Communication

Communication is funny. It seems that it's taken 34 years for me to really listen to what special baked goods Jeff wants me to make for Advent/Christmas. OK, maybe I'm hard of listening. I'm glad I finally got it right. He likes sweet rolls with a buttery, sticky sauce for them. Here's what this year's sweet rolls look like.
Yeah, some rose better than others, but Jeff feels heard.

Solved Baby Adoption Conundrum

Jeff writes:

It has been quite some time since I posed the conundrum of what to do with the baby I was offered to adopt. (Click here to see our post on October 4.)

This turned out to be a triam tasol. The father, who offered me his child for adoption, was trying to see if I would be interested in the hopes that I would raise it and more importantly pay for its education.

Missionaries and other ex-patriots have been offered children like this before. The scheme works like this. The ex-pat does decide to adopt the child. It is easier to do this informally ... no paper work and no bureaucrats! In fact the child's relatives encourage this. The ex-pat raises and educates the child. When the original family gets wind of this, the following happens. The child's parents or their relatives come to demand that the now well-educated child be given back. Of course, the ex-pat refuses to do so, but now he or she knows that the family can no longer stay in PNG. However, the government won't let the family leave. Why? The child is not legally theirs. Child goes back to tribe. Tribe wins. Child and family loses.

How did I learn this? I consulted with the Dean of Students, who is a good Melanesian friend. He also told me that abortion is illegal in this country. (Infanticide is practiced, but it is rare.) Second, he said that if the mother did abort or kill the baby her tribe would be extremely angry as children are seen here as a sign of wealth.

I still had the problem of how to say "no thanks" to my friend without harming our relationship. Again the Dean came through by offering this Melanesian way to decline such a "generous" offer. I did follow his advice, and it worked.

This is what I eventually did.

I had not seen my friend in quite some time, but last week he came by my office to give me back his key to our weight room. I had been rehearsing my speech for some months, so I was ready. I told him that I was honored by his request. However, the government's adoption process is a long and a costly one. In addition, CLTC policy allows new employees to bring their already-adopted children to the college, but to adopt a child while living at the college is not permitted. I told him this, and I hoped that he and I could still be friends. He agreed and that was that. Finished!

We still have a lot to learn so keep us in your prayers.

NEW Protozoan Diet!

Jeff writes:

I think I have discovered a new diet. It really works. You can eat all you want and still not gain weight. It is all natural. No dietary supplements or drugs are necessary. It is the new Wunderdiet!

I call it the Protozoan Diet. Just fill up your stomach and small intestines with all these little critters and bingo the pounds just melt away! Imagine billions of guests at your dinner table. Eat all the ice cream you want. Cake no worries! Forget diet coke; go for the real thing. Eat real sugar. Enjoy real fat. Super-size at will. Feel REALLY satisfied. Do you like chocolate? Good have some more! There are plenty of mouths to feed.

Side effects you ask? Well yes ... there may be some burning in your gut generally accompanied by prodigious amounts of gas, but think of all the fabulous fatty food you can consume. Think of all the pounds you can lose. No pain no gain. Right?

To be truthful I can't say I really recommend this as I am trying to get rid of my "guests." So far I have tried twice to do them in, but you know what? They just won't go. So yesterday I went to Kudjip Hospital to get some REALLY STRONG antibiotics. Hope they work, but then again ...

Early Christmas Present

This may sound vain, but I was so happy recently to find a beautician who can cut my hair! We have lived here almost three years now. A couple friends passing through have been willing to help me out on occasion. A couple commercial haircutters have botched the job.

Now I've finally found a gal in Hagen who does good work and charges a reasonable price. What a relief a simple thing can be.

Another Campus Robbery

Our finance manager and his family were held hostage Saturday night while robbers went to fetch college cash. It's disturbing that these robbers had a lot of inside knowledge about our campus and the habits of our security guards. Though the family was not physically hurt, a hostage situation is psychologically upsetting.

Please pray for those who are preying upon our campus to be found out. There is also the continuing trial of a campus employee accused of helping plan a robbery of campus funds in Hagen and an unsolved robbery of our campus store and a stolen campus vehicle which is unrecovered. Ask God to bring about His justice in these situations.

Reflections on the Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Sue writes:

One of our favorite Christmas stories is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Again this year we read it aloud for advent. And God is stretching us as He did the congregation in the story.

With the missionary who has discipled M gone, Jeff is the chief contact with this village leader of the Bung Bible study. M is such a sincere guy. He has great wisdom for a new believer. He also has lots of ups and downs.

Last night Jeff was showering about 9. I heard a little knock on our door. I ignored it. It came again. Since I was expecting a neighbor to come by to say good-bye before she left for Christmas, I opened it. It was M, with his wife D and their sleeping son.

The day before, a 3-year-old child had died in Bung village. The father was from Bung. The mother from Bunem Wo, just next door. The father’s clan (M’s clan) had never paid bride-price to the mother’s clan. So the mother’s clan seized its opportunity to renew demands for money. They have kept the father’s clan from burying the child’s body until some money is paid. The mother’s clan reinforced their claim by cutting down some banana trees belonging to the father’s clan. And saying they would start burning houses and ruining whole gardens if the money doesn’t arrive today.

M and D are part of the clan that has to pay up. They wanted us to give them some money. I thought Jeff was wise is saying he would give some money, but M and D need to do a service for us. They gladly agreed. We prayed about the situation together, and the couple was visibly relieved.

As they were walking out at 10, M brought up another problem he has. I was at my wit’s end. I just wanted them to get going. But Jeff listened a bit and said he’d consult with another missionary about the problem.

Then they did head out into the night. They had to walk a half-hour through the dark tea plantation to the place the wake was going on for the child.

What a gulf there is between us, kind of like the church in Best Christmas Pageant and the Herdmans. Like the church in the story, I have a lot to learn about really caring about others and seeing what difference the Christ Child in the manger makes today.

Like Gladys in the story said, "Hey! Unto you a Child is born!"

It should shake up our world.

Double Whammy Tsunami Power Surge

Last night Sue and I were relaxing watching a video after a long day in Mt. Hagen buying supplies and driving others around to procure their necessities. All of a sudden were heard a loud noise, a pop, and then our borrowed DVD player began belching white smoke.

When the dust had settled, we had lost our borrowed TV too, and every surge protector (including the one protecting the DVD player and TV) in the house save one. It was connected to our refrigerator. It and our microwave were the only appliances to survive.

Apparently two major power surges struck within milliseconds of each other. The first one disabled our surge protection systems, and the second overwhelmed them to affect the appliances or computers they were designed to protect. When I arrived at work today, the damage was total. We lost nearly every UPS on campus. A UPS is supposed to protect from this kind of a surge. When we checked the UPS's protection fuses, some had been blown apart. We tried to replace the old fuses with new ones, and when we did, they too failed. At last count we have lost 56 UPS systems, many monitors, most of our printers, and some computers. Thankfully our copy machines seemed to have made it through. Other people lost appliances in their houses like refrigerators, microwaves, TVs, nearly anything that was plugged into an outlet.

Today we were able to restore most of our key communications and give life to some of our most important departments (such as payroll), but our total recovery will take months. We praise the Lord that no one was hurt and that the students are away on break. With this catastrophe we will undoubtedly spend many long hours working our way out.

Pray for us as we try to find replacements for everything that was damaged, and pray for those who lost personal items. We are hoping that we can cover the loss either via the college's insurance policy or that PNG Power will compensate us. Only time will tell.

As they say about PNG, "Expect the Unexpected." And as we say God is good all the time. All the time ...