What a joy it was today to visit once again the new believers at Bung village. Several different students and staff members from our Bible college have continued to lead them in devotions each Sunday as the new believers have studied God's Word.
This week they were studying prayer, so Jeff spoke about Paul's prayer for the Colossian believers. What a delight it was to be a part of their prayer time. They not only praised God and asked Him to supply their own needs, but they also prayed for unbelievers in their community to come to faith in Christ too.
We enjoyed meeting the new babies born while we were gone, and the group liked seeing the birth announcement of our new grandson too. It seemed that this sharing of personal information opened up more conversation about how the individuals and community are doing.
Then a surprising thing happened. The leader of one of the local churches invited Jeff to come to his church to give the same sermon RIGHT THEN. We went, and I must praise Jeff's cool-headedness. He switched to another sermon he had given previously on the Lords' Prayer because many of the attendees had been at the earlier devotion. I guess I should give the Lord credit for helping him not only remember a previous sermon, but also to speak Tok Pisin after a long absence.
At any rate, we were happy to see these new believers continuing to grow in Christ. The changes in the community are marked. This truly is a big victory for the Lord. We are thankful to see Him bring this about.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Celebrating Little Victories
Sue says:
It's been a week that we've been back in PNG now. We were just thinking about a couple little victories this week.
Jeff's lost suitcase arrived safely--just a couple things seem to be missing from it.
One of the things that WAS in the suitcase was a little collection of lug nuts. They hold the spare tire for our 1983 Suzuki Samurai onto the back of the car. The old lug nuts were stolen last April. We checked for some in Hagen soon after. The parts place there said their company had plenty of lug nuts in Moresby.
We just happened to be going to Moresby. We checked at the parts place there. Evidently there had been a run on lug nuts. None left anywhere in the city.
While we were in Fresno, CA., we thought we'd check again. Bingo! A resourceful counter guy came up with some. Then when we got back to PNG, guess which suitcase had the lug nuts in it?
You guessed it. The missing one. So, today we tried the long-sought lug nuts on our car. AND THEY FIT!
We're so thankful for little victories.
Thus far the Lord has helped us. 1 Samuel 7:12
It's been a week that we've been back in PNG now. We were just thinking about a couple little victories this week.
Jeff's lost suitcase arrived safely--just a couple things seem to be missing from it.
One of the things that WAS in the suitcase was a little collection of lug nuts. They hold the spare tire for our 1983 Suzuki Samurai onto the back of the car. The old lug nuts were stolen last April. We checked for some in Hagen soon after. The parts place there said their company had plenty of lug nuts in Moresby.
We just happened to be going to Moresby. We checked at the parts place there. Evidently there had been a run on lug nuts. None left anywhere in the city.
While we were in Fresno, CA., we thought we'd check again. Bingo! A resourceful counter guy came up with some. Then when we got back to PNG, guess which suitcase had the lug nuts in it?
You guessed it. The missing one. So, today we tried the long-sought lug nuts on our car. AND THEY FIT!
We're so thankful for little victories.
Thus far the Lord has helped us. 1 Samuel 7:12
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Getting Settled In
Sue says:
Many thanks to you who have prayed for us this week. The Lord is helping us adjust to the 17-hour time change, unpack our bags, set the house back up, buy groceries, and get our course notes ready.
And Jeff's lost bag arrived last night!
Our internal clocks awaken at about 3 each morning. We make ourselves stay in bed about an hour longer, then get going on our day. We get lots done in a day when we start so early. Pretty soon we'll adjust.
The raining season seems to be upon us. It's been 70 degrees and wet the last two days. Wish we could send some of our excess a little south or east to help out our friends with drought or hot autumn weather.
May we all find joy in our assigned locations and work.
Many thanks to you who have prayed for us this week. The Lord is helping us adjust to the 17-hour time change, unpack our bags, set the house back up, buy groceries, and get our course notes ready.
And Jeff's lost bag arrived last night!
Our internal clocks awaken at about 3 each morning. We make ourselves stay in bed about an hour longer, then get going on our day. We get lots done in a day when we start so early. Pretty soon we'll adjust.
The raining season seems to be upon us. It's been 70 degrees and wet the last two days. Wish we could send some of our excess a little south or east to help out our friends with drought or hot autumn weather.
May we all find joy in our assigned locations and work.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Safe Arrival in Papua New Guinea
Jeff writes:
Forty hours after we left our little house in a vineyard in Madera, California, we arrived at our little house in the middle of the farm which is the Christian Leaders' Training College. Our trip was uneventful. We got a little sleep on the airplane, and when we arrived, we were greeted by many happy and familiar faces. The Halls had us over for dinner, and we got a good sleep last night.
There is one prayer request. One of my bags did not make it up from Sydney, Australia. Please pray that it will come. We have a lot of carefully selected stuff in it that we cannot buy here in PNG, so we would like to get the bag back. Pray that Air Niugini will be diligent in their search and that no one steals the bag.
Blessings to you all!
PS Please pray for Sue's father. He has had a rough time medically that last three weeks or so, and he still is not out of the woods yet. God has done some miraculous work in healing him so far, and please pray that the Lord will see him and his wife through this latest set of trials.
Forty hours after we left our little house in a vineyard in Madera, California, we arrived at our little house in the middle of the farm which is the Christian Leaders' Training College. Our trip was uneventful. We got a little sleep on the airplane, and when we arrived, we were greeted by many happy and familiar faces. The Halls had us over for dinner, and we got a good sleep last night.
There is one prayer request. One of my bags did not make it up from Sydney, Australia. Please pray that it will come. We have a lot of carefully selected stuff in it that we cannot buy here in PNG, so we would like to get the bag back. Pray that Air Niugini will be diligent in their search and that no one steals the bag.
Blessings to you all!
PS Please pray for Sue's father. He has had a rough time medically that last three weeks or so, and he still is not out of the woods yet. God has done some miraculous work in healing him so far, and please pray that the Lord will see him and his wife through this latest set of trials.
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