Greetings from the land of pidgeon talk where the pig is king! (Papua New Guinea)
This has by far been the busiest week of our outreach so far. We started the week off with an overnight stay in a village in the Highlands, where we showed the Jesus film along with some AIDS awareness videos in their native tongue. We also were able to go into a few schools and share openly. We were able to do some ministry in nearby villages, along with some work projects as well. One highlight for the week was an afternoon spent in a newly formed "Drop in Centre" where we were able to teach dramas to the local youth. It was an awesome time where the different groups presented the dramas they had learned to each other. Cultural barriers were brought down especially through the women standing unashamed in front of the crowd. This is not normal since sometimes the women here can be suppressed.
We closed our week with a bang tonight when we were able to minister to the missionary kids here on the SIL center. The missionary base we are staying at is a community in it's own right with at any given time between 1,000 and 1,500 people living here. There are a lot of ex-pat youth who grow up here, and sometimes struggle with not being able to live the so called "normal" life. So it was quite an awesome opportunity that we got to encourage them. Both Hannah and I were able to share our testimonies with them, and it ended up being a very powerful time, followed up with a late night concert put on by the youth band (including Derrick Nissley's brother). It was refreshing to be involved in a YWAM style worship with so many young people.
We have one week left in PNG before we head off to Thailand. Thank you for your continued prayers.
Until next time,
Jacob, Hannah, Danielle, Heather, Shay, Barbara, Olive, Sam, AJ, and Andrew aka The ATW Team
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Week 2
Hey Everybody!
So last week we finished out our time camping in the Outback. And I'm happy to say we saw many kangaroos!! Our time with Reef to Outback turned out to be quite God ordained. The teaching topic for the week was Unity and Common Purpose and Vision. It was quite powerful for both our team and the Reef to Outback team. A perfect segway into our next adventure, Papua New Guinea. We arrived in the capitol, Port Moresby to find out our connecting flight to the highlands was cancelled due to an absent pilot. To our surprise, the airline put us up in the nicest hotel in the city. It was quite a treat after camping for over a week. We each enjoyed our own rooms and A LOT OF FREE FOOD!
The next day we arrived in Goroka and were greeted by our incredible contacts, and were quickly introduced to driving in PNG. General rule of thumb...you never stop for anything, even if you hit a human being. You have to drive quickly and always be on the lookout for highway hold ups by the local "rascals". We safely arrived to Ukurampa, the home of the SIL (Wycliff) base, which happens to be the largest missionary base in the world tucked in the middle of nowhere in a very remote mountain valley. In this valley is where we will be focusing the majority of our ministry efforts. Even though the valley is home to the largest missionary base inthe world, it is still a place of much need. Only in the last couple years have the missionaries really begun to reach out to their neighbors due to the incredible amount of work the challenge of translating the Bible into over 800 languages creates.
We had our first ministy time this morning. The guys went to a prison camp and the girls visited a high school boarding school and participated in a church service for them. It was a very powerful time for both the boys and girls. I feel we are here at a crucial time for the valley which is home to different warring tribes. Right now for the first time the different churches in the valley have begun working together in a never before seen show of unity. The different groups have expressed their excitement for having out team with them. Please be praying for us as we seek to encourage and be a blessing during our time here in the beautiful, mountainous, and diverse nation they call PNG.
Salutations from Jacob, Hannah, and the amazing ATW team.
So last week we finished out our time camping in the Outback. And I'm happy to say we saw many kangaroos!! Our time with Reef to Outback turned out to be quite God ordained. The teaching topic for the week was Unity and Common Purpose and Vision. It was quite powerful for both our team and the Reef to Outback team. A perfect segway into our next adventure, Papua New Guinea. We arrived in the capitol, Port Moresby to find out our connecting flight to the highlands was cancelled due to an absent pilot. To our surprise, the airline put us up in the nicest hotel in the city. It was quite a treat after camping for over a week. We each enjoyed our own rooms and A LOT OF FREE FOOD!
The next day we arrived in Goroka and were greeted by our incredible contacts, and were quickly introduced to driving in PNG. General rule of thumb...you never stop for anything, even if you hit a human being. You have to drive quickly and always be on the lookout for highway hold ups by the local "rascals". We safely arrived to Ukurampa, the home of the SIL (Wycliff) base, which happens to be the largest missionary base in the world tucked in the middle of nowhere in a very remote mountain valley. In this valley is where we will be focusing the majority of our ministry efforts. Even though the valley is home to the largest missionary base inthe world, it is still a place of much need. Only in the last couple years have the missionaries really begun to reach out to their neighbors due to the incredible amount of work the challenge of translating the Bible into over 800 languages creates.
We had our first ministy time this morning. The guys went to a prison camp and the girls visited a high school boarding school and participated in a church service for them. It was a very powerful time for both the boys and girls. I feel we are here at a crucial time for the valley which is home to different warring tribes. Right now for the first time the different churches in the valley have begun working together in a never before seen show of unity. The different groups have expressed their excitement for having out team with them. Please be praying for us as we seek to encourage and be a blessing during our time here in the beautiful, mountainous, and diverse nation they call PNG.
Salutations from Jacob, Hannah, and the amazing ATW team.
Sorry I'm behind...
Week 1
Greetings from Townseville Australia,
3 flights down and 11 more to go. We are nearing the end of our first week and have already had the opportunity to swim in the ocean on 2 different continents. Our first stop was California for 4 1/2 days. We had the priviledge of staying at my parents house and encouraging my home church as well as a day of ministry on the streets of SanFrancisco. It was a great start to our trip. We were able to build some relationships with the youth as well as get fattend up by my parents. Then on wed. we hopped on a couple of planes and after a van ride arrived in Townesville 24 hours later.
Sunday morning we head out to the outback for 5 days of camping with the reef to outback DTS, where we will be having class with them and hopefully seeing some kangaroos in the wild as well. So long for now and the next time you hear from us we will be in the island nation of Papua New Guinea.
Many blessings the ATW team!
Greetings from Townseville Australia,
3 flights down and 11 more to go. We are nearing the end of our first week and have already had the opportunity to swim in the ocean on 2 different continents. Our first stop was California for 4 1/2 days. We had the priviledge of staying at my parents house and encouraging my home church as well as a day of ministry on the streets of SanFrancisco. It was a great start to our trip. We were able to build some relationships with the youth as well as get fattend up by my parents. Then on wed. we hopped on a couple of planes and after a van ride arrived in Townesville 24 hours later.
Sunday morning we head out to the outback for 5 days of camping with the reef to outback DTS, where we will be having class with them and hopefully seeing some kangaroos in the wild as well. So long for now and the next time you hear from us we will be in the island nation of Papua New Guinea.
Many blessings the ATW team!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Thank you!
Thanks to all of you who were a part of this gift. I can't express how I appreciated it. I miss all of you very much and I appreciate your creativeness. Everyone here was jealous and enjoyed reading your fantastic comments, especially the part about trading lumber for sheep as pretty much everyone can relate. You are a blessing!
Hakani
This week we had the privilege to view an unreleased, upcoming film on infanticide in native tribes in Brazil. This documentary/drama is about a girl named "Hakani" who was buried alive as a small girl (as per usual practice) simply because she couldn't walk and was considered an "evil spirit". She was saved by her younger brother and is a bright, funny little girl today. She was able to be here and I got to meet her. It was amazing to see the fruit of God's love for her. This film was created to raise awareness about this tribal practice and if you wish to learn how you can help please visit http://www.hakani.org.
Better late than never...
It feels like forever since I've updated you about what's going on here. The Internet here was down for awhile and I have also been swamped with all kinds if activity. There is so much to tell! First, God has provided me with all the money I needed to pay for my tuition to YWAM!! It's an amazing story that I don't want to explain here as I would rather share it in person, but briefly, God used people in Calgary, Alberta, Canada who had no idea who I was, as well as all of you, to fulfill my need. I asked for a miracle and God showed up. I am so grateful and I no longer have any excuse to not trust God to provide.
My time lately as been spent on classwork, outreach to the Denver community on Monday nights, and preparing dramas and worship for our outreach. I leave for San Fransisco in two weeks, so I'm in crunch time. Please pray that our group will be diligent in our practice times. I'm extremely excited to be getting on the road and see what God will do through our group, especially in the 10/40 window.
This past week we had Fred Markert (pronounced "Market") teaching on "Evangelism & Missions". Fred is one of the top mission strategists in the world and it was a complete privilege to hear him speak. He has visited over 175 countries and is the most passionate and confident missionary I have ever heard. I could go on with countless stories of how God has worked miracles for and by Fred, but for security reasons, I cannot tell of them here. If you ever get a chance to hear him speak do not miss the opportunity. He shared many astounding statistics concerning world missions (you can find most of them at http://www.globalchristianity.com if you're interested) but what I enjoyed the most was that every hour spent sharing the Gospel in the 10/40 window yields 110 times more converts than in North America. Since 80% of our outreach is in the 10/40 window, I am excited to see a great impact for Christ.
Thank you all for your time and support. I love hearing from you, so please contact me if you would like to. I promise to respond as quickly as I can. Please pray for me as I am still in need of funds to purchase travel insurance and I need to have a tooth repaired before I leave the country, as well as many other small needs. I trust God will provide and the prayers of the saints will make it possible. I pray that the Lord encourages and blesses all that you do and that He will refresh you with His friendship.
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