Jason and Toni Stuart Working in Papua New Guinea Dear Friends,
We are now out in town (and will be for a month) and are enjoying a change
of scenery, having spent that last four months in the village. We
definitely have felt the need for a bit of a break, so we are thankful that
we will have a chance to get one.
As you know, Toni has been teaching a women’s literacy class for the last
several months. Perhaps one of the biggest struggles of the class was
keeping the ladies in school. They are not used to a structured life, as
well as being responsible to provide the staple food for their families.
So, many of them felt they could skip class whenever they wanted or needed
to. We finally had to institute a system of fining people two kina (about
one Australian dollar or 70 cents American) for not attending. This helped,
but the course was still a typical disjointed Inaru experience. The class
completed a few days before we left the village and the results were mixed.
Some of the ladies who attended were already semi-literate and their reading
skills were strengthened. One lady who could not read before definitely
learned to read, while 3 or 4 others did not learn to read. Toni plans to
continue working with different ladies one day a week when we get back to
help them continue to improve. Thanks for praying for this.
We have been very encouraged lately with the men’s discipleship group. We
have had 6 men who attend regularly with a couple new ones joining us
recently. While the Inaru church as a whole is still a bit slack, the core
group of men seems to be maturing spiritually and this will help the church
in the long run. When we meet, we discuss issues related to the church
ministry, go over the lessons to be taught in the church services, and I
teach them on different doctrinal and practical issues as well. We recently
discussed the Lord’s Supper when we were going over the lesson of Eutychus
falling out the window and last week the Inaru church had a Communion
service of their own initiative, which was very encouraging. For the bread,
a sago pancake was used. For the drink, a red sauce made from the fruit of
the pandanus. The sago was dipped in the pandanus sauce and then eaten. It
wasn’t a typical Communion service that we would have in Western churches,
but it was great to see the Inarus doing this on their own. Thanks for your
prayers for the men in our church.
We will be in diff towns for a month doing translation checks and a one week break in the middle. Please pray that we do have a refreshing time and can
relax a bit together.
Thanks for your prayers for all of us. We greatly appreciate it.
In Christ,
Jason and Toni and Jedidiah and Ella Jo Stuart
