"Well done, Good and Faithful Servant"

On November 20th, we were able to celebrate and rejoice with Alex and Lois,
(one of the first translation teams in PNG) as they returned to Ukarumpa for
the last time from their village. After serving 52 years with the Tairora
language group, Alex and Lois will be returning to Australia. A red carpet
was rolled out to welcome them off the helicopter, and the band played, "To
God be the glory, great things He has done,". We couldn't keep back tears,
imagining the mixed emotions they must have been feeling leaving their
village, and getting off the helicopter for the last time. Alex and Lois
probably would have preferred to quietly slip away, and while we know they
didn't want any credit for anything they did, the community did want to
acknowledge God's faithfulness to them over the years.

They are an amazing example to us. We are so thankful we have been able to
visit them in their village. In the past year, we have often felt, "Are we
going to make it?" There have been times we have felt like we wanted to get
home as quickly as we could. God enabled Alex and Lois to finish well the
task given them, and we know that they will continue to serve Him until they
are called Home.

STEP cultural day

At the completion of another STEP course, the attendees of the course put on a special “Cultural Day”, where they dressed up in traditional costumes.  STEP is a workshop offered to Papua New Guineans from many different villages, with the goal of training and equipping them to meet the literacy needs in their community.  STEP stands for, “Strengthening Tok Ples (vernacular) Education in PNG. 

Carnival Time

Every year in October, the highschool sponsors "Carnival" as a fundraiser.
There's lots of games and food. The highlight is always the homemade Ferris
wheel that highschool students made in their metals class probably around 15
years ago. Doug was in a booth making and selling doughnuts. Half of the
proceeds this year went to a ministry that is getting started in Port
Moresby for street kids.

Worship

The words on the outside of the church: "Bikpela I gat olgeta strong, mi
laikim tumas haus bilong yu." Verse taken from Psalm 84:1, "How lovely is
your dwelling place oh, Lord, Almighty."

One man preached in Tok Pisin, and the other translated in tok ples (the
vernacular).

The service was so encouraging. They had their Sunday school program, where
the children recited scripture and sang songs. Then the pastor preached the
sermon on Deuteronomy 6: 6-8. He challenged the congregation to be very
active in teaching the next generation how to live by God's word. We see
this as the key to building a stronger land; the next generation needs to
escape the conflicts of the past and find a new way to solve problems. Our
prayer is that the coming generations will grasp this Biblical worldview
both intellectually and in living it out. Only this type of transformation
will be able to bury the animosities of the past.

In the village

In the village we passed a few places where village houses had been burnt
down during the tribal fighting in September. The four graves mark the four
villagers who were killed in the fighting.

A typical Highlands home is pictured. Unlike the coastal homes, that are
built up on stilts or poles, these are low to the ground to keep in the
warmth. The nights and early mornings can get quite cool. The thatched
roofs have little ventilation and since most have their cooking fires in the
house,a lot of Papua New Guineans suffer from asthma and other respiratory
illnesses.

Bridge Over the River Bai

People were once able to drive over this bridge.

Walking to church in November

Last Sunday we walked to a nearby village church to worship. I had a hard
time believing it was November because the sun was so hot.