At Home in Raytown

We are in Raytown Missouri this weekend sharing about what God is doing in PNG.   We feel very much at home here not only because they are great people but the teens did a great job of re-creating the iconic "Circle" of PNG.    The Circle is what so many people think of when they hear about the work in PNG.   We had a wonderful time this evening fellowshipping with our Raytown brothers and sisters.   We look forward to sharing tomorrow morning more about how God is working in PNG!

Paniel - complete recovery!!

This cutey was a patient on the Pediatric ward 2 years ago or so. At that time he was very sick. He had fevers and seizures and was very weak on the left side of his body, hardly able to move his arm and leg at all. We discovered he had a brain abscess. Dr. Ben was able to drain it and with lots of prayer and IV antibiotics and time...he recovered!  As you can see from this photo he is a happy little guy!  He has no weakness and you wouldn't even know he had ever been sick!

PTL!!
😀I love when God does stuff like this!!!

Follow up to prayer request

On June 3rd I wrote asking for prayer for several of my little ones on the pediatric ward.  Thank you for that.  Margaret and Lavina both went to be with Jesus.   They are no longer sick!  They are not short of breath!  Their nail beds are pink, not blue!  Pray for their families as they continue to feel the void.  God is good and he is faithful!

Gearing up for Home Assignment!!

The excitement is growing as we prepare for flying the friendly skies on our way to the USA!
There is much to think about: what to pack, what we will drive, confirming details of our speaking engagements, finalizing our thoughts on the things God wants us to share about the work here in PNG and making sure we have time with our families to name a few. Thanks to the East Ohio District NMI, we don't have to worry about where we will live!!  Thank you so much to our East Ohio family for meeting that need for us all these years, it has been an amazing blessing!  There's also things on this side of the ocean that need to be wrapped up, things related to our work here and leaving our house ready to be used as needed in our absence.   But as always, God is faithful!
Please pray with us for these specifically:
         > Jeff as he finalizes preparations for our upcoming District Assemblies which will take place                 in October.
         > Our presentation to the churches we will be sharing at.
         > A car to drive.

Thanks family!!  See you soon! 😁

Great Things are Taking Place on the Sandaun District, PNG!

First, let me give you a little brief history of the Sandaun district.   The Sandaun district, basically, is a remote district that is divided in two by a large mountain range.    It is located on the North Coast of PNG up near the border of Indonesia.   So in a sense half of the district is coastal while the other half is inland and bush with the mountain range in the middle.    It is very hard for the DS to get to all of the district because of the remoteness of the district.   Because of this the district has struggled through the years.   Three years ago one of our Generals was on the Sandaun district and greatly challenged them.  Challenging them that it was time to move ahead, that it was time for the district to grow.   Since then they have taken to heart the challenge presented to them.   In that three years 10 ordination candidates have been ordained and there will be another this year.   The unity of the district has greatly solidified.   For all of this we praise the Lord and are grateful for the leadership of the district.    Below, is the latest report from Sandaun.

Young people leading worship before the
baptismal service.

District Secretary for the Sandaun District, Ps. Peter Weiyip, sent along a wonderful report of how God has been working on the Sandaun district.   Encouraging reports are wonderful and greatly appreciated!

Peter writes:

"Hello Brother Jeff Myers,

I would like to inform you that Sandaun District is having a very wonderful time this year 2018 because of 46 people got baptised and 56 renewed their Christian life. This includes men and women. 

Witwaunek Local Church Children’s Ministry Crusade 11 people got baptised there.

Elkei Circuit Women’s Crusade 3 women got baptised there. 

Witikin Local Church NYI Crusade 32 people got baptised there.

This brings the total up to 46 people baptised so far just in June and July 2018.

Elkei Circuit NYI Crusade 46 Christians renewed their Christian life at the Altar call each night. Tuesday Night = 19. Wednesday Night = 17 & Thursday Night = 20, this brings the total to 56. The Theme for this crusade was; “Preparing Emerging Godly Leaders.” Joshua Chapter 1.

DS Kanisius praying before he begins to baptize.

There [are] 7 Active Preaching Points in which we are planning to organise 3 this year 2018 and 4 yet to confirm.

God is doing amazing things here at Sandaun District this year 2018.

Praise God for that.  Please pray for Sandaun.

Yours in making Christlike Disciples

Pastor Peter Paul Weiyip

Sandaun District Secretary

     

Please be praying for the Sandaun district as God continues to move across this district.   Pray also for those baptized and for those who made commitments to live for Jesus, whether a renewal or for the first time.   Pray for DS Kanisius and the district leadership as the lead this district with servant hearts!

Thank you!

A Pictorial Look at the Jimi Valley Road

The other day four of us left Kudjip and headed out on the Jimi road.    Unless you have wings, or lots of money for a helicopter, it is the only way to get to the Bromley Memorial District.   The Jimi Valley Road is like a box of Cracker Jacks, there is a surprise in each time you drive it.   We headed in with two Toyota Land Cruisers, the vehicle of choice for this missionary, because they are built tough and can handle the rough Jimi road.   We were headed into the Bromley Memorial District to take care of some district business.    I have to say though, it is kind of fun to drive.    I mean where else can you go off roadin' and not be labeled irresponsible or reckless!

Besides being a road that literally follows the
edge of the mountains around, there are probably
other reasons the road gets washed away, I'm
thinking.

The road should be where the culvert is but it is gone
washed away in a flood.   We had to stay to the right and cut
left across the water and back up on the road.

Hit the water and take a sharp left!

In 3 of these pictures is a "stay left" theme!

Need your prayers!

One of the hardest things about being a physician, no matter where you are in the world, is caring for patients for whom you don't have a cure, where the prognosis is poor and there isn't much you can do about it.  Slightly harder then that are those patients you think maybe could get help if you had more resources to determine the true underlying cause and then the resources to treat their disease more effectively.
I have several kids on the pediatric ward for whom we have invested all that we have to offer for their lung disease and yet their prognosis is guarded at best.  Please pray for these little ones!  Their names are Lavina, Jepta and Margaret.  Each one is precious in God's sight.  Pray for wisdom for me, healing for them and peace for their families.

Left: Margaret on her 1st Birthday!

Right: Lavina enjoying a snack.

District Superintendent Training

This was the entrance to the place where we
were having our meetings.   Very beautiful
and colorful as the breeze blew the flags!

At the end of  this past AApril I traveled to the Philippines to take part in the DS School of Leadership Training.    Not because I am a DS, but because I work with our DSs on the Melanesia/South Pacific Field.   Our Field has 14 DS that represent 17 districts across 7 island nations in the South Pacific.   Harmon is our Field Strategy Coordinator and I work out of our Field Office as our Field Operations Administrator.   This was a great 3 plus days of training and equipping our DS from around the Region, our theme was "Equipped to Equip."   Pray for our DSs as they work in some very tough and remote places across the MSP Field and across the Asia Pacific Region.

A couple of nights we had meals out on the water
in these little cabanas above the water, very
nice and cool.

L to R Back Row: Kafoa, Harmon Jeff, Talomua, Dickson, Yambe
L to R Front Row: Peter, Gabriel, Ako, Peter, Peter, Canisius, Sivas, Joseph
L to R Sitting in front: Peni, Andrew

Namesake!

Baby Susan at 12 hours of age!

The culture in PNG is a very relational one.   A PNG National who's life you have touched through friendship or helping them with something or by being a part of a significant gathering may choose to honor you by giving you a gift.  That gift may be a bilum (string bag) made just for you or by bringing you gifts of produce from their garden.  Or, a very special way, would be to name one of their children after you!  The child would be referred to as your "Namesake".
A few weeks ago when I was on call I had been following the progress of two ladies in labor.  Their progress was a bit slow and so I was checking on them pretty regularly.  The time came when I decided we needed to go to plan B and get each of these ladies ready for a C-section.  The one lady's unborn baby was showing signs of distress so I took her to the OR first.  When we were near finished I asked one of the operating theater staff to call the labor ward and have them bring the second lady over.  After she had been brought over and we were ready to move her onto the operating table  I felt impressed to check her one more time to see if she had dilated completely or not.  Well guess what?!  She had and although this mama was pretty worn out I thought we could safely get the baby out with vacuum assistance and avoid a CS.  We were successful!  Both mama and baby did well!  Yeah!!  Mama was very pleased and asked me my name and right then and there named her newborn baby girl Susan!

Important Training in Church Development!

Jeff teaching the Articles of Faith.  The Illustrated
Articles of Faith are a great tool!

Joani Goossens going over church board
budgets and finance.

DS Ako Arua of the South Coast District.

This past weekend I, along with Karla and Joani, from the Field Office spent the weekend in Port Morsbey teaching and training pastors and church board members on the South Coast district.   We left on Friday from Hagen and flew to PNG's capitol city.    I taught about the Nazarene Articles of Faith (by the way do you know have many Article the Nazarene Church has?) and talking about the duties and responsibilities of the Church Board as well as covering the calling of a pastor.   On Saturday morning  Karla startled off covering Statistics.   Statistics are on of the areas that Karla is often training in.   I very much like the way Karla has explained it to our district secretaries, it is important to understand and get the statistics reported correctly because, "it is the way in which we tell the Church what God is doing in the Church of PNG!"   God is doing great things here in PNG!   Joani is our Field Treasure and was asked to come and share concerning church budgets.    Our National brothers and sisters are very eager to learn and they were asking a lot of great questions through out the weekend sessions.    I appreciate DS Ako asking us to come down, it was a great time together.    Ds Ako and his sweet wife Lilly are special to us as DS Ako was our first pastor here at the Station church when Susan and I first arrived in PNG.   DS Ako and Lilly also were pioneer members in radio ministry in PNG.   DS Ako was one of the 5 original (as I like to say) Founding Fathers of Radio Ministry.    Lilly was one of our first Directors of the Women's program that we air across PNG.   Sho also came up with the name for the program Krai Bilong Ol Meri, (The Cry of the Women).   We thank the Lord for His hand upon this weekend!   We had great fun with the South Coast District and they were very appreciative.

Karla Deuel training in Church Statistics.