Berries

One question I'm often asked is 'what is your chief expense there?' Answer: Groceries.
Our grocery store imports from the U.S. certain goodies, for other goods we buy in country.

Occsasionally Kendal gives the kids the chance to pick a dinner. My daughter picked my wife's famous 'cranberry chicken'. But this requires cranberries.

So first you visit the store. They are out. Not surprising, it's a seasonal thing. But sometimes you're surprised by what they do have.

So then you send out an email (technically an nntp posting) on the 'wanted' board and say 'we need one 14oz can of cranberries, does anyone have one to sell or lend?'

Soon someone will call or email and say "I do."

So tonight at dinner my wife said 'I'm very busy tonight I have a lot to do.'

Well of course she does, our hausmeri was unable to help today with things around the house because of a recent catastrophe for her family. So of course being the doting husband I say 'how can I help?'

So a few minutes later I find myself at a friend's house with 10 Kina in my pocket. This was our conversation.

"Hi Chad, Did Kendal tell you how much to pay?"
"No"
"well we don't have a price."
"okay"
"She did say to name our price."
"yes."
"Okay well how does Kina 250 sound?"
we both laugh. Apparently someone recently had tried to overcharge her and we had a laugh.

"It sounds high"
"Yes, well I was thinking, I bought some peaches this week a can of them, and it cost 10Kina, so I was thinking, THESE ARE OCEAN SPRAY, so how is 12 Kina?"
"Well, my wife told me she didn't know what to expect and gave me 10Kina. will that do or shall I put in a transfer for 12 Kina"

A transfer is our way of paying for stuff here so we don't handle cash. It makes life easier for our finance people if we don't handle much cash, as transporting large amounts of cash can be unsafe and troublesome.

"A transfer would be nice."

So.... begins the paperwork.

For reference, in the U.S. a can of Ocean Spray cranberries seems to average $1.90. 12 Kina is about $5.00 (at least that was the price I found when I looked online, I have no idea what current U.S. groceries cost).

Also it left me wondering... is Ocean Spray like the Cadillac of Cranberries?

It was a humorous exchange for me......

Another such recent exchange for us was similar, three women were trying to come up with a solution for feeding 9 people and one of my wive's friends kept repeating 'well at home I have a WHOLE can of beans' until finally someone said 'a whole can won't feed many people'.

As that friend left, they left behind with us, labelled and everything... 'a whole can of beans'.

So... we now around our house say
'well, it IS Ocean Spray."
and
'wow a whole can of beans!'

Geocaching Funny

In September my wife and I were surprised to find a geocache was hidden here on center, not 50 feet from where I work. So we went and we risked the bougainvilla thorns and found it. YAY! Our first cache in years.

Well today a friend came and said 'I was online and saw you found the cache hidden here, could you tell me if it's still there or if it's been muggled?'

So when he left I walked over and poked my soon-to-be-bloodied hand into the leaves. Unable to find it, the manager was outside tending to his yard and said 'Chad can I help you?"

Well I of course couldn't break the code of telling a muggle about geocaches... but this was his property.

So I said 'just poking around here, thorns you know'
'yup, sure, we got bougainvilla here'.

He's Canadien, and was giving me a look of confusion and also slightly coy. I knew bougainvilla thorn pricks to swell up pretty bad because of some juice they have or something... so I pulled my hands out... and tried to deflect the conversation.

'so Chad, you ah.... looking for something?' again his coy smile... or was the sun in his eye?

'Yeah... do YOU know what I'm looking for?' I ask

'No, not really, can I help?'

'Well I'm not sure, are you being coy? Do you know what I'm looking for?'

'I have no idea.'

at this point I realize I'm the crazy American sticking his hands into the thorn bush for no reason. So I decide to play it mysterious.

'Well, I'd like to tell you, but I can't, I'd be breaking a code.'
'oh!' he replies...but stands there staring at me still.

'okay I'll tell you, have you ever heard of geocaching?'
'nope, can't say that I have.... is it a game?'
'more like a hobby.'
'OH!' more serious of an oh this time.

So I explained the hobby to him, and explained that I was looking for something that is probably gone. He seemed to understand, but with the same sort of understanding that makes anyone wonder what kind of hobby would involve poking around in thorn bushes.

Never did find the cache, suppose it's been muggled.

What I've Done

yesterday was a landmark day for me. Why? Because I finally was able to get a border router installed on our network.

At first I wanted to include fancy diagrams and picture of our network, but I can't in good conscience publicly post the structure of our network. But I am taking a moment to reflect.

3 years ago when I arrived here, there was a single firewall, and several network switches. The firewall was also the default router for the entire network. It was almost an entirely flat network, and we served out business machines as well as internet connection at home.

That meant, 1 mail server, 1 web proxy, one, one, one. It meant viruses spread faster, it meant a network problem affected EVERYONE.

After yesterday's installation of the first non-firewall router this place has seen, the network is MUCH more reliable, organized, secure, and stable.

We now have 4 separate major networks.
Business, Home, DMZ, and GUEST.
And the firewalls no longer handle all of the routing for the network, there are multiple firewalls and a router that handles internal traffic and a router that handles external traffic.

Also 3 years ago there was almost zero documentation on our network and nearly ZERO monitoring of our network.

If people couldn't connect they'd call, we'd run down and fix it.

NOW, after 3 years. We have TOTAL visibility on the network. We show up and repair network problems before people know they happened. I have implemented several pieces of software for monitoring and have built a Network Operations Center.

Also the network is documented VERY thoroughly using a combination of Visio documents and a Confluence wiki that we document things in.

What we have seen in 3 years, and I do not say this to either discredit my predecessors or to toot my own horn... but to let you, our partners know what your contribution has done...

We have seen in 3 years is a migration from a network that was pieced together and loosely understood and documented ... to...
a stronger, separated, secure, documented, observed, professionally designed and well maintained network.

ALL of that with minimal investment a I (and some others) were able to get equipment and software donated.

As we prepare for furlough, I look back on the past 3+ years and my baby.... (the network) and breath a huge breath of satisfaction knowing.... that there is something that will support the work here for quite a long time now. Something that other people can come in and look at, and read on and understand.


Praise be to God who took a guy like me, who didn't know anything about networking 6 years ago... taught him networking... then coupled him with people who sent him to a third world country to help them..... and then accomplished that work!

Thanks God, and thanks partners!

I'm really excited because I didn't think I could get this done before furlough.
I have some definite plans and ideas for when I return, regarding what I'd like to see.

I've gotten several comments, maybe I'll share them here.

Srainin

lots and lots of rain lately.
houses are flooding
rivers are taking out gardens
roads are caving in

it's wet!

But you know, I like it...., I like the tropical rain... hard, hurts your head when it hits rain. Turns everything into a slippery messy thing.

Rugby in the mud!! WOOHOOO!!!

Something I learned today that I did not know.
While the U.S. saw El Nino as being very WET.

the pacific islands saw it as being a drought. So HERE 'EL Nino' means... 'the big drought.' 7-9 months of NO RAIN....

Cush Gig

This pic is of my son and his friend Blake. Blake is the son of a family friend. You're also seeing a VERY rare thing in this picture. A couch with soft cushions. The typical couch here is all solid wood, with thin foam pads as the cushion. They are made in country by our own joinery, and designed to not be very comfortable so you don't spend much time sitting down (-;

This particular couch happens to be from friends who bought it from a thrift store in the U.S. used it for over 5 years and then we took ownership of it.


TODAY... we had to update our Curriculum Vitae (resume) for our work permits. This year the government has implemented a new portion of the CV in which they specifically want us to list out what we've done to help PNG citizens. They want proof that we've done more than simply helped our own organization.

So I attempted to come up with everything I've done in the past quarter to help PNG citizens (why a quarter? Well I couldn't think back a whole 2 years..(-; ).

Here is what I came up with, (knowing there is a LOT more).

Training entry level helpdesk personnel in maintenance and elementary networking skills.
Have hosted training week long training classes regarding email and trouble ticket implementation for PNG employees.
Have held one on one training sessions with PNG citizens to assist in teaching troubleshooting.
Have had frequent telephone training sessions for PNG citizens in other businesses regarding DHCP and DNS and other networking protocols.
Have assisted in configuring network for STEP and TTC courses that train PNG citizens in areas of linguistics and leadership.
Have assisted BTA with wireless networking and data backup.
Have assisted with installation of VSAT in remote areas to provide internet connectivity to PNG citizens.
Have assisted Guard Dog Security Services with email configuration and dsl installation.
Have installed DSL in private homes of PNG citizens and given them basic training on wireless networking.

Have installed, configured and trained PNG citizens on how to use HFradio and HFemail in their village homes.
Have supported an educational camp for PNG children.

The thing I think I'm most proud of for helping PNG citizens, that I've done on the side, isn't the village email, it's the training.

I have put together a couple of week long training sessions with curriculum to teach basic tcp/ip and email administration skills.

As a result, even though one PNG citizen friend of mine has moved on to a public sector job, he did so because of the skills he learned here. And every now and then he runs into problems and gives me a call. Typically it's something small like how DHCP works or how to restart a DNS server... but it is interesting to me that I still get calls although he's been gone nearly a year now.

Side Purpose

My core job here is supporting the network and servers to enable Bible translation. But I have several 'side jobs'. As someone who knows technical type things, often people come to me for advice on personal issues as well.

Since we also live here.

Everyone has this. You have your core job, side things you do, and ways you help the community. Sometimes you don't even know the ways... but all of it together makes up why God put specifically the people here... here.

One such side purpose was a friend of mine who was trying to get his PhD. He contacted me a month ago and said 'I will have this interview and I want to know if it'll work over Skype?'

Knowing that anything can happen I was wary about anything that might go wrong. So we planned it for 11pm and we set up his home network so that things would work, and we had a plan B and plan C.

Last night, his interview went successfully and he will soon be known as Dr. Phil (not the famous one of course, but still a funny coincidence.)

It is these little personal successes that I enjoy doing on the side. Using technology to help people is just one of the bonuses I get out of living and working here.

Adventure

What a great weekend. Got some chores done, spent some good family time.
Saturday visited a new friend and had a bit of vehicular adventure. Check this blog to see what I mean. Wacky photo!

Then, later that evening some friends carrying 10 passengers got stranded after dark about an hour away from centre. We loaded up and mounted a rescue mission and went out and got them. Driving after dark isn't always the safest idea around here so we almost never do it. Still an interesting comment...

After we arrived and I got out of the vehicle, 6 Papua New Guinean men there to help stepped back a few steps and huddled together. Obviously surprised by my size and presence and you heard words like "bikpela" and "traipela".

Many of you have probably never experienced this before, but it happens to me a lot. When people are not expecting a man of large size, they tend to betray their surprise when they discover one.

Sometimes in a store someone will bump into me, turn, and then shudder in surprise. Flinching is often a reaction, large eyes, definitely the long upward glance. I've even found cowering... or a sort of.. putting arms up and stepping back motion sometimes occurs. Giggling, hiding, running away, crying all of these things happen to me depending on who is doing the reaction.

But Saturday 6 men backing off and huddling together and murmuring was definitely a new reaction. Definitely the type of reaction you're going for when you're playing the role of rescuer, protector. They sized me up and I sized them up and we both seemed to recognize that we were each there to help not harm. Still they didn't talk directly to me, or look at me eye to eye.

We got the whole crew back safely.

Sunday on a whim I made an outside oven to go over a makeshift fire pit. a 55 gallon drum converted into a pizza oven rather nicely with the help of some used rabbit wire and some metal roofing scraps. We cooked pizza over it... not exactly a successful first try, as I scorched most of the dough, but the oven idea has promise.

March April Photos

Quips

We attended a sunrise Easter service this Sunday. At the end of praying for the community and the world, we put flowers on the cross after the sun rises. Turning a symbol of death into a symbol of life, like Christ did.

During one of the songs we sang "Lord of heaven and earth"... and our son quipped in under his breath "and mars....."

-----------
Today during work, a friend of ours (and partner) visiting from the U.S. needed to go off with a national co-worker to do some work.

Hisile, said to Bob "yu laik drivim ka bilong yu o bilong mi"
Bob replied "huh?"
it took me a second to realize Hisile was speaking Tok Pisin so I translated, Bob said 'let's take your car' as they headed off I said in tok pisin to Hisile

"Hisile, Bob only knows a little tok pisin, so speak to him in english"

he replied

"okay Bob, I shall talk to you in broken English...hahahahaha."

I thought that was pretty funny.... I felt bad for putting the two of them together and having them drive off without a translator, but I'm sure they'll work it out.

I Fought a Fire

That's a first.
I fought a house fire. Of course not alone... with a fire team.... here are my notes from an hour after the ordeal was over.

well I'm still unsure if we're allowed to say anything so... PLEASE don't broadcast this, but for your own peace of mind.

March 25, 2010

Well, where do I start.

today around 8:30 the voltage from our power supplier jumped to 300volts instead of 240v.
MOV's inside of the various electronics started popping and smoking, so we threw the main power out at the department. Then we threw it out all over the centre.

And while we (the computer techs) are running around, the thought hits me 'house fires'. I call home have my wife switch off the main breakers. A co-worker runs down to the generator room to get them to turn off mains power and get onto generator.

So I radio a buddy and say 'keep an eye on the emergency fire phone'. He says 'it just rang' so I hop on my ATV hearing there is a house fire...
I'm a big guy so I have no fire gear that fits because the donated stuff we have is all too small, which means I don't go INTO the fire, I stay with the truck, pumps and hoses. I'm a member of our volunteer fire department with no gear except mythick heavy denim coat and helmet.

I'm the 2nd or 3rd responder mostly because I raced down the road to the house which was 2 doors down from mine.

I run behind the 2 story house which is ablaze, a huge plume of smoke coming from it... I know the truck is coming soon, but

I'm still trying to disable the gas and get people out. I see the family, most of them outside, the husband, a real go getter friend of mine, is standing in his underwear... stunned.. not moving, I instantly recognize he's in shock.

I get to him, see he's got bad burns on his hand and legs and feet.. I'll spare you the gory details... from getting his family out of the house. I get a buddy to use his radio and call the clinic, get the burn victim to the side, and continue my search for the gas cannister.

I run into a fellow fire crewman... he's already disabled the gas, so we're good on that front.

The truck arrives.
Before I know what hit me, I'm at the house second man on the hose, hosing down fire. Its all in front of us, hot, above us, thick black smoke. Our training helps us recognize what is safe and what isn't and I'm very aware we are at a safe distance from the fire and from breathing in smoke. I keep my partner from doing anything unsafe. No sooner do we get the flames down in one corner, then it starts up in another. I'm facing a hot and huge fire, keeping my mind on my training, keeping my eye on my partner.

I'm being sure we're following our training and safety protocols, not letting the adrenaline go to anyone's head.... and suddenly the water runs out.

Our truck was empty, and the fire began building up again.

The truck tech (showed up in shorts and a t-shirt because his/our (we're both same size) gear was still at his house being

washed.... headed off to refill the truck from our local water tanks.

We take axes to the water tanks, poke holes, put in a pump and start pumping water, using garden hoses, but the fire starts up again.
The pump eventually dies...but here comes the truck.

It seemed like a long time but it wasn't, we got the fire out. Now comes the process of:
-putting out smoulders, checking floor integrity, crowd control, warding off looters, keeping an eye out for everyone.

The fire team did a really good job, and although in training we're told we have 5 minutes before the house is unsavable, we

salvaged the entire bottom story... even though it's soaked through and has water damage now, there is no fire damage.

A lot of property was saved...

This particular family was heading out on finish and had already shipped much of their personal affects home.

The dad was a hero, getting all the kids out. At one point I heard yelling 'my son is still in there'.... but he was safe after all.

No neighbors houses were burned down.

At one point there was such pandemonium with all the onlookers that I raised my arms and shouted 'yupela olgeta must go long ROT!!!" 'go to the road all of you NOW!!!" and 30 men moved away.

There is of course a TON of aftermath for something like this, after I felt it safe, I cleaned up in a hurry and headed back to work.

Because of the injured dad, there was a medivac, but because I had left my office, I didn't realize that 2 network switches had lost power. There was no co-worker to fill my spot, so we didnt' know until someone from our finance department came knocking .... my absence from my post at the network room, slowed down the medivac a little.
But my presence at the fire was obviously crucial.

This illustrates the delicate balance that is each and every job here. Most men have multiple jobs.

WE have never had a house fire, it was our first. Our mantra is always to keep ourselves safe first, we know we can't save houses, but we can try to save lives and limit the damage done. None of us were trying to be heroes or risk our lives or anything like that. We were sensible, trained, and reacting according to plan during a crisis.

I have NEVER fought a fire that intense before. I've fought smaller kitchen fires, but a whole house went up in smoke....

I'm still rather... surprised at how fast it all happened. I was very thankful that our fire team performed well together, a year ago we didn't have the training we have now, nor the donated gear. Still being a big guy, I don't go INTO the fires because I dont' have fighting gear that fits. WE couldn't enter the house because we had no breathing apparatus, but still, it was a small enough house we could reach most areas from the outside.

The whole community went into action, as it often does... so much so that I had to do some crowd control to let them know the fire was still going.

It was definitely a first for me.
I headed back to work and we repaired the things we needed to.
Later I found out my wife was on the phone the whole time calling people telling them to check their outlets for signs of fire.
During the firefight I had the idea that other houses may be on fire. So I hopped on my ATV and drove around looking for smoke. A bank in a nearby town burned down... they were calling us for help but we were busy. Gladly, praise God, no fires.

a Lot of people reported powerguards had caught fire or blown or appliances...

ALL of this because the local power company spiked all three phases of their power up past 300volts.

Today our emergency response was tested.
We had a centre wide electrical emergency resulting in many electronics totally frying...
and this also started a house fire.

Our worst case scenario has always been a house fire where we couldn't save the surrounding houses.
Ironically much of our fire team was doing morning devotions at the time of the break out.

Praises:
-The family all survived.
-No one on the fire team was hurt, and the family's dad only suffered some burns. They looked bad, but he'll survive them.
-The fire team did well, considering our limitations.

My manager of course wishes to talk about emergency protocol, as during a crisis he lost 3 of his men. But the reality is,

when you have strong capable men, doing more than 1 thing, in a crisis situation, his other roles will suffer. We're understaffed as a missions centre... And that's what happens. The electrical knocked out only a small portion of our network, so they were able to communicate to get the medivac going.... and now I've gotten it up and running again.

I'm still processing this whole thing... if anyone snapped a photo of it, I'll send it your way.

Please keep the family in prayer who lost their house. Our community will provide for them, but it is simply a very horrible way to end a 22 year stay here.

Please keep OUR family in prayer.
It has been the toughest few months of our lives here. There have been security concerns, tensions in the valley, and now, a house fire. We're very much looking forward to furlough... days like today with multiple emergencies make me realize exactly how important our presence here is.

It affects the community on such a deep level, hoards of people turned out to respond and help... and pray and comfort and carry belongings, arrange a medivac flight, save belongings, etc. etc. etc.

Pray for their healing, for our safety...
Just cover us in prayer.

thank you
-chad


We'll be dealing with the aftermath of this for weeks.... but God has protected us this day from lasting physical harm. You

can pray for the emotional harm that has been done.


------------
it's been several days since I wrote that.
I responded to another house fire alert on the weekend but it turned out to be a kid playing with gas.. no fire was ignited.

I have a healthy new respect (always had one) for firefighters and police men. Thank you for what you do.

The old Juices

today our phone system, an old PBX system had 2 cards die.
We could only come up with 1 replacement card.

But none of us had the training on the system, because the man who has owned it for many years, has left on furlough.

My troubleshooting experience kicked in from working at Cisco with high profile clients.

-when you don't know how to solve the problem, identify who does
-locate them, get them on the phone

well that's easier said than done with the issue is WITH THE PHONE SYSTEM and you have no idea where in the world this travelling furlougher is.

So I began making emails and calls, one thing let to another and I found the person staying at their mother in laws in Australia.

I got them on the phone, after about 15 minutes of troubleshooting with a co-worker we hit a dead point.

We tried everything, 2 lines cards were dead, we only had 1 spare line card, that's 32 phones out of order. 32 homes that can't talk to the outside world.... 32 families who may be needing to desperately talk to loved ones.

The experienced phone tech got to a point where he said 'this has never happened to me before, I'm not sure what to do next.'

So we were all quiet. The problem seemed to be moving, and following the chassis, so we were in a world of hurt, and I dunno why but using my old thinking from Cisco boards I said,

'let's take the good board and try replacing the other board we think is good.'
it was really the only logical thing left to try but it really shouldn't have worked.

Low and behold it DID work.
It worked because the replacement card was the wrong model number and 3 techs didn't notice it. It took a tech who completely had ZERO experience on the system to see the subtle change.


AGAIN, during times when things are broken, and I surprise myself by being useful... in a way I had not previously thought myself skilled... re-assures me that.

GOD has sent us here for a reason. US, chosen us to be here.

It's remarkable really these last few days God has spent some time re-confirming us here, and reminding us that while life may be getting tough, HE has put us here, specifically us.

it's a remarkable reassurance that we really needed right now.

Fire info

in a few minutes there will be a public posting about a house fire in Ukarumpa.
We're asked not to say anything publicly about this other than the below statement.
I wanted you to know that it wasn't our house, and we are fine and safe, in case your googling happened to turn up more information.

PLEASE do not start forwarding this around and asking others if they know about it.... as it'll cause a problem since we're not sure if one of the family members affected knows yet (he's away at college).

Still I wanted you to know quickly, that we're safe and sound and that it wasn't us. FULL details to follow at a later date when the ban on information has been lifted once they know their son has gotten the news.

Love
-Chad

PUBLIC STATEMENT

This morning (Thursday 25 March) a fire broke out in the house of one of
the members of SIL-PNG, likely caused by an electrical fault. The fire
gutted the house, destroying many personal belongings. The limited
Fire Services that SIL has did manage to put the fire out, with the
structure still standing. However, the husband received significant
burn injuries and was medevaced (medivaced) to Cairns, Australia,
accompanied by his wife. One of the two sons has a minor burn and is
being cared for by medical staff and friends at Ukarumpa.



Please pray for physical and emotional healing for the family and
friends. Please uphold the community in prayer. A number of stressful
things (other medevacs and security incidents) have been happening
lately.

Da Bridge

Does it seem to you that I write about bridges a lot? This pic tells the story. A big rig was trying to cross a bridge that had been temporarily put back together after a big washout, and while crossing it, the bridge collapsed. No one was hurt, the driver was not associated with our organization.

This bridge is located half way between us and a major town 2 hours away, and has an airport. Until it gets repaired, we can't get there.

Satellite Interference

I thought I might share a brief story that exemplifies some of the excitement of working here.

For 3 weeks now we've been having a very odd internet connection problem, our outbound traffic has crawled to a near halt. I was convinced it was a problem with our new ISP as I didn't change anything. Our ISP representative is a man in Australia whom I communicate with over IM (skype). I mentioned the problem, he didn't see one and suggested I look at our router.

My style of network management is all about data collection. When I came here there was very little network monitoring being done. For nearly 3 years now, we've had several (5) network monitoring tools in place. They are:

Solarwinds Orion - snmp monitoring and uptime
PRTG (Paessler) - network sniffing and graphing
Firewall Analyzer (openmanage) - firewall analysis and traffic information
MRTG - firewall/router ingress and egress graphing and tracking
Big Brother - server uptime and monitoring.

Those are all outside of the other one off troubleshooting tools like netperf, iperf, perfmon, netcat, etc. that I use to identify issues.

Needless to say, WE HAVE VISIBILITY. So when an ISP tells me the problem is on my side, I tend to push back a little and say 'would you like to see my evidence I've compiled?'

Anyway, last friday we find out that our ISP guy is in the country, so we call aviation, and the guest house and we hustle him over here by chartering a plane.

YES, a new FIRST for me. I have now.. chartered a plane! Doesn't it sound so... luxurious? In execution, not very glamorous but he got here nothing short of a minor miracle.. but we did it, and he had a bed to sleep in and meals!

After sitting down with me for 3 hours, he finally said 'yes there is a problem, I can see it now.' I'm always glad when people spend time with me and walk away with the impression that I know what I'm doing. I'm usually VERY glad when they say 'hey nice tool, what is the name of that?' Both happened.

It is odd to run into professionalism and face to face time here, so I was glad we had it.

Two days later, after he's in Australia, he IM's me. 'You were right about the ISP, turns out there is satellite interference.'

Somewhere, someone is broadcasting at a frequency and strong enough, to interfere with Asiasat. So they're tracking that down now... hopefully we'll come to a resolution.


And all it started with a friday where I came to work and said 'wow this might be a quiet day! I might finish my 'to-do' list!' Then we decided to try and charter a plane very last minute and get the guy over here.

Everyone here knows, you NEVER EVER EVER EVER say 'wow looks like it might be a quiet day!'.

(-;
I have to say, this job is definitely exciting.

Interesting Day

I would like to share something very close and personal.
This weekend has been a hard weekend with different news and things going on. This morning as I spent time in the Word I was in Acts and dwelling on how the Disciples often went somewhere, preached, did their work and then were often rejected... after that they'd leave and move on.

But that wasn't all. In my work devotions the group was reading the section of Mark where Christ says to shake the dust off your sandals. In Tok Pisin it tends to convey a bit of a different emotion, but the idea was... if the people are misbehaving and rejecting God, move on.

So I stopped and prayed "Hey God, I know it was a tough week, but are you trying to tell me something in your Word today? Are you really telling me to consider moving on?"

I'm thinking to myself 'wow leaving here and tearing away would hurt a lot, what about our new friends?"

And then, within a minute or two, my wife said '"hey honey today I read Psalm 52, you should read it" Not knowing my private prayer to God.

The final verse of Psalm 52 says this: (David writes this while hiding after his hiding place has been reported to Saul)

9 I thank you always
that you went into action.
And I'll stay right here,
your good name my hope,
in company with your faithful friends.

It was almost as if God immediately gave me reassurance and strength through His Word.

It is amazing to me how the Word of God can speak to us, and how He can time things so that we get just the right portion at just the right time.

PLEASE pray for us and strength until Furlough.
Also we would like a car for furlough, pray that God arranges one.


thank you

Alice's Picks

For those unaware, Alice is our Papua New Guinean friend. She understands the idea of films and enjoys watching them. From time to time she watches one and gives me a review. Somehow we have developed this rapport where she tells me her reviews.

The funnest part for me, is to see how her eyes interpret the films. We are careful in what we show her, so we usually stick to children's movies.

See if you can guess what movie she's talking about. I always have to guess. I thought at first this one was Looney Tunes.

(translated from Tok Pisin)

This rat and cow and sheep and goat and pig all live in the same place. The mother wanted to kill the pig but her daughter said no. So the daughter took care of the pig. The cow and the sheep and all the animals talked, and then a spider came. How the cow and the sheep could talk to the pig I don't know. But.... it was a funny one!

ANSWER:
Charlotte's Web (live action version)

The part I love the most is that she focused on the relationship between the animals and the speaking wasn't the hard part for her, it was how the animals knew each other's languages that was of concern to her. I found that very funny and interesting... being that this is the land of MANY languages.

Shouting

My daughter comes home yesterday and begins shouting every word she says.

Me: 'Sydney, stop shouting'
Syd: 'I can't dad, it's my homework'
Me: 'what?'
Syd: 'You wouldn't want to tell me not to do my homework right?'
Me: 'your homework is shouting?'
Syd: 'yes.'
Me: 'explain please.'
Syd: 'Miss H.... said that to practice for chapel some of us are too quiet and we need to shout everything we say at home'
Me: 'and you're one of the quiet ones?'
Syd: 'she says so, yes. So I can't stop shouting dad'

at this point my wife is tired and I'm tired, and the day is ending and the shouting needs to stop so I say

ME: 'Did she say how long you had to shout?'
Syd: 'Nope, jsut that we had to shout, don't you believe me?'
Me: 'I believe that your teacher who doesn't have children of her own, assigned her students to shout at home, yes. But seeing as how she didn't say for how long, let me officially call this homework assignment complete. You may now stop shouting'

She instantly stopped shouting and said 'hmmn. okay dad'. And went to practice her trumpet.

For a moment there I could have easily caused a dillemma for my daughter, telling her to ignore her teacher would have been a bad mistake. Her teacher is a good one, and sadly only short term here (6 months), so I definitely didn't want to express that I wasn't happy with the shouting homework.

But... I wasn't happy with the shouting homework (-;

Syd does tend to be a bit quiet while on a stage.



============
Calvin, my son sad 'hey dad whatcha watchin'? I said 'mythbusters' He said, 'can I watch'

So we're watching mythbusters and I had a proud geek-dad moment....
the t.v. said 'we're going to ramp this up to 100 PSI'
and my son excitingly exclaimed '' WOAH!!!!''

yes, my son understand what PSI is. We've played a lot with using air to launch rockets here as we can't get rocket engines. So we've been using compressed air and water as a propellant... and even jsut air. (we currently have built 2 rocket launchers, and am considering a third compressed air application)

Following the Tug

Pardon me for a bit while I exposit on some personal philosophy that may or may not be 100% accurate.

I had a thought that sort of amazed me and I thought I might share it.

I had this board, about 1 foot by 1 foot square board. I had wanted to make a shelf a while ago, and I went into my shed out back and found a board, didn't even cut it, took it inside and it almost fit my desired shelf perfectly. But didn't.

So I leaned it up against the wall in my office, and there it sat.

Every time I looked at this board. Already finished with an exterior finish, I thought 'I should put that board back in the shed'. I don't know who cut it or who finished it, but it was in my shed.... probably left there by the previous owner.

Months went by and I hadn't done the simple task of bringing the board into my shed. It wasn't in the way, and therefore not in my thoughts.

This week I am performing (playing banjo for 2 minutes)a small part in a school play, as part of the side entertainment. Part of my job is to stand out back on a deck and wait until my turn to go on stage. Last night as I stood there, the deck gave way and my foot went through and broke one of the boards.

I felt bad, but not for long, the deck was in disrepair. Later that night I thought 'what if a high schooler in the play is running backstage and hits that hole and gets injured?' I felt a desire to repair the hole, but no time to do it.

This morning I was in my office at home... I had that tug... to repair the hole, but I thought 'first I have to find a board, finish it so it doesn't rot in the rain in 3 weeks, get a drill, screws...' There was no time as I had to get to work.

Then I saw the board.

The tug on my heart was to fix the hole.

The board lying there made it easy... I grabbed the board, and my tools that were sitting there in my office, and it took me all of 5 minutes to repair the hole.


Now I'm not saying God was in all of this. Although I believe He directs our paths. And I'm not saying that had I not repaired the hole that some high schooler during the play might have a nasty fall and break a limb. I'm not trying to make this a spiritual 'God told me to repair the hole' situation. I've received God's direction before and this wasn't it.

But some thoughts hit me as a parallel between that board story and why my family is here doing the work we do.

-God provided the tug to do something.
-We followed
-God provided the tools to make it possible

God knew I would one day put a hole in that deck, and there was a board there making it possible for me to follow the little nagging feeling that I should go fix that hole.

If the board wasn't there, I wouldn't have gone, because I wouldn't have had the visual reminder, nor the time.

I believe that if you spend time with God, reading His Word, listening to Him, that you need to develop the discipline to listen when He guides you. Sometimes it's a little tug that says 'hey go do this'... and you know it's the right thing to do.

-God put a pull on our heart to come here
-We said 'yes' not knowing how it might work out.
-He provided the financial means through you.

You guys are the board. A good solid place to put our feet, without falling through.


Okay so it seems sappy, but hey, sometimes life serves you up sappy moments.

Good news

well last week I was saddened by the fact that we were incapable of retrieving months of typesetting work for one of the New Testaments.

I was really depressed, if anything, isn't that what I'm hear to prevent?

BUT TODAY with some new ideas and teamwork, a co-worker of mine and I got the files back!

No thanks to windows offline folders! ...

I'm currently working on a policy to disable offline folders forever.

Still, it felt really good to be able to pool our brains and solve this issue for someone who is now very happy!

Coming Home #1

I thought I might start a little series on 'Coming Home'. This is to sort of catalog the process of furlough for missionaries.

It is a very stressful time. Not only do you have to completely move out of your house for a long duration, but you have to handle all the details equivalent of a major trip. Prepare your kids for transition, figure out schooling.... there are MANY details.

FIRST and foremost. Furlough is not a vacation. We still have to work. We still have to do our jobs. Furlough is a chance for us to go to a place where we can get caught up on our medical needs, clothing needs, visit with people who support us and tell them what we are doing, and more.

As one missionary friend put it 'you trade one set of problems for a different set'.

It is a LOT of work to go on furlough and many people find it a stressful time. You can pray for us in this, because yes, we are feeling the stress.


ISSUE #1:
-Tickets and Visas.
Our flights will take us through Australia and New Zealand and thus we need to book lodging and apply for Visas.

Flights - Adult - $2956, Children $2218
That's only for the MEAT of the flight, it doesn't count the cost of getting us out of country.

To leave PNG it's another $500-$600 per.


FARE for CAIRNS, AUStralia to San Francisco, CA total for family of 4 = $12,348


EACH time we fly home I think 'there goes the kids college tuition.' This year they did away with the pre-tax savings for furlough... which meant that the government didn't get to tax that money.... this is now gone.

So, we put away a little each month... to save for this trip.

Financially as we arrive to the U.S. we will have a complete zero balance. WE won't be in debt to anyone or any branch. But we will also have no money in savings or in the bank. We have played around with the idea of not going on furlough, but in order to be long term missionaries, you really do need this mental health break, and we were advised not to skip it.

Part of this life is adapting to financial dependence on God to provide. And we do, we have depended on all of you for so long and we are SO thankful for you. I do not know how you will ever know that level of gratitude that we feel. It's truly a blessing to know you.