297, 298, 299, Oh, hello their! Now I have a great excuse to take a break from pumping water up to the house. I am so glad that you have joined me again for another serious of “The Lello Family adventures”.
What was that Ruth! You want to say, what! Peep! Peep! Peep! Oh! I guess Ruth and Boaz send their greetings too all of you who are interested in how they are doing. We are having so much fun watching them grow taller, run faster, and eat more. What! Eat more did I say. Oh! How these birds can put the food down. They are not picky eaters by any means. Rice, Squash, Banana, Papaya, Corn, Well, let me just say that they both remind me of goats. They eat anything and everything that you put in front of them and they are not polite eaters at all.
Smile Ruth, Boaz look this way. Oh! When will I get them both looking at the camera at the same time? Oh dear! I hope to have some type of picture to send you when John goes into town in October. Ouch! Boaz, stop pecking my hand. These two birds can be a joy or a big problem. But, we love them anyway no matter how messy they are, how noisy they can be or how hard they kick, Ouch!
Mew! Oh, Snowball, you want me to tell them about your story too. Ok, but if I miss anything you just let me know. It was a dark, cloudy night and John and I thought that snowball should spend some time enjoying the nightly adventures only kitty cats can have. If she wants to come in during the night the hole in the basement wall is her kitty door. Sh…..! Don’t tell anyone else outside Snowball we might have many unwanted visitors.
Mew! Mew! Mew! At one o’clock in the morning I climbed out of bed and opened the door hoping to return to a restful sleep soon, but that was not to be. Snowball darted from corner to corner with a scared look on her face like she was running from something or someone. I finally coaxed her onto my lap and hugged her to calm her down, but she would have not of it. I took a closer look at her body and saw black things all over her and put her on the floor as I began to scratch. E-e-e-e-K! Snowball, you have gotten into an ant home and they are taking a free ride. Well, I have a great idea but you have to be really good about it. I heated water on the stove and fixed a basin full of water to give her a bath. Then I woke John up to help me and together we gave snowball two baths which drowned the ants. The next morning John spent over an hour picking all the dead ants out of Snowballs fur. I certainly hope that Snowball chooses someone her size next time to play with, right Snowball. Mew!
Abby and Alissa are really enjoying themselves lately and besides completing schoolwork in the morning, they have plenty to keep them busy in the afternoon. Abby has decided that she needs another project to work on and has included Alissa in her plans. “Alissa, we need to build a bush house that we can call our very own”, said Abby. “That’s a wonderful idea”, said Alissa. So the project began with five workers on the job sight. John cut bamboo for the walls, I dug the holes for the post and the girls, Tokingo and I finished the building by weaving and placing banana leaves on the roof. What a cute little house it has turned out to be. Alissa decided they needed a garden for the home sight too. So she has weeded an area and begun planting.
To complete the whole scene both girls begged for a swing. “Please daddy, please, please, daddy”, they both chorused. So with bush knife in hand John and Tokingo began cutting away brush and trimming a big tree for the swing. Everyone has taken a turn swinging out over the cliff, even me but when it was my turn I closed my eyes and screamed. But now that my turn is over and my feet are on solid ground, I feel much, much better.
John recently returned from a trip to Ama where he spent a week. Yes, us girls at home really missed him a lot and couldn’t wait until his return. He left expecting to paddle two days to Ama by himself, but when church members saw him leaving down the river they sent a man along to help him. You see, it is virtually impossible to leave the village without being noticed. Besides taking the wrong short cut, falling in the water and losing his paddle (which the Lord helped him find) John made it to Ama without any other mishaps.
John Met with the small group of church members and ended up doing Friday night fellowship, Sabbath school, preaching, and AY(Adventist Youth) Sabbath afternoon. John found five government buildings next to the airstrip and we have been given permission to renovate and use them for teacher homes, a temporary home for us, a clinic and eventually a community run trade store. John also was given land for the layman training center that is in the planning stage right now.
Upon his return to May River he came down with Malaria again along with Alissa. High temperatures, cold and hot chills and headaches have been the signs that they experienced. I continually thank the Lord for goodness and watch care over His children. John also had two bad cuts one on his hand and the other on his leg that became infected because of the dirty water and swamps he had to cross when in Ama. The hand healed quicker, but the leg became infected and turned into an ulcer that was hard to heal. We used charcoal poultices and later antibiotics to fight the infection and reduce the painful swelling on his leg. We continued to pray that the Lord would completely heal the ulcer. Today John is up and around with the cut completely healed, Praise the Lord!
Because of these medical issues and the simple treatments that we give to the local villagers, we go through first aid supplies quickly. Some of you have emailed us and wanted to know if there is anything that we could use. First aid supplies are always needed and would be greatly appreciated. For those of you who would like to help out in this way, I will give a short list below.
Band-aids (Tiny, small, medium and large)
Steri Strips
Butterfly band aids
Sterile gauze Pads (2x2, 3x3, 4x4)
Gauze bandage rolls (1”, 2”, & 3”)
Ace bandages (2” & 3” wide)
Medical Tape (Adhesive)
Q-tips
Cotton balls
Alcohol swabs
Charcoal Tablets
Tylenol
After returning from Ama, John visited the village of Imombi again. Many years ago AFM helped the Sepik Mission begin a school here but recently it closed due to the lack of teachers willing to work in this remote location. Up and down the river so many children do not have the capability to learn because they lack in good Christian teachers to teach them. In the government schools we have heard over and over that teachers, villages or school boards get into fights because of misunderstandings or the teacher getting drunk. The school closes down and the children, once again, are left without education. To solve this problem we would like to open mission schools with good Christian teachers. In the beginning these teachers will have to come from other parts of Papua New Guinea, but eventually as the people themselves are educated they must become the teachers, nurses and pastors who will serve in their own communities. (Please pray for Christian teachers for Imombi).
The Lord has already provided two teachers from our church in May River. These two men only have schooling up to 10th grade, but the Sepik mission will sponsor them for the next 4 years, 6 weeks each year for training so they can become elementary teachers, but in the mean time they can begin teaching. Just the other day another couple came to John and both have been teaching for many years and they are good Christian people. We need to continue to pray that the Lord will provide three more Christian teachers so the children in Imombi will be able to learn. AFM is in the process of planning a student missionary program with the Papua New Guinea Union Mission, which will bring Seventh-day Adventist elementary education students from other parts of Papua New Guinea to work in the churches and schools up and down the river. During the week they will teach the children and then Wednesdays, Fridays and Sabbath they will lead out in worship. (Please pray that God will give us wisdom as we make these plans and open the way for this program).
John put his most trusted helper, Elder Mika, in charge of clearing the small trees and grass that had grown up on the airstrip that John Kent and Dave Lackey cleared many years ago at Imombi. When John went back he was overjoyed to find the ground cleared and well on its way to drying and hardening. We are praying for dry weather so the ground can harden completely, a plane can land and the airstrip can be opened. Roger Millist, who fly’s with Adventist Aviation, is planning to fly into Imombi on October 14 to check the airstrip out and get the proper paperwork written up so it can be opened. The village people are looking forward to the opening of the airstrip with great excitement. (Please pray with us that the airstrip will be opened and the school started in January). There will be close to 200 students and six teachers.
Recently I looked out my window and noticed another group of people walking toward our mission home. Now this is not unusual because people are always coming to visit. But as we found out later this group was different. This family walked two days through the bush, swamps and mosquito’s to meet our family and ask for help in finding a teacher for their children in the village of Sari. Although this river has seven villages none of them have ever had a school. John and some of the other members in the church travel and visit these villages to keep them encouraged in Jesus. For now though, John promised he would look into pricing beginner’s books to learn Tok Pisin for their children. The man who requested the books was taught Tok Pisin by another missionary family and would like to teach the 19 children who are ready to learn in his village. As the family continued to talk, John casually walked over to me and asked if we could have company for supper. Since moving to PNG I have found out that John loves to have people over. So once again I quickly went into the house and began to prepare a meal for 12 people. We have been told that our family is different from other missionaries because we invite the natives to eat with us in our home at our table.
Once again we will be saying good-by to John while he makes a two week trip to Wewak for more supplies for our family and mission. This time the girls and I will be staying home here to keep the home fires burning. Well, not literally because the sun does a great job heating up the earth and our home, but we will stay around to watch our things and I hope to plant some more vegetables.
While in town John will walk from store to store purchasing all the food and other supplies that we will need for the next three months. Then he will borrow the mission truck and return to the stores to pick it all up. He will also meet with the Sepik Mission’s Education director, personal Ministries director, Secretary and President up date them on what is going on and make plans for the future. Building these relationships is essential to our work. After this John will be taking a plane to Ama with materials to build a drying rack for the lumber that he will cut using the local government saw mill. He also will be landing at the airstrip in Imombi as I discussed earlier.
We want to thank every one of you who has made our work possible. You’re sacrificial giving and prayers has already placed Bibles and song books in the hands of believers, opened up runways for mission planes and laid the ground work for Christian Education. If you know of someone who would like to join us in spreading the gospel to the people here, please share our email address with them and have them contact us. God has blessed us greatly and we look forward to His future blessings.
Pam
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