Clay Pots ~ Settling

We know that it has been many weeks since we last sent out an update and for that we apologize. We desire to keep you all "in the loop" as to what is happening in our lives and yet we ourselves have felt very "out of the loop"… thus we have not had much to say. We have been back in the States for about 8 weeks now after our sudden departure from Papua New Guinea. I believe that we are still in a process of grieving this departure, and yet we are resting in God's immeasurable love and care for both us and the Tobo church. I am not too sure if this hole in our heart will ever be filled until we get to be reunited with are precious friends and fellow believers in heaven! Without internet, phone, or mail, it will be very difficult to communicate with them, but when we do hear from them (or about them) we will be sure to pass it on to you so you can be in prayer on their behalf.

We figure we still have a few good years left here on this earth, and we don’t want to waste them… so we have been earnestly seeking God as to where and how He would like to use these Clay Pots again. We are confident that it was His direction that brought us as a family back home to settle in Waukesha, WI where our families and home church are located. Even though it should feel normal to be here, I think we are still going through some aspects of culture shock and the frustration of transition. We hope that in time it will feel normal to be a permanent American in America again. Kellie is homeschooling the kids (5th grade, 3rd grade, and Kindergarten) to finish out the school year and we hope by the time the next school year starts, we will know where we are living, and they will be able to attend a school. For now we are renting but are dreaming that some day we might own a small home of our own.

As we seek to move forward we have watched God close some doors and yet, ever so slightly, crack open a few other ones. We have timidly walked through one of those doors and at this point in time are carefully pursuing something that we are passionate about: Cross cultural church planting! The foreign population in Waukesha is very substantial. We believe that with evangelism, discipleship and teaching, God could raise up more disciples of Jesus Christ from within different ethnic groups which are living in our own cities and towns. And then, if God so directed, they could in turn take the gospel back to their home countries. I have been asked to "survey” this need as the missions elder for our home church and the more I look into it, the more I am convinced of this need, and the more Kellie and I are drawn to it. Everything is still very much in the "survey" stage and at this time, I have been having many meetings in order to evaluate from all angles what is best and what is needed. We ask that you pray about this with us. That God would give us clear direction as to whether or not this is the direction he wants us to pursue full time. As we see it, like the Tobo people, there are many foreigners who need people to build relationships with them and love on them with the love of Christ.

To be honest it would be nice and not as ‘unknown’ if I were to apply for a full-time job, be given a paycheck, and know where my family was headed in the weeks to come. But as we seek to follow God's will for our lives He has given us a peace to wait on His perfect timing in regards to this new adventure and direction He may be guiding us into. To live and walk by faith is a most rewarding but often ‘unsettling’ place to be! Thank you for living and walking with us on this journey. Thank you for your prayers.

Until He closes the door,
His Clay Pots by grace,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp

ClayPots ~ Transition

Yes, we have made it safe and sound to the cold and wintery land of Wisconsin. It was a bit of a shock to our systems to go from 100 degree humid weather to 15 degrees and extremely dry, but it is good to be home. What an encouragement it was to us to be greeted at the airport by a loving group of family and friends. We were a little groggy from the flight and overwhelmed to see so many faces, but we were very thankful for the demonstration of grace and love. Thank you to all of you who braved the cold weather and snowy conditions to come and make our return special and memorable. It meant more to us than you will know, and it was exactly what our children needed… they felt right at home as they saw their friends and were able to connect again. Thank you!

Also, when we got back to the same rental house we had last time, there was food in the pantry and fridge, “new” sofas in the living room, beds for all the kids, 2 television sets, desks, dressers, lamps, closets full of clothes for all our kids, and a tree propped up by gifts in the basement which our children opened and found to their surprise that the gifts replaced all the toys they had to leave behind or sell in New Guinea. Not only that, but two days later, we were given a vehicle! How does one show gratitude and say “Thank you” for all of that? Words are not sufficient. Thank you to all the family, friends, and church body who gave of your time and energy and money to help us in this transition. We are truly overwhelmed with your generosity and humbled by your service to us. May God continue to richly bless each of you.

Many of you have asked what our plans are. We ask that you pray for us as we seek the Lord’s will in this transition. Our hearts are to continue to serve our Lord and Savior and to reach the lost. We also still have an undeniable desire to plant churches and see true disciples of Jesus Christ raised up. I am sure you all have experienced this at one time or another, but I told someone the other day that there is no experience on planet earth that compares with watching God save a hopeless sinner and raise him to new life in Jesus. Then to watch the Spirit mature that believer in seemingly no time at all is a blessing beyond compare. It is all to the praise of His glory!

So please pray for us as we wait on the Lord’s direction in our lives. I believe that it is God’s will that we settle here in WI and establish a ‘home base’ for our family. We are encouraged that God is still at work in us and he still desires to work through us. So even in settling here, the sky is the limit at this point as far as ministry opportunities, so be in prayer that God would open and close doors appropriately. We are anticipating that we will be able to share with you what God has for us within the next month or so. In case you were wondering, we are still members of NTM so the financial aspect still remains the same as it was… we are just not in PNG. We greatly appreciate your patience with us during this time.

His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, & Malachi Knapp

ClayPots ~ Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS

On Christmas Day we will be starting our travels over the ocean. Our night will be spent in Tokyo and then we will be landing in Milwaukee a day later.
A little late to slide down the chimney, but we might be able to hit the after Christmas sales!

Many of you have asked how the past weeks went, but to write all of that would fill a book.
A picture is worth a thousand words, so here is a small pictorial documentary of our farewell to the tribe:

Our last days in the tribe were filled with…

Soccer Games

Ladies Get-to-gethers

Prayer

Worship

Teaching Romans 8

Guy Time

Hugs

Food

Laughter

Long Hikes to see friends

Family Pictures

Crying

Packing and Selling

Last walks on the muddy airstrip which inevitably ended in star wars epic battle scenes

May you all experience peace and joy knowing that our Savior was born to grant us freedom and forgiveness!
Glory to the newborn King!

His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp

Tingon, Jason, and Polas

We will be flying out of the tribe in a few days. Over the past couple weeks we have met with our close friends and told them one on one that we believe God is moving us on, and that we will be leaving them soon. We then told the rest of the church the other day. We shared with them that it was a struggle to come to this decision , but that we have peace that this is God’s own direction upon our lives… and we shared how very much we love them and care for them. Even though there were many, many tears in the initial telling, we have been tremendously encouraged with their responses. The Tobo people do not hold back in showing their emotions and for many long hours the people held us tight with weeping and wailing.

We wanted to share a couple of their responses with you because it is not about us, but it is about the exaltation of the power of God.

I went and visited a dear friend of mine, Polas a couple weeks ago. 2 years ago, shortly after Tingon and I shared with him the gospel of grace, he went to town to live and work there. I haven’t seen him for two years and was wondering how he was doing. As Tingon, Polas, and I spent three super encouraging days together in town talking of the goodness of God, the salvation we have in Jesus Christ, the grace of God which makes it all possible, and how each of us are living our lives because of the change the Spirit is doing in us, Polas spoke this to us,
“When I left our village and came to town, I had no intention of staying for longer than a month or so. But I saw the spiritual darkness in this gold mining town and so I put up a tarp and started teaching about the characteristics of our perfect God and how we humans are sinful and doomed to hell. I taught that following the law or living moral lives or following different denominations cannot save us, only belief in Jesus’ death for us can save us from our sin and the punishment of hell. Many people have challenged me on this point, but I take them to God’s Word and show them the only road of life… Jesus.”

When we told the church, one of the men who was a slow starter, but has really grown leaps and bounds in the past few months said this:
“We did not ask for you to come, but God saw our need for Jesus and brought you to us. Now we have not only believed in the one road, Jesus, and been given eternal life, but we also know how to read the Word of God in our own language. We have been blessed and since God brought you here, how can we disagree with him and say that you should not leave now? He is taking you somewhere else. Others need to hear this message and God will use you to tell them.”

Another friend spoke up and said,
“God’s Word says that some people plant and others water. You have planted the seed and it has grown. God will use others to water, and God will cause us to grow.”

On lady said,
“We can be sorry that you are leaving, but we now have Jesus Christ in our lives and so we can rejoice because we will shortly see each other in heaven where there will be no more goodbyes or tears.”

We praise God for the privilege it has been to live among these people and to become their friends and brothers. It has been an unspeakable blessing to watch God, through the simple gospel message, to bring salvation to these people and to watch him work in their lives and cause them to mature. All the praise goes to him! “We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

Another praise of ours is that we have been able to sell almost everything of ours to other missionaries. Even though it has been hard for all of us to let go of these earthly possessions we are reminded that they are simply that, earthly possessions which will rot and rust, but our true treasure is being able to see these believers again in heaven someday.

His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp