one of the private jokes of living in PNG is how bad the wood matches are. we have 2 brands available... Paradise and King wooden matchsticks.
They rarely light, and quickly blow out in zero wind.... so we mock the matches.
Well, to all those reading in Ukarumpa...
I discovered I had a box in my toiletry bag. (to be honest when they asked me if I packed anything explosive I said 'no' because I forgot they were there... but wasn't lying because they were Paradise matches... pa dum ta!)
Well here's the news....
they work GREAT!
they light well.. they burn well... they simply work wonderfully. The first time I struck one I thought 'wow, that was easy... WOW it's burning bright!... it will burn itself out before it reaches my fingers though.... WOW they didn't!!!!'
I'm guessing folks, it has to do with the altitude, since I'm down here nearly at sea level.
7/03/2010
7/01/2010
Livin in America 1
Today we realized we never need to take the kids to Disneyland again, because the wonder they expressed at visiting SafeWay tonight, was more than they ever did at Disneyland!
Pickles, you need pickles, come visit our WALL of pickles... bread n butter, dill, kosher, spicy, sweet, sliced whole, lots or little!
SELECTION!
wow.
I've had many a missionary tell me that visiting the American supermarket was the single largest culture shock for them.. some overwhelmingly so.
We fared all right... except the kids running around going 'WOW LOOK THEY HAVE TOASTER WAFFLES!!!!!!'
But then, I saw the mountain of soda.
Where we live, soda costs about $1.25 per can. So it's a rare treat, and you almost never drink more than one a day... if that.
So when we saw....
buy two 12 packs..... and get four 12 packs free... and then the words DR. Pepper and Diet Coke were on the list... I said 'kids, pick your favorite flavor soda'.
Calvin did the math...
'dad, that's 6x12 cans of soda... 72 cans of soda dad!'
'yes ANd they aren't the 330ml of soda they're 12 oz cans.. thats a few sips more than we're used to!'
'wow.. dad that's like 12x12x6 ounces of soda dad....' he then went off counting the many ounces of soda.
that's 72 cans of soda for - $12.00 = $.16 cents per can of soda... compared to our PNG cost of $1.25 per can.
Now we don't let our kids drink soda often... not only because of the sugar and caffeine but because of the cost.... so today they each picked their favorite non-caffeinated flavor....
and boy oh boy the selection! there were tons of different types of flavors. Someone in the past 3 years went nuts with cherry flavoring... there is cherry flavored EVERYTHING now.
anyway... we have some soda, AND we survived the supermarket with aplomb.
6/30/2010
Safe and sound
the flights went well we arrive today around 12:30 safe and sound.
we are fighting off the jet lag and going to bed at our normal times.
For those who wanted to see us, we will have a busy schedule until July 13th... but if you're here only for this week email us at
chad at gimpel dot tv
thanks for praying us home safe.
we are fighting off the jet lag and going to bed at our normal times.
For those who wanted to see us, we will have a busy schedule until July 13th... but if you're here only for this week email us at
chad at gimpel dot tv
thanks for praying us home safe.
6/29/2010
Nice plane #1
We're on a brand new a320 air new Zealand. It's a very nice plane. Each seat has a tv screen large nearly double the size of the ones we've seen before. It's a touch screen! It also comes equipped with a USB slot to charge your equipment or to view your media on the screen. Anyway very nice plane with very nice amenities. I especially like the heartier seats that don't bump around much.
Oh and thanks to Sydney somehow causing hers to reboot I've learned they all run on Linux.
-Chad
-Chad
Laptop Prayer
Three weeks ago something occurred that pained my heart. 3 laptops were stolen from national translators who work with an organization close to us. In PNG, not a half mile from where we sleep, at night some thieves came in and stole the laptops from the national men and women here to do translation work.
As a result they lost a year's worth of translation data. That's more than 4 books they were working on revising. This pained me greatly given that I've done a lot of work in this country to avoid data loss. Sadly they are not a part of our organization and did not have the resources or the training to get backups, even though at times we've consulted with them... this particular group hadn't been trained. Again, not our organization a different one, but that only slightly lessens the blow.
So we began praying... that somehow the data would be recovered and the work they had done over the past year would not be lost.
Today about 2 hours before I get on a plane to the U.S. I got an email.
> God has heard your prayers and has answered in AMAZING ways for our
> colleagues. [Translators] comments: "The Monday we lost our
> computers was a very sad day, and their was a darkness we felt like never
> before. But people started praying all around the world, and three days
> later, the Lord turned our mourning into rejoicing! There have been many
> miracles since that day, and we want to thank you for your prayers,
support
> and encouragement through this time. Through some friends and colleagues,
> the Lord has provided new computers for our translation needs."
>
> And the BIGGEST praise of all.......the translation data they thought was
> ALL lost, has been miraculously preserved and recovered. All of it!
THERE
> IS NO ONE LIKE JEHOVAH!
>
> They said, "Our hearts are filled with praise to our God...he has
encouraged
> us greatly in the work he's given to us. We can't stop praising our
> Lord...we just can't!
>
> Thanks so much for praying!!!!
>
> (If you want the longer version, please ask)
>
Praise GOD for that.
In related theft, a course called VITAL which teaches translation to nationals lost over 12 laptops in a theft last week. No one was threatened as the theft took place over night... but their work was gone. Thankfully a device CTS was instrumental in putting in place was available for backups and no data was lost!
a laptop and projector was stolen from the AIDS education team as well in the last month.
If you have a heart to, please pray against laptop theft. Laptops are being stolen frequently.
6/28/2010
Treetops
This is where we are spending our 1.5 day layover in Cairns, Australia.
I am flabbergasted.
http://treetopslodgecairns.maf.org.au/
I'm a relative baby in the world of missions. Everything is so new to me, the thought so often foreign. Yes after being immersed in it for nearly 4.5 years now (including training) the thinking is less foreign then it once was, but I'm still constantly surprised by 'firsts'.
For example this is our first furlough.
But I am flabbergasted, and I don't get that way often. Treetops is a joint mission effort to create a place to stay for traveling missionaries, or missionaries who need a place to stay near the hospital for having babies, medical processes. etc.
For example some friends of ours last year wound up needing months of rehabilitation after an accident, where could they stay affordably? Treetops.
Okay... so maybe for you it's not hard to imagine people raising their own support to go to work at a 'hotel' for missionaries.
Maybe then you'd imagine a dilapidated facility. Not at all, this place is a haven. It's gorgeous and well kept. The paint is fresh, the road is covered in gorgeous brick pavers... to get an equivalent room like this in the non-missions world you'd be paying about $200 p/night easily. and that's U.S. rates not AUD which would be higher.
But what are we paying? More like $30.00 p/night!
How? Why? Because people recognized a need and God put it on their hearts to fulfill that need.
But even all of THAT isn't why I'm flabbergasted.
The difference between a place out to make a buck, and
a place out to make a difference is tangible.
They have all sorts of conveniences and creative ways to save money... from the 'left over basket' for people to leave their leftover groceries in so others can get them without having to buy...
or the lobby of books and dvd's....
the rental cars for $2 p/ day
or the requirement that if you stay here more than a week you need to contribute to the work (well the dad's do while the mom's watch the kids.. or vice versa)... to keep expenses down.
the nice reminders to not waste electricity....
Still.. not why I'm flabbergasted.
This is what astounds me most of all. We've been in horrid places, we've been in nice-for-a-3rd-world-country places.
This place is plain nice even if you've never stayed in a 3rd world country.
Being a support worker, our vision and aim is to support the work of Bible translation through the talents we have.... and often we don't feel necessarily on the front front lines.
Yes were in the field, but we support translators who are in the village in the field.
So often you can think 'wow I'm not daily in the trenches like THEY are... I'm up here in the CENTER... safer... I have groceries and refrigeration'
Now take that and imagine you're still in your home country but doing support.
This is what flabbergasts me.
That people can serve such a great function and still be in their home country and still raise support and still have the resolve to not get discouraged and do not only their work, but to do it with such excellent quality that it becomes a wonderful ministry to everyone around them!
I LOVE this world of missions.. I love the mentality that things aren't cold and impersonal but that it's one large world-wide country, each serving each other... man this is got to be a small glimpse of what heaven is like... such humility of service.
To explain a tad further... it is very hard to raise support and NOT go overseas. Yet hundreds of people do this yearly. It's harder for them because missions means to many people 'go over seas and build stuff'.
Missions is very simply by my definition, the faith commitment to serve God with the talents you have, wherever He asks you to go. It could be staying in your house.
It's hard to communicate that... especially if you're trying to raise funding.
I imagine for these people they must struggle with 'well I could go get a job at a public motel, and do the same work and get paid for it and not have to raise support'.
But they don't... and people like us, benefit from it.
Missions takes many types.... and this is why I am flabbergasted.
God pulls together those who have money and the heart to give it
those who can pray and protect in prayer
those who can go
those who can send the goers
those who can serve all the above....
and He accomplishes His work, ALL the while creating this huge fabric of relationships based on love, service and humility.
Being a part of that fabric is you and I, and that... astounds me. Almost daily it astounds me, but today seeing the fruition of one such mission.. this place they call treetops which has so often been a boon... a safe haven for missionaries in dire straights, I am amazed by God's complexity and provision.
Travel Photos
We're in Cairns, Aus.
WOW internet is FREE here and SOO FAST! I can upload these blog photos super quickly. I forgot just how fast non satellite based internet could be.
As far as culture shock.... not much yet. We did go grocery shopping for some breakfast items and although we're used to Australian food perhaps you would find some of these photos interesting.
I got to sit in the co-pilot seat! I asked a lot of questions and learned a LOT about the planes and aviation in PNG... the plane may look small, but that's because it is although not the smallest in our fleet:
My view:
it took our kids almost a full 2 minutes to figure out how this water fountain across from the 'Night Markets' in Cairns worked, they had given up but mom gave them a hint:
snap crackle pop by any other name sounds as sweet:
raisins in Aus are called 'sultanas'
Almost the first thing I noticed in the grocery store was the wheels on this cart. They were slotted and I spent some time figuring out why. My only guess was that they were slotted to fit smoothly on the following photo:
My wife wouldn't let me experiment, but I'm pretty sure the slots on the wheels of the cart match the slots on this people mover... the grocery store was on the second story of a mall... we parked in a huge parking garage.
this kids went nuts over this kia caravan car we rented (for $2.00 p/hour!!!!!) and also we noticed how more affordable groceries were. People have often talked about how all the huge amount of choices have stymied them with culture shock, but we didn't notice it. I did however notice it took a lot longer to make a decision as to which cereal to get for the kids... since we eat Aussie food mostly in PNG, it wasn't because they didn't know the brands, it was because there were so many choices.
Final thought:
-when you raise your kids they start to learn not to ask for... rides on the quarter carousel or money for a silly vending machine game or the gumball machine (or whatever today's equivalent of a gumball machine is)... as they age they realize mom and dad aren't shelling out for these small attractive to kids things and they stop asking...
but when you go away and come back, it's all new again and so the asking starts over again. All the conditioning is gone. They were dazzled by things they would have overlooked before, and we often had to call them away from the kid-trap machines.
WOW internet is FREE here and SOO FAST! I can upload these blog photos super quickly. I forgot just how fast non satellite based internet could be.
As far as culture shock.... not much yet. We did go grocery shopping for some breakfast items and although we're used to Australian food perhaps you would find some of these photos interesting.
I got to sit in the co-pilot seat! I asked a lot of questions and learned a LOT about the planes and aviation in PNG... the plane may look small, but that's because it is although not the smallest in our fleet:
My view:
it took our kids almost a full 2 minutes to figure out how this water fountain across from the 'Night Markets' in Cairns worked, they had given up but mom gave them a hint:
snap crackle pop by any other name sounds as sweet:
raisins in Aus are called 'sultanas'
Almost the first thing I noticed in the grocery store was the wheels on this cart. They were slotted and I spent some time figuring out why. My only guess was that they were slotted to fit smoothly on the following photo:
My wife wouldn't let me experiment, but I'm pretty sure the slots on the wheels of the cart match the slots on this people mover... the grocery store was on the second story of a mall... we parked in a huge parking garage.
this kids went nuts over this kia caravan car we rented (for $2.00 p/hour!!!!!) and also we noticed how more affordable groceries were. People have often talked about how all the huge amount of choices have stymied them with culture shock, but we didn't notice it. I did however notice it took a lot longer to make a decision as to which cereal to get for the kids... since we eat Aussie food mostly in PNG, it wasn't because they didn't know the brands, it was because there were so many choices.
Final thought:
-when you raise your kids they start to learn not to ask for... rides on the quarter carousel or money for a silly vending machine game or the gumball machine (or whatever today's equivalent of a gumball machine is)... as they age they realize mom and dad aren't shelling out for these small attractive to kids things and they stop asking...
but when you go away and come back, it's all new again and so the asking starts over again. All the conditioning is gone. They were dazzled by things they would have overlooked before, and we often had to call them away from the kid-trap machines.
6/26/2010
Travel Begins
We're rather relaxed at this point, confident that everything is done, and well done and double checked.
there are two popular ways to do the 'pack and go' thing for home assignment.
1 - life is very busy, cram in all the packing the last few nights.
or
2 - do a little bit each day so that you aren't stressed and then spend your final day relaxing waiting for the plane.
We did 2, some do 1, to each his own.
So here we sit in this nice little guest house, our own house all packed up and locked up.
Our luggage is 4 German Army duffle bags. These bags were the cheapest luggage we could find that would handle the trip well and still meet all the size requirements. Also they are REALLY secure with 3 hefty straps and 2 cover flaps. One day if we can afford the more pricey action packers... we will.
So our plane leaves tomorrow at 10:30. We head to the airstrip at 8:30am.
We will fly 4 -5 hours to Cairns, Australia
We will spend 2 nights in Cairns awaiting our next flight.
Then we will fly 4 hours to Auckland, New Zealand.
We will wait 1.5 hours after that.
Then we will head to San Francisco, California on a 12 hour flight. (this is actually the part I'm looking forward too the most of the journey.. I enjoy getting somewhere while you're waiting around.)
All in all we leave June 28th from our guest house, and travel for 4 days, and arrive in California on June 30th. (puzzle that one out!)
Funny quote:
while we were waiting around, Calvin and I was playing a game called 'angry birds'.
Calvin: 'Dad why is that bird frowning? birds can't frown?"
Dad: 'Son, for that matter why is the bird exploding itself? Don't search for meaning in the midst of nonsense."
Calvin: ' Okay.......(pause) whatever THAT means.'
I laughed so hard at that one... he didn't appreciate the irony, but I did.
6/21/2010
They're back!
It’s been nearly a year, but my co-worker and friend is back! We met them at the plane and helped them settle today into their new house! I was very excited to see him get off the plane, now I have no guilt for leaving the centre because it’ll be in good hands, and I have no fear that my work and my servers/network will fall apart because I’ve worked with Richard and know he’s good at his job.
Ah... To be able to get on the plane and head home without the worry of leaving people unsupported is a HUGE relief off of my shoulders!
Thanks be to God for answering prayers!!!!
Ah... To be able to get on the plane and head home without the worry of leaving people unsupported is a HUGE relief off of my shoulders!
Thanks be to God for answering prayers!!!!
6/19/2010
Father's day
-Chad
My kids woke up and covered my office in signs that mimicked movie
titles. Like "it's a dad dad dad dad world" they woke up at five am
and made around 70 signs!!! Now that's a great gift and card. It was
so huge that it startled me as I went in. I also got biscuits n gravy !!
Well here we are a week from
leaving and the house is cleaned and nearly 90% packed
Yesterday was like christmas for kendal because we all spontaneously
started scrubbing the floor together. Boy was she excited.
6/10/2010
done with Saul
Well today is my last official day of work. PRAISE GOD that my co-worker is coming on schedule. I'll be popping in to work to keep an eye on things and make sure they run smoothly.... but I won't be holding regular office hours.
WE get 2 weeks to pack up all our earthly belongings, prepare our house for renters (pray that we get some), and get on a plane.
I'll be spending 90% of that time packing but we're so well organized it won't be stressful. The other 10% I'll be unofficially working and keeping things going until my replacement arrives. (PLEASE Lord let him arrive on time and healthy).
Kendal's last day WAS going to be Tuesday but the school lost a few teachers suddenly, so school ends today. It was a bit of a hurry up, but we got it done.
On June 30th we'll be back in the USA... we'll be going to a camping trip with family, then Kendal and Syd will go to visit friends and their church for a week, and then after that the kids attend a summer camp!! So through August we have a busy schedule... which we're hoping to fill up with reunions with you all!
One of the things we do here on the side is a weekly Bible study. I've been leading a study of I Samuel for some months now, and have only last night finished it.
I Samuel is one of my favorite books of the Bible.. it has EVERYTHING you ever wanted to get someone addicted to reading the Bible. Children's stories (David vs Goliath) difficult verses, doublets (apparent contradictions) for the scholar, the introduction of Kings to Israel... And it stays exciting the whole time.. right down to the question 'Who really killed Saul and how?'
The study is over. We're winding up a great many things now. We want to return in January for a second term.
Prayer:
-we need a car still
-safe travels
-emotional transition for the family
-pray that things go well here while I'm gone and that the equipment remains functional.
thank you again for your prayers!
WE get 2 weeks to pack up all our earthly belongings, prepare our house for renters (pray that we get some), and get on a plane.
I'll be spending 90% of that time packing but we're so well organized it won't be stressful. The other 10% I'll be unofficially working and keeping things going until my replacement arrives. (PLEASE Lord let him arrive on time and healthy).
Kendal's last day WAS going to be Tuesday but the school lost a few teachers suddenly, so school ends today. It was a bit of a hurry up, but we got it done.
On June 30th we'll be back in the USA... we'll be going to a camping trip with family, then Kendal and Syd will go to visit friends and their church for a week, and then after that the kids attend a summer camp!! So through August we have a busy schedule... which we're hoping to fill up with reunions with you all!
One of the things we do here on the side is a weekly Bible study. I've been leading a study of I Samuel for some months now, and have only last night finished it.
I Samuel is one of my favorite books of the Bible.. it has EVERYTHING you ever wanted to get someone addicted to reading the Bible. Children's stories (David vs Goliath) difficult verses, doublets (apparent contradictions) for the scholar, the introduction of Kings to Israel... And it stays exciting the whole time.. right down to the question 'Who really killed Saul and how?'
The study is over. We're winding up a great many things now. We want to return in January for a second term.
Prayer:
-we need a car still
-safe travels
-emotional transition for the family
-pray that things go well here while I'm gone and that the equipment remains functional.
thank you again for your prayers!
6/07/2010
R
today we got down and dirty... literally.
we had 9 subterranean cable pits to get into,
about a half mile of fibre optic cable to pull.
And it went very well.
It was well planned (by my new manager). It is nice knowing I have 3 days left and something I've wanted to accomplish for a long time has been done.
Now we can offer network to a portion of our campus that has been forever offline.
we had 9 subterranean cable pits to get into,
about a half mile of fibre optic cable to pull.
And it went very well.
It was well planned (by my new manager). It is nice knowing I have 3 days left and something I've wanted to accomplish for a long time has been done.
Now we can offer network to a portion of our campus that has been forever offline.
6/06/2010
Support, Partners n Pillars
I had this image in my head, and this is my poor representation of it given that I'm not very good at photoshop.
I wanted to communicate a few things with this image.
The people at the top are all the missionaries here in PNG.
The person standing on the pillars represents my family.
As support staff we free up translators to do Bible translation while supplying for them services and help that they would otherwise have to do on their own.
Here are a few quotes:
"If we had to find or provide for ourselves the
services [support staff in PNG] has provided for us, I don't know how I'd make any
progress on translation." - John --translator
"If I had no support here, I am convinced I would need to spent hours to get those done otherwise. So firstly: a HUGE 'Thank You' to ALL our departments." - Hans - translator
If we as support staff are unable to do our job, then the translators are unable to do their job.
Notice in this picture the people up top are holding hands? If I can't fix computers and provide email, telephones, internet access, file storage... then EVERYONE ELSE is affected and can't do their jobs as well if at all. If we fall, they fall.
Now see the pillars?
The pillars represent financial support and prayer support.
Underneath the pillars are shaking hands, representing partners.
YOU are are partners. We don't call you 'financial support' or 'prayer support' even though that is what you do. You are more than that, you are partners with us in this ministry.
If our financial support went away, we'd fall and thus the entire ministries here would be affected.
If our prayer support went away, we'd fall, and the same would occur.
If they went imbalanced, we'd have to do a lot of work to maintain our ministry... we'd have to adjust in unhealthy ways.
If they decreased significantly, then the others would have to hold more weight. That's assuming they would be able gain the skill sets we have. Many translators have said they would be unable to do their work without our help, and that means without YOUR help.
You uphold us, we uphold many. Our jobs are such that we support many families here. Should we go away, there would be large holes left behind. We've spend the last 3 years carving out a huge niche and filling needs.
We do not mean to say that God NEEDS us. No.... but God uses us. God uses you and us together to accomplish a great work that will glorify Him!
I like this image because it shows the delicate balance of support. How you support us, we support Bible translation. We support Bible translation because it changes lives, it changes cultures, it changes countries. The Word of God transforms.
I wanted to take a moment to show you.... what others have said about our jobs. Not as a form of bragging but as a way to share some of the encouragement we've received over the last 3 years.
Thanks Chad,
Think we might have just gotten one of these... and because I read your note I was suspicious :).
Your ministry in this way has saved us lots of time getting uncorrupted.
Appreciate your partnership.
Douglas
Dear Chad,
Thank you SOOOOOOOO much! You've saved our marching band software and made it so I can be so much more productive on Finale (sharing the computer amongst three of us gets pretty tough sometimes). To replace the marching band software with new software would cost us at least $400. I couldn't have done what you did, but I
THINK I can take it from here. Blessings on you.
For Him,
Bruce
The network support guys apparently had our DSL activated in the Lewis house before we even arrived. It worked as soon as I plugged in the router.
So today I want to say, 'well done' to CTS for helping us get our communications going immediately.
Serving our King together,
John
Dear Chad,
Thanks so much for all of your help with this. Their promise of within 15 business days was the "outside" chance - and I just received the number today, so was able to get the license renewal into the hands of someone flying to the US who can mail it this week. Would never have happened without your hard work and without your very willing friend. Please pass my extreme thanks on to them as well.
And thanks for all you do to keep us up and running - not an easy job with hours that almost rival those of the clinic docs (sometimes more), so thanks.
Dr. Helen
Dear Chad,
Well after all your patience and perseverance talking me through the procedure of getting the e-mail working it has paid off! The office and my personal computer are sending and receiving. I just haven't got around to changing the team one yet, anyway they are all connecting individually on their own computers.
Thank you very much for the time you spent on the phone with me this morning. I was much appreciated! Hope you can get out to Kavieng sometime.
In Him,
Rhona - translator
Thank you very much, you are wonderful, efficient and terrific! Really appreciated your contribution this
afternoon, I can tell that you are passionate about the subject!
Sandra - translator and director
We just want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who helped get it going again.
Today
(Tuesday) at noon, we were able to make a good connection again. We know that you all have many things going on. Thank you for what you do to keep this system running. It is a great blessing and help to us out here in the village! Please pass this message along to all those involved in fixing the HF e-mail.
Gratefully,
Danny and Becca - translators
Thanks for fixing that! It has been a real blessing for me to be able to get email while in the village. There are "some things going on" with our daughter that I really need to keep up with, so your work has been a life saver (for me). I hope you realize how important your work with village email is to the translation teams. I am sure each team has similar stories!
Thank you so much!
Blessings,
Debbie - translators
5/27/2010
More of the Journey
In the name of full disclosure I thought I might share this.
I work in a room meant for 4 people, alone. My job requires I stay at my desk near the servers most of the time. Which means I get very little social interaction with people all day long. Which means I correspond mostly with people via email.
I've been doing this since July of last year. By myself, corresponding via online means.
It loses the personal touch, and as a result I find myself psychologically ready for furlough, to be among family and friends and re-establish face to face communication.
This week has been an interesting struggle for me in my faith.
Each day this week has brought with it some new financial information.
Monday - we found we need a 30% increase in support in order to return from our furlough.
Tuesday - we found that our insurance costs will go up due to our health insurance company transferring the new Obama costs to their customer
Weds - new policies on center have reorganized how departments do business so departments have had to raise their prices
Thurs - We were told we can no longer write checks here and have to do all financial transactions with the U.S. based entity (as a result there is more paperwork and fees for us to handle finances)
Friday - I sat down in prayer and said 'God, things back in the U.S. are tough. People are losing their jobs, and yet I need to go back on furlough and find new partners to join us financially. God things are changing in this country, the cost of living is going up, but the quality isn't. I'm finding it hard to trust you again financially... I know if you want us here still, you'll provide." I was upset most of the day by these news.. most of that derived from the truth that I can't affect control over the situation. But then I was calmed...
was someone out there praying for us?
Calmed because God has always proven faithful financially. He will provide. And we're so thankful for how you all have been used by Him.
It seems that for 3 years I've been able to not worry about our source of finances, while being the best steward I can be. And then today with all these procedural changes I found myself upset.
God I can't control what this world throws at me. But I can control my attitude.
Thank you for where we are and what we're doing.
I work in a room meant for 4 people, alone. My job requires I stay at my desk near the servers most of the time. Which means I get very little social interaction with people all day long. Which means I correspond mostly with people via email.
I've been doing this since July of last year. By myself, corresponding via online means.
It loses the personal touch, and as a result I find myself psychologically ready for furlough, to be among family and friends and re-establish face to face communication.
This week has been an interesting struggle for me in my faith.
Each day this week has brought with it some new financial information.
Monday - we found we need a 30% increase in support in order to return from our furlough.
Tuesday - we found that our insurance costs will go up due to our health insurance company transferring the new Obama costs to their customer
Weds - new policies on center have reorganized how departments do business so departments have had to raise their prices
Thurs - We were told we can no longer write checks here and have to do all financial transactions with the U.S. based entity (as a result there is more paperwork and fees for us to handle finances)
Friday - I sat down in prayer and said 'God, things back in the U.S. are tough. People are losing their jobs, and yet I need to go back on furlough and find new partners to join us financially. God things are changing in this country, the cost of living is going up, but the quality isn't. I'm finding it hard to trust you again financially... I know if you want us here still, you'll provide." I was upset most of the day by these news.. most of that derived from the truth that I can't affect control over the situation. But then I was calmed...
was someone out there praying for us?
Calmed because God has always proven faithful financially. He will provide. And we're so thankful for how you all have been used by Him.
It seems that for 3 years I've been able to not worry about our source of finances, while being the best steward I can be. And then today with all these procedural changes I found myself upset.
God I can't control what this world throws at me. But I can control my attitude.
Thank you for where we are and what we're doing.
5/25/2010
Writing Rollercoaster
Here's a little story about the craziness that follows one simple 'YES'. A few years ago I changed my outlook on life and started saying 'YES' to many of the odd requests that came my way, instead of saying 'no'. As a direct result of this I went on a short term mission trip, became a Director of Awana Sparks, became a full time missionary, earned a trip to Hawaii, and now... have become an internationally sought after writer.
HA!
A few months ago I had the rare opportunity to go to a remote pacific island and attend a ceremony dedicating a New Testament in the heart language of a large people group located in the Menapi area of Papua New Guinea. The language group was called the Gapapaiwa. You may have even seen a video I did on the event.
When I returned our director of publication said 'Chad I need a few quick words on the event, can you write a story with a very short deadline?' I replied, "YES".
I wrote the story, and in my opinion it was rather dry and not my best work. BUT I wrote it quickly and was able to get it to her in under 30 minutes. I suppose professional newspaper writers would consider the actual writing portion of a story the last and shortest step. But for me 30 minutes was fast.
Since then, apparently my name has been floating around and I recently was asked to attend a series of 'nice to meet you' meetings where I was then asked to write for a new project meant to help the world become informed about the affect that Bible Translation has on people's lives.
The main idea - The Bible changes lives... let's tell people how!
Well, I agreed again to help in my spare time, write a story. So I was given an assignment. It turns out the first assignment I was given, was to write a story based on an interview from a man I met a few weeks ago. I helped him set up his village email system and while we waited for software to load, I asked him about his story.
I will begin writing the story as soon as the interview is complete. I'll keep you updated.
But that's not all.
TODAY, I got an email from someone in China who read my story online and contacted me asking permissions to translate the story into Chinese so they could post it on their website.
I of course had to refer them to our communication director.
So, saying yes the 1 time, has turned into this situation where suddenly I find myself 'hyped'. I do not consider myself a writer. I don't know why I was originally asked to write. I don't know why I said 'yes', other than I like to help people and I was one of the people who could say 'yes' because I was there.
Frankly, I'm a bit nervous now, because it seems that having only written one story, I have garnered an unintentional reputation as a writer (my apologies to all actual writers out there) and now, I have to put up or shut up, as this next story I'll be writing is going to be under scrutiny.
Anyway... I've been spending time in prayer checking to see if God really does want me to spend any portion of my time doing this.
And here is the only reason I would consider it. Having nothing to do with my abilities in this area, for it is very obvious I'm weak in the area of the written word, and grammar.
The reason is, because I feel it is very important that EVERY one of the team members involved in Bible translation hear about how their efforts are affecting changes. That means that people back home praying, giving funds, folks in a locked server room, everyone who is contributing to this huge team effort... that they get a chance to experience (if not first hand) the life change that happens when people receive God's Word in their lives.
I get to see it first hand, face to face sometimes. Other times I get to hear about it.
The reason I do videos and write these little stories, and keep this blog... is so that YOU get to take part in the blessings as well.
http://www.thewordislife.net/Stories/tabid/67/Default.aspx?id=1542&continent=PAC
Here's the story I wrote... for what it's worth.
HA!
A few months ago I had the rare opportunity to go to a remote pacific island and attend a ceremony dedicating a New Testament in the heart language of a large people group located in the Menapi area of Papua New Guinea. The language group was called the Gapapaiwa. You may have even seen a video I did on the event.
When I returned our director of publication said 'Chad I need a few quick words on the event, can you write a story with a very short deadline?' I replied, "YES".
I wrote the story, and in my opinion it was rather dry and not my best work. BUT I wrote it quickly and was able to get it to her in under 30 minutes. I suppose professional newspaper writers would consider the actual writing portion of a story the last and shortest step. But for me 30 minutes was fast.
Since then, apparently my name has been floating around and I recently was asked to attend a series of 'nice to meet you' meetings where I was then asked to write for a new project meant to help the world become informed about the affect that Bible Translation has on people's lives.
The main idea - The Bible changes lives... let's tell people how!
Well, I agreed again to help in my spare time, write a story. So I was given an assignment. It turns out the first assignment I was given, was to write a story based on an interview from a man I met a few weeks ago. I helped him set up his village email system and while we waited for software to load, I asked him about his story.
I will begin writing the story as soon as the interview is complete. I'll keep you updated.
But that's not all.
TODAY, I got an email from someone in China who read my story online and contacted me asking permissions to translate the story into Chinese so they could post it on their website.
I of course had to refer them to our communication director.
So, saying yes the 1 time, has turned into this situation where suddenly I find myself 'hyped'. I do not consider myself a writer. I don't know why I was originally asked to write. I don't know why I said 'yes', other than I like to help people and I was one of the people who could say 'yes' because I was there.
Frankly, I'm a bit nervous now, because it seems that having only written one story, I have garnered an unintentional reputation as a writer (my apologies to all actual writers out there) and now, I have to put up or shut up, as this next story I'll be writing is going to be under scrutiny.
Anyway... I've been spending time in prayer checking to see if God really does want me to spend any portion of my time doing this.
And here is the only reason I would consider it. Having nothing to do with my abilities in this area, for it is very obvious I'm weak in the area of the written word, and grammar.
The reason is, because I feel it is very important that EVERY one of the team members involved in Bible translation hear about how their efforts are affecting changes. That means that people back home praying, giving funds, folks in a locked server room, everyone who is contributing to this huge team effort... that they get a chance to experience (if not first hand) the life change that happens when people receive God's Word in their lives.
I get to see it first hand, face to face sometimes. Other times I get to hear about it.
The reason I do videos and write these little stories, and keep this blog... is so that YOU get to take part in the blessings as well.
http://www.thewordislife.net/Stories/tabid/67/Default.aspx?id=1542&continent=PAC
Here's the story I wrote... for what it's worth.
5/16/2010
Forbidden Diaper
We have some friends in the village for the first time, starting a new translation project. They are a young married couple with a 6 month old baby. Taking care of a baby in the village is often considered the 'woman's job' by the nationals.
As supporting staff, often times we have radio schedules with folks in the village to help them get news, arrange supplies, etc. Here's a story from our neighbor who is the support family for these friends of ours:
on a serious note:
Your support is going towards this new language project. This year we'll be dedicating around 10 New Testaments! That's the fruition of something like 200 man years of labor if you only count 1 man. If you counted all of the men and women involved in supporting the work it's thousands upon thousands of man hours.
At the same time, this young couple is embarking on a new project... and that means they are facing glorious time and dark times. Please pray for their work, as this is their very first stay together in their new home with their new baby.
Typically the work of learning the language takes at least 2 years. You move there, make friends, get accepted, make a place to stay, have someone committed to talking to you in their language each day... and this takes 2 years to learn the language and get all this done.
This family has committed during this 2 month stay, to only speaking the language. No English, no common tok pisin. As a result they feel isolated and sometimes clumsy as they need to learn how to speak again until. These radio scheds are like medicine to them.
That's just another example of how we support people.
Sometimes it means being a voice with hands, on the other side of the radio... making stuff work, fixing things, sending supplies, helping with medical or just listening.
Thank you.
As supporting staff, often times we have radio schedules with folks in the village to help them get news, arrange supplies, etc. Here's a story from our neighbor who is the support family for these friends of ours:
He [the ex-pat husband] also said that yesterday [his wife] was down at the water so up at the house he washed some of [his daughter's] diapers. They know that this is really “tambu” (forbidden) for a man to do this kind of work but he really wanted to show them that this is the way a Christian man takes care of his wife and child. He was hoping to set a good example. I [the radio operator] reminded him to continue that when he gets home because you should do good things not only when the eyes of man are on you. To which I heard [his wife] yell out “Preach it Sister!!”
on a serious note:
[The Ex-pat translator] wanted me to pass along this story to you. He said that while he was meeting with the elders to decide all of these things [language learning as groundwork for launching work on a New Testament translation] a huge fight broke out in the middle of the village behind them. The leaders weren’t in this fight but had to go and break it up. I asked if there were weapons and he said some of the guys had knives so it could have gotten dangerous if it hadn’t been broken up. Once they got back to the meeting he said to the leaders that they can expect more things like this because Satan doesn’t want them to do the work that they are doing and he is going to try to make it difficult for them. They all agreed that it was a spiritual attack on the new program. He was then able to pray with the leaders.
Your support is going towards this new language project. This year we'll be dedicating around 10 New Testaments! That's the fruition of something like 200 man years of labor if you only count 1 man. If you counted all of the men and women involved in supporting the work it's thousands upon thousands of man hours.
At the same time, this young couple is embarking on a new project... and that means they are facing glorious time and dark times. Please pray for their work, as this is their very first stay together in their new home with their new baby.
Typically the work of learning the language takes at least 2 years. You move there, make friends, get accepted, make a place to stay, have someone committed to talking to you in their language each day... and this takes 2 years to learn the language and get all this done.
This family has committed during this 2 month stay, to only speaking the language. No English, no common tok pisin. As a result they feel isolated and sometimes clumsy as they need to learn how to speak again until. These radio scheds are like medicine to them.
That's just another example of how we support people.
Sometimes it means being a voice with hands, on the other side of the radio... making stuff work, fixing things, sending supplies, helping with medical or just listening.
Thank you.
5/11/2010
Emergency Firewood
tonight after work, my wife said 'the posting just came out, anyone who can donate extra firewood is needed'.
Recently part of our centre has become a sort of refuge camp for homeless friends... and they needed firewood to cook by.
Thinking it a great chance to teach my kids a REAL application of Christ's love, I hitched up the trailer to my ATV quad, and my son and I loaded a load of firewood onto it, and drove it over.
We saw maybe two to three hundred people huddled together comforting each other. We unloaded and took a few seconds to pray over the group.
A well known leader and friend came and thanked us.
To me, it was a very little gesture of love, but one of the wonderful things about living here is that you have many very REAL physical, practical applications of love that you can involve your children in.
I hope my son can't remember today's act. The reason is I hope we do them so often and have so many of them, that this one simply melts in with all the others.
Like I said, a very small gesture... but a very practical one.
This is how Christ loves His people.
Recently part of our centre has become a sort of refuge camp for homeless friends... and they needed firewood to cook by.
Thinking it a great chance to teach my kids a REAL application of Christ's love, I hitched up the trailer to my ATV quad, and my son and I loaded a load of firewood onto it, and drove it over.
We saw maybe two to three hundred people huddled together comforting each other. We unloaded and took a few seconds to pray over the group.
A well known leader and friend came and thanked us.
To me, it was a very little gesture of love, but one of the wonderful things about living here is that you have many very REAL physical, practical applications of love that you can involve your children in.
I hope my son can't remember today's act. The reason is I hope we do them so often and have so many of them, that this one simply melts in with all the others.
Like I said, a very small gesture... but a very practical one.
This is how Christ loves His people.
Berries
One question I'm often asked is 'what is your chief expense there?' Answer: Groceries.
Our grocery store imports from the U.S. certain goodies, for other goods we buy in country.
Occsasionally Kendal gives the kids the chance to pick a dinner. My daughter picked my wife's famous 'cranberry chicken'. But this requires cranberries.
So first you visit the store. They are out. Not surprising, it's a seasonal thing. But sometimes you're surprised by what they do have.
So then you send out an email (technically an nntp posting) on the 'wanted' board and say 'we need one 14oz can of cranberries, does anyone have one to sell or lend?'
Soon someone will call or email and say "I do."
So tonight at dinner my wife said 'I'm very busy tonight I have a lot to do.'
Well of course she does, our hausmeri was unable to help today with things around the house because of a recent catastrophe for her family. So of course being the doting husband I say 'how can I help?'
So a few minutes later I find myself at a friend's house with 10 Kina in my pocket. This was our conversation.
"Hi Chad, Did Kendal tell you how much to pay?"
"No"
"well we don't have a price."
"okay"
"She did say to name our price."
"yes."
"Okay well how does Kina 250 sound?"
we both laugh. Apparently someone recently had tried to overcharge her and we had a laugh.
"It sounds high"
"Yes, well I was thinking, I bought some peaches this week a can of them, and it cost 10Kina, so I was thinking, THESE ARE OCEAN SPRAY, so how is 12 Kina?"
"Well, my wife told me she didn't know what to expect and gave me 10Kina. will that do or shall I put in a transfer for 12 Kina"
A transfer is our way of paying for stuff here so we don't handle cash. It makes life easier for our finance people if we don't handle much cash, as transporting large amounts of cash can be unsafe and troublesome.
"A transfer would be nice."
So.... begins the paperwork.
For reference, in the U.S. a can of Ocean Spray cranberries seems to average $1.90. 12 Kina is about $5.00 (at least that was the price I found when I looked online, I have no idea what current U.S. groceries cost).
Also it left me wondering... is Ocean Spray like the Cadillac of Cranberries?
It was a humorous exchange for me......
Another such recent exchange for us was similar, three women were trying to come up with a solution for feeding 9 people and one of my wive's friends kept repeating 'well at home I have a WHOLE can of beans' until finally someone said 'a whole can won't feed many people'.
As that friend left, they left behind with us, labelled and everything... 'a whole can of beans'.
So... we now around our house say
'well, it IS Ocean Spray."
and
'wow a whole can of beans!'
5/10/2010
Geocaching Funny
In September my wife and I were surprised to find a geocache was hidden here on center, not 50 feet from where I work. So we went and we risked the bougainvilla thorns and found it. YAY! Our first cache in years.
Well today a friend came and said 'I was online and saw you found the cache hidden here, could you tell me if it's still there or if it's been muggled?'
So when he left I walked over and poked my soon-to-be-bloodied hand into the leaves. Unable to find it, the manager was outside tending to his yard and said 'Chad can I help you?"
Well I of course couldn't break the code of telling a muggle about geocaches... but this was his property.
So I said 'just poking around here, thorns you know'
'yup, sure, we got bougainvilla here'.
He's Canadien, and was giving me a look of confusion and also slightly coy. I knew bougainvilla thorn pricks to swell up pretty bad because of some juice they have or something... so I pulled my hands out... and tried to deflect the conversation.
'so Chad, you ah.... looking for something?' again his coy smile... or was the sun in his eye?
'Yeah... do YOU know what I'm looking for?' I ask
'No, not really, can I help?'
'Well I'm not sure, are you being coy? Do you know what I'm looking for?'
'I have no idea.'
at this point I realize I'm the crazy American sticking his hands into the thorn bush for no reason. So I decide to play it mysterious.
'Well, I'd like to tell you, but I can't, I'd be breaking a code.'
'oh!' he replies...but stands there staring at me still.
'okay I'll tell you, have you ever heard of geocaching?'
'nope, can't say that I have.... is it a game?'
'more like a hobby.'
'OH!' more serious of an oh this time.
So I explained the hobby to him, and explained that I was looking for something that is probably gone. He seemed to understand, but with the same sort of understanding that makes anyone wonder what kind of hobby would involve poking around in thorn bushes.
Never did find the cache, suppose it's been muggled.
Well today a friend came and said 'I was online and saw you found the cache hidden here, could you tell me if it's still there or if it's been muggled?'
So when he left I walked over and poked my soon-to-be-bloodied hand into the leaves. Unable to find it, the manager was outside tending to his yard and said 'Chad can I help you?"
Well I of course couldn't break the code of telling a muggle about geocaches... but this was his property.
So I said 'just poking around here, thorns you know'
'yup, sure, we got bougainvilla here'.
He's Canadien, and was giving me a look of confusion and also slightly coy. I knew bougainvilla thorn pricks to swell up pretty bad because of some juice they have or something... so I pulled my hands out... and tried to deflect the conversation.
'so Chad, you ah.... looking for something?' again his coy smile... or was the sun in his eye?
'Yeah... do YOU know what I'm looking for?' I ask
'No, not really, can I help?'
'Well I'm not sure, are you being coy? Do you know what I'm looking for?'
'I have no idea.'
at this point I realize I'm the crazy American sticking his hands into the thorn bush for no reason. So I decide to play it mysterious.
'Well, I'd like to tell you, but I can't, I'd be breaking a code.'
'oh!' he replies...but stands there staring at me still.
'okay I'll tell you, have you ever heard of geocaching?'
'nope, can't say that I have.... is it a game?'
'more like a hobby.'
'OH!' more serious of an oh this time.
So I explained the hobby to him, and explained that I was looking for something that is probably gone. He seemed to understand, but with the same sort of understanding that makes anyone wonder what kind of hobby would involve poking around in thorn bushes.
Never did find the cache, suppose it's been muggled.
4/28/2010
What I've Done
yesterday was a landmark day for me. Why? Because I finally was able to get a border router installed on our network.
At first I wanted to include fancy diagrams and picture of our network, but I can't in good conscience publicly post the structure of our network. But I am taking a moment to reflect.
3 years ago when I arrived here, there was a single firewall, and several network switches. The firewall was also the default router for the entire network. It was almost an entirely flat network, and we served out business machines as well as internet connection at home.
That meant, 1 mail server, 1 web proxy, one, one, one. It meant viruses spread faster, it meant a network problem affected EVERYONE.
After yesterday's installation of the first non-firewall router this place has seen, the network is MUCH more reliable, organized, secure, and stable.
We now have 4 separate major networks.
Business, Home, DMZ, and GUEST.
And the firewalls no longer handle all of the routing for the network, there are multiple firewalls and a router that handles internal traffic and a router that handles external traffic.
Also 3 years ago there was almost zero documentation on our network and nearly ZERO monitoring of our network.
If people couldn't connect they'd call, we'd run down and fix it.
NOW, after 3 years. We have TOTAL visibility on the network. We show up and repair network problems before people know they happened. I have implemented several pieces of software for monitoring and have built a Network Operations Center.
Also the network is documented VERY thoroughly using a combination of Visio documents and a Confluence wiki that we document things in.
What we have seen in 3 years, and I do not say this to either discredit my predecessors or to toot my own horn... but to let you, our partners know what your contribution has done...
We have seen in 3 years is a migration from a network that was pieced together and loosely understood and documented ... to...
a stronger, separated, secure, documented, observed, professionally designed and well maintained network.
ALL of that with minimal investment a I (and some others) were able to get equipment and software donated.
As we prepare for furlough, I look back on the past 3+ years and my baby.... (the network) and breath a huge breath of satisfaction knowing.... that there is something that will support the work here for quite a long time now. Something that other people can come in and look at, and read on and understand.
Praise be to God who took a guy like me, who didn't know anything about networking 6 years ago... taught him networking... then coupled him with people who sent him to a third world country to help them..... and then accomplished that work!
Thanks God, and thanks partners!
I'm really excited because I didn't think I could get this done before furlough.
I have some definite plans and ideas for when I return, regarding what I'd like to see.
I've gotten several comments, maybe I'll share them here.
At first I wanted to include fancy diagrams and picture of our network, but I can't in good conscience publicly post the structure of our network. But I am taking a moment to reflect.
3 years ago when I arrived here, there was a single firewall, and several network switches. The firewall was also the default router for the entire network. It was almost an entirely flat network, and we served out business machines as well as internet connection at home.
That meant, 1 mail server, 1 web proxy, one, one, one. It meant viruses spread faster, it meant a network problem affected EVERYONE.
After yesterday's installation of the first non-firewall router this place has seen, the network is MUCH more reliable, organized, secure, and stable.
We now have 4 separate major networks.
Business, Home, DMZ, and GUEST.
And the firewalls no longer handle all of the routing for the network, there are multiple firewalls and a router that handles internal traffic and a router that handles external traffic.
Also 3 years ago there was almost zero documentation on our network and nearly ZERO monitoring of our network.
If people couldn't connect they'd call, we'd run down and fix it.
NOW, after 3 years. We have TOTAL visibility on the network. We show up and repair network problems before people know they happened. I have implemented several pieces of software for monitoring and have built a Network Operations Center.
Also the network is documented VERY thoroughly using a combination of Visio documents and a Confluence wiki that we document things in.
What we have seen in 3 years, and I do not say this to either discredit my predecessors or to toot my own horn... but to let you, our partners know what your contribution has done...
We have seen in 3 years is a migration from a network that was pieced together and loosely understood and documented ... to...
a stronger, separated, secure, documented, observed, professionally designed and well maintained network.
ALL of that with minimal investment a I (and some others) were able to get equipment and software donated.
As we prepare for furlough, I look back on the past 3+ years and my baby.... (the network) and breath a huge breath of satisfaction knowing.... that there is something that will support the work here for quite a long time now. Something that other people can come in and look at, and read on and understand.
Praise be to God who took a guy like me, who didn't know anything about networking 6 years ago... taught him networking... then coupled him with people who sent him to a third world country to help them..... and then accomplished that work!
Thanks God, and thanks partners!
I'm really excited because I didn't think I could get this done before furlough.
I have some definite plans and ideas for when I return, regarding what I'd like to see.
I've gotten several comments, maybe I'll share them here.
4/22/2010
Srainin
lots and lots of rain lately.
houses are flooding
rivers are taking out gardens
roads are caving in
it's wet!
But you know, I like it...., I like the tropical rain... hard, hurts your head when it hits rain. Turns everything into a slippery messy thing.
Rugby in the mud!! WOOHOOO!!!
Something I learned today that I did not know.
While the U.S. saw El Nino as being very WET.
the pacific islands saw it as being a drought. So HERE 'EL Nino' means... 'the big drought.' 7-9 months of NO RAIN....
houses are flooding
rivers are taking out gardens
roads are caving in
it's wet!
But you know, I like it...., I like the tropical rain... hard, hurts your head when it hits rain. Turns everything into a slippery messy thing.
Rugby in the mud!! WOOHOOO!!!
Something I learned today that I did not know.
While the U.S. saw El Nino as being very WET.
the pacific islands saw it as being a drought. So HERE 'EL Nino' means... 'the big drought.' 7-9 months of NO RAIN....
4/21/2010
Cush Gig
This pic is of my son and his friend Blake. Blake is the son of a family friend. You're also seeing a VERY rare thing in this picture. A couch with soft cushions. The typical couch here is all solid wood, with thin foam pads as the cushion. They are made in country by our own joinery, and designed to not be very comfortable so you don't spend much time sitting down (-;
This particular couch happens to be from friends who bought it from a thrift store in the U.S. used it for over 5 years and then we took ownership of it.
TODAY... we had to update our Curriculum Vitae (resume) for our work permits. This year the government has implemented a new portion of the CV in which they specifically want us to list out what we've done to help PNG citizens. They want proof that we've done more than simply helped our own organization.
So I attempted to come up with everything I've done in the past quarter to help PNG citizens (why a quarter? Well I couldn't think back a whole 2 years..(-; ).
Here is what I came up with, (knowing there is a LOT more).
Training entry level helpdesk personnel in maintenance and elementary networking skills.
Have hosted training week long training classes regarding email and trouble ticket implementation for PNG employees.
Have held one on one training sessions with PNG citizens to assist in teaching troubleshooting.
Have had frequent telephone training sessions for PNG citizens in other businesses regarding DHCP and DNS and other networking protocols.
Have assisted in configuring network for STEP and TTC courses that train PNG citizens in areas of linguistics and leadership.
Have assisted BTA with wireless networking and data backup.
Have assisted with installation of VSAT in remote areas to provide internet connectivity to PNG citizens.
Have assisted Guard Dog Security Services with email configuration and dsl installation.
Have installed DSL in private homes of PNG citizens and given them basic training on wireless networking.
Have installed, configured and trained PNG citizens on how to use HFradio and HFemail in their village homes.
Have supported an educational camp for PNG children.
The thing I think I'm most proud of for helping PNG citizens, that I've done on the side, isn't the village email, it's the training.
I have put together a couple of week long training sessions with curriculum to teach basic tcp/ip and email administration skills.
As a result, even though one PNG citizen friend of mine has moved on to a public sector job, he did so because of the skills he learned here. And every now and then he runs into problems and gives me a call. Typically it's something small like how DHCP works or how to restart a DNS server... but it is interesting to me that I still get calls although he's been gone nearly a year now.
4/12/2010
Side Purpose
My core job here is supporting the network and servers to enable Bible translation. But I have several 'side jobs'. As someone who knows technical type things, often people come to me for advice on personal issues as well.
Since we also live here.
Everyone has this. You have your core job, side things you do, and ways you help the community. Sometimes you don't even know the ways... but all of it together makes up why God put specifically the people here... here.
One such side purpose was a friend of mine who was trying to get his PhD. He contacted me a month ago and said 'I will have this interview and I want to know if it'll work over Skype?'
Knowing that anything can happen I was wary about anything that might go wrong. So we planned it for 11pm and we set up his home network so that things would work, and we had a plan B and plan C.
Last night, his interview went successfully and he will soon be known as Dr. Phil (not the famous one of course, but still a funny coincidence.)
It is these little personal successes that I enjoy doing on the side. Using technology to help people is just one of the bonuses I get out of living and working here.
Since we also live here.
Everyone has this. You have your core job, side things you do, and ways you help the community. Sometimes you don't even know the ways... but all of it together makes up why God put specifically the people here... here.
One such side purpose was a friend of mine who was trying to get his PhD. He contacted me a month ago and said 'I will have this interview and I want to know if it'll work over Skype?'
Knowing that anything can happen I was wary about anything that might go wrong. So we planned it for 11pm and we set up his home network so that things would work, and we had a plan B and plan C.
Last night, his interview went successfully and he will soon be known as Dr. Phil (not the famous one of course, but still a funny coincidence.)
It is these little personal successes that I enjoy doing on the side. Using technology to help people is just one of the bonuses I get out of living and working here.
4/11/2010
Adventure
What a great weekend. Got some chores done, spent some good family time.
Saturday visited a new friend and had a bit of vehicular adventure. Check this blog to see what I mean. Wacky photo!
Then, later that evening some friends carrying 10 passengers got stranded after dark about an hour away from centre. We loaded up and mounted a rescue mission and went out and got them. Driving after dark isn't always the safest idea around here so we almost never do it. Still an interesting comment...
After we arrived and I got out of the vehicle, 6 Papua New Guinean men there to help stepped back a few steps and huddled together. Obviously surprised by my size and presence and you heard words like "bikpela" and "traipela".
Many of you have probably never experienced this before, but it happens to me a lot. When people are not expecting a man of large size, they tend to betray their surprise when they discover one.
Sometimes in a store someone will bump into me, turn, and then shudder in surprise. Flinching is often a reaction, large eyes, definitely the long upward glance. I've even found cowering... or a sort of.. putting arms up and stepping back motion sometimes occurs. Giggling, hiding, running away, crying all of these things happen to me depending on who is doing the reaction.
But Saturday 6 men backing off and huddling together and murmuring was definitely a new reaction. Definitely the type of reaction you're going for when you're playing the role of rescuer, protector. They sized me up and I sized them up and we both seemed to recognize that we were each there to help not harm. Still they didn't talk directly to me, or look at me eye to eye.
We got the whole crew back safely.
Sunday on a whim I made an outside oven to go over a makeshift fire pit. a 55 gallon drum converted into a pizza oven rather nicely with the help of some used rabbit wire and some metal roofing scraps. We cooked pizza over it... not exactly a successful first try, as I scorched most of the dough, but the oven idea has promise.
Saturday visited a new friend and had a bit of vehicular adventure. Check this blog to see what I mean. Wacky photo!
Then, later that evening some friends carrying 10 passengers got stranded after dark about an hour away from centre. We loaded up and mounted a rescue mission and went out and got them. Driving after dark isn't always the safest idea around here so we almost never do it. Still an interesting comment...
After we arrived and I got out of the vehicle, 6 Papua New Guinean men there to help stepped back a few steps and huddled together. Obviously surprised by my size and presence and you heard words like "bikpela" and "traipela".
Many of you have probably never experienced this before, but it happens to me a lot. When people are not expecting a man of large size, they tend to betray their surprise when they discover one.
Sometimes in a store someone will bump into me, turn, and then shudder in surprise. Flinching is often a reaction, large eyes, definitely the long upward glance. I've even found cowering... or a sort of.. putting arms up and stepping back motion sometimes occurs. Giggling, hiding, running away, crying all of these things happen to me depending on who is doing the reaction.
But Saturday 6 men backing off and huddling together and murmuring was definitely a new reaction. Definitely the type of reaction you're going for when you're playing the role of rescuer, protector. They sized me up and I sized them up and we both seemed to recognize that we were each there to help not harm. Still they didn't talk directly to me, or look at me eye to eye.
We got the whole crew back safely.
Sunday on a whim I made an outside oven to go over a makeshift fire pit. a 55 gallon drum converted into a pizza oven rather nicely with the help of some used rabbit wire and some metal roofing scraps. We cooked pizza over it... not exactly a successful first try, as I scorched most of the dough, but the oven idea has promise.
4/08/2010
4/05/2010
Quips
We attended a sunrise Easter service this Sunday. At the end of praying for the community and the world, we put flowers on the cross after the sun rises. Turning a symbol of death into a symbol of life, like Christ did.
During one of the songs we sang "Lord of heaven and earth"... and our son quipped in under his breath "and mars....."
-----------
Today during work, a friend of ours (and partner) visiting from the U.S. needed to go off with a national co-worker to do some work.
Hisile, said to Bob "yu laik drivim ka bilong yu o bilong mi"
Bob replied "huh?"
it took me a second to realize Hisile was speaking Tok Pisin so I translated, Bob said 'let's take your car' as they headed off I said in tok pisin to Hisile
"Hisile, Bob only knows a little tok pisin, so speak to him in english"
he replied
"okay Bob, I shall talk to you in broken English...hahahahaha."
I thought that was pretty funny.... I felt bad for putting the two of them together and having them drive off without a translator, but I'm sure they'll work it out.
3/29/2010
I Fought a Fire
That's a first.
I fought a house fire. Of course not alone... with a fire team.... here are my notes from an hour after the ordeal was over.
well I'm still unsure if we're allowed to say anything so... PLEASE don't broadcast this, but for your own peace of mind.
March 25, 2010
Well, where do I start.
today around 8:30 the voltage from our power supplier jumped to 300volts instead of 240v.
MOV's inside of the various electronics started popping and smoking, so we threw the main power out at the department. Then we threw it out all over the centre.
And while we (the computer techs) are running around, the thought hits me 'house fires'. I call home have my wife switch off the main breakers. A co-worker runs down to the generator room to get them to turn off mains power and get onto generator.
So I radio a buddy and say 'keep an eye on the emergency fire phone'. He says 'it just rang' so I hop on my ATV hearing there is a house fire...
I'm a big guy so I have no fire gear that fits because the donated stuff we have is all too small, which means I don't go INTO the fire, I stay with the truck, pumps and hoses. I'm a member of our volunteer fire department with no gear except mythick heavy denim coat and helmet.
I'm the 2nd or 3rd responder mostly because I raced down the road to the house which was 2 doors down from mine.
I run behind the 2 story house which is ablaze, a huge plume of smoke coming from it... I know the truck is coming soon, but
I'm still trying to disable the gas and get people out. I see the family, most of them outside, the husband, a real go getter friend of mine, is standing in his underwear... stunned.. not moving, I instantly recognize he's in shock.
I get to him, see he's got bad burns on his hand and legs and feet.. I'll spare you the gory details... from getting his family out of the house. I get a buddy to use his radio and call the clinic, get the burn victim to the side, and continue my search for the gas cannister.
I run into a fellow fire crewman... he's already disabled the gas, so we're good on that front.
The truck arrives.
Before I know what hit me, I'm at the house second man on the hose, hosing down fire. Its all in front of us, hot, above us, thick black smoke. Our training helps us recognize what is safe and what isn't and I'm very aware we are at a safe distance from the fire and from breathing in smoke. I keep my partner from doing anything unsafe. No sooner do we get the flames down in one corner, then it starts up in another. I'm facing a hot and huge fire, keeping my mind on my training, keeping my eye on my partner.
I'm being sure we're following our training and safety protocols, not letting the adrenaline go to anyone's head.... and suddenly the water runs out.
Our truck was empty, and the fire began building up again.
The truck tech (showed up in shorts and a t-shirt because his/our (we're both same size) gear was still at his house being
washed.... headed off to refill the truck from our local water tanks.
We take axes to the water tanks, poke holes, put in a pump and start pumping water, using garden hoses, but the fire starts up again.
The pump eventually dies...but here comes the truck.
It seemed like a long time but it wasn't, we got the fire out. Now comes the process of:
-putting out smoulders, checking floor integrity, crowd control, warding off looters, keeping an eye out for everyone.
The fire team did a really good job, and although in training we're told we have 5 minutes before the house is unsavable, we
salvaged the entire bottom story... even though it's soaked through and has water damage now, there is no fire damage.
A lot of property was saved...
This particular family was heading out on finish and had already shipped much of their personal affects home.
The dad was a hero, getting all the kids out. At one point I heard yelling 'my son is still in there'.... but he was safe after all.
No neighbors houses were burned down.
At one point there was such pandemonium with all the onlookers that I raised my arms and shouted 'yupela olgeta must go long ROT!!!" 'go to the road all of you NOW!!!" and 30 men moved away.
There is of course a TON of aftermath for something like this, after I felt it safe, I cleaned up in a hurry and headed back to work.
Because of the injured dad, there was a medivac, but because I had left my office, I didn't realize that 2 network switches had lost power. There was no co-worker to fill my spot, so we didnt' know until someone from our finance department came knocking .... my absence from my post at the network room, slowed down the medivac a little.
But my presence at the fire was obviously crucial.
This illustrates the delicate balance that is each and every job here. Most men have multiple jobs.
WE have never had a house fire, it was our first. Our mantra is always to keep ourselves safe first, we know we can't save houses, but we can try to save lives and limit the damage done. None of us were trying to be heroes or risk our lives or anything like that. We were sensible, trained, and reacting according to plan during a crisis.
I have NEVER fought a fire that intense before. I've fought smaller kitchen fires, but a whole house went up in smoke....
I'm still rather... surprised at how fast it all happened. I was very thankful that our fire team performed well together, a year ago we didn't have the training we have now, nor the donated gear. Still being a big guy, I don't go INTO the fires because I dont' have fighting gear that fits. WE couldn't enter the house because we had no breathing apparatus, but still, it was a small enough house we could reach most areas from the outside.
The whole community went into action, as it often does... so much so that I had to do some crowd control to let them know the fire was still going.
It was definitely a first for me.
I headed back to work and we repaired the things we needed to.
Later I found out my wife was on the phone the whole time calling people telling them to check their outlets for signs of fire.
During the firefight I had the idea that other houses may be on fire. So I hopped on my ATV and drove around looking for smoke. A bank in a nearby town burned down... they were calling us for help but we were busy. Gladly, praise God, no fires.
a Lot of people reported powerguards had caught fire or blown or appliances...
ALL of this because the local power company spiked all three phases of their power up past 300volts.
Today our emergency response was tested.
We had a centre wide electrical emergency resulting in many electronics totally frying...
and this also started a house fire.
Our worst case scenario has always been a house fire where we couldn't save the surrounding houses.
Ironically much of our fire team was doing morning devotions at the time of the break out.
Praises:
-The family all survived.
-No one on the fire team was hurt, and the family's dad only suffered some burns. They looked bad, but he'll survive them.
-The fire team did well, considering our limitations.
My manager of course wishes to talk about emergency protocol, as during a crisis he lost 3 of his men. But the reality is,
when you have strong capable men, doing more than 1 thing, in a crisis situation, his other roles will suffer. We're understaffed as a missions centre... And that's what happens. The electrical knocked out only a small portion of our network, so they were able to communicate to get the medivac going.... and now I've gotten it up and running again.
I'm still processing this whole thing... if anyone snapped a photo of it, I'll send it your way.
Please keep the family in prayer who lost their house. Our community will provide for them, but it is simply a very horrible way to end a 22 year stay here.
Please keep OUR family in prayer.
It has been the toughest few months of our lives here. There have been security concerns, tensions in the valley, and now, a house fire. We're very much looking forward to furlough... days like today with multiple emergencies make me realize exactly how important our presence here is.
It affects the community on such a deep level, hoards of people turned out to respond and help... and pray and comfort and carry belongings, arrange a medivac flight, save belongings, etc. etc. etc.
Pray for their healing, for our safety...
Just cover us in prayer.
thank you
-chad
We'll be dealing with the aftermath of this for weeks.... but God has protected us this day from lasting physical harm. You
can pray for the emotional harm that has been done.
------------
it's been several days since I wrote that.
I responded to another house fire alert on the weekend but it turned out to be a kid playing with gas.. no fire was ignited.
I have a healthy new respect (always had one) for firefighters and police men. Thank you for what you do.
3/25/2010
The old Juices
today our phone system, an old PBX system had 2 cards die.
We could only come up with 1 replacement card.
But none of us had the training on the system, because the man who has owned it for many years, has left on furlough.
My troubleshooting experience kicked in from working at Cisco with high profile clients.
-when you don't know how to solve the problem, identify who does
-locate them, get them on the phone
well that's easier said than done with the issue is WITH THE PHONE SYSTEM and you have no idea where in the world this travelling furlougher is.
So I began making emails and calls, one thing let to another and I found the person staying at their mother in laws in Australia.
I got them on the phone, after about 15 minutes of troubleshooting with a co-worker we hit a dead point.
We tried everything, 2 lines cards were dead, we only had 1 spare line card, that's 32 phones out of order. 32 homes that can't talk to the outside world.... 32 families who may be needing to desperately talk to loved ones.
The experienced phone tech got to a point where he said 'this has never happened to me before, I'm not sure what to do next.'
So we were all quiet. The problem seemed to be moving, and following the chassis, so we were in a world of hurt, and I dunno why but using my old thinking from Cisco boards I said,
'let's take the good board and try replacing the other board we think is good.'
it was really the only logical thing left to try but it really shouldn't have worked.
Low and behold it DID work.
It worked because the replacement card was the wrong model number and 3 techs didn't notice it. It took a tech who completely had ZERO experience on the system to see the subtle change.
AGAIN, during times when things are broken, and I surprise myself by being useful... in a way I had not previously thought myself skilled... re-assures me that.
GOD has sent us here for a reason. US, chosen us to be here.
It's remarkable really these last few days God has spent some time re-confirming us here, and reminding us that while life may be getting tough, HE has put us here, specifically us.
it's a remarkable reassurance that we really needed right now.
We could only come up with 1 replacement card.
But none of us had the training on the system, because the man who has owned it for many years, has left on furlough.
My troubleshooting experience kicked in from working at Cisco with high profile clients.
-when you don't know how to solve the problem, identify who does
-locate them, get them on the phone
well that's easier said than done with the issue is WITH THE PHONE SYSTEM and you have no idea where in the world this travelling furlougher is.
So I began making emails and calls, one thing let to another and I found the person staying at their mother in laws in Australia.
I got them on the phone, after about 15 minutes of troubleshooting with a co-worker we hit a dead point.
We tried everything, 2 lines cards were dead, we only had 1 spare line card, that's 32 phones out of order. 32 homes that can't talk to the outside world.... 32 families who may be needing to desperately talk to loved ones.
The experienced phone tech got to a point where he said 'this has never happened to me before, I'm not sure what to do next.'
So we were all quiet. The problem seemed to be moving, and following the chassis, so we were in a world of hurt, and I dunno why but using my old thinking from Cisco boards I said,
'let's take the good board and try replacing the other board we think is good.'
it was really the only logical thing left to try but it really shouldn't have worked.
Low and behold it DID work.
It worked because the replacement card was the wrong model number and 3 techs didn't notice it. It took a tech who completely had ZERO experience on the system to see the subtle change.
AGAIN, during times when things are broken, and I surprise myself by being useful... in a way I had not previously thought myself skilled... re-assures me that.
GOD has sent us here for a reason. US, chosen us to be here.
It's remarkable really these last few days God has spent some time re-confirming us here, and reminding us that while life may be getting tough, HE has put us here, specifically us.
it's a remarkable reassurance that we really needed right now.
3/24/2010
Fire info
in a few minutes there will be a public posting about a house fire in Ukarumpa.
We're asked not to say anything publicly about this other than the below statement.
I wanted you to know that it wasn't our house, and we are fine and safe, in case your googling happened to turn up more information.
PLEASE do not start forwarding this around and asking others if they know about it.... as it'll cause a problem since we're not sure if one of the family members affected knows yet (he's away at college).
Still I wanted you to know quickly, that we're safe and sound and that it wasn't us. FULL details to follow at a later date when the ban on information has been lifted once they know their son has gotten the news.
Love
-Chad
PUBLIC STATEMENT
This morning (Thursday 25 March) a fire broke out in the house of one of
the members of SIL-PNG, likely caused by an electrical fault. The fire
gutted the house, destroying many personal belongings. The limited
Fire Services that SIL has did manage to put the fire out, with the
structure still standing. However, the husband received significant
burn injuries and was medevaced (medivaced) to Cairns, Australia,
accompanied by his wife. One of the two sons has a minor burn and is
being cared for by medical staff and friends at Ukarumpa.
Please pray for physical and emotional healing for the family and
friends. Please uphold the community in prayer. A number of stressful
things (other medevacs and security incidents) have been happening
lately.
We're asked not to say anything publicly about this other than the below statement.
I wanted you to know that it wasn't our house, and we are fine and safe, in case your googling happened to turn up more information.
PLEASE do not start forwarding this around and asking others if they know about it.... as it'll cause a problem since we're not sure if one of the family members affected knows yet (he's away at college).
Still I wanted you to know quickly, that we're safe and sound and that it wasn't us. FULL details to follow at a later date when the ban on information has been lifted once they know their son has gotten the news.
Love
-Chad
PUBLIC STATEMENT
This morning (Thursday 25 March) a fire broke out in the house of one of
the members of SIL-PNG, likely caused by an electrical fault. The fire
gutted the house, destroying many personal belongings. The limited
Fire Services that SIL has did manage to put the fire out, with the
structure still standing. However, the husband received significant
burn injuries and was medevaced (medivaced) to Cairns, Australia,
accompanied by his wife. One of the two sons has a minor burn and is
being cared for by medical staff and friends at Ukarumpa.
Please pray for physical and emotional healing for the family and
friends. Please uphold the community in prayer. A number of stressful
things (other medevacs and security incidents) have been happening
lately.
3/21/2010
Da Bridge
Does it seem to you that I write about bridges a lot? This pic tells the story. A big rig was trying to cross a bridge that had been temporarily put back together after a big washout, and while crossing it, the bridge collapsed. No one was hurt, the driver was not associated with our organization.
This bridge is located half way between us and a major town 2 hours away, and has an airport. Until it gets repaired, we can't get there.
3/18/2010
Satellite Interference
I thought I might share a brief story that exemplifies some of the excitement of working here.
For 3 weeks now we've been having a very odd internet connection problem, our outbound traffic has crawled to a near halt. I was convinced it was a problem with our new ISP as I didn't change anything. Our ISP representative is a man in Australia whom I communicate with over IM (skype). I mentioned the problem, he didn't see one and suggested I look at our router.
My style of network management is all about data collection. When I came here there was very little network monitoring being done. For nearly 3 years now, we've had several (5) network monitoring tools in place. They are:
Solarwinds Orion - snmp monitoring and uptime
PRTG (Paessler) - network sniffing and graphing
Firewall Analyzer (openmanage) - firewall analysis and traffic information
MRTG - firewall/router ingress and egress graphing and tracking
Big Brother - server uptime and monitoring.
Those are all outside of the other one off troubleshooting tools like netperf, iperf, perfmon, netcat, etc. that I use to identify issues.
Needless to say, WE HAVE VISIBILITY. So when an ISP tells me the problem is on my side, I tend to push back a little and say 'would you like to see my evidence I've compiled?'
Anyway, last friday we find out that our ISP guy is in the country, so we call aviation, and the guest house and we hustle him over here by chartering a plane.
YES, a new FIRST for me. I have now.. chartered a plane! Doesn't it sound so... luxurious? In execution, not very glamorous but he got here nothing short of a minor miracle.. but we did it, and he had a bed to sleep in and meals!
After sitting down with me for 3 hours, he finally said 'yes there is a problem, I can see it now.' I'm always glad when people spend time with me and walk away with the impression that I know what I'm doing. I'm usually VERY glad when they say 'hey nice tool, what is the name of that?' Both happened.
It is odd to run into professionalism and face to face time here, so I was glad we had it.
Two days later, after he's in Australia, he IM's me. 'You were right about the ISP, turns out there is satellite interference.'
Somewhere, someone is broadcasting at a frequency and strong enough, to interfere with Asiasat. So they're tracking that down now... hopefully we'll come to a resolution.
And all it started with a friday where I came to work and said 'wow this might be a quiet day! I might finish my 'to-do' list!' Then we decided to try and charter a plane very last minute and get the guy over here.
Everyone here knows, you NEVER EVER EVER EVER say 'wow looks like it might be a quiet day!'.
(-;
I have to say, this job is definitely exciting.
For 3 weeks now we've been having a very odd internet connection problem, our outbound traffic has crawled to a near halt. I was convinced it was a problem with our new ISP as I didn't change anything. Our ISP representative is a man in Australia whom I communicate with over IM (skype). I mentioned the problem, he didn't see one and suggested I look at our router.
My style of network management is all about data collection. When I came here there was very little network monitoring being done. For nearly 3 years now, we've had several (5) network monitoring tools in place. They are:
Solarwinds Orion - snmp monitoring and uptime
PRTG (Paessler) - network sniffing and graphing
Firewall Analyzer (openmanage) - firewall analysis and traffic information
MRTG - firewall/router ingress and egress graphing and tracking
Big Brother - server uptime and monitoring.
Those are all outside of the other one off troubleshooting tools like netperf, iperf, perfmon, netcat, etc. that I use to identify issues.
Needless to say, WE HAVE VISIBILITY. So when an ISP tells me the problem is on my side, I tend to push back a little and say 'would you like to see my evidence I've compiled?'
Anyway, last friday we find out that our ISP guy is in the country, so we call aviation, and the guest house and we hustle him over here by chartering a plane.
YES, a new FIRST for me. I have now.. chartered a plane! Doesn't it sound so... luxurious? In execution, not very glamorous but he got here nothing short of a minor miracle.. but we did it, and he had a bed to sleep in and meals!
After sitting down with me for 3 hours, he finally said 'yes there is a problem, I can see it now.' I'm always glad when people spend time with me and walk away with the impression that I know what I'm doing. I'm usually VERY glad when they say 'hey nice tool, what is the name of that?' Both happened.
It is odd to run into professionalism and face to face time here, so I was glad we had it.
Two days later, after he's in Australia, he IM's me. 'You were right about the ISP, turns out there is satellite interference.'
Somewhere, someone is broadcasting at a frequency and strong enough, to interfere with Asiasat. So they're tracking that down now... hopefully we'll come to a resolution.
And all it started with a friday where I came to work and said 'wow this might be a quiet day! I might finish my 'to-do' list!' Then we decided to try and charter a plane very last minute and get the guy over here.
Everyone here knows, you NEVER EVER EVER EVER say 'wow looks like it might be a quiet day!'.
(-;
I have to say, this job is definitely exciting.
3/15/2010
Interesting Day
I would like to share something very close and personal.
This weekend has been a hard weekend with different news and things going on. This morning as I spent time in the Word I was in Acts and dwelling on how the Disciples often went somewhere, preached, did their work and then were often rejected... after that they'd leave and move on.
But that wasn't all. In my work devotions the group was reading the section of Mark where Christ says to shake the dust off your sandals. In Tok Pisin it tends to convey a bit of a different emotion, but the idea was... if the people are misbehaving and rejecting God, move on.
So I stopped and prayed "Hey God, I know it was a tough week, but are you trying to tell me something in your Word today? Are you really telling me to consider moving on?"
I'm thinking to myself 'wow leaving here and tearing away would hurt a lot, what about our new friends?"
And then, within a minute or two, my wife said '"hey honey today I read Psalm 52, you should read it" Not knowing my private prayer to God.
The final verse of Psalm 52 says this: (David writes this while hiding after his hiding place has been reported to Saul)
It was almost as if God immediately gave me reassurance and strength through His Word.
It is amazing to me how the Word of God can speak to us, and how He can time things so that we get just the right portion at just the right time.
PLEASE pray for us and strength until Furlough.
Also we would like a car for furlough, pray that God arranges one.
thank you
This weekend has been a hard weekend with different news and things going on. This morning as I spent time in the Word I was in Acts and dwelling on how the Disciples often went somewhere, preached, did their work and then were often rejected... after that they'd leave and move on.
But that wasn't all. In my work devotions the group was reading the section of Mark where Christ says to shake the dust off your sandals. In Tok Pisin it tends to convey a bit of a different emotion, but the idea was... if the people are misbehaving and rejecting God, move on.
So I stopped and prayed "Hey God, I know it was a tough week, but are you trying to tell me something in your Word today? Are you really telling me to consider moving on?"
I'm thinking to myself 'wow leaving here and tearing away would hurt a lot, what about our new friends?"
And then, within a minute or two, my wife said '"hey honey today I read Psalm 52, you should read it" Not knowing my private prayer to God.
The final verse of Psalm 52 says this: (David writes this while hiding after his hiding place has been reported to Saul)
9 I thank you always
that you went into action.
And I'll stay right here,
your good name my hope,
in company with your faithful friends.
It was almost as if God immediately gave me reassurance and strength through His Word.
It is amazing to me how the Word of God can speak to us, and how He can time things so that we get just the right portion at just the right time.
PLEASE pray for us and strength until Furlough.
Also we would like a car for furlough, pray that God arranges one.
thank you
3/11/2010
Alice's Picks
For those unaware, Alice is our Papua New Guinean friend. She understands the idea of films and enjoys watching them. From time to time she watches one and gives me a review. Somehow we have developed this rapport where she tells me her reviews.
The funnest part for me, is to see how her eyes interpret the films. We are careful in what we show her, so we usually stick to children's movies.
See if you can guess what movie she's talking about. I always have to guess. I thought at first this one was Looney Tunes.
(translated from Tok Pisin)
ANSWER:
Charlotte's Web (live action version)
The part I love the most is that she focused on the relationship between the animals and the speaking wasn't the hard part for her, it was how the animals knew each other's languages that was of concern to her. I found that very funny and interesting... being that this is the land of MANY languages.
The funnest part for me, is to see how her eyes interpret the films. We are careful in what we show her, so we usually stick to children's movies.
See if you can guess what movie she's talking about. I always have to guess. I thought at first this one was Looney Tunes.
(translated from Tok Pisin)
This rat and cow and sheep and goat and pig all live in the same place. The mother wanted to kill the pig but her daughter said no. So the daughter took care of the pig. The cow and the sheep and all the animals talked, and then a spider came. How the cow and the sheep could talk to the pig I don't know. But.... it was a funny one!
ANSWER:
Charlotte's Web (live action version)
The part I love the most is that she focused on the relationship between the animals and the speaking wasn't the hard part for her, it was how the animals knew each other's languages that was of concern to her. I found that very funny and interesting... being that this is the land of MANY languages.
3/09/2010
Shouting
My daughter comes home yesterday and begins shouting every word she says.
Me: 'Sydney, stop shouting'
Syd: 'I can't dad, it's my homework'
Me: 'what?'
Syd: 'You wouldn't want to tell me not to do my homework right?'
Me: 'your homework is shouting?'
Syd: 'yes.'
Me: 'explain please.'
Syd: 'Miss H.... said that to practice for chapel some of us are too quiet and we need to shout everything we say at home'
Me: 'and you're one of the quiet ones?'
Syd: 'she says so, yes. So I can't stop shouting dad'
at this point my wife is tired and I'm tired, and the day is ending and the shouting needs to stop so I say
ME: 'Did she say how long you had to shout?'
Syd: 'Nope, jsut that we had to shout, don't you believe me?'
Me: 'I believe that your teacher who doesn't have children of her own, assigned her students to shout at home, yes. But seeing as how she didn't say for how long, let me officially call this homework assignment complete. You may now stop shouting'
She instantly stopped shouting and said 'hmmn. okay dad'. And went to practice her trumpet.
For a moment there I could have easily caused a dillemma for my daughter, telling her to ignore her teacher would have been a bad mistake. Her teacher is a good one, and sadly only short term here (6 months), so I definitely didn't want to express that I wasn't happy with the shouting homework.
But... I wasn't happy with the shouting homework (-;
Syd does tend to be a bit quiet while on a stage.
============
Calvin, my son sad 'hey dad whatcha watchin'? I said 'mythbusters' He said, 'can I watch'
So we're watching mythbusters and I had a proud geek-dad moment....
the t.v. said 'we're going to ramp this up to 100 PSI'
and my son excitingly exclaimed '' WOAH!!!!''
yes, my son understand what PSI is. We've played a lot with using air to launch rockets here as we can't get rocket engines. So we've been using compressed air and water as a propellant... and even jsut air. (we currently have built 2 rocket launchers, and am considering a third compressed air application)
Me: 'Sydney, stop shouting'
Syd: 'I can't dad, it's my homework'
Me: 'what?'
Syd: 'You wouldn't want to tell me not to do my homework right?'
Me: 'your homework is shouting?'
Syd: 'yes.'
Me: 'explain please.'
Syd: 'Miss H.... said that to practice for chapel some of us are too quiet and we need to shout everything we say at home'
Me: 'and you're one of the quiet ones?'
Syd: 'she says so, yes. So I can't stop shouting dad'
at this point my wife is tired and I'm tired, and the day is ending and the shouting needs to stop so I say
ME: 'Did she say how long you had to shout?'
Syd: 'Nope, jsut that we had to shout, don't you believe me?'
Me: 'I believe that your teacher who doesn't have children of her own, assigned her students to shout at home, yes. But seeing as how she didn't say for how long, let me officially call this homework assignment complete. You may now stop shouting'
She instantly stopped shouting and said 'hmmn. okay dad'. And went to practice her trumpet.
For a moment there I could have easily caused a dillemma for my daughter, telling her to ignore her teacher would have been a bad mistake. Her teacher is a good one, and sadly only short term here (6 months), so I definitely didn't want to express that I wasn't happy with the shouting homework.
But... I wasn't happy with the shouting homework (-;
Syd does tend to be a bit quiet while on a stage.
============
Calvin, my son sad 'hey dad whatcha watchin'? I said 'mythbusters' He said, 'can I watch'
So we're watching mythbusters and I had a proud geek-dad moment....
the t.v. said 'we're going to ramp this up to 100 PSI'
and my son excitingly exclaimed '' WOAH!!!!''
yes, my son understand what PSI is. We've played a lot with using air to launch rockets here as we can't get rocket engines. So we've been using compressed air and water as a propellant... and even jsut air. (we currently have built 2 rocket launchers, and am considering a third compressed air application)
Following the Tug
Pardon me for a bit while I exposit on some personal philosophy that may or may not be 100% accurate.
I had a thought that sort of amazed me and I thought I might share it.
I had this board, about 1 foot by 1 foot square board. I had wanted to make a shelf a while ago, and I went into my shed out back and found a board, didn't even cut it, took it inside and it almost fit my desired shelf perfectly. But didn't.
So I leaned it up against the wall in my office, and there it sat.
Every time I looked at this board. Already finished with an exterior finish, I thought 'I should put that board back in the shed'. I don't know who cut it or who finished it, but it was in my shed.... probably left there by the previous owner.
Months went by and I hadn't done the simple task of bringing the board into my shed. It wasn't in the way, and therefore not in my thoughts.
This week I am performing (playing banjo for 2 minutes)a small part in a school play, as part of the side entertainment. Part of my job is to stand out back on a deck and wait until my turn to go on stage. Last night as I stood there, the deck gave way and my foot went through and broke one of the boards.
I felt bad, but not for long, the deck was in disrepair. Later that night I thought 'what if a high schooler in the play is running backstage and hits that hole and gets injured?' I felt a desire to repair the hole, but no time to do it.
This morning I was in my office at home... I had that tug... to repair the hole, but I thought 'first I have to find a board, finish it so it doesn't rot in the rain in 3 weeks, get a drill, screws...' There was no time as I had to get to work.
Then I saw the board.
The tug on my heart was to fix the hole.
The board lying there made it easy... I grabbed the board, and my tools that were sitting there in my office, and it took me all of 5 minutes to repair the hole.
Now I'm not saying God was in all of this. Although I believe He directs our paths. And I'm not saying that had I not repaired the hole that some high schooler during the play might have a nasty fall and break a limb. I'm not trying to make this a spiritual 'God told me to repair the hole' situation. I've received God's direction before and this wasn't it.
But some thoughts hit me as a parallel between that board story and why my family is here doing the work we do.
-God provided the tug to do something.
-We followed
-God provided the tools to make it possible
God knew I would one day put a hole in that deck, and there was a board there making it possible for me to follow the little nagging feeling that I should go fix that hole.
If the board wasn't there, I wouldn't have gone, because I wouldn't have had the visual reminder, nor the time.
I believe that if you spend time with God, reading His Word, listening to Him, that you need to develop the discipline to listen when He guides you. Sometimes it's a little tug that says 'hey go do this'... and you know it's the right thing to do.
-God put a pull on our heart to come here
-We said 'yes' not knowing how it might work out.
-He provided the financial means through you.
You guys are the board. A good solid place to put our feet, without falling through.
Okay so it seems sappy, but hey, sometimes life serves you up sappy moments.
I had a thought that sort of amazed me and I thought I might share it.
I had this board, about 1 foot by 1 foot square board. I had wanted to make a shelf a while ago, and I went into my shed out back and found a board, didn't even cut it, took it inside and it almost fit my desired shelf perfectly. But didn't.
So I leaned it up against the wall in my office, and there it sat.
Every time I looked at this board. Already finished with an exterior finish, I thought 'I should put that board back in the shed'. I don't know who cut it or who finished it, but it was in my shed.... probably left there by the previous owner.
Months went by and I hadn't done the simple task of bringing the board into my shed. It wasn't in the way, and therefore not in my thoughts.
This week I am performing (playing banjo for 2 minutes)a small part in a school play, as part of the side entertainment. Part of my job is to stand out back on a deck and wait until my turn to go on stage. Last night as I stood there, the deck gave way and my foot went through and broke one of the boards.
I felt bad, but not for long, the deck was in disrepair. Later that night I thought 'what if a high schooler in the play is running backstage and hits that hole and gets injured?' I felt a desire to repair the hole, but no time to do it.
This morning I was in my office at home... I had that tug... to repair the hole, but I thought 'first I have to find a board, finish it so it doesn't rot in the rain in 3 weeks, get a drill, screws...' There was no time as I had to get to work.
Then I saw the board.
The tug on my heart was to fix the hole.
The board lying there made it easy... I grabbed the board, and my tools that were sitting there in my office, and it took me all of 5 minutes to repair the hole.
Now I'm not saying God was in all of this. Although I believe He directs our paths. And I'm not saying that had I not repaired the hole that some high schooler during the play might have a nasty fall and break a limb. I'm not trying to make this a spiritual 'God told me to repair the hole' situation. I've received God's direction before and this wasn't it.
But some thoughts hit me as a parallel between that board story and why my family is here doing the work we do.
-God provided the tug to do something.
-We followed
-God provided the tools to make it possible
God knew I would one day put a hole in that deck, and there was a board there making it possible for me to follow the little nagging feeling that I should go fix that hole.
If the board wasn't there, I wouldn't have gone, because I wouldn't have had the visual reminder, nor the time.
I believe that if you spend time with God, reading His Word, listening to Him, that you need to develop the discipline to listen when He guides you. Sometimes it's a little tug that says 'hey go do this'... and you know it's the right thing to do.
-God put a pull on our heart to come here
-We said 'yes' not knowing how it might work out.
-He provided the financial means through you.
You guys are the board. A good solid place to put our feet, without falling through.
Okay so it seems sappy, but hey, sometimes life serves you up sappy moments.
3/08/2010
Good news
well last week I was saddened by the fact that we were incapable of retrieving months of typesetting work for one of the New Testaments.
I was really depressed, if anything, isn't that what I'm hear to prevent?
BUT TODAY with some new ideas and teamwork, a co-worker of mine and I got the files back!
No thanks to windows offline folders! ...
I'm currently working on a policy to disable offline folders forever.
Still, it felt really good to be able to pool our brains and solve this issue for someone who is now very happy!
I was really depressed, if anything, isn't that what I'm hear to prevent?
BUT TODAY with some new ideas and teamwork, a co-worker of mine and I got the files back!
No thanks to windows offline folders! ...
I'm currently working on a policy to disable offline folders forever.
Still, it felt really good to be able to pool our brains and solve this issue for someone who is now very happy!
3/01/2010
Coming Home #1
I thought I might start a little series on 'Coming Home'. This is to sort of catalog the process of furlough for missionaries.
It is a very stressful time. Not only do you have to completely move out of your house for a long duration, but you have to handle all the details equivalent of a major trip. Prepare your kids for transition, figure out schooling.... there are MANY details.
FIRST and foremost. Furlough is not a vacation. We still have to work. We still have to do our jobs. Furlough is a chance for us to go to a place where we can get caught up on our medical needs, clothing needs, visit with people who support us and tell them what we are doing, and more.
As one missionary friend put it 'you trade one set of problems for a different set'.
It is a LOT of work to go on furlough and many people find it a stressful time. You can pray for us in this, because yes, we are feeling the stress.
ISSUE #1:
-Tickets and Visas.
Our flights will take us through Australia and New Zealand and thus we need to book lodging and apply for Visas.
Flights - Adult - $2956, Children $2218
That's only for the MEAT of the flight, it doesn't count the cost of getting us out of country.
To leave PNG it's another $500-$600 per.
FARE for CAIRNS, AUStralia to San Francisco, CA total for family of 4 = $12,348
EACH time we fly home I think 'there goes the kids college tuition.' This year they did away with the pre-tax savings for furlough... which meant that the government didn't get to tax that money.... this is now gone.
So, we put away a little each month... to save for this trip.
Financially as we arrive to the U.S. we will have a complete zero balance. WE won't be in debt to anyone or any branch. But we will also have no money in savings or in the bank. We have played around with the idea of not going on furlough, but in order to be long term missionaries, you really do need this mental health break, and we were advised not to skip it.
Part of this life is adapting to financial dependence on God to provide. And we do, we have depended on all of you for so long and we are SO thankful for you. I do not know how you will ever know that level of gratitude that we feel. It's truly a blessing to know you.
It is a very stressful time. Not only do you have to completely move out of your house for a long duration, but you have to handle all the details equivalent of a major trip. Prepare your kids for transition, figure out schooling.... there are MANY details.
FIRST and foremost. Furlough is not a vacation. We still have to work. We still have to do our jobs. Furlough is a chance for us to go to a place where we can get caught up on our medical needs, clothing needs, visit with people who support us and tell them what we are doing, and more.
As one missionary friend put it 'you trade one set of problems for a different set'.
It is a LOT of work to go on furlough and many people find it a stressful time. You can pray for us in this, because yes, we are feeling the stress.
ISSUE #1:
-Tickets and Visas.
Our flights will take us through Australia and New Zealand and thus we need to book lodging and apply for Visas.
Flights - Adult - $2956, Children $2218
That's only for the MEAT of the flight, it doesn't count the cost of getting us out of country.
To leave PNG it's another $500-$600 per.
FARE for CAIRNS, AUStralia to San Francisco, CA total for family of 4 = $12,348
EACH time we fly home I think 'there goes the kids college tuition.' This year they did away with the pre-tax savings for furlough... which meant that the government didn't get to tax that money.... this is now gone.
So, we put away a little each month... to save for this trip.
Financially as we arrive to the U.S. we will have a complete zero balance. WE won't be in debt to anyone or any branch. But we will also have no money in savings or in the bank. We have played around with the idea of not going on furlough, but in order to be long term missionaries, you really do need this mental health break, and we were advised not to skip it.
Part of this life is adapting to financial dependence on God to provide. And we do, we have depended on all of you for so long and we are SO thankful for you. I do not know how you will ever know that level of gratitude that we feel. It's truly a blessing to know you.
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