Praises and Petitions

Neil’s travel day was great! He had a beautiful several-hour helicopter ride-- even flew right by the highest peak in PNG, Mt. Wilhelm (nearly 15,000 feet). He was warmly welcomed in the village, and one of the local Urim Bible translators offered to take him on a hiking tour of the area, an activity Neil rarely turns down. The hike ended up being several hours long, around some ridges that afforded beautiful views-- and allowed them to invite people to the workshop, all along the way. :) Neil arrived back at his bush house at sundown, tired but happy. It’s hard to believe, but there is mobile phone reception in his remote location! Hence, we've been able to talk each evening—and we text each other throughout the day.  Sometimes we lose the connection, because he only has one or two bars at most, but I’m just amazed at the continual expansion of the Digicel network.

On Thursday, the course began at “PNG time”—it’s rainy (monsoon) season now in PNG, and has rained all day, each day of the course, so it’s no wonder that people straggled in late.  Who wants to get up early on a rainy day?  Nevertheless, they were able to start by around 10:30 a.m.  At the end of the first day, one man spoke for all, saying (rough translation), "We've never thought about what types of music we have. It's good that we're thinking about this. And it is a good idea for us to compose Christian songs in our own musical styles." Encouraging!

The first couple of days of a music workshop involve lots of teaching and discussion, focusing on what the Bible has to say about music and worship—and worshipers.  Neil’s voice gets a real workout those first couple of days. By the way, if you're wondering how Neil is communicating: He teaches in Tok Pisin (Melanesian Pidgin, the primary trade language of PNG, understood by all of his hearers), and some of the local Urim Bible translators are translating into Urim for greater clarity and precision.

There will be a break over the weekend, and then the course will focus on songwriting and recording, with Neil acting more as consultant than teacher. He says that the participants seem very enthusiastic-- they talk a lot amongst themselves in Urim, so he can't understand everything that's said, but there's a lot of excitement about the material Neil's presenting. They've asked Neil to preach in church on Sunday morning, so he'll spend some time today (Saturday) preparing a sermon in Tok Pisin. Thanks for praying for him! Thanks for praying, too, for the course participants as they begin to compose songs in their own language and musical styles!  Pray for abundant creativity, and for God to be glorified through the new songs.

Meanwhile, here at home in Ukarumpa, we’ve been dealing with sickness, as Cameron came down with an influenza-like virus Thursday night and went through some intense fevers and chills, aches and pains.  Cam seems to be on the mend now, for which we are thankful.  Would you pray that James and William would not come down with the illness?  With Neil out of town, I had to miss a day of teaching yesterday, in order to keep a close eye on Cameron and take him to the clinic (three times!).  Thanks for praying for my health, too.

Finally, would you pray with me for a Papua New Guinean family—and in particular, their baby girl?  Some of you may remember my sharing about Charlie and Wendy and their family (Riverwood Women of Joy friends:  Wendy was one of the women whose stories I shared with you).  They’ve been through many difficult times over the past few years, but God has been faithful.  

Here’s a picture of Charlie and Wendy with one of their sons, Obadiah (left), and new baby Maila, from early 2012.

Just now, Charlie and Wendy came to the door to let me know that their baby girl, Maila (pronounced “My-la”) was playing outside their house, and she suddenly fell over and “died.”  Well, in Tok Pisin, the same word is used for dying as for fainting/ losing consciousness/ becoming unresponsive, so I wasn’t sure what had happened.  They had her in a bed sheet “baby sling,” and I asked to see her.  As I opened the sheet, I prepared myself for the worst; I’ll never forget how hard it was to have a baby brought to me for medical treatment in the village years ago—that baby was beyond my help, white and nearly lifeless, and died the next day.  What would I see this time?  It’s about a 2-hour walk to Ukarumpa from Charlie's village, so Maila had been in whatever condition she was in for quite a while. As I pulled back the sheet, what a relief it was to see beautiful baby Maila’s rich brown skin, fresh perspiration dewing her brow. 

Charlie said (translated), “We brought Maila to you so that you could pray for her first, before we take her to the Kainantu hospital.”  I placed my hand on her damp, hot forehead and prayed fervently in Tok Pisin that God, the Healer, the one who formed baby Maila and loves her most of all, would revive her and heal her completely.  While I was praying for her, she moved her limbs slightly, and I could tell that she was breathing—what a relief to be certain that she was alive.  She never opened her eyes, but I have hope that she’ll be just fine.  I gave some money for hospital fees, some food for the long walk, and said that we’d be in prayer for baby Maila’s healing. Would you pray for her, as God leads?  I’ll let you know when I hear any news. 

I’ll be playing two of my favorite hymns on the cello tomorrow morning in church, during our Communion service—“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “It is Well with My Soul,” and I can heartily agree with the words of those hymns.  Thank you, Lord, for your blessings, for bringing us peace in times of trial and of refreshment, and that through You (and only through You!) it truly can be “well” with our souls.  Thank you for praying for our family, for baby Maila, and for the Urim music course as it continues next week!