If you desire to pray for some of our needs this year, we listed several requests that are so important to us.

• Our relationship with the Lord: daily we are to take up our cross and follow Him. I just began a new daily devotional called Streams in the Desert, and I am trusting that the Lord will use it, as well as scripture to speak to my heart. Pray that Jason would make the time to also be in the Word and make that relationship a priority.
• Our marriage: It seems all too easy to allow our ministry and other “good things” to get in the way of having that romantic, loving bond between us. Please pray that we would know when to say no to others and when to say yes. Please pray that Jason and I will both grow in knowledge and wisdom concerning our spouse, so that our love will continue to deepen.
• Our family: For the first time, Jason and I will be moving far away from both of our families—to another country. It is most likely that several of our family members will not be able to visit us while we are away for our first term (four years). This drastic change will be very difficult for us and our parents. Please pray that God would grant peace for all of our family concerning our departure and time away.
• Our friends and coworkers: Surrounded by Jason and I are our many friends who, like us, are headed to foreign countries to serve fulltime. Many of them are still struggling with raising support, as well as many other issues. We desire to be an encouragement to them in these things, as well as their walk with the Lord. Pray that we would be a tremendous blessing to those we love so much.
• Our ministry: Pray that God would give Jason the knowledge and skills to excel in his duties. Please pray that he would have clarity of mind when working on the planes, and that he would be able to complete tasks well in a short amount of time. We ask that you pray for me (Jonie) to be a good keeper of the home, have the energy and motivation to host and serve often, be able to use my skills as a nurse as needed, and that I would also be involved in different women’s ministries within the mission. I may even be in charge of the finances of NTMAviation once we arrive, so please pray for me in that area also.
• Our health: It is quite common to regularly get a number of “bugs” once we move to the Philippines, and this will directly affect how we are able to respond to daily tasks. It is so important for us to practice good hygiene and be careful of contaminated water in order to aid in our protection. Please pray that our Great Healer would guard and keep us from things that would hinder or hurt us.

        God has given both Jason and I an incredible call to serve in the Philippines. But He promises that once we follow Him, things will not be easy. The devil will try to use any one of these relationships to take us off of the field, putting a halt to our ministry overseas. Please pray that God would use us and that through our lives we would be glorifying to Him.

Daily we know that our good friends and supporters are lifting us before our Lord. I have personally felt these prayers in the past month, and I cannot express how great it is to have such godly men and women remembering us in our ministry. This past month we have felt the attacks of the devil so strongly in our marriage, ministry, and other relationships. But it gives me great excitement to tell you that we have stood firm and recognized the attacks as from Satan himself. He would love to ruin our ministry before we head to the Philippines, and as we know who it is trying to defeat us we can be more prepared for the battles. So thank you for intercessing on our behalf. You have such a great role in our journey!

As far as specific requests goes…

Jason requested prayer for the Philippine airplane that he is working on. They are missing a great deal of paperwork from years ago, and he is trying to track it all down.

Jason’s parents, Steve and Jennifer, are coming to visit us November 19-26th. We are so excited about them coming to see us as we are involved in our ministry here in the States. Please pray that they will have safety in their traveling, and that they may will have a better understand of our roles in our ministry.

Dear Everyone,
Thursday, one of my best friends Eric Blackwell was killed in an explosion at his work at the Mojave Space Center where he worked for the company that built Space Ship One. Four years ago Eric accepted Christ as his Savior and was even baptized at our church picnic. Because of this I look forward to seeing him again. And because of this I realize how much I regret putting off my last visit to see him and his new bride in California. Though I was doing what the Lord wanted me to do, I wish that I would have been able to do it all. As this and the news of the South Korean hostages unfolds I'm reminded how fragile life is, how unexpectedly we could be facing eternity, and how important it is to keep our relationships healthy.

So often we come across people praising us for giving our lives to serve God over seas. Telling us how they wished they would have done it when they were younger. We've heard dozens of stories that started with, "I wish I would have..." or "I've always wanted to..." These stories inevitably end with regret and lost opportunities.

When I first moved to Alaska, everyone told me how much they wanted to go there to work or live or visit. Many of you have followed my progress from that first disastrous trip up the Al-can. Eric was the very first person I met in Alaska, my first co-worker and friend. For the next few years I was able to be a part of his life that not many others got to see, and more importantly, Eric is the first and maybe only one that I shared with, that made a decision to allow Christ into his life.

At the time and even until last week, I always spoke of my decision to drive to Alaska in January as a foolhardy one. But today, I see that the company that Eric and I worked for went out of business only 6 months after I arrived. If I would have waited until it made sense, like in the Spring. If I would have just dreamed about it without taking action, I would have missed out on the chance to offer hope to a friend who didn't know how short his life would be. And I wouldn't be able to see him again someday when the Lord calls me home.

Those Korean Christians who are being killed right now knew the risks when they decided to follow the Lord's calling to that country. Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and the others didn't know what they would encounter, nor did Martin and Gracia Burnham. But like many they, and we, have surrendered our lives to His will no matter the cost. We just need to make sure that we are ready when the time comes.

Please, pray for Kim Blackwell, Eric's wife as she begins a new stage of life that is going to be very hard. And take care of anything that would cause you regret if the worst would happen. And remember, there is no where safer to be than in the center of God's will, no matter how uncertain the outcome will be. And don't be afraid to share your faith. Any embarrassment you might feel for a little while will pale in comparison to knowing you have a friend living with Jesus because of you.

Jason Mellinger

• Pray for us in our marriage. Jason and I have been so busy this summer doing things for other people that spending time with each other has not been a priority. We want to put our marriage first, and we need prayer to know how to fit that into our schedule.
• Continue to pray for God to raise the partners we need to be fully supported both prayerfully and financially. Jason and I have a huge praise in this request, for we have17 days where people have pledged to pray for us and our ministry! Only 14 more days to cover!
• Continue to pray for these last six weeks with family. Pray that God would prepare our parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and our other relatives’ hearts for our departure, as well as our own hearts. We are already feeling that God is closing this door and getting us ready for the next chapter He has for us.
• Pray that the airplane, which we are rebuilding this fall, will arrive from the Philippines as scheduled. Great news about that prayer request. We just heard from the Philippines and we were told that the plane is to be disassembled and shipped to Arizona this week. Please continue to pray that it will be shipped quickly and that it will make it through customs smoothly.
• When Jason and I first arrived in Alaska, we had time to work on language study, Tagalog. But things for us have become busy and our time has been stretched in such a way that we have not found the time to get to work on language. Please pray that we will start to have time to spend working on our Tagalog soon.