Flight-Flier March 2002

Dear friends,

here are a few highlights from the last several months:

Being honoured - PNG style:

Several weeks ago Hans flew a teacher into Nagatiman village. She wanted to stay there for a few weeks. Shortly after that a lady in the next village (same language group) gave birth to twins - a boy and a girl. Guess who they named the boy after? Correct - a child in the jungle of PNG now bears the name HANIS (for Hans)! ;-)
And the girls was named after the teacher.

Rapid changes:

Since our arrival here in the country we had had several occasions where we woke up one morning just to realise that everything around us had come to a stop: Stores, post office, everything closed. Why? Well, the local or national government had decided 'overnight' to declare this day a holiday! Wouldn't that be great if your 'elected representatives' would do something like that as well from time to time? Please call your 'Member of Parliament' today! :-)

Another example: On a Thursday last year an overseas letter did cost 1.40 Kina. The day after, a Friday, you suddenly had to put 2.65 Kina worth of stamps on the same letter. Just a 'necessary price adjustment' - 86 percent overnight!

Changed by Jesus:

During a visit to the local gaol (sorry: 'correctional facility'), located a 45 minutes car drive from Ukarumpa (= 5 miles), two things really touched my heart: The first was the difference one could see in the faces of the inmates who knew Jesus and those who didn't yet. The former you could identify from afar: Bright eyes, open faces, straight posture! The latter were usually reserved, with hard facial expressions and dull eyes. What a proof of the life-changing impact Jesus can have! He can give a life full of joy and purpose - even in prison!

The second event was meeting a man who stood out due to his broad smile. He also treated his bible with care and respect: He always had a little towel with him so that he didn't need to lay this precious book onto the bare floor or grass! Think about that the next time you put your Bible away after returning from Sunday service etc.

True gratitude:

One of my greatest examples in matters of gratitude is my friend Gertrud (you surely remember having seen her picture in our last but one newsletter, don't you?). Whatever happens to her, she always praises the Lord with all of her heart. When

• an escaped pig destroyed their garden (the major food supply for the family),

• heavy rain showers (and we have a lot of those presently) flooded their house, or

• a family member passed away,

she always has praises for God on her lips. Even for her husband, a believer himself, it is often a mystery why she doesn't worry even a little bit. Her answer: "We Christians don't need to worry - just hand it all over to Jesus and keep your eyes focused on Him. He knows exactly what we need and will not let us down."

And Gertrud doesn't just proclaim that - she lives it. She freely gives away from the little they have - only to be provided for in return by the Lord. Can you imagine that I've learned quite a lot from her about 'Loving and trusting God'?!

Another example: One time a group of about 10 women, including me (Martina), paid a visit to the surrounding villages. We focused primarily on bringing food to elderly widows. In one of the 'houses' lived a lady - to old to walk and barely able to see anymore. When I gave her the bag with food, there was no limit to her gratitude. She took my hand, kissed it, said thanks, kissed my hand again, said thanks - and so on. She was so thankful that someone had taken the time to visit her. In fact, I was deeply ashamed about that, as we hadn't done much at all for that woman.

Daily tremors:

Don't worry, we don't mean the 'shaking of fear' but the shaking of the house. After we wrote last time that the local houses are mainly built on posts, we received several questions about the stability of that design. For those of you who wondered as well but didn't dare ask: Yes, it's stable enough.
Admittedly, you can't compare it with a solid German brick wall design - until the earthquake hits. A house freely swinging on posts means that you can 'feel' a truck or bulldozer passing the house. It also means that we can notice our dog pulling on the running leash, as one end of it is attached to a house post. :-)

Answers to prayers:

For quite some time now our son Alexander prays for getting to know the Lord Jesus better and to be able to 'hear' Him better etc. Well, last week Alexander 'lost' an important school paper. He ran up and down the house, sobbing and searching. But to no avail - the document remained hidden. At first I had to finish another job, but then I joined him in the search.

Suddenly, just as I wanted to start searching, it dawned on me: Here was the perfect opportunity for our son to get to know God as a loving father. We sat down, and I explained to Alexander that the most important thing right now would be to pray and ask for the paper to be found. I added that I, Mom, would be absolutely convinced that God wanted to show Himself to Alexander in a very special way, right now. We prayed, and afterwards I left the room. A little more than a minute later I heard him yell: "Mom, I got it, I got it!"

Just recently I had a troubling experience: Out of nowhere my right food started to give me serious trouble. I couldn't step on it even a little bit. The only one with me in the house at that time was Sarah. As we consider it important to teach the children to pray for anything, I asked her to please pray for my foot, too. Well, it was just a simple prayer: 'Jesus, please make Mom's foot healthy again. Amen'. But it was very effective - my foot felt like new immediately after that! :-)

We still appreciate the closeness we feel to you very much! Your thoughts, your prayers, your letters, your gifts and support are a real blessing to us.

Speaking about letters: We really try to answer our mail in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, some letters and parcels arrive here with quite a delay (something from last October reached us now in March!). Please, don't be worried if you have to wait some time for a reply - we may not have received your mail yet. Rest assured: We will answer every one of your letters (we highly regard them, especially being so far away from you)!

Yours,

Hans & Martina