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Thankful for the Lord's provision!

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!

Earthquake Update

Situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, those who live and work in Papua New Guinea are familiar with earthquakes. But earthquakes of 7.6 magnitude don’t come along every year! When they do, everyone reaches out to family, friends, and colleagues to see if they are ok. Because SIL-PNG staff work in remote village locations where communication options are limited and transport may only be on foot or by air, it takes a concerted effort to get reports in after an event like this.

It is with gratitude that we report that no SIL-PNG staff were injured during the 11 September earthquake. There are reports of damage to villages near the epicentre and a few reports of death and injury. The PNG Disaster Management Team continues to assess damage and discern appropriate responses. SIL-PNG is in contact with this team as well as a Member of Parliament for part of the affected area and has extended the offer of assistance in transporting the injured or flying in relief supplies. Language development work in the area represents SIL-PNG’s longer-term contribution to the region.

News from specific locations near the epicentre: 

  • Several SIL-PNG staff from villages near the epicentre shared stories from their areas. We’ve received reports of 1-2 people dead and small numbers of injured as well as houses damaged.

  • An SIL-PNG team is facilitating a Culture Meets Scripture workshop near the epicentre. This team includes the translation advisor, who has worked in the community since 2004, and Scripture Access staff. They were confirmed safe yesterday.

  • Two houses belonging to a partner organization collapsed. Only one family was there at the time, and they were able to get out, no one was injured. SIL-PNG evacuated the wife and children, while the husband stayed to work with the community on next steps.

In the Aiyura Valley, where SIL’s Ukarumpa Centre is located, a number of schools and institutions report damage to power and water systems, as well as to buildings. Cables providing internet to a significant portion of the country remain dysfunctional. Trucks were unable to transit the Kassam Pass for a time, but are now able to do so.

The infrastructure of SIL-PNG’s Ukarumpa centre suffered widespread-but-limited damage. Most offices and homes had items fall off shelves and break; older metal water tanks broke or developed leaks; many plumbing issues have been reported; a few roofs were damaged; and there were a few cases of more significant structural damage. A great deal of work has been underway since shortly after the earthquake, with our Construction and Maintenance staff coordinating the response and undertaking the technical tasks. Many in the community are volunteering to assist with recovery efforts.

There are several specific things we are grateful for:

  • A church service was in progress at the Ukarumpa Centre when the earthquake hit, meeting at an outdoor location. No one was injured.

  • The Ukarumpa Centre’s water system incorporates large metal tanks for storage and distribution. Only one tank was ruined, the rest held.

  • A building that had been undergoing construction had been sufficiently braced that it suffered no damage.

  • SIL Aviation reports that aircraft are undamaged, making scheduled and relief flights possible.

  • The earthquake happened during daylight hours on a sunny day, enabling a lot of response work to occur on the day of the earthquake.

We are especially thankful to have heard of so little loss of life, despite the magnitude of the earthquake.

SIL-PNG will continue its recovery efforts, will remain poised to assist others as needs can be met, and will return as soon as possible to the work of language development, translation, literacy, and training in PNG.

Serving in Mamusi

So I had the honor of helping a brother out recently. I started writing all about my trip with Aaron Wade to Sivauna, where the Wades are based to translate God’s Word into the Mamusi language. However, Aaron beat me to the blog, used all of our best pictures, and said everything better than I could have. So, I highly encourage you to check out Aaron’s post about our time there:

goteamwade.com/2020/02/04/aarons-village-visit/