Chad Wells Family Blog

Dad is feeling a bit better today.  The infection seems to be going down.  Praise God!

I was able to finish the walls for the shop today.  I also laid out and built the first truss.

Mom had a Youth Activity for the grade school children today.  Kirsten and the kids were involved with that.  There were about 32 kids that came.  They had a lot of fun!  They played games (tag, poison, etc.).  They also had a game eating rice.  There were 4 teams with 4 big bowls of rice.  Four spoons were placed in the rice and it was a race to see which team could finish their bowl first.  They kept rotating every time mom called “narapela” until it was finished.  Amber wasn’t as thrilled about using spoons that other kids were eating off of, but they all did fine.  Mom asked me to teach a lesson for them, and I enjoyed doing that as well.

Today I began building the walls for the shop.  I got a really good start on it and, hopefully, will be able to have the trusses up next week.  I was supposed to cut a couple more trees right here on Pangia station, however, Jim Konge was unavailable.  He had to drive to Mendi to be ready to pick up his paycheck tomorrow.  No direct deposit here!

Kirsten and mom (along with Derrick) went to the aid station today to get more antibiotics since dad’s condition is continuing to worsen.  They got another, more powerful, antibiotic to add to the Amoxicillin that he is already taking.  If he does not show any improvement by tomorrow we will be taking him into Kudjip (or possibly then to Cairnes) to the hospital.  We will see what happens tomorrow!

Kirsten and Derrick got a good look at the aid station here.  It’s definitely not like American hospitals!  There’s one big room with wood platforms that each person lays on.  The doctor comes in the morning and then isn’t there anymore.  Everyone brings their own food and anything they might need.  It’s not very clean, either!  Derrick was very somber for a bit after looking around.  He said that he doesn’t want to ever have to go there when he’s sick!

Also, Amber seems to be feeling quite a bit better and even did school today.

We had an excellent RI class today.  We were only able to fit 152 kids in the classroom that we’ve been assigned to.  This left me a space about 3×5’ to teach from.  The Catholics have been coming to this high school for about 30 years, teaching RI class.  Therefore, they have the mess hall, which is the largest building on campus.  They only had about 35 kids in the class but they have remained very powerful because of their contribution and length of service here, in Pangia.  We had at least another 100 kids that we turned away at the door.

Dad has not been out of bed since Sunday night and is not doing well at all.  His infection in his hand is very large, so mom has put him on antibiotics.  Connor woke up sick in the night, but seems to be feeling better now that he has gotten EVERYTHING out of his system.

Trevor and I walked to David’s bush this morning. It was a fantastic place for cutting.  There are numerous large trees from about 24” to 60” in diameter.  All, of course, beautiful tropical hardwoods.  One small problem – we had to walk for 2 ½ hours, not an hour and 10 minutes!  Although it would be a beautiful place to cut, the distance will probably be too far considering we have to pay people to carry the sawn lumber out of the bush.  Trevor really enjoyed being up in the canopy rain forest as it is much different from the scenery around Pangia.  He had a great time and is looking forward to going with me as we investigate the other proposed sites for cutting.  Derrick is hoping to come along next time, too.

Amber’s still feeling sick but seems to be stabilizing and possible starting to improve.

RI class went well for Mom and Kirsten this morning.  There were 34 kids.  Mom made sure to explain how she wanted to be there and it wasn’t something just done as an obligation.  The kids are so much of an afterthought or obligation so often that she felt it was important for them to know it made her very happy to be able to come.  Kirsten started teaching them Psalm 23 in a song.

I was able to cut 4 logs this morning.  That finished up the logs that we had here at the station.  We’ll be needing to move the sawmill out to the bush soon in order to cut the lumber for dad’s house.  I also set the final 8 posts for the workshop, so we’ll begin putting the walls up soon – weather permitting.

Dad’s got a pretty big infection on his hand and rested most of the day.

Dad walked to a nearby village, called Keremini, to preach this morning.  We call this a fellowship because the church does not have a pastor yet.  Dad didn’t get back until about 3pm.  Not because it’s very far away, but because the people had so many questions after the preaching that he was able to spend a lot of time with them discussing baptism and its meaning.

We had 40 teenagers in our Sunday School class this morning.  Thirty of them were first timers!  They all seemed very excited about our class.  I’m preaching the 10 Christians Principles out of the RUI curriculum (Reformers Unanimous).  Most of these kids are saved and are from villages throughout the Wiru tribe where dad has started churches already.  So, it’s a blessing to be able to strengthen these young people as they are away from their church and family influences.  Pastor Sam also asked me to preach the A.M. service and we had 4 lost men attend who have been working for us during the week.  Jim Konge, our resident police chief, also made it in for the service this morning.  Please keep praying for his salvation.

Amber stayed home from church this morning because of her fever.  She also stayed home for afternoon church with dad, as he was feeling worn out from his earlier trek.

It rained all day today, so we were not able to get any further on the shop nor the road construction.  However, I did set up an appointment to walk to a nearby heavily forested area to see about setting up our sawmill there to cut wood for dad’s house.  We’ll be heading out first thing Tuesday morning.  According to David, the owner of the trees, it should take us about 1 ½ hours to get there.  That will be 20 minutes of driving and an hour and 10 minutes of walking.  Of course, David does not have a watch, so we’ll see how far it ends up really being.

Amber’s got a bit of a fever today.  Not sure if she’s got some sort of bug or is just adjusting to the country still.  We’ll just keep a close eye on her.

Mom and dad got back from Hagen safely today.  They enjoyed having dinner already on the table when they got here rather than having to unload everything and then start preparing dinner!

I met with the headmaster of the high school today, again, to just verify and make sure that the students living in the dorms could come to our youth activity.  He was very hesitant because of the great number of kids that I was requesting.  These kids are from many different villages – some as far away as 9 hours walk.  Their safety is his direct responsibility.  However, after some talking he was happy to allow the kids to come, as long as they were escorted by some of our church members to ensure their safety.

At the youth activity tonight I showed a short video pertaining to America’s history.  They all enjoyed it very much.  I then preached for about 30 minutes on salvation.  However, because the 30×30’ church building had over 200 kids in it, with another couple hundred standing outside the doors and looking in through the windows, an invitation was very difficult.  After the preaching, and after I had dismissed the kids and church members were starting to escort them back to the school, two boys came and asked if they could know more about God’s saving grace and how they could receive it.  Both of them were of Catholic background and within a few minutes both of them received Jesus as their Savior!  What a blessing it is to water and harvest at the same time!

Mom and dad left for Hagen this morning.  About an hour out of Pangia they ran into a group of men with ashes on their faces, which is a traditional sign that someone had died.  They were carrying a woman’s body to the house sick in Ialibu (pronounced Yahleeboo) to get a death certificate.  Apparently a Ialibu man had killed his Pangia wife.  So, the Pangia side of the family was looking for revenge and compensation.  But, in order to proceed they needed to verify the cause of death.  Since they had already decided that they would not seek revenge, only compensation, dad decided to go ahead and carry the body in the back of the truck, along with the family, to the hospital.  Dad tries to help in these kinds of circumstances as long as it doesn’t set a precedent or cause trouble for the future.

Pastor Sam and I started setting up for the Youth Activity tomorrow night.  Since we had so many in RI class on Wednesday, we really don’t know how many young people to expect.  But, we are really looking forward to the meeting.

We had 19 men working today.  This was the first day that Kirsten was in charge of preparing the lunch for all the men, by herself.  Of course, she did an excellent job!  There are so many little customs to get used to, even with such a small thing as serving food.  For example, small kau kau (sweet potatoes) is considered an insult.  Small kau kau is only for pigs.  Also, smaller spoons are a great insult and having no spoon would be better than a small one.

I lined out the men this morning then came back so Kirsten and I could finish up the booklets for RI class. Pastor Sam thought that if we had about 50 booklets we would have plenty.  However, we only had enough paper for 43. We’ll be sure to stock up on paper! Office Depot is not that close! The last Office Depot I saw was on the way to the airport before we left Idaho.  We can buy paper in Mt. Hagen, but, of course, that’s 3 1/2 hours away. RI class went very well. I only got about 1/4 of the way through the lesson, but that’s okay because next week we’ll have to do a lot of review. The classroom that we were assigned only had about 30 desks. Each desk is made for 2 people. After about 120 kids came in I had to turn the rest away as there was no more standing room. About 100 kids were turned away. The teacher in charge promised a bigger classroom next week, with more desks. I promised the kids that I would have a booklet for each one of them and that we would go over the lesson again so that they would not be behind. Our first lesson is Salvation. It was very exciting to see the lights come on as I taught the kids what Salvation is and why it is needed. I did not give an invitation this week, but invited them to come to our youth activity planned for Friday. These young people are like many young children in America. It’s not hard to convince them, or talk them into things that they don’t understand. So, I want to go very cautiously and slowly to ensure their full understanding. God surely exceeded my expectations for the attendance. I’m not sure what to expect now with our Friday activity. All of them said that they would be there, plus they said that many of their friends would be there also. What a great and exciting opportunity! Please pray that God gives us wisdom as we continue to venture into this ministry. There were about 25 kids in church tonight who came from the RI class this morning. Praise God!

Dad went to a nearby village again to preach tonight.  A man, Waria (Wa-dee-uh), got saved! Praise God! He was an old man who wore his traditional dress—loin cloth in the front, leaves in the back!