Thank the Thief
The group of teenagers stand there, at a huge decision point. Other people are busy moving materials while these few stand, contemplating their next move. One of the group had pulled my coworker, Nathan, aside and let him know that the community had accused them of stealing from us. Another missionary helping us build did have a few items go missing, but these accusations seemed totally misplaced. These young men had been incredibly faithful in helping us with every possible aspect of building our houses. They had been by our side many days from sun up to sun down. We knew it couldn’t be them, but in typical PNG fashion, someone must take the fall.
Unable to look us in the eyes, the teens had told us that they wanted to run off into the jungle. We figure this is because of the shame these accusations brought them. My co-worker, Nathan, asked them if they had stolen the items. They said they did not, and we believed them. Running away would only confirm the false accusations, so we encouraged them to stay and keep helping. The tears that once again began welling up in their eyes showed us that they had never experienced something like this before - Acceptance. Grace. Genuine love. These things we can give away as freely as we have received them because of Jesus Christ. Even if they had told us they were the ones who had stolen the items, we would have still forgiven and accepted them.
After expressing our desires we continued on working, waiting for the young men to join in, but they just stood there, dumbfounded. Surely our response was not one they had anticipated.
“You guys gonna come or not?” My other coworker, Chris, shouts from atop the roof, hoping to confirm our acceptance of them. Finally, after comprehending the genuineness of our grace, one grabs some material and joins in the work. Slowly, the others join in as well.
Shame is a HUGE motivator in many people groups in Papua New Guinea, and Uruwa seems to be no different. We praise God that He gave us this opportunity to display that we follow a God who took all of our shame and to strengthen our bond with these young men, who may one day be the future of the Uruwa church.
House building has been going incredibly well and the Lord has blessed us immensely with tons of help from our Uruwa neighbors. In a very real sense, we could not be doing it without them. The same could be said for other missionaries with housebuilding expertise who have come and helped us a ton.
On March 6th we all flew out of Uruwa and back to Goroka and are now at the mercy of the Lord’s provision of fuel. The only fuel supplier for jet fuel in PNG stated in February that they were unable to provide fuel in PNG until further notice. Our aviation department has been running on the reserves and many flights have had to be cancelled. Our team has been in contact with several other organizations and companies in the country to see if there are any options for us to get any flights in the coming weeks. We are prayerful and hopeful as we wait upon the Lord. But even if he doesn’t answer our prayers in the ways we would hope or expect, HE IS STILL SO GOOD!
Watch this video to see what house building has looked like so far:
Watch this tour of our house, given by our co-worker Chris. There is still more work to be done, but here is what it looks like currently:
Prayer and Praise
Praise the Lord for how much He has helped us to accomplish on our houses. We have 2 of the houses standing and with a roof on, and one of them with solar power and water.
Praise the Lord for the unique situation that he allowed for us display His love to some of our friends in Uruwa.
Praise the Lord for answering our prayer for the logistics to work out thus far. The materials for 2 houses are in Uruwa! Just one more to go!
Please pray for a long-term solution to the fuel shortage in PNG.
Please pray that the Lord would make a way for our team to continue moving in among the Uruwa people and that he would grow us as we wait upon Him.
Pray for the missionary teams who have had to relocate to one of the centers for a time.
Please pray for our team to remain strong and unified in the Lord as we work together and make many decisions.
Pray for the continued strengthening of our walks with the Lord as well as our marriage.
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