Baby Equipment

Sue says:
Above are some examples of an indispensable item for Papua New Guinean babies. The baby bilum. The picture was taken at the nursery for the students' babies. There are four babies sleeping in their own bilums. They also sleep in them at home or wherever they are. In a home, the bilum would be suspended from a hook from the ceiling.

Baby bilums are also used as baby carriers. A mother can suspend the bilum from her own head to have her hands free for other tasks.

Do babies like them? Hannah seems to show that she feels relaxed. Children as old as three-years-old may continue to sleep in their bilums because they are so comfortable--like a hammock.

Phillipians: A Road to Joy!

Jeff writes:

Last weekend I enjoyed a weekend retreat with some of CLTC's workers. These men labor in our poultry, rice, farm, mechanics, plumbing and other departments. Most earn less than a dollar per hour, but their contribution to the college is invaluable. It has been said that 80% of the cost to educate a student here comes as a result of the fruit of their labor.

Paul and Silas Bound in a Philippian Jail

A Chicken on Every Plate!

I led them in a study of Philippians. It was entitled Rod Bilong Amamas: Pas Pol i Raitim long Ol Filipai (Philippians: A Road to Joy! ) We certainly had a joyous time sharing God's word in drama, testimony and song. The food came in abundance. (I ate enough rice to relieve a Chinese famine!)


Pray for these men. They work hard. At the end of a day their backs and legs ache. They perform repetitive tasks day in and day out. However, without their hard labor this college would not exist.

The Happy Campers!

Round of Good-byes Start

Sue says:
Well, guess it's that time now. Time to praise the Lord for His goodness to us while we've been here in PNG, and time to say our good-byes to quite a number of friends we've made while here.

Last Sunday, I said good-bye to the village church (picture above) our student cell group has been ministering to this college year. The students will continue to minister to them until graduation in November.

This week-end, Jeff is saying good-bye to the college farm workers at a retreat. Jeff will speak on the book of Philippians to inspire them to keep on rejoicing as they walk with the Lord. They'll probably also have some fun swimming in a stream and watching movies together. And a big part of any retreat is enjoying eating together as well.

Simple Technology Highly Valued

Sue says:
As I was walking to work the other day, I saw this example of higher and lower levels of technology in use in this developing nation. The man in the background was using a bushhog to cut the grass. The men in the foreground were manually spreading out rice to dry in the sun.

If you haven't walked almost everywhere all your life as many people here have, you don't know the profound joy of receiving as an adult a bicycle to ride. A number of bicycles were donated to CLTC recently, and it is a matter of protocol to distribute them to the most senior farm managers to use to ride to work. It is quite a status symbol to receive one. Simple pleasures. Aren't they wonderful?

Book Boxes on Their Way Home

What a relief! After fighting illness, laboring for weeks to find a shipper and compare quotes for differing services, eight boxes of books are winging their way home. A friend took pity on us and dropped them off at the package service for us. We weren't sure if the theological books we'd need to prepare our classes would be available at our college, so we brought almost our whole library from home. Now it is returning home. Thanks to you who prayed for this process. The Lord and His people helped us get these things off.

Sampling a New Delicacy

Sue says:
It is supposed to be the end of rainy season here, but the rain hasn't let up. In the last week, about five inches of rain have fallen. So garden crops are doing well. In the picture above, our friend is picking pitpit in our garden. You'll notice that it's highlands pitpit, as opposed to lowlands pitpit. I'm not sure what the difference is, but the pleated leaves are intriguing! Pitpit is an edible grass. See what she has in her left hand. She'll throw away the leaves, peel the stalks and cook them. Of course, they're very nice with green onions and coconut cream.

Long reeds called pitpit are also dried, pounded and woven into walls for traditional houses here. I don't know if that plant is related to this kind of pitpit.

In other news, it's the fifth of eight weeks of our last Bible college term here. I'm almost back to full strength. In two weeks, the Office of Higher Education (OHE), that accredits our college, is sending a team to check on our progress in implementing suggestions that were made during the last OHE visit. Pressure time!

We are also packing up boxes of our personal books to ship back home. It will be a relief to get those on their way. 

Return to Work Progresses Smoothly

 

Sue says:

Walking the round-trip kilometer to class and back and teaching one hour per day has worked well for this transition week after hepatitis. Our dean of studies and the faculty and students have been understanding and supportive of my interim solution. And what a boost it has been to get to see everyone again! I returned home after the daily outing and rested the remainder of the time. 

Little by little, I'm able to take back cooking, folding clothes and other home chores. Jeff has been kind to cheerfully do so much at home, but he won't miss the added responsibility as I'm able to take it back. The flowers pictured above are some I just cut from our garden. I especially like the red-and-yellow leaves of the coleus with the dahlias and daisies (cosmos?). There are nice heads of lettuce, strawberries, green onions and tapiok to eat from the garden now. I'm glad to be able to go out and be a part of things more. 

A verse I've been thinking on in my convalescence: Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him (Psalm 103:13).