Reflections on the past week

Hi everyone, well it is Sunday afternoon in the village of Ukarumpa where I am living. Even though the rainy season should be over, we’ve had a tropical downpours on and off for 2 days!  The pace of life here is so refreshing. It is so quiet here today all you can hear are the birds, crickets and frogs. There are no trucks, airplanes, air conditioners or generators running and everyone is resting, visiting with friends and reading this afternoon.  No one works on Sunday (woo-hoo). The grocery store is closed and all departments are closed, therefore there are no decisions to be made about working, school or yard work!

I attended 2 services this morning at church. The first one was in the native language of Tok Pisin with a wonderful contemporary worship. It was so moving to see the nationals who love the Lord, leading their worship and sharing during the service with heart-felt prayer requests. The second English service was much more traditional with different styles of worship changing weekly! It was also very humbling to hear from missionaries about their struggles with translation work, the stress of preparing for furlough, the financial stresses and missing family and friends from abroad. There are over 500 bible translators here and 500 support personnel. They are struggling because when someone goes on furlough or goes home, many times a translator is pulled from their work to fill in an admin  position. Please pray for more workers!

The first week of auditing work was spent meeting and interviewing people in Finance and the Clinic and learning all their procedures and drug and medical equipment inventory! The Clinic operates 2 sub-clinics; One for missionaries and one for Papua New Guineans. Praise the Lord for giving me incredible concentration, insight and understanding for this job, which many of you prayed for this week.

I spent 2 -3 different nights in the homes of some of the bible translators and support personnel, hearing how God called them to PNG and translation work and the funny stories and crazy incidents in the villages as well as their struggles. It was a lot of fun and very encouraging.

The team is getting along and working together great. This weekend we all went to a village close by to attend a muu-muu! This is a traditional feast put together on special occasions for friends and families. It is like a huge clambake in the ground filled with root vegetables, ground vegetables, chicken and random sausage and covered with leaves and a pile of dirt. We were able to visit in some of the villager’s homes- which were traditional round bamboo huts with thatched roofs and some more modern bamboo rectangular houses on stilts. The real drama was traveling on the road (a loose term I might add:))  that had been rain soaked with 12-18” ruts. Yes, the 2 SUV’s both got really stuck and the village people all came running to survey the situation and offer suggestions and finally help dig us out! All in all it was really fun, a little bit of a stretch eating the handmade food and I lived to tell you about it!

Next week, I will be flying to a coastal city of Madang for 3 days, starting another audit for the guest house. Please pray for my safety and health, since I will be there alone.

Thank you all for your messages and emails and for praying! It is so encouraging and I know that is why all is going soooo well  here. J))))