Matthew and Christina Colson
Missionaries to Micronesia
April 2023
It's been a while since our last email update, and we wanted to let you all know what's been happening in our lives. For two years now, Christina and I have been serving the Lord here in Guam. We're grateful to say that we've seen a lot of Chuukese people saved while here.
However, we have some news to share. Here in Guam there's very little medical care available that Christina needs. As you know, during our recent trip to Chuuk for Christmas, Christina caught dengue fever, and her joints unfortunately have been getting worse. We were supposed to go to Hawaii last month for some medical visits, but we had to cancel the trip due to the expense.
After much prayer, we feel the Lord leading us to close up here in Guam and head back to Hawaii for Christina's medical needs. Sadly, this means that we'll have to stop having Chuukese services here in Guam. On Easter Sunday, we had a great group of people come to our last service, and we had a farewell get-together at McDonald's. Thankfully, some folks who have been attending on Sunday afternoons have since started a church down the road. They've invited everyone to go with them and we're leaving them with some materials to help. We were planning to expand the ministry here in Guam, and we were looking into renting a building to start having regular services, but we kept having doors closed. Looking back, we can see the Lord slowly pushing us in this direction. It's unfortunate that you can't be in more than one place at a time!
Before going to Hawaii in August, we'll be down in Chuuk for a few months to help out there. Alisha and Timothy will soon be having a baby girl, and of course, my parents really want to go for Elizabeth to be born. Unfortunately, the family that took care of everything while my parents were gone during the Covid lockdown are unable to this time due to a family emergency. So, Lord willing, we leave for Chuuk on May 5th.
We're excited for this next phase, but we've had some sad moments as well. Sadly, we can't take Charlie with us since United Airlines no longer offers a way to bring pets. While we were in Chuuk a few months ago to fix the radio tower, we received an email out of the blue from a girl that works at a local veterinary clinic. She wrote to ask if we were looking to rehome Charlie! Somehow she knew that we were thinking about possibly moving. She took care of Charlie whenever we were off island and had fallen in love with him, and he loves her too! It was sad to have to leave him, but great to know that he's going to a wonderful home where he'll be well taken care of. The Lord certainly does arrange everything perfectly.
We were going to ship our truck down to Chuuk but had a shipping issue come up and had to sell it instead. The Lord had other plans apparently! Joe and Esleen, a Chuukese family that lives here in Guam, bought the Tacoma for Joe's work as a carpenter. When they came over to our house, I was able to share the gospel with them. We gave them and their two children evangecubes and led them all to the Lord! They wrote me a couple of days later to say that some family and friends came over to their house one night and their daughter got out her evangecube and "showed everyone how to accept Jesus!" They've been sharing the gospel every night in their home.
As we sell all of our stuff for the move to Hawaii, it's been great to see the support from the Chuukese people here in Guam. We had a garage sale last week, and almost all who came by were Chuukese. They all told Christina that they've been praying for her health since her tonsil surgery three years ago! Praise the Lord, we've passed out a lot of tracts these past few weeks and found out that almost all Chuukese people watch my sermons online. There is another family that we had Bible studies with that are insisting that they come over to help clean up our rental before we leave. They're all so helpful!
A few years ago, I started a Chuukese prison ministry in Hawaii and also was visiting Chuukese kids in the juvenile detention center there. Lord willing we'll be able to start those again. Half of all Chuukese people now live outside of Chuuk, with thousands living in Honolulu. We've already heard from Chuukese folks there and former church members from Chuuk who have since moved to Hawaii. They are looking forward to seeing us and want to know "where our church will be meeting in Hawaii." They're very enthusiastic, and that's wonderful to see!
Thank you all for your prayers and support. Please be praying for us as we finish closing up here in Guam and leave for Chuuk then Hawaii.