With Florida always in the nation's headlines, you know my personal news but......
Linda Krieg
….Guess it is time to get an update out, even though news is a bit scarce. Somehow, never setting foot off the property or into a store for about 6 months and thankfully avoiding all personal crisis in my life make for rather unentertaining letters (okay, okay, emails). Since low entertainment levels surely beat life-threatening upset, I’ll take it any and every day the Lord continues to offer it as an option.
There has been a tidbit of news from PNG though, and that is what has prompted this Siawi Snippets. No, not news from Siawi, but news that may well ripple through the country toward them and eventually invade their remote jungle village. After having only one positive Covid-19 case on record (in the capitol city of Port Moresby), both news outlets and missionary friends from PNG are now reporting more cases-30, the last I heard. Now, I can hear you all saying to yourselves, “Ha! 30? In the whole nation? That is NOT a problem at all.” But if you said that to yourself, you need to realize that the likelihood that there has been active testing anywhere outside the capitol and even in the general population at the capitol is very improbable. Their medical infrastructure simply isn’t able to provide that other than in a very limited way. So-how widespread is Covid-19, even in the capitol area? No doubt unknown.
How long will it take for it to spread outside the cities and to the more remote villages? Hard to say, but since during outbreaks of the flu or other infections of that nature have always spread across the USA and later slowly made their way into our jungle homes, the pandemic is unlikely to be different. Covid-19 is almost sure to make the same journey eventually. PNG has been very diligent in trying to keep it out, but we’ve all seen how it manages to cross borders and break out in new areas. In a nation where unexplained (or even explained) illnesses are attributed to witchcraft or black magic and where medical facilities don’t have the equipment necessary to treat severe cases, even if there were a way to get a patient to a hospital from a remote area, there is going to be a severe testing of the faith of God’s children, many of whom are fairly young in the Lord. Please do hold the Siawi folks and other believers scattered through that land up in prayer, that they might truly be a light upon the hill (and across the swamps) as the pandemic stalks the land.
Being an introvert, not being able to get out to a store or gather with friends and other believers hasn’t been a strain for me. Also I’m in that blessed group of senior citizens who don’t have any major physical ills and is able to afford to have a grocery delivery service bring my needed items right to my door. Because I live here at the retirement center, we have more restrictions but also full staff coverage of maintenance and essential transportation needs, if any. My monthly Social Security benefit is deposited into my bank account each month, so my income hasn’t been affected, as so many other folks have experienced. For a touch of the outside world, I can live vicariously through my daughter and her family, as she keeps in close touch during these pandemic days. Her 15 minute calls as she drives home from the convenience store where she works are a highlight of my day. Every day contributes challenging coworker relationships, customer challenges, or ridiculous events of note. Even if there aren’t any of those activities, there are always the reports on how various members of her family are doing or Missouri’s response (or lack there of) to the virus spread.
My granddaughter, Beka Sharp, is home for a few weeks from her ministry teaching at Black Forest Academy in Germany, a country that has battled Covid-19 fairly successfully, implementing various practices to limit its spread, including a mask mandate. Exhausted from the challenges of finishing the last school semester doing the hybrid teaching method, as well as needing to be extremely vigilant about getting infected, it has been a time of extremely limited social interaction, primarily only with immediate family members. That is so that she can safely return to BFA in a few weeks, knowing she won’t be taking back the virus as an unwelcome accompanying passenger. Please do pray for her and the staff and students of BFA, as well as their missionary parents in their far flung areas of service, as this next school year begins with Covid-19 still active and menacing.
My son and his wife, David and Grace, would probably appreciate your prayers that they would be soon reunited. Just before the pandemic fiercely hit, Grace was called back to the Philippines because her father was gravely ill. She hadn’t been there but a very short time before the Philippines went on lockdown, trying to limit the spread of the virus in their country. While Grace has been very thankful to be there in her father’s time of great need and for having been able to nurse and care for him, being once again separated by a broad ocean from her husband has not been easy for either of them. Praise the Lord for modern technology that allows for video chatting and phone calls-something that wouldn’t have been available not that many years ago.
Through all of the pandemic challenges, it is so good to know that our God is in control. As believers, we have the anchor of knowing our lives are secure in his hands. His will and plan for us cannot be thwarted. Thank you for your prayers for me and for the Siawi people, and for those of you that the Lord has led to provide financial support to that prayer support-thank you! May the Lord bless and encourage your heart today and strengthen you, so that your light will shine brightly for Him.
Together, for His honor and glory,
Linda
Linda_Krieg(at)ntm.org
232 Brazil Court, Sanford, FL 32771
Ethnos360 Hdqts: 312 W 1st St, Sanford, FL 32771
