Papua New Guinea Elections

In our prayer letter and in the recent churches that we’ve presented in, I’ve mentioned that the elections have delayed our visa approval. I want to share some of what is going on with that, and give you a glimpse into how different that country is from ours.

 

I’ve mentioned in some of the churches that we’ve presented in that Papua New Guinea is still a VERY spiritual country. I don’t say that in the same way I would describe a church as being spiritual. I mean that they are very much still into witchcraft and the spirit world. Here is an excerpt from a BBC article that is covering what is going in on PNG.

 

The count in Papua New Guinea’s troubled general election has been delayed in one province following accusations of sorcery, it’s been reported.

According to Radio New Zealand International, recounts have been ordered in two constituencies in the country’s East Sepik province because more than one candidate has alleged that witchcraft has been used to remove their votes from ballot boxes.

The radio said that priests had been asked to pray over the boxes to “shield” them from “sinister forces”.

It’s not the first time superstition has affected this election – in April, officials had to reassure church leaders that the country was not being “signed up for the number of the beast”, after it emerged that 666 writs had to be signed to initiate the poll.

“Such views are too shallow and are rejected outright,” Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato said at the time. Mr Gamato recently took out a court injunctionto stop his critics from calling him Mr Tomato.

Voting closed in the election on 8 July, but only 26 out of 111 seats have been declared so far. Radio New Zealand says that “multiple issues” including the arrest of poll scrutinisers and candidate grievances are holding up the count.

Violence against women

Witchcraft and sorcery remain a major issue in some parts of Papua New Guinea. Deaths and mysterious illnesses are sometimes blamed on suspected sorcerers, and officials say accusations of witchcraft are often used to justify violence.

The country only repealed its controversial Sorcery Act in 2013, which allowed an accusation of witchcraft as a legitimate defence for violence, and now treats such cases as murder.

A mass trial featuring 122 defendants began in March of this year over the deaths of five men and two boys who were killed in the belief they were conducting sorcery, Australia’s ABC News reported at the time.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-40680615

As you can see, its still very real to them. As an American, my initial reaction is to dismiss this as jungle superstition, but as a Christian I’m reminded that there is a spiritual war being waged every day, rain or shine. Papua New Guinea is very open to missionaries, and we thank God for that open door, but at the grass roots level, there is much spiritual activity.

 

Please pray for us as we go in and share the glory of our LORD with these people!

Prayer Letter March – May

Hello Friends,

Thank you for always keeping us in your prayers! Here is our latest prayer letter. We are beginning to get anxious as we prepare to leave. God has been working in great ways, and even since we have written this letter, more churches have taken us on for monthly support! We are getting excited! As always, just click the link and you should be able to read it in PDF.

January – February Prayer Letter

Hello all,

Thank you so much for reading our prayer letter! I know that many of you are like us and have signed up to a lot of mailing lists for missionary’s prayer letters, so I thank you for taking to time to see what has been happening in our lives. We appreciate your prayers and your concern for our family while we are on deputation! Thank you so much!

 

As always, just click on the blue hyperlink that says “prayer letter” to view the PDF version of our letter!

Prayer Letter!

Thanks to all of you who read our letters and who pray for us! We had a productive summer out on the road, and we have been so blessed. God is a great God to serve, and we love working with you for Him! Please take a look at our prayer letter for the past few months! Just click the link to view it. Thank you again for taking an interest in our family, and God’s work in Papua New Gunea!

Fun Sights

We were just able to present our work to a church in NYC. I know a lot of people, family members included, who would hate to even visit. The traffic, the smells, the rude people, are all things people don’t like about it.

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I gotta say, I loved it! When we left the church, we had a 2 hour drive ahead of us, but even though we were sleepy I couldn’t help but appreciate the sight of the skyline at night! It was truly awesome.

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The church we presented in was a classic old church complete with pipe organ and curved pews! It was gorgeous. The pastor and church have worked on it to make it nice instead of letting it get run down!

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Deputation isn’t the easiest thing, as my brother who went with us on this trip found out. There’s a lot of tedium that goes with traveling, but you also get to see some pretty cool sights, and meet a lot of pretty cool people. I can’t tell you how encouraging some of the pastors that we have met have been. The Devil would love you to think that Christians are down and out, but we still serve a great God who has a great plan for your life. Just let him direct you. Maybe he would put you in a city like New York, or maybe he would take you to Papua New Guinea where there is a population less than half that of NYC.

God will take care of you, and you will have a blast serving Him if you let Him lead!

Winter Camp 2015

We were able to participate in our last Winter Camp before Papua New Guinea just a few weeks ago. Our church, Faith Bible Baptist Church, puts on a teen camp every year between Christmas and New Year Day. Its a great blessing and a way for young people to get closer to God after the holiday season. This year’s theme was “Who Will Go?”  This was a missions theme designed to get teens to think about the ministry.

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It was a great blessing to be able to help encourage teens to consider the mission field! Pastor Seth wanted us to show that being a missionary is attainable. Sometimes it seems impossible or insurmountable to get to a field (let alone stay there!), but we were able to testify about how God can lead you to the perfect place that he wants you to minister in.

 

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At the end of Winter Camp, Pastor Seth had asked pastors to come down and pray over us. He wanted to “Send us out” as missionaries who were influenced by Winter Camp as teenagers, ourselves. Not only did Pastors come down, but just about all of camp crowded down to the altar. What a blessing to be supported by our fellow Christians! The two pastors who led the prayer are pastors from churches that support us already! What a great encouragement for us to actually see some of the people behind us.

 

Winter Camp will always be good memories for us. This is another great one that we will cherish.

I think even Adrienne came away with some good experiences!

MMMMmmmmm Ice Cream at snow camp…..

 

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God answering prayer!

I always like to see God answering prayer, not only because we benefit from it, but it shows how great of a king we serve! I heard a pastor last week talk about how day to day we seem to question where God is, but when we look back, it’s so easy to God involved in our lives and protecting us and providing for us. I’ve had one of these moments.

It’s time to buy tires for our vehicle, and I’ve been praying that God would provide them for us. I’ve heard many Christians speak of Gods provision and I wanted to see that in my life too. Last week I took the plunge and ordered the tires. I had money saved up so this is all well and good. (By the way I believe that good stewardship of resources is how God usually provides our needs) On Sunday we visited and church and their love offering was almost the exact amount of our gas money to get there and home, and the cost of our new tires! Thank you LORD for providing for our family. 

Our God is great. Our God is a benevolent God who takes care of his children’s as opposed to asking for child sacrifices. Our God paid our debts. Our God gives us the opportunity to serve him. What an almighty king he is and so worthy of our thanks and praise!