We gathered under a grass roof building with wooden benches. Bible teachers from 8 languages & 14 different churches from 3 provinces of PNG. Some of us travelled by plane, others by bus and canoe. The weather was hot & the conditions were rustic. We could hear the women in the village talking, cooking and caring for their children. Once and awhile pigs would run by or dogs would fight over lost food. These leaders had gathered together to learn, study and examine what Scripture says about the Church & leadership. They bonded over their foundation~Jesus Christ. They used the trade language of tok pisin for each session. The sessions lasted for 4 days with plenty of topics to discuss. Church reports from various tribes, Ministry values, Church History, Translation, Literacy, Leadership in the church, and Family relationships. Every day, four guitars were passed around and each tribal group would lead in singing. WOW! Will heaven be as sweet?…oh yes, even better! The church reports were amazing! Was it without hardships? No! Every testimony pointed to persecution, pain, and loss. But always ended in praising God for strengthening the church and growing up the believers. For lunch we all ate together…rice, fish, banana soup with greens, and magi noodles. Large wooden bowls shaped like boats giving nourishment to all. In the evening each one would go back to their host house and enjoy a meal together. I think us missionaries missed the best part…sharing around the campfires after the “lights went out”. In those times the believers could share heart to heart. It was a privilege to be able to tag along and be part of the seminar. Seeing what God is doing around PNG was really encouraging. Pray for Heti and Buka, the two Bena leaders from our Katagu community. Pray that the Lord would continue to raise up godly men to lead the indigenous churches in this country.

     It’s been so great to have Lesley’s parents, Hank & Margaret Demark, visit us here in Papua New Guinea!  Since their arrival, we’ve been busy showing them around PNG and introducing them to our friends and village neighours. It’s so great that they can experience PNG!  Now when we talk about our lives here, they will understand!

A huge blessing for us here at Interface has been the Classroom floor project.  The Lord has provided not only a great builder (my dad!) to do the work but also the funds and supplies to make it happen. Before the project began we got word that the country didn’t have cement. We brought this to the Lord in prayer and it wasn’t long before we had all 120 bags of cement,and gravel that we needed. Then the Lord provided through individuals and churches to donate money towards the project.  Later, the guys were needing more tile and grout for the bathroom floors and they were able to buy it in Goroka. Yes, we’ve had a few snags along the way…the old floor was hard to demolish in some spots, the tools were sparce and primitive, and on the first day of pouring the cement mixer broke!  We praise the Lord for the final outcome-a beautiful, smooth floor!

We are grateful to everyone who has worked hard to see this project complete. We are so thankful that we can work as a team. Our prayer at Interface is that God will continue to raise up young people (and old!)  to become interested in Tribal missions. And that our facilities here at Interface will continue to equip others for missions and the end goal of furthering the gospel! 

We were given this leg of pork, hair, hoof and all, for dinner this week!  I couldn’t wait to see the look on our kids faces when they came home from school and saw this sitting on the table!  Our kids spend long days at school. They get up at 6 am, get ready for school and pack a lunch. They are out the door “catching the school bus” by 7 am. It takes about 20 minutes for them to get from Interface to Lapilo depending on the road conditions and weather. After school is out at 3pm, they have work detail, homework, and sports or other activities. Most days they don’t get home until 6pm (except Kelsey she comes home earlier)  Sometimes our kids will call us from school just to catch up and ask mom, “What is for dinner tonight?”  They are excited to hear of some scrumptious dinner prepared….

So, you can imagine how excited we were to have them come home this day…to see the look on their faces!  We all had a good laugh!  The kids thought it would be fun to take the leg of pork to school and throw it on the table and say, “Well, I brought my lunch, anyone want to join me?” 

Even though we had a good laugh about the leg of pork, we do appreciate the generosity of our neighbors. They like to give us what they can. This particular piece of meat was part of the dinner that they prepared for a funeral. It sure makes you appreciate our grocery stores back home….neat,& clean packages of whatever cut you would like. We can be thankful for whatever food comes our way!  Food for thought for sure……! 

     We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words…we won’t take that many to describe to you what is happening here among the Bena people. God is still at work. That’s right. Even though this small, infant church doesn’t have a missionary working along side, that doesn’t mean that God is finished with them. He really has just begun. 

    Heti is eager to teach thru the Chronological lessons again. These past few months its been exciting to see at least two new men coming to hear the teaching.  Those who have already believed continue to meet together for prayer and fellowship. 

     We may not know the Bena language. We may not know how to finish the work that has been started here. But we do know how to encourage by attending, by spending time with the people and most of all thru prayer.  Yes, we all can pray that God will open the eyes of the Bena to understand their lost state, and to come to Christ for salvation. Yes, we know the Lord of the Harvest…we can pray!  Will you join us?

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.  Acts 4:12

May we never lose the wonder of Christmas and the tremendous gift of Salvation. At this time of year we reflect on all that God has done. Praise the Lord for giving us a great year here at Interface. Continue reading →