Kevin and Carolyn Johnson

Sick and tired :0)

Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 13th, 2009 | Discuss This Post

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you so much for keeping us in your prayers as we travel. So far, our journey has had many challenges, yet we are seeing the Lord direct us and use us to minister to those we are interacting with. We’ve made it to Billings MT, Rapid City SD, Milaca MN, Waukesha WI, Wheaton IL, Joliet IL, Elkhart IN, and now Plainwell MI. You might notice that we added a few places on the way! We have been visiting friends, supporters, coworkers from Bolivia, students in New Tribes training, missionary kids that we ministered to in Bolivia, and the churches that our supporters attend.

Last Saturday we gathered with several of the staff and students that we worked with in Tambo, Bolivia. What a joy and encouragement it was to see these precious people! We want to praise God for reconnecting us with staff and students from Bolivia to show us that we did and still do have vital role in people’s lives and that our ministry there has had life changing implications in the student’s lives. During the past year of Partnership development we have often felt disconnected to people, partly because we have moved four times and struggled so much with our children’s health. Reuniting with friends was so encouraging. It also personally gave me a renewed vision for the ministry that we are heading into.
Here some of our prayer requests for this week.
1. Pray that God will lead us to people who will become a part of this ministry. We truly believe that the need for teachers and construction workers is serious in Papua New Guinea. Pray for new financial supporters in particular. We are lacking $1300 a month needed to leave in January.

2. Please pray for our children to recover from this week’s health problems. Noelle has been coughing all night for a week now and Zowee is now recovering from an allergy reaction. We have gotten very little sleep some nights, so please pray for strength for Kevin and I.

3. We are concerned about the girls’ recent medical bills. They came back much higher than we expected and not covered by insurance. September’s doctor bills were over $1000. Pray for God’s provision and that we won’t “worry about tomorrow.”

4. Pray for more opportunities to share about our ministry in churches and small groups.

5. Pray for safety and an easy fix for our car. Something with the steering just broke, so Kevin is trying to fix it!

THANK YOU SO MUCH! If you would like to start supporting us, you can click on the give tab right here on our web site Or you can send a check into New Tribes Mission at 1000 E. First St., Sanford, FL 32771 with a note saying “for the ministry of Kevin and Carolyn Johnson.” We’ll be heading to Pennsylvania for the next week, so we’ll update again later. Thanks again-

Kevin, Carolyn, Zowee, and Noelle

on the road Day one

Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 2nd, 2009 | Discuss This Post

Hello Friends!
We are on the road! Our two month partnership development trip has officially begun! About one hour into driving we hit SNOW! It’s been exciting and beautiful to say the least

Here are the basic plans:

Oct 1-2: Billings, MT
Oct 2-4: Rapid City, SD
Oct 5-6: Milaca, MN
Oct 6-9: Waukesha, WI
Oct 9-16 (?) Plainwell, MI
Oct 16-20 (?) Pittsburgh, PA
Oct 20-22 (?) Hanover, PA
Oct 22-24- Williamsburg, VA
Oct 24-27 Charleston, SC
Oct 27-30 Orlando, FL
Oct 30-Nov 3 Sanford, FL
Nov 3-4 somewhere in Georgia
Nov 4-6 Rome, GA
Nov 6-9 Clarksville, TN
Nov 9-10 somewhere 
Nov 10-12 Bol ivar, MO
Nov 12-16 (?) Roach, MO
Nov 16-19 : Kirksville, MO
Nov 19-20 : Omaha, NE
Nov 20-?27+: Johnstown,CO
Nov 27-Dec 1 somewhere in CO or MT
Dec.1 or 2 Arrive back in Missoula!

Thank you so much for praying for :
our SAFETY as we plan to travel over 7,000 miles,
THE KIDS HEALTH,
OPPORTUNITIES to share about our mission work
NEW FINANCIAL SUPPORTERS,
AND JOYFUL ATTITUDES!

WE have so much to be thankful for! Thank you for praying and supporting us! We’ll be updating from facebook, our website and these emails. I know the Lord has arranged this trip and we are excited to see what His plans are. Blessings on you today

God is Faithful to rescue, protect, answer, be with, honor, reward, and save

Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 29th, 2009 | Discuss This Post

Lolo MT this is a little late in getting posted

It is so encouraging to know that the people of God have gone through every kind of trial imaginable and always found God faithful! May you be encouraged as you meditate on these portions of Psalm 91. I put some emphasis on the words that stand out to me.

“Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find REST in the shadow of the Almighty.
This I declare about the Lord; He alone is my REFUGE, my place of SAFETY;
He is my God, and I TRUST in Him.
For He will RESCUE you from every trap and PROTECT you from deadly disease.
He will COVER you with His feathers. He will SHELTER you with His wings.
His faithful PROMISES are your armor and protection…” Ps. 91:1-4

“…The Lord says, ‘I WILL RESCUE those who love Me.
I WILL PROTECT those who trust in My name
When they call on Me, I WILL ANSWER;
I WILL BE WITH THEM in trouble.
I WILL RESCUE and HONOR them.
I WILL REWARD them with a long life and GIVE THEM MY SALVATION.” Ps. 91:14-16

Thank you so much for praying for us this month! We are seeing God “rescue, protect, answer, be with, honor, reward, and save” our family. We asked if you would pray for Noelle’s health in particular and we are so excited to update you on what the Lord did! After praying for insight into Noelle’s health, we were given a book on the Specific Carb. Diet intended to help people who haven’t responded to just a gluten free diet. (Receiving that book alone was a God thing, but too long of a story ) After 4 days on the diet, Noelle had gained 5 oz. After 7 more days, she gained a total of 14 oz. This morning we weighed her after just 18 days and she has gained 25 oz. (over a pound and half)!!!!!!!!!!!!! As you remember, this is after 10 months of no weight gain. There are still some mysterious things about Noelle’s health, but we are so encouraged to see her absorb nutrition and GROW because that was such a foundational problem. Please pray that she will continue to heal and grow. Pray that we will have wisdom in how we care for her. Cute new thing: Noelle’s hair is also suddenly growing, so now I can put it into little piggy tails. 
As far as Zowee goes, we would appreciate your continued prayer. We are praying for the day that we can say that she is thriving physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually! We believe that it’s possible and we want to do everything we can in order to help her (especially while we are still in the States and have many resources). She and Noelle are being retested for food sensitivities and we are exploring ideas on how to boost brain function. I’m trying to keep this really brief and general because I can get long winded on my explanations. Thank you to everyone who has given us books, websites, testimonies, help, encouragement, and hugs. You have been such a blessing! Cool new thing: Zowee is in Pre-School this month and was the class leader today!

Here are some quick updates on what else is going on:

***Bozeman Missions Movie Night: We will be in Bozeman, MT Sept. 10-14! Come to our Missions Movie Night at Grace Bible Church Sept. 11 at 7 pm. We’ll be meeting in the upstairs Youth Room for some amazing videos of God’s work in Papua New Guinea. Everyone is welcome! Snacks and drinks provided. We’d love to see you there!******

Support Raising Update: We are at 70% of our goal and praying for the remaining $1300 to come in by Nov. so we can purchase tickets and prepare to leave in January. Praise the Lord a church that Kevin spoke at this summer has decided to start supporting us!

Travel Update: Our next Partnership Development trip is from Oct. 1- the end of November. Please be praying for the organization and preparation of this trip. Pray that many sharing opportunities will come together for us and that our support would be raised by the end of the trip. The trip will go from Montana to South Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Nebraska, and Colorado.

Kevin and Carolyn Update: We actually went on a date!  We are so blessed to be staying at my parents’ home in Lolo, MT. They have graciously opened their home to us during this time of transition. Last week they watched our kids so we could go have a fun evening out. A rare and wonderful treat!

Thank you again for praying for us and supporting us in so many ways. Hope to see all you Bozeman people the 11th!! Love, The Johnsons

Still waiting, but not standing still

Posted in Family, News Article on Aug 24th, 2009 | Discuss This Post

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Thank you for the ways you have encouraged and helped us through the past few months! We really appreciate your prayers and encouraging words as well as your financial involvement in our ministry. We are often so anxious just to “get to the field” and then we are reminded that the mission field for all of us is wherever God has us. We are enjoying the opportunity to do Partnership Development in Montana and share about God’s work in New Guinea even though the timeline of our departure has not been what we expected. God is GOOD!

HEALTH UPDATE

Another thing we didn’t expect was to have so many health issues in our family this year. Many times this year we have prayed for Zowee and Noelle’s health and we have always seen God answer our prayers with strength, guidance, and insight into their health problems. The Lord has revealed one piece of the puzzle at a time. Zowee is doing better every day now that we have taken 12+ foods out of her diet that she was allergic/sensitive to! There are still many obstacles that we face with her because keeping the diet is very difficult, and her reactions last 8-12 days. Noelle is who we are focusing on now and trying to get more answers for. She is technically failure to thrive now because of her weight being so low. She has been at doctor’s offices quite a bit lately and I spend most of my free time reading health books and websites. We are excited to try a new “Specific Carbohydrate” diet in the coming weeks, so please be praying for Noelle to respond well to it and GROW!

PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND TRAVEL UPDATE

We are so excited to announce that we are at 70% of our financial goal as of this week! Thank you everyone who is praying and giving! We are lacking about $1300 A MONTH in support which is quite significant. Through a serious of events and decisions we have decided to go on another Partnership Development trip. Our plan right now is to leave in the beginning of October and go to the following areas:

Denver, CO

Camdenton, MO

Nashville, TN

Atlanta, GA

Orlando, FL

Charleston, SC

Richmond, VA

Pittsburg, PA

Grand Rapids, MI

Waukesha, WI

And possibly Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, and North Dakota before returning to good old MONTANA! Sound Crazy? It is, but we are up for it because we see the Lord directing this. We believe that He wants to provide for us to go to PNG and possibly this will be our last push of support raising. Please pray that it is! If you are in any of these areas and would like to get together and hear more about our work with NTM, please write back and let us know. THANKS!

Here are our recent prayer requests

1. Praise God for providing 70% of our monthly support! We are trusting God to raise the rest of the support before we purchase our plane tickets.

2. Pray that we will be sensitive to God’s Spirit and used to impact people’s lives for eternity. He is giving us many opportunities to minister to people as we travel and share about God’s work in Papua New Guinea.

3. Pray specifically for discernment with Noelle’s health and for healing. We have 4 doctors working on various tests to determine why she is not growing and what foods she is allergic to. Praise the Lord these doctors are taking her condition seriously, but they are all conflicting in their ideas of how to help! L Pray that our elimination diet will show us clearly what is bothering her.

4. Our new projected month of departure is January! Pray that our health issues will be resolved and our monthly support will completely come in by November so that we can plan accordingly! If we don’t leave for PNG by January, we will have to wait 6 more months because of government regulations in 2010!

Thank you for interceding for our family! In Christ, Kevin and Carolyn Johnson

Waiting on the Lord- It’s a good thing!

Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 25th, 2009 | Discuss This Post

Hello everyone!
Thank you to all of you who have prayed for our family this month! I want to share a few items with you to be thinking and praying about. Praise the Lord with us as we see all that He has accomplished and how faithful He is!

1. Our monthly support level is at 61% as of today! The Lord has raised $2585 of our $4270 monthly budget! We are excited, but there is still quite a bit more to raise. Pray for more people to partner with us monthly. If you are THINKING about supporting us, please contact us, and we can answer more of your questions. We would love to get together with you and show you some videos about the work in PNG and where we will be serving. We have the finances to buy tickets, but we won’t be able to make final plans until we have all our support raised. The timing of our move to Papua New Guinea is completely in the Lord’s hands and we trust that it will be His perfect plan for us. Even so, we are praying that the rest of our support comes in during the next few weeks. We have found some really great tickets for Sept. 7, but we’ll see what happens.

2. During all these preparations and plans, we are still seeking out medical answers for Noelle (16 mo.). During the past 8 months she has moved from the 75th percentile (in size) down to around the 3rd. She basically hasn’t gained an ounce of weight. We want to make sure we don’t leave for PNG too soon and miss something important with her health. This week we got her blood test back showing that she has normal Thyroid, blood count, and iron levels! So, now we are feeding her lots of gluten and then we’ll see how she does on the celiac test next week. Also, we are taking her to an allergist. All that is to say please PRAY for Noelle and for these doctors. Pray that we would have some clear answers about her health.

3. Please pray for Kevin as he prepares to speak at the Blackfoot Community Church in Ovando, MT this Sunday. Also, pray for our opportunity to teach and counsel high school youth at the Camp Utmost Bible Camp July 31- Aug. 3. Pray that through all our interaction, people would be drawn to the Lord and encouraged by how He can use them in missions.

Thank you for praying! I was so encouraged this week by a song from the movie “Fireproof.” I’m sure you can hear it online or on the radio.
I pray it will encourage you as YOU wait on the Lord and trust Him also – Carolyn , for all the Johnsons

“While I’m Waiting” – John Waller

I’m waiting
I’m waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I’m waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I’m waiting
I will serve You
While I’m waiting
I will worship
While I’m waiting
I will not faint
I’ll be running the race
Even while I wait

I’m waiting
I’m waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I’m waiting on You, Lord
Though it’s not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting
I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting
I will serve you while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting on You, Lord

Answers to Prayer!

Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 4th, 2009 | Discuss This Post

“Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom….When he saw the crowds he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to the disciples,
“THE HARVEST IS GREAT, BUT THE WORKERS ARE FEW. SO PRAY TO THE LORD WHO IS IN CHARGE OF THE HARVEST; ASK HIM TO SEND MORE WORKERS INTO HIS FIELDS.”

It is interesting that the very next thing Jesus does after showing the disciples the need of the world and asking them to pray for laborers……is send THEM out on their first missions/ministry trip! (Matt. 9&10) Just praying for laborers to GO was not the end of the story! Jesus then called them to GO! He is so gracious to prepare us through prayer! (But we better be ready to go, right?! That is for me!

God has shown Kevin and I the needs of the tribal people of Papua New Guinea. He has grown our desire for this ministry mainly through seeing the needs and praying. They need God’s Word in their own language, so they can have a opportunity to be saved. They need missionaries to come teach and disciple them. The missionaries can’t be in the tribe without a team of support workers like us behind them as the base in Lapilo. Many have had to postpone their tribal ministry and take on a support role because there isn’t the help needed at Lapilo. We have prayed for laborers and prayed that God would use us as His hands and feet in that country. We believe that YOU have prayed for us throughout this whole process and that many answers to our prayers are because YOU HAVE PRAYED.

I have a feeling people prayed for our prayer requests from an email Wednesday.

On Thursday, we got a phone call from a family who is sending in the rest of our one-time expenses. So we have now received the full $17,500 needed!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for praying and a special thanks to everyone who has sent in gifts towards these travel, medical, moving, and supplies expenses.

On Friday, we received our entry visas in the mail. (a moment of silence please……………………..)

So, this means we have everything we need in order to leave for Papua New Guinea, EXCEPT our monthly support. If the monthly support comes in during this month, we will leave for PNG in early August, Lord willing.

In the past we have explained that we are aiming for 70% of the Recommended Monthly Support for PNG. We have hovered around 36% of that goal for the past couple months. In reality, that figure is more accurately represented by saying, “We have 52% of our own monthly support goal!”

Here are the real numbers:

$4270/mo is needed
$2235/mo has been promised
————————————
$2035/mo remains

Throughout this year, many people have mentioned that they would like to support us, but maybe they are waiting until we are ready to leave. WE ARE READY TO LEAVE NOW, Praise the Lord! If you would like to support us monthly, please write and let us know, so we can figure you in. You can send in a check monthly to NTM at 1000 E. First St., Sanford, FL 32771 with a note saying, “For the ministry of Kevin and Carolyn Johnson.” OR you can give online or have an automatic funds transfer from your bank. The details about those options are on our website at www.ntm.org/kevin-carolyn_johnson/give . Thank you to everyone who have faithfully supported us through our time in Bolivia, training, and Partnership Development! We appreciate you sooooo much!

PLEASE PRAY FOR THESE THINGS:
1. Pray for our monthly support to completely come in by the end of July.
2. Pray for wisdom in choosing our plane tickets.
3. Pray for the final meetings we are scheduling to be great times of fellowship and encouragement.
4. Pray for us to be able to manage all the details of raising children while packing and preparing to leave.
5. Please keep praying for insight into our girls’ health and for sleep for Noelle.
6. Pray for us to REST in God’s love and depend on His Spirit living in us.

Thank you so much! We look forward to seeing what God does in the coming days. God’s blessings on you all- Love, The Johnsons

Kid Update & Events: BBQ in Lolo and Rummage Sale in Bozeman

Posted in Uncategorized on May 19th, 2009 | Discuss This Post

Hello Everyone!
We are thrilled to be writing again and giving a great update on our kids! All of you who wrote back or prayed have encouraged us greatly. The Lord has definitely had His healing hand on Zowee and Noelle. After 12 days of being on her allergen-free diet, Zowee started to show some big improvements! She has much more focus and control. She has been cheerful and compliant! Zowee has also been able to stay dry for the past week! Her sleep has been great also, which has helped everything. Basically, all the things we were hoping and praying for have happened!! Now the challenge is to keep this diet!
The next great news is about Noelle! We found out that she is mainly allergic to milk and mildly allergic to several of the same things as Zowee. After 4 days of being off those foods, Noelle slept through the night! She has been sleeping great ever since! (Remember, she had been up anywhere from 3-6 times a night for the past 10 months!) She is also eating more of a normal amount of food at meals since she is taking food enzymes. We are so thankful for the changes we have seen! Here are a few prayer requests we have.

1. Pray for us as we try to keep the kids’ diets healthy and free of allergens, especially as we visit people and travel.

2. We are revamping our plans for the next few months and are praying for direction in how to spend our time. We will probably be staying closer to the Missoula area and doing short trips. Pray that we would put our time into the most important things every day. Praise God for new opportunities to share with people in Missoula, Lolo, Stevensville, and Troy, MT in the last three weeks!

3. Praise God for his provision of finances through gifts and a very successful rummage sale! We raised over $4000 at the Rummage Sale in Missoula last week! Many people worked to make that possible and we want to thank each one for their part in that!

4. Pray that the Barbeque Fundraiser at Lolo Community Church* this Sunday would go well and people would be encouraged by all that the Lord is doing in Papua New Guinea! (See Details below)

5. Pray for the Bozeman Rummage Sale Fundraiser* on June 6 to go well and that the rest of our out-going expenses would be raised by the end of July. We have $8000 of the $17,500 needed and %40 of our monthly support! (Details below)

Thank you so much for praying! If you live in the Missoula or Bozeman area, please read the other info below! God Bless you today, Love,
The Johnsons
*******************************************************************************************************************
Lolo Fundraiser BBQ!! It’s going to be a beautiful day for a BBQ! Come join us for food and fellowship!

When: TOMORROW Sunday, May 17th at 12:00 Noon
Where: Lolo Community Church Gym (off of Lewis and Clark Drive just past the Post Office in Lolo)
Donations go towards our outgoing expenses
************************************************************************************************************************
Bozeman Rummage Sale!!!! Here is the info in a letter from my sister, Allison.

“Hello! For all of you in the Bozeman area, the Johnson’s support team wanted to let you know about and invite you to be a part of a garage sale that we are having on June 6th at 129 Dogwood Drive (just off Gooch Hill Road). We are praying that this would be a way that we can encourage the Johnson’s and help them with some of their one-time expenses as they prepare to go to PNG.

If you have any items that you would like to donate, please let us know. We may even have a bake sale, if anyone is interested in baking any muffins, cookies, etc. Also, if you would like to help set up the sale the night before or help run the sale that day, that would be wonderful. And of course, please stop by and visit us on June 6th!”

Allison Bos
home: 585-9261
cell: 581-1993

Fall update

Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 23rd, 2008 | Discuss This Post

Dear Friends,
We are excited to update you on all that God has been doing in the past few months! In case you haven’t heard from us in a while or you are new to our mailing list, we will also attach the letter we sent out by snail mail this summer. It will tell you all about our plans to go to Papua New Guinea with New Tribes Mission and our financial status. There are a few things that have changed since our last letter, so be sure to note that our goal for leaving has been changed to July 2009 and our current support level has raised to about 37%!!!! Here are some of the ministry opportunities and blessings that God gave us this summer:
Helped with Vacation Bible School at Lolo Community Church
Worked with two weeks of camp at Rocky Mountain Bible Mission’s Camp Utmost
Spoke for three Sunday School groups
Carolyn spoke at a Women’s Tea for Missions in Bozeman and a Ladies Fellowship Group in Lolo
Spent time fellowshipping and updating our supporters and friends in the Missoula area
Kevin did several side jobs for people who blessed him with work while we were in Lolo- THANK YOU EVERYONE!
Carolyn and Noelle were showered with love and gifts from Lolo Church
3 more families/individuals partnered with us financially and several more have committed to pray for us!!
We began the paperwork process for living and working in PNG
Zowee got lots and lots of hugs and playtime from her grandmas, grandpas, and Uncle!

This summer was made possible by the generosity of Carolyn’s parents who let us stay in their house and the open arms of the Lolo Community Church and other believers in the area who welcomed us like we were family. Thank you to everyone who blessed us this summer!
We have moved once again to the Bozeman, MT area! Be sure to check our new address out and get in touch with us if you live around here. Our goals here are to
share about our ministry in PNG,
organize a Support Team that meets monthly,
complete all our paperwork for PNG,
partner with people who want to support us,
acquire all we need for the field and ship it overseas,
buy our plane tickets and prepare to embark on……………
THE JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME

Johnson’s Summer Plans-

Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 22nd, 2008 | Discuss This Post

Since the last news article, five major events have taken place. To recap our Spring, here they are:

1. In January, we discovered that the needs in Mexico had changed dramatically and they no longer need support workers in our areas of ministry! We said goodbye to our plans and dreams of Mexico probably 2 hours after I wrote the previous article. Needless to say, it was difficult for our family.

2. God was faithful to guide us and we saw Him directing us toward Papua New Guinea in March. We are now planning to head there in the Spring of 2009!

3. Noelle Iris Eliana was born March 16! What a cutie!

4. We graduated from the New Tribes Missionary Training Center in May with Bachelor’s degrees in Intercultural Ministries! It was a lot of work and it was all worth it! We are also now career missionaries with New Tribes Mission.

5. After school was over, we packed up our house and headed west to Montana. We arrived in Lolo, Montana in early June and we’ll be in this area until September!

Now that you’ve been caught up on our major news, here’s an exciting idea: Getting together with you could be the next major event on this list! We are in Montana to connect with friends and supporters as we raise support and make preparations to go to Papua New Guinea. We are hoping to be in the Bozeman area this Fall and possibly also go out to Washington/Oregon at some point. Contact us today to come share about our ministry with your church, Bible Study, Sunday School, camp, friends, family, etc! Thanks! We can’t wait to hear from you!

NTM