Kate and Claire are just wonderful with him. Kate is like his second mommy.
She loves to hold him, help change his diaper, give him his pacifier, help with
his bath, and the list goes on and on! Claire loves to help burp him and
also enjoys getting her diaper changed at the same time as him. The Lord
has truly blessed us by giving us another child, and we just love having little
Ben around.
We are still in
Australia and are waiting for Ben’s PNG visa to head back home. Shortly
after he was born, we made a trip down to Sydney to visit the U.S. Consulate to
have Ben registered as a citizen and got his passport within a week. Our
plans are to head back to PNG on May 3rd, but that may change if we don’t get
Ben’s PNG visa back in time. We are waiting on the Lord again.
We are really
looking forward to going home and getting involved in our ministries
again. Dan will be teaching a math class this term to our Pidgin and
English students. The class will be a challenging one to teach because of
the varying education levels of our students. Some have only completed
second grade, while others have graduated from high school. He would
really appreciate your prayers, as this is a very practical class for ministry
preparation. We are also looking forward to getting busy again at Hosanna
Baptist. There is much to be done before our home church comes in August
for the construction of the pastor’s house and church building.
Thanks so much
for your continued love, prayers and support. We love you all.
Love, Dan, Amy,
Tyler, Kate, Claire & Ben
P.S. The
girls are really looking forward to heading home, especially Kate. All
she talks about is getting home and seeing her cat, Max!
Additional Prayer
Requests: Please pray for…
1.
The organization
of Hosanna Baptist Church.
2.
The great need for
additional missionaries with ABWE in PNG (Kerowagi in
particular).
3.
Planning and
finances for the Johnston Chapel building team in August.
4.
Daily strength
for life without Tyler.
5.
Our individual
relationships with Jesus Christ.
6.
Continued good
health for Ben as we return to PNG.
7.
Rachel Prigge as she continues to care for GBBC students during
Amy’s absence.
8.
Supplies needed
for medical shipment from US. Please contact us or visit our website if
you are interested in helping!
9.
3rd
and 4th year student practicals in local
churches throughout PNG for term 2.
10. Remaining $15,000 (of $32,000) need for a John
Deere tractor and equipment for GBBC food production and grounds maintenance.
11. Praise God for providing all the necessary funds
for the new staff house. It will be built this year.
12. Praise God for His work in the hearts and lives of
PNG teens at the ABWE Easter Camp. There were many decisions made for
Jesus Christ.