August 4. Praise the Lord for no rain last night or today and for a mostly sunny day. Spent about a half hour before lotu this morning starting to put Barnes’ notes on Galatians in outline form. There was hardly anyone in lotu for most of the song service. Then people all started coming in at once at the time for the announcements and preaching. Preaching didn’t start until about 11:45 or later as Daniel gave a testimony this morning and it was quite lengthy. Then Daddy shared some things from our time in town before he started preaching so he didn’t finish preaching until nearly 12:30. His preaching finished the section in the discipleship booklet on assurance of salvation. Matthew preached the afternoon meeting. It took me quite a while this afternoon to pull all the leaves off the choco vines so I could wash the leaves and get them ready to cut up for cooking. There are so many vines and only one or two leaves on each vine. When I finished that, I remembered that I needed to boil eggs for our supper sandwiches so hurried to do that as it was getting close to supper time. After supper, I cut up onions and the greens and set them on to cook in the pressure cooker. Also put the dish water on to heat. As soon as I finished dishes, I put bath water on to heat. After bath, I practiced keyboard. “4Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified. 5But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.” Psalm 70:4,5
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August 2. Sleep didn’t come for a long time last night—eye pain, feeling cold, flying ants falling on my face all played their part in delaying sleep. Consequently, I didn’t get up until around 7:00 this morning. But there was nothing pressing to do, for which I was thankful. More rain and cool, cloudy weather today. Daddy kept the fire burning in the wood stove for which I was thankful. It kept the house a bit warmer for bath this evening. While I was busy getting my morning vitamin drinks and breakfast, Daddy was busy sweeping up the rest of the flying ants off the floor. (We had swept up several huge piles of them before bed last night.) Then he and I finished checking Hebrews 13. Praise the Lord for helping us to complete another book. I set the little duster to soak in some soapy bleach water. Then spent about a half hour outdoors. There was some filtered sunshine, and it was much warmer outside than in the house. Fixed spaghetti for Daddy’s dinner, and I had soup. We are thankful for Mike’s coming around noon and cutting firewood. Our supply was getting pretty low as we are using quite a bit on these cool, damp days. Dallas had gone off somewhere earlier this morning and hadn’t come back yet when Mike headed up here. So Mike did the work by himself. I rinsed out the duster and hung it up to dry. Then put the dustpan brush in the same water to soak. Worked on notes for the coming quarterly newsletter, also to be used for telling my school students of our adventures. Filled the washing machine, one small bucket at a time, so it is ready for Sunny to wash clothes in the morning. This evening, I spent more time on the notes for the quarterly newsletter. Then made the corrections from today’s work in Hebrews and wrote in my journal. Practiced keyboard. Daddy installed the printer into his computer, and I was able to print out James so Daddy and I can start checking it. August 3. What a rainy, rainy day! Dirt must have washed down into the cistern at the spring because our water supply has been dirty today. We were up early this morning for lotu, but it was 8:00 before lotu even started. Amos took charge of lotu. After lotu, several of the men helped Daddy switch the new generator to the place of the old one since the new one seems to be working fine now. Then Daddy turned on the generator, and Sunny washed the clothes. It was misting when she hung them out, but we figured it would stop and there would be some dry periods to start drying the clothes. Well, we figured wrong. There were a couple times when the rain stopped, but the clouds and fog hung around all day and so did the rain. We brought our bedsheet in before dinner and hung it over the wood stove. It wasn’t dry in time for nap, but we just pulled the top sheet up to cover the bed. By the time we finished nap, the fitted sheet was dry. Late in the afternoon, we brought the wet clothes in. Then this evening, after the generator was turned on, we extracted all the clothes again and then hung them up in the house. While Sunny was washing clothes, Daddy met with the men to talk about Independence holiday meetings, and I worked on notes for Monday’s Bible class, trying to make sure everything is in order. There were lots of little things in the wash since Monday was the last time we did laundry, and there were a few things left here too. One pile of clothes didn’t get washed today, but all the little things did so it took Sunny quite a while to hang everything out. It was close to dinner time when Sunny left, and I needed to fix a veggie for dinner so peeled and cut up the other two packs of carrots. Warmed up some spaghetti for Daddy and some soup for myself. After nap, I had just started to put the clean sheet on the bed when there was a knock on the door. Daddy was busy so I went to the door. There was Silvia with her two youngest boys, Bethel and Manaen. It was so good to see her. She said she had come when we were napping, but went down to Amos’s house until we got up. She and I sat down in the meeting room and talked for quite a while. She said that she and David have not forgotten the things we taught them and are holding fast to their faith. After Silvia left, I cut up a popo for snack, and then we ate some with raisins and cream. Then, rain or no rain, I put on my hooded jacket and went out to get the wet clothes down. I was thankful I did; for I had no sooner gotten the clothes basket under the porch steps roof when the rain increased in fury upon an already wet world. Daddy had gone down to fill up the generator and brought the basket of clothes inside when he came back up. We left the clothes in the laundry room to be extracted in the evening. Finally got the bed made. Then Daddy and I started checking James chapter 1. Finished a little over half of it before someone else came to the door. Then we did a couple more verses before it was time to get supper on the table. It didn’t take long after supper to do up the few dishes that were on the sink side. I had just finished when Daddy started the generator. So I got right down to business extracting the clothes. Then Daddy and I hung them up in the schoolroom, and a few in the bathroom. After writing in my journal, I had a little snack and then practiced keyboard for a while.
July 31. It has been a very rainy day; damp and cool, and Daddy kept the home fires burning on into the evening. We are so thankful that the Lord provided for us to get home yesterday. Amos preached in lotu this morning, from John chapter 15, and then a few related verses from I John, talking about how we must abide in the vine (Christ) and Christ in us so that we can walk as He walked, love as He loved, show mercy and grace toward others as He showed mercy and grace toward others, and live righteously as He lived righteously. In spite of the rain, there was a good number of people present. We all stood around for a long time afterward talking about things that have been going on here in our absence and how God worked in our own lives and the events that took place during our wanderings. The school students discussed when to start school again and decided on Monday. After everyone left, Daddy turned on the generator for an hour. I took advantage of the time to make corrections in the Hebrew file in the ACER from the checking we have done since my computer went kaput. Afterward, I peeled and cut up frozen carrots (BRRR!) to cook for our dinner. (They got frozen in the little fridge we had them in at Ukarampa guest house.) I was going to start putting together ingredients for soup too, but was having a hard time being on my feet any longer since we had stood around so long after lotu. There was leftover rice and chicken from Goroka (which we kept in the freezer at Aiyura hangar). I skinned and cut up two of the frozen tomatoes (had been kept in same fridge as carrots), added some salt and pepper and other spices, and made a sauce to go on the chicken. Tasty dinner! After nap, I washed my hair. Then Daddy and I finished checking Hebrews 11 and started on chapter 12. This evening, there were a few dishes to do from yesterday (didn’t do them last night because there were only a handful) plus today’s dishes. Then, chilly or not, I had a bath. This evening, I made corrections in the computer for the portions of Hebrews we had worked on today and finished getting the past week’s journal notes copied from the notebook into the computer file. Praise the Lord that is done. Maybe tomorrow, I can work on journal notes to send to Connie. And whenever we have a nice day, we can try to send e-mail. August 1. Another very cool and rainy day. Daddy only kept the fire going half the day though because we are just about out of firewood, and he wanted to save enough for tomorrow morning. After breakfast and quiet time this morning, I started getting ingredients together for soup—onions, lentils, mushrooms, chicken flavor, butter. Then I washed kaukau to cut up into the pot later. Took a sit down break and was going to get journal notes ready to send to Connie, but didn’t know what I sent last, and I must not have copied the file onto the flash drive. Decided to open the Lenovo to see if I cold get the journal notes, but there is nothing on the Lenovo at all. So I wrote an e-mail to Connie to ask her what the dates are on the notes I sent last. Then I started writing notes about our July adventures in trusting the Lord. Daddy wanted me to help hold the pump for the diesel while he pumped so the pump wouldn’t jump out of the container, and I wanted to burn trash so figured that would be a good chance to get outside while it wasn’t raining. Gathered up all the trash and put it on the back porch along with the matches. Then put my outdoor shoes on, because it is very muddy out, and went down to the generator shed with Daddy. I held the pump for just a minute or two, but the diesel smell was too strong for me, and it made my eyes burn too. But I had held it long enough for Daddy to get the pumping started. Then he could pump slowly, and it wouldn’t jump out. While he finished that, I went and got the trash and matches and brought it out to burn. Stayed outside until most of it had burned up. Was thankful for a little bit of outdoor air. After coming back in, I got the kaukau peeled and cut up into the pressure cooker, and then peeled and cut up carrots. Added herbs and spices and set the pot on the wood stove to start heating. At dinner time, I transferred it to the gas stove so it could get up to pressure. Also warmed up dinner—the rest of the chicken and rice, along with some of the carrots that I had cooked yesterday. After nap, Daddy and I finished checking Hebrews 11 and started on chapter 12. Then I got some review math problems written on the chalkboard for Monday. Then we finished chapter 12 and started on 13. Praise the Lord for His much needed help in checking translation. After Daddy turned the generator on this evening, I pureed the soup, and then I did the dishes. Afterward I wrote in journal, made corrections in the Hebrews file, worked again on notes about our adventures.
July 29. First thing this morning, we washed clothes so everything will be clean to take back to Owena. Had to wash before the house worker came to work and would need the machine for washing bedding. Hung our clothes outside today. Then we had breakfast, followed by quiet time. Packed up a couple boxes because our flight will be first thing in the morning, and we have to be ready by 6:30 a.m. to leave the guest house. The P2-Bus will be here to pick us up. About 10:00, we walked down to the tech center to get a voucher number so we could skype C&C. At first, we couldn’t get a connection so Daddy walked back down to the tech center to see if they could help. One of their technicians came up with Daddy and did something on his phone. Whatever he did, when Daddy went back to check the computer and bring it out for the technician to look at, Daddy found it already working. Praise the Lord! So we enjoyed a nice chat with our two daughters. How much faster and clearer things are on the internet here than from Goroka! A little later, we walked down to the kai bar to get some lunch. After nap, we got the clothes in and did as much packing as we could. In the evening, we sat and talked quite a while after supper with various guests who were there. July 30. We were up before 5:30 this morning. Packed up last minute things. Ate breakfast. P2-Bus came a little after 6:30 to pick us up for our 8:00 flight. Around 8:00, we received an okay report from Owena about the weather and took off around 8:30. Not far out of Aiyura, we began to ascend above a sea of thick clouds. Jamie could see the Owena airstrip when we got into that vicinity, but could not get to it. He circled close to Wonenara and back, but couldn’t see Wonenara. He was to go there after Owena. He circled several times (20 minutes or more) around Owena area, and the clouds were moving and breaking up, but it would be a while before we could land. He finally headed back to Aiyura. As soon as we had gotten back and disembarked, Matthew gave Daddy a miss call. Daddy called him, and he said Owena was open. We still waited about an hour, and Daddy then called Matthew again. Owena was open so we climbed back into SIB and headed for home. There were still lots of clouds, but they were higher and visibility was fine. I was so thankful to the Lord for bringing us home once again. I came down to the house before Jamie took off. Let the carriers in and paid them (chocolate wafers). Bonita helped bring everything into the kitchen. After everyone else left, Bonita and I had big hugs. She asked me how I was doing, and I shared a bit of our story with her. (I want to share more details with all my students later.) After Bonita left, I started unpacking and putting things away. Then I saw the men coming to the gate with the generator. I grabbed up the camera to go out and get their picture, but just then Mata came in with the last item of cargo. We hugged, and she too wanted to know how I was doing. Both Bonita and Mata said that their family has been praying for me every day. After she left, I continued putting things away until Daddy came in. He was getting the generator set up, and started it too. It seems to run quieter than the other one, but it is not as powerful. (Praise the Lord, it is working so far.) I got all the freezer food loaded into the freezer. Then I warmed up the meat pies that we had brought home with us from the SIL store, and we ate our lunch. After nap, we emptied the last two boxes and our suitcase and got everything put away. I felt sad when I discovered that the little USB thing that works my wireless mouse and external keyboard was missing from my computer. Even though I can’t use the computer anymore, I still want to use the mouse and external keyboard. I wish I had noticed it was missing when Thompson gave the computer back. (Praise the Lord, when Lewis called Thompson a few days later, he said the little item was there on his desk and he would put it in the box with the new computer.) It wasn’t long before supper time—tuna sandwiches for supper. Had just about finished eating when Amos came. He too wanted to know how I was doing, and he also said that his family had been praying every day. They want us to be able to move ahead on Bible translation, which is our goal as well. (Please continue to pray about this. Mom’s eye is doing much better, but they have not been able to work as much as they would like on translation due to the problems they are having with their computers. Thank you!) This evening, I washed off the students’ desks and swept the schoolroom floor, the office and kitchen floors, and part of the bedroom floor. We discovered that the rat(s) had been having a hayday while we were gone. I could smell the awful rat smell as soon as I came into the house this morning. After that, I tried out the new adapter C&C had sent for the music keyboard. Praise the Lord, it works! Now the students will be able to start learning and practicing parts again for the songs we sing. When I put the flash drive in this old ACER, the publisher files were still publisher files, praise the Lord! I guess they only turned to internet files in Daddy’s computer. July 26. A lovely day, but cool. We enjoyed a walk mid-morning, up the road and down another, around the bend, and then back again. The blue sky and sunshine helped make the walk so pleasant, and the warmth of the sun felt so good on the skin. After breakfast and quiet time, I took more notes on the book I was working on yesterday, adding a lot of my own thoughts. Later in the morning, we walked down to the store and kai bar to get food for our lunches for the weekend. We each got ice cream in a plastic dish—regular ice cream for me and soft serve for Daddy. I carried those back to the guess house—one in each hand—while Daddy carried the bags of other food. We tried to hurry, but got short of breath quickly walking up that hill. Had to stop every so often and have Daddy lick off some of his soft serve as it was melting so quickly. As soon as we got back to the guest house, I put the dishes of ice cream in the freezer, and we sat down to eat the healthier part of our lunch first. After nap, we tried to help Rebecca in the kitchen. Her work time was up, but she still needed to make supper; and the food order hadn’t been delivered yet from the store. Daddy and I dried and put away the dishes for her while she worked on dessert. Shortly the food order arrived, and she got supper into the oven. She asked us to watch the chicken until Lynette came, and then she went home. Before supper, we enjoyed conversation with Ryan and Elna and family. And at the supper table, we had a good time talking with Mary, the girl who is taking care of the Doyle boys today since their parents went to a Bible dedication. She is a graduate of Liberty University, and is now living at home with her parents and helping in different ministries and areas of work. She seems to have a genuine love for the Lord and for people. Spent more time this evening taking notes. July 27. Very cold last night and the first part of the morning. Put extra layers on, both for sleeping and after getting up. The Lord did send us sunshine, however, to warm up the day. We were up by ourselves for a while for an early breakfast and a while afterward. So we sat in the sitting room near a window to let the sunshine start warming our chilled bodies. The bedroom was much too cold, and the sitting room was quiet enough for quiet time. After a while, quiet time was interrupted when the Mitchell family came out and sat down with us. We enjoyed a good time of fellowship with them and learned that they share a lot of the same goals and values. A little after mid-morning, we went outside to let the sun hit our skin as well as to get a little exercise. Walked around the guest house area observing the many kinds of flowers. After nap, I stayed in the bedroom, which was much warmer now, and finished my quiet time. Enjoyed that time alone with the Lord. Afterward, I went out to the sitting room and wrote in my journal. Craig (from JAARS) came in from playing volleyball and sat down and talked a while before going to get a shower. Then I finished writing notes from the book on the gospel. At the supper table, we got to know Kirstin a little bit. She had come from Wisconsin to spend time with her brother and family near Finschafen, and to be with them for the dedication of the New Testament they had translated for the language group they work with. This evening, I did a crossword puzzle. Had an early shower before the evening got too cold. But it didn’t get very cold this evening, and it is raining. July 28. It was a cool, cloudy day, a day to rest and have extra time of fellowship with the Lord. Wrote notes based on a little pamphlet entitled “THE RADICAL QUESTION, What Is Jesus Worth to You?” After nap, we went for a walk, and then we finished checking Hebrews 10 and started chapter 11. July 24. We woke up to a rainy morning, and the Lord sent us rain up until noon. Daddy called the hangar at 9:00 as he had been told to do to see about a flight back to Owena, only to be told that all the local flights for the rest of the week had been canceled. He didn’t understand why until he called and talked with Christopher. One of their flight operations managers had died during the night. We learned from Lynette later that he had had heart problems. The clinic and staff were up a good part of the night trying to keep him alive, but the Lord took Him to Himself. Most of the hangar workers. and others as well, were at the haus krai (house of mourning) this morning. Later they flew the body up to Goroka. Christopher told Daddy they would call him back this afternoon after they discuss flight plans. A good part of the day was spent reading and meeting new people and talking. Late morning, we walked down to the store to check on our cargo (not ready yet) and get something at the kai bar for lunch. After nap, I showered and washed my hair. At 4:00, Christopher hadn’t called back yet so Daddy called him as he had been advised to do. Then Daddy had to wait for Christopher to call him back. He said they cannot take us into Owena until next Tuesday. So we asked him if he could have the hangar bus bring our suitcase and a box of veggies up to the guest house for us. The veggies, and a few other things that were in the same box, needed to be refrigerated. And we will need to wash the dirty clothes that are the laundry bag in the suitcase, and get out more clothes to wear the next few days. So at the end of their work day, the P2-BUS brought those things up for us. We don’t understand how God works or why He keeps closing the door for us to get back to Owena. Or why He has us continually using up our savings on extra flights and lodging. But we are thankful for the peace and confidence He has given us that He is in control, and He makes no mistakes. He has put some books in our paths, written by other missionaries, with practical lessons they have learned in trusting the Lord, and taking up their cross to follow Him. In our own thinking, it could seem like the past couple weeks have been wasted, being away from what we see as “our work” and being unable to accomplish much, and even more so since my computer crashed. And yet, our ways are not God’s ways, and we trust this has not been wasted time in the lessons God has been teaching us. May we be more willing to lose our lives for Christ’s sake and to give ourselves more fully to walk as Jesus walked and love as Jesus loved. July 25. The Lord gave us a lovely sunshiny day. We enjoyed a couple walks in the fresh outdoors. As soon as we were up and dressed, we started a load of wash. Then we had breakfast and quiet time. Put the clothes in the dryer, only to find out after half an hour that that dryer didn’t work and the clothes were still wet. Moved them to the other dryer. Did some reading in between our walks. Had planned to get some lunch at the kai bar again, but the store was closed today so people could go vote. So we ended up having to buy lunch at the guest house. It was a good healthy meal—carrot and cucumber pieces, olives, tomatoes, lettuce, tuna, boiled eggs, a few other things for sandwiches. I just made mine into a salad and left the good-looking buns for others. Most of the guests left today, and the house worker/cook left early this afternoon. Looks like some new guests are on the list for tonight. In the afternoon, I spent some time taking notes from a book I had read, simply entitled THE GOSPEL. The new guests were Larry and Christy Doyle and their three boys. Christy is one of the three Christys who work as receptionists at the clinic. Her work there is done now, however, since they will be heading back to the states for furlough on Monday. They are staying at the guest house for the weekend so they can finish packing up their house.
July 22. The Lord has given us another dry and sunny day. Went to bed early last night with sore throat and earaches and stomachache. Slept restlessly, as my stomach didn’t just ache, it hurt. It hurt worse when I turned on my side. Didn’t eat a lot today as my stomach hurt more when I ate. Daddy made calls to MAF to see about flights. Ben said he thought they could take us to Aiyura tomorrow. He would check with Brad and call back later. But he never called back, and Daddy couldn’t get him on the phone again either. So after lunch Daddy finally went down to check in person. He took the generator while there were workers here to help load it onto the truck. In the mean time, we had gone uptown hoping to get some bananas at the little market. But there were only a handful of vendors there and no bananas. Then we went to Able’s to check on computers. They have a nice Lenovo there. We didn’t want to get it, though, until we are sure that Thompson can’t fix the other one. He still says the hard drive is not bad. It is just the software that is on it. After we got back from town, I felt very tired and had a nap. After lunch, I packed up all that I could while Daddy was gone to MAF. Thompson was working on my computer today, but when Daddy left to go to MAF, I suddenly heard the front gate close. I went down to see if they were closing early today (nobody had said anything), and they were. They let me in the back door to see Thompson. He was going to be leaving too, but the computer wasn’t ready. He stopped whatever it was doing and gave it to me. I’ll take it home and maybe have Daddy bring it back again next time he comes. I’ll just have to use the ACER for now. Don’t know how I’ll print though. I tried putting my journal notes into Daddy’s computer this evening so I could work on them in there, and his computer wouldn’t open the files. Discovered after a while that his computer had changed all my publisher files to internet files. (Dad’s computer does this once in a while. ???) After Daddy got back from MAF, we both had a nap. This evening, Daddy went with the Venters to meet Andrew at Pacific Gardens for supper. I was supposed to go too, but my hurting stomach and sore throat kept me here at the flat. July 23. Slept okay the first part of the night, but strong stomach pains made the rest of the night quite uncomfortable. I was more than ready to get up this morning. We didn’t hurry too much because we didn’t have to be at the hangar until 8:30 or so. Ate breakfast and read Bible before starting to pack up and clean the apartment. Brad called Daddy around 7:00 to let him know that the flight was on and that their agent Robert would be at the SIL hangar to help us store things there. So we just needed to find a ride to the guest house from the hangar. Around 7:30, Daddy called Christopher who offered to pick us up at the hangar and take us to the guest house. A little before 8:30, Daddy called Bryan M to let him know that we were ready to go to the hangar. Bryan would be taking care of the Aibai vehicle we had been using, keeping it for the Aibai folks. So Daddy loaded our cargo into the back seat of the truck, and we headed for the hangar. Bryan was already there, and his two youngest children with him. He helped unload our cargo; and after we got everything weighed up, he still stayed, and we talked for quite a while. Brad got back from his first flight around 9:30, and we left Goroka around 10:15 for Aiyura. We flew above the clouds all the way, until we got to Aiyura where we circled around and around through cloud breaks to descend below the clouds and land at Aiyura. Robert was there to meet the plane and take care of our cargo. Another man was there working for a couple hours on something he enjoyed doing on his day off. He called Christopher for us to let him know we had arrived. Christopher had heard the plane and was on his way. After he arrived, he had a few things to do in the office before we headed out to the base. It was going on 12:00 when we arrived at the guest house. The regular worker (Rebecca) was off for the holiday, and Lavender was there taking her place for the day. Even though Daddy had called yesterday to make a booking, our names were not in the book. Lavender gave us room 11 again. A man named Eric came out from one of the rooms. He said they had told him just to help himself to whatever he could find for lunch. So we did the same. We were pretty hungry. After our nap, we did some reading and relaxing until supper time. Supper was quite late—not ready until 7:30. It was Lavender’s first time to cook, and she was quite nervous about it. But she did okay. |
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