Hospital closure and re-opening

PNG culture, as you can imagine, is very differnt from western cultures. Things are handled in aggresive ways and usually with a clan backing you up. The Christmas season was going very well until one day, there were some maintenance men beginning to work on a new building project. They we near the edge of our property, but the local "lain" believes that they still have rights to that land (even though we legally are leasing it for 99 years and have paid them more than once for the property). So, they burned down the guard's hut and hit a man on the head. Since violence is an unacceptable way of negotiating with us, we have to respond with some kind of consequence. So, after getting the police involved, we made a decision to close the hospital. This shows the "lains" that we will not tolerate this treatment, and if they want us to go we could leave. What we really hope is that the men will confess, go to jail, and promise not to do this again. With enough community support behind us, this finally happened, a week later! So, what have we been doing? Well, we have taken care of the inpatients at the hospital, and unfortunately have had to turn away innocent people and send them to other hospitals. Thankfully God is on our side! So, after multiple meetings, police involvement, community liason support, etc, Dr. Bill felt that it was safe for us to re-open and we have permission to again use OUR land. I was quite thankful for this, as this was a fairly long stand-off, and I felt very badly for those unknown folks that needed our help. Sorry I didn't tell you about this before, but it seemed prudent to wait. will you pray with us that those you had delayed care will be ok physically? that those involved would be at peace and not cause trouble again? that dr. bill would get some needed rest and support from the community? and most importantly, that no matter the trials, that Kudjip Hospital would always be a beacon of God's love and life to the hurting.

Live Nativity on the wards

The next day following our Christmas dinner, we planned on a special hospital ward evangelism. We decided to do a live nativity. This was the first time this has been done and it was quite successful. We gathered our group of shepherds, wise men, angels, and mary,joseph and baby jesus, and headed to the wards. We also had a great support group of those that sang, narrated, and helped along the way. We told the Christmas story in tok Pisin and acted out the different scenes. In between we also had trumpets playing, sang "Joy to the World"--"amamas tu", "away in a manger"--"long ples bilong sipsip", and "hark the herald angels sing"-"harim ensel mekim song". When our story had ended, we challenged them to bring their hearts to Jesus as an acceptable gift to Him. We concluded with a special song, the Chris Rice, "Untitled Hymn"--"kam long Jisas". When the song was over, then we went to each bed and prayed with the patients. Many of them have already trusted in Christ as their Savior, however, it was a blessing to them, and such a treat to specifically pray for them: their health, their spiritual growth, and for lost family members. Everyone agreed, this is a new tradition we need to continue!

Kudjip's annual Christmas party

Each year the missionaries at Kudjip, and our neighbors at the Bible College, have a Christmas dinner together. This year it was on the 19th. We decided on the theme "Come to the Manger". The hospitality committee began working on all the details and we were so pleased with how it turned out. We had 33 people there. The place settings had candles and straw, there was a Christmas tree and a lighted star outside. We really enjoyed using the newly completed Barnabas haus (the volunteer guest house). For one thing, it has beautiful panelled walls that made it so cozy. I was the MC. I rang the cow bell to announce the start after we had enjoyed the trumpet trio of Jim, Bill and Andy ushering us into the manger. Then we had a great meal of ham,scalloped potatoes, etc. After that we had a nice devotional by Jill and Rachel. Then we transitioned with Christmas carols to the silly side of the evening. Santa, aka Dr. Bill, came out to deliver the kid's presents. Even the big kids like Ethan enjoyed that part! Then we were in for a treat. We had prepared an auction of new or white elephant gifts! Dave was our auctioneer and was quite the ham. I am not sure that Olivia and Germaine had ever been to an auction before, so I helped them spent their "Kudjip kash"--fake money that we played with. It was a hoot! Finally we closed the night was a peaceful rendition of "Away in a manger". It was a lovely celebration as a mission family.

Cindy and Quinton for lunch

I don't host people that much, but with Harmon away and Danielle at college, I thought it would be nice to have the other half of the Schmelzenbach family for lunch. So I invited Cindy and Quinton to join me. We had a nice dinner of teriyaki chicken, and Cindy brought some yummy chocolate gingerbreadmen shaped cookies! We had a really nice visit. Hopefully we can do it again soon with the whole family. Danielle gets to visit for Christmas, so that is a huge blessing for all of us!

trumpets at the hospital

Every Christmas, Bill, Jim, and Andy play the trumpet for the hospital or the missionaries. It is somewhat interesting that out of all the instruments, all three play trumpet. But, wow, how fun to have a trumpet trio. So this week there have been a few down times where I will turn around and see one or more of them with their trumpets, puffing out a few notes. Here you see Andy in OPD, and Nixon in ER taking a try at making the trumpet sound for him! Hopefully I will have a pic of all three of them soon.

Konjambi bush church

I was blessed to go out to a bush church today with the Radcliffe's and Gineva. We picked up a young man names Isaiah who leads the district youth, and he led us to this church. He said it was "just off the road in Minj". Well, that meant about an hour or so up the zig-zagged mountain road in the van! We made it there safely and were welcomed by the entire congregation waiting outside for us. They sang "I will enter his gates", and we marched through, receiving leis of flowers, and walked into their tiny church. The floor was covered with leaves and grass, and the front had a fairly spectacular display of flowers, fruits and even Christmas trees! There was also a bird that lived inside the church too on the rafters! We enjoyed the lively singing and enthusiatic welcomes. They said we were the first missionaries to ever come to their church. wow, that was really humbling. Then the youth did a special Christmas song. They sang about Christ coming to the manger, and even had a little doll wrapped in swaddling clothes. Then they lighted the candles on the Christmas trees. It was very festive. Then Jim, Kathy, Gineva and I got up and sang a song and Gineva and I shared testimonies. After that Jim preached about Christ being the light of the world, from Luke 2--Simeon and Anna who saw the child, the light that had come into the darkness. Jim did a great job and the holy spirit was really moving in this church filled with all young people and women. There is only one adult man except for the lay pastor! I was very encouraged to see their faith and their perserverance. Then, when the service was over they blessed us with all of the food from the offerrings including fish that someone had brought from their pond! It was a really unique experience, and I was thankful the Lord allowed me to witness the faith of his children here in PNG. Please pray for this little church. They need strong leaders, men that will turn to God, and training for their pastor. We praise God for them!

helping at the Barnabas house

On the station we are nearing completion of the Barnabas house. This is a dorm style building that can house up to 24 people who come to volunteer. It is specifically built with work and witness teams in mind. I decided I would like to help a bit on Saturday. So I asked Jordan about it. He said sure, I'll come down and work with you. So, I went there with him and he gave me a few jobs to do. I helped varnish the door frames and scraped paint off the floors and helped him hang a few doors. It was fun to do a different kind of work, and be a part of what God is doing here. It will hopefully be completed this week, and we are gonna celebrate by using the living area for our Christmas meal. What a great commissioning for this new house God has given us!