Hey everyone,

We first wanted to let you all know that the recent tsunami that has devastated Indonesia is not close to where we live, so we are unharmed. However our organization has missionaries serving in that area who have had to be relocated to another city for the time being. As of now, the death count continues to rise and is currently at 2,000+ with 5000 missing. Please pray for the people of Palu as tragedies like this are devastating anywhere in the world much less in a third world country where they do not have as many resources.

We are in full swing getting ready for our language evaluations in December. Jeremiah is in his office daily studying of course, but Briana is also trying to get as many hours as possible in before the evals since it is a bit harder for her to find time to “study”. The REALLY exciting part is that J will be taking his last and FINAL language check!!!! We have worked so hard and DREAMED of this day, so it will be a day to celebrate for sure! Looking forward to having it done. Then the real fun begins with translating and preparing Bible and literacy lessons while Briana tries to press on with catching up on language as much as she can before we leave.

Another reason we are writing is to inform everyone of some projects that our family is asking you to consider being involved in. We by no means want to pressure anyone, we are simply making some projects known. We have people ask regularly if there is anything we need, and while we have no huge necessary needs, these are indeed valid requests. We are excited to see how the Lord works in these.
Project #1- Keep pigs out!!

For some context on this, if any of you have never really experienced life with pigs you won’t really be able to understand the destruction that pigs can do. I know I certainly had no idea until moving into the jungle where there literally are hundreds of pigs running all over the place destroying EVERYTHING.
Our airstrip has a wooden fence that surrounds the airstrip and we (missionaries) regularly check it and fix the spots the pigs have dug up and then ask some tribal men to help us fix the fence where they are getting in, which requires cutting new wood and replacing an area. It could almost be a full time job just maintaining the fence. The nice things is that the tribal people have the understanding that the airstrip is for the whole tribe and it’s everyone responsibility to keep the pigs out.
Our team is slowly trying to figure out permanent solutions for a fence but with limited resources and the sheer size of the airstrip it is not an easy task.

Now I want to bring up our personal yard/house. For 4+ years we have had to have countless fences built, re-built, & re-built again & again. Because this is our personal yard it clearly is not the people’s responsibility (even though it is their pigs:)), so over the years we have had to pay numerous friends and have spent a lot of money on this and this is just going to continue for years and years to come since the fences usually only last about a year.
Some of you may wonder why we care if pigs are in our yard? Well, like I mentioned before, pigs destroy EVERYTHING! And they are incredibly strong! We have our own garden, solar panels and not mention our actual posts that hold up our house and if pigs were to roam free it could cause huge problems.
Soooo, all that to say… we have a solution! We can purchase rock cages in town. They are exactly what they sound like. Big cages that you can link together to build walls/fences and you fill them with rocks. This is a permanent solution as the pigs can not push over the cages once filled with rocks because they are just too heavy. We have bought a couple of these cages for areas where land was eroding and they work great, but they are not cheap.
We figured to buy 30 cages and the cost to fly them in we are looking at around $1,400. This will not completely surround everything as the cages are not that long (due to the small plane that brings everything in), BUT this would be able to cover a large area where most of the pigs are and it is a permanent fix.
So we are asking if anyone out there would like to help with “project keep pigs out”! Please pray about it and let us know if we can answer any of your questions or concerns. We have never liked this idea of asking for funds, but over the years we have seen the body of Christ get behind us and the Lord provide one way or another.
Our hope is to be able to get these cages in the next month or so as it will take some time to get them set up and finished before we leave for workshops and furlough.

*As a side note, I can not tell you how many hours/days I have spent working on and fixing damage/fences and chasing pigs out (my wife jokes about me being in danger of slowly losing my mind over this). That time (and you’d be shocked at how much time that really is!) ultimately takes time away from studying, my family, or other priorities. And like I mentioned, very soon we are hoping to begin translating and teaching the Dem the Creation story and this fence will alleviate the stress of always worrying about pigs and needing to spend hours fixing a busted fence.
Project #2- Airfare back to the U.S. of A.
We mentioned in our last update that we are planning on making the trip back to the states for a short furlough next spring (tentatively April-Oct). We are very excited to see many of you and reconnect with those who have been a part of what is taking place here in Dem-land.
With that said, we will be needing to buy plane tickets in the next few months, so we are asking for people to pray and consider helping with this IF you feel led of course. We know that God will provide for our family as He has graciously done over and over again for our family for these past 8 years.
If you would like more information on this project please feel free to email us.

By the time we get back to see you all, it will have been a little over 3.5 years and we are very excited to see everyone and share whats been going on here in the Dem tribe and what the SUPER exciting future will look like here!

We thank you all once again for your continued prayers and faithful support.