First Term Ends Well

Sue says:

Jeff and I felt like we were able to communicate well with our different classes this term. We thank those of you who prayed for us and our students.

Jeff and I both taught the second year students above. He had them for exegetical skills. At the end of the term, he felt the class did especially well interacting with narrative Bible passages.

I taught the class Christian counseling. It was instructive to me to learn about the way counselors here use parables to convict or instruct, as the prophet Nathan did with King David.

Outside of class, we were thankful to hear that God has used even the destruction of the houses in Bung village for the advance of His kingdom. After individuals at our college donated toward the relief of the village people, some unconverted youths have begun to come to times of worship. Please pray all the villagers will grow in their Christian faith while they rebuild their homes.

Update on Tribal Fight

Sue says:

Thank you to those of you who have been praying for the people involved in the current tribal fight near our Bible college. The tribal fight issue is mystifyingly complex. Actually, this fight is between sub-clans within a larger clan. The people in these sub-clans intermarry, so those fighting each other, in this instance, are related.

The corporate memory in these groupings goes back generations, and if there is a chance to bring an old fight back up--even if compensation has been paid--up the old trespass comes again when an opportunity presents itself.

We at our Bible college don't want to be taking sides with one clan against another. After all, there are students here from all the clans involved. At some time in the past each of the three clans we know of in this fight has done some terrible things to the others.

However, people burned out of their houses need some help. Last Sunday a truckload of medicine, clothing, blankets and some other things were taken up to Bung village. (Picture above) It was horrifying to see that some of the people least affected grabbed more than their share of donated goods.

Some people want to settle matters and go back to peace. Others want to take this opportunity to press their land claims. Some want to escalate to all-out personal violence. Some sons and nephews of those who want to fight are saying, "Don't do it!"

One pastor from an opposing sub-clan came to pray with the people of Bung. His gardens were ruined by his own people because he did that.

"Oh Lord, please sustain Your people through this terrible time. May they grow in their trust in You. May they help each other without fear. Please bring peace to this area again. May new ways of peacemaking be put in place so that these kinds of matters can be settled without further destruction and bloodshed."

Bung Ples Burned to the Ground!

Jeff writes:

Michael Kongo's village of Bung Ples was burned to the ground last Friday afternoon as a result of an inter-clan tribal fight.

By God's grace Michael and his wife Doris were not there. They are currently attending a Bible school in the Sepik.

Men from two enemy clans from Michael's tribe surrounded the village and attacked. The people of Bung fled and consequently had to endure the destruction of nearly everything they owned.

The attackers looted, burnt houses (including Michael's mother's), destroyed the coffee cash crop, cut down banana and nut trees, and killed or stole pigs. The people of Bung lost nearly everything including pots, pans, clothes, mattresses, and blankets. Some spent the first night sleeping outdoors in the rain in the bush. Others found wontoks or friends to stay with.

What makes this even more tragic is, if you recall, Bung Ples is where many youth had recently turned to the Lord. We have spent over two years working up there to help turn a bunch of former criminals into committed Christians.

A man from Michael's clan appears to be the cause of the fight. There are conflicting reports of what exactly happened. He either raped or had a pre-arranged liaison with the wife of another man. The wife's husband belonged to another clan within Michael's tribe. Apparently, he came home in the middle of the night to find the two of them together. A fight ensued and the husband was badly cut up by a bush knife.

The sad part about the whole affair is Michael's clan had previously run off the perpetrator because he was a known trouble maker and the cause of a tribal fight which broke out in 2007.

When we heard about this, we prayed that the missionary doctors at Kudjip Hospital could save the man. Thankfully, they did. However, a line had been crossed

Walking back home for lunch on Friday, I could see smoke rising from the mountains around Bung, and I knew what had happened. The attack was on. People at the CLTC reported hearing gun shots, and we feared the worst.

We prayed that there would be no loss of life, and graciously the Lord answered.

However, the initial reports were of total devastation. We heard that the attackers had burned the Youth Bible Study House to the ground and that they had spared nothing.

However, on Sunday Peter Tommy and his wife Maria paid us a visit. They live in Bung and had lost their home. We did what we could for them. Sue and Maria went to our garden to harvest anything ready to pick. Sue found a pile of clothes we planned to donate and a blanket, and gave the lot to the Tommys.

They did bring some good news. The attackers had spared a soon-to-be-completed schoolhouse and (Praise the Lord!) the Youth Bible Study House. (They are pictured to the right.)

Please pray for the people of Bung. They have suffered this kind of hardship before, but this is the first time we have been so close to people in this predicament.

Pray for wisdom for us as to how we should help. Right now we are trying to create a CLTC-community-based response.

Pray that this fight is over. There are lots of old scores that need settling between Michael's clan and his neighbors, so pray that cooler heads will prevail. If there is a fresh outbreak of violence, we fear that lives will be lost.

Pray too that we will be able to renew our Bible-study program. Lord willing a missionary couple will go up this Sunday.

Pray too for unity. Members of the youth Bible study were on both sides of the fight.

Thanks.

Students Lead Prayer Morning

Sue says:

The students led us in a morning of prayer this week. Their theme was "Strengthening our Grip on Prayer." The preacher was our student cell group leader. He is just a little younger than Jeff and I. Can he preach! He challenged all of us from Philippians 4:1-9 to give our burdens to the Lord to allow Him to carry them with His mighty power.

Bumper Crop of Beans

Sue says:

The green and yellow beans in our garden have grown exceedingly well. This week-end there were enough to share with three other families.

Sorcery is Not Make Believe

Jeff writes:

This photo is of the regalia for a man from the lower Sepik of Papua New Guinea. He would wear this ceremonial dress in his spirit worship. At the top you can see what we would call a tiki mask. Any of you who ever visited the Tiki Room attraction at Disneyland know what I am talking about. Whereas in Disneyland everything is make believe, in this country these masks, what they stand for, and how they are used are an entirely different matter.

Most people here still live in deathly fear of spirits. They understand and have experienced their power to heal, to help gardens grow, to attract a woman, or most ominously to kill. The following is an excerpt from a letter written to our college by a former student.

I’m now living with my wife’s family in one of the remotest part of Madang [Province] that do [sic] not have access to mobile phones. Here people are in terrible fear of Sanguma spirits. BESESIN is the name of the most feared people in this area who practice sorcery (Sanguma).

We do need your prayers for these people or my wife’s people to be transformed by the Holy Spirit. The ... Church has been here but have done little to address this issue.

Most churches and their leaders here have little teaching on how to overcome the evil spirits that afflict their people. As noted before in this blog, we have been working with local village pastors and their flocks to combat this pestilence. Our college student cell group is currently learning how to overcome this fear. Just saying, "Don't believe in Sanguma (sorcery)!," is not enough. People need to be shown how the power of the Holy Spirit is greater than the power of a sorcerer.

Sometimes accusations of sorcery can turn deadly. In Banz, which is a ten-minute drive from our campus, a mob turned on a pregnant woman whom they had accused of killing another man through sorcery. They chased her through the streets until they caught her. She was hung by the neck from a tree branch. While hanging there she delivered her baby, which subsequently died. After the mob left, bystanders cut her down and were able to revive her. Her story entitled "A Refugee in Her Own Home" appeared 27 January 2010 in the PNG Post Courier . If you wish, you may read more about it at this link: http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20100127/wehome.htm.

So please pray for these afflicted people. The powers of darkness are not just the stuff of theme parks or of movies. They are an oppressive reality for our students, our Melanesian staff, and the people who live in the villages, which surround our college.

Like Kids Everywhere

Sue says:

Like kids everywhere, these little guys were studying pollywogs today. On my way home for lunch I walked by them. Like mamas everywhere, their mothers probably asked them when they got home, "How did you get so dirty?"

A Highlands Welcome!

Sue says:

Our Bible college is located in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. There are five highlands provinces in this country. The staff women from the five highlands provinces joined together last Friday night to stage a welcome to new women staff and students on behalf of our college women's organization. What a joyous experience it was!

The welcomers encirlced the new women and above them they held a huge wreath of flowers. Then they sang "We Are One in the Spirit of the Lord."

It was a pleasant time of thinking about how the Spirit of God empowers the lives of Christians, of meeting new staff and student women, and of enjoying dessert together.