Road to Lae

4 hours from us, is the town from which we get most of our supplies.  There has been so much rain lately that the road is flooded badly, thus hiding the potholes.  These gentlemen are willing to guide you past the hidden potholes (for a modest fee).

Flying in the Rain

A picture of a crocodile skull, with teeth and some hide in tact in Madang.

My wife and I were recently in Madang, having never flown there before.  It was a good time, perfect weather.  Everything went smoothly.  We saw interesting things.

And then, there was the flight back.
It is a 30 minute flight, or a 6 hour drive.
This was the first time we had flown.

The two pilots in the small plane were very experienced at flying in country.  They told us 'We have just heard there is a lot of rain at our destination (our home), and we may not be able to land.'

The pilots seemed very concentrated on looking for holes in the weather.  We occasionally would bank left, or bank right in the little plane made specifically for jungle landings and take offs.  It was bigger than a Cesna 206, but engineered with a short take off and landing distance needed.  At one time we pulled up, sped up, then moved this way and that.  It was actually all rather smooth, but we are experienced flying passengers in this type of weather, and so no one was really worried.

Some lightning was going on in the clouds around us, but we felt perfectly safe because we knew these pilots personally and had tremendous respect for their professionalism.

Soon we were over the landing strip, but couldn't see it.  It looked like we may have to divert to a different place.  The pilots circled around once... then it looked as if they saw a hole, and came in from an angle we've never come in before, and landed, a silky smooth landing.  After landing, we heard one pilot say to the other 'if you hadn't found that hole, we would have had to divert."

We were very thankful we were able to get home to our kids, and that everything went so well.  Those pilots were flying all day, loading unloading, etc.  Working hard.

It is a pleasure to be supporting Bible Translation along side people of that caliber.


(why did I put up a pic of a croc?  Well I didn't take a picture of rainy weather from the plane because I never enough thought to snap one... and then speaking of SNAPPING... I had this croc pic from madang!  We found it in a craft hut (kauvinghaus aka - house of carvings) but did not buy it.

Kope Jesus Film

One of the perks of my job is being involved in the making of videos like this one.  Audio and Video communication is very important in this culture.  But we can't make films without translated Scripture.  The process of making a Jesus Film requires a team of people who can translate, script, even teach reading and literacy to the people doing the acting.  It requires recordists, editors, etc.  A team of technically diverse people come together to make a lasting representation that truly speaks to people's hearts. 

Watch this story.  (My team just finished the video yesterday, the dedication happened in October, but the story has been in the making since only God knows when.)

Family addition

A family had to leave their beloved Ginger behind and she has come to live with us. Instantly she is at home.  This kind of quick adaptability is typical of dogs owned by families who travel often. They don't take long to warm up to people and this one warmed up instantly. 

VBS

It is school break and we have been encouraging the kids to serve others with their time off from school.  Yes, relax, enjoy their equivalent of 'summer break' but also, instead of sitting around, find a way to be of help to others.

They chose to get involved with our version of 'Vacation Bible School'  which takes place in 'tok pisin' and while modeled after what we know as VBS in the U.S. has been customized for this country's culture. 

from my wife:
Here's a glimpse of day 1 of VBS. As you can see it was a full house. Please keep praying for health and stamina for all of the leaders and that God's word would touch the hearts of all of these kids. Here's an interesting fact: typically our largest groups of kids fall in the preschool to grade 1 age group, followed by kids in grades 2-4. We usually get a smaller amount of kids in grades 5 and up. However, on day 1 it seems we had almost 100 girls in grades 5 and up. This is NOT typical. I wonder what God's got planned?

My Cousin Donna

She's in heaven.
We found out this weekend.

We won't be able to return to the U.S. for a memorial service. I was
having a conversation today with a friend and told him this news and he
asked 'Was she a believer?' Boy was she. We then discussed how asking
that question might upset some people.

He once surprised a pastor at his father's funeral by saying at the end
'Thanks for sharing, I look forward to meeting your dad.'

If you are kingdom minded, a Eulogy is little more than an introduction.

Often we get mired down in our earthly woes, but Christ reminds us to
keep looking upward and thinking about what happens AFTER our time on
earth is done. It affects how we live here, the decisions we make, etc.

So, with that in mind, and if you are assured of your salvation, let me
introduce my cousin Donna to you.

She's a very kind person. Her heart was always thinking about other
people, how they are doing, what she can do to make them comfortable.
She lit up every room she entered. She recruited me more than once to
play Santa for the youngest members of our family at the time. She
embodied the Christmas spirit, 365 days a year. She loved on my kids,
and they loved her back. Even when she wasn't able to get around much
near the end, she made a point to hand pick gifts for my kids and send
them over here in PNG. Such that, when we broke the news to the kids
yesterday, we had a gift from Donna and Jack to give to them.

She has a rare gift for uplifting people around her.

We'll miss her of course, but only for a short while. The time we'll be
without her will seem like nothing once we've entered eternity.

Water Mystery

We have been in a drought for 4 months or more, really since we returned in July, there wasn't rain.

But, we had water storage and were happy that, by using extreme water conservation techniques (like saving your laundry water and reusing it for toilet flushing, or wearing clothing more often then usual) we never ran out of clean tank drinking water.


Two weeks ago, it started to rain again.  After a few checks on my home made water gauge (I made it myself, designed it myself)... I figured the tanks were full and we were happy.  Two nights ago I went outside to find our tanks empty.  It was a shock.

After digging up the underground plumbing, I couldn't find a break or a leak.  So, I thought perhaps our water tank had rusted out from the bottom.
Sure enough it had.  See this pic with the light coming through? Those are whole at the bottom.  It didn't take me long to figure that out.


So thankful for 2 things,  #1 We had a backup tank that was purchased for us some time ago that held 1000 gallons, and THAT didn't drain empty.
and #2, that we're getting some rain now, so we should be able to keep that tank full.  Our capacity is down by 1000 gallons which may hurt if the drought comes back.

Here's Calvin helping me haul the old rusty tank out to the dump.






Yes he can drive, no I didn't let him drive that tank down the steep hill. and No he doesn't drive without a helmet. This was a pose only. (-;

Oddly enough, as I was wondering what to do with this tank, as local PNGians can cut them and turn them into roofs for their outdoor kitchens, I came across some men with a truck full of scrap metal and another tank. WHAT ARE THE ODDS? 
I offered the tank to them, they gladly accepted, so we didn't have to take the entire trip to the dump.  Awesome.

I've always been proud of our water situation.  Doing what we do, I am not the financial 'provider', but I have tried to make sure that the house is functional with things like water and power. 

Not getting rain water was tough on the community.  But I was pleased that we had water capacity as a result of moving to a new house and keeping our old tank.

I knew this tank would fail within the year, and I was thankful it didn't fail before the drought was over. 

It would be nice to pick up a new Water Warrior tank that won't rust, but we have to save up the funds for that still.
But we're not complaining, because it could have been much worse.  I could have not caught it in time, and we'd be without drinking water until the next rain.

It seems there is always something to fix around here on Saturdays, and I'm also very thankful for two teenage kids who can help me as I age.

(we also went and shoveled some dirt to cover any exposed pipe and protected any plumbing that might get 'stepped' on as well as built a small fence to protect the plumbed area.  I was certain someone had broken the plumbing, because it was the most obvious weak point.  But, now, it isn't as weak as before.  A full day's work to be sure, but work is always more enjoyable when your son is helping at your side.  This is our Saturday tradition and I hope it teaches him that he needs to work hard and care for his family as well as giving him the skills to do that.

Friends teaching Friends

Some of the Bible translators we support wrote me today and, being thanksgiving I thought it appropriate to share.

----
They are thankful for Bennis Tuka (a PNG man), one of the people trained in audio recording in Kokopo, who has recorded eight more books, and they will be bringing more Audibibles and SD cards with those plus the original recordings of Luke and Acts. Pray also for preparations for a course for teaching people to help illiterate adults to learn to read, which will take place in February.
----


What I see as significant about that is that there is a PNG man, trained to do audio recording, who has recorded 8 books of the Bible!!!  The more Papua New Guineans we can train to do this type of thing, the more ownership the PNG church has of Bible Translation.

Tamales

When you don't have corn husks you use bana leaves. Made 60 last night and will make another 80 tonight or so. Banana leaves tend to tear more easily than husks. They also seem to keep the tamale more moist and change the final texture of the tamale. I like the end product better but working with banana leaves takes more effort.  

All four of us got together to assemble. 

Bird

A bird flew down our chimney. Catch and release. Two days later our neighbor tells us they returned home from a weekend away to find a bird had flown down their chimney and messed the place up. 

Jury rig #526

After waiting several weeks for new mail ordered keys for our truck.  They were too large to fit I to the ignition so.... I ground then down  original on the right. Working on the left. 

Old Folks at Home

This week is spirit week at the school and the theme for Monday was 'Old vs Young'.
My kids both chose to be 'old'.  What's funny is that they both did their own costumes, we barely lifted a finger.

But what is even funnier is that Calvin chose to be in character all day.  He walked slowly, he called the young people 'whippernappers'  and was generally believable as an old guy.  So much so that the high school drama teacher now has her eye on him.

He stayed in character so much that his teachers had to extend him patience as he slowly moved from the door to his desk with his cane.

It was pretty funny.  Sometimes, your kids can be a real source of hilarity.  (if their hair looks grey, it's baby powder).

Autodialer WIN!

The past two weeks have been hard for a lot of people, myself included.
Morale seems low, work seems busy, and overall I've been depending on
God for my daily allotment of grace and good attitude, rather than the
naturally supplied good attitude I normally have.

But today.... something interesting happened.

Several weeks ago, I got an idea from listening to some friends speak.
I had this idea to purchase, install and configure a robodialer
(autodialer). The idea is that if the computer systems went offline and
we couldn't email everyone, we could use the phone system to make calls
to people informing them in the case of an emergency.

This little system has been my pet project for a few weeks, and I had
just finished getting it working last week.

Today, there was a thunderstorm. A tree fell and struck a metal power
pole, bending it beyond repair. Suddenly a large section of our
community was without power, thus they were without email or internet.
Suddenly the office is a buzz with what we're going to do about this,
how we're going to inform everyone etc. I piped up with 'we can use my
new autodialer.'

Following my documentation, I recorded a brief message meant to inform
those who were without power, that they'd be without power all night
long. But, because I had built the call list to include EVERYBODY, I
also said 'for those with power, you can contact those who are without
to lend aid.' Or something close to that.

I hit go, and the computer did the rest. With about 30 seconds of
effort from me, 45 minutes of automated dialing, suddenly the entire
centre was informed.

But that isn't where this story gets interesting. It is what happened
AFTER that.

I started getting emails 'this is SO COOL! NICE JOB!'
Then, I went outside to look at the situation (picture above), figuring
I should put eyes on the actual issue. The freshly returned manager of
the Electrical department saw me and said 'Chad thanks for getting the
word out.' I replied "no worries, my part was the easy part, you guys
have all the heavy lifting." to which he said "for us, contacting
everyone would have been a lot of work, so thank you."

It started to dawn on me that my little pet project was already starting
to help people.

And then, on my way home I realized that a house on my way home, full of children was
without power, I pulled up and offered to help. This family has
quintuplets and are friends. But as I offered, my wife pulled up behind
me with candles and lanterns.

We had not coordinated to help this family out, in fact I'd been at work
all day and hadn't spoken with her, but here we were together, lending them aid.

My wife told me 'yeah, I received your automated call, which made me
think 'well we have power, I wonder who we can help who doesn't?' She
thought of the same family I did, and brought over candles and lanterns.

I suddenly realized that my little 'off the cuff' remark may have inspired others to help out, so I checked around.
Sure enough, those with power were lending aid to those without.

I'm not claiming credit at ALL for the fact that people were offering
help, this community does that without prompting, it is their best quality.

My point is, that today I felt as if I had made a contribution to making
a bad situation less bad, by informing people who naturally wish to help
others.

It was my first big win in a while, and my heart is full of gratitude to
God for the timing of it. I feel as if my time in this job has been
validated, and God was saying 'hang in there, you are where I've put you.'

Mail Dominated Society

You've likely ordered something from Amazon or eBay.  I think the amount of people who have never received a package from the mail has dwindled enough to the point where I can safely say that.

The way we receive mail here is varied.  We can receive a sea freight shipment of cargo from the U.S. and it'll take 3 months.  From Australia and it'll take 2 months or so.

We can receive a package via USPS in about 15 days if it is FAST and good, but more often 30 days.
We can receive a DHL package within 30 days, usually.
We can receive airmail cargo from Australia within 30-45 days or so, sometimes more quickly depending on when flights are scheduled.
If someone gets hurt and is medivac'd sometimes much faster because the plane backloads with cargo.

And if we know someone coming from our home country who is willing to hand carry something, in that rare occasion, we can receive something within weeks!

We can drive into town and hope they have something affordable that will do. (3.5 hour drive one way).
Or we can go to our local volunteer run stores and see if they have something that will suffice. (minutes).

But same-day delivery, next-day delivery, practically NEVER happens.

We're by no means without supplies, or without avenues for supplies.  But we also do not have anything that happens instantly or quickly.
As a result we have to plan and be patient.

This always come into focus around Christmas time.  People sending packages, wondering around August if they should order some gifts for their families, etc.  Having returned from furlough only a short 1/2 year ago, we may have packed a few christmas gift trinkets in our luggage and tried to hide them from one another.

Or we may opt like we do many years, to just have a very simple Christmas.  I REALLY love those.  One of my favorite gifts one year was a six pack of Dr. Pepper because my wife bought some in the local store when they were in stock, and saved them.  I haven't had a Dr. Pepper in months.

So, it may seem to some like we're way out in the middle of no where with no 'fast access' to anything and that may be true, but we do have the ability to receive packages and mail, we just don't have the 'instant gratification' of fast delivery.

Sometimes a place won't ship internationally.  So we have a go-between.  A group of people in the U.S. who receive and repackage and ship items for us.  They charge a fee, which almost always doubles the cost of the item, but in a pinch, it is nice to have a U.S. mailing address.

We pay customs taxes for everything that comes into the country.
So, if you see something on Amazon for $10, with next day delivery.
It'd likely cost me $35-$40 and arrive in a month or so.

Which is why, we don't really order things unless we REALLY need them. 

Funny thing is, sometimes you wait so long, you forgot you ordered something.  And then it comes a month or so later, and you get it and think 'oh yeah! hey I needed one of these!'

All of this lends itself to the 'make do' mentality I so enjoy, and the 'jury rig it' habits I have developed.

I chuckle at myself because some of you reading this are thinking 'that sounds so awful! they don't even have malls!' and all the while I'm thinking 'this is such a wonderful way to live.'

It forces you to eliminate online 'impulse' buying almost entirely.  It forces you to contemplate what you truly need and can't live without.
I'm not saying that everything I own, I can't live without.  On the contrary, we are very aware of all of the excess even living this lifestyle.

I'm not sure what the point of this post is, other than to explain how the mail works here and how that has affected our lifestyle.

Blog Series Amele #5

Youth:

According to church leaders, the past several years in Amele have been a dark chapter for the youth. The youth had received a bad reputation in the Madang area
for their involvement in making home made whiskey. Others were addicted to drugs. Many held up cars on the road and violence was spiraling out of control in a feud between
clans that had left many young men dead. It was the church leaders prayer that many of these boys would come to the Bible course. God heard their prayer and spoke to the hearts
of some of these boys.  Below are some testimonies from young men who were touched by the Word.

"One day I was walking down the road when a boy pulled a gun on me and tried to kill me.  The gun failed to go off.  Since then I have been planning how to kill that boy.  However God has spoken to me during this course and I have given my life to Christ.  He has completely taken away that evil desire from my heart."

"I lead worship in church, and yet have been holding onto many sins. I have been deceiving everyone.  Yesterday I was convicted of my sins of lust and covetousness and confessed them to Christ.  I believe God has begun to set me free from these sins I was holding on to."

"Both my mother and father died.  I have no close relatives.  I felt  that no one truly loved me.  Yesterday I learned that I have a Father in heaven who loves me dearly.  I have given my life to Him."

"I am not from this area but have been wandering around hanging with friends here in Amele for the past year.  I heard about this course and was like, 'why not', I'll go see what it is all about.  I praise God that He led me to come because while here He spoke to my heart and I have given me life to Christ."

Many other young men and women were impacted by the Word.  At the end of the first course they said...  "We are still hungry... we are going to follow you down to the second course and repeat this same study in the Word!"  Praise God that many did and continued to grow in their new found faith.

Blog Series Amele #4

Termites and Locked Bibles:  


As the Amele new testaments were  removed from storage it appeared that termites had destroyed some of the boxes.  But upon closer
examination it was discovered that the termites had turned back at the New Testaments.  They had
eaten the boxes and cut through all the protective layers surrounding the Bibles, but they didn't touch
the Word of God. Because the boxes for these Bibles were eaten by termites, they were put in a suitcase
for safekeeping until they would be sold.  Everything was cool until one of the Amele church leaders
accidentally locked the combination lock on the suitcase.  Nobody knew the combo and Bibles were
needed the next morning as the course was to start!  The team prayed that evening and in the middle of
the night the same church leader was awoken by a number that the Lord had put into his head.  214...
immediately he new that he had been given the combo by God.  Walking over to the suitcase he entered
214 and the lid sprang open.  God's word had been locked away for long enough.  It was time for it to
get out into the hands of Amele men and women.   The suitcase on the morning all the Bibles sold. :)

Blog Series Amele #3

 And from witnessing what transpired in the
 following weeks... it became quite evident that
 the King of Glory did come in and work in
 Amele hearts and lives through His Word.

 

Numbers:
215 official graduates from the course.  
(Another 50 or so came to observe every day)
185 Amele NT were sold during the 2-weeks.
During the outreach at the end of the course
996 Amele men, women, and children were reached.

Blog Series Amele #2

God's purpose for the Amele NT began to be
revealed as He broke open those boxes and distributed
His Word amongst the Amele during the two SALT
courses.  At the courses there were 480 graduates, 448
Amele NT sold, and 2,636 Amele men, women and
children reached by the teaching during the outreaches.
(Those can only be God numbers!)  What follows is the
in-depth story of how He worked amongst His Church
in Amele. May all the glory go to Him!

The translation committee drew near to finishing, so they invited
 members from other denominations to be involved in a week long
 checking of the translation.  Working in partnership with several old
 TPPS teachers, Samson and other church leaders meticulously checked
 the translation work for errors, making sure that what was being said aligned with Scripture and stayed
faithful to the Amele language.  This involvement of other church denominations peaked interest in the
upcoming course. As the book went to be typeset, church leaders started registration for the course and
names quickly started coming in. The 20 kina registration fee set by the
church to provide  food for the participants did not seem to be
discouraging many to register.  It quickly became apparent that one
course would not be able to serve the number of registered participants
and so Samson in partnership with the SALT coordinators made the
decision to run two back to back courses in separate locations in Amele.
By the time the SALT book was ready to be printed, there were roughly
500 people registered to attend!

The Rainbow

Why are there so many, blogs about rainbows? And What's on the other side?


On furlough, I purchased this decal for my laptop. It utilizes the lit
'apple' on the back, and adds color to this retro Apple logo. It also
helps me identify my laptop in a crowd of Apple laptops.

However, when I first went to a staff meeting with it, someone asked me

"Why is your Mac gay?"

Then another person, and another, and another.

One after the other kept asking me that until I had to conclude they
were all in on a prank... but they were not.

Many of them did not recognize the retro logo as being that.. instead
they saw it as a gay pride symbol.

I had not anticipated that reaction, especially from missionaries.

I replied "This is the retro apple-logo, it is not a gay pride symbol,
it is retro and it's cool. I refuse to let the homosexual agenda own a
symbol that God created. They do not own the rainbow, and your comments
have suddenly made this logo even more cool, because now, I am standing
in defiance of social trends."

to which they replied "whatever dude, your mac is gay."

So the next day I showed up with pictures of unicorns on my laptop as
well, just to get a laugh. I leaned into the joke.

But since then I've taken a poll, and surprisingly 100% of people so
far, when asked "what does this logo make you think?" their FIRST
response is 'you're gay'.

IT's not 'oh that is reminiscent of the original Apple logo, it's retro,
and cool, and how appropriate to have it on your laptop.'

I'm not gay, my laptop isn't gay, God created the rainbow, and I'm tired
of all the perversion of symbols that originally pointed to God's goodness.

And I can still locate my laptop in a crowd.

So the sticker remains there.

Blog Series Amele #1

I'm starting a Blog Series on the Amele NT.  There are a lot of cool stories about this, but to read them all back to back, would take you a while.
So I will begin here.



God had been working quietly amongst the Amele people of Madang province for more than a
year as He prepared the stage for His Word to go out with power. Things came to a head during two
SALT (Scripture Application and Leadership Training) courses that were run back to back in Amele last
September and October.  Just one year prior, the Amele people had received a dismal Scripture use
rating from the SIL SURAM (Scripture Use Research And Ministry) team who had visited their area.
The team found that hardly any Amele owned a vernacular NT and on top of that, many were unaware
of the NT's existence. Meanwhile, for over a decade, hundreds of Amele New Testaments had been
quietly sitting in several SIL storage facilities.  But praise God that as Isaiah 55:10-11 states,

 "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my
word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and
achieve the purpose for which I sent it." 

God's purpose for the Amele NT began to be
revealed as He broke open those boxes and distributed
His Word amongst the Amele during the two SALT
courses.  At the courses there were 480 graduates, 448
Amele NT sold, and 2,636 Amele men, women and
children reached by the teaching during the outreaches.
(Those can only be God numbers!)  What follows is the
in-depth story of how He worked amongst His Church
in Amele. May all the glory go to Him!