Summer Zimmer has had a beautiful time home this summer. A delightful time of being with family and connecting with friends and church.
She has been able to do all the ‘things‘ she cannot do while in Papua New Guinea; swimming, biking, boating, paddle boarding, eating out, having real ice cream, watching a play and going to the beach. Connecting with other missionaries sent out from her church, as well as some she serves alongside in PNG! Attending special family events, like the Fourth of July and her niece’s first day of second grade. She is thankful to all those who have been a blessing during the past two months by sharing life and reconnecting with her.
In less than a week, Summer heads back to PNG. It will be another long journey. Pray for discernment as she packs, travel, Covid tests, and necessary paperwork to be in order, for smoothness of transiting and flying and for no unreasonable luggage fees or losses.
Saying goodbye does not get easier to do! Pray for Summer and her family too as they once again have to say goodbye.
Quarantine has been reduced from twenty-one days to seven. You might think that is a good thing, and it is, but she was also looking forward to that time to move into a new apartment. It is unfurnished, but she is able to borrow furniture from someone who is away for a year on their home assignment. Once she is settled, Summer hopes to start having ladies’ groups and new families over for dinner again. Pray for contentment in her new apartment and that she would be able to set it up to be cosy and welcoming. Pray as she gets back into the swing of things in PNG, that Summer will find meaningful ways to reconnect with the community.
In October and December, she hopes to have another ladies’ debriefing retreat, but the housing is very limited on mission centres right now. Please pray with her for a solution. The options she is considering so far would all add quite a bit of expense to hosting the retreat, so it could be prohibitive for the ladies to attend, and Summer does not want that.
Summer was able to facilitate a ‘Missionary Care Discussion Group’ with six churches while she was home and they had some great discussions about how to communicate with and care for their missionaries/her co-workers. Pray that the churches will be able to implement what they have learned. Pray for openness and excitement for those she invites next. She hopes to host another Zoom call discussion group starting in September. She was also able to finish the second video in a series on literacy and plans to start work on the third one, ‘How do you teach adults how to read and write?’ before she heads back.