June Update 2026

Our June update comes a little late - We had a whirlwind month which started with two tradies, Ray & Keenan, arriving from Australia to assist with the renovation of our house. As we shared in our last update, there is a two-bedroom house at the Bible College campus in Port Moresby which we’re planning to live in for our time here. The house is on stilts which allowed us to fill in the bottom to accommodate our growing family, as well as provide us with office and homeschool space.

Although they were only here for a week, the boys managed to achieve a massive amount of work. The framing for the downstairs was completed, and they managed to put up a veranda above the rain tanks and enclose the existing veranda which will become our dining room (see before & after photo above). They also put an internal staircase in the house to connect the bedrooms and upstairs living area.

The dry season arrived a month earlier than usual which was good for our building project but meant everything dried out sooner than usual. The grass at the college is looking very brown but with less humidity in the air our nights have been significantly cooler than usual. We enjoyed a fun week with the two visitors. We even managed a few outings between the gruelling work hours that Johan put them on ;)

Ultimately, we’re very grateful for the time and skills Ray & Keenan could put into building our new home, and we appreciated their families in Australia letting us borrow them for a week. See below photo evidence that they were in PNG at the same time (their only forced group photo on record). We are also very thankful that we were spared from major disruptions and injury on the worksite. Overall things have progressed very smoothly and we’re grateful for God’s blessings we continue to experience in our work.

The week after they left, Johan had help from one of the college students to try completing the cladding around the house. Their PNG-style scaffolding left Evelyn feeling a little nervous (Photo below) but thankfully all things turned out well. They ran out of cladding on the Saturday afternoon so were unable to finish the last two rows which was frustrating for Johan, as we were planning to leave for Australia early Monday morning. They had managed to complete a massive amount of work in the last two weeks though, as you can see in the picture below everything is really starting to take shape!

Despite Johan’s annoyance about those last two row of cladding which needed to be finished, we had a flight to catch. We left for Australia in mid-June to attend the wedding of Johan’s sister. Our two weeks there was spent with family and recharging after a busy few months in PNG. Western Australia in June is the beginning of winter with (very) cold mornings and beautifully mild sunny days. After being in PNG for almost a year we weren’t quite used to the cold but we managed with a woodfire and extra blankets! Once the sun came out we ventured out for a few day trips which we’ve put some photos of below. We’re grateful for the time we could spend with family and were especially thankful we could witness the wedding of Johan’s sister.

Thankfully, Evelyn could also attend a few baby appointments and have her 20-week scan. With thanks to God, the baby is looking healthy, and we plan to be returning to Australia for the delivery around Mid-October.

The schools in PNG have wrapped up their second school term and are currently on break. We continue to be thankful for the work of the dedicated teachers who pushed through report time on their own while Johan focused on the house. We have learnt a lot about the schools over the last six months and there is a lot of work to do. We continue to pray for God’s sovereign hand to strengthen the teachers and school leadership in their tasks. We also pray regularly for God’s guidance about how to prioritise the massive amount of work that needs to be done. Please see some prayer points below so you can join us in this.

Thanks again for your ongoing love and support.

Johan & Evelyn Ada, Phoebe & Matthew

Prayer Points:

-          Thankful – God’s continued blessing on Evelyn’s pregnancy

-          Thankful - We could spend a restful time in Australia for a family wedding

-          Request – That our house will be completed in a timely manner so we can settle into our home

-          Request - For God’s blessings over the schoolteachers and leaders in the schools in PNG.