BUSH ORIENTATION
The last 6 weeks we have been in a bush area on PNG. The work of reaching the tribe where we were at started way back in 1954. Since then the lives of these nationals have been transformed by the power of God. Now there is a strong Body of believers who are capable of teaching themselves, sending and equipping missionaries and trusting on the Lord for their strength.
Our objective during this 6 week of bush orientation was to get a practical view of the life that we will be living in the near future as well as learning from the believers about the things that the missionaries did right and what things nearly destroyed the work.
Our lifestyle had to drastically change as we were now living from the power supply of one truck battery, the water supply of a 500-gallon tank and one propane bottle to cook with. We also had to adjust to showering from a bucket and training the children to use an outhouse. This lifestyle was definitely live-able as we are stilling living but at the end of our 6 weeks we felt the wear and tear on our bodies and spirits as we moved from fun camping trip to the point of just trying to make it through.
Our time there also allowed us to appreciate to a greater degree the prayers offered on our behalf. While there I (josh) was sick with malaria for over a week. We were in the middle of nowhere without medication and were not able to do anything through our strength. During this time I went from 183lbs to 161lbs. I truly felt useless. Thankfully we had the prayers of Body of Christ to sustain me during this time. We also were blown away with the desire to help, by the national believers. One national man walked for 6 hours and rode in a van for another 4 to get the medication and then did it again to bring it back to us. This was one of the issues we faced medically. We also dealt with fleas and staff infection and broken bones. (Noah fell about 4 feet from our porch and broke his arm.) We also got to experience new aspects of daily life such as gardening on cliffs (this was so that you wouldn’t hurt your back by bending over) fishing with bamboo poles and walking 4 miles to the market. Probably the biggest culture event would be Faye helping with the delivery of a baby. Did I mention Gimi is at 6,000ft elevation and we used a wood stove and 3 blankets at night to stay warm? We don’t regret our time and we don’t despise it because we grew from it, we learned from it. But we also now know better what areas should not be sacrificed because they really aren’t helping the ministry but hindering it.
Now for the things to come… We are currently weeks away from finishing our National Language study and upon completion will begin surveying our future bush location. What this means is that in all reality we could begin building our house near July and begin our tribal ministry sometime in August. We will need your prayers as we choose a location and begin building our house. At this point we are narrowing it down to possibly 1 of 5 locations. Please pray for our team as we embark on a decision that will affect us for the next 20 or more years.
From Josh and Faye Butler
Check out their blog for more on the Butler family
http://www.ntm.org/wp/josh_butler
I will introduce you to the Butlers team in another post. It is made up of a lot of prayer, many meetings, lots of counsel, and two great families that will join the Butlers. In the future you will hear about these families I am sure from the Butlers so I will try to introduce them in a later blog when I can get pictures!
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