September 18. A relatively quiet day. Discovered Friday that one pair of Daddy’s trousers had no hem for one leg so I put a hem in it. I also spent time revising the Church History notes for SCMS. Have a long way to go yet. Had Daddy get down my suitcase, and I did a little bit of packing for going to town. This evening, Amos and Mata, Dallas and Elise, and Anna Jean came. They stayed a little while and chatted, and they cut up a popo we gave them and shared it among themselves. Instead of listening to a sermon this evening, Daddy called Mike and spent some time talking with him. He tried calling him last weekend, but other things came up. Last night, he was going to call, but Nuanda came. So tonight seemed like the best time to call him.
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September 17. Praise God for a little bit of rain last night. There was fog this morning, but it disappeared quickly. Dadddy filled up the washing machine first thing this morning, and I started washing some extra items — our bedspread, my two bathrobes, my two lap blankets, and a jacket for each of us. In between loads, I was busy making a smoothie for my breakfast, reading a chapter in Pidgin Colossians, and starting prayer time. While the blender was in use, I also whipped up more bananas with milk, chocolate, protein powder, and a tablespoon of sugar. Put it all into a container and then into the freezer for a nice frozen snack. All our bananas are getting over-ripe so need to be used. It was nice to get out in the sunshine and hang the wash. The lines are sagging quite a bit and need to be tightened up. Looks like one pole is rotting, too, and will need to be replaced soon. After coming inside, I made the bed, folded yesterday’s laundry, and finished prayer time. I had just turned on the computer to do some work when Amos and Mata came along to talk. They hadn’t been gone long when Anna Jean and Ana came. We talked about the program for the school closing and they decided what food they want us to buy in town. Ana said that Nuanda would like to invite a representative from each of the churches to see what the closing and the school program is like. Daddy thought that would be a good way to present the school to others and perhaps stir up more interest here so we wouldn’t have to move the school. By the time the ladies left, it was almost dinner time. This afternoon, Lewis and I organized a shopping list, and this evening, I printed it out. This evening, Nuanda came to visit. It was 9:00 when he left so I had a late snack and late washup. September 16 PNG’s 47th independence anniversary. A quiet day around here. Not even any games going on. We did hear some talk about a court case going on between the village of Marivo and some other place. Of course, Marivo being part of Owena language groups, that affects Owena village and Waisara village too. Praise the Lord that I was able to do more eye work today. Wrote an e-mail to Bro. L. Looked over the Scripture files and made a couple little changes. Resaved them to PDF and put them on a flash drive ready to send to Bro. L. Talked with Apekio quite a while this afternoon when she came to give Daddy some money to get her a few things in town. This evening, I started making some revisions in the SCMS lessons, especially the student lessons to try to make less written work for the students. Students who have not had much schooling have a hard time with a lot of writing, it seems.
September 14. So thankful for a good, long night’s rest. Never woke up until 2:00 a.m. Time to take another dose of amoxicillin before going back to bed. Slept in about a half hour this morning, and went back to bed again just before mid-morning. I had been sitting outside soaking up some sunshine (it was 50º this morning and very chilly in the house). The sun felt so good, but I kept getting sleepier and sleepier. As soon as I finished praying, I came back in and had another hour’s sleep. Actually felt much better after that. Eye pain has decreased and the eye doesn’t feel hot like it did yesterday. Still need to use the eye patch when I do eye work, especially at the computer. Both SIL and MAF came today — SIL to get a load of Danny’s coffee, and MAF to get men who are planning to go to a pastor’s conference in Moresby. Daddy talked with Tim a bit about the earthquake. He, too, thought it was amazing how little damage was done throughout the country considering the magnitude of the earthquake. He confirmed that no buildings fell at University Of Goroka, but one of the dorms did have a good amount of damage from things like light fixtures falling. Several students were injured and taken to the hospital, but nobody was killed. SIL suffered a lot of damage. Many things fell in the homes and in the store. After my nap, I got busy preparing veggies for soup for dinner but knew it wouldn’t be ready in time for noon. So we decided to have lunch at noon, and this afternoon, I will cook the soup ingredients and blend them up. Most of the afternoon was spent in the kitchen making lentil soup for supper. This evening, I started writing e-mails which need to be answered this week before missions conference at EBC, which starts next Wednesday. September 15. Another very cold morning — 51º. After Bible reading and a smoothie, I sat out in the sunshine to eat my cup of hot oat bran and pray. How good the sun felt! Yet how dry and thirsty the land is! Amos was busy taking apart the roof of his old house and burning piles of old kunai (tall tough grass sometimes used for making grass roofs). When I came back in, I read a chapter in II Kings. Thankful that my eye is feeling a good bit better today. It still has a ways to go before I give it full use however. Finished the e-mail to Elizabeth D and also wrote a short e-mail to Mrs. B today. This afternoon, I washed my hair and made tortillas. September 12. Breakfast and quiet time were ended, bed was made, a couple other small tasks were carried out, and Daddy and I decided to go for a walk. Erovi (one of the elderly men) came just before we left so Daddy could pray for him. I fixed him up a small goody bag to take home. We had been hearing stories about a crack across the ground near the edge of the turn-around place at the top of the airstrip. We also thought about going to Tomas’s house to see what damage had been done there. So off we went. Yes, there was a crack across the top of the airstrip at the south edge. It was barely visible, but could have serious consequences if there is another earthquake. The ground already had many small cracks from all the dry weather. From there we went on to Tomas’s house. Many large cracks, mostly running in a north-south direction. Ground had broken off and fallen close to one side of his house. Other ground was very loose there and looked like it could fall yet. Large rocks he had for steps to a lower area of the property had sunk down several inches into the ground. Going down to an even lower area of the property there was other ground that had broken up and fallen apart. A large rock that had not been visible before had moved up, pushing up the fence that ran along the property and breaking it. Large stones with which he had lined the pathway just above the deep gulley were gone, rolled down into the gulley. There was a little bit of broken cement in one corner of the house. All the houses up there are sitting in a dangerous place. Tomas thought about moving his house and rebuilding in another location. After we talked a while, I was pretty tired, and we came back to the house. I didn’t really work on anything much in the computer today. There was lots of smoke and my eye was hurting quite a bit. This afternoon, Erovi came back and brought us a popo. He wanted to get some yarn. I guess someone must be making him a new bilum. Late this afternoon, Danny brought his phone to be charged. The conversation turned to the earthquake, and that opened up an opportunity to talk to Danny about spiritual things. Ana came this afternoon to work on finishing up her lessons she had missed, and she stayed until a little after dark. Sera and the three children came early this evening and brought some nice tomatoes. September 13. News had been off the air for the past couple days, but was back on this morning. There was news about the earthquake, and from the report of a helicopter pilot who does medivacs, there are seven people confirmed dead (most of them from large rocks falling on them), and they did 80 medivacs for injured people, most of them on Sunday. They said the worst damage was in the Obura-Wonenara area (that’s Owena’s area) - that surprised us. Anna Jean said this morning that there is a big crack in the ground that runs by her house. (writing this the next day — Wednesday) The rest of the day, I didn’t do any work on the computer. My eye was in a great amount of pain and felt very hot. Had a low-grade temperature. I made a patch with some gauze and tape, and that helped the eye not to feel so irritated, but did not decrease the pain. The only thing we have and that I felt I should take was amoxicillin so started on that in the evening. Went to bed at 9:00. I didn’t realize how much a sick eye could make the whole body feel sick. September 9. So much smoke again today. It is affecting my voice as well as my eyes. How we pray for rain! Wrote one e-mail today. Had hoped to write more, but there were people to talk to while Daddy was at the airstrip. He went up to see the SIL pilot who had come to get a load of coffee. I also had to make a dinner today — Spanish rice to go with our pumpkin. That’s about the only veggie we have right now. We were thankful that Mata did bring us a few greens today, but otherwise we haven’t had any for a while. Lots of the villagers are building new houses and using lots of greens for their house raising parties. Anna Jean did the laundry, cut up a pumpkin, and swept the floors. Then she had a cup of coffee and practiced computer. I went out and took the dry clothes down while dinner was cooking. For my computer time, I worked on an English Bible primer. September 10. This morning there was kitchen work to do. Washed a popo to cut up in the afternoon. Sorted and washed greens. Cut them up later in the morning and set them on to cook. Washed the last three older kaukau (sweet potato) and later put them in the oven to bake for snacks. Somewhere during that time, Apekio came with fresh kaukau which I put in the cupboard for another day. I also got the bed made, wrote an e-mail, went outside for a little stretch, read a chapter in II Kings, and wrote a bit in my journal before dinner time came along. Worked on English Bible Primer #8 off and on throughout the afternoon and evening and finished it after our devotions this evening. September 11. It was an interesting morning. We had had our pancake breakfast, the kitchen was cleaned up, the bed was made, I had finished quiet time, read a chapter in II Kings, and gotten journal notes ready to put in an e-mail for Christy and Connie. After that, I was thirsty and a little bit hungry for a snack. Had a drink of water and was trying to decide on a simple snack when the house shook with a jerk and then began to shake hard, and then harder. That was shortly before 10:00. As quickly as possible, I went outside. It didn’t matter to me if things fell off the shelves. I thought it was more important to watch for our lives. Daddy, on the other hand, was still inside. I wondered what he was doing. Later he told me that he stayed inside so he could see what was falling. He finally did come outside. Even outside, the ground was shaking quite strongly under our feet. Amos and family came outside while we were out (the shaking had pretty much stopped). We talked for a while about the end times and how much worse it will be during the tribulation. He said his family all came to him and latched onto him because they were scared. He asked the Lord to have mercy on them. After a while, we came back inside to assess the damage. A lot of water had sloshed out of the buckets. It’s a blessing to have a bamboo floor in the laundry room so all the water that sloshed out just went down through the floor. Only a few things fell — shampoos and other unbreakable things in the bathroom. All the things that fell were facing east to west or west to east. Water in kettles on the wood stove sloshed onto the stove. Plates, cups, etc. are all on an open shelf above the kitchen cupboard, and not a one of them even moved. They are all facing south to north. Praise the Lord for caring for even the little things. Up on the hill where Tomas’s house is, where the path goes in front of his house, there was ground and huge stones that moved down toward Matthew’s area. Last time (a couple years ago), that ground split, but this time it broke away. Tomas’s house is on unstable ground. If another earthquake like that hits here, he is in danger of losing his house After a while, Daddy called Christy and asked them to check on the epicenter. When the e-mail came, they said it was near Kainantu and it was 7.6 on the Richter scale. Not long afterward, while I was blending up pumpkin and then greens for our dinner veggies, Daddy received a text from Glennys asking if we were doing okay. How thoughtful of her! According to the email, the epicenter was 78 km NE of Lae and apparently moved from there westward as far as Goroka and who knows how far beyond. The road cracked along the Markham, and there are power outages in Morobe, Madang, Goroka (all the Highlands) plus damages in various places including Goroka and SIL. After Daddy called Christy, I wrote a couple e-mails which Daddy sent while I was fixing dinner. This afternoon, I wrote in my journal, proofread the primer I finished yesterday, and made the cover and introductory page for the next primer. This evening, we listened to a message entitled “How to Prevent Revival” by a Dr. Jim Cook. September 7. Last night and today, there was no knee-popping, and the Lord enabled me to walk up the airstrip and back. I was pretty tired out by the time we got back, however. It was good to rest and take time for a little Bible study after that. Computer time the rest of the day was spent working on school Bible lessons. Later in the evening, I spent time on the Pidgin Ephesians outline. September 8. Anna Jean came shortly after I had finished breakfast and cut and raked the grass (mostly weeds) inside the yard. She also practiced computer and filled up the washing machine. I spent my computer time today working on the Ephesians outline. Daddy is working on checking through the translation of the Old Testament books that he has done. He finished translating Malachi several days ago and then started checking back through. Ana came today and worked on her lessons. Mata brought bananas. Lynn Graham brought two popo. Paqo brought eggs. Praise the Lord for His provision. I was busy in the kitchen from 4:30 until a little after 5:00 — slicing up rolls for sandwiches, slicing up cheese, mixing up tuna. The world was so smoky today. We hate to keep the house closed on a hot day, but the wind blows the smoke and ashes into the house, and the eyes and lungs aren’t too happy about it. September 5. A warm night. A warm morning. By bedtime last night, my knee was quite painful after popping in and out so many times. It got stiff during the night as I thought it would, and it was painful to walk on it whenever I had to get up. Once I started moving around this morning, however, I gained more mobility, although the knee is still a bit painful, and I don’t move with ease. Not long before bedtime, it started popping again. After breakfast and quiet time and making the bed, I enjoyed a little Bible study in II Kings. The rest of the day was spent mostly on writing the monthly update. This evening, I started working on school Bible lessons again. Hadn’t worked on them for a long time; and even if the Christian school never works out, it would be good to have a set all made up for teaching children. “And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” (II Kings 6:16) Whether the enemy be a great host or giants great or small, we need never fear, for the army of the Lord of hosts has many more chariots and horses than any earthly enemy; and they are with us. The Lord never leaves us alone to fight our battles. “With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.” (II Chronicles 32:8) September 6. So thankful that I did not have to fix a meal or do much on my feet today as my knee kept trying to misbehave. Thankful for Anna Jean’s work washing clothes, too. Got e-mails ready to send to C&C with the September updates, and Daddy sent them out. Apekio came along to see what we needed at market; and she and Anna Jean and I sat and talked for a while. After they left, Daddy went for a short walk to the airstrip and back while I blended up the carrots and pumpkin together and then went out to get the clothes. It was not a good time for a walk. The air is very dry, and it was already quite hot. The sky is full of smoke from yesterday’s fires. We did not see fires today, but there may have been some on the other side of the ridges. The air has a very unusual dry, hot feel in it, like a time of drought perhaps. It was not until after nap that I was able to sit down and do a brief, but encouraging, study in II Kings. The rest of the afternoon and evening’s computer time was spent working on the school Bible lessons. Right now, Mom and Dad are training some of the people of Owena to launch out into other areas with the gospel. This past year has been somewhat challenging, and they were a little discouraged as it did not seem like they were seeing a lot of fruit for their labors. However, recently, the Lord gave them a special blessing. This blessing came during the celebration of their graduates from SCMS or Soldiers of Christ Missionary School. Here is the story in Mom’s own words. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The days are so busy, and the beginning of this week was especially busy as we made preparations for SCMS graduation and then had the event on Wednesday, the 12th. The two graduates did a lot of work to get things ready too. At first we were a bit disappointed because they waited until late morning to come get the food we had in the fridge and foot locker where we keep a lot of our food supplies. The program was scheduled to start between 3:00 and 4:00, but 4:00 came and went, and nobody showed up; 5:00 came and went, too, and finally the men and children and a couple female guests arrived with saucepans full of food. It was 5:15 before the two graduates arrived. There were more people who came than were invited, and we did not know what to do. We just have one small room to meet in, and all the food was set up on a table in the children’s schoolroom. But the Lord was in control of everything, and there were just exactly the right number of seats for six children and nine adults. Two of the invited adults did not come. We did have to leave out parts of the program because of their being so late. Somewhere around 5:30, we got started. Lewis welcomed the guests and then Ana and Anna Jean each gave their testimonies. Lewis gave a challenge to the two ladies and also told about the training program for the benefit of the guests. Nuanda had invited a man from three of the churches – Liberty Baptist Church, Marimari Baptist Church, and Emmanuel Baptist Church – to represent their church, ask questions, and thank us for teaching. They wanted to know if we will hold another session of classes as they believe there are some from each of their churches who would like to come. Lewis told them we would as long as there are those who desire to attend. They said they would let the members of their churches know so they could come and give us their names. Lewis presented the two ladies with their certificates and had Nuanda pray for them. Then I gave out little handmade bags, each full of candies and a balloon, one for each of the six children. After that, one of the men gave thanks for the food, and everyone enjoyed a feast. There was much more food than anyone could eat. Other people who wanted to come, but knew they could not because of space, donated extra food and helped the ladies prepare everything. We thought that was very kind of them. Lewis and I were really tired out by the time the evening was over, but we praise the Lord that what seemed like a disappointment at first turned out to be a blessing. -------------------------------------------------------------------- [For a while, Mom and Dad were considering relocating because they felt there was not much more they could do for ministry in Owena. However, after this event, they are reconsidering.] Mom said, “As long as there are people here who desire to take the course, we will not have to try to relocate somewhere else.” |
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