A Weekend Away

Mondomil in the distance

This weekend we went up to Mondomil for Saturday and Sunday.  This was for a little R&R, and because I was invited to preach at a church near there, at a little place called Kamang.  Kamang has been a favorite place of our son Sam, since it is the home area of his "PNG Mama", Esther Tausi.  Sam has spent a fair amount of time in and around Kamang, and refers to Esther's male relatives (at least the adult ones) collectively as "The Uncles".  The Uncles is a diverse group.  Some of them have been Jesus followers for a long time, some are notorious sinners.  At least one has been a talented marijuana farmer.  A good number of them have made commitments to Christ in recent weeks.

Kunje

I'm telling this story out of chronological order, in the spirit of "most important first."  In the service this morning, we heard testimonies from 2 people who mentioned that Sam was influential in their coming to Christ.  One is one of the "Uncles", and the second is the wife of another.  The first is the local Councillor, or elected village leader.  He said that Sam's influence contributed to the planting of the church there.  The second was Kunje the wife of Wilson, a nephew or cousin of Esther.  They had named their new baby Sam, in honor of Sam Bennett.  One day when Baby Sam was learning to walk, he toddled into the fire, badly burning his legs.  At first they intended to try to care for this at home, but Big Sam talked to them, and urged them to take him to the hospital, even giving them some money to pay bus fare and other expenses involved in going to Kudjip.  Then later at the hospital, Sam talked to Wilson about the importance of Christian fathers, and his need to turn his life around, for the sake of his son, if for no other reason.  In the next few days both Wilson and Kunje gave their hearts to Jesus.

Wilson and Sam

Kunje then asked Judy and me to stand, so she could thank us for Sam's role in their salvation.  Well, anyone who knows me knows that tears were streaming down my face.  I can't take credit for Sam, for his salvation, his love for the Lord, or his love for his PNG family--it was God working in and through him, and he made the decision to follow Jesus.  But of course, we were proud, and happy.

I preached my Prodigal Son sermon--the second time in Pidgin.  Three people came forward, I think all three committed Christians just coming to pray, not new believers.  That's OK.

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Well, more about the weekend.  We had wanted a little time away, and had thought to go to Mondomil, a place we love, and have been to numerous times before.  We invited Stephen and Amy Hollenberg to join us, as well as Dr. Steph Doenges and medical student Christiana Metzler.  We went up Saturday morning, and planned a hike up "Elephant Mountain" (named for it's shape), for the afternoon.  It was too rainy to try the steep, clay-mud trails.  So we enjoyed a warm fire, coffee, hot chocolate, tea, food and games in the holiday house.

Warm fire, good friends, good coffee, good food.

Stephen, Amy and Judy

They said that it looked like I was smoking something.  I am not.  I'm using a piece of pipe to blow air on the embers.  It worked well.

Steph is knitting, if you wouldn't have guessed!

This morning we had a pancake breakfast, then headed off to Kamang for church.  I preached, and Judy and I gave the congregation a Coleman lantern for use in evening services (there is no electricity in this area).  They had prepared a lunch for us (despite our telling them in advance that we could not stay), but we had to hurry away.

The steps were slippery.

This little guy was already asleep.  I wondered if he'd heard that I was scheduled to preach and was already bored!

The very young missionaries sat on the floor.  With Amy is Christina Metzler, a medical student from California.

Christina and Amy

After the service we went back to the holiday house for a quick lunch, packing, clean-up and a fast get-away to try to beat the rain, and the risk of an even muddier road.  We were home in Kudjip about 2:30.  Here's a look at one of the views we had on the way back down into the valley.

AB