I realize that it has been a long time since I have made an entry into here and I am sorry about that. I have been in the interior of Papua with the high school on what we call OE. Outdoor Education is one of the highlights of the year for all high school students. Our high school goes interior for two weeks and works along side a missionary in a village. This year we helped the missionary couple with their hydro plant, airstrip, painting some buildings. Then we were also involved helping a doctor and dentist do medical clinics in the area. This was a powerful time as our students got to check patients, pull teeth, and learn about what the different medical problems are in the region.
The village we went into this year is named Ibele. We had the privilege of listening to a missionary who had lived in Ibele in the 1970's. He was the main speaker and he spoke on the ABC's of Christian Character. Great listening to him and being inspired as well. Amazing work that is going on in Ibele. We were so blessed to be a part of it for two weeks.
During the two weeks the high school is put into 8 different groups each with a leader. The 8 groups then hike or get helicoptered in to different small villages that surround the "mission station". This year my group got to go into Hiberak which was about a 2.5 hour hike up the mountain from the main village. Here we spend 3 nights in the Honai's (traditional huts) spending time with the people, showing the Jesus film, building a toilet, kids clubs, medical, and anything else that we can find time to do with the people. This OE I had a unique experience. On Sunday we were asked to sing in front of the church which is not that out of the ordinary and then 10 minutes before they asked me to share with them. Many of the villagers did not speak Indonesian but some of them understood it so I spoke for about 25 minutes in Indonesian and then the pastor came and explained to the people what I had said for those who did not understand. Amazing experience of God stretching me. The church had memorized the passage in Matthew about where your treasure is there your heart will be also and so I began my message sharing about that for a while. Then the day before in Kids Clubs we had shown them the story of the son who leaves his father and then eats with pigs and then decides to come home. I talked about the grace that God has for us if we confess our sins. Anyway it was a stretching time for me.
This past week has been me trying to recover from the two weeks sleeping on boards with a mosquito net and trying to be a leader on this years OE. The person who runs OE asked me last year if I would be willing to take on a larger role in the leadership of this program and I said that I would. So last year she was working with me so that one day I will take it over from her. So last year I helped out and this year we really did work side by side in the planning. This is an incredible amount of work and I can not believe that she has done it all this time by herself. I really enjoy working along side someone else and so hopefully it will stay this way for years to come.
Today I write this not yet fully recovered. Today also Janna's parents are coming which we are really looking forward to. Must run class is starting.
