Record Day

Things have been going along pretty well here lately, outside of a few minor aberrations. Jeremy Dion, the BJU student who was doing his missions internship with us, left on Friday. He actually flies out of the country this Thursday, but he wanted to spend a few days with the Ritschards, GFA missionaries near Goroka. Brother Randy drove him to Nomane and he flew in to Goroka from there. His time here was a real help to us and I hope to him as well. He preached several times, initially through an interpreter and later on his own by writing out his message ahead of time. He spent many, many hours working on various building projects around the mission. He built a number of shelves for me to store medical supplies on in the clinic – a huge blessing.

I also had some more email troubles this week, so if you sent me an email and haven't gotten a reply, that's why. I was using an old Dell computer to do email because new computers just don't seem to work well with the setup out here. Unfortunately, the problem with using an old computer is that it's old:-) So, while I was typing an email last week, it suddenly died and won't start up again no matter what I do. I hope to send it in to town on the next supply trip and see if anyone can fix it, but for now I will just share the Smith's email.

I had a record day in clinic on Monday – 55 patients! That is the most I have ever seen since arriving here as a career missionary. (I did see 60 patients once during my short term trip here 5 years ago.) I'm not sure exactly what brought the high numbers. For one, I had to cancel clinic last Wednesday due to my own illness, then I had a smaller group on Friday as many people were gone to a big rugby game in a neighboring village. Other than that, it just seems that a lot of people are sick right now. Most seem to have upper respiratory infections, but there are a few malaria, ameba, etc.

Other than that, I am staying busy doing language study and trying to organize the clinic. On Monday, I paid the Smith kids to come help me carry boxes of stuff over to the clinic, then today I started getting it put on the new shelves. It's a bit overwhelming at times, but it's going to be great when it's all done.

I'm also getting involved in a few new ministries. With Jeremy's departure, I am going to take over the choir for the church. That isn't as pretentious as it sounds. We only sing about every 6-8 weeks as it takes that long to learn a new song. No one reads music, so it is a matter of drilling the parts over and over until everyone gets it down. We don't do fancy arrangements, just basically the 4-part harmony that you have in your hymnbook. I'm excited about the opportunity though.

I've also started helping Elena Smith with her Sunday school class. We have two SS classes for the children and 4 teachers working on a 6 week rotation. We also have 4 helpers for the SS teachers. The girl who normally helps Elena is in town with her family for an undetermined length of time, so I am filling in for her.

Well, I'd better stop for now. I just had a lot to cover since I wasn't able to post last week. Thanks so much for your prayers.