Facing Failure

I might as well blog about this too.
The tone of this entry is not complaining... in fact a great many things are going good for us here.

We just celebrated our son's 10th birthday,
Easter was the other day,
we're very busy at work,
we received a recent care package...
life is good.

Which is why I can talk about failure without complaining or being overly negative.

Failure is something most of the volunteers (missionaries) here experience regularly.

One failure might be that while you're trying to gain acceptance in a village to begin translation work, someone in a drunken fit burns down your village home forcing you to evacuate.

That takes a huge emotional toll on a family, it's a huge setback in the progress of a translation, and in the end a lot of issues have to be dealt with before things can get back on track.

Another failure could be scheduling and planning a training class only to have little to no one arrive because of various problems (hevi's) in their villages.

This is the land of the unexpected... and everyone has to deal with failure in their own way... and recognize that often it has nothing to do with our efforts.

I would be interested in hearing how you have dealt with the disappointment of seeing your labor fall apart in front of you.

Recently I had been working on a new technology that promised to solve many networking issues here, I got very excited about it and worked very long hours on it for a period of a month.

And then, the day we put it into production, something came up very quickly that proved we'd be completely unable to use it and thus, the problem is not solved.

Today of course I felt a little bit like the wind was taken out of my sails. I was so hopeful that this would solve huge issues for everyone.

But it won't.

You know that verse that says 'count it as joy, when you face trials of many kinds?'
I do not believe we are expected to be joyful immediately.
The Bible says to mourn with those who mourn and weep with those who weep.

There is a time to share in suffering and failure.

First I'm very thankful that my personal inability to succeed in this is nothing in comparison to having my village house burned down.

But we do face disappointment.
And the way we have learned as a family to 'count it as joy' is simply to realize that in suffering and disappointment we aren't alone, and if we bear it well (as Job did), that it can in fact be a form of worship.

Humbling ourselves means that when our pride is wounded from failure, we turn to God to seek comfort and recognize it can only be done WITH HIM.

On the flip side, it's technology so I'm very certain we'll eventually find a solution, (we're tenacious that way)... but we go forward praying for God's help in this.

And we pray for encouragement for others who have faced even worse discouragement.

Finally,
God is good.

Today someone told me something I found very encouraging...
they said,
'well, last year at this translation course, things were hectic, there was lot of network failures and printing problems, but now things seem to just work.'

that told me that our team of computer techs did it's job in the last year... we made things better for the translation folks...

and that feels good.

We strive to continue to make things better for the translation efforts and am confident that with your prayers we'll find a solution to this big problem we've been trying to solve.

Record Player

Today's breakfast conversation between me and the kids

"and they jumped on a record player and spun around and…"
me "wait, do you know what a record player is?"
syd "yup"
calvin "yes"
me "what does it do?"
syd "it plays records"
calvin "well, you put a huge black thing like a CD on it, and then it has a needle and you put the needle in one of the… there's scratches all over the big black cd thing, and the needle stays in one of the scratches and gets closer and closer to the middle until the song or whatever is done, and then it's over."

this coming from two kids who saw a typewriter in a museum and went nuts over it.

All Christian Parents Should See This

I rarely do anything other than report on what we're doing here, on this blog.

Recently our church services have been playing videos of different preaching because it takes a lot of work to organize a church service every week when you have no staff dedicated to it. So occasionally a video will be shown.

I saw this sermon (you can listen or download the video)
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/let-no-one-despise-you-for-your-youth

The main GIST of the message is that parents should not give their children a heritage of believing that being a Christian is following a set of rules.

They should instead endeavor to teach their kids about a relationship with Christ.

It's a huge challenge, and if you listen/watch it may challenge your approach at parenting a bit.

I personally have inherited a wonderful heritage from my family that has taught me the value of prayer, the desire to seek a relationship with Christ, and I do not feel bound by rules and traditions although I honor them, I do not feel they define my salvation.

Many people I know have 'left the church' or 'turned away from God' because their entire understanding of Him is that He gives them rules that they don't fully like or understand.

It's a sad scenario. To lose out on the wonder that is Christ and knowing Him is a tragedy.

One of the things they say about going to the mission field is that you are confronted with things in ten years that would take most people 100 years to be confronted with and as a result your faith is forced to grow quickly.

I have become so addicted to seeing Christ move in my life and around me!! Watching Him work is incredible, and brings me closer to Him. But last night it dawned on me, that many people are losing out on that opportunity simply because they see Christianity as a religion of rules.

The true wonder of this life, is getting to know Christ just enough through our sin clouded bodies, that we want to get to know Him a LOT more later when we're untethered and unshackled in heaven!!!

Stuff I learned

the photo is for fun, lots of war wreckage can be seen in these parts.

For those that are concerned that my skill level might atrophe while here, I thought it might be fun to list out all the things I have learned since January.

In 4 months I have learned the following technologies that I have NEVER seen before:

-Packeteer - how to do packet shaping - We deployed it and I became the resident 'expert' on the topic... the deployment was so successful we were able to improve our network performance by a lot.

-PPPoE - I've only heard of it until now, and now I've setup a server and tested it

-Captive Portal - the concept was familiar, but now I'm intimately informed about this... think Starbucks hotspot.

-FREERADIUS - the leading radius server out there, and now I know it very very well.

-PFSENSE - having never used this box before, I'm very familiar with it now

-VMware VSphere - I'm an admin now on a cluster and have imported many vm's and we've together migrated to an 90% virtual environment!!!

-Net Scopia - a new application for video/audio conferencing that we're testing out.

Many of these technologies are currently leading in the industry, and many of them would be necessary skills for a network technician who wanted to work for say, an Internet Service Provider.

I however have no intention of updating my resume because I enjoy working in the Lord's employ. While learning and using these things has required a lot of my grey matter lately, I have enjoyed learning new things, and wanted to inform anyone who was concerned, that my Lord is keeping me challenged, and up to date. As He always has. I owe every one of my skills and abilities to His guidance. I will boast in the Lord for taking an average mind like mine, and jamming all this stuff into it, admittedly at times, against my will. But in the end He has made me a useful person and I do very much enjoy being useful.

nsswitch.conf

today I was configuring ldap authentication on freeradius for the middle A of the AAA model... anyway... I came to edit the nsswitch.conf file, something I haven't done for nearly a decade....

and this warm feeling washed over me, like a warm blanket,
and I realized ...'aaaaaah... I'm working in unix again. It feels like home.'.

total.... GEEK..... moment.

Arnotts

been having a long few days of experimenting with Captive Portals and Ubuntu.
CoovaChilli, and more.

So.. I decided to take a 2 minute break and enjoy...

a BUSH BISCUIT.

When was the last time you had a graham cracker?
Well these Bush biscuits (biscuit is Australian for cookie), are about the size of your hand, and they're thick, and dry and sweet.

And until you've eaten them for a few months, you don't really like them.

Still it's a staple snack over here for me... and something I enjoy with hot tea at 10am and 3pm.

That's right, at work a whistle blows and everyone is free to take a 15 minute tea break.

The last one I took was a few months ago, as I typically don't stop working for TEA because I'm knee deep in some issue.

But today I took 2 minutes, and ate a bush biscuit.

em tasol.
(that's all folks).

Iphone Jury Rig

My latest Jury Rig.

Cell Phone Sim Card

Trying to unlock an iphone 4 and migrate from an old (donated) iphone 2g.

The biggest problem is my iphone wouldn't' unlock… until today.
The second problem is our carrier here, doesn't make micro sims, which the iphone 4 requires.

Most people might say 'well cut it to match' but it's not that simple, Digicel uses the OLD sim cards… so here's what I did.


I live way out in the highlands where we can't get mail or …well anything quickly. So what to do when my new Gevey sim card hack came in the mail?

Well, first, I had to get a micro-sim to fit. Seeing as how mine wouldn't, I posted on the 'wanted' newsgroups and a neighbor actually had the RIGHT kind of SIM!! YES! I didn't have to wait a month to get a new one.

So I got it, and then compared it to my old AT&T micro sim and used my leathermans tool to make the cuts.



I had to make the TOP card look like the bottom card in order to make it fit into my phone. A few well placed cuts later and I did. Making sure to match up the lines of the metal portions.


I put the new micro sim into this device, the Gevey.

After going through all the steps to activate the Gevey it dawns on me that my new sim hadn't been activated or possibly was expired and I didn't know the number of it… and since my phone is not yet unlocked I couldn't make the necessary calls.

OOPS.
Now I have a microsim and no other working device to put it into to make the calls. NO ONE ELSE ON CENTER had a device that would take a microsim….




so…
I took the plastic card the original sim came in.



and cut a piece out of it
and shaped it like a regular sized sim (The top card in the top picture).



But then I cut a microsim shape out of it, very carefully so as not to cut myself or ruin the 'adaptor' I was making.


THEN, I put my homemade sim adaptor into the phone's sim cradle, and snuggled in my microsim into it.. and put it into my old phone, and made all the calls necessary to activate the card.


Then all I had to do what pop it out and pop it into my new phone.


Bingo.

Tools needed:
-1 Leatherman multi-tool
-2 phones
thankfully no bandaids.

If I were in the states, I'd have walked into the closest Tmobile store and asked for a proper micro sim, and it would have taken me 30 minutes.

this process took me a little closer to 2 hours. But I prefer to call it being resourceful.

33.3

2010 HIV update.. 33.3 million people living with HIV in the world.

Does that number strike a chord in anyone?

here are some PNG stats on HIV and AIDS... this is all public record.


PNG
By Dec 2009 – 28,294 reported cases of AIDS (source: New Zealand AIDS Foundation)
An estimated 1,300 people died of AIDS-related causes in 2009
Approx. 2,400 adults were newly infected in 2009 – 200 each month
Approximately 800 children were newly infected in 2009 – 67 each month
Total estimated new cases each month is 267.
Currently 0.92% of the PNG ADULT population is HIV positive (lower than previously estimated due to improved sampling of the population, especially through antenatal clinics), although this is higher in the Highlands (1.02%) and Southern (1.17%) regions.
Estimated to be about 34,100 HIV+ persons living in PNG in 2009
Approximately 3,000 children in PNG were living with HIV in 2009.
Antenatal testing has greatly increased, from 17 centres conducting the testing in 2005 to 178 in 2009.

The rate is now higher in rural than urban areas and growing fastest in rural PNG.
HIV is reported in all provinces and districts in PNG.
Generalised epidemic – that is it is in all segments of the population, not just high risk groups.
Women are infected at a younger age than the men – but of those infected half are women, half men.
Currently PNG has the highest rates of HIV and other STIs in the Pacific area and for HIV is the 4th in the Asia-Pacific region (after Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia).
Reasons for the Spread of HIV in PNG
Gender inequality and violence against women
Forced sex within and outside of marriage is common
70% of women report being beaten by their husbands.
Women will sell sex for very little – buai, entrance to a video parlour or game room, cigarettes, alcohol or drugs and money. Some girls will sell their bodies for 2-4 kina.
The favorite age of girls (based on personal discussion with many men) is 14-16 years old.
Men and women both have multiple sexual partners – often concurrent.
Polygamy is a long standing part of the culture for men
“Big man” syndrome in which men gain importance by the number of women they have, especially younger ones.
Men often work away from home in logging or mining or as drivers. In Tari, 17 of 20 truck drivers hired in August of 2010 were HIV+. Prostitution is widespread.



Routes of spread in PNG
96% sexually transmitted
Risk of HIV from one non-traumatic episode of normal intercourse is 1:500 to 1:100. (Centers for Disease Control – CDC)
This increases 10-fold with anal intercourse (which occurs in PNG between men and men, especially in prison, and also men and women) (CDC)
Also increases if there are sores from an STI on either partner or is the sex was traumatic.
Risk is a bit lower if the man is circumcised.
Risk is much, much less if condom is worn and worn properly.
High risk areas are:
Markets (all over)
Wharf areas
Church camps, including and especially youth camps
Traditional Feasts
Shows and Festivals
Sports Tournaments
Schools
“6 to 6” stops along the Highway
Discos and nightclubs
4% mother to infant
HIV infected pregnant woman transmits the virus to her unborn baby in womb or during delivery 15-30% of the time
Most transmission occurs during delivery.
Transmission rates up to 45% have been reported in areas where prolonged breast feeding is the norm.
Medication to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission is now available at birth (starting in labor) even if the mother’s CD4 blood count doesn’t qualify her for long-term antiretroviral therapy
Reduce transmission from breast milk by safe feeding:
Breast only for 6 months,
Then completely wean and feed with cup and spoon.
Bottle feeding is a killer in PNG. Bottle fed babies (even with HIV+ mothers) are more likely to die from infections they get through the bottle feeding than from HIV.


<1% via blood transfusion or contaminated needles.
Blood transfusion of HIV+ blood is about a 100% risk of infection.
But the virus is killed on contact with air so razors and other objects are not infectious for long.
Risk from a needle stick – needle has HIV+ blood in it and a person is stuck – transmission of HIV occurs in 3:1000 such incidents.

Uh oh, the Sugar is Gone

Ramu, our sugar factory, has stopped making sugar.

News
Thursday 14th April, 2011

Ramu’s bitter dose

BY OSEAH PHILEMON
and SIMON ERORO

SUGAR consumers throughout Papua New Guinea stand to pay over 70 percent more for sweetness when imported sugar from Thailand arrives on the shelves of their supermarkets and trade stores within the next week.
The reason for this is failure by the Government to grant tariff relief to enable Ramu Agri Industries Limited (RAIL) to import sugar from Thailand under a relief arrangement until sugar production can resume at the Gusap factory.
RAIL general manager Jamie Graham told the Post-Courier in Lae yesterday that the company had asked the Government through Treasurer Peter O’Neill as far back as November last year for the tariff to be reduced from 70 percent to 40 percent.
The minister told this newspaper last week (see clipping) that he had given approval for a one-off partial reduction of tariff for Ramu to import sugar.
This had apparently not been followed through by government instrumentalities to have it gazetted in order for Customs to apply the lesser duty.
RAIL’s sugar production was affected by severe dry spell last year and vandals set fire to 700 hectares of the productive cane fields. When the company became aware that production was projected to drop by 7% and demand up by 15%, it made a submission to Mr O’Neill for the tariff reduction to ensure sugar consumers were not hard-hit with high prices of the sweet import.
Mr Graham said the government assured the company this would be done by January 2011but it reneged on the undertaking.
Mr Graham said late last week he was assured by the National Executive Council Secretary and the Treasury Department that Cabinet would make a decision on the matter this Monday but Cabinet did not meet as planned.
He said Thailand sugar arrived at the Lae port last week and was awaiting clearance. Yesterday morning Ramu instructed their customs agents to pay the 70 per cent tariff on the imported sugar and get it off the wharf. Ramu also had to pay for 10 days of storage and wharfage fees while awaiting clearance.
Mr Graham said the company could not let the sugar sit at the wharf while waiting for the NEC decision on tariff reduction as the costs of storage would increase significantly. He said the company imported 2000 tonnes of sugar from Thailand with another 2000 tonnes to arrive within a month’s time.
Any NEC decision now on the reduction in tariff will be “too late” and consumers will just have to wear the huge increase in the price of sugar once it arrives at the shops. “We have no choice but to pass on the increase to the consumers,” Mr Graham said.
The imported sugar was yesterday being transported to the Gusap factory where it will be tested to ensure it meets Ramu Sugar standards before being packed into the various packaging sizes and transported to wholesalers and shops to meet the outstanding orders.
Mr Graham said the actual price of the sugar on the shelf will not be determined until all the costs have been added up. For every K1000 worth of sugar, Ramu pays the government K700 (70 per cent) and this is why the price will shoot up sharply until the local sugar production returns to normal. Other costs to be factored into the price formula include wharfage, freight and repackaging.
Ramu had planned to import up to 8000 tonnes of sugar to meet the domestic PNG market in the interim. But good news is on the way.
Mr Graham said on Tuesday this week the boiler at the sugar mill was started up which is the first sign that sugar canes are about to be brought into the mill for processing.

The Word

ASKIM for tech

an ASKIM is a request for help.

I have a request for help for the readers of this blog.

We have a unique situation in that we are trying to find a way to authenticate all users going out over our network against a RADIUS (microsoft NPS) server.
We need to be able to either LOG their access... OR create a HOTSPOT type of environment where they pre-pay or post-pay for their usage in KB/MB NOT in time.


So far we've proven:
-pppoe server will authenticate against radius but will not log usage...
-hotspot servers like Antamedia don't log in MB they log in time.


If anyone happens to know of a solution that will log network usage in MB/KB and authenticate against radius, PLEASE let me know.

I suspect you'll be working for an ISP or some CHAIN of shops that offer paid WIFI.

it's a hail mary, but our research isn't coming up with the specific solution we need....

we're several weeks into testing out things to remove our current situation.

Currently we're running an ISA server and we want to get away from it.

thank you

The Case of the Missing Cream

"Imagine if you will, a world without Ice-Cream"

A small town, in the middle of Papua New Guinea holds a school book festival and promises that the class who wins the most points in the reading competition will have an ice cream social.

The 6th grade class was so excited that they won, and when the day for the ice cream party came.... there was no ice cream.

*dramatic music* dum dum.. DUM!!!!!!!

Who took the ice cream? Where did it go? Did it accidentally get sold? Why is there not more?

All of these questions required a Nancy Drew like investigation.
The road was out, the bridge was out, the freezer truck couldn't make the 3 hour journey into town to buy some ice cream.

But the ice cream was ordered and in stock, where did it go?

They first discovered that the ice cream was sold, as the DO NOT TOUCH, FOR 6TH GRADE BOOK FAIR!!! signs were overlooked.

But later that was found to be untrue.

Nearly a month later, while doing maintenance on the store freezer the tubs of Dairy-Free, Pseudo Ice Cream were found!

Soon the 6th graders will be rejoicing as the mystery has been solved. Just in the nick of time, as 6th grade graduation is only weeks away.

SCBA no U

A few years ago I volunteered on our local branch fire team. At the time I joined there was very little training and we had no gear, but we had a Japanese fire truck.

Since then we've had a fire marshall dedicated to getting gear donated, and we've fought a large house fire.

Today, I've been trained on the operation of the fire truck (pumps, hose maintenance, water usage), proper use of a fire hose, we have turnout gear now and they actually found some that almost fit me well, and the most recent addition to our collection of gear:

SCBA. Think SCUBA without the Underwater... Self Contained Breathing Apparatus.

Yesterday I got trained in how to connect everything, how to put it on, how to breath with it.

I've never been certified to dive, but if you have it's a similar procedure, and we're VERY glad to have this stuff now, so that we can actually enter a burning building without causing harm to ourselves.

Although we pray we never have to, we train as if we will.

Tomorrow we'll be doing a full gear exercise. We have 2 minutes to put on all our gear.

Then after that we'll be doing blacked out exercises where we have to go into a building and find a person and pull them out. We've done this before but not in full gear.

You'd be surprised at how hard it is to find a dummy, in pitch black, in a room you've never been in before, with a partner... and then pull the body out.


Sometimes I marvel at what God is doing in my life.
Who knew years ago that by 2011 I would have actually driven a fire truck and fought a fire, and been trained in all this stuff!

I had been certified in CPR, Infant CPR and AED's (difib units) years ago and found out that I can be recertified here by our clinic nurses.

I'm constantly amazed at the opportunities you have here, to serve and to learn new things... and then be able to use them to support the community.

Giaman Ren

pronounced
(Geeyah mon rain)

Giaman means 'liar'
Ren means 'rain'

Giaman Ren is when it starts to rain, anywhere from light to moderate rain, but then within a few minutes it goes away, typically while the sun is still out.

Giaman Ren is something you learn to detect when you've been here a while.

For example,
If you've only been here a short while, you may find that on a sunny morning you put your clothes out on the line to dry by the sun (because we don't have dryers), and then a few minutes after sitting down, all your hard work complete, it starts to rain. You immediately jump up and run outside and gather all your clothes to avoid them getting even more wet.... come in side only to find out the rain has stopped.

You have just been duped by Giaman Ren.

But if you've been here a while like we have, you hang your clothes out,
sit down, look at the rain and say 'I'm hoping it's Giaman Ren'... and enjoy sipping your cool water for a few minutes, and then when the sun stays out and the rain goes away you take another sip enjoying the satisfaction of knowing you didn't waste the last 3 minutes of your life.

Of course, if it ISN'T Giaman Ren, then you'll wind up getting soaked while you bring the clothes in, but sometimes that's a risk well worth taking.

Techno God Stuff

sorry for not posting, life is very very busy here for the next 2 weeks as I'm responsible for getting translators' laptops joined to the new wireless network we rolled out.

Two quick notes I thought were cool.

On furlough I had to learn 2 new tricks:
1 - cracking a safe. Our safe battery died as we hadn't used it in 3.5 years, because we left it in the U.S. So I had to learn how to look up the safe schematics, and find out how to open the door with a dead battery. Not too incredibly hard, if you have the thought to look it up.

I mentioned the story in passing to a friend, who today was sitting next to the finance manager here who happened to ask 'no one here knows how to open a dead safe do they'. to which he got the response 'Chad Owens might be able to help you'.

So I got the request 'I hear you crack safes!' I replied 'no, I once opened 1 safe and it was hardly cracking, but let me see if I can help'.

Within 20 minutes the safe was open.

Thanks God for that experience on furlough.

2 - I had to learn to unlock an iphone while on furlough. When I got back one of the doctors here who rely on a smart device for their job, said 'Chad, I had this phone but it won't unlock, can you help me?'

And because I had been blessed with friends who donated an iphone to me as well as taught me how to unlock it, I was able to the doctor unlock his previously broken phone.

So...

I give thanks to God, for giving me those two small experiences and turning them into a way I could be helpful here to people outside of my normal day to day job.

Wow, God knows... He knows WAY ahead of time... and it's cool.

Skype

My latest headache here is skype.
Our internet connection shared across 500 accounts, is 400kbps download speed.

Compared to your connection in the U.S., well yours is least 5 times that probably more, and NOT shared to 500 people.

2 years ago, a few people were using Skype. Today nearly everyone is using it. But my internet connection hasn't improved and it's killing my network. While I was on furlough the decision was made to run it through our web proxy.

We run a proxy here for many reasons, not the least of which is web caching.

As soon as that happened people started complaining of wierd slowness.

Then I returned from furlough.

I started investigating all these wierd slownesses.

People began to complain about Skype not working all the time. I'd be caught in the hallway, called at home on weekends, asked to 'drop by and help'.

It didn't take long for me to put 2 and 2 together and realize Skype was killing my network.

Thankfully God saw this coming and saw fit to get two packeteers donated to us. So I've been pouring through the training manuals and I setup a lab and now, I'm a novice at it, but I'm able to do traffic shaping and keep skype at a low standstill.

Unfortunately there is no way to divorce the skype protocol over proxy (port 443) from the proxy itself and so even though skype is failing it's still killing my proxy server.

Skype is a wonderful tool for communication.
It's a horrible protocol for a network administrator with a limited internet connection and a proxy.

So... I need to find a way to completely kill Skype... everything else suffers until I do.

The only way I've found so far is through a Cisco router running the latest ios, only I don't HAVE a cisco router.

So until I can remove the proxy, or otherwise find a way to stop Skype, people here are going to be complaining about slow internet connection.

....
then it hit me... what about a non-technical solution... simply ask everyone to uninstall skype! See what happens? See if it will work! Do I dare ask the community to uninstall the software that enables them to , albeit choppily, speak to their family?

Enter Digicel.
We now have a cell phone company here that will let us call several world regions for about 40 cents a minute, which isn't too horribly bad.

Anyway,
I'm happy I found the cause, now I need to find the solution. But of course it works that way because you rarely are seeking a solution without first having a problem.

Chile today Hot Tamale

Quotes from my son's report on Chile (4th grade)

'in Chile in 1992 the population was roughly 14 million people. i have no idea what it is today."

"The area of Chile is 292,258 square miles or 756,945 square kilometers for anybody that isn't American"

"Spanish is the main language spoken in Chile. I suppose it is because Spain ruled Chile before September 18th, 1818"

Bibliography:
"I got all of my information from the 1992 World Book"

Fiber

We run fibre under the ground to various buildings as our network backbone. It's Multimode 100mb fibre. We run it because that's what we can afford. This new bit of fibre we had donated to us is actually quite hardy underground, and less likely to break.

As is our habit, we install a network cabinet wherever fibre is going to terminate and plug into a switch (cisco). But we don't have any fibre termination boxes so we make our own.

We take a plastic hobby box, which is simply a plastic box with a cover, then we drill holes in it... sometimes we grind it down a bit so that the nuts will fit on the barrel connectors... then we put the fibre barrel connectors in, terminate the fibre with our handy dandy fibre termination kit (no we don't fuse them, we use some tyco bits that use gel inside, very easy to do) measure the signal, and we're a go.

Above is a pic of one of our home made fibre boxes.

We've made them out of anything we can get our hands on. The last one we installed was made out of an old radio enclosure that we drill holes in. (a bent aluminum box).

For Coffee fans

for all my coffee loving readers out there... today as I stepped outside of my office I saw this truck. The Coffee Industry Corporation truck. Without that context the translation of the slogan on the side is sort of humorous.

'yumi lukautim kofi na kofi bai lukautim yumi' in an almost latin like turn of phrase this means:

'You and Me look out for coffee, and coffee will look out for you and me' In this context it means protect or watch-out for.


This one is almost completely English so you should be able to understand it. (-;

Today is 4

Today is the anniversary of our 4th year here. We arrived in this country on this day 4 years ago.

It was right before our 2 week meeting we hold every 2 years. We barely knew our way around, we hadn't started our jobs yet.

Now we're settled, experienced, been doing our jobs for a while, have experienced many different things, met many different people, seen many new Bible dedications.

It honestly seems like longer than four years in some respects. And in other respects much shorter than 4 years.

Next week conference starts again, and I am responsible for the networking portion of it. We're ready, the team is trained, the equipment is in place...

you can pray for us as those 2 weeks of conference is when we come together to decide on our leadership and strategy for the next 2 years.

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