Houghton and Gretchen Richards as well as Laura Thulesen (Gretchen and Laura are sisters) have been serving in Vanuatu for over seventeen years.

They are a couple years out from completing the New Testament. They are building a training center in the village we live in, anticipating Bible teaching and further literacy classes to train future leaders of the Church amongst the people of North Ambrym.

Current challenges are that we are currently stateside transitioning our children into university and life in America. We are technically on remote assignment continuing the work via Zoom while our children re-enter into American living and academic training. We plan 3 trips a year to go back for 3 weeks at a time for face-to-face consultant checking, literacy workshops, and discipleship. Also, our sending church in Miles City, MT has gone through a tough transition in the past few years when the founding pastor was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. I’ve been asked to help chair the search committee for a new pastor and help him transition into ministry in SE Montana. By God’s grace, we found a Master’s grad, and we are working really well together, and by God’s grace that transition is going as well as can be expected.