Bringing Silas home

Some of you have read about our friend Silas on Ian and Nadia's blog. If you haven't, do read this and this first before reading this update.

Silas has been living at the house of our friend a short ways down the road. There he has received a lot of love and attention. He has had plenty of food, and regained a lot of strength. Two weeks ago, he had a hard time walking on uneven ground. But several times in the past week, he left the house in the middle of the day when no one was home, walked 500 metres to the grocery store near where he used to sleep on the street, and tried to buy some food.

Silas has become a new man in so many ways. Physically, he looks so much better and stronger than a few weeks ago. Emotionally, he has been receiving a lot of love, and has been reciprocating that, opening up a lot more. Spiritually, he is being fed, joining in worship times with our friend's family. A week ago, I went to visit him. Before I left, I prayed with him, and then, on his own initiative, he prayed as well – a beautiful prayer! We were all left in awe of how God has been working in him.

We had been talking for a while about bringing Silas back to his village. The city is not a good place for a man like him, whereas in his village, at least his close family will take care of him. So we planned to take him back as soon as he was strong enough. We notified his relatives so they would be prepared to receive him, and on Friday we drove about 150 km out of Lae to meet them.

We met his family at the end of the road, at the base of the Finisterre Mountains. Silas was very excited to see his youngest brother. His brothers and cousins were also ready to help him out. The plan was that they would take him into the village here at the end of the road, and after a few days, take him to his own village – about a five hour hike into the mountains.

Silas leads the way home, supported by his brother. A few weeks
ago it would have seemed impossible for Silas to cross a bridge
like this. Even now we were afraid he might fall in. But he made it!

We said good-bye to Silas at the end of the bridge in the picture above. It was very hard to say good-bye. He had come to know us and trust us, and now it must have seemed to him like we were abandoning him. We entrust him into the hands of the Lord now, through his family. We trust that they will take good care of him. The Lord willing, we will be able to make the drive and hike and visit him again one day. 

Snapshots of PNG Election Campaigning

For the last few weeks, it has been election campaign time in PNG. There are a lot of interesting things we could say about that, because elections are so different here than in Canada. But we'll try give just a few snapshots.

The campaigning officially concludes tomorrow (Friday), and voting is to begin on Saturday. Because PNG has so many remote areas accessible only by helicopter (or a very long hike!), voting will be spread out over about 10 days in different parts of the country, to allow election commission officials to be present at each polling station.

Election time has the potential for unrest in PNG, especially in the Highlands. So far, that hasn't affected us in Lae at all. The only inconveniences to us have been when election campaigns hit the road and slow traffic down.

Maybe another inconvenience: the noise. Candidates have their rallies – all-day events with lots of speeches and lots of food. But they also like to drive around town in cars, either playing music or making speeches. They do that through megaphones mounted on the roof of the car. Yes, they are very loud, but we have yet to understand a word of what's said.

There are about 4.5 million registered voters in Lae. And there are 3435 people running for just over 100 seats available in Parliament. Do the math, and that's one in 1300 Papua New Guineans running for Parliament, and an average of 34 in each electoral district (but still, only an average of 4 per language group).

Some of you have been following the PNG politics that hit world news in the past year – the tussle between two Prime Ministers (and between the Supreme Court and Parliament) that seemed to never end. Even at the beginning of the election campaign, the courts decided that Sir Michael Somare is the legitimate Prime Minister, a ruling that was quickly overturned by Parliament, which voted for the third time since August to make Peter O'Neill the legitimate Prime Minister. We pray that this election may bring some stability to the political situation.

Here are a few pictures to round things off. First off, an election-induced traffic jam heading into Goroka. A former Prime Minister and now still-prominent politician was speaking there the day we happened to drive in, and so there were many trucks and buses headed into town to hear him speak. We avoided the rally.

Some people like to dress up for political rallies. This was part of a procession of hundreds of people that took over the road and walked by our church building.

The way some people dress up really makes you wonder.

And of course, the ubiquitous election campaign sign. In PNG, signs prominently feature the face of the candidate (and not so prominently his or her name). And they are often hung from trees, the more of one face the better.

I really wanted to get a picture of one of those cars with the megaphones, but haven't had a chance yet.

Goodbye to our co-workers

Yesterday we said good-bye to our co-workers, Ian and Nadia Wildeboer, and their children. They are leaving on a six-month furlough. Here they are at the airport, just before sunrise:

We wish them a good break from the work, and look forward to seeing them again, DV, at the end of the year.

A trip to Wau

We really enjoy getting out of the city and into God's creation. New places are always nice to explore. So on Friday we hopped in the car for the 3 or 4 hour drive to Wau, a town about 75 km south of Lae. 75 km as the crow flies, but a lot more as the windy mountain road goes! A friend of ours is from there, so he accompanied us and served as our tour guide.

We did see a lot of beautiful sights on the way. We'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

 

 

And of course there is a lot of human interest as well, that has a lot to do with the landscape and the minerals in the mountains. There is a lot of gold in the mountains around Wau, and so there is a lot of mining – both large scale (multi-billion dollar projects), and small scale (people looking for gold nuggets by hand). In the early days of aviation, the Wau airport was actually the busiest airport in the world, because everything related to mining had to be flown in from Lae.

One of many footbridges crossing the mountain rivers.

Looking for gold in the river, the old-fashioned way.

Downtown Wau. Like many buildings in Wau, these were built
by Australian mining companies in the 1970s, but have since
become quite run-down.

On our way home, we ran into car trouble – spindle and bearings broke, which meant we couldn't go any further. We were still an hour and a half drive from Lae, and it would be dark in an hour. Half a year ago, having a car break down out in the jungle would have seemed pretty scary to us, but now, while very inconvenient, we could at least make the best of it. Our co-worker Ian was willing to pick us up (thanks Ian!). He also dropped off an elder from our church to help out and keep Tim company while waiting for the tow truck to come from Lae. Everything turned out fine, and Tim even got a chance to preach there on the road while waiting. In all of this we were very thankful for God's providence in exactly where the car broke down:

• The first 20 kilometres from Wau are rather rough (four wheel drive pretty much required) and we would feel rather unsafe in a non-4WD tow truck. And having wheels and brakes malfunction on a stretch of road filled with sharp turns and steep cliffs without guardrails is never a good idea.
• Ten kilometres back from where we broke down was an area known to be unsafe, but we ended up stopping right in front of a village full of friendly people. Even a few hundred metres' difference and we wouldn't have known there was a village nearby.
• A kilometre or two down the road, and for many kilometres afterwards, there was no mobile phone coverage to speak of. But where we stopped, we could call Lae with no problem at all.

God is good. We thank him for his care!

Waiting for the tow truck.

Biwat ablaze

On Saturday afternoon, we saw huge clouds of black smoke coming up from Biwat. That could only mean one thing: houses were burning. The conflict was escalating.

                                                                                                 

The meeting between the community leaders and the police that was supposed to happen on Wednesday never went through, because one of the groups didn’t show up. In the end, the police gave up, telling the community: “If you’re going to be like that, you sort it out.” The police also said that if things really got out of hand, they would come in and burn down the whole settlement – and that would include the houses of our church people in the middle (the area that’s called Maramba).

That’s what we were afraid had happened when we saw smoke yesterday.

I went to get more information and see if we could help in any way. It turned out that one group (Gex) had come across to the other side (Biwat proper) in full force, and set house after house on fire. What they didn’t burn, they stole.

There were probably several hundred people gathered on the road on our side of the settlement – watching and waiting from a safe distance. Many had duffel bags and mattresses with them; they had been ready all week to go at a moment’s notice in case it came to this. Hundreds more had fled across the river on the other side of the settlement. Reports are that the people on the receiving end of this raid had run out of bullets and have had to give up. The police did move in for a while, and that seems to have helped prevent new fires starting. About 15-20 houses have been burned down, which is a significant part of the Biwat side of the settlement.

Late afternoon going into early evening, my co-worker Ian and I brought carload after carload of people over to our church building (a few kilometres away) where they could at least spend the night in safety. Some stayed back to guard their homes overnight.

This morning it sounded like things had settled down a bit for the night. People who had stayed back actually managed to sleep, for which we are very thankful. But the conflict is, humanly speaking, far from over. The violence is all built on a desire for revenge; every act of vengeance also needs to be avenged, and obviously that doesn’t lead to peace. The Biwat side has now suffered a huge loss. Once they regroup, they’ll probably want to get back.

The only thing that can help now (or ever) is the gospel. Only if people will truly humble themselves before God and one another can any progress be made. Never before has “love your enemies” seemed so relevant to us. Continue to pray for peace – for the moment and for eternity – for all the people in the settlement.

Battlefield Biwat

Tonight I was planning to preach at a night fellowship in Biwat settlement, where many members of our congregation live. But several people who live there told me it was really not a good idea, because it would be too dangerous tonight. The last few days, Biwat has become a rather volatile place. In fact, some have described it as a battlefield, and I don't think that's an exaggeration.

It's always a tough call when congregation members encourage us not to come - because it is at times like that when the gospel is most needed. We realize our brothers and sisters are concerned for our safety, but we also want to entrust our safekeeping to the Lord. Tonight it seemed pretty clear, though, that even if I did go, there would be no one there to listen.

So what's happening? Biwat settlement has three different groups, representing people who come from three different parts of the Sepik area (towards the Indonesian border). There are two larger groups, and then a smaller group which happens to live right between them. Many of our church members come from this smaller group.

For some time now (years, I think), there has been feuding between these two bigger groups in Biwat. Someone (quite likely drunk) attacks someone from the other group - slashes them with a knife or something like that. Retribution mode kicks in, and the other side has to get even. That never solves problems, of course, but only invites more retribution. Usually the conflict blows over within a day or two, but it's always simmering, waiting for the least excuse to start up again. It has started up again over the last few days, and has become bigger than ever before. Now it's not just knives being brandished and stones being thrown, but guns being fired as well. A couple of houses have been burned down, and there are plenty of threats of more violence. There are conflicting reports on whether or not anyone has been killed, but there certainly have been injuries.

The people in the third group want nothing to do with it all. But simply because they live right between the two groups, they are caught right in the middle of it. They are bystanders, but their home has become a battleground. Shots are fired on their street, and they live in fear of being hit by stray bullets. Women and children leave home for safety during the day, and come home at night to sleep - but even then have to sleep with one eye open. They don't want to pick sides - but their neutrality and unwillingness to help makes them suspect to both sides.

We as missionaries feel rather helpless sometimes. We are ever so thankful that our brothers and sisters and their relatives are not joining in the fighting. But what can we do? We did have some members of the congregation come to our compound to share what had been happening and to pray together. Prayer is what we continue to do, and prayer is also what we ask you to do. Pray that God may send his angels to protect his people (Psalm 91:11) and turn the hearts of those who are fighting to hearts of peace.

Tonight there was supposed to be a meeting between the community leaders and the police to sort things out. We're not sure yet what the outcome of that was. May our Lord use that also to put an end to this cycle of violence. But most of all, we pray that the gospel will really penetrate into people's lives. That alone will bring lasting peace.

Resurrection Sunday in Lae

Today was Resurrection Sunday, our first in PNG. Without the resurrection, we certainly wouldn't be here in PNG. There would be no good news to preach, and there would be no Great Commission from a resurrected Lord to his disciples. Thankfully, our Lord did rise from the dead – and not just to give our family something to do in PNG, but to give life to all who believe in him.

Tim preached on the resurrection story in church this morning. After the service, as is done more often on such a special day, we had a time where people could come forward and sing songs as a group. We really enjoyed that! Here are pictures of a few of the groups that sang.

We also handed out our latest issue of Tulait magazine. That's a magazine that we put out a few times per year and encourage everyone to hand out to all their friends. It seems to go over very well. One lady from our congregation got her hands on 100 of them on Friday and handed them all out at the market with great enthusiasm.

And to top it all off, we had a potluck lunch at church. We got to enjoy typical Papua New Guinean dishes of rice, greens, chicken, sweet potato, and cooking bananas. To be honest, having spent some time in the country now, we do find the food more enjoyable now than we did at first.

In the evening, we had another potluck, this time with ex-pat friends. Also very enjoyable and relaxing. The power did go out, which is not at all unsual. The building's generator also kicked in, but it seemed the building's designers had decided to prioritize on which areas of the building get generator power. And the entrance gate (which is the first one I've seen in Lae that's electric-powered) was, apparently, low on the priority list. So when we wanted to go home, we found out that we were trapped in the parking lot until the power went back on. There was no way of telling how long that might be (it had been off for well over an hour already), and we were already starting to wonder if we should walk home or sleep over. After about 10 minutes of waiting, the lights (the ones that were also low on that priority list) flickered on and off a few times, and finally stayed on long enough to open the gate. As soon as the gate was open, the power went off again, but at least we were on our way home!