{"id":365,"date":"2013-11-18T15:26:20","date_gmt":"2013-11-18T20:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jack-crabtree\/?p=365"},"modified":"2013-11-18T15:26:30","modified_gmt":"2013-11-18T20:26:30","slug":"visiting-png-clarity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jack-crabtree\/2013\/11\/18\/visiting-png-clarity\/","title":{"rendered":"Visiting PNG = CLARITY"},"content":{"rendered":"

As most of you know, I was able to visit Papua New Guinea this summer, and to say the trip was well worth it would be an epic understatement. God provided an incredible measure of clarity and peace for me as our family plans to move to PNG this summer. I’ve tried encapsulate my tip into a few different snapshots that you’ll see below:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Papua New Guinea is our future home<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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This view of the highlands was breathtaking as we flew to visit a mature tribal church in the mountains. We landed in a 206 on the grass airstrip without a problem!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PNG is called the land of the unexpected for a reason. I\u2019ve never been anywhere with such a severe juxtaposition of tribal poverty and modern technology. In the highlands, I was able to Facetime with Lael from the top of a mile-high ridge! Many tribal people have cell phones but no way to charge them. The country is a place of pure transition, but there are still many remote pockets that have received little influence from the outside world. Port Moresby, the capitol city, has been the murder capitol of the world, yet the people outside the cities tended to be incredibly warm and generous. I visited every New Tribes center in Papua New Guinea, and was able to meet the missionaries who will be running our national culture and language program when we arrive in country next summer. I also soaked up as much wisdom as I could hold for building our tribal house.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Lead quietly and follow a big God<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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This image sums up the situation in PNG: Many tribes are asking for missionaries to come share God's Talk with them...we just don't have enough missionaries to send to them all! Let's all keep praying to the Lord of the harvest. Thanks to all of you have have partnered with us as we go to those who have never heard!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our family will most likely be working in the Sepik region of the country, and I was able to spend a fair bit of time with some of the Sepik leadership. Many of these guys have phased out of their tribal works or are in the process of doing so after about ten years! This means they\u2019ve finished Bible translation, ordained tribal elders, and handed the church over to the people! They’re moving into the background and allowing the tribal believers to step into the forefront. I feel incredibly blessed to know Lael and I will have leadership who have been there, done it, and know the necessity of walking with God through it all!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Keep your eyes fixed on the finish<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Left to right: Maile (Bisorio elder\/teacher), Noe Martinez (future missionary to PNG), me, Namoleya (Bisorio elder\/teacher), Jeremy Hambrice (future missionary to PNG), Bob Kennell (missionary to both the Bisorio and Malaumanda people...he's finishing his second tribal Bible translation), George Walker (missionary to the Bisorio people and one of our instructors at the Missionary Training Center), Suduwama (Bisorio elder\/teacher)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Miraculously, God worked out flights between three different flight agencies so we could visit a mature tribal work. I was able to meet three living legends: Maile, Suduwama, and Namolia. These guys were from the Bisorio tribe and have been believers for more than 25 years. I was humbled by their walk, wisdom, and focus on eternity. They have evangelized their entire people group. Every single village. We were privileged to hang out with the two men, Bob Kennell and George Walker, who took the Gospel to the Bisorio. I\u2019ve seen the fruits of walking with God to the finish in a church plant.<\/span><\/p>\n

We serve the most faithful Provider<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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We were blessed to spend several days with Jack Housley. He and his wife have been in PNG for more than 30 years. God has used their faithful support work for the church-planters here to encourage those church planters help them stick it out on the field!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I met so many amazing people during my 3.5 week time in PNG, and they didn\u2019t hold back or sugar-coat missionary life. Many had endured sickness, threats, team conflict, depression, and culture shock, but they held to their Father and have experienced His provision. It\u2019s no secret that Satan is not a fan of what our family will be doing. We need you guys to be praying for us!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Out of sight but in our hearts<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Noe and I tried to lend a hand on a few building project the Pei team needed help with. As much as we tried to encourage them, their focus on the goal during hard times and their incredible team spirit encouraged our hearts even more!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was fortunate to be able to visit some friends of ours who have just moved into an unreached tribe called the Pei people. They\u2019ve just finished building their tribal houses and have had their first culture and language evaluation. We were able to bring their entire team a large care-package from the States! It was awesome to see the difference the connection back home made! It was also a blessing for us to be able to witness what life will look like in about a year\u2019s time. The sober reality hit me as I was walking back from the village and realized that one of the old men who was sick would most likely die before the team would be able to learn his language. We have an urgent task ahead of us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t bother if you won\u2019t finish<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Maile, humble servant; spiritual giant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maile, a Bisorio tribal church elder, told me that many missionaries come to PNG and leave before the task is finished. He said to stay home, if we weren\u2019t going to finish the job. This is going to take all of us working together! Thank you for choosing to be a vital member of our team!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As most of you know, I was able to visit Papua New Guinea this summer, and to say the trip was well worth it would be an epic understatement. God provided an incredible measure of clarity and peace for me as our family plans to move to PNG this summer. I’ve tried encapsulate my tip […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":947,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,58,160],"tags":[1161,3186,649,1863,3185,23184,23297,1571,5,450,637,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-365","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-family","7":"category-ministry","8":"category-prayer-requests","9":"category-training","10":"tag-animism","11":"tag-bisorio","12":"tag-church-planting","13":"tag-evangelism","14":"tag-george-walker","15":"tag-jack-crabtree","16":"tag-lael-crabtree","17":"tag-language-learning","18":"tag-missions","19":"tag-new-tribes","20":"tag-new-tribes-mission","21":"tag-tribal","22":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jack-crabtree\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jack-crabtree\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jack-crabtree\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jack-crabtree\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/947"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jack-crabtree\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jack-crabtree\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jack-crabtree\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jack-crabtree\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jack-crabtree\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}