By Jacque Harper

What a busy, productive, rewarding and exciting time it is here in Madang, PNG.

What a difficult, discouraging, exhausting and problem filled time it is here in Madang, PNG!

Both of these statements are very true but for Bob and me, well, we choose to focus on the first one. Often, however, because of #2’s influence, the end results in #1 seem even better and even miraculous!

The finished products – 2 new 1 bedroom apartments—are great!!  The old 3 bedroom flat has really changed. As Bob found in America remodeling is usually a greater challenge then new building because of what you might find when tearing out parts and trying to figure how to get new items that will fit new needs. It’s especially hard here in Madang PNG due to shortage of supplies and poor quality of imported materials. In America we’d hardly even think about the need to pray for our supplies to be available! There were time consuming jobs like setting up 3 water connections from the previous 2 going into the house and to the water tanks and the washing machine areas outside. Trying to use an old used rusted water pump and poor quality joint sealers was an extra headache. Having a retired plumber friend was a great help is several cases where we had trouble finding supplies.

Remember the story of Jack and the Beanstalk? Well, three of us from different agencies got together to pray. We had a small seed of a thought about getting a literacy project started to increase the use of the already translated scriptures we (PBT,SIL, BTA) have published. After a few days of inquiring about literacy projects in the area, we had stimulated so much interest that a large multi-talented group was assembled. This is a photo of our first group meeting on Oct. 9 with 16 people. Last week we met with 29 attending and now we are in the process of getting registered as a NGO / non-profit organization. We plan to provide a literacy center in Madang for the entire province to use for resources and training. PTL for His guidance and provision. We look forward to seeing His plan to completion.

Bob and Jacque minister through the role of Technical Services and various other support roles.