PNG May Day 3: "An old very good friend"

Today was another action day - of meeting people.  This time I had a couple good hours with Greg (PNG missionary), talking about how God was working in his life.  

After that, and an hour and a half of waiting for taxis (2 failed, one succeeded), I caught up with Lillian (PNG missionary) and we talked about the staff team and the stinters and how everyone was getting along.  It was very encouraging.. but since you don't know them, I won't go into details.

But the surprise of my life came at dinner tonight.  During dinner, I thought I saw out of the corner of my eye an old friend from the Solomon Islands (from when we lived there in the 90s) walk past me, but I looked up & saw no one and thought it must have been my imagination.  Then, after dinner, when I was talking with someone, Coxwain, our former Solomon Islands Director, snuck up behind me!

My good friend, Coxwain from the Solomon Islands!

During dinner, he was sitting at the opposite end of the dining room (with about 25 people in it).  He said "all of a sudden I heard someone talking about the Solomon Islands and Palau and thought that sounds like Dan"!  He stood up and saw me at the other end of the room.  After dinner, we spent over an hour talking.  It was great! When we left the Solomons, Nathan (our oldest) was 10 – now Coxwain's little boy is 10 and Nathan had 3 children of his own.  I showed him pictures of Kaylynn and the kids and the kid’s kids - He was surprised to hear that we have 6 grandchildren.   He is doing so well, and it was so encouraging to see him again!

PNG May Day 2: "16 hours"

This morning I had breakfast @ 5:45am (I try to stay on NZ time 2 hours ahead).  I then went to the office and had a great time with Elton (PNG), Lillian (PNG), Danika (Aust), & Emily (USA).  We had a good devotion and it was fun to see how they all interacted.  This is new - our team in a new office, running "office meetings" by themselves with a highly interactive team of 4 - they're figuring it out - it's very encouraging!  

And Emily & Danika add a lot!  Danika is great at thinking creatively, outside the box, and Emily is good at the practical and figuring out how to make things work.  They work amazingly together!  It's hard to believe that they didn't know each other just a few months ago!  And they work amazingly well with Elton & Lillian.

After our team meeting, I was to meet someone for lunch, but they couldn't make it - and I had scheduled to meet Elton at 3 pm, so I didn't have time to go out and get lunch.

I had a great time with Elton talking about so many things in his life and the ministry, and asking his opinion about things.  In fact it went so well that I didn't have time to go back to the guesthouse for dinner before the weekly meeting (called Splash) started on campus (UPNG) - so I went straight to campus.

To make a long story short, I didn't make it to the guest house to eat my dinner until 9:45 pm (hence the title of this post, 16 hours between my 2 food "book ends") - but I never really felt hungry being in the midst of seeing God work :-)

Here are a few photos of Splash tonight.  Thanks for helping to make this ministry possible!

Lillian, Emily & Danika planning

Beautlyn & Tanya finding their name
 on the Discipleship Chart

Emily teaching

Danika teaching

Lillian teaching 

Girls finding their names on the
discipleship Spider chart

PNG May Day 1: "Eat and Greet"

I'm off to PNG again!  It's always hard to leave Auckland - my home, my family, my familiar, my comfort...  I know God will work everything out, but for some reason I'm more troubled this trip.  I cried out to the Lord and said, "what's wrong", and He said, "You're not trusting me to give you the words to say".  It's funny how I KNOW He promises to show me what to say, and I've seen Him be faithful hundreds of times when I open my mouth - But I still forget and run on my old fears.  So... here's my next adventure when I KNOW God will work!

This trip is different than most trips in that there is no event or occasion for me to lead.  My goals this trip are almost all people.  I have 12 people or groups that I will be having time alone with to discuss different things.  Our 2 girls (from Australian & USA) have arrived and I will spend time with them to make sure they're settling in okay.  I will also spend time with each of our PNG missionaries to make sure that they have a good plan for the middle of the university year (which runs from March to November).  Also, because Kaylynn & I are going to the States for 2 1/2 months in June, we're handing the oversight of the ministry to our colleagues Matthew & Tammy Anderson and I'll explain this to the group.  We also have to sort out a difficult situation with one of our missionaries - so a few of the conversations I'll be having will be difficult (please pray).  So, this could be why I'm more worried about knowing what to say :-)

First breakfast

Okay , on to the fun stuff: I had 3 breakfasts today!  My reward for having to get up at 2:45 in the morning (night?) is a Massive McMuffin at McDonalds. If I had a heart doctor, he'd probably be upset, but it's the only place I can get America breakfast sausage - 2 patties :-).  

Second breakfast (it's still dark)

Then because I fly a lot, I was allowed to go into the Air New Zealand lounge in auckland - which had lots of food - so I had a second breakfast (this one a little bit more healthy).  Then after my 3 hour flight to Brisbane, I went again into the Air NZ lounge, but because of the 2 hour time difference, it was still breakfast time.   So I had to get "my money's" worth" :-)

This afternoon, after I arrived in Port Moresby and settled into the guest house, I went to find the 2 STINT (Short Term INTernationals) girls.  What a great time we had!  I'm thrilled!  They are doing so well.  They are approaching their time here as learners and discovering this rich culture.  A few things they learned were that it usually takes about twice as long to accomplish any task, and that even when they're expecting a good group of people to show up, even more people will show up.  And social outings seem to take much more of their time (not a bad thing just different).  They're discovering many things about the ministry and culture that I didn't know because they are sitting down with the students and asking lots of questions.  I'll share more this week.  Their main goal this year is to help show the PNG students what a vibrant growing movement looks like.  Thanks for praying for them! 

Emily (L, from USA) & Danika (R, from Aust) - our help has arrived! 

Easter Conference Day 10: "Pacific Games Are A'Comin'!"

Driving around town in Port Moresby, it's evident that the Pacific Games are going to be hosted here.  Stadiums, swimming pools, volleyball courts, etc., are all being constructed.  Billboards are up, flags are waving...


My favourite things are the statues at some of the roundabouts.  They are of various sports figures in action.  One statue is half a body swimming (as if the ground hides the rest of the body under water.)  Sorry, we didn't get a photo of that!

  
The games begin 4 July 2015...so hopefully all the buildings being constructed will be completed!  Port Moresby will be an exciting place.  We met a guy staying here at the Mapang Guest House who is trying to be invited to act as a referee.  He is an American pastor who is more passionate about sports than anyone I've ever met!  (He's big into University of Oregon sports and referees various high school and other games.  I didn't tell him I attended Oregon State.)

PNG Easter Conference Day 9: "Gail!"

Gail

Gail Puipui, after returning to her highschool today, shared Christ (along side of the guy who attended the Easter conference with her) with her classmates.  When we saw her this afternoon she was flying high with joy and bubbling over with what God was teaching her and how He was using her.  The head girl (like a class president) had just prayed to receive Christ into her heart.

We went to Gail's highschool to deliver some sports jerseys sent from the USA.  Gail had gathered the Scripture Union club members to a place on campus to meet with us.  We told them about Student Life at the university and invited them to join us upon their graduation from high school.  Gail's friends were thrilled with the gift of the jerseys, and a couple of guys asked Roman (Gail's friend from the Easter conference) a question...and the next thing I knew he was explaining the gospel to them. 

George and Eva would have been so proud of their little girl.  I know I am.

PNG Easter Conference Day 8: "Brain Freeze!"

Today is a day off.  Good thing.  Yesterday, someone asked me what one of my grandbabies' name was and my mind went blank.  I could picture the baby, but my brain couldn't come up with a name to match.  I quickly called to Dan, got the name and my sanity back...but it's definately time to decompress!

While faithful Dan is working through conference evaluations, I've been sitting in a chair all day doing suduku, researching birthday presents (!), catching up on facebook, and talking about all my impressions of people and problems and insights from the conference.  (Dan is good at listening, too!)

I'm beginning to feel my equilibrium return.  Hopefully I can hang in there a couple of more days before returning to Auckland.  (Sometimes I wonder at God's insistence in using ME!  I'm trusting that He knows best.)

Speaking of "brain freeze," l now have corrections to the numbers attending the conference posted earlier:  Around 80 students came to the conference, around 67 were new to our ministry, and Gail brought 2 high school friends.  There.  I don't think I'll try reporting numbers again anytime soon.

PNG Easter Conference Day 7: "Conference End!"

Happy Easter!  

Celebration time!  Certificates were given out to those who completed their two-day level of training. (There were four different levels going on throughout the conference.) Jesus Film DVDs were distributed to the people we met along the way to the park where we eat our lunch. "Items" were prepared and performed (kinda like X-Factor.)  Challenges were given, thank yous were said...and small chocolate Easter eggs were eaten!

Hopefully, though, the lasting result of the conference will be a new determination to focus on Jesus and to walk with Him.

Several students were interested in starting a discipleship group.  (We could sure use the help of those two girls from Australia who are waiting on their work visas.)

Materials are packed up, the church truck is loaded with boxes and instruments and students...and we bid another Easter Conference at the Grand Papua Hotel farewell.  (Where's my bed?)