Archive for the '02-February-2011' Category
Kirsten and the kids walked to the public grade school today so that she could teach the weekly Religious Instruction class. When she arrived she was told that the new day for the class will be Wednesday (time slot still unknown). So, she will try again on Wednesday! The bridge in this picture (one on the way to the grade school) is a truck bed. Creative!
It started pouring rain shortly after noon (right after Bible School let out) so we really didn’t get much work done on the building. Just the window frames. So I spent the afternoon working on trying to get the program, that I will use to print books, to work. We spent some time back and forth with Brian (Kirsten’s brother), in Idaho. He’s trying to help us figure out why it won’t work. No solution as of yet.
Today was our biggest Sunday School class yet this year. We had 34 young people in class. Joseph and Lawrence went to the high school this morning and were able to bring 5 visitors back with them. We had a really good class. Joseph is just starting to get the hang of leading songs. I preached the main service here, at Pangia Bible Baptist Church, on the dangers of playing with sin. The danger being that the end of sin is death. The boys sang “It is Well” for a special this evening. Wayne played the guitar and sang with them. The kids enjoy being a part of the ministry and it helps encourage other kids to step out of their comfort zone and do more as well.
We had a fun time at the Polu River today! It is the first time our little family has been able to go since we arrived in PNG. The kids enjoyed jumping off the cliffs. Pastor Sam and his family came with us. All us guys headed down river a bit and some had a good wash (they brought their soap) and we jumped off even higher cliffs. The girls enjoyed a good wash and swim with the little ones at their end (a more shallow part of the river).
We finished off the day by having mom and dad, Pastor Sam and family, and Steven and family over for chicken, rice, and greens. We all had some good fellowship together on the back porch.
The guys finished nailing the walls together as dad and I worked on a desk to go in his office. He is so encouraged that he will finally be able to stop working off of a folding table and out of rubbermaid totes! We weren’t able to go any further on the building because we couldn’t find the two long tape measures (that we use to square up the walls). After searching everywhere we called Brad and found out that he is using them at his place. So we made arrangements for Andrew, one of the church members here, to go out on a bus tomorrow, pick up one of them, and bring it back so that we can continue on on Monday.
Mom has asked Amber to help out in her school once a week. Today was Amber’s first class. She has an hour to teach and help with phonics and arithmetic. She will work with around 6 of mom’s students, while mom teaches the others. This will help these students with some areas they are struggling with. Amber was so excited about teaching and absolutely loved it!
We were able to finish the floor for the classroom and started on the walls.
This little boy’s name is Jonathan. He has been around the mission station and has heard his dad talking about what is going on here. When he had his birthday a couple of weeks ago his parents asked him what they could give him for his birthday. He told them that what he wanted for his birthday was to be called “Chad” now. So, that’s what he got. A new name. Introducing, Little Chad!
Today, in our soul-winning class in Bible School, we began going over the difference between giving a testimony and bringing someone to the point of making a decision for or against Christ. It’s a blessing to see the Scriptures unfold before their eyes. We continued cutting floor joists and began putting them in. We got just over half put in today. It began raining by 2:00 and by 2:30 it was raining too heavily to continue. This is Pastor Kanan and I nailing in floor joists.
After Bible School we only got to work for about an hour before the rain started. So we didn’t get much done. But, we were able to get some of the floor joists cut and some more ground removed from the crawl space area. Since Bible School and mom’s grade school started 3 weeks ago it has been extra busy around the mission station. There are people everywhere. It’s wonderful! It’s a blessing to see the kids, some playing soccer, some helping out with odd jobs around the mission station, and some just finding places to use their new name writing skills learned in school (jungle graffiti)!
We had a great service today in the village of Tengai at Tengai Independent Baptist Church, with Pastor Benny Poiya. We left Pangia a little after 7:00am and arrived at the church right at 9:00am. The road was mostly dry so we were able to get all the way up to the church. We just had a little trouble at one of the bridges. The split rails of the bridge were not nailed down so as I drove across they separated and one of the back tires dropped between two of the log supports. Some of the guys went back and lifted the back of the truck up as I drove forward and we got right up. Everybody was already out of the truck since the bridge looked a little suspect. Nonetheless, it got us all in a prayerful spirit! I used to never be afraid of these bridges. However, after a similar bridge broke in 2008 I’ve been a bit more cautious.
Amber, Trevor, Derrick and Connor sang a special for the main service. The people always love to see and hear the kids sing. We had the privilege of seeing several people get right and one older lady get saved. After the service the ladies of the church served us a meal of kaykau (sweet potatoes), taro, greens, and pumpkin. They also sent us away with a bag full of taro, pumpkin, pineapples and sugar cane. It’s such a humbling and convicting experience seeing those with so little giving so much. We drove out of the village just as it began to rain, but God got us all the way home in safety. What a privilege it is to be in the Lord’s service!
