Fw: [Williamson Update] During our first month in PNG...

Please note: forwarded message attached

From: Jason_Williamson <jason_williamson@ntm.org>
To: <bhemsoth@juno.com>
Subject: [Williamson Update] During our first month in PNG...
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:47:13 +1000

[Williamson Update] Back in the Tribe!

Hello from Toboland!  We made it back into the tribe last Wednesday and have been attempting to adjust to tribal living ever since, however it has not been without its difficulties.  We have been reminded that this is "satan's turf" ever since we got here… but we are so thankful we have the Word of God to encourage us and give us hope.  This also reminds us of how important it is to remain here and to give the Tobo people the Word of God.  They need hope!

 

It's amazing what a tribal house turns into when leaving it sit empty for 11 months.  Despite our co-worker's best attempts at cleaning it and preparing it for our return, we arrived back home to a welcoming party of mice, cockroaches (otherwise known here as stinkbugs, which leave a foul odor when killed), spiders (shouldn't I be marveling rather than complaining about all of the different colors and sizes that God created?!), and lizards (which Judah decided was his favorite part about being back in Tobo!).  Along with our warm welcome from these Tobo critters came a whole slew of house issues.  We've been working on repairing our hot water heater, our oven, our power supply, and our email for almost a week now.  So far Jason's been able to fix the oven & our power supply and if you're getting this e-mail then that has been fixed as well!  Thanks again to our co-workers who have graciously provided us with meals and hot showers to get us through these first days!

I also welcomed the opportunity to hand off my grocery list (a sign that our time in the States served its purpose ☺) to our supply buyer to have food sent in after our arrival in Tobo.  After unloading several dozen boxes off the plane on Friday, I quickly noticed I had a LOT of powdered milk.  I checked my order form and realized that instead of putting "4" in the "individual column", I had put it in the "carton" column.  Instead of receiving 4 bags of powdered milk, I received 4 boxes (70 bags) of powdered milk!  I had unknowingly just spent over $500 on powdered milk plus the cost of flying it all in- that's $620!  I just had to add this little snippet of what it's like to have someone else doing your grocery shopping ☺.

 

Our reunion with the Tobo people has been sweet, and we've spent time sitting and talking about all that has transpired in the last year.  We are thankful for those faithful men and women who continue to seek after God and grow in Him.  However, after only a few days in here we were soon made aware of more heavies (problems) going on here.  Please pray for wisdom and direction as we move forward with our work here.  We are encouraged that we can "Trust in the Lord with all our hearts and not lean on our own understanding.  In all our ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct our paths."

We are thankful to serve a God who is worthy of all of our difficulties here on earth, so "therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.  For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Cor 4:16-18

Thank you for allowing us to be here as your hands & feet!

Jason, Nisae, Kadynn, Judah & Eden

 

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