Outreach Sunday Comes Around Again

Sue says:

With the beginning of a new term at the Bible college comes the opportunity to go off campus with our student cell group to lead a village congregation in worshiping the Lord. August 1 is the day. Above,  you will see our cell group of students. Notice they are men and women; they range in age; they come from various places (within Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands); and I'll tell you they have different gifts--just like the whole church should be.

The church we visit this year is a Lutheran one that has suffered a split in the last year or so. They don't have a pastor now.  The students think the people there are discouraged. Ask the Lord to help us meet their needs as we go to minister on the coming Sunday.

God Sweats the Details

Jeff writes:

It has been two weeks to the day since we got our last rain. Our tank is down seven rings. We are still recycling as much water as we can.

The students are allowed one bucket of clean water per day per family. This means that they generally go without drinking water for a meal. In spite of this, they appear to be handling it well.

We pump untreated Waghi River water to wash clothes and dishes, take showers and flush toilets.  The pump has been repaired, and we have had a steady supply.

Three weeks ago in a faculty meeting I asked whether anyone in the room would be willing to DRINK Waghi water, and of course, no one volunteered. Then I asked if they would drink the water if we could filter it. Most were still reluctant. However, if we could successfully remove all the nasty bacteria and organisms in the water, we would have an unlimited supply of fresh clean water.

I am in the process of building a slow-sand water filter, which if assembled properly, could supply us with all the drinking water we would need. I have a good handle on the technology, but the materials we have to use here are limited, so I have had to jury rig a design. Even though there is great urgency to get the thing built and tested, there have been many hiccups and delays along the way, which are typical but frustrating.

So please pray that we get a lot of rain. Also pray that we can get the filter built. The photo is of some students who helped me to get clean sand from a river bank to use in the filter. The plumber is installing the fixtures, and tomorrow we plan to sieve the sand and gravel. We hope to be able to get the thing started this week. Please pray that we do.

By the way there is a spiritual lesson in this. I learned about slow-sand filtration while on a mission trip to Guatemala in the 1990's. We built water filters there based on this principle. God does not waste even the smallest of experiences. He knew I would need to use this idea here as Joseph said to "preserve many people alive." (Gen 50:20. In other words God sweats the details, and He does not let anything good go to waste.. (Zech 4:10)

I wonder what the Lord is doing in your life today to better prepare you to serve Him in the future?  Why don't you ask Him?

Days of Confusion

Sue says:

There's some upheaval about the leadership of the government of PNG lately. Opposition Members of Parliament, as well as some members of the prime minister's own party, seem to be intent on ousting the  prime minister.

In recent months there have been several issues that have been dealt with in ways that seem to disregard the PNG constitution or procedural rules in Parliament. There was an attempt to make the Ombudsman Commission (which looks into charges against Members of Parliament or the departments they head) powerless. A law was passed that disregards sound forestry policy in making contracts with foreign companies. It was made impossible to sue to in regards to mineral contracts. The manner of the appointment of the Governor General (who calls for elections) recently was questionable.

The current prime minister has served the country many years. He recently tried to get his party to agree that his son with be the leader of his party when the current prime minister is required by law to retire in two years. (His own party was alarmed by this.) Some people say that this leader thinks himself above the law. Lately, he is given to sacking his own party leaders who disagree with him.

Applications were made to hold protest marches in the capital this week. The chief of police has denied any protests be held in any town in the nation this week. He cited public safety reasons.

It is not our policy to support or work against political figures here, but we want our prayer team to know what is happening. We  ask God to confirm in office a person who follows the laws of the land and promotes others who do the same. When the government follows honest policies, all the rest of the country are free to go about their business in peace.

Water Report

Sue says:

Last week when we went for a walk, we saw staff members bathing in the river and washing and drying their clothes there. The nationals seemed to be adapting to our lack of water pretty cheerfully. We ex-pats seemed to be more agitated.

This week, with students and their families coming back for class, there are another 200 or so people using tank water. There is just enough rain (tank) water for drinking and cooking. Students and some staff line up at a central tank to haul water back to their homes. Clothes, dishes and bodies need to be washed in river water for many of the staff and students.  A few people have enough tank water for showering and washing dishes. 

Jeff and I got to see the our pumps yesterday. A small gas-powered motor that uses a liter of fuel per hour brings water up to a cistern in a pump house by the river. An employee has to manually refuel the motor every two hours. From there two pumps alternate sending water to one side of campus or the other. 

The river water doesn't flow for 12 hours at night. People keep buckets of water for dumping into the toilet tank to flush toilets. We reuse water from washing dishes and rinsing laundry.

As you can imagine, some people are getting sick from not treating river water properly. Please continue to pray that we will manage well, being grateful and willingly sharing what we have. 

Umbrellas Necessary!

Sue says:

I noticed in faculty prayer time Monday that several other members had better attitudes than I did about waiting for God to act. They had a quiet assurance, remembering times in the past that God had acted on the behalf of His children. It was calming to look at our water shortage that way. We were confident that God loved us and was with us, even before He acted.


Last night, a "five-ring rain" (see previous post for an explanation) fell. The rain was just pounding down. Today it continued during the day, something unusual even in wet season. When it was time to come home for lunch, it was raining hard. And most of us faculty members didn't have umbrellas with us. John, the one who prayed so trustingly, did.


We brought our umbrellas, and used them, on our walk back to the faculty building this afternoon. You can see Jeff walking up our familiar road, lined with glorious mud puddles.

Outside the door, the umbrellas were lined up. We thank the Lord for sending such a dramatic answer to prayer. Three more rings on our tank have filled during the day. Our tank is full. We can't wait to hear reports from others about how full their water tanks are.     

Three-Ring Rains

Jeff writes:

We are grateful for the many who are praying about our water situation. As you know we have received our first couple of rain showers in the past week. I call them "three-ring rains" because they filled our water tank three rings fuller than before.

Rain water is our primary source for drinking, cooking, and bathing. The photo shows our water collection system. As rain falls on our metal roof it flows into gutters and downspouts where it pours into our 10,000 liter water tank, which is pictured in the bottom right corner.  The water is then pumped up to two header tanks on our roof. One header tank belongs to our neighbors and the other is ours.

The three-ring rains brought us an additional 800 liters of water, which is a real blessing!

Conservation is important too. We wash our clothes and flush our toilet using river water. Sue saves the rinse water from the washing machine to use in the wash cycle of the next load. We do not rinse our dishes after washing, and we reuse the old dishwater to rinse the next batch. Often times the pump that supplies our river water fails, so we store the last rinse water from the washing machine to flush our toilet and then only when necessary.

Prayer is important too. Without water our ministry would come to a halt. This has been a real faith adventure. We believe the Lord wants this college to continue so thanks to all who have been praying.

E-mail Our Posts to Your Friends

Jeff writes:

We have added a new feature to our site.

If you wish, you may easily email a link to one of our articles to a friend. Just click on the email envelop that is like the one shown below.

You can find it by looking at the bottom of the post after the words Posted by Pair O' Grafs on the far right.

Fill out the form and away you go.

Blessings to you all.

Showers of Blessing

Sue says:

The Lord be praised for sending us four hours of rain last evening. It was indeed a shower of blessing.

Still, leaders are evaluating whether to postpone the opening of third term. However, if rain continues to fall in the next week, we would have no doubts about opening. Please continue to pray with us that God would refill our water supply and enable us to carry on training leaders for churches in Melanesia.

Independence Day Celebrations

Sue says:

A number of missionary families gathered at Kudjip for a worship service and celebrations for the US Independence Day yesterday. Those from every nation represented sang their own national anthem. We must have heard about eight anthems.


Then there were active games. This one was a chariot race!


This one was a team variation on rock/paper/scissors called bear/fish/mosquito. After the teams reveal what they had chosen to represent, there is chasing!


We also congratulated a couple who have served as part of a surgical team in PNG for 25 years. Our heroes! Kudjip Nazarene Hospital has been rated one of the top non-governmental hospitals here.

We thank the Lord for 10 minutes of rain tonight. It wet down the dust, watered the gardens a bit, and added a little water to our tanks. We still need lots more!

Sickness!

Jeff writes:

I am reluctant to keep mentioning our water situation, but I learned today of yet another person, who became ill after drinking bad water.

Our college is using a small tank truck to haul water that has been taken from local sources most of which are not safe to drink. A good Melanesian friend of ours told Sue and I that he is being treated for dysentery after drinking bad water. This is serious as both typhoid and cholera are water-born pathogens found in our streams.

Please pray for our management team. They need to find a way to keep us supplied with water, and at the same time to ensure that people boil their drinking water. With 100 students and their families returning in the next two weeks, the problem will only compound. So far our management team has been silent about their plans, so pray that they will be more forthcoming. They need to rally the troops to meet this crisis.

Also we are in a bit of a blame game as to whom caused our current problem. Please pray that we will stop doing this and to unite to find a common solution.

Finally, please pray for the pumps that supply Waghi River water, which we were using to flush our toilets and wash our clothes. Because the river is so low both pumps have been disabled as a result of sucking up an old tee shirt and gravel into their mechanisms. Without those pumps we are forced to use precious drinking water for these purposes.

Still no rain in sight, but by God's grace this too can change in an instant.

We really appreciate your prayers. Blessings to you all.