Paul's PNG Mission Trip - Ep 01

[pandrews]

(July 1st, 2009)

What's the big question on everyone's mind? "When are you leaving?"
Believe me when I say that it should be soon... now, is soon three
days,
two weeks, or a month? I don't know, but it's all in God's timing. He
tends to know best anyway, so we'll leave it up to Him.

Currently, my paperwork appears to be in process in Papua New Guinea,
and I've been in contact with Steve & Julie Lutz, as well as Anton
(their son, whom I'll be working with when I arrive in Kaiam) to keep
an
eye on it so I'll hopefully have a little heads-up when it comes
through.

So, what have I been doing with my time while I'm waiting for the
paperwork? I've been working at Open Arms daycare (it's attached to
Zion Fairbanks, my church). If you think that doesn't jive with my
welding degree, you'd be correct, it's a whole new world for me to try
on for size. On the one hand, it's great to work with these kids (I'm
working with the after school kids mostly, so 5 to 11 year olds), to
see
them grow, play, and experience all the new things in life. They sure
find a way to touch your heart, and quickly you find yourself caring a
great deal about their overall well being, not just in the hours of
the
day that you might see them. On the other hand, all the regulation on
day care workers on what they can, and can't do to discipline their
students is out of hand. What's worse, is that the students know that
the instructors are powerless to issue punishment. This then becomes
a
challenge to invent new ways to discipline bad behavior, while
rewarding
good behavior. Mostly it boils down to this: If/when I ever have
kids... they will not be attending a daycare and will be
disciplined/rewarded by a parent for unacceptable/good behavior. But
that's still a long way off.

I digress... The fund raising efforts have gone well. At last
estimate, I'm down to the last ten percent that I need for my goal. A
huge thanks to all of you who have contributed financially to this
mission trip... but, I also know that there are many people who are
offering their prayers for me (and my sanity) throughout these many
months of waiting... and in the months to come... God does answer
prayer.

The last I heard from Anton in the field was that he was in Kaiam
getting things prepared for the construction season. There are always
things that get "borrowed" from construction sites, and in PNG, it
seems, that's the rule... not the exception. So Anton has been
practicing his negotiation skills in order to locate said borrowed
goods
and see if they can gain legs enough to return.

I'm getting really excited to get going, but God must still have a
plan
for me in Alaska, or else I wouldn't be here anymore. Which is
probably
just fine as I'm still working on packing the last of the things I
won't
be needing over the next year (car, winter weather gear), and
preparing
myself as well as I can mentally on the people and environment I will
experience while I'm there. ie, I'm reading lots of books... Seems
like
when I tell people "I'm going to PNG" they reply with "Have your read
____". Chances are: No, I haven't, but it's in my stack... I
started/finished one book on Saturday. I found it really interesting
that this book (copyright 1968) compared the highland people of PNG,
to
the people of Kenya... Which I just came back from a two week mission
trip in November. What are the coincidences of that? (oh, wait, I
don't
believe in them.)

One more thing... If you have any questions, or would like me to
elaborate on something I've/will have talked about, please email me.
I've been known to type over eighty words a minute, and I'd like to be
able to share with you what the eyes of a wanderer have seen. So, be
sure to check out my blog and the LCMS website for more details:

http://zloof.blogspot.com/
http://www.lcms.org/?14786

Your Brother In Christ,
Paul