Slip Slidin'

For those who may have thought our kids are 'missing out'. They aren't. Here we make our own fun. Sure they may not have access to arcades and malls and 7-11's but they have tons of home made fun, which I think, is better anyway.

Every now and then the high schoolers pull out a big long thick piece of sheet rubber and roll it down the hill. At the bottom they put old mattresses. Then then run water and soap down it and let the kids have fun. Here's a few pics.

So Saturday afternoon, while I was doing chores and my wife was doing chores, the kids walked up the dirt road a bit, and had an hour of slippery fun.

Indians

So my son comes home last night, typical boy, and says 'oh yeah, tomorrow I'm supposed to wear a costume to school and you're supposed to bring dinner'.

WHAT?

My wife is already under a lot of pressure right now, this was a bit too much so she said 'your teacher should have given us more warning'. And so my son's reply was 'well she told me weeks ago, I just forgot'.

So we replied,
there will be no food, and any costume you wear you have to dig up on your own, we do not have time for last minute stuff like this.

While alone my son came to me, wearing his made up custume of shredded rags and said 'dad I'm supposed to be a native south american, and I need something for my head that makes me look like an indian'.

So I replied 'well if only you had a Cleveland Indians cap.' as a joke.

His face lit up, and he said 'I DO!!!' and he ran off

Apparently a year ago my daughter found a baseball cap at a yard sale here, and picked it up for him. He wore it rarely in the sun, because he wasn't an Indians fan.

But he came back wearing it and was happy. Thank goodness because I'm sure many of you know how unhappy a child who doesn't have a costume for school can be.

That silly little cap averted a possible family crisis! (-;

Cargo Cult

Two friends of mine are new translators and recently got back from a several month stay in their village. They were not expecting people there to know about Christ, obviously, otherwise they would not have become missionaries to go. But what they found was a bit surprising. They had been told about cargo cults before. We all have heard about them. But apparently in this particular language area, there is a very strong cargo cult.

Cargo cult is a term that can mean a variety of things. The core of the idea is that there a religion has been built around the idea of how to get stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo-cult

In this particular area, they have a complex structure of beliefs that revolve around stuff. So what he found was a very attentive audience listening to him talking about the Gospel because they believed that because he had white skin, he was an emissary from heaven to teach them all about how to get more stuff.

No one wanted to offend them, because if the white saints leave, then they will never unravel the secret to finding more stuff.

Their system is so ingrained in them, that they in fact have no problem believing some basic tenants of the Gospel because they, from the perspective of a cargo cult, only make sense.

They don't reject the Gospel, they simply see it as more evidence that the white people understand more about life in general and therefore they want to be more like what they understand Christ would be like.

It makes for a very difficult obstacle to reaching them with the TRUTH. However, one thing works in my friends' favor. They have a seeking heart. They desire to learn, and know and understand!

Pray with us that this cargo cult mentality will find the Truth, and that our friends will have the wisdom to know how to pierce it with God's truth.

Tsunami

For those asking, PNG was not hit hard by the Tsunami.
We live at 5000 feet above sea level, but our major places of supply are at sea level, as well as several translator villages and regional centres.

All we saw was minor flooding. We are praying for those who saw much worse.

here is the news report
Tsunami causes minor flooding in PNG
By Liam Fox

There have been reports of minor flooding in Papua New Guinea from the tsunami triggered by Japan's massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake.

The PNG National Disaster Centre says unusually high tides caused flooding in low-lying areas of Manus Island and Wewak on the north-east coast.

Manus governor Michael Sapau says residents on the island's north-west coast reported that the sea rose by around a metre in the early hours of this morning.

Mr Sapau says officials have been sent to inspect the affected areas, but early reports do not indicate any serious damage.

"Minor inundation, no major damages," he said.

Meanwhile, residents on New Ireland in PNG's far north-east say the tide rose and fell several times in quick succession last night but there has been no flooding.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/12/3162412.htm?sect

Engaging

Church Engagement

At the head of the room a man spoke in a language I didn't understand, and held out a 2 kina bill. Later he said in English 'I was saying that I have this 2 kina bill, anyone here can come and take it, it is my free gift to you.' No one took it because no one could understand him, he was speaking in Spanish (de Costa Rica).

The illustration proved the point that people couldn't know about the Gospel or using the Word unless they understood the language.

Yes we translate the Bible. Then what?
That's the question. Well anyone in the know, please pardon my over simplification of this process.

Translating the Word takes over 20 years. During that time you're working on relationships, developing leaders, discipling, teaching reading and writing, giving tools on how to teach the Bible, giving audio and video examples, teaching skits, and overall preparing a culture anywhere from 'we don't want the Bible' to 'we really can't wait' and in a perfect scenario, by the time the Word is published in their heart language, the people are already changed and can't wait to deploy the Scriptures to their children and surrounding people.

In a less than desirable situation you have a people with a new Bible who never use it because they don't grasp how to teach from it.

Enter the Church Engagement team. A relatively new team, but the ministry is something that has been going on for decades. Still the team itself goes into churches and sees how they are integrating with the Word and where they need help and then puts them in touch with the right help.

They've heard things like 'well we have the bible but no one uses it'. OH, they need to talk with the Scripture use team who will help them understand how to teach others and use the Word of God to make an impact.

This team is still small and growing and it's a side team (work on weekends) the people on the team have their normal jobs to do too. But on the weekends they make a job of trying to work side by side with people and show them how to really teach from and use the Scriptures they have.

We have a lot of resources here, and this new team is trying to get those resources in the hands of local pastors and leaders. WE have identified over the years that there can be some falling through the cracks, and this team is there to fill in the cracks.

That's of course my perception of it, and I like the idea. They've recently been challenged by the huge amount of interest they are generating to supply people with the answer to the question 'How do I get involved' ?

The side effect of this is that they are generating interest in the country by Papua New Guineans as to how to get involved in the ministry of spreading God's Word. That's incredible.

They've recently listed a need in the area of video/audio production, and I'm currently considering volunteering. I think it might be too much too soon, to volunteer my weekends to producing video, but on the flip side, I know I'd enjoy it tremendously.

People of Tantamount Worth

The couple featured in this coming documentary are one of the first couples whose laptops I helped configure for village email. In fact possibly they are the first PNG translator couple I met and helped in this country. We spent many hours together and I prepared their systems to be secure and receive email in their village, so when I run into them I occasionally ask them how things are.

I remember clearly a conversation I had with them about how they love getting email from their son, and how they wished their son would write them as often as I write my family. In fact they asked me years ago to call their son (jokingly) and tell him to write their mother more.

So if you're out there, write your mother! (-;

I'll be interested when this film is released to see more about their village life.

Locked explained

theft of portable devices is at times a problem here. So I'm always telling people to buy laptop locking cables. I purchased 5 while in the U.S. combination style because I have tooooooo many keys.

Anyway, I had to secure a new Apple mac mini. There are several on center here and I noticed, they have no locking slot. So... what to do?

If you go online you can find a lot of mounting/securing mounts for $60.00 or more. Well I found one for $40. I wanted a 'behind the monitor/swiveling' mount but none existed. SO, I bought the cheap $40 one.

It came 3 weeks later.

I then looked at my monitor, it's an old NEC with a ton of extra plastic around the metal stand, so I figured, I could drive the screws into the plastic, being careful not to damage any internal cables or cause a short. And I did.

The result is, a swivel 'under the desk' mount, attached to the back of a monitor. I had to sacrifice the pedastal up/down motion of the monitor stand, but I never use that anyway.

Then a simple padlock secures it, since the monitor itself is already cable locked in place.

Viola! .... clean, hidden, accessible, and.... SECURE.

Effectively turning my monitor into an 'iMac' like system.

Locked 2

Locked

Practical Daily Items for living in PNG

We often say this is the land of the unexpected. Here are some unexpected changes:

We get our groceries from LAE(the city 3 hours away). Some in country, some imported. Between us and LAE , there are multiple bridges and a long winding road called the Kassam Pass.

One of the bridges is out, and the Kassam pass is damaged so much that big rigs can easily topple. Last week 2 big trucks toppled and blocked the road. Only small 4 wheel drives were able to squeak through.

So grocery supplies will be less often.

The sugar factory in the country has announced they will not be producing sugar for a few months because of various reasons. So surely there will be a sugar shortage soon. (having fun with my S's there)

Due to the cost in fuel rising, and loss of shipping personnel, our sea freight boxes won't be coming as often. Which means cargo and food goods will be less frequent than they used to be. (once every 3 months moves to once every 6 months). This means that we won't have access to some of the U.S./AUS non-perishable foods we enjoy. Like the special treat of breakfast cereal or chocolate chips. Again not a huge loss but a loss none the less. It only means that when they get here, it'll be an even bigger treat. (My son can't live without cereal he thinks. What he eats is so self-limited, but I believe if he goes hungry enough days in a row, he might consider expanding his menu)

Due to our king air aircraft receiving suspected engine damage, and our standardization on new kodiak aircraft, coupled with the loss of key personnel in Aviation, we no longer have the capacity to fly people to Cairns, Aus. (Unless for medivacs). Which means that goods we ordered from Australia, will only come back to us when someone is rushed to the hospital. Or possibly they may start a cargo flight only without passengers (it takes a LOT of paper work to fly people internationally and without staff to push the paper.... we can't do it). So what that means is that if I wanted to order say, laptop replacement parts, instead of waiting 30 day like we used to, I may wait 90 days to receive them. What this means is that a translator's crashed laptop has to wait longer for repair or replacement.

These are some of the major changes to our way of life here. It cuts us off from the rest of the world just a little more than we were, but my attitude is, 'if I came here today, ready to take on whatever came, I wouldn't lament the loss of these services because I wouldn't have known about them.' In my heart I know, that things change, and we all need to be willing to flex without it affecting our attitudes in a negative way. We're not here to receive cargo and food, we're here to spread the Word of God, and frankly, if things get harder in doing it, well it just makes us better. The more we can endure, the more we share in Christ's suffering.

Not that a sugar shortage or loss of cargo is suffering... but you get the idea.
Some folks around here go mental if they can't get cheese or chocolate for a while. I suppose I may have an issue if we lost internet connection, I can do without cheese or chocolate. (-;

All in all, we are seeing a real shift here that affects our daily lives. My hope is, that people won't be frustrated by life being more difficult but will instead see these luxuries as distractions and we can continue to go about the work we're called to do. The practical reality is, if people find living here too tough they may want to go home. Then again I think there is a contingent of people who feel life is not hard enough and enjoy it when things get harder.

I look on with curiosity and wonder where God is going with all this.

God is faithful! In reading Mark 8, I become convicted.

14 The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. 15 “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”

16 They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”

17 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

“Twelve,” they replied.

20 “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

They answered, “Seven.”

21 He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

God is faithful, we'll get what we need to continue this work, no need to worry.

SALT

God's GREAT

This past thursday my Bible study group had a prayer night. One of the things I felt a burden on my heart for was our internet connection speed. It was truly pitiful. Has been for years, but from another perspective it is SO MUCH faster than it had been in years past.

But I decided instead of worrying about it, there truly was nothing I could do.... I said 'group, TODAY, I declare I will start praying regularly about our internet speed, I want it to increase in speed, decrease in price, and I'm not going to stop praying until that happens'.

So we prayed.
Friday morning I sent a speed analysis to our ISP. He's ignored every analysis for the past 1.5 years. I've been working very hard to get him to become convinced there was a problem. So I sent off this analysis with little hope.

Friday afternoon I met with people who were also his customers who LOVED the performance and couldn't figure out why we did not.

Sunday I got an email 'we found the problem, the NIC was giving CRC errors'.

Monday I ran my test again, we are currently the fastest we have been in 1.5 years. FASTER than we've ever been with this ISP.
We're seeing a full 2mb down and 1mb up this morning, as compared to our normal 400kb down and 300kb up.

So, we are hopeful this isn't temporary... the point is...
GOD IS SO AWESOME!

I told you before I LOVE how he relishes answering prayer.
I had prayed before over this, but never publicly. Part of me wonders if God was waiting for me to humble myself publicly to my bible study group and say 'Okay let's begin getting serious, God is the only one who can fix this now'.

Pray with me that it remains healthy... but today... today I am very hopeful and encouraged!!!

Thanks GOD!!!
Thanks for doing it in a way that I couldn't say 'look what I did!'. God did this.

How else can you explain the ISP finding and issue they've been seeking for 1.5 years!?

Missing Out

When blogging about the missionary condition, a quick word or two should be spoken about missing out.

Sometimes folks whinge (not a complaint, not a whine, but a whinge), about missing certain people or foods. I don't whinge about missing food. And I rarely complain in general, partially because it isn't my mentality, and partially because I want to be a good example for my children.

But there are times when you miss something and it hurts very deeply.

2 years ago I missed the birth of my nephew.
2 days ago I missed the wedding of a good friend, that I would have stood up for had
I been there.
I've also missed some intense family tragedies that I would have been there to support family through.

These losses are sad it's true. And often people ask me 'what do you miss most about home?'

The truth is, this is home. Living in PNG is home to me now. Home is where your heart is, and although my heart takes occasional holiday and desires to be in a hospital waiting room or in a tuxedo standing up in a church, it lives here.

And so, whenever I think about what I might be missing, I let my mind also give equal time to what people here are missing, and what people here aren't missing.

People HERE are missing out on the Word of God. That has extremely more importance than our lives here on earth.

People not here are missing out on seeing what I've seen. Good and bad, my experiences are only partially shared via emails and blogs. BEING here is awesome, seeing God work.

And so, yes there is missing out, but it works both ways. I am thankful for the people who stay and send, and thankful for the people who go. I am thankful for the experiences I get to share in, and try not to think too much about the ones I miss.

I'm glad for friends who go to the ones I miss and update me, and hopefully I can update them as to what is going on here.

And so, I don't really 'miss' much for long periods of time. I don't let myself think about it, I don't let myself become negative or complainy. I have spent some time away from here, and I can tell you it was very great to get back.

If you think about it, everyone is missing out on the exciting parts of everyone else's lives... it's only very rarely that we get to share something incredible with someone.

Living here, I get to share something incredible with my family, with all of you, and one day, I hope to sit and share with folks in heaven about it. There really is no cause for sadness with that perspective in mind.

Only You part 2

I have to issue a correction to an earlier blog post entitled 'Only You'. My information about me being the only who who 'could' fix it sounded far too much like tooting my own horn.

The truth is that is what the Doctor said, but possible he was being too kind. I've heard from co-workers who wanted a second shot at it but the Doctor hadn't returned.

I work with a team of staff, very good at what they do. I think that goes unsaid. I've always surrounded myself with people smarter than me so that I can raise to their example, and this team is no different.

We are fortunate to have many skilled people here doing their respective jobs. It is one of the most interesting parts of living here, seeing how the body compliments each other with their different talents, and as a whole we are able to accomplish the work God has given us to do.

There are moments when it definitely seems like only 1 person can do the job, but even that one person needs to rely on a team of people to get anything done.

I believe God blesses us each from time to time with the knowledge that He has put us here specifically to accomplish a task...

and then at other times He reminds us that we are very replaceable as His resources are infinite... and we're honored to be the ones He chooses to currently use.

I'm very thankful for my co-workers and teammates and their abilities and talents.

Meet Jonathan

This is Jonathan. He's the main I.T. guy for a mission's organization in PNG completely operated by nationals. We met nearly three years ago. ARound that time many of us asked the question 'how are other IT professionals in this country doing this?' and we pulled together a meeting of all the IT minds in the country that were able to come. Jonathan showed up as the only IT guy for his small mission.

During that meeting and meetings since, we've all pooled our thoughts and solutions and created a resource in and of ourselves by simply having a meeting of the minds.

During that first one several years ago, Jonathan walked away with a new resource. We had started an email list between us. We all had a new resource.

Since then Jonathan has written us and asked us questions. Many of which were things we could very easily help him with. 'How to install a windows server' or 'how do I configure a workgroup'.

Today he reported they have their first ever windows server up and running and he has 2 other IT techs working with him.

It is important to recognize that Jonathan represents a cultural oddity. His love for spreading the Word of God is mixed with his iniative and desire for learning. It is a pleasure to have helping him be a side effect of our ministry here.

It is so hard to answer the question 'what do you do?' because of the mere fact that we say 'yes' to God, he creates all these little side effects of service that you hadn't anticipated. The fact that we are here, is a resource for people like Jonathan.

He's a neat guy with a huge task, and it's a pleasure to be able to help him.

Allowed

Ever come across a problem and say 'well There's yer' problem' and then realize it was something you did years ago?

Yesterday I spent some time troubleshooting a network connection.

What we have been trying to do, and have succeeded at doing, is to use 1 wireless access point, and give multiple SSID's.

What this means is that say you go into a starbucks, and join the free wireless there, it isn't really that secure and most people know not to do sensitive things on their computer there.

Well, the past 6 months people have been asking for more and more wireless access. Wireless here is really unpredictable because of all the metal in the roofing and walls.

Anyway, after a steep learning curve, yesterday I finall figured out how to make 2 wireless networks work over 1 wireless device.

It involves a configuration on the wireless device (we use Dlink WAPS because they are affordable, we'd prefer Cisco)

A configuration on the switch that device is connected to (multiple vlans)

A configuration in Microsoft NPS (aka Radius).

THAT was the tricky part.

So anyway after hours of making Radius policies and figuring out exactly which way traffic should go determined by which SSID they join and which login they use...

it was working... in all placed but 1.

So I sat down yesterday, it was quitting time, but I couldn't let it go. Why go home with questions in your head?

So I stayed and stayed.. and then... BING.. I had an idea.. and I looked and sure enough....

PAST CHAD.. Chad from 3 years ago, typed a command for security that was breaking what CURRENT CHAD was trying to do .

(picture above)

I was blocking out Vlan 10 with an allowed statement... on purpose.
Which I now wanted to UNDO. So I undid it.

I felt like going back to past CHAD and saying 'one day Chad, a technology will come along that you haven't heard of yet, and you will need to undo this command... I don't expect you to understand it now... but trust me.. enable Vlan 10.'

heheh, having a time machine would save me a lot of trouble. (-;

Anyway point is, I know I'm geeking out here, but the point is, it works now... and I will be deploying these WAPS across the entire center today!

Which means tomorrow a whole lot of people won't know how to connect to the wireless anymore which is why I created a video tutorial on how to join.

In fact, apparently my reputation for documenting things got all the way to the director who has asked me to join forces with him in an attempt to create a training curriculum for Papua New Guineans.

I'm pretty excited about that, and have been doing a lot of documentation and videos lately gearing up for that. We do a lot of training and there needs to be a lot of repetition in that training for PNG'ians to remember it. So video would be perfect for that repetition!

Anyway, I've been playing with it in my spare time for now because my manager while approving of the idea, doesn't like the time it takes to do video, which distracts from my other priorities. Still, I'm rather passionate about this so I don't mind it cutting into my after-hours time.

Here's my logic:
-If I fix a computer or a network, then the translator can keep on translating, the teacher can keep on teaching, the church leader can keep on discipling.

-If I train people to do things - then they can keep on doing their jobs even when I'm not available.

I'm all about enabling people to do their work God has called them to do. In the past I've found I get in high demand and it'd be nice to duplicate myself. Video training is the closest I've come to succeeding at self-duplication. (-;

Only you...

So here is an encouraging story (it encourages me). When we got here a few weeks ago I went in for a health checkup with the doctor here. The Doctor said that since I was there he'd ask me a question. He purchased a handheld device (HP Ipaq with windows Mobile) and he enjoyed using a software called Epocrates. He said he had spent countless hours with several other CTS (computer dept.) guys who all said 'well I can't get it to work, your only hope would be when Chad returns'.

So I replied, 'come by sometime, we'll spend an hour, and get it fixed.'

1 hour ago I had no idea what 'Epocrates' was. I had and still have no idea exactly how the Ipaq PDA works. But the doctor has a working piece of software that tells him about medications and treatments.

He is very thankful to me, and I'm thinking 'this is AWESOME!'.

It was a simple solution, I verified that there was some issue with the network on his laptop and the sync software, bypassed it and sync'd directly to his handheld. After which he said 'I should have bought an iPhone'.

For me, the fact that I was able to get this working is hugely affirming to me.
I took what I know (thanks God) and applied it to what I didn't know, and tested a few things and it ended up working.

Now the entire community can benefit from the doctor having access to up to date medication information.

And I get the bragging rights of being able to say 'I'm the only guy on center who could get this working for him'.

But what feels even better than all of that... pride and ego aside, is that another doctor recommended me to this doctor to fix his issue.

Here's why.
I've made an effort to learn things that I feel are needed here but that other people don't understand. I've learned all kinds of old and new technology for 1 reason.

My ministry here is to make it so that people feel confident that if they come to me, it'll end up working one way or the other, and so they can concentrate on THEIR job rather than being constantly frustrated that a tool they need isn't working.

When I can directly impact the community in this way, I feel so much affirmation that I'm the guy God put here.

So I'm very thankful for these moments where I realize... yes God put me here, God gave me the skill and brain I have... and I am soooo thrilled to be involved in the process.

Saying 'NO'

I was raised in church ministry. My mom served, my dad served, both me and my two sisters served, for years.

It is my opinion, that people who serve often get asked to do many things because they exhibit a servant's heart. Often times, on the WORK side of church unless servants can learn to say 'no' they can very quickly burn out.

Here in PNG, saying 'YES' to one ministry often means saying 'NO' to others. There really is never the risk of 'I'm not doing enough for God' here. Both Kendal and I are constantly busy doing some ministry. We have our main jobs plus many others.

So when a new opportunity arises you have to seriously consider it, pray, go to God and ask for guidance, because you can very easily end up in a position where you get burned out.

There is SO much work to be done and the workers are diminishing.

Upon arriving here from furlough we have each been confronted with multiple change requests:

-I was asked to step into a leadership position requiring at least 2 months away from my normal computer job

-My wife was asked to become a 5th grade teacher instead of preschool.

-I was asked again to be a leader in a different position

-My wife was asked to be a committee secretary (a huge amount of work).

If we chose to say 'yes' to these things, we would be effectively saying 'no' to many many things in the next 2 years (that's the length of the committment).

And so, we seriously sought God in this matter. Praying hard over it. People don't ask lightly around here, your 'NO' has to be firm, which is why I needed the confidence that God was directing my steps behind me.

After 8 days of prayer and thought, God graced us with a very clear message and we replied 'NO' to these things.

The NEXT day my world got super busy and I realized... had I said 'yes' at this point I possibly could crack. The readjustment to this place has been very time consuming because there has been so many changes and there is so much work to do.

And there has been personal things going on as well, my daughter has begun a Bible study, has a play, etc...

I mention this because I firmly believe that for the sake of longevity that people serving God must learn to say a very firm 'no' in a loving way. You need to learn to deal with the guilt of not taking on a task that God has not called you to, and the guilt of saying 'no' when you see an obvious need.

We need to also learn that when we say 'no' we need to start praying for that hole to be filled by the right person.

Putting the wrong person in a 'slot' can be as harmful as leaving that job undone.

I've seen ministry chew people up and spit them out. And ministry can be a machine. A machine with a heart that does good work, but the ugly side of it requires that people fill roles and jobs.

It may sound dreadful for a missionary to say 'Today I said no to three opportunities to serve.' But that should really be read as 'Today I said 'yes' to doing what God called me here to do, and to do it well, instead of doing it distractedly until I get exhausted and burn out.'.

We're not here to work super hard, then fall apart within a year.
We're here to work hard, work smart, and do what God called us to do, and to do it for the long term.

However, if you're unclear what God is telling you to do, then saying 'yes' to many things may help you to find your niche.

Please don't take this to mean we're not doing enough. I've listed out before all the things we are doing.

Instead this post is to inform you that there is a ton of work that gets left undone sometimes. We prioritize and focus and get the job done. I wanted to express that there is so much work, that as soon as someone returns from furlough/home assignment they are prompted with many new 'opportunities', and you need to learn the discipline of wisely accepting the ones you are capable of doing well.

It's all about maintaining a manageable level of stress and energy in your life so that you can serve over the long term with passion and skill.

On the flip side, I totally intend to arrive in heaven completely used up, beat up, and tired out. I simply don't want to burnout before that time.

the Poor 2

My blog title 'the poor' was not meant to be posted with that photo, I made an edit and forgot to change the title.

The edit I made was to delete my posting about the poor in this country.

But I left the photo.

The question I was posing to myself publicly was how to define 'the poor'.
In a country where you can grow your own food, are people who aren't starving poor?

What if they aren't starving but develop malnutrition when older?
What about AIDS being a huge problem?
No cash money, but a cultural system that helps them provide for each other?

Are they poor yet?

When Christ asks us to tend to the poor, where do we draw the line and once drawn, how do we tend?

We strive to bring the Word of God to people of PNG. We also strive to meet them like Christ met them, caring for their physical needs as well.

It seems like we are surrounded by poverty, but then we wonder if that's simply our perspective...

Anyway... those are the thoughts I deleted and why that picture was entitled 'the poor' accidentally.

When I've processed this more I'll share more. The tug on my heart lately has been to do a little more than we did our first term here... and I have some ideas about how we might achieve that, but it's not really what we're doing.

It's what the Spirit of God wants to do through us that matters.

for that matter, a blog seems almost boastful if you talk about what you're doing.
Although we need to communicate to people what we're doing... but wouldn't it feel like bragging if you say..

"Today I helped a blind man..."

which isn't at all the point of this blog...

the point of this blog is to document life here, our transition and lives as missionaries and to communicate what God is doing.

So I want to be clear here. If I get excited about something we're doing, it is because I'm boasting in the Lord and what He is doing.

I've tried doing things on my own without God's leading or intervention and it doesn't turn out as well as you'd hope. So whenever anything remarkable happens, it is very obviously God working.

So when we work out this question about the POOR, we will let you know what happens.

The Poor

this is a picture of the village area some of our Bible translator friends live in when they are in the village.

Tagged Vlans

Today's challenge:
implement a technology I've never used of using principles I understand.

Mission: make a Dlink wap have multiple SSID's that go to different networks which are disconnected

Approach:
1 - learn how to configure multiple SSID's on a Dlink WAP - completed
2 - learn how to configure WPA2 enterprise on multiple SSID's - completed
3 - learn how to get tagged vlans to traverse a trunk on a cisco switch - completed
4 - move the home network to vlan 10 from default vlan1 because vlan1 is stupid... I mean because vlan1 is a security risk when your CORP network is also vlan1 (still) - IN PROGRESS
5 - reconfigure your switches to disallow anything but the new vlan - completed

Today was one of those days when you say 'I THINK this should work, but I don't know HOW yet'. And you dive into manuals.

And, sure enough, it works.

And at the end of the day I had to battle my training and what I already knew to work, because I simply didn't like the ideas coming at me... but they were valid ideas... and after much trial and error and reading, and testing, I believe we reached success.

I kept my network organized and secure,
They got their product working.
I documented it well.


The problem with changing the 'default' way of equipment is that it becomes harder to replace me in the future.

The problem with keeping 'default' configurations is that they are insecure and quickly become disorganized.

I documented it all today and pretty much wrote a ten page manual with pictures so that the guy behind me could learn it too.

Now I have to go, I'm late for dinner. (-;

Busy Busy

Last night I didn't sleep much. I was considering this decision about leadership I mented a few posts ago. I spent my non-sleep time praying and a peace came over me as I realized that I needed to spend my energies elsewhere.

During my prayer it made a lot of sense and calmed me and I realized.... 'Chad, you need to focus on your core job right now, and let the leadership position go to someone else, it will be a hard year for you.'

So I was calmed by that, wrote out a list of priorities and decided to go about my dad tackling the challenge.

We had a meeting today about the projects we need to do in 2011.
The list was 28 items long.
We have 3 guys.
Each item was a month worth of work... if things go well.

It's a VERY long list.
It is a TON of work.

I am so very thankful to God and to you all for praying for me, that I was able to come to a decision this morning about the leadership thing, and have a confidence that God had something in store for me... and then to come to work and find out WHAT He had in store.

I should list out the project list here, although verbatim it will make no sense, so I'll paraphrase...

PLEASE pray these go well, we'll be busy enough without distractions and failures.

-implement windows home folders for departments
-remove web proxy and replace with websense
-implement exchange 2010
-install and configure traffic shaping
-update policy manuals
-upgrade software inventory control
-hardware inventory
-security policy implementation audit
-connect new training center and dining call to fibre backbone
-reconfigure central network switches
-deploy centre wide wireless with dual SSID's
-virtualize remaining physical servers
-upgrade aviation wireless connection (build a 15meter mast and install it)
-build four new Domain Controllers
..
the list goes on.
upgrades, replacements, etc.

Most of the work is inspired by the Microsoft licensing issue I told you about. We have to shave down, simplify, and otherwise reduce costs.

And we have a year to do it in.. actually, until June. So half a year. Because once June hits, we will lose a few guys and won't have the man power to do the projects for 18 months.

WOW... it's busy here.

I'm so glad I got some energy on furlough, these projects strike me as a lot of fun!

new blog

Adding a new blog to my link list
Beverly in Onobasulu

This isBeverly, she's a translator missionary working with the Onobasulu people. I enjoy her insite on things quite a bit. She has a good send of humor and a great spirit.

I've worked to help her with email, laptop, and radio issues quite a bit over the years.

SALT

What is God doing this week?
Many things, here's one you can pray for:

S.A.L.T.
Scripture use and leadership training course.
This weekend is the one weekend between the tweo week course happening here where we live. I support the network for the teachers of this course but it typically a somewhat low tech course, occasionally laptops are employed with wireless networking. I have setup an infrastructure for such classes that when working properly means things just work.

Which is good. The upside to things breaking is I get to interact more with the people attending the course, but typically things don't break.

About half of the instructors are missionaries and the others are church leaders from the valley.

Please pray for the instructors and the almost 50 participants, as they are in training to be SALT in their churches and villages.

as always you can pray for peace in the valley and for God to have a huge impact.

Church leaders in this area have a tough task as there is almost always conflict between different family lines. (aka tribes). Church leaders are constantly throwing themselves in the middle of violent conflict to bring peace and apply God's Word.

These courses give them skills and tools to employ God's Word among their people to see it change lives.

Friday Night

Wow, I've never been one to celebrate something on the weekend AFTER the date.. I've always thought the date should be sacred itself. But in this instance we decided to celebrate our anniversary last night instead of on Weds.

As a result we sort of got an anniversary week.

Weds morning the kids did their thing
Thurs night our Bible study sang us a song and made us a special dessert.
And last night,
Kendal made a special meal, we sent the kids to friends house and spent a very nice date night at home just the two of us. She made a very tasty chicken pastry dish... and an apple turnover dessert!

We played her gift, which had a toy 'crystal' in it (not new age, it was a game called Forbidden Island... part of my attempt at having more family games to play.

So technically I gifted her the appropriate 15 year gift.

This week at work was busy. But I was honored to have the chance to fix a few issues for a neat lady translator from Australia. She told me her village home was finally eaten by white ants... it took them 10 years, but the house was demolished.

I am often honored by the fact that my skills and talents can be used here to further God's kingdom. Still I desire to do more... I've been praying lately for God to show me more opportunities to expand His kingdom and a few names of nationals have come to mind now.

So I've begun praying for them and trying to get my mind mind around how a man witnesses to a woman in this culture, I'm pretty sure I can't directly so I'm thankful I have a wife who works with me in a team.

Which brings me back around to the 15 years.

When I got married 15 years ago, I knew it was to a wonderful young woman who had such potential, and in 15 years I've seen her mature into an incredible woman. She's in her prime now, confident, able, settled, assured of her skills, still learning, Godly, loving.... an excellent helpmate and teammate.

I am sometimes unsure how she knew 15 years ago I wouldn't turn out to be a jerk, but then it dawns on me that both of us were trusting each other and God to work in us, and who we are now, is not who we would have been without God and without each other working in us for 15 years.

I know I'm a better man for having married her.

I'm thankful to my wife and I'm thankful to God for 15 years of happiness. I have never once felt like marriage was a burden, and have always found my wife to be the kind of person who lightens a burden tremendously.

It's been at good, if quick, 15 years.

But I'm not going to spend too much time reflecting on it, because frankly my goal is 55+

Cairns and Cairo

Cairns, Australia has been hit by a category 5 cyclone. The biggest in it's history. We have friends there, we also have a plane there waiting on repairs. A quick prayer for protection would be appreciated.

Cairo, Egypt has been undergoing some incredible violence through protests. I saw some of the news footage last night and it was incredible. We also have friends there we haven't heard from for a few days as we heard they were evacuating all Americans.

a quick prayer for that would be appreciated too.

Mayas and Bees

Today's lunchtime was a little odd.
I was looking out my window on a nice clear day when suddenly hundreds of bees were swarming. Something had angered them. For months I had been battling the bees before leaving for furlough. There are 3 places they really like to swarm on my property. So I would get all gussied up in my bee uniform:

-denim pants
-denim coat (hot but thick)
-leather hat
-leather gloves
-flywire (screen) over my face, and tied at my neck tightly with a rope. (because if the bees get in... they're stuck in flying around my face.

Then I battle the bees.
And they move on or die or both.
Typically they move on to another place around my house and I find this out in a few days.. and we go again the next weekend I have.

I had all but obliterated them before furlough and today I find out, the hive is bigger than ever. Big enough to be dangerous if we or our kids were caught up in it.

So the fight rages on. Seems like there are a lot of things like that keep popping up right now. I'm tired just thinking of my 'todo' list.

While I was outside, a man Mayas came up to me to 'stori' which means sit around and talk. I didn't know him, and I had to get to work, but culturally it would be rude to run off, so I decided to be a few minutes late to work. After all I'm here to spread the Gospel to people, not punch a clock.

So we talked for a bit, he was very nice, offered to even help me with my bees. We debated over whether or not smoke killed bees or simply put them to sleep. He told me the best way was to make a small fire, put paper on it, and smoke the bees into leaving.

I told him I didn't like fire close to my house, and that the smoke would more or less make them sleepy but not kill them.

Anyway, he asked me if he could take a few garden cuttings, and then said he could trade me for some others, and I told him if he saw something he liked, to come talk to me later... he said he would.

After thinking of the conversation, there was no exchange or askims (favors) which is typical. I think Mayas was networking, making a relationship, offering friendship. Those types of interactions are pleasant to me because you get into a bad habit of waiting for someone to get around to asking you a favor, but he never did... not yet anyway.

So my lunch break was atypical, but enjoyable.

15 years ago on Groundhog's Day

I married my wife.

Each significant milestone has been celebrated differently. And each year I've given my wife the traditional gift (15 is Crystal). However this year I was unable to get the crystal gift I wanted because it wouldn't transport well to here, so I broke tradition. (I hid her gift from the U.S. in my duffle but it wasn't crystal)

Thinking it would be a rather simple anniversary without much pomp... just a quiet home cooked meal.... we woke up to these pictures.
The kids woke up early, dressed, set a beautiful table complete with flowers and linen, made cards, wrapped gifts and cooked up eggs and toast.

Have I mentioned before I LOVE my kids being older! We have loved every year of our married life, and have loved every stage of having kids.

This morning they blessed us big time with a huge surprise, as we came out of the bedroom this morning... BOOM a really gorgeous table setting!

thanks kids!
and thanks Kendal for 15 great years!

p.s. for our 10th and 15th we've been in places where we needed to keep things simple and yet somehow, we have been blessed with remarkable anniversaries. Not remarkable because they are complex or pricey, but remarkable because something special happened that we'll never forget. And what the kids did this morning for us, we'll never forget. IT was well done (they had tried things when they were younger but they were not nearly as well executed as this time).

Calvin did toast rather dapperly

Syd cooked eggs

Kids surprised us

Leadership

this post is more of a personal thinking than informative... for those of you who like to skip such things (-;

All of my life I have been considered for leadership positions.
All of my life this hasn't made sense to me.

I do not say this with false humility, I believe I know what I'm good at and what I'm not good at.

I am not a forward thinker, I am an on-my-feet thinker.

I'm not a visionary, I'm a reactionary with some tendencies to plan ahead so my reactions look even more reactiony. (-;

So then why do people ask me to be in leadership ministries, on comittees, etc.

I am convinced that people like communicators. I may be a communicator. I'm definitely not the best communicator, but I have a head start because people are surprised when computer geeks can speak normally about technology. (-; Frankly I think it's just because I'm not as smart as my super geek friends. What others see as me talking 'normal' I see as me trying to put into words even I can understand (-;

So that leaves the height issue.
I figured it was because I was tall and people figure, if you're tall, you're a leader they can respect. Yet my fellow tall men don't seem to be approached to lead as often as I am.

I look around and see people much smarter than me, much more of a prayer warrior than me, people more politically in touch with events, more decisive, more... all the things a leader should be. I'm completely content to be C3P0, sitting on the side translating and doing chores.

Anyway I bring all this up, not to put the attention on me or ask for encouraging emails.. trust me, my ego is already too high...

I say this because for multiple times now I have been asked to prayerfully consider taking on a leadership position at the branch I'm living at. I feel grossly ill equipped for the job and have repeatedly refused based on those grounds (and on the grounds that if I'm in meetings, who is watching my network?).

So this week I was asked again to consider a nomination, and this time I felt I should honestly seek prayer as to whether or not I should accept the nomination.

So that's what I'm doing until Feb 9.

Pray with me if you will.
I personally think it's a bad fit for me, and that I'd hate the additional responsibility. I also think whoever nominated me did so as a prank on everyone else. But, I will none the less be praying and ask that you pray with me and help God show me what He wants me to do. Who knows, maybe He wants me to submit to this for some reason.

thanks.

Healing

I'm writing this story to entertain, and also to explain what a typical Friday is like living here in PNG. The very first thing you need to know is that there is no such thing as a typical day.

You never know what is going to happen on any given day, but Friday's and Monday's seem to be the LEAST predictable.


FRIDAY:

8am I arrive at work to finish some projects and find I'm the first one in. I begin to do my work, and as others file in I find the news that they will be driving across the country for a week and I'll be left behind to man the department. That's fine, I prefer to stay than to take the drive.

PLEASE pray for their safety and that the job goes well, they'll be attempting to in 4 days: (the pic above is them and some of the equipment they'll be installing)
-install 2 wireless links (putting 2 of our centers on faster internet)
-get VSAT training so we can increase our bandwidth and bring other regional centres online.
-success - it's hard when you have to travel so far and have no access to electronics or tools, they have to plan this down to every last screw and zip tie. It is an ambitious goal, but once done, we will have faster access and have 2 departments online that have not yet been online!!!


it's a LOT to accomplish in 4 days.


at 10am I head over to a department selling a used desk to see if my kids could use a nicely made but affordable desk. I pass on the desk it's too big. But I head home to check.... nope too big.

I head back to work

11am I get the news my truck has a bad solinoid on the fuel injection pump, it'll be out of commission for up to a month.

at noon I get home and realize there isn't much to eat for lunch so I scrounge.

I tell my wife the news about the truck and the desk. I leave for work, nearly forgetting that the water to our house is unexpectedly off because they are trenching a new water line in front of my house... as such I have to practically jump the 1 foot wide trench... it was more of a fall jump, but I made it.


THIS is where the day goes oddly.

I decided since we have a 3 day weekend to treat my kids to a trip to the river, so I go to check it out... there is a new gate there since I last went and it's locked.

I find out I have to go to the industrial department to get the key.

I go.. get the key. I drive to a different dept. to make a copy... they said 'we can't copy that key it's a master.'
I call around.. 'woops that's the wrong key'.
I go back down to industrial, they give me 2 keys 'It might be one of these or 1 other one'
I DRIVE clear over to the river, nope both keys don't work.

On the way back I nearly scrape a van, my fault, but thankfully only the rubber of my fender touched the rubber of his fender. I wasn't driving fast, it was a skinny area and these things happen.

I get back 'hey this is the wrong key' he says, 'okay then it HAS To be the other one... you have to go down to the gravel wash to find the tractor driver, he's got the key.'

I drive over the trenching, passed the gates, and find a big frontloader, I pull along side, they were expecting me, they give me the key but want it back by 5pm.

3pm I take it up to get copied.
4pm I get a message:

'I don't have any blanks for these keys to copy, go over to Dept C and get blanks.'

So I go over to THAT department, buy 2 blanks, and come back.

On the way I see someone with ice cream!!!!

The store hasn't had ice cream in months and my wife could use a cheer-me-up today so I stop by the store, pick up a liter of vanilla, and head home. Still needing to get the keys to copied.

AT home what was going to be a quick drop off of the ice cream turned into a dog story.

Apparently our friend's dog got stuck under our house in pain and wrapped up in wire.
They tried to rescue it but it was biting them, so they asked for help.
The young son accused me of setting a wire trap. I assured the little.... tyke... that were I to set a trap, it would have been a lot more effective than wrapping pig wire around a dog's hind legs and causing it to yelp.

SO.. I go inside, get my squirtgun, chase the dog out of under the house, put my foot on it's neck, and whip out my leatherman's and cut the wire loose.

I'm thanked, but the boy refuses to give me an apology for the trapping comment, his mom tells me to soak him with my water gun. I opt not to.

back on the bike, heading to get keys copied.

Drop the keys off at 4pm.

All the while in between all of this I'm setting up printers, debugging software, fixing stuff, and working with satellites.


It's been a really non-boring, crazy day here, oh hey! someone just put me a bottle of Gummy Vites on my desk for no reason.

I suppose this mystery will be solved when I go home and find my wife had ordered these or something.

I try one.
Not bad... like a gummy bear with a vitaminy after taste.

I read in a book today that 'the gelatin in gummy bears is made from cow bone and pig skin'.

So.. now that I've put that in my body I figure it's a pretty good end to a totally unpredictable day.

Yet it's only 5pm, and I have my kid's choir concert tonight to attend, and anything can happen there too.

WOW.. sometimes life is exciting.

vSphere

So while I was gone, our network room implemented VmWare's vSphere. And then we got a dvd video training us which I'm half way through. WOW this product is awesome!

IT wasn't supposed to happen while I was gone, but it had to because Microsoft decided to eliminate our donated licenses. THAT is a longer more sad story, but as a result this GOOD story happened:

We're half way through virtualizing our server structure, but the implications of this product are huge for us as an organization and for me as an engineer.

Off the top of my head:

-less data loss (I want to say zero but.... any IT folks know you simply don't say certain things out loud (-; )

-less down time
-no more Saturday de-dusting of the physical servers
-less power use
-less cooling requirements
-I no longer have to run up to the server room when the power goes out to shut things down, I can do it remotely, and power them up remotely.
-Emergency contingency (all our servers would fit onto a 200gb external hard drive)
-Quicker recovery from external hacking (oh you hacked me? shoot, well I'll have the server back up in ten minutes)

Man this is simply the coolest product. I've worked with virtualization before but this is the cadillac of virtual systems.

So, for those who wondered 'how will Chad keep his resume up to date and his skills sharp?' Well I now get to play with the latest greatest in virtualization software and will have enough on the job experience with it to become adept. AND there is a possibility that there will be a chance for certification with it.

IF you can't tell, I'm VERY excited about this product and it's capabilities thus far. IT resolves a GREAT many issues for us.

But the best part of it all,
is that we will be better utilizing everything.
Our man power - takes less manpower to handle more servers

Our hardware - we'll get more bang for the buck now

Our electrical consumption - we'll be burning less kilowatt hours as the physical servers are turned off

Our cooling requirements - I've spent countless hours tending to an overheating server room during power outages or air conditioner failures

Our personal time - because we are in a cluster, the 'saturday scheduled downtimes' will become much more rare, enabling me to spend my saturdays doing 'husbandly' and 'fatherly' things.

The entire organization here will profit from this new infrastructure. Most people won't even notice, as people only notice when stuff 'breaks' but the plan is that somehow now, things won't be 'breaking' as often as they once were.

News

Two bits of news today:
-in the local paper there was a writeup about the New Testament Bible Dedication that happened last month!

-the construction team here is working on a new building for our training center. A Dining hall. We will soon have the capacity to host large training courses, feed and house the trainees for the multiple weeks we have them. The training courses often involve inviting Papua New Guinean church leaders or aspiring translators, and train them in how to translate the Bible and how to use the Word of God to communicate to their people. In other words, we do a LOT of training here, we don't simply say 'here's your new Bible'. But we teach them how to use it, how to help translate it, how to apply it.

Think of all the incredible things that this building can be used for!

The Word

The Melting Point of Rubber Bands ...and other disgusting things

So we've gotten into our house, opened the storage closet, and pulled things from it. What we found was interesting to say the least.
Rats and roaches had made their homes inside our clothing.
Mold had grown on everything plastic or leather (shoes).
And dust had found its way INSIDE of cases.

For example, I was surprised to find that dust made it's way into my banjo case and onto my banjo. Although I'm certain a scientist might tell me it was a fungus and not dust, but it looked and felt like dust.

As we walked around people were saying 'so, you cleaning up lots of rat poop?'. THEY KNEW? They didn't tell us.

Sometimes it does feel that this lifestyle has certain rites of passage. Going on furlough is one. Returning from furlough is another. Although we've already passed hopefully 85% of these rites, and the remainder are many years off.

But the most interesting thing....
as we left we removed batteries and then I used rubber bands,made in PNG (the brand is called 'SWALLOW'... so the box says 'Swallow rubber bands', I used the rubber bands to secure the batteries to the device they belonged to so I could use them again when we returned.

The rubber bands melted.
They melted so much that I had forgotten I rubber banded items and was wondering 'what is this colored goop all over my stuff?'

The best I can figure, when left alone the rubber bands do not melt. In the box, they are fine.

I believe that once the initial STRETCH is completed, then at room temperature or slightly above, these rubber bands will melt.

It's the oddest thing. It seems really odd that I should say 'we should import our rubber bands'. But ONLY the ones I've stretched and used, and left alone, have melted.

Anyway, it's all part of life in the tropics. Learning how to cope.

We're glad to be back and settling in again.
People were really excited to see us back, both personally and professionally which always feels good.

Microsoft Licensing

Possibly the single biggest change in the last 6 months is our Microsoft Licensing has been revoked.

I won't get too specific because I don't know how much I should be public about.

We had many donated licenses from Microsoft for windows, office, exchange, etc.
Donated = 100% free.

This year Microsoft asked us to roll out one of their key management servers and we said we simply couldn't do it.

As a result (again generalizing) they decided in our new contract, that all donated licenses were now expired.

Typically Microsoft grandfathers in existing systems that have been on donated licenses.

To me that is unheard of.

I mean you can say 'all future licenses are going to cost you X dollars'.
But to say 'everything we've donated to you in the past is now illegal' is in my opinion ridiculous.

It comes down to a discrepency in the original contract for the program. The catalyst was our refusal to use the key management server, and so suddenly the wording of the contract came into question.

As a result, since we can NOT move to opensource very quickly, (will take 3-5 years to totally migrate because of the remoteness of our user base), we are pretty much forced to comply.

This will cost us $70,000.

$70,000 to legalize what was legal 3 months ago. $70,000 to make legal what should be still legal.

I know that Microsoft tried this in some school districts and the schools took the issue to the press, and Microsoft relented.

I think that with a little pressure they would relent on this issue only it is not within our power or even within our style to cause such pressure.

I don't want to toss any fuel on the fire of these platform holy wars, but I thought it worth mentioning.

The good news is that we are still able to get discounts on Microsoft items, we simple aren't getting them for free any longer.

Personally, I have NEVER worked for an organization so conscious about being properly licensed and legal. In fact this entire debacle occurred because we approached Microsoft with our licensing donation program agreement over the wording of the contract because we felt it was the honest thing to do under their new licensing structure.

I have worked for multi-million dollar companies that were much further out of compliance in Microsoft licensing than we are. I've worked for big companies that have no license management program whatsoever... whereas we keep meticulous records and guard the giving out of licenses closely.


All this to say...
Today I was asked if I wanted to 'purchase a plastic bag'. I had done shopping and they would not give me a bag, they were going to make me buy it. So I refused, and walked off with the stuff in my hands.

What used to be free is no longer free.

I'm thinking in a few years, the freedom that comes in Christ will be the key message preached more than the Love of Christ.

It is a free gift. Those are becoming more and more rare these days.

Translation update

Nehan New Testament dedication this Saturday 15th January.

Also this Saturday is the dedication of the book of Matthew in the Edolo language group.

That's all the information I have right now. I find it amazing that while we're flying into the country, there is a dedication going on, the same as there was when we were flying OUT of the country.

One thing I know, is that God doesn't NEED us to do HIS work, He invites us, and when we accept the invite, while hard work, the blessings are beyond anything we could achieve on our own in this life.

Australian for 'child protection'

Why bother with fancy plastic knob protectors when you can simply raise the knob 14 inches.. sorry, I mean CM how many centimeters is that?

Mental Test

Chad's Mental Acuity test:

1 - travel for 26 hours to a different country
2 - drive a car on the OTHER side of the road and the steering wheel on the other side of the car
3 - drive in the dark
4 - don't get lost.

okay well I got lost but I got us unlost quickly (-;

man am I tired.... what were we thinking getting in a car without a map? Well we found a place to eat dinner and pick up groceries.. so that's a success! Thankfully we had been here once before.

It is funny to drive yourself TO the airport in San Francisco and then around in Australia... it takes a few moments to get your bearings back.

Which still doesn't stop you from turning on the windshield wipers instead of the blinkers from time to time. (-;

We're in Cairns, AUS for a few days waiting to get into PNG. We will all be falling asleep in moments but wanted to thank everyone for their prayers in getting us here!

See You Later

Our furlough is over.
Home Assignment is complete.
We get on a plane in a few short hours.

We're sad to depart, We're excited to arrive.

We have become well versed in saying farewells, and so we don't say 'goodbye' we say 'see you later'. Because one way or another, we'll meet again.

Huge thanks to everyone... here is our stay in a nutshell.


We were in America for:

194 days
10,500 miles of driving
11 church public speaking engagements
a few new ministries
many new friends
3 family baptisms
2 family members passing
1 new family member
1 new church family

We've seen some new technologies while here:

onlive.com - video gaming at the next level
pandora internet radio
hulu.com
netflix streaming movies
iPad
augmented reality
check cashing from your phone
3d Television
HD television is widespread (was infant when we left)
faster and cheaper
VOIP on consumer level caught on (we were early adopter)
Xbox Kinect
Google Video
Skype has gotten MUCH bigger
Tablet pc's and touch screens are very popular now
RFID
Wikileaks

We Enjoyed:
Seeing family and friends
Dining out
Hot showers
Pizza
Internet speeds
Fall colors
playing in the snow
and more...

We were surprised by:
the traffic increase
the cold Winter
how fast time passed


Meanwhile back in PNG:

2 New Testament Bible Dedications
many new people
new things going on at each of our job


OUR ITINERARY for people who enjoy knowing and praying:

Mon 10 Jan
Depart San Francisco 19:45
Arrive Auckland, NZ 12 Jan 05:55
Duration 13:10
----lose a day----

Wed 12 Jan
Depart Auckland, NZ 09:10
Arrive Cairns, AUS 11:25
Duration 5:15

----over night in TREETOPS at CAIRNS for wed,thurs,frid

Sat 15 Jan (friday in USA)
depart Cairns, AUS 6:45
arrive Port Moresby, PNG 8:30

Sat 15 Jan
depart Cairns, AUS 9:41
arrive Aiyura, Ukarumpa PNG 12:00

Travel Sagas

Papua New Guinea is a hard place to travel to. Schedules get changed, planes break and are grounded, etc.

Tonight we had an interesting situation.
Only hours ago we were saying 'wow, we're really ready ahead of time, I wonder what might go wrong to make us scurry at the last moment? Well whatever it is, we're fortunate to be able to have the time to handle it."

Around 2pm we got a bunch of new documents to fill out and as per usual, we didn't procrastinate, we did it immediately. We filled them out and sent them in, and WOW that surprise was easy to handle.

But a few hours later we found all those documents were moot.

A plane in PNG had a mechanical failure and was grounded.

Our flight from Australia to PNG was cancelled.

EVERYONE had to scramble. People in PNG had to scramble to figure out how to get us un-stranded....

appointments were to be changed...
documents changed...
flights booked... etc.

AHA! This is the big surprise! Okay.. so as usual, with slightly elevated calmness we deal with it.
We go online and book a flight.

Only the flight booking doesn't go through. Because our credit card fraud protection stopped us...

So I call in, fix it, rebook
The flight now costs $200 more, because the value of the seats went up.. why? because I booked the same flight a few minutes before but failed. Qantas was unwilling to bend on the refund. ..... moving on.

And... also, because we changed airlines, we're not longer considered as coming from America so our baggage allowance is cut in half

so an extra $450 bucks in luggage fees is added.

So in 15 minutes time, we had to scramble quite a bit and pay more... we thought.

WELL of course our tensions were raised for a bit, and we had to spend a lot of money in a very short time... and of course we're thinking 'man this is wasted money'.

But then we considered it.
We knew something might happen, the possibility with Papua New Guinea is that you have to expect the unexpected... ANYTHING can happen.

So we became suddenly so thankful that we had the wherewithall to bear it. We aren't over stressed. We aren't short on time, we aren't at our limit... we are packed, the documents are signed, sealed and delivered, we're simply prepared and calm...

and thanks to financial partners like you, we had the money to deal with it and the time and encouragement to know that people have our backs. So it was not at all sudden panic.

But here's the coolest part... ready?

If you tally up all the 'extra fees', and costs, etc... because we acted quick we got a much much better rate, AND the new rate was lower than the original flight.

So while we do have to take an extra plane, which is what we were trying to avoid, and spend an extra day travelling which is also what we were trying to avoid,

WE STILL arrive back in PNG, on time, before school starts, and ... ready for it?...

even with all the changes, the total cost to travel the same distance... is STILL the same price (if not a tad bit cheaper)!!!

AMAZING?
have you ever been able to totally scramble and move your family of four in an emergency internationally and NOT have to pay hundreds of extra dollars?

we didn't!!!

it's remarkable to me.

BUT it does mean a bit of extra travel weariness on us.... it's the same path we would have taken before, on a bigger airplane, for the same price, only arriving a day later without changing our departure day... so an extra day in transit is our biggest loss. Not bad?! An extra day in sunny Australia? Could be worse.. right?

it's actually good news.

PLEASE pray for safe travels, and no more hidden surprises.
PLEASE pray for family health as we travel, my kids are both miserable with a cold.

thank you for your prayers.

Weather

You'd think after nearly 6 months of being here in the U.S. that we wouldn't have any more cultural 'surprises'. Today I found another one. I was going to visit my Uncle and he said 'well I checked the weather and it will rain hard tonight, so maybe we should reschedule'.

It dawned on me. I had not been checking the weather here as a way to determine my next day's actions. It's California so you don't need to TOO much. But then it hit me why.

In PNG the weather forecast is always the same. Sunny with a chance of rain. The rain comes almost every day, and there is no way to predict when. It takes only moments to go from very sunny and warm to a torrential downpour.

Because of this often you get caught in the rain without an umbrella and wearing shorts and sandals with a t-shirt.

Sometimes you get a warning, the clouds come in and it sprinkles. To give you an idea of how fast it turns into HEAVY rain:

One day I was outside working, and I felt a sprinkle. I thought to myself 'this means I have anywhere from 15 seconds to a minute before this rain turns serious if it's going to'. So I literally began running for rain cover.

No sooner had I made it under and overhang than WOOSH a flood of rain fell and fell hard. I couldn't believe how fast it had happened.

In PNG you have the occasional days of 'tut tut it looks like rain, I think I'll get my umbrella and hat'... but more than often it's 'tut tut.... I'm soaking wet now'.

So to come to California, land of sunshine, it dawns on me that some people still do depend on weather forecasts to plan their days. Even if I had wanted to in PNG, the weather reports are never accurate... and more often than not they all read the same thing across the country.

One other thing about the weather.
Here the rain is cold and often joined by wind. Going out into the rain is miserable, and brushing against a bush or something that drops water onto you, makes you shudder.

In PNG, if you didn't go out in the rain, you'd rarely go outside. But the water isn't nearly as cold as here, and there is not often accompanying wind.

Simply straight, hard, warmer, rain. You don't mind getting soaked as much because it's not an issue of also being cold. I've said this before when asked about humidity.

Living in PNG, you learn to deal with moisture in every sense of the word. You learn to let your clothing dry while you wear it, to go days on end without ceasing to sweat, to put all leather objects in well ventilated areas to avoid mildew. You simply learn to deal with moisture. But the accompanying heat makes it much more bearable than the accompanying cold that comes with moisture in the U.S.

One Hundred

What is God doing in America?
Well, the Owens family is heading to PNG for our second term on Jan 10.
We have reached 100% of our financial partnership, and are so very thankful that you all have joined us in our next term. Stay tuned to this blog for exciting things to come!

Celebrate with us as we recognize we are at 100% financial support and cleared to return to PNG, the plane tickets are purchased, and the bags are getting packed.

Praise to God we can go into the Christmas week knowing those issues are behind us, but to be truthful we never worried, because we had a peace and a confidence that God still had a call on us to return. We even were patiently expecting it to be January.

It is remarkable to us the encouragement that we have received and we are excited that not only did our 100% pledged support has arrived, but that we also have a new church family joining us! We're especially excited and blessed by that.


WHAT IS GOD DOING IN PNG?
(news as of Dec 17) 10 Bible Dedications in 2010 !!!!

Takuu Dedication - On 24 December the Takuu people of the island out beyond Bougainville will be celebrating the dedication of their New Testament that Abraham Vaeleni and Sue [..edit..] and others translated. Please keep these events in prayer, that the power of God’s word in these languages will penetrate their hearts as they read their scriptures. The other interesting piece of information is that the Kwadima II (the SIL boat based in East Papua) is heading up to Buka so as to be able to take the visitors from Buka to the Mortlock Atoll for the dedication. This will have made 9 NT dedications and 1 revision dedication in 2010. Isn’t God good?????!!

Stuck

the weekend thus far

It's been a surreal weekend.

Woke up Saturday morning, breakfast food was covered in ants, and a huge skunk sprayed our house. In the midst of packing we were cleaning the house for company and cleaning the AIR of skunk. Company wasn't able to make it, so we had bbq'd steak and potatoes just the four of us. It started weird but ended good.

Sunday, we gear up to go to church, I dressed a bit shabby in jeans knowing I was going to help a friend move today.

Found that the rain had sunk the drive in down and our car was completely stuck. After about 40 minutes of trying to get unstuck, called AAA.

I also wrote our pastor and said 'sorry we didn't make it'
he replied 'I was going to introduce you this morning as missionaries'

I thought 'does he know how close we were to going to church covered in mud? I actually thought 'I'm not changing, we can be a bit late no one will notice mud covered jeans.'

PHEW.. dodged that bullet.. 'Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Chad and Kendal, Chad's the one covered in mud as um... a symbol of life in PNG yeah, that's the ticket.'

Three things we're thankful to God for:

1 - the car we bought had a tow hitch, almost totally useless except we got towed out SUPER fast

2 - for giving me the foresite to purchase a AAA membership even though until today we hadn't needed it...

3 - for the fact that with all this weirdness, we weren't bothered in the slightest. Not with company canceling, the skunk or with being towed. I dunno why, but for some reason all this weird stuff that might upset and stress people out,... didn't even phase us.

It's been a great and restful weekend, in an odd missionary kind of way.

Last night for dinner, we put on a virtual fireplace on the computer, looped it, and played some christmas music.. so it was fun.

thinking with my ears

One of the things I've been spending a lot of time thinking about lately is mission strategy as it regards to technology. Frankly, if the Lord is going to tarry until everyone gets a chance to hear, I'm very invested in getting people to hear the Gospel message.

So they why do I work for a Bible translation agency? Because until we have the language, we can't do anything with video or audio. During the process of translating the Bible, we develop the dictionaries and all the written aspects, but we also develop videos and recordings to share with people and partner with other agencies who do it well. We provide the engine that feeds the language understanding into all these other wonderful ways to prove to people the YES GOD KNOWS YOUR LANGUAGE TOO!

The Luasanne congress has occured 3 times in history. The best minds of missions strategy come together. This year in Africa. In my reading through the conference notes, I came across this nugget:

REACHING ORAL LEARNERS a. What is the need? The subject of Orality, or reaching oral learners, is one of the break-­‐through ideas in mission strategy that is just starting to gain momentum. Two-­‐thirds of the people throughout the world are oral learners. That is, they prefer to learn through proverbs, music, poetry and especially stories

Page 9 of 20 As mission leaders, we must rethink how we are delivering our evangelism, discipleship and church planting strategies. We need to follow the pattern of Jesus from Mark 4:33-­‐ 34, which records that ␣he did not say anything to them without using a parable [or a story]␣␣
There are 41,000 denominations throughout the world and 4,700 mission agencies.19 We need to begin training them in how to teach the scriptures using stories from the Bible. When people are trained effectively, they will see every person involved in a Bible study able to repeat the story without error to their family and friends. One of the best ways to build pastors effectively for the millions of house churches will be to teach them how to tell stories from the Scripture. The staggering thing about Orality is that even in media-­‐sophisticated countries, the majority of people want to get their information through oral means: films, radio, television, and the I Fifty-­‐eight percent of high school graduates in the United States say they will never read a book voluntarily after they graduate. Forty-­‐two percent of university graduates say the same thing.20
1) We all need to learn how to share the Gospel through stories.

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I'm excited about this because this strategy taps into two of my interests:
-technology
-video/audio production

I should share with you the story of my friend Chris, who thinking it may not amount to much, recorded the New Testament in his village's language onto some mp3 players called Megavoice. What happened is that over the coming months the village passed around the mp3 players for story time and gathered around and listed to the Gospel in their own language.

Three little mp3 players, reached a large group of people with the Word of God.
It required:
-the Word be translated
-the Word be spoken and recorded
-the Word be played back

imagine the amount of work gone into producing a device like the Megavoice that could be used in this way? Imagine all the people working to translate the Bible, to record it?

You need skilled people is so many dozens of areas to accomplish it.


GOD will accomplish His work. WE are honored to be along for the ride.

I am very excited about His asking me to use my skills in this area.

I am excited about the missions world understanding audio/video as a strategy and deploying it.

I am very excited about the leaps in technology allowing us to do it more effectively and affordably.

I'm SUPER excited to be bringing back a demonstrated kit I've built of different technologies to show people in PNG about how we can make it ultra portable!

Lunch deal