Off to Zambia, Part one

Well here we go again. It’s off to Lusaka, Zambia with another Work and Witness team from Chicago Heights Church of the Nazarene. I am leaving from Arizona with two of the team members that live here and will be meeting the rest of the team in Washington D.C. From there we fly to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and then on to Lusaka, Zambia. We left AZ on January 8th. and arrive in Zambia on the 10th. We are to be housed in a Baptist guest house complex in the city of Lusaka.

Babtist Guest Housing

The project was to work on a partially build training center about a thirty minute drive south of the city. The building was started on the site of one of the oldest Nazarene Churches in Zambia. The church has twenty acres providing a place to build the Africa Central Field and Training Center. People in Zambia are accepting Jesus at an increasing rate and churches are being planted on a regular basis. Membership in the Zambia district has grown from 10,000 to over 50,000 in the last ten years. As a result there is a lack of trained pastors to serve in the new churches. This training center would serve central Africa to train new pastors for service in these new churches.

Chipongwe Church of the Nazarene

The training center was started and the foundation and block walls are in place with two of the six sections are under roof at this time. Our task was to work with the construction team to try to finish as much of the eight rooms that are under roof as possible.

Africa Central Field and Training Center.

A local crew are working on finishing the walls. There are using a mortar mix with sand to plaster the walls. The mortar mix is placed on the walls and smoothed out to create a stucco type finish on the walls. Some of the tasks we are to do include installing electrical conduit and wire, install plumbing for the bathrooms, dig a trench to keep water away from the building, paint the inside walls, installing ceiling rafters and the ceiling boards, digging a trench to run the waste disposal to the septic tank, install steel gates at entrance and exit doors to secure the building, pour some concrete floors in the hallways and whatever tasks are required to finish the rooms.

Most of the rooms were in this condition when we started

So it’s off to work to see what we can get done to help the project while witnessing to the people of Zambia.

Papua New Guinea, My Return, Part Five

Being from North America where it gets cold this time of year I cannot grow bananas so I was not sure about a lot of things to do with bananas. They do grow a lot of bananas on the Kudjup Hospital Station in Papua New Guinea where I was working. While walking past a banana plantation one day I decided to see if I could find a banana flower. I thought that all plants that bear fruit have flowers like apples and peaches, etc. I met one of the local people who grows bananas and he told me that they do not have a flower that blossom like many fruits.

A Banana Plantation

So I went on to show how little I know about bananas by asking how do you grow a banana tree? Do you plant a banana and watch it grow like a tomato, apple or peach? The answer was no. The banana tree only grows one bunch of bananas and never grows any more so the tree is cut down once the bananas are harvested. The roots produce new shoots as the tree is growing and the new shoots can be left to grow after the tree is cut down or can be dug up and transplanted to form a new plantation of banana trees.

New Shoots At the base of a Banana Tree

So as I was looking at the banana trees that had bananas on them I noticed that some of the bananas on the trees were wrapped with other dried leaves and some had a bag over the bananas. I asked why and was told that this allows the bananas to grow larger and not ripen so fast.

 

Bananas Wrapped to Increase Growth

 

 As I walked along I saw an old man carrying what looked like a small tree with all of the bark removed, a point on one end and all of the limbs cut off  but still with some 6 inches or so left near the trunk. So being curious I asked what the tree was for and what was his job in the banana plantation. He told me his job was to wrap the bananas in the leaves and bind them so they would grow larger before they ripened. The tree was used as a ladder. The pointed end was put in the ground and the tree leaned against the banana tree and the short limbs were used as steps to get up to wrap the bananas.

The Banana Wrapper

The next question was were these bananas being raised for sale or for the family to eat? He told me these were special bananas called “Bride Price Bananas”. Of course I had to ask what that meant. Here is the explanation I got.

 

In Papua New Guinea when a man wants to marry a women he has to pay a price to the family. The family feels she is of value as she works to help support the family doing things like cooking, cleaning, working in the garden, etc. So if the family is to give up the women they require some compensation from the man to offset the loss to the family. An agreement is reached between the family and the prospective groom which may consist of money, goods, animals (like pigs) or other things. The bananas in question are large and good eating so they can be purchased to use a part of the price of the bride to be, therefore: “Bride Price Bananas”.

 

In the rich soil and tropical climate of Papua New Guinea it only takes about six months for a new banana tree to produce its fruit. In The Message, Genesis 1:29-30:  Then God said, “I’ve given you every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth And every kind of fruit-bearing tree, given them to you for food. To all animals and all birds, everything that moves and breathes, I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.” And there it was.

 

Bananas are truly a gift from God!

 

Papua New Guinea, My Return, Part Four

Just to prove that missionaries are not all work and no play, I joined a group to play golf at the Mt. Hagen Golf Club. We had six of us, Dr. Jim, daughter Lydia, son Joe, missionaries Jason, Kevin and myself.  This is not the typical golf experience you might have at your local course.

 

 It turns out that this is a very nice 18 hole golf course. We arrived and there was a guard there to open the gate and let us in. The clubhouse was closed with no one there to collect our greens fees, they said stop by and pay next time you come around and someone is there. As soon as we parked we were surrounded with young boys who wanted to caddie for us. Dr. Jim negotiated a rate of five Kina (less than $2.50 US) per boy. After selecting six caddie he then hired two flag boys, at 4 kina each, as they do not leave flags on the course. They would run ahead of us and put the flag in the cup so we would know where it was then when we finished the hole he would run ahead to the next green.

Lydia With Her Caddie and Fans

We split up in two groups of three, Dr. Jim, I and Lydia followed the three boys. The caddies will do most anything to help you out. They will go find your ball and if you wish throw it back in the fairway, clean it after each hit and when they replace it on the grass they make sure it is teed up on a good tuft of grass. If you happen to hit the ball in the water one of the boys will strip off their clothes and dive in to retrieve the ball.

One of the Boys retrieving Lydia's Ball

The course was well-kept with good fairways and beautiful views. There were gardens beside the fairways in some places and several water holes to negotiate.

Dr. Jim and His Caddy

We had a great time playing and talking with the boys that caddied for us and the ones that followed us around. It rained a little on the last two holes but nobody seemed to care, we just played on. On the way home we stopped for chips, (French Fries) and soft drinks.

Heading up to the clubhouse after the last hole

Oh by the way the greens fee were under $5.00 US so the whole day was under $10.00, eat you heart out golfers.

The Philippines Day 11, The End

Today the team from Chicago Heights Church of the Nazarene start their journey home. They will spend one day in Hong Kong on the journey home. As for me I will be here one more day waiting for my flight to Papua New Guinea. I will be working in the maintenance department at Kudjip Nazarene Hospital in the Western Highlands province, near Mt. Hagen. If you would like to read about that just tune in to the Papua New Guinea part of my blog.

I spent today working with Jason the Missionary who is heading up the project to get the Cobb Worship Center finished. We sorted out tools and reorganized the new storage area that housed all of the tool for future work and witness teams coming to help with the construction.

Cobb Center Before We Started

 Notice the pile of sheet rock in the before picture verses the pile in the second picture.

Cobb Center After

One crew worked on taping and plastering seam’s the whole time we were here. Others helped as they were available and had time out from their other tasks.

Temporary Storage Area, Before

There was a temporary storage area that needed to be removed. After removal of the walls and all of the tools were moved to the new tool storage area built in the New Life Mission Center, this would make room for sunday school classrooms.

 

After removal of walls

 

 Hanging drywall was one of the most strenuous jobs especially when it was on top of twenty-foot high scaffolding.

 

When We Arrived

 It’s hard to show the extent of the work done because a lot of it was back behind the existing walls.

After

 Jason was nice enough to give me a tour of one the neighborhood communities neat the seminary. Everyone we met were friendly and gave us nice hello’s and greetings as we passed by.

The Local Neighborhood

 

 I was able to attend morning devotionals with some of the staff and visitors and then it was off to the airport for me. Jason, Karen and the girls drove me there in spite of rush hour traffic. It was a fond good-by and I was off th Papua New Guinea.

 

To me it seamed like another successful mission done for our Lord. We not only did a lot of work at APNTS but we met a lot of great people both at the seminary and at the Nazarene Church on Palawan Island. Some of the team were able to minister to the local children with bible school activities and we hope we were able to set a good example of Christ like behaviour to all of the people we met.

 

Papua New Guinea, My Return, Part Three

Another week has gone by and there is always something going on here in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Last week I was asked to preach at one of the local bush churches, in the village of Warakar, by the assistant pastor of the church. This is a church I attended when I was here in the spring so I was familiar with it. Now I am not a pastor and have never preached before and I told them I am a maintenance missionary not a pastor. They said that’s OK we would like to hear what you would say to our little church. So I accepted and as I had a sermon I had prepared once before when I was asked to speak at a church, but due to circumstances I was never able to delivered the talk.

The Mathews Memorial Church of the Nazarene

 We left of the church Sunday morning in one of the missionary cars and it was only about a fifteen minute drive to where we parked. Then it was a walk up some garden trails for about a quarter of a mile through the banana trees and the vegetable gardens to the church. The church was a small building, build of trees from the forest with a woven bamboo mats for walls and a Kunia grass roof. The floor was dirt but it had a layer of pine needles spread on it to make it comfortable and dry for setting.

 As is the custom here I was given some bags of fruit and vegetables as a gift for coming to the church to speak. The gift included bananas, pineapple, passion fruit (sugar fruit), Pawpaw (papaya) and many others. There were five other people from Kudjip station that joined us and as far as I can tell everyone was happy with my little talk. It just goes to show that in 2 Corinthians 12:9 when it says “My grace is sufficient for you” it is always true.

Up the Garden Path

Many of the doctors, missionaries and pastors are gone to Manila for a conference on discipleship. There was a delegation of over 50 people who went from PNG. In the meantime we are here doing what the maintenance department does, fixing, repairing and building the things necessary to keep the hospital and station going. This has been a truly blessed experience for me and I thank God every day for the opportunity to serve his calling.

The Philippines, Day 10

After breakfast this morning Dr. Cunningham the APNTS President told us about a project the seminary has been involved in. They are working with communities to try to reduce the mosquito  population in the area. This is necessary because the mosquitoes carry something called Dengue Fever. This is an illness that makes people have a fever with stomach pain and intestinal problems and many times it requires hospitalization and antibiotics to cure to problem. It can even cause death is some people. This Dengue project is supported by Korea and they also use the training seminars developed in Papua New Guinea to teach people to have better hygiene. We were each given a t-shirt that says Tepok da Lamok (this means kill the mosquito )

Kill the Mosquito

Today we had a special treat of having Chapel at ten thirty where the featured speaker was Dr, Brian Wilson, District Superintend of the Chicago District of the Nazarene Church. Dr. Wilson gave a sermon on the five fingers of grace.

1. Pervasive Grace – Something we get from birth from God that goes before us wherever we go.
2. Saving Grace – We are all sinners and need his saving grace thanks to His blood on the cross.
3. Sanctifying Grace – God gives us this to help us live a holy life.
4. Sustaining Grace – Continuing growth in grace allows us to resist sin.
5. Glorifying Grace – When we join Him in heaven.

 

Dr. Brian Wilson

Our guests for lunch were Jeff and Katie from northern Indiana, USA. They went to Korea to teach english but found they could not continue their education there because there were no classes offered in english. They ended up coming to APNTS where all of the classes are taught in english. He is working on his Masters degree in ministry.

Jeff and Katie

Some of the people spent some time in the local neighborhood putting on a bible school for the children. We brought lots of gifts and toys centered around the lord and one of the guys brought puppets and put on a puppet show for the children.

Bible School for the Neighborhood Children

 In the afternoon most of the crew went on a shopping trip to another mall. Some of us stayed behind and worked on hanging more drywall in the Cobb Worship Center. After the others returned we all went out for a farewell dinner at a local restaurant called “Maxes”. One of the things they featured is a corn milk shake. Most of the menu was traditional Philippine food with fried chicken for anyone that did not want to be adventurous.

As our trip comes to the end we are all feeling a little tired but it is fulfilling to know we are doing gods work. In Philippians 2:13 it says “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

The Philippines, Day 9

Every morning it is up the 134 steps to the kitchen where we start off with prayer and breakfast. After breakfast one of the team members leads us in devotions and prayer for the day. This is a good reminder of the fact that we are here to serve God in whatever way we can and the work comes secondary to that call.

We finished what we could do on the New Life Mission center. This is a three-story building with apartments on the first floor, dormitory style living quarters on the second floor for future Work and Witness teams, and a kitchen and dining area on the third floor for the W&W teams to prepair their meals. There are also a couple of apartments on the third floor for couples.

New Hope Missionary Center

 We spent the rest of the day working in the Cobb Worship center. We helped cut and hang drywall while another group continued to tape and plaster seams on the drywall that was all ready hung.

Hanging Drywall

As our stay was coming to an end we were treated to lunch by the facility and students of Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary (APNTS). We had a great meal setting with the students and facility. After lunch we were each given a beautiful woven handbag as a reminder of The Philippines.

Lunch With APNTS Staff and Students

We were then treated to some games and stories from some of the students from places like India and Papua New Guinea (PNG). I met with James and Della who are from Papua New Guinea. Della comes from a village close to where I will be going when I leave the Philippines in PNG. James is a pastor here to further his education.

James & Della from PNG

After lunch it was back to work cutting, hanging and plastering drywall in the Cobb Worship Center. Then it was back up the 134 steps for dinner. Our guests were Jason and Karen Courtney the host missionaries for the Work and Witness team. They gave us an overview of how they ended up in the Philippines. They were never planning to missionaries but heard God’s call and could not resist. A great ending to a long day.

Papua New Guinea, My Return Part Two

I have been here at Kudjip Nazarene Hospital now for almost a month so I am settled in and doing well. The weather here is almost perfect with the days getting to around 80 Degrees F. and the nights getting into the 60′s which is great for sleeping. The countryside here is green with flowers everywhere. Being in the Highlands up over 5,000 feet it never gets real hot here even though we are just 6 degrees south of the equator, This climate provides an ideal growing season all year around so there are gardens everywhere. Some of the things you see in the gardens are bananas, mangos, papaya, peanuts, beans, many types of potatoes (the staple food here is sweet potatoes), corn, pineapple, and many other fruits and veggies.

Pineapple Garden

I had the great experience of being invited by one of the local missionaries, Mike, to attend a mens bible study at one of the local villages near the Hospital. It was a short journey up an old bumpy dirt road where we met the homeowner who was hosting the meeting. We arrived at 7:00 PM when the meeting was to start and there was no one there except the homeowner. In PNG almost everyone has to walk to where they are going so many of the men had to go home and get cleaned up and walk to the meeting. So men started to show up and by 7:30 we had about ten men so we started the meeting. As the meeting went on more and more men showed up until we had about 30 people in this small house. The host had rosted some sweet potatoes for the guests and we all ate them like you would eat a sweet roll while the meeting was going on. The meeting was about how to Pray to our Lord. As the meeting went on we were all brought a dish of food which had chicken, rice, green leafy vegetables and cooked bananas. after the meeting we heard testimony from several of the men on how they became christen’s. Over all it was a great meeting with good fellowship for all. As much of it was in Pigin and I only speak a little I had one of the men sitting next to me who helped me understand what was going on.

Mens Bible Study

After the meeting was finished we spent the night in the Kunai house (it is called a Kunai house because the roof is made of Kunai grass) with the host. Mike had brought sleeping bags and we were given beds made out of bamboo. The beds were a little harder that we are used to but I slept well and we were up early and back to Kudjip and our day jobs.

Me and our hosts at their Kunai House

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a great time sharing the word of the Lord with many of these christen men in PNG.

Papua New Guinea, My Return

When I left the Philippines the rest of the team went back to Chicago thru Hong Kong but I went from there to Papua New Guinea. This is a return trip to try to finish the assignment I started in February. I was scheduled to spend four months helping in the maintenance department at Kudjip Nazarene Hospital when I formed a blood clot in my leg from an injury I received using a cement saw.
After several months of treatment in Michigan the doctor gave clearance to return, so here I am. What a great homecoming to reunite with all of the people I worked with in the winter (summer here). Lot’s of missionaries and doctors come and go, so many of them I knew and there were a few new ones for me to meet.

My first adventure here was a visit to a tea plantation. I was invited to lunch by a very nice couple, Pradeep and Elisabeth, who are living here and manage the plantation. They are from India. The plantation is was over one thousand acres and employs over 400 people. They have a processing plant that dryes and process the tea leaves, sorts it into grades and bags it for final packaging. The bags look like they must weigh about 100 pounds (48 K.) they are shipped to the USA, china and some to a packaging plant in Mt. Hagen here in PNG. There it is processed for retail sale. The tea fields are beautiful, like rows and rows of hedges. We had a great time and a great meal with some good conversation.

A Machine for Trimming Tea Plants

I am staying in a doctors flat with a combined kitchen and living area, a bath and two bedrooms. I am working in the maintenance department with the same people  worked with in February. Our job is to fix and repair anything that is needed in the hospital or housing on the station. We have fixed cloths driers, vacuum machines, bathrooms and many other things. They also build furniture and cabinets for storage or even build buildings when necessary. It is fun not knowing what each day will bring. So keep me in your prayers and wish me luck in completing my tasks.

I always enjoy hearing comments from the readers so please feel free to comment on my blogs anytime. Sorry there are no pictures but the internet service here does not support uploading pictures.

Thank you for reading my story.

Alaska 2012

My plans for the summer of 2012 now include a trip to Two Forks, Alaska. We will be visiting the northern most Nazarene church in the world with a team from Wisconsin. The trip will include a lot or remodeling and updating of the church.  The church pastor recently visited Wisconsin and the following is a description of some of the struggles and prayers for the church that was shared with us by our team leader.

It seems this church has had quite a struggle recently. The boiler at the church quit and froze up unexpectedly last winter. It cost them over $8000, which they didn’t have, to replace the boiler. In fact, they are still trying to pay off the fuel bill from last winter. Times are tough at Two Rivers. Pastor Bob has asked the church members to bring their own tissue paper to place at the altar and toilet paper for the restrooms because they simply do not have the money to purchase those items at this time. They really need our help.

Many of the pictures of the inside of the church were very telling. The joints in the sheet rock in the restrooms have never been taped and finished, handrails are needed, the platform in the front of the church is to be removed, some carpet needs to be installed and a lot of painting. An outside handicap ramp needs to be built. There are also many things to repair or complete at the parsonage next door. Pastor Bob said it is a real blessing knowing that help is on its way and he is seeing great encouragement in the congregation. They are praying for the team and praising God.

Some of the people will be putting on a Vacation Bible School for the kids while we are there. This should be a great time and I am looking foreword doing God’s work in Alaska.