the following is a verbatim update, sent to us by Andrew Claussen, one of our missionaries in Indonesia

Last month Amberlynne became bedridden and we suspected pregnancy, but took her to town to verify that it was a baby causing all the issues and not a virus. She is doing much better now that she is moving out of the morning sickness stage. We are now in town for the next month because Amberynne’s local OBYGN (she is Aussie), said she needs to stay here and regain the weight lost while sick.

Because of the nature of Amberlynne’s births she can’t deliver in country. Our original plan was to go to Singapore and then come back for the final 3 months in Papua, but after listening to the counsel of our co-workers, we have decided to come home 5 months earlier for our Home Assignment. Initially, we were disappointed that we weren’t finishing out our 4 year term. But as we have processed the decision, we have peace. We are exhausted physically, emotionally and spiritually and are looking forward to resting.

Our plan currently is to arrive in the USA the first week of December. Going from 3 years of perpetual summer to winter will be an interesting experience. We will mostly be in Washington state during home assignment (H.A.) I plan to work with my brother (to subsidise our 24k Worldteam salary) volunteer at our home church, and get medical training for the field as well.

That being said, the first couple of months, we want to take a break from ministry. We have spent 3 years pouring into others with without being filled ourselves. We are looking forward to worshipping together with other believers and being fed the word of God by someone other than ourselves. In the summer we plan on being on the east coast with the intention of speaking at churches. We will get in touch when we have figured out those dates! We’d love for the opportunity to share some morning. We’re also planning on stopping in a second time, but haven’t worked out the exact timing yet.

There are some ways you could help us prepare to come home…

1. Pray for us to end well here. While we are excited and anxious to be home in a culture and language we completely understand, yet we want to finish well. That means taking the time and energy to say goodbye culturally and to make sure our house and ministry is set in order for our year long absence.

2. Pray for our national co-workers (Yohanes and Elies (ay-less). Our team is a mixture of gifts and talents. We all bring something important to the table, and when one is gone the rest feel it. Our co-worker, Delila (Elies’ wife), is also pregnant. If her pregnancy continues, they will also be leaving the village for a time.

3. Pray for our kids. The village is a real struggle for them. While coming home will be a huge blessing for them, please pray that Danokit will have a special place in their hearts despite the hardships and loneliness of Danokit compared to the plethora of family and great blessings that America offers.

4. On a more practical side… our clothes are all sun faded and moldy and are more appropriate for the tropics, not the cold rainy Washington winter so we will need to update our wardrobe . Any gift cards would be awesome! We aren’t picky. Our favourite places are Walmart (yes, we are one of THOSE people), Target, Old Navy, but really… we will take anything. And if people have 3 or 4 bucks left over on a card, we’ll be happy to take those. And on that note, we also wouldn’t be against any restaurant/fast food/gas gift cards 🙂 I’m not really sure how that works with Canadian gift cards? Maybe that wouldn’t work?

Tickets aren’t purchased yet so plans aren’t finalised. I will let you know more as plans develop.

(learn more about the Claussen’s on their website or their ministry facebook page)

If you’re interested in supporting them, contact us and we’ll connect you with our Mission’s Planning Team.