|
| Here is a summary of yesterday and today!
Yesterday morning I started my day around 6 AM by checking on the security guys and helping
them get ready to leave. (ITF has two shifts of two national guys who monitor the campus at
night as well as one guy for the afternoon. This is only for program times) Then I prepared as much of the
security stuff for that day as I could, preparing coffee,getting their boots,coveralls, radios
etc. around for them to use while they're working here. After this I had the opportunity to join the students
for their daily prayer time for missionaries around the world. I did some small maintenance
repairs around campus for the rest of the morning. After lunch I enjoyed going up to the village with
the students. It was the special program day for market, so there were lots of artifacts and
cool things to buy up there. I bought a few things, but mostly just looked and helped out the students.
Today, I started out with security again. After breakfast, I got some shovels from the workshop as
the students needed them to help their language helpers do some gardening this morning! Then I
helped Danny change a water pump on one of our big Cummins generators. I slept for a few hours this
afternoon, then ate supper and set out the things for evening security. After supper we were going
to have a campfire, but a rain shower came up. So we all met at a Hanson's house and had a
time of sharing there instead. It was good. Several students shared how God's been working in their
lives recently, we sang some songs, and then we wrapped it up with a communion service. I am on for
monitoring security tonight. (basically checking on them a couple times during the night)
Tomorrow we are planning to take a trip into Goroka with the students to do some site seeing and
shopping. I am planning to go too! It should be fun! Here's a few pictures for you.
Em tasol for now! 
Are we tired?? Bored?? 
Students gathered to go out on village exposure. 
Cultivating relationships/culture exposure/practicing Pidgin. 
Here is a student, a MK from ITF, and a Ben a national kid. 
I am on the left in the driver's seat. We were hauling some furniture around. | | |
| My Past Two Days December 10 2008
Yesterday all the boys arrived shortly after 8. So our day was off to a good start! After devotions I pulled some lumber out of the dryer, with the help of Robert. I sorted some of this out and the boys resawed these for Brandon and Thomas. After this I fixed the pull rope on our little diesel plate compactor so that Clements could pack down
the gravel in the yard that we've been hauling in the last while. After this I helped Mike change a 110V air compresser of ours over to 240V. We had to switch some wires around on the motor and then change the cord plug as well. What I did in the afternoon currently escapes my memory, but around 4: 30 - upon closer inspection of the air compressor - we deemed it unsafe for use due to a leak in the one tank. After that I spent some time tearing an old gas engine/110 generator apart, saving anything on it that we might be able to use later on.
Today, I started out by gathering up trash for a dump run. Clements and I ran and dumped it. Then I washed our Range Rover with the pressure washer and got a good start on washing our Mazda Titan dump truck that we have been hauling gravel with recently. Today was special though as it was the last work day for the boys before Christmas break.So to thank them for all their hard work, we all went up to the "In Wewak Boutique Hotel"
for lunch This hotel is a pretty nice place. You could almost make yourself believe you were back in America! They all enjoyed it immensely, to say the least! I got fish and chips (french fries) for the main course. I think it was the first time for Robert to swim in a pool and the first time for him to eat chocolate cake. It was a lot of fun! After this we drove around some and looked at where the ocean has been overflowing it's banks. The tide is really high right now. Some people have had to move out of their homes, so now they are just camping out at various churches or where ever they can find a bit of shelter. Yeah, it is sad. some houses/buildings were flooded a little too. Hopefully the water comes down soon so they can move back into their homes. After we got back, Mike Ruth and I walked down to the beach to look at the waves coming in. We stopped and talked to some of the people that the water hasn't pushed out of their homes yet. Tonight the internet was off for reasons that would take too much space to write out here. So I'll spare you the details.It's just part of life in PNG! It was actually nice to be away from it for a little.
Tommorow, I'll probably finish washing the truck and then take some resawn wood over to MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship).I should probably start packing too as I head back up to the highlands on Dec. 12 and will be there through the end of January. Now for another update:
Hello from warm and sunny Wewak!
I thought for this update I’d tell you about a few of the projects that we are and have
been involved in recently. One that I am really excited about, and one that has been in
the works since before I got here, is helping out two New Tribes missionaries as they
prepare to move into a tribal island location to teach the Gospel. We have been able to
help out by acquiring and re-sawing timber for them to build their houses with, storing
things for them since they don’t have much storage space where they are based at, as well
as in various other ways. One of our national workers (Clements) gathered up a group of
men and cut some of the timber. Two more of our workers, spent countless hours re-sawing
and planning the timber into lumber. I was able to help them with that some. The two
missionaries, Brandon and Thomas were able to hire a small ship to make two trips carrying
the lumber out to Biem Island (pronounced “BM”) where they will be living. That was a real
blessing to them since they were taking everything out by a small motorized boat before
this. This island is about 80 miles from Wewak. It’s a 5-10 hour ride by boat, depending
on the conditions of the sea. I’ve been really excited about this project and consider
it a blessing to be able to help out. So far they’ve only taken basic building materials
out to the island. In the future there will be more trips for interior items and their
personal items. It is a big undertaking, but it shows their heart for the people of Biem
and their desire to see them reached with the Gospel of Christ.
There are several other projects we’ve been working on. One of these involves some
improvements to our water piping so that it will go from our big water tank to the
cookhouse and to some showers in the basement, it currently only goes upstairs in the
main house. The cook house is hooked up to town water. The other day I spent some time
building a little shelter for a new water pump and pressure tank we have for this.
Another project has been getting a fuel tank hooked up so that we can fuel our vehicles
and NTM’s too. The reason for this is that there is only two working gas stations in town.
This makes for long lines most of the time and a long wait. Just the other week Wewak came
close to running out of fuel too! We can buy fuel by the drums and we have a five-hundred
gallon tank to put them in. So we’ve been fitting pipes together, put a new pump on, and
getting everything together so we can use it. We still have some wires to run before we
are in business.
Awhile back I was working on several generators, some that belong to us and some that
belong to various other missionaries in the bush. We currently have a truck of NTM’s here
that needs some engine work. It went through a river too fast and got some water in the
engine, causing it too fail. We’re not yet sure what it will need in order to get it back
on the road. Thank-You so much for being a part of this through your prayers and financial
support! Because of Him, Fred Amstutz
Prayer Requests and Praises:
• That I would continue to grow in the Lord, and that He’d use this time in my life for His glory.
• Praise that Brandon and Thomas have had safe travels so far.
• Pray for wisdom and a good witness as they go about building their houses and moving out there.
• Pray for the people of Biem that the Lord would prepare their hearts to hear the gospel!
| | |
| Today was spent hauling gravel again. We started at ten o'clock and quit at five thirty, hauling five loads total. It is 15 km one way. I've been doing this a lot the last while, but have been enjoying it. It has given me some time to spend with Clements as well as the boys who are loading the gravel. So it's a good cultural exposure and relationship building time as well as a time to get some time consuming work done! Today I was given a pineapple to take home, and I ate some cooked bananas and papaya with the boys out in the bush. The last two days I brought my pictures from home and a map along to show to them. They really enjoyed that and loved to hear me "story" about it! Thanks for all the work on the album Mom! Clements has gone with me for each load. I've really enjoyed his company and am grateful to have him along. It's also a good idea in case some little trouble/incident should come up. He doesn't know much English at all, but he talks Pidgin slowly to me, that way I can understand most of what he says. I talk with him too, which helps to improve my blubbering Pidgin! Topics for the last two days included marriage, the tragedy of divorce, Clement's desire to visit Canada someday, consequences of hitting a dog, pig or chicken on the road, (yeah, you lose some money for compensation!), and most importantly he's been sharing a little on what Jesus has done in his life. He also talked some about his gratefulness for Mike's desire to see him become more like Christ, and consequent dicipleship of him. So, it's been a good experience! We have one more day of hauling gravel and then I think we are done for a while. Have a wonderful day! Fred | | |
| Hello, Friday Nov. 21
I spent a lot of this week working on making a new dumpster/trash bin for our yard debris etc. Our old one is pretty much falling apart. Today I got a change of pace. Clements (one of our workers and I) hauled some gravel for our yard as it sits a little low and we want to build it up some. So this morning we started out as usual by having our devotions in Pidgeon with the guys. Then while Clements took some reading lessons with Ruth, I tried to change the oil filter in our Mazda truck, but the new filter was the wrong size. So I put the old one back on. Shortly thereafter, Mike and I drove to the river and got our first load of gravel. When we got back, Clements hopped in and helped me with the next three loads. The truck bed holds 2 cubic meters.The road to the river starts out paved, then goes to dirt, then to a muddy trail with huge mud puddles. You end up having to cross the river atleast one time as well. The gravel is along the shore of the river. You pay for these loads, but a good benefit is six strong backs to do the loading for you! They just used shovels and shoveled it into the bed off the truck. It takes about a half hour to drive there and a half hour to load. So you are talking about a 1 1/2 hour round trip. The bed dumps so unloading is real easy. We are hoping to go and get some more on Tuesday. So that will be fun. As your out there on the road though, you just have to watch out for the three P's. People, Pigs, And Potholes!
Have a wonderful day,
Fred P.S. The notes below are all supposed to be dated November! | | |
| October 3rd 2008 Monday Today was pretty uneventful here at Friends in Action. That's not to say however, that it wasn't busy! I fixed the two tires on the woodmizer (It belongs to Interface and we are trying to sell it). Both needed new tubes, which Mike picked up in town. So that is ready for Mike to do some welding on now. We have a generator that Mike wanted to fit some wheels to. End of last week, I fitted some wheels rom another stand that didn't have a generator anymore. Today I finished attaching the stand that goes underneath on the opposite side of the wheels. It took some thinking through to figure out how to attach it. Now all we need is handles for it. From 3:30 - 4:30, I helped Clements clean out a big diesel tank we have here and are setting up to use - more on this later. After work this evening, I walked down along the beach to a middle sized market and bought muli (lemons), pineapple, popo (papaya), a small donut, some roasted peanuts wrapped tight in plastic, and some dried/smoked fish - which is very tasty. I had fish and cooked sweet potatoe for supper tonight. This morning I read from Revelation. October 6 Obama has now been elected as the future president of the United States of America - sadness! Anyways, the past two days I've worked on our fuel setup, but not today. I changed the gear oil in the planer and installed a new rubber on a bandsaw wheel of ours this morning.This afternoon found me cutting some aluminium for a NTM missionary, followed by cutting and drilling some metal brackets for one of our national workers -Daniel. Fifteen of them at four inches long with one hole in each. Around four - thirty I headed to a closeby shop to buy some flour for my sourdough bread experiment, which is currently baking in the oven. I hope it turns out well. I figured if it would work any where, it should work here! Otherwise my day was pretty uneventful. P.S. The sourdough turned out sour and as bread - but not much else, it didn't rise for some reason! Thursday November 13th Today I started my day by gathering up trash to take to the dump. Then Robert (one of our four workers) and I took it to the dump. The dump is a pretty gross place. It smells and everything is scattered all over the ground - but I'll spare you the details! After that I fixed a loose knob on the bandsaw, and then spent the rest of my day working on our fuel project. There is only one station in Wewak that's currently in service. So as you can imagine, this makes for some pretty big lines sometimes! So we are setting up a 500 gallon tank here. We are using an old military tank and two big reels mounted on a frame. The reels have big fuel hose around them. We aren't using the original pump, so i've been working on hooking things up, connecting fittings, etc. it's almost done now, we pretty much just need to get electric to the pump yet. New Tribes is going to use it to fuel their vehicles too. On Monday,Tuesday, and Wednesday of this past week, I built a shelter for a new water pump and pressure tank for our use here. It's got a tin roof that can swing up and it's built out of hardwoods. I built it from scratch and had to think it through as I went, since I didn't have a plan. It ended up turning out pretty nice - so I was pleased. | | |
|
