September 28, 2007

Hello Everyone

Thank you for the emails of those that responded. We love to hear news from home and actually about anything going on in the world because we can receive minimal radio news - sometimes shortwave #2 works from Australia.
Since we are presently in Wewak and have email access again we thought we would get a letter out. There has been no telephone contact in Ambunti since Sept 11 so all communication has to be done by radio.
We were very thankful that our 4 crates with tools, workshop supplies, and personal effects arrived safely with minimal extra cost. Some of the shipment is presently being repacked for easier shipment via canoes. The welding trailer will also be leaving with us this trip. Our cardboard boxes need to be shrink wrapped in case it rains the whole 3 hours of our canoe ride. Once a truck is booked (hopefully Tues) it will be loaded and we leave with this truck at 11:00PM for about a 5 hour drive to Pagwi. There the truck will be unloaded onto canoes and we head off to Ambunti to arrive sometime Wed AM.
On Thurs. we hope to leave for Oum, an 8 hour canoe trip, to attend the closing of the Health Care Workers Conference. Oum does not have any of the amenities we have in Ambunti, so we have some new experiences to look forward to. Due to my limited language ability I did not attend the whole 2 week conference but was able to meet with Richard and Victor, (2 of the coordinators) prior to the conference.
We have been really blessed with good health and are adjusting very well. We are enjoying the fresh pineapple, papaya, bananas, and sweet potatoes. I do realize that I didn't appreciate the huge variety of foods I had easy access to at home such as carrots and oatmeal without bugs. One does get used to the bugs and I don't argue with the spiders anymore I just share the shower with them!
Our Sundays are spent with a 2 hour worship service in Tok Pisin, which we are starting to understand alittle better. We do miss singing the familiar songs, as they sing their songs from memory and thus it is harder for us to sing along. In the afternoon we listen to one of Rev Fennema's sermons on CD and we meet with the other missionaries for prayer and singing.
Every day we rejoice that we have been blessed with the opportunity to assist with the work that God has called us to do. Ps. 108 comes to mind: I will praise You, O Lord among the nations; I will sing of You among the peoples. For great is Your love, higher than the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let Your glory be over all the earth. Yours in Christ

Rients & Margaret