Monday, August 17, 2009

Physical & Spiritual

It didn't take long to get back in the routine of bush life. Clinic numbers have been a bit down over the last couple of times. One reason is that the government sent a car from the nearest medical clinic (about a 2 hour drive) with some medical personnel and medicine. They were concerned about the flu epidemic that seems to be sweeping the area. (Since we are south of the equator, our seasons are opposite those of the US, so this is the same flu season that you see during your winter months.) I was thrilled that the government took the initiative to provide the medical care, but of course, that impacted my clinic attendance. They only had one day of clinic though, so I'm sure things will pick up again soon. Today two ladies came with their newborns. Both ladies had come for prenatal clinic, so I was able to give them baby packs. It was a lot of fun for everyone to check the babies over, dress them in the new clothes from the packs, and get pictures of them. One lady had twins, so there was 1 boy and 2 girls.

On Friday, my clinic helper Alice told me of an older man that was sick down in the village. She suggested that the 2 of us go down and see him to give him medicine and also witness to him. I was thrilled to do it, but even more pleased that she came up with the idea. We went down to see the man and gave him medicine. (I think he may have congestive heart failure.) Then I was able to go through the gospel with him as Alice translated for me from Pidgin into the local village language. (Many of the older people don't speak Pidgin well and understand the local language much better.) What a blessing to minister to physical and spiritual needs simultaneously. Lord willing, this will be only the first of many such visits. Please pray for a clear understanding of the gospel, conviction of sin, and a genuine heart response.

By the way, we have been having a number of email issues and some messages may have been lost. If you have emailed me in the last week or so and have not gotten a reply, please resend your message.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Evil Spirits

Evil Spirits

We have had some unusual happenings in our village over the last couple of weeks. A young man died and 3 women confessed to performing witchcraft on him, claiming to be possessed by evil spirits. The women were then killed by some other villagers. This is actually a rather new thing for our village as the people here have not typically been involved directly in witchcraft. Two of the three women were from other villages and they apparently taught the third woman. I won't go into all the details of the incident, but it has been the main topic of conversation now for several days.

On Sunday, Brother Randy preached about evil spirits, explaining that the Bible teaches that they do exist, but that the Holy Spirit is stronger than any evil spirit. He challenged the Christians to make sure that they were not quenching the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives and confronted the unsaved with the truth that without Christ they are already under the bondage of Satan. Please pray that this incident will have a positive effect in the lives of our people as opposed to the negative effect that the devil obviously intends.

We also held a church business meeting yesterday and voted to church discipline two individuals who have continued in sin despite biblical confrontation. Please pray for the restoration of Micah (a woman) and Ben.

On a lighter note, Tiffany, our short term teacher, is scheduled to arrive back in PNG on Thursday morning. Brother Randy and I (along with a truck load of nationals) are hoping to head to Goroka tomorrow (Tuesday) to both pick her up and do our bi-monthly supply run. If all goes as scheduled, Brother Randy will drive back on Friday, then Tiffany and I will spend the weekend in order to do some more shopping and then fly into the grass strip at Nomane where Brother Randy will pick us up on Monday. I am looking forward to this trip. Brother Randy does a great job of shopping off the lists we give him, but it will be nice to be able to go through the stores myself for a change. Your prayers would be appreciated for dry weather and safe driving as well as safety from thievery in Goroka.