IT Manager Interviews!

Sue writes:

Good news! There are two qualified candidates for CLTC IT manager coming for interviews this week.

Jeff has been diligent to sift through several applications, and he is glad there are two candidates which seem to meet the college's criteria. The candidates' references has given positive reports. On the telephone, the candidates sounded promising. Now it is time to meet them in person.

Please pray Jeff and other interviewers will be able to detect any unreliability or inconsistencies in stories the candidates tell. It would give the college community a boost to have this new employee be an honest worker who is able to teach others.

Saturday, Bread Day

Sue writes:

Saturday is a day to do different things. This Saturday Jeff dealt with how to accurately present spiritual bread. I labored to make physical bread. I'll tell you about these things.

Jeff was invited to preach at an Assemblies of God church on Sunday. Two students at our college are part of that village congregation. It is being torn apart by quarreling, so the students asked Jeff to speak on Christian unity. He has been praying and asking God to show him what Jesus, the Bread of Life, wants this church to know about Himself and life in Him. We would appreciate your prayers for the Holy Spirit to unite this congregation.

While Jeff was working with spiritual bread, I have been kneading physical bread. Saturday is my day to make sure we have the food we need for the next week.

I start by seeing what our garden has ready for me to harvest. This week it was green beans, cherry tomatoes, celery, carrots, green onions and cabbage. Then I go to the open-air market outside our college gate. It was a joy to find pineapple, bananas, cucumbers, lettuce, and papayas there this week. Besides the usual sun, the extra rain that's starting to come has brought several new garden foods to maturity.

Those home-grown treasures have to be processed somehow. While my bread was rising, I chopped or grated the cabbage, carrots, celery leaves (Celery here grows lots of leaves and thin stalks.) and the greens of the onions into a coleslaw for tomorrow. The green beans and whites of the onions I cooked for lunch today. The lettuce will make a nice bed for some tomatoes, cucumbers and cold CLTC chicken breasts for dinner, and my bread will taste good along with it. Papaya is a nice finisher.

It's satisfying to work with the materials the Lord provides for us. Whether it's physical or spiritual bread we work with, we know all good things come from our generous God. We ask His blessing on our labor:

And let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And do confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands. Psalm 90:17

Absentee Voting and Updates

Sue writes:

We were recently delighted to receive our absentee ballots for the upcoming national election in the mail here. We have marked our the ballots, and I tried to send them off this morning. Someone had stolen the stamps from the college secretary, so I gave money to a person who was going into town to buy stamps for me tomorrow and to mail the ballots from Hagen. We are doing our best to take part in this election.

The photo shows Jeff with his absentee ballot. He's still very much alive after his malaria, but he has lost about 20 pounds since we came back here. I think he looks really great slim. He was getting even more fit after our return to the college by running in the early mornings. It seems that vivax mosquitoes feed at dawn, so we think he got malaria from running by the river where the mosquitoes live. He is getting his energy back after malaria. We're thankful for folks' prayers and concern.

In other news, the CLTC employee who was charged with robbery of college funds has been bailed from prison. Bail requirements are that the person cannot leave our province or be in the presence of other witnesses for the trial. The trial is set for 10 November.

There is no more news about our carjacked van or the robbers who kidnapped our college store manager.

Some good news is that the long-awaited Mundhenks, who also serve with Pioneers, arrived on campus this week. They are getting settled to be ready to serve in the college year that begins in February.

More Ups and Downs

Sue says:

The retreat turned out excellently! Thanks for your prayers. The principal was an outstanding speaker. The hike to the falls and swimming in the cool water was a male-bonding time. The students gave testimonies of praise to the Lord for His faithfulness to them in their time here. AND the food was delicious. A memorable combination.

We have been concerned that Jeff has been feeling poorly the last five days or so. When the chills and fever hit last night then again twelve hours later, we were alerted. He has malaria! Our campus clinic nurse was kind enough to come see him and bring him the best meds available. He should make a turnaround in twelve hours. He asks for prayer for perseverence through his aches. He says they are worse than with flu, and pain relievers aren't helping.

On another up note, the college employee was released from prison to return to campus. The trial is scheduled for ten days from now, which is earlier than had been expected.

The Best of Times; the Worst of Times

Sue writes:

It challenging to sort through all the good and bad that has befallen our community this week. I'll briefly list the events.

Our college employee at last was granted bail. The employee has not yet been released from prison.

The manager of the college grocery store was kidnapped from the yard of his house as he was coming home from work. He was held at knife point, bound, and his key to the store taken. The robbers then took the money that was in the store. The employee was shaken, but otherwise unhurt.

The house of the Nazarene minister in Bunem Wo, one of the two villages that border the college, was burned down today. His two-year-old child died in the house. A collection is being taken up to help the pastor and his family out some.

Prices at the markets are going up. A huge, ripe, juicy pineapple now costs $2 US (!). As I bought the fresh produce for the graduate retreat for this week-end, it was a good thing a local woman came along to help me. She looked out for the way I held my money (so it would not be accessible to anyone else). She also knew how to pick ripe cooking bananas and alternative markets at which we could comparison shop. We were able to make all our purchases for within a dollar of the estimated cost.

Several student wives are cooking for the men on (on-campus) retreat this week-end. They and the principal's wife are busy marinating beef and baking lemon cake for the guys for tonight. Tomorrow I will go over and show the wives how to bake banana bread.

Jeff and another faculty man are in charge of the retreat. They are well prepared with the college principal speaking about leadership qualities, a couple action movies, a hike to a nearby waterfall, and tasty food.

Please join us in prayer that God would use the retreat this week-end to encourage and refresh the men who are ready to graduate and go out as ministers. Also ask God to show us how to continue to meet the needs of our neighbors with tragedies in their lives. We really appreciate you who pray and our God who supplies answers.

Third Week of Fourth Term Activities

Sue writes:

It's already Wednesday here. While carrying on with our courses, we are also putting in work on the Graduating Men's Retreat which takes place on the week-end.

Jeff is leading it up. He's working on the schedule with the students and a co-worker. He has lined up the principal to speak and chosen a movie or two to watch with the guys. A hike is planned for Saturday afternoon. Communion together Sunday morning.

I am learning lots of new things about how to cook for the 25 people who will be attending.

First, there was a discussion about whether to get meat birds (young chickens) which can be roasted or the older breeder birds which need to be mumued to tenderize them. The workers solved that one for us. They chose to bring us breeders. Live ones. The student wives killed and plucked them for us. I didn't look. But I will need to take four of the dressed ones up to our our house when we walk up tonight. The fridge in the college meeting hall doesn't work. Who knows what we'll do with the retreat refrigerated items for the week-end.

Then I had to arrange transportation to the open-air market in Banz for fresh food. At first I was told I had to go at 7 am Friday when a bus was taking someone to the airport in Hagen. But I have an 11:30 class to teach, and that vehicle wouldn't come back by then. So the college will allow two student wives and I to ride in Friday afternoon. The Highlands wives will come with me. They know how to choose good cooking bananas. And they don't have qualms about asking the vendors to lower their prices if they are too high.

We are having lots of papers to mark and a going away dinner for a short-termer who has helped us out. Please pray that we will rest in the Lord for our strength and that as glitches pop up we will see our service as an offering to Him.

Updates

Sue writes:

We had a surprise about the case of the CLTC employee awaiting trial for conspiracy in a robbery of CLTC funds. The hearing which has been postponed again and again over the last two months is just a bail hearing! We thought all along it was the actual trial. The bail hearing is still pending. Please pray for the employee to receive the basics (food, water, clean air, a place to sleep) that are necessary and for the CLTC community to live in peace together about this matter.

After two months our washer has been returned to us in working order. We are grateful.

Another child died in Sigri village this week. This one a seven-year-old boy. I don't know many details except that he was well one day, felt weak at breakfast the next day, and he died at our college clinic while being examined. We grieve with the family.

Our classes continue going well. I look forward to tomorrow's missions class in which several students are scheduled to tell oral biographies of famous early missionaries. Our first quiz is slated for Tuesday.

We are enjoying delicious green beans from our garden, and new calves are being born each day now just over the garden fence. I counted three mamas with new babies today. The calves are so cute and clumsy when they first walk around a couple hours after birth. They seem as though a flea bites them so they take a leap in response. They sometimes are able to frolic around friskily, but other times they land in odd positions on the hill and they have difficulty knowing which way to move next. So amusing to watch!

Pair O' Grafs' Paragraphs: October 2008

We just sent out our latest edition of Pair O' Grafs' Paragraphs via email yesterday, but if you did not receive one, you may have a look at our October 2008 prayer letter by clicking on this link Pair O' Grafs' Paragraphs.

Missionary Conundrum

Jeff writes:

How would you like to be a missionary for a day?

Last week I had a national friend come by to ask me whether I would adopt his unborn child. He and I have gotten to know each other because we both lift weights. He is a championship body builder, and when I found that out, I asked him to develop a workout program for me.

Mutual giving forms the basis of a Melanesian relationship, so since he helped me with my training, he came to me with his adoption request; but it has a catch.

He told me that his wife wants to abort the child. They already have two kids, but with school fees and all the other expenses of raising a child, she really felt they could not afford another. Abortion is illegal and unsafe in PNG, so there is a real danger that both mother and child could die. Hence, he wants to find another alternative.

We are still working this one through, but I thought it would be interesting for you to reflect on the situation. So, what would you do if he had come to you?

Mt. Wilhelm

Jeff writes:

I have been away from blogging mainly because the start of a new term is filled with activities. My Wilhelm climb took from Friday (19 Sept.) to my return on (Tuesday 23 Sept.), which meant that I lost three work days out of an already shortened break time between terms. Hence, I was pretty busy getting my church history and Ephesians class notes in order to be printed and bound for the start of term.

Wilhelm has two stories to it. The most obvious one is we hiked to the top of the highest mountain in Papua New Guinea. At 4509 meters (14,793 feet) it is higher than Mt. Whitney in California. It was a difficult scramble to the top as it rained for three hours prior to our midnight departure. I slipped and slid my way up and back down. By the time I reached the top at dawn my pants were soaked and muddy, and my feet were a mess. It actually took me more time to go down than to go up. I fell constantly in the mud. This is a tribute to my lack of knowledge on how to walk on a PNG track and to the fact that fatigue set in. Nevertheless, with the aid of my companions and their encouragement we all made it back.

The other part of the story is I got to spend a lot of time with M. M. is a former rascal or outlaw, who has recently come to Christ. He and his buddy, who was our guide to the top of the mountain, used to practice their trade together. We heard many stories of their escapades. They used to hide out up here from the police. By His grace the Lord really has gotten a hold on M.'s life. He has left his gang, and now is absorbing as much of Christianity as fast as he can. His is a life transformed.

M. was my shadow down the mountain. He stuck with me every step of the way. He picked me up when I fell down. He showed me how to walk the treacherous trails, where to put my feet, and what to avoid. Because I stopped often to collect my strength, we had times to speak of our Lord, His love for us, and what He is like. M. had lots of questions, which is unusual for a Papua New Guinean, about his new-found faith. M. and I turned our walk down into a personal retreat time with our God. Though I was in pain, the joy of the Lord was indeed our strength. This testimony of a truly transformed life along with the beauty of the mountain, bore witness to the grandeur and grace of our God!

As the preachers like to say, "God is good all the time. All the time God is good!"