Airstrip Update from PNG

Missionaries To Papua New Guinea
 July 22, 2014

 Dear Praying Friends,
 We would like to thank those of you who have been praying for the airstrip inspection and weather to allow the inspection. There was no rain on Saturday or Sunday. This was an amazing answer to your prayers as we have been having very wet cloudy weather for the last two or three weeks. However, we awoke on Monday (the day scheduled for the inspection) to cloudy misty drizzle, and we got nearly one half inch of rain on that day. Thankfully, the actual rain came after the landing and inspection. The pilot/inspector was very pleased with the inspection, and our airstrip is officially open. In fact Matt Crain is working on scheduling our first supply trip by air for next week. We praise the Lord for His powerful work in bringing this blessing to fruition. We praise Him for His goodness in prompting many of you to provide so generously and sacrificially. We thank you for your prayers which God in His unchanging love has answered so faithfully. Do join with us in praising and thanking our wonderful God.

 Of course we are thrilled with the prospects of getting up at a reasonable hour, hopping on a plane and arriving in Goroka safely, and cleanly in 15 minutes (compared to leaving the house at about 3:00am and driving for 5 or 6 hours through mud and goop and stone and thieves). However, I trust that you will be reminded that this blessing and answer to your prayers is not primarily about making your missionaries lives easier. It is about God. He desires each of us to reflect on His great power and complete faithfulness over the 14 years of the construction of this airstrip in order to believe Him more fully for the myriad uncompleted "projects" in all of our lives. That wayward child, those lost loved ones, our own spiritual growth and victory, all of these are just a few of the many many works which our great God is prepared to bring to an amazing conclusion for His glory. Just as the Lord chided His disciples in Matthew 16:8 and following, He bids us remember this great work as a support to our belief for all the future needs and challenges which may come.

Now for the really good news regarding the airstrip inspection. After the plane took off, I gathered all the people (between 400 and 500) who had come to see the landing. After thanking them for their work and part in the airstrip (cutting posts for fencing, planting grass, etc. ) I had the privilege of direction their attention to the True Source of the airstrip. Through that I was able to bring their minds to dwell on God's greatest Gift and proclaimed the Good News of Christ to them. Pray that the Lord will use His Word to do a marvelous saving work in the lives of these "projects".
In Christ,
 Michael
 "he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth"

Travel Update #21- Home

If home is where the heart is, then they made it all the way there.
Though no one heard from them until they reached San Francisco (and by that point I couldn't update here), the brothers made it safely across the Pacific. Around 10:15pm central time in Texas (and at the end of a very long Saturday for the guys)...
They safely returned to their grateful wives and a small hoard of happy little Rodgers.
Both families will be traveling home this week, glad to have our men home.

Pics to follow as soon as possible!

Travel Update #20 - from Goroka

I just heard from Thomas! They made it safely to Goroka, mid-morning Thursday. They're about to run errands in town, and will stay at a mission house overnight.

Katie

Travel Update #19 - Wrapping Up

Well, it brings some sadness to think that this is the last report I will send from Papua New Guinea. We had a good day to end the visit!


Jon and I got going around 5:45am and worked on the walls of the schoolhouse by a little after 6. We quickly wrapped the walls in the metal sheeting and began the process of measuring and cutting the gable sheets. Once we cut out the sheets Jon took the dozer back out to the airstrip to do a little more grading. Over the next few hours I finished with all of the siding and installed an exterior door. All that remains to do on the school house is cutting out a few windows and painting the floors. (This should be done over the next couple of weeks as Matt Crain has time.)


Jon fininshed filling the last little bit of the washout on the airstrip, and cut a few more drainage ditches across to help with water flow during the upcoming rainy months.

We came back the house, showered and got ready for prayer meeting. Just as we entered the church building it began to rain for the first time this week! What an answer to prayer! We had been praying that it would not rain until after we got the school building dried-in. It was only 2 hours after the project was finished that it began to rain! This rain will also help to keep the dust down on the road tomorrow.


Please pray as we take this road trip tomorrow. Pray for saftey over the next few days as Jon and I come back to our families.


Thank you again for all of your prayers,
Jon and Thomas

Jon preaching Sunday

Note from Katie: Thomas and Jon began travelling back to the town of Goroka around 4am Thursday, August 26th - that's early afternoon Wednesday here in the States. They will fly from Goroka to Port Moresby and then to Sydney on their Friday (Thursday afternoon and evening Stateside). They will have a night in Sydney (to rest and maybe tour!) and then leave Sydney on their Saturday afternoon...getting to San Francisco Saturday morning (three hours before they leave, of course) :) They have an eternal layover in San Franciso before finally flying to Texas where their wives and little people will be eagerly waiting for them!


Please be praying that they make all of their flights, and have travel mercies. Their families are looking forward to getting them back safely! :)

Inside the Schoolhouse

Schoolhouse!

Travel Update #18 - International Roof Install Team

(new pictures posted to Monday's update, too - check the previous update)

TUESDAY, AUGUST 24 - Wow, what a long day! It is nearly 8 pm and we are just finishing work and heading in. We got a lot accomplished today but the work was harder than we had expected. We had to build 8 trusses for the roof system. Once completed the truss had to be lifted onto the top of the walls, set in place, and secured. All of that took from 7am and 1pm. After a nice lunch provided by Belinda Richter, we attached cross bracing to the trusses and began securing the roof sheeting. This was a very precarious and difficult job. But we got the entire roof installed and sheeted before dark and then were able to put sheeting on one side of the building using flashlights!

 

We are tired and are reeeally looking forward to a nice night of sleep. 

Only one more day of work in Aibai before we head out. Please pray that we get a lot accomplished on Wednesday!

 

Thank you for your continued prayers,

 

Thomas and Jon

Oh...I almost forgot. While hauling more wood to the work site this morning (which we did not dump!) 

we took a detour to watch the beautiful sunrise from the top of a nearby ridge. Stunning!

Travel Update #17 - Oops.

MONDAY, AUGUST 23rd - 

Have you ever had a Monday where you felt like you should have just stayed in bed and things would have gone better? Well today was that kind of Monday for us...

It all began around 5:40am as we loaded up wood into the truck to haul up and use to build the floor system of the new school house. We loaded up a lot of wood. Everything we would need to complete the framing for the floor. Now you must keep in mind that the wood here is very, very heavy. Get that crazy soft yellow pine stuff from Home Depot or Lowes out of your mind. This stuff is nothing like that. In fact this wood is heavier than the treated material sold at said stores. So it took a lot of effort to load that truck with all of this wood. (44 planks of 2x6x10 and 16 planks of 2x6x8). 

Once this wood was loaded, I jumped in the truck and headed up the driveway to the road which would take us to the school. As I near the exit of the drive, the ENTIRE load fell out of the truck and onto the ground. To make matters worse I was still on a hill. So we had to reload the lumber in the truck again -- this time lugging it up the hill and up into the back of the truck. We only loaded half of the wood. (The first smart thing we did today!)

We dropped that load at the work site with no difficulty and returned for the remaining half-load of wood, waiting for us at the bottom of the hill at the drive. Once the wood was loaded I handed Jon the keys to the truck and told him to drive it over to the site (to say that I do not fit behind the wheel would be an understatement...it was very uncomfortable). He started the truck threw it into gear...

This was his first time to drive in PNG - and the truck lunged forward. Tragically all of the wood in the back of the truck stayed stationary and hence found itself back on the ground. After resting for a few minutes we put that wood into the truck for the 3rd time! We finally got that wood to the work site without any further difficulty.

You would think things could not get much worse after all of that.

But hey, this is PNG - the land of the unexpected! 

Once we arrived at the work site I jumped out of the truck and closed the door. Behind me I heard a frightful sound.: That was the sound of the driver door window crashing into a thoushand little peices. Not good. Especially when rainy season is approaching. Once the wood was unloaded we went to the Crain's house for breakfast. I had to proclaim to Matt how I had solved the circulation issue in the cab of the truck! I wasn't sure he would ever let me drive his truck again. He took it very well...I think.

Most of the day after the morning mess went much better! Jon pulled off of the dozer for today and Tuesday so we could attempt to complete the school building before we leave Aibai on Thursday. Today we completely framed the floor, sheeted the floor, and framed all of the walls. All went well and fairly quickly, considering everything had to be put together with 4" nails and a hammer. And not one piece of this wood is the same size! True rough-hewn lumber! A very good experience that I will never forget!

We are enjoying spending time with the nationals, especially those who are in the church here. The men have been a great help in building this building. Though many of them understand at least some English, I try to speak as much Pidgin as possible. I have really enjoyed learning this fun language. Probably one of our most spoken lines is "Hey, monkies go way back!" This is our attempt to keep the kids away from the work site so none of them get injured. The people love teaching us as much pidgin as we can comprehend! And it is not a difficult language to learn. Most short term missionaries get most of the language in just a few months!

Thanks for all of your prayers

Thomas and Jon

Travel Update #16 - A Day in the Lord's House(s)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 22 - We had a wonderful day of worship in the Lord's house. Jon and I stayed home for the first service (while the team went to Kilau, another small village nearby with a 2nd church the missionaries attend). We attended the morning service at Aibai. We were told that service started at 11am. At 10:40 Jon shouted across the house "Hey man, I hear singing!" So we dropped everything, grabbed our Bibles, threw on our shoes and quickly climed the hill to church. As we approached the building we could see Matt Crain standing outside. Uh Oh...we thought for sure we were in trouble. So we quietly and meekly appologized for being tardy. He couldn't figure out what we were talking about! Apparently the music director, Jimmy, starts at random times depending on how many people are present! Knowing that sure made things a bit easier!

We sat through a nice strong song service and then the preacher got up. Wow! This man, David Seeno (a national assistant pastor from Kilau) is a great evengelist. He was "shucking some corn." The exciting part, for me at least, is that I understood a lot of his sermon! I was thrilled! It made the service so enjoyable!

Tonight Jon, Matt and I sang a trio at church services in Kilau and Aibai, and Jon was able to preach both sermons. What a wonderful time with the believers in both villages!

ok, gutnait!

Thanks for your prayers,

 Thomas and Jon

Note from Katie: Thomas called briefly my Sunday morning, his Sunday night, from the front porch of the Berbin's house where he and Jon are staying, though the Berbins are here in the States on furlough. It was after 10pm there, and the sun had set and a pretty full moon had risen - so bright that he could see from the porch Mount Elembari glowing in the distance. Thomas told me that they feel rejuvenated from their Sunday day of rest and worship, and are ready to get to work tomorrow and see what they can get done before leaving New Guinea later this week. 

This picture isn't from Thomas-though I know he'll bring one back!
This was taken by Jon Berbin last year, from the Berbin's porch,
of Mount Elembari.