Prayer Update

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thank you again and again for praying for us. As you know we decided to come home earlier because of my mother’s failing health. The doctor suspected that she might last a few more weeks. By God’s grace Kevin was able to get airline tickets changed with no real change in original plus fee. There is a two-day layover between the PNG leg of the flight and the United Airlines flight to the USA.

For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Cor. 4:17-27, NASB)

I grieved when I heard that my mother’s kidneys were failing. Our Notsi friends who are well-acquainted with death observed this and sought to comfort me. If it were not so far they would have even come home with us to share grief. On our last day in the village, people came to sit with us to say farewell. The small congregation gave us a monetary gift to help us on our way. Others sent their condolences and prayers. I am thankful for the simple love and kindness they showed us. We are thankful for other friends at home who were led to help us in our financial expenses to get home. In June the expense was too great and we were not able to come but prices came down as the summer waned.

We began our journey home to Texas today, Friday, September 5th and when we arrived in Cairns, Australia, got to our hotel, Kevin informed me of the email from my sister stating that my mother had passed away at 4:50 a.m. Thursday (7:50 a.m. on Friday in PNG). We can only trust God’s timing; my sister says she slipped away peacefully in her sleep. I am thankful for having such a wonderful woman as my mother. She was a woman who loved much—her family as well as others. She embraced and advocated for the mission work at home and for the work that we doing in Papua New Guinea as long as she had health and strength. Her mortal fight for life in her later years reminds me of the path that we all must travel in Christ, the Lord. Her journey is now complete and each of us must complete what God has given us to do on this earth.

Thank you for your faithfulness and prayers for my mother and my family during this time.

In His service,

Gertrude (and Kevin) Nicholas

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.(Jn 5:24)