Mission Trip at Last

Several weeks ago I told you of a mission trip that our church was planning to an area about a day's walk away from our village. After several delays for various reasons, it appears that this trip will finally take place this coming week (June 29th to July 2nd). There is also a good chance that I will be able to be a part of this trip. At present, there is only one national lady going who is qualified to lead the children's Bible clubs, so it looks like I will be going to assist in that responsibility. We are currently on school break (between 3rd and 4th quarters) so I do not have that work at present. Also, I was already planning to take a short town trip starting July 2nd, so the clinic was scheduled to be closed.

At any rate, whoever is going will leave from our village on Tuesday, June 29th, and walk down our mountains, cross the river, and walk back up the other side. In the late afternoon, they will have a preaching service and Bible club in the first village and spend the night there. In the morning, they will leapfrog down the road, preaching at every other village until they reach the home village of one of our national preacher's wives. They will sleep there on Wednesday night, then return by the same road, preaching in the villages that were skipped on the inbound trip. The last service will be held Thursday evening and they will sleep in that village. On Friday, most of the team will hike back to our village of Kiari. I, along with one of the national preachers and his family, will hike to the nearest "bus stop" and catch a ride into town.

Please pray for the Lord's abundant blessing on this trip and for Him to be at work even now in the hearts of those that will hear the Word preached. Pray especially for freedom from the bondage of Satan's deception, as this area is very entrenched in works-based religions.

Teachers

The good news for the week is that Elizabeth (the new short term teacher) not only has her passport in hand but has also purchased her plane tickets. She and Tara (another teacher headed to another village) plan to arrive in Papua New Guinea on June 20th. Needless to say, we are very excited. She will spend a few days in Goroka to do shopping, set up a bank account, etc. and then, Lord willing, will fly to a grass airstrip about a 2-3 hour drive from our village. That airstrip has been closed for repairs for several weeks, so please pray that it will reopen in time for her arrival.

While having Elizabeth come will definitely be a huge help to the school, we still have some needs that I want to share with you. The most immediate is for an experienced teacher to come out this summer, even if just for a few weeks. Ideally, we would need someone that is experienced in using the Bob Jones University Press curriculum with the elementary grades. We mainly need someone to compare the BJU curriculum with the curriculum used in the PNG schools and develop a placement test to determine the PNG grades that are equivalent to the grades in our school. We know that our students are several grades ahead of their counterparts in the PNG schools, but it is hard for us noneducation people to evaluate this accurately.

In addtion, of course, we are still in great need of more teachers for next school year. At present, Randy Smith, the senior missionary, really doesn't have peace about me continuing to teach in the school as that is not really the ministry that I came here to do (and actually is occupying time that I would prefer to devote to other ministries). We have also recognized that it really is not wise, especially for a non-teacher, to teach more than one grade simultaneously. So, with our present personnel, it looks like we might only be able to offer one grade next year in the school. Please pray that the Lord will provide more teachers, ideally an experienced teacher to meet this need.

As I've mentioned before, if you feel the Lord directing you toward either of these opportunities that I've mentioned, please contact Gospel Fellowship Association for further information.

Visa!

After over a year of waiting, we received word that Elizabeth Ellinghausen has received her visa (or at least it has reached the PNG embassy in Washington, D.C.). That is exciting as it means that we will have another teacher for Joy Christian School. We are finishing 3^{rd quarter in a couple weeks, but Lord willing, she will be here for the start of 4th quarter. Tiffany Parks, a present short termer, will be leaving at the end of this school year, so we still are in need of more teachers. Nevertheless, it is great to see the firstfruits, so to speak. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, if this a ministry you think the Lord might have you be involved in, even for a short term, please communicate your interest with GFA.}

In other news, my house continues to progress. The interior walls are all in place, most of the ceilings are completed (although not in place yet), and ladies from the church have been pulling the long grass that will be used to make the roof.

We have also begun a Read Write School for men. Our previous school was for women and children as the teacher was a woman and it would not be appropriate in this culture for a woman to teach adult men (especially since there is a devotional at the start of each day's lesson). There are two fairly new believers from our church taking the class so that they can read the Bible for themselves. Silas, one of our national preachers, is teaching the class.

Thanks so much for your prayers. Please continue to remember Elizabeth as she prepares to leave the US, as well as the other ministries here.

Progress

 

Sorry for not posting last week. My email service shut down for a server upgrade and did not start working again until the end of the week. (Therefore if you have sent me an email and not gotten a reply, that's probably why.)

The church didn't end up going on the mission trip that was planned for last week. We got word from some folks from the planned destination asking us to delay a bit so the trip has been rescheduled for May 25^{th- 28th. Please continue to pray for the Lord's preparation of hearts in the Gono area.}

Thank you for your prayers for the children of our church. A number of made professions in the last several weeks, with three just this Sunday. Please pray for their spiritual growth and complete understanding.

My house continues to develop. Phase 1 (or Block 1 as my national "general contractors" dubbed it) was completed on Saturday. That means that the support posts are in the ground and cemented, the floor joists are in, both interior and exterior walls are framed, the woven mat outside walls are all in place, and the woven bamboo floor is also in place. I am thrilled with how fast the project is progressing and the quality of the work being done. I really feel that the house is already opening up more contact with the nationals as I usually talk to a number of folks even on my daily walk to check the house progress.

Thanks once again for your payers for us. I can never express to you what a difference that they make.

Mission Trip

I started discipleship classes with some of the recently saved teens this week. I had given them the books about ten days before so that they could do the first study and then we met and discussed it. I ended up with four girls – Lynn, Jaunika, Jocelyn, and Ellie. Three of them have been saved within the last couple months and Lynn has been saved about two years. She had started a discipleship class before but never finished. All the girls had done their lessons and learned the memory verse. Please pray that they will continue to be faithful and grow in their Christian walk.

The church is planning a mission trip for next week. They will be walking for a day, then spending three nights in this new area, then walking back. I am interested in going, but, as I went on the last church mission trip, I want to make sure that I don't take the place of a national who really wants to go. This area is one that we have burdened for for some time. It includes the home village of Alice (the wife of one of the national preachers and also my clinic helper). Please pray that the Lord will go before and prepare receptive hearts to the message of the gospel.

Your Prayers

Thanks so much for your prayers on behalf of the school students that were planning to leave our Christian school for the government school several hours away. Brother Randy was able to meet with the two young men after church on Wednesday and discussed the problems that they would face if they choose to leave. He told the boys to come the next morning before school and tell him their decision. They each came separately and said that they had decided to stay and finish out the year. What a blessing! This a real answer to prayer and an evidence of the work of the Lord in their hearts as their decision to stay went against everything their culture and unsaved families would pressure them to do. Thanks for your intercession on their behalf.

Babies and School Kids

It's been sort of an up and down week. To start things off, last Sunday one of the national preachers approached me before afternoon church and told me that his sister and her husband had walked several hours to bring their sick baby for me to look at. I immediately went to his house to see it and found a quite lethargic 11-month-old, working very hard to breathe and burning up with fever. We went straight up to the clinic and I gave him a penicillin shot, a liquid antibiotic, and a bronchodilator (to ease his breathing). The parents brought him back every morning throughout the week for another penicillin shot. By the end of the week, his breathing was much easier and he seemed much better. But this morning (Monday), I got word that he had died during the night. It's the first baby I have lost since coming here, so that's a real blow, besides the fact that he really seemed to be better the last time that I saw him. In addition, I don't think either of his parents are saved.

On Thursday morning, a young Christian couple from church brought their 6-month old baby to the clinic. She also was having a hard time breathing and had actually stopped breathing several times during the night and once right there in the clinic. I gave her an antibiotic shot as well, and then Brother Randy was able to drive them a few hours to the nearest airstrip where they were able to fly to a government hospital. (We offered to take the other baby as well, but the parents declined.) As of yesterday, that baby is still alive and improving. Please pray for the continued healing of Joanna along with her parents Tu and Wari as well as for the comfort of Gabriel's family in his loss.

The school side of things is bringing its share of heartache as well. As I may have mentioned, age does not correlate with grade here, so several of our 4^{th graders are 18 or older. Due to some conduct issues, we did not reenroll some of last year's 3rd graders and they left home to go to a government school (about 6 hours away). The government school is on break this week and some of those kids have come back with rosy tales. Because of the quality of our education, the kids that had finished 3rd grade in our school were accepted into 6th grade in the community school and are finding the work much easier. This is tempting two of the 4th grade boys to leave our school and join them. I think this is an unwise decision from an academic standpoint (as they are getting a better education here and will be farther ahead the longer they stay with us), but I am more concerned from a spiritual standpoint. As I spoke with one of the boys today, I was encouraging him to pray and seek God's will and not just follow his own desires. Every time I brought that up, he looked anywhere but at me. I really fear for their walk with the Lord if they put their own plans over God's, not to mention that they will be far away from a Bible preaching church and the accountability of pastor, parents, and godly authorities. The boys have to make their decision this week as they would need to be at the government school by Monday. Please pray that they will seek and follow God's leading.}