Sunday was really fun. The kids and I, Andrew (the missionary who lives here) and Josh (his teenage son) all hiked over to the next village for church. The girls did great. Olivia hiked with Josh the whole way, Sophie held mine and Andrew’s hands and jumped most of the way, and of course Graham rode in the backpack.
There weren’t a lot of believers gathered, because there was a funeral in the village. They sang a few songs and shared some testimonies, then Cathy said that BJ wanted to play a song called “Your love never fails.” Ahh! I was nervous, but at least if I sang the wrong lyrics they wouldn’t know! She explained that I would sing “nothing could ever separate us from the love of Christ” from Romans 8. Wow, what a sweet opportunity!
After church, Andrew and I with Willis, Cornelius and Josiah, 3 of the believers, hiked up to the “house cry.” Everyone from the area was gathered and was sitting very solemnly to pay their respects. We sat down for a little while then hiked back.
On the way back something caught my eye! I noticed a familiar plot of land–it was the picture that Doug Schaible has been showing me for years–“the end of the earth church.” I first saw this picture when Doug used it in a perspectives class. He talked about how these were our brothers and sisters in Christ from “the ends of the earth” who were gathered for church… all because missionaries came, learned their language and taught them God’s Word! Wow! And here I was almost 10 years later standing at that very place with these men and the missionary who taught them! I got to tell Willis the story and how God used a picture of him to bring me to PNG. Wow. What a day! Thank you, Lord!
Jennifer Powers says
Amazing!