Clay Pots - The Family

We thought we would update you a little on each member of our family:

Jason: I am still growing up. I have finally learned how to do the dishes; and I think I was even caught making omelets for breakfast the other day. I spend my time translating, teaching the Tobo believers the Word of God, working on the computer, snapping pictures, and teaching our kids bad manners.

Kellie: She is still home schooling Micah and Sophia, cooking, cleaning, cooking, scheduling flights, cooking, ordering supplies, cooking, corresponding with all of you, cooking, and did I mention cooking? She is a great mother and wife, and we don’t know what we would do without her. Oh, and she is the one who teaches our kids good manners.

Micah: Micah is 8, and just like Tom Sawyer. If he isn’t doing his 3rd grade homework, sitting in school, or playing leggos, he is usually out swinging from vines, cutting down the jungle with a machete, making forts, digging pits, playing soccer, and whooping it up with the boys. He just had his first cavity in his back molar, and was a real trooper getting it filled.

Sophia: Sophia is 5 (almost 6 now). She is getting very tall, and is a very pretty girl. If “Soap” (as we call her) is not sitting in kindergarten trying to learn to read and count to 100 (“why do I need to learn this anyway… you don’t count to 100 do you?”), then she is out scavenging the neighbors for sweet potato, cucumbers, or passion fruit. She also carries a bush knife and cuts down trees and grass, starts fires regularly, and swings from tree to tree. She is getting to be a good cook and might even rival her father sometime.

Malachi: Malachi, what can I say? Malachi is now 2 almost 3 years old. He never looses his smile, I think it is plastered on his face. He has a contagious laugh and is always the life of every party. Malachi loves to help me with any maintenance around the house and with translating the Bible Lessons with my helpers. All my friends call him the “old man” and treat him with utmost respect. He is always 100 yards ahead of us on the trail, or climbing a cliff by his hands and feet, or chasing his brother and sister begging to have the bush knife. (don’t worry, we won’t let him have it…yet).

Scamper and Abigail: They are our two cats. They make themselves useful by shedding, eating our leftovers, and leaving rat heads by the front door almost every morning. Yes, we greatly appreciate it.

Hope you have gotten to know us a little better; and we thank you for your prayers. We have had some close calls with accidents this past year; but God has kept us safe; and we realize that it is because you are praying for our little tribe. Thank you.

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

Tobo people singing praises

[Click here to listen or download]

Jason and Kellie

Micah Playing tic-tac-toe with his friend in the dirt

Sophia and Bepso picking flowers

Their Favorite thing to do

Working on Literacy Materials

Jason Teaching with a little help from Micah

Allna reading Scripture out loud at the Believer's meeting!

Fellowship Time

Big Sister rocking Malachi to sleep

War Paint (aka:mud)

Dying Easter Eggs!

2 front teeth are gone..tooth fairy enroute!

3 Kiddos...

The Easter Bunny does come all the way to PNG!!!

Malachi in the tree

Sophia in the tree

Clay Pots ~ Our Family

We wanted to send you Easter and Spring (unless you live in Wisconsin...it's still winter there!) greeting from our family to yours! The day before we left the tribe for a beak in town we celebrated an early Easter with the Tobo believers. It was an incredible time of worship, fellowship, testimony, and prayer. Some of the believers brought their guitars and tribal drums to sing with. One of the songs which they sang in the Tobo language went like this: "God sent his Son, Jesus, down to earth. He came to earth and died upon a cross. He died on a cross and washed my sins away!" They were super excited and encouraged with what God has done in their lives. One testimony that was shared went like this, "Jesus has done so much for me, it often brings tears to my eyes. Why would he save a bad sinner like me? But our tears don't save us, it is our faith that Jesus blood washed our sins away."

It was a really encouraging note to leave on and we are so thankful for your prayers for these new baby believers. The Holy Spirit is at work in their lives and we feel so privileged to see Him at work.

Since being out in town we have downloaded over 1,000 lost e-mails dating all the way back to last October. We just wanted to apologize if you were one of the many who never heard a response from us. If you were desiring to recieve an answer to a particular email, we would encourage you to resend it to us. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Have a wonderful day rejoicing that He is risen indeed!

His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, Malachi Knapp & The Tobo Church

Family Photo

Jeremy with his girlfriend, Jen Knieval
Dad and Mom
Kyle and Jen with baby Noah

Clay Pots ~ Acts & The Airstrip

"I am happy because even though we will not see each other again here on earth, we will one day see each other in heaven!"

This was said by Nikos as he shared a meal with our elders at his home yesterday.

We have enjoyed having the elders in here this past week. But all good things must come to an end, so we will be flying out to town to say goodbye to them and putting them on a plane that will take them home:-(. Then we will stay out for a few weeks for a much needed break. Also, Micah will be going through an annual 3 day school testing period to see how he is doing in 2nd grade and to see how well he is learning with Mom as his teacher:-). And after that we will be headed to see our mission's Dr. to get some much needed check-ups on all the kids and Kellie.

While we are gone:
The believers will be meeting twice while we are gone; so Chad will teach one lesson, and Jason took the opportunity to disciple Paulas to teach the other lesson. He is very excited to teach it and we are so excited to see him step up and want to take this opportunity on. When we return from our break Jason will begin teaching the book of Acts to the believers!!

Once we fly back into the tribe:
We are also beginning to make preparations to work on the airstrip again. Yep, it was about 2 years ago that we last worked on it, and it is in need of repair again. This time we (the Tobo people and us) will be again scrapping off the moss down the center of the airstrip and also the parking bay at the top, which is starting to look more like a parking bog. We will scrape off the dirt and moss, haul gravel from the mountain above us in large coffee bags, and then pound it into the airstrip surface with stumps of trees. We will also dig new drainage ditches. I know we will be having visions of tractors and bulldozers at night as we sleep off the sore muscles:-)

We would really appreciate prayer for a couple different things:
1. That we as a family could have a relaxing and fun break. It's been a long 6 months for us in the tribe, with people around daily. We sure are looking forward to just being alone as a family outside of a tribal setting.
2. Pray for the elders as they go home and share with others their experiences and what God is doing here.
3. Pray for Paulas as he teaches the lesson while we are gone. Pray for continued spiritual growth for all the believers.
4. Pray for safety and wisdom as we close the airstrip and work on it. The airstrip will be totally closed for a week to any fixed wing aircraft. Which means no one is allowed to come, leave, or get sick!:-) And it would sure be nice to work in the sun and not the pouring rain.

His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi & The Tobo Church