NTM

Fall 2008 in the Sepik

It was hard to notice summer turning into fall ~ my first clue was the pumpkins on the Yahoo home page. My second clue was the rain beginning to blow into my bedroom and not my kitchen –opposite sides of the house. The temperatures certainly didn’t change, and there was no back-to-school hype at Target to warn me. But season change has definitely come, and my trip home isn’t far off!

YES, I am headed home in just about 5 weeks! I will be in Washington from Christmas until April, with a couple trips and visits thrown in the middle. I am quite excited to travel home, and to see everyone again! I must admit I am also excited to see things like paved roads, clean stores, and real dairy products. There is one small concern you might consider praying about: The airstrip I have to leave the Sepik region from is reduced to about 800 meters right now due to some “construction”, and Air Niugini has begun using way smaller planes ~ therefore only taking half of the people who have paid for seats. Please pick one thing to ask the Lord for: the airstrip being opened back up, or that I’m among the half who gets on the flight to the capital that day!

In all the excitement, there is also an urgency! I have a lot to get done before I leave. There are numerous projects in the Tribal Resource inbox that I need to have done for the tribal churches ~ this is their last chance to order materials until next May when I return. Hence, all the orders I also need to hand off the Guesthouse ministry to someone in the next couple weeks, so that they have time to get comfortable with it before it’s all on them. It’s not hard, just a lot of little, important details to remember. There is obviously also a bit of organizing and thinking ahead and packing to do in my house that I will soon have to face

I’d appreciate prayer too, for opportunities to share with people and churches when I’m home –there are MANY exciting things going on here in Papua New Guinea as churches are being established, translations are moving forward, and tribal believers are growing and exercising their new faith!

PRAYER

• The things mentioned throughout this update in bold
• SO happy to report a room at the Easley Inn while I’m home –thank you Uncle Willie & Aunt Gretchen!!
• I’m also hoping to be able to use a vehicle for those few months… if anyone has one sitting around
• My monthly support has been hovering around 50% with the faithful few –it’d be a great help to see more giving less
• We are hosting a Sepik Ladies’ Retreat next weekend –us center girls would like to give the bush girls a refreshing and encouraging weekend of rest!
• Do keep these Sepik tribal churches (and the teams who are discipling) in prayer: Inanbimali, Bagwido, Abau, Siawi, Nakui, Inaru, Malaumanda, Sorimi, Hewa

Many THANKS for your prayers, involvement & support!!!

That’s right –2 1/2 months until I head home for a short (December – April) furlough!  I am looking forward to being home in time for Christmas, though I am going to be so cold the whole time!!  My body has totally acclamated to the tropical PNG weather, and I find myself chilly on days it drops to the 80s.  I’ll be in trouble when I land in the middle of a Seattle winter! 

My co-worker and friend Jacinda, went home a couple months ahead of me, and I expected the days to really drag while I was here without my side-kick.  Although I definitely miss her company, the days are going fast.  I’ve been kept really busy and I kind of wonder how I’m going to be ready by the day I start flying home!  I’m thankful the Lord has kept my hands full and for all the other friends still here to share life with! 

Coming Up…

• This week, I have my friend Lisa staying with me while she is on a break from life in the village, and on her way to a translation workshop –it will be fun to hang out with her a little bit and have someone to hit the town with again!
• Later in October, I will fly up to our Field Headquarters for a long weekend.  I am so excited to be able to see the dentist while I am there, and if I’m lucky, also get a hair cut!  I’m looking forward to "getting out" for a few days, and seeing friends up there.
• In mid-November, we are planning a Sepik Ladies Retreat weekend and it will be so fun to have all the ladies out of the bush and for us all to spend some time together; hopefully coming away refreshed, encouraged and reminded that we’re all on this team together! 

That gives you a small idea of how my last 2 1/2 months are filling up!  But it’s not quite time for a countdown yet!  Pray that I’d keep my mind here, where I actually AM, and that I’d be a blessing in whatever the Lord gives me to do. 

I’ll be leaving the Sepik Support Center on a little 206 today, heading into the village where I will spend the next 6-8 weeks on Bush Orientation. 

This should be a time of getting a very real idea of what life in the village would be like.  I’m excited to get this time with the missionary family in the village, learning what I can from them on all levels! 

I have officially completed my NCLA (National Culture and Language Acquisition) but I’m trusting that after this time of immersion in the village, with all the Tok Pisin speakers, that I’ll come out a lot better! 

I’d appreciate your prayers while I’m in the village –it will be an adjustment physically and emotionally I’m sure!  I’m thankful for medicines and treatments that are available, and preventative measures that we can take against tropical diseases, but I know Whose hands all of our health is really in!  So pray that I won’t get knocked down too hard!   

Thanks for your vital and practical partnership, through your prayers and financial support!  Couldn’t be here, or doing any of this without you! 

It’s a good thing I’ve become somewhat accustomed to change, because I think life is always on the move. More accurately, GOD is on the move IN our lives! And we can trust that He moves for His glory and our good; a two-for-one.

It is nice, too, when the changes and moves are ones we’re excited about! I am going to be changing regions and moving to the Sepik in a couple weeks. I will take another language check on the 31st to see where I am, and I will go after that. There are a lot of unknowns, and it won’t be quick or easy, but it is something to pray towards –that Jacinda and I will be able to sometime join a tribal team, new or existing. Being at the shortest, more than a year away, I will be wrapping up NCLA (National Culture & Language Acquisition) and serving in a support role in Wewak in the meantime!

Daniel, Dorothy, and their family have been great national friends to me here in Madang, and I will miss hanging out with them! They have helped me loads in the culture and language, and they’ve given me lots of interesting experiences as well… I will share one of those with you:

Dorothy and I recently went into town for the market, and we returned to her house to cook the noon-time meal together. Her whole family was beyond excited that I would be eating my first saksak/sago with them. I had a little excitement of my own, knowing how important of a food this was to them. Everything went fine until we put the boiling water into this bowl of clay and she started turning it –my stomach started turning with it and I started praying she’d have mercy when she dished me up. She didn’t. I was given a “plate” with 4 huge piles of boiled saksak, and all eyes were on me in anticipation. I did it, I ate it. The fish and vegetables helped, and I just about cleaned my plate (note* clearing your throat works wonders in turning off your gag reflex). Dorothy was so pleased, her mother was just about in tears (so was I), and Daniel kept saying with pride that now I am a “good PNG meri”. “Great”, I thought, “Now that’s established, let’s never do that again!” But it was worth it to compliment them in that way, and I know there is more where that came from –I won’t be getting off that easy!

Things to keep in prayer:

• my memory, comprehension, and communication in Tok Pisin –I would like to be somewhere in the Capable level when I get checked on the 31st
• the logistics of packing my house and scheduling flights “in my spare time” these next couple weeks
• sufficient support to continue as there are some costly events coming up (bush orientation being one!)

THANK YOU for how you are a blessing to me as you faithfully pray and give, and as I see the Lord providing for me through those things!!! Thanks for standing with me as a great support team (the packages lately have been great, too!).

There is nothing like standing at the sink washing your dishes and listening to Christmas music while a stream of sweat runs down your leg!  They tell me this is the hottest time of the year.  I’m still functioning, so I guess that means I’ll survive it! 

I just got back "home" to Madang after spending 3 weeks in the Highlands, helping at a Translation Workshop for the missionary teams in the Sepik region.  I had a great time and made some new friends!  Jacinda is one of them; would you pray with us as we talk about and move towards teaming up as co-workers so that we’ll be able to be a part of a tribal team in the near future? 

While in the Highlands, we all celebrated Thanksgiving, and my 25th birthday the day after!  Our Thanksgiving meal was topped off not with pumpkin pie, as yours might have been, but with a 6.7 earthquake.  Some were scared, others of us just laughed!  We were reminded of God’s power… Psalm 46:6 says He lifts His voice and the earth melts!  Thankful HE is our Rock and stability when our worlds shake. 

Please keep me in your prayers as I continue to study the way this culture is expressed through the language, and learn to speak it myself. 

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the faithful and generous support you each give!!!  I am so encouraged when I see your names on my account for your financial support and by the emails I receive letting me know you’re thinking of me and praying for me.  I thank God for His provision through you, and for the great support team you are!! 

Eaten shark?  Me neither, not until today at least!  It was the last thing I expected to be offered in the market and I couldn’t turn down the opportunity!  It was pretty "okay" and went well with the tapioca root and coconut we ate with it! 

I have been in the country for 5 weeks now and am pretty well adjusted to my new surroundings!  I am feeling comfortable in town and have enjoyed the times we’ve walked to our neighboring village and "talked" with our new friends.  I haven’t been surprised by anything and have thanked God again and again for the thorough and effective training I received.  It’s just like they said it would be! 

Thank you so much for all the prayers and emails (and snail mails!) –they have been so encouraging. 

These first 6-8 months are being spent in National Culture and Language Study.  I am going through this with another family who I’ve known since early in the training.  We have our work cut out for us as we will be learning in the context of relationships and real-life events with our new friends.  Please pray for these friendships as they develop and pray that we’d be insightful and sensitive learners! 

Again, thank you SO MUCH for your prayers and for standing behind me –your consistent support and partnership in this ministry are such a foundation and I thank God for the privilege it is to work together with you as He builds His church in this country! 

(Okay, I know what some of you are thinking, "Have you been freaking out about all the crazy bugs?" –NO!  Well, kind of, but I can honestly say they were worse in Missouri than anywhere!  I am only scared of the mosquitos because they carry malaria, and the toads because they are practically a foot tall!)

Please write with any questions or random things you are wondering, or just to say hi!  I’d love to hear from you!  

thanks for keeping my immune system in prayer!  i am learning what to eat here in PNG that will keep my body strong enought to combat amoebas(?) and malaria! 

Well… as a lot of you know, yesterday was my "departure date"!  So where am I now??  Oh, Gig Harbor?  Yeah… I didn’t get very far without the appropriate paperwork being issued "in time"! 

I’m learning to THANK HIM for His hand in this, though it was a little disappointing –I definitely choose His wisdom over mine and His timing over mine! 

I was able to change my ticket dates… for a "small fee" and I feel like everything is falling into place –again!    My paperwork "should" be ready in about 4 weeks and my new departure will be shortly after that. 

Between now and then, the Lord opened up a really fun door for me!  I am heading out to the Training Center in Missouri to fill a short-term gap in the childcare department –taking care of the little guys while their moms and dads are in class.  I’m looking forward to a little more time there and it is really thoughtful of the Lord to give me somewhere to go since I was so excited to leave yesterday!   He is full of surprises! 

Another great surprise, and gift from the Lord, was seeing my monthly support continue to rise.  I think it’s around 60%.  I am really GRATEFUL –grateful for each of you who pray and faithfully give.  It is such an encouragement and each of you makes a difference, meeting needs as I go, and I praise the Lord for you!! 

Thank you for your continued prayers for the following:

• a safe trip to Missouri, and that I’d be a blessing there
• my permits coming through
• the sale of my van

"I have told you these things so that IN ME you may have PEACE.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world."  John 16:33

So cool that true stability and peace of heart is found in Him and not our "worlds" or circumstances…! 

While the waiting game isn’t one most of us like to play, as one of my friends pointed out, this actually is a better waiting room to be in than many others!  Even while things are uncertain as far as permits being granted in time and traveling plans being up in the air, there is plenty to be thankful for! 

I just finished a week of camp with my church, and got to be a part of seeing young believers grow in their personal walks with the Lord!  I was blessed as some of my girls expressed to me that they were happy to be there and be encouraged, but they were anxious to get back into reality where they could put what they were hearing into practice!  Praise the Lord for the perspective He gave them!

As my time is getting short, there are a few last-minute things you could be praying for! 

• my van needs to sell
• if my work permit & entry permit could move through the office in RECORD TIME, I would be able to leave on time!
• wisdom to know when to re-arrange my flights (if it comes to that!)
• the remaining monthly support that is needed

Psalm 9:10 says "Those who know Your name will trust in You…"  How much quicker would we be to trust if we would look at our God for who He really is?!  Wouldn’t trusting be a joy, a privilege, rather than what we often see as "the last resort"?  I am excited to trust Him in all these things, excited that He is the all-wise God and He will make my path straight! 

So thankful for your partnership!!  –Katie

please pray that my work permit moves through the office in RECORD TIME and that i can send in the papers for my entry permit (can’t do that until the work permit is done)… and then if THAT could go really fast too… we might be able to leave on time! :0