1ST Chevy in PNG!

We’ll it’s here everyone!  The first Chevrolet in PNG!  After over a year of prayer, planning and partner support our Chevy Blazer landed in country and is now in service here in PNG!  PTL!  We are so grateful to all who saw the need and joined the effort to make this happen.  There’s no way we can say thank you enough.  I even got to fix it already…LOL!  But it was easy, which is one of the reasons we picked this particular Truck — parts are cheap and easy to get.  That may sound strange, considering we have to ship parts halfway around the world when this thing breaks.  But when you live in a 3rd world country, sometimes finding parts and shipping them 15,000
miles is actually easier, quicker and cheaper than finding them in country.  Go figure!  Anyway, we are so happy to have our own wheels and the freedom and convenience it allows.  You should see the looks I get driving down the road when people realize I’m on the “Wrong” side of the vehicle.  It’s priceless!  One nice thing about it is that the driver’s side is on the outside of the road so it’s easier to see how close I can get to the edge without going off.  And, its easier to not hit people, pigs, goats, children, etc. when they crowd the edges of the road.  So contrary to popular belief, there are some advantages to having a Left Hand Drive vehicle here in PNG!  Another interesting thing is that most folks haven’t seen a truck with an Automatic Transmission so they can’t figure out how I’m shifting through the gears.  They just keep staring at the floor trying to find the gear shift and watching my hand, but it never happens.  I had no idea how fun and entertaining this was going to be.  Anyways, enough of that.  Oh, it was also kind of like Christmas when the Blazer arrived, because we packed it to the gills with stuff for our house, tools, presents and the like.  It was lots of fun!

On a different note, we have all settled back into our normal routines here in PNG.  Me with my Tech Services and center maintenance responsibilities, Mel and the girls with things around the home, ladies’ ministry, and school.  But the big thing was when we arrived back in country, we had to get ready for our annual area conference, which takes months to prepare for, so we hit the ground running.  I had to install 7 new split AC units in our office before conference started, which was a bit daunting, but I managed.  Mel, had to organize all the VBS stuff and help with housing.  Our team here has become a finely tuned machine and the Lord helped us to pull it off.  It all turned out splendidly.  We had 130 missionaries from our tribal church plants come stay with us for 4 full days of encouragement from the Word and lots of fun activities.  I roasted a Hog for the last night which turned out to be VERY popular and delicious!  Never has there been a creature so reviled in life and revered in Death as the Pig!  Bahaha!  Towards the end of conference, Sarah caught a stomach bug, and I managed to come down with Malaria, but I’m over it now, thanks to our splendid Clinic staff!  Thanks Doc Kevin and Freddie.

After conference and malaria finished up, Mel and I were asked to attend a training for 4 days to help Debrief missionaries after they go through critical incidents.  We were tired, and not feeling up to it, but went anyway.  What a blessing it was!  We are so thankful the Lord gave us the strength that week — Morgan even caught Strep throat that week, but God provided great friends to hang with the girls!  We pray the Lord will use this training to help us help many others as we care for them.

Now that conference is over I’m starting to plan several trips into the bush to do Solar Panel installations, Freezer repairs and various other projects.  This year promises to be a busy one with 4 of our Co-workers preparing to go on their 1 year Home Assignments next June.  This means our staff on center is shrinking from 6 families to 2.  Mel and I will be wearing multiple hats starting in January.  Mel is training to take on more responsibilities in the Business office & Guest Housing for our center, and my work load will be increasing as well on center.  Please pray that God will give us endurance for these added responsibilities.

• Truck arrived safely
• Girls doing well in school
• All healthy now (we just went through stomach bugs, strep throat, and malaria in the last month)

Prayer:

• Endurance with added ministry responsibilities
• Hannah’s reading ability to improve – She’s made lots of progress to catch up after getting glasses
• Success in upcoming bush trips to Pei and Luci tribes to do solar system installations & other small projects
• Utility Vehicle Project – we’re saving for this to help speed up Josh’s work on center & wear/tear on his body
• All of our bush missionaries in our area as they deal with the daily victories and struggles of ministry in a remote tribe.  Wisdom as we minister to them!