We are here to testify that God is indeed moving and working in the midst of these uncertain times. Our seemingly dwindling community here has taken much encouragement from Judges 7 lately and what God can do with less. I’m not going to do a devotional for you now (you should go read it yourself!), but I will share verse 2 which packs quite a punch: “The Lord said to Gideon, ‘You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength.’”
I praise the Lord for directing us to humility, and working in ways that only He can take credit for. I feel like I had one such moment this week. The Construction and Maintenance (CAM) department is the largest in Ukarumpa (around 60 Papua New Guineans), and inside that my Maintenance Section is the largest segment (12 men, plus me). As a section, we start out every Monday morning in prayer together. Usually this consists of me probing the guys for testimonies (or even stories) from the weekend, and then Nonte (section foreman) assigns topics to each man to pray for and we pray all at one time. PNG Highlands men are not known for being conversationalists and any time together is typically a stoic event at best. Every once in a while, there’s a breakthrough though and Monday was one of those. I asked the guys about what the Lord did over the weekend and more than half of the guys were eager to share—some multiple times! A couple of the guys shared about their time in jail and how the Lord used that to bring them to where they are today. I had no idea! God is working behind the scenes—Believe it!
I am praising the Lord for what He has done, what He is doing, and for what’s next. Please pray for Nonte, James, Poi, Oko, Aron, David, Willie, Tama, Marcus, Terrance, Perry, and Regi. And for all the other CAM guys that are hearing the Word of the Lord here and taking it out across this valley to some very dark places. Those 12 guys represent no less than 6 different languages and they can be disciples to many. Please pray that they will have the courage to speak out for the Lord and be leaders in their families and communities.
Pics above: Due to COVID maybe making it here someday soon, Nonte and I (and others) have done a lot of work in our market area recently. Hundreds of people from the surrounding area stream through here weekly and keeping everyone healthy has become paramount. This has included new fencing to direct traffic past new hand washing stations, more tables to space people out further, and the new market sign which Nonte and I had just installed in the pictures above. The taller guy is Biwan, the sign painter, who did all of the lettering by hand! The verse is from Psalm 104 in Tok Pisin.
Picture above: For the safety of the kids, my crew just removed 7 massive trees at the primary school campus. Six of them were eucalyptus trees that were 120-150 ft. tall. God blessed us with safety for all involved!
Nori and I have ventured into beekeeping recently. One of the other beekeepers here, Paul, got a request to remove a hive that set up camp in a wall behind a toilet in the Men’s Dorm at the Training Center. We were happy to help! The middle picture below is what Paul did with the bees. Now they are in an observation hive in the 4th grade classroom. They are so fascinating to watch and learn about!
And of course, there’s Banner and Millie having fun for you.
Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. We thank God for you every day!
Much Love,
John, Kristi, Nori, Banner, & Millie