Thanksgiving here in Papua New Guinea looks a lot different from home in the States. We live in a very multicultural community, so some of us celebrate “American Thanksgiving” but many do not. We don’t have access to many of the foods that we love this time of year (there are ZERO turkeys here. If they ever show up, you’ll have to sell a kidney to afford one), but we can always praise the Lord for so many things. We are so thankful for the opportunity to serve in this beautiful place with such beautiful and diverse people. Thanks to the many of you that make that possible through your partnership and prayers. This week I have been so thankful to be a part of what God is doing in the Amomonta community, and that’s really what I wanted to share with you.
Some of you may remember us talking about the devastation in Amomonta that happened a little over a year ago now. If you need a refresher on that story, click back a couple of posts. This week I had two great opportunities come up. The first was that a few of us Craigs had the chance to go to Amomonta on Sunday with another friend and his family. He was preaching the sermon and I really wanted to see how the community was rebuilding in the wake of all they have been through. Here are some pics from that…
Steven speaking before the service. If you have really keen eyes, maybe you will be able to find Banner (in an orange jacket) and Millie (in a pink hat).
The other great opportunity that came up came in the form of a really long trench. One of my roles here is to connect church groups with work that we may have at our mission center. It’s great when our need can meet someone else’s. In this case, we needed a trench dug for a waterline that was over 600 meters long. Amomonta showed up with 179 men and women (and quite a few kids, including super cute twin baby girls) representing 4 different churches working together. I estimated that they dug over 200 meters in the first 2 hours. That was a trench that was approximately 1 meter deep by 1/2 a meter wide! It was incredible to behold. There was nothing straight about it either; they were excavating around roots, roads, and other age old utility lines and pipes. It was no easy task.
We praise the Lord for His provision. Now we will be able to connect our first well to our existing water system—something that will help us greatly. I asked a couple of the pastors what they were going to do with such a large blessing for their community and they said that they were going to set up a fund to provide nails and other practical building resources for those in Amomonta that don’t have them. Most of their house materials grow in the jungle, but nails don’t :)
I told them about how so many Christian brothers and sisters in America have been praying for them and have been encouraged by their faithfulness through the hardest of trials. They took great encouragement that their struggles weren’t for nothing and that the Lord has used them to strengthen His Church around the globe. Praise the Lord for His perfect economy in so many things! Thanks so much for all your prayers!
Blessings to your family from all the Craigs!
Special thanks and all credit to Susan Frey and the DO Media dept. for this awesome video!
