The Drier the Better...

What you are looking at is the lumber we are hoping to take in to Pal in three weeks to begin our house. There is a little problem: the wood is still partially wet. That is to say, the wood is heavier than it could be. This wouldn't be a problem if we were trucking it in... but since we pay by weight on the helicopter, every pound counts.

You might have noticed the puddle of water in the picture as well. It has been raining nearly everyday, which isn't really helping things.

So, it seems strange to be asking for this (living as we are in a place where the temperature never drops below 76 even at night), but please pray for SUN and HEAT these next two weeks. I mean it. Even if we have to sit in the bathtub for two weeks to keep ourselves cool, we'd like to see that wood really dry out.

Other things you can be praying for:

• Elizabeth, Noah, and Tim as they help with wedding preparations this week in California.
• The guys who are planning on being a part of the work - the Pal guys, some missionary friends from here, and a couple of friends from the States. Pray for good teamwork, safe travel, health, and endurance.
• Peace in PNG - there have been lots of tribal fights lately... one put bullet holes in an MAF plane, another contributed to a few tense moments for Nate as he drove through the war zone (see story below).
• Did we mention hot weather?
• Thanks for safety and speedy work.
• Thanks that Elizabeth and the boys are able to spend precious time with family.
• Thanks that Nate's mom, Jan, made it. Her help has been especially appreciated in this busy time.

Thanks again for praying!

Nate and Elias for the team

Driving through a war zone:

We have been working to finalize a place that is close to the road and closer to Pal than our main center so that the helicopter can make short trips carrying our building materials. Anyway, we needed to head about an hour north on the main road… about 45 minutes away from our Base here, we saw a group of about 40 guys with clubs and bush knives in their hands. I was concerned by the appearance – only the second time I have ever seen something like that in PNG and the first time it was a precursor to a big fight… well we went past them and about two miles down the road, we turned a corner and came upon a group of about 100-150 guys all painted with bows, bush knives etc – they were completely blocking the road. It was at that point that I was really concerned… when PNG guys are upset, anything can happen.

I think it was God’s grace though that allowed them to see who it was in the car… they made a narrow path for the car and motioned us through… once halfway through the group a headman stopped us and told us that they were waiting for the people from the other place to get there - I guess there had been some killings back and forth over the couple of days and tensions were high. I guess they duked it out again today, but we did not see them on the road when we came back down a couple of hours later… probably just prepping for the next day....