theunfinishedtask.com

 Our House!

 Rat tracks through the paint he spilled!

Lord, What do I do?

Dear Praying Friends,

In our last newsletter, I mentioned two things that were important: a week in Ihu without Trina, and a rainy, night-time trip to the village of Baimuru for the purpose of getting lumber for Brother Jerry’s house. These two events turned out to be very providential! Let me explain. The trip to Baimuru came first. If you want to trace our route on the PNG map, Trina and I left Kerema on a dinghy to Ihu (2 hrs). I dropped off Trina to stay with Avoro, and Jerry and I headed to Harevavo by dinghy to pick up Pastor Murphy and head to Baimuru to pick up what I thought was the last lumber to finish the house. We traveled on rough seawaters. Once at Harevavo (1 hr from Ihu) we took  the dinghy on the rivers to Baimuru (4hrs). This is swampland, so we weave in and out of many different rivers to keep from going on the open sea. It became stormy. The clouds became black and started to pour down a cold, hard rain.  Darkness came, and we still had almost 2 hours to go in this big Baimuru River. We used my small light in front of the dinghy to alert anyone on the river. Several miles ahead we saw a faint light of Baimuru. Needless to say I was quite happy to see that light! We got to Baimuru and called Pastor Danny. We walked about a mile in the mud and water up to our knees to the Baptist church he pastored, and spent the night. Cold, wet, and covered with mud, this was an adventure to remember in PNG! The morning came without much sleep and they showed me around the place. There was a missionary house with a work shop, a Bible School building, 5 possible dorms for students, a big church building, a building that had 52 bunk beds in it, and a house for the pastor, all on 12 ½ acres. It was exciting to see what Missionary Ted Mullins had done and accomplished when he was there 6 years. But the buildings were now empty, and had been empty for 7 years. I went from excitement to sadness. God was not using them anymore, except for the pastor’s house and the church. Being very tired from the long day on the water and no sleep, we headed to the saw mill to pick up our lumber and get back to Ihu. I bought $200 worth of lumber and it cost me $600 round trip to get it to Ihu. Let’s just say that at the end of this trip, Baimuru held no pleasant memories, and if I never returned that was all right with me.

Now, let’s step into the next event, a week in Ihu Station. I spent a lot of time pulling weeds out of the kaukau mounds that were already on the land. These have been a big blessing feeding all the workers that are helping put the house together. I also spent a very hot and long day with a bush knife clearing grass that was taller then me and very thick so the surveyor could come and have a clear view of all four corners and put the final concrete corners in for us (which he did!). As I sat down on the land that evening something occurred to me. Since we didn’t lease land that has enough lumber to build anything, we will have to purchase everything. The villagers can build their own houses off of their own land with their own trees. They take about a year to go to jungle, cut everything they need, and carry it to where they are going to build and eventually, after they have everything prepared and at the spot, then they begin to build. They only have a bush knife and maybe a hammer and a small handsaw. But for an outsider, it is very expensive, because you have to purchase everything from the villagers, and all at a premium price, as you are a “rich” white man. So I came to a reality check at the end of that day. I said, “Lord, I am 64, and Jerry’s house is costing more than I anticipated because of dinghy fees and the price of gas at $17.50 per gallon. Although we are getting close, I am still not done with the house. It will take another year to build mine, and several years to finish buildings for a Bible Institute.” I could see by the time I was done in Ihu building things, I would have a large investment of time and of God’s money. “Lord, what do I do? I need to start now training men and I can’t yet!”

I never put these two events together till I went back to Kotidanga and explained my situation to Matt Allen, my “boss”, and more importantly, my dear friend. We all laughed at my Baimuru trip experience, and then he asked me if I had considered using Baimuru as my base camp. Of course I told him I did not and probably would not consider it. So the whole team began to pray for our situation at Ihu. I value Matt’s wisdom so much that I could not get his question off of my heart for 3 days. I also counseled with his dad, John Allen, another team member who also has great godly wisdom. He smiled and encouraged me to write Missionary Ted Mullins. Ted has been in PNG for 20 plus years and is now in the highlands west of Mt Hagan. I sent him an email and told him my story. To my surprise, he replied within an hour! He told me that he was praying for someone to take the land for the last 7 yrs. He went to America on furlough and asked for anyone to come and take this Bible School and get it back running. He said he thought I was a specific answer to his prayers and God had His hand on this place just for me. Needless to say, he and his wife were very excited, and Ted met us at Baimuru for a couple of days to look at the place and see what we had to work with after 7 years of emptiness. God gave me 3 days in a row of beautiful sunshine, and a whole new attitude about Baimuru. He gave Scripture and answered some specific things that Trina & I were praying about. I believe it took God 8 months of us in PNG to teach us enough culture and language to see how this system works here and we, by His grace, stayed FLUID in God’s will for Him to direct us to exactly where He wanted us to be to begin training right away. We have use of 12 ½ acres, 11 buildings, and a mission house for us to live in for less than I invested in building Pastor Jerry’s house on 3.2 acres. Hallelujah, what a Saviour! What a Great Miracle! Only God can do that, my friends. All of the Orokolo pastors are in favor of the location, and excited to come to school soon and start training. Murphy and Maisa are making plans to move their families to Baimuru, and we have heard of two other national men interested in training, with whom I will meet upon our return to Baimuru. It is so great to be in the center of His Will and living a dream that He gave us!

We are currently in Cairns, AUS on a spur of the moment trip because my hearing aids did not make it a year after all. We are here 6 months earlier than planned, fitting and programing new waterproof hearing aids. Please pray with us as we are trusting God to meet all of our needs and expenses as we set up our first year in PNG. Next week we will be back in Port Moresby and we will be doing something we have never done before: Because of the long distance and travel expense from Port Moresby to Baimuru, we will buy supplies to last 6 months at a time.

Presenting the Person of Christ,

Wil & Trina

Prayer Requests:

1.     Sister Avoro’s cancer is stage 4. We do not know what God will do, or how this will affect Brother Jerry’s future ministry plans. Pray whatever comes about that Satan will not sift this dear brother. Although we will be based at another village, we are still burdened to see a church planted in Ihu Station and plan to be involved.

2.     Baimuru does have a beautiful, flat, long grass airstrip … that is underwater at least 3 months of the year! Pray God shows us an economical and timely manner, preferably by sea, to get our household supplies, and the items we need for repairs from Port Moresby to this village.

3.     The third week of June I will be preaching evangelistically each night in Auma-Haruape. Pray for a good harvest!