A Delightful Women's Retreat

 Sue says:

Over the week-end I was able to attend a retreat with the other women employees and wives of employees of our college and farm program. What a good time!

The setting was the mountains of Chimbu outside Kundiawa. It looks like Appenzell, Switzerland. So beautiful! We enjoyed teaching about the Holy Spirit, visiting the pediatric patients at a nearby hospital, and singing and giving dramas in our own meetings about the teaching we heard. It was a great time of bonding together.

Water Update and Other Reports

It's break between our third and final terms now. Time for lecturers to get their notes ready for the last term. Jeff and I are thankful we are doing well in that department.

A number of you are keeping up with our water situation. We've had about a week without significant rain, and our students are close to exhausting their water supply. They are back waiting in line for a daily bucket for the family. We had a short, light rain this evening. A heavier, longer one or more would help us a lot.

The water filter project is at a standstill. Someone has dismantled the feeder hose several times, setting the process back two weeks each time. We suspect it's a child or a group of children. Rather than our assuming the responsibility for keeping people away, we feel like it is the community's responsibility to look out for the thing that would benefit everyone. So, right now, not much is happening in that regard.

Blesing Tru! (It's a Real Blessing)

Sue says:

Well! We had an answer to prayer, but the answer didn't come in the way we expected. Some of you will remember that Jeff's low-top hiking boots were stolen off our porch a couple weeks ago. Jeff asked for prayer that the boots would be returned. He put up signs about a reward for their return. He talked about the boots to village folks. No report on the boots.

But our son offered to ship us his used heavy duty waterproof hiking boots and heavy socks that he wasn't using. We thought we'd give it a try. Although DHL promised a due date three days later than Jeff's departure date for Kokoda, we picked up the boots today. PTL! They're even better than the other boots were. They have high tops that will keep him from twisting an ankle. And second-hand goods come into the country cheaper than new ones.

OK. You can't see the boots so well, but you can see that Jeff is in shape and ready for his big Kokoda Trek.

Jeff here:

I just finished ten laps going up and down Vision Hill. The boots appear to be all right. I need to wear them a lot in the coming days to make sure that my feet don't blister.

Oh, for those who are REALLY interested ... I cut and filed all of my toe nails today. The time that I hiked Mt. Wilhelm I lost seven toe nails because my foot keep crunching up against the toe of my shoes while going down the steeps. Lord willing it won't happen on this trek.

PNG Independence Day Celebrated

Sue says:

Today is the thirty-fifth anniversary of Papua New Guinea's independence. The celebrations began with the primary school children being led in by their teachers. The employees' and students' children aged 4-7 years attend school on our campus. Below, the woman on the left is one of the teachers and our duplex neighbor. The head teacher wears a headdress from her province, Western. The whitish-golden feathers are from the bird-of-paradise. Many people were wearing the nation's colors, black, red and gold.

The flag was raised and the children led us in saluting it and singing the national anthem.

 Several of our leaders addressed us. In the picture below you can see the speakers on the left. The security guards who are not on duty are in the foreground. Behind them are orchids. The school children sit in the middle ground. The rest of us are in a semi-circle. Rear right is our auditorium. Rear left is our library. Center rear is Vision Hill. Our duplex is near Vision Hill. You can see it's a sunny, beautiful day.

 
Below are our leaders and the organizers of our festivities. From the left, they are the student body president from Eastern Highlands; the assistant principal, husband of the head teacher of the primary school, from Western; the college secretary from Morobe Province; the administrator from Morobe; the principal from Bougainville and the chaplain from Western Highlands. Some of them wear part of their traditional dress.

 

Jeff was asked to lead us in prayer for the country. We thanked God for the many advantages and blessings He has given this land and asked Him that the leaders of the nation follow Him more and more closely.

Then we sang a wonderful song that is sung on special occasions.

This is My Country 

(not sung to the tune Americans know for a song of this name)

Islands and mountains, sunshine and breeze,

Flowers and moonlight, swaying palm trees,

Jungles and rivers, white coral sand,

This is my country, this is my land.

Dark were the days when men lived in fear,

Fear of the arrow, stone club and spear,

Fighting and hatred filled every hand,

That was my country, that was my land

Then came the change that brought peaceful days,

News of our Saviour, learning his ways;

Darkness is fading out of our land,

We know the peace of his guiding hand.

What of the future? Soon we shall be

Teachers and leaders of our country;

We'll build our nation as God has planned,

Make this his country, make this his land.

Then shall our country be free and strong,

Homes will be filled with laughter and song;

Peace in our hearts and work for our hands,

Unite our nation with other lands.

After the ceremony, the big event for the day was sports! Many students and college employees and their spouses play on teams each week. Today they had special competitions with those teams, meeting each other in basketball, volleyball and rugby touch. It's been a lovely day for thanks to the Lord, recreation and relaxation.

Term Three Closes

Sue says:

As the sun was coming up this morning, I was watering in my garden. The sky was showing sunrise pinks.  It's peaceful and still in the garden at that time. The lettuces are doing quite well. Some corn, green peppers, tapiok, peanuts, green onions, strawberries and peas are established. It's still wait-and-see with ginger, carrots, and recently transplanted tomato and cabbage. The lilies pictured above are blooming in the garden.

Next came Scripture-reading time. I wanted to read one of the letters Paul wrote from his first imprisonment in Rome because my class just finished the Book of Acts. Paul was in prison at the end of Acts, but he wrote several letters to congregations and individuals while he was there. Philippians is one of the books he wrote to a church he had established. He was writing to nurture the new Christians in their faith. Verse six of chapter one is one I pray for all my past and present students as we close term three of this college year.

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

   

Stolen Shoes

Jeff writes:

For the last six months I have been training to hike the Kokoda Track. This is an arduous foot path. It connects the north coast of PNG at Popendetta with its south coast at Port Moresby. The track mounts the Owen Stanley Range, and all told it has more ups and downs than Mt. Everest.

More importantly, it is also the scene of an heroic WW II battle. Initially young, green, under supplied, outgunned, and outmanned Australian militia bought time and stubbornly resisted the Japanese advance. Later they fought alongside seasoned veterans and defeated a bloodthirsty enemy. Together they handed the armies of Japan their first setback of the war.

Sadly, however, in these final weeks before my departure someone came last Thursday night and stole my hiking boots from off of our front porch (I had left them to air out.). At this point they are irreplaceable.

To get in shape I try to hike ten times up and back down Vision Hill three times per week. (That is me training in the picture with a 20 kg pack on my back.) After the shoes went missing, I attempted to do this with an old pair of basketball sneakers. When I finished my workout that day, I noticed that the stress had almost totally separated the soles from both of the shoes.

So I really need these hiking boots back. I have spoken with as many local contacts as I can to get the word out. I am even prepared to pay a reward for their return, but so far no boots.

Many are praying for them to turn up as I now hope all of you will. If I can't get them back, I will attempt the hike in my running shoes. Lord willing that will not be necessary.

College Improvements Being Made

Sue says:

Our stage curtain in the auditorium was forty years old. We knew because the woman who sewed it told us its age.

Recently the wives of two past principals worked together to sew us a new stage curtain.

Believe me, the new curtain below is a big improvement!

Thanks, ladies! 

Cell Group Couple Comes for Dinner

Sue says: 
One of the most common ways people socialize in a small community that's removed from entertainments is to visit in each other's homes. Last night we had a student couple and their son for dinner and conversation. (The preschool son was tired and went to sleep on the sofa. Thus no picture of him.)  My current menu for student visits is curried chicken and vegetables over rice with some raw vegetables on the side, fresh pineapple, bread rolls and banana cake.

It is always fascinating to learn about the students' experiences. This couple is from Malaita, Solomon Islands. The husband represented their nation in soccer competitions when he was a teen. He was able to travel to Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand for international team competitions.They both have an eagerness to learn to teach the Bible in a knowledgeable way. The wife wants to find materials in their language to help women of their church learn to read and write. We pray God will use the couple to continue to build the church in the Solomons.

Solomon Island War Dance

Jeff writes:

I cut the video down of the Solomon students doing their war dance. The dance started slowly, repeated itself again, and then built up speed until its grand finale, which I have posted below.

Hope you liked it.

Water Filter Update

Jeff writes:

I am a bit discouraged over the water filter.

The day before yesterday I went to prepare the filter to do another test of its water quality and discovered that some child had pulled the water supply hose off. Fortunately, I discovered this before the water level fell too far.

I then wound the supply hose around the top of the filter to keep it out of reach. However, a section of the hose connected to the supply faucet proved too tempting to swing on, so when I came back in the afternoon that end of the hose had been pulled off. This time the water had drained all the way out of the filter causing all of the organisms in the schmutzdecke to die.

This has set our work back two weeks.

Sometimes I just want to get on a plane and go home, but then I try to settle down and remind myself that this is my home. So my student co-workers and I will keep trying.

Please pray that the parents of those kids will be able to keep them away from the filter.

CLTC Thanksgiving Service

Jeff writes:

Each year the students and the staff at the college present items and offerings of thanksgiving to the Lord for His blessings.

The Thanksgiving Service is full of colorful, musical, and cultural pageantry. It really highlights the diversity within our student body. We have students who come from the Highlands where we live.  (The children pictured above are wearing traditional Highland dress.) There are Motuan speaking students from the south coast of PNG, and students from Lae on the north. They come from the great river basin areas fed by the mighty Sepik and the Fly Rivers. The New Guinea Islands area sends us students from Bougainville, New Britain, and New Ireland islands.

The group in the picture are men from the Solomon Islands. They are performing a war dance. It was the highlight of the show. (I tried to upload the video I took of this but was unable to do so. When we see you all again, you will have to have a look.)

Oh yes, the expatriates did a dance of their own. It was the first time we had tried anything like it since we have been here. The ladies did the Virginia Reel. (The men could not dance with them as it would have violated a cultural taboo held by some of our students.) The dance went over very well. It brought the entire crowd running to watch the show and to remain standing on its feet clapping to the beat.

Coastal Students from around Port Moresby

The Lord has created a wonderful world full of rich cultural, linguistic and artistic diversity. How precious this makes our bonds in Christ!

We thank all of you who support us in prayer and otherwise for allowing us to be your eyes and ears in this place. The students you enable us to teach will go to people we cannot reach to share the gospel in their own culturally appropriate ways, which are sometimes beyond our western understanding. This day was truly a blessing. We only regret that you all were not here to share it with us.