COMING HOME FOR SHORT FURLOUGH (September 15, 2008)

Please pray for us as we pack and have closure with our tribal friends and our fellow missionaries here in Papua New Guinea. 

Please pray for safe travels as we will be visiting friends and family in November, December, and early January.  Then we will travel to the Philippines and arrive towards the end of January 2009 for orientation into the GH ministry.

THE BANMANS ARE MOVING. (June 4, 2008)

Please pray for the Wusuraambyan Team, the believers in the village, and for Terry and Rosie's family as they prepare to move out of the village. 

Our team has been together in Wusuraambya for 11 years.  We have developed strong relationships with each other and the villagers.  Although, it will be difficult to see Terry, Rosie, Troy, Kara, and Sharla leave our village, the Lord has prepared their hearts and guided them into another ministry.  They will be involved in  new missionary orientation and member care  near Goroka.  They  plan to move by July  24th so that  their children may  enroll  in the MK school near  Goroka.

Please pray that the Banmans will know how to present this decision to the villagers so they will not feel like the Banmans are deserting them.  Also, pray for all the preparations that need to be made in moving and the adjustments to living in town.

Last year the Gouds moved out of the village to help their children adjust to the MK school and to be together as a family.  Please pray for them as well.  Andrew and Cathy are trying to translate Romans while living away from the village.

This leaves Darryl and Becky in the village by themselves.  There will be a new missionary family coming into the village for bush orientation so Darryl and Becky will be involved with helping this family learn the culture of the village.  They will probably be in the village for several months.

Thank you for being our prayer coworkers.

UPCOMING VISIT TO THE PHILIPPINES (April 3, 2008)

  Stephen and Ginger's family in May 2007

  Joy and Becky in 2005

It has been 2 years since we have seen Stephen and Ginger's family and 3 years since we have seen Joy's three boys! 

Stephen and Ginger gave us a new grandson last May that we have not met yet ... other than in pictures.  And one of our grandsons, Adam (Joy's son), just graduated from high school.  Adam asked Joy if they could go to the Philippines for a graduation present.  Sooo... both families asked us to join them.  We are really excited to have this mini reunion with two of our adult children and our grandchildren.

    Please pray for good weather and safety in travel in our upcoming trip in May.  It is quite a process to get to the Philippines even though it is only a 6 hour flight from Port Moresby.  Weather permitting (generally, we have fog to the ground and rain in May), we will fly out of Wusuraambya via NTMA on a Cessna 206 on May 15th, stay the weekend in Goroka, fly via Air Niuguini on the following Monday who are known for cancelling several flights a week, spend the night in Port Moresby and then fly the next day to Manila on the 20th.  Air Niuguini only flies to the Philippines once a week.  Since flights are cancelled often, we want to get to Port Moresby a day ahead of our flight. or we will wait another week to get to the Philippines and miss one of the two weeks we have with Joy and her boys.  So you can see it is quite a process to travel in PNG.

We would appreciate your prayers that the scheduling will go like clock work and that we have safe travels.  Also, pray that Stephen and his family will have safe travels from their village to Manila ... a 2 day trip for them ...to pick us up.  They have to drive to Puerto Princessa one day and fly to Manila the next day.  Pray that Joy, Adam, David, and Matthew have a safe flight from the States to the Phillippines.   

WUSURAAMBYANS ARE PERSECUTED BY FIRE. (April 2, 2008)

Fire burns down teaching structure for Bible Lessons.

Presently, we, the Banmans, the Gouds, and the Jordans, have left Wusuraambya and are in Goroka for the purpose of attending  the Highlands Conference.

We got word yesterday that on Monday night, March 31, 2008; someone in the village has burned down the teaching site structure. There was an inscription carved  in the bamboo nearby the burnt down structure condemning Sunday worshippers.

Possibly, this fire could be some kind of persecution to the believers because recently they taught that obedience to the law will not provide salvation. The monetary loss did not amount to much. The structure consisted on bush timber and a grass roof.

     The Teaching Site

There might be a large impact among our believers as they face these struggles. At this time, we do not know but we will return on Monday and update you when we find out more.

Normally, the cultural reaction in our village for an incident such as this would be dissension culminating in tribal fights and ultimately, the situation would be brought forth in a court. 

Please pray for our believers in the village that they will seek encouragement from the Lord and that they will look at this incident as a stepping stone in faith. Please pray that they will react in a wise Godly way and be a testimony before their persecutor(s).

NEW "CREATION TO CHRIST" CHRONOLOGICAL LESSONS TO BE TAUGHT IN JANUARY (January 6, 2008)

Please pray for the Wusuraambyan believers as they begin a new set of teaching the 67 Chronological Lessons this month. The recent baptism service has sparked a renewed interest in hearing the Bible lessons and the Gospel.

Please pray especially for Willis, Jesi, and Josaak as they prepare to teach.  Also, pray that many will come to the lessons consistently so they will  clearly understand the complete Gospel message of God's grace.

A MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN OR A BUSINESS EXCHANGE? (January 4, 2008)

Traditionally, all marriages in the village were sister to sister exchanges. Here is how it worked! When a family had children of opposite sexes, the parents would look around for a family from another clan who had children of opposite sexes of about the same age as their own children. Then the parents would go to the other family and say, “We will give our daughter to you for your son’s future wife if you will give us your daughter for our son’s future wife.” If they agreed, this was a binding contract. (Also, the brothers of the parents were much involved in this decision making process.)

Often a young boy or girl knew who they would eventually marry but they did not have a choice in the agreement between these two clans.

The sister to sister exchange was the preferable way of obtaining a wife for a son. However, obviously, a sister is not always born into a family so there was not always an exchange. If this was the case, sometimes, a man married a woman with the agreement that he would give his very own daughter to the wife’s clan as his exchange. When this happened, the man had a binding contract according to this society. It became a debt to his in-laws that he would have to pay many years later when his daughter became of marriageable age.

About thirty years ago Gevarina incurred a debt when he married Jisaamwak. Since he had no sister to exchange, Gevarina, his father and his father’s brothers agreed that Gevarina’s future daughter, if he had one, would be the exchange for his wife Jisaamwak. And they did in fact have a daughter named Jaakurya . At the time of Jaakurya’s birth they promised her to her mother’s clan to become the wife of one of Jisaamwak’s nephews.

When this promise was made, there were no believers in our village. Since then Gevarina and his family have all become believers. Presently, based on the agreement of thirty years ago, before Jaakurya was even born, an older uncle from Jisaamwak’s clan named Waaru wants to marry Jaakurya. He is about 40 years of
age, an unbeliever, and already has two wives. While he does not need another wife, Waaru does not want to lose the opportunity to “profit” from this situation.

Meanwhile, Jaakurya (26) has fallen in love with Willis, another believer in our church. (Both Willis and Jaakaurya have a strong desire to marry each other and raise a Christian family together.) Willis has asked permission from Jisaamwak’s brothers for Jaakurya’s hand in marriage. One brother consented but Waaru has refused so we are praying that Waaru will change his mind.

Please pray with us that the Lord will intervene in this situation so that Willis and Jaakurya can be married according to the Biblical principle of “not being unequally yoked with an unbeliever”. 

Pray that they will present a righteous testimony before their families until this dispute can be settled without fights or a court situation. It is difficult for the new believers to break with non-Biblical traditions. While we do not want to be disruptive to the social fabric of this culture and change their many good values, we hope that the Wusuraambyan Christians will be able to marry believers.

Pray that, as a missionary team, we will teach clearly the principles of a one husband/one wife marriage as set forth in the book of Ephesians.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Wusuraambya tribe (July 22, 2007)

An Interface (college career mission program) team of seventeen people from the USA will arrive in our village on August 2, 2007.

Please pray for safe travel, a positive impact for missions on the students, and for our preparations for hosting the team such as building outhouses.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Wusuraambya tribe (March 30, 2007)

Please pray for our Wusuraambyan friends who are very poor that they might find "riches" in knowing Christ as their Saviour!  The believers are teaching the third set of Chronological lessons and will finish in a few weeks.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Wusuraambya tribe (March 27, 2007)

The Gouds left today for a 4 month medical furlough.

Please pray for safe travel and that Andrew might find good medical help in Canada.

The Banmans are in Canada on furlough.

Please pray for the Banmans as they prepare to return to PNG in July or early August.  They have last minute supplies to purchase.  Saying "good-byes" to their parents will be difficult.

We (the Jordans) will be alone in the tribe until August.

Please pray for good relationships with the villagers in the next few months.  There will be many decisions to make while our partners are in Canada.  Please pray for guidance and discernment in these decisions.

Darryl will be doing Bible exegesis on Romans and Becky will be transcribing Romans into the Wusuraambyan language.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Wusuraambya tribe (March 27, 2007)

Please pray that the 17 newly baptized believers will continue to grow in the Lord and that they will share with others what the Lord has done for them.

Please pray that for Willis and Alek as they finish Phase 1 evangelistic teaching and continue on with Phase 2 and 3 in the coming months.  Please pray that they will be clear in their teaching and that the villagers who are coming will be consistent in their attendance.  The teaching is from 4:30pm to 7:00pm on Monday through Thursdays.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Wusuraambya, PNG tribe (March 27, 2007)

Please pray for Jaakurya and Alek as they teach literacy to 66 students.  The classes will finish in July.  At this time, we hope to give the graduates the Gospel of Mark so that they can read for themselves the Good News that Jesus died for their sins.

Inanbimali tribe, Papua New Guinea (December 1, 2008)
Nine believers stood in the face of opposition this week and were baptized. Please pray that the faith and strength they showed will encourage other believers and be a testimony to unbelievers. Find out more -- read the story >>

Daily Scripture
 
"I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I wil praise You among many people."

Psalm 35:18