NTM

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!).

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.