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January 2, 2008 |
november and december Volume
2, Number 6 |
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Craig and Alotau,
MBP 211 Phone
# 011
675 671-7788 011
675 696-0348 E-mail Prayer Requests: ·
God will give
us clarity and vision as we seek to provide leadership to the church here ·
Prayer of Thanksgiving
for Rohan, Deandra, Priscilla, and Womsley who were recently baptized. ·
Roger, Loraine,
Liga, and Shelly who are all having Bible studies right now. ·
God might help
us reach those we meet around
town through our day to day activities We thank each one of
you for your prayers and support.
May God Bless You! CHECK IT OUT: pngfords.blogspot.com A blog detailing the
life and times of the PNG Fords. All our previous
newsletters have been archived on the At our year-end
church meeting we challenged our members to answer this question: What things have happened in and around
Alotau this year that would not have happened if this church family was not
here? Here is a partial
list of what was shared: 1. Lautevateve church
began to meet 2. First week long youth camp 3. All church weekend retreat 4. 14 baptisms 5. Women traveled to the national ladies
gathering 6. Provided school scholarships for the
first time 7. Weekly Bible studies and men’s
meetings 8. Began a cradle roll class 9. Began a preacher exchange with the
Gama church 10. Hosted a business seminar conducted by
Ira Hill 11. Hosted eight interns from 12. In the process of developing a new
children’s curriculum |
While we waited many months for our
house to be completed we learned that a house is not a ‘right’
but a blessing from God. As we
depended on God to overseee all the difficulties associated with the house we
were able to take that time to commit to using our home to help forward the
gospel. Over the last couple of
months we have had the opportunity to open our home to many individuals and
groups.
Above left is the
Mumna family. Pastola, the mother,
and two of her daughters, as well as a son and nephew, are Christians. The father, Paulus, is not. Paulus, like many non-Christians, is distantly
attracted to the gospel, but is burdened by other priorities and
preoccupations. I have been
praying for this man. A few weeks
after we returned we were able to have the entire family (including Paulus)
into our home. When we returned to
Alotau we were impressed by the growing number of age 20-30’s at the
church. This group has proven to
be quite evangelistic and energetic.
We decided we should respond to God’s movement, and so we have
started a monthly meeting with this group at our house (pictured above,
right). We had a dozen people at
our first two events.
Recent Baptisms: At the beginning of December the
congregation here was blessed to witness four baptisms. The first was a man named Womsley who
has been in Alotau for about ten years.
One of his relatives came in from the village and was having Bible
studies and Womsley was convicted by the Word that was being taught. At the end of the same week Priscilla,
Deandra, and Rohan were baptized (pictured above left with Deandra’s
mother, Anne). It is such an
amazing blessing to be able to share in these joyous occasions. The
picture above right shows some of the ladies during our prayer time at church.
Cyclone Gerber: As life continues I am reminded of the human tendency to be
self-centered. In our first
couple of weeks back we had a HUGE rain storm. When the rain began we rejoiced
because rain is our only source of water. As the rain continued we were forced
to spend much time digging trenches to avoid flooding around the house. Once everything was said and done we
found out that the rain was caused by a cyclone that hit on the North side of
the island. What we were dealing
with was only the leftover rain.
As the stories began to circulate, we were made aware of the deep devastation
in many areas where homes were destroyed and gardens ruined. In fact, we were supposed to head to
this area the first week of December for a Bible camp, but were forced to
cancel due to the destruction. In
our own way we tried as best as possible to help provide the necessary
supplies, but as always it seems so meager in the midst of the deep
need. Please pray for those
affected by the cyclone.
Family Perspective, written
by Jeri: The last two months have seemed like a whirlwind (or perhaps a cyclone!) We have been busy getting into the
swing of things and preparing for the holidays. Our family has enjoyed some time
outdoors swimming during this HOT time of year. While many of you are enjoying a white
Christmas, we are in the midst of our hottest season. We have also been trying to keep up
with the weeds that seem to grow just as well as the rest of the things in
our garden. We now have beautiful
flowers blooming everywhere and can’t eat all of the green beans fast
enough that are growing here. I
don’t have a green thumb at all, but things grow even in my garden here, thanks to the fertile
soil, sunshine, and rainfall. We had a special Christmas this year. My parents and youngest sister joined
us here in PNG for a very different holiday season than they are used to in Caleb is growing like our weeds outside and is trying to grab
everything in sight. Hannah loves
watching Dora, reading, and helping us pull the weeds. They are such a blessing to us. |
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