Chad Wells Family Blog

We got 2 Bibles printed and sewn after Bible School today. I also got one done with glue binding. We were able to get a couple song books done, too. During the ladies meeting Kirsten spoke for 2 days on reading your Bible. So, she’s offered to read the Bible to the ladies after church on Wednesday mornings (most of the ladies can’t read). These are the ladies who stayed afterwards to listen to the Bible being read (in pidgin). Kirsten asked them beforehand if any of them had ever read the book of Genesis. No one had. They seemed to really like hearing the creation story! Afterwards, Kirsten and the kids did the grade school religious instruction class. School only has a few weeks left before summer break starts (it winds down in October, even if it doesn’t officially end till November). Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Digicel Pacific

Vero and Joseph came to the house again today after Bible School. We got 3 more Bibles sewed. I worked on the imposition most of the day (that’s the arranging of the pages, trying to get them all lined up since 8 pages fit on one sheet and are folded a certain way to make everything the right order and direction). It’s quite a huge task – printing the Bible – but seeing the first one bound today made our hearts very excited! We also have some of the guys working on the road. The blue truck can no longer get through because the ditches along the side are filled with mud so when it rains the water runs across the road. This has created a huge hole. You can see that the ditch on one side is completed now. Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Digicel Pacific

After Bible School Vero and Joseph came to the house to help with the Bibles I was able to print. Lawrence came a little later to join in, too. We got 6 Bibles printed and we hand sewed the bindings on 3 of them. Each Bible takes a good hour to sew. There’s a machine that does this in about a minute and we are really hoping it will work out that we can get one! Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Digicel Pacific

It was a sunshiny day so the tent used for the ladies meeting was finally taken down today, after evening service. It goes quickly with many hands working. In one week we leave for the National Baptist Pastor’s Conference in Hagen. Brad’s hosting it this year. I need to have some Bibles and song books printed out, in various styles (glue bound, spiral bound, sewn, hard bound, etc.). I spent 12 hours getting the layout all ready for the Bible (right now it is just the OT, newly translated from the King James Bible). This evening I was able to print out the first one! We will continue the work on this first thing in the morning. Whenever I see a bowl of oranges I always think that they should be called a bowl of greens! Our oranges are green (and aren’t as sweet as the oranges we get in the States – they are often quite sour!). If they are orange it usually means it is going bad. Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Digicel Pacific

The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter O’Neill. Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Digicel Pacific

The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter O’Neill, came to Pangia today. There were many groups who did their “singsings” (traditional dances). We saw groups of mudmen, ladies in traditional outfits (meaning not much covering), men in their outfits, and animal representations (flying foxes and snakes). A lot of these have very bad histories behind them. It’s their culture, but it is a history of wickedness, fueled by the fear of evil spirits and the attempt to appease them. Some are harmless, some are not. We listened to 2 1/2 hours of speeches before the prime minister spoke (which explains why the kids look so bored and why we came home extremely sunburned!). Afterwards we were able to hand out 1400 tracts. We are guessing there were anywhere from 5,000-10,000 people there (they came from all over). We could have easily handed out several thousand more tracts, if we had had them. We are looking forward to the day the print shop is up and running and we have as many tracts available as we can use! Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Digicel Pacific

I drove to Ialibu today to buy some blind for the Bible School building (it is the woven mats that people use for flooring and walls). We will put it on the 1st floor outside walls. Then we will use cement and make a type of stucco to cover it. Today, between Ialibu and Pangia, along the road, 2 kids were killed when hit by PMVs (the “buses” that go back and forth). The 2 accidents happened within hours of each other (2 different vehicles). In the next couple of weeks we will see what kinds of problems ensue (retaliation, demands for compensation, etc.) The pond is almost done. It has filled up nicely. It’s just been a project that the kids and I have enjoyed working on, on Saturdays. We are hoping to put some fish in it soon and Kirsten is going to plant flowers all around it. Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Digicel Pacific

The Character Class at the high school was shortened today (I usually teach for 5 hours on Thursdays). They let school out early so I only taught for a couple of hours. We got another light put up in the workshop. Soon, hopefully, the workshop will be more easily used. We do enough work in there that it is important we make it as efficient as possible. I still have a house full of furniture to build (after we finish the print shop, library – shelves included, dormitory – with bunk beds, and classroom – with desks). We spend a good amount of time in the workshop! This evening we had the boys (Joseph, Lawrence, and Wayne) come eat dinner with us. They love it when they get to do that! They love trying the new foods and practicing their table manners. They’ve also mentioned that they love seeing what a real family is supposed to be like (sitting, eating together, and talking with each other). Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Digicel Pacific

Again, after Bible School, I worked on the electrical for the workshop. This time it was the PNG power outlets. I got them all wired and also put in a light switch for the lights. Now we don’t have to plug in an extension cord to get the lights on. I put out a security light, on the outside, and connected it to a light sensor. I bought 150 banana trees to be planted on the station. I bought them from the ladies who were wanting to put money towards the ladies meeting. They only produce bananas once, but they also produce about 5-10 shoots that can be separated and replanted as well. It takes 1-2 years for a banana plant (actually an herb) to mature and produce a stalk of bananas (which is 100+ bananas). Each tree was 1 kina, which is a little less than 50 cents. Within just a couple years we should never have to buy a banana again. Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Digicel Pacific

After Bible School today I worked on the electrical is the workshop. We got all of the US power outlets wired and connected to the transformer. This will allow the US power tools to be operated much more efficiently, and I won’t have to haul a little transformer to each tool as I use it. Ironically, however, I also discovered that the table saw, and 2 other tools, had wiring diagrams to change the input power from 110v to 240v. So, we’ll still need the US power outlets, but just not as much. Here’s Trevor with Little Bear, our tree kangaroo. Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Digicel Pacific