A dear friend recently prompted me to do an update so ………. Here’s the abridged version!
Throughout the summer we tried to do weekly family trips to nearby sites. Each outing ended with searching the nearby towns for their outdoor weather alertbsirens as Julian is totally infatuated with them! He faithfully photographed each one and makes drawings of the different kinds of speakers. It leaves us wondering what this interest may lead to in his eventual choice of a career! He’s back in school so our jaunts will be limited again to Sunday afternoon drives.
Major changes of late include both praise and prayer:
- Major matter for PRAISE !!! Faith finally got confirmation in August that the foreclosure sale of her house in CA went through in May!!! A residual issue with the “free” solar panels installed on the house finally also looks like it is maybe settled too without her having to pay off a supposed 25 year lease! Thank YOU, LORD!!! but please do pray that this solar panel issue is indeed truly resolved!!!!
- Her daughter Naomi still needs the replacement title to her car so she can register it here. That’s in the hands of the California DMV so obviously not a speedy process. Or maybe God intends her to have another car??? She also needs a job. She’s been applying to various openings for over a year but has yet to even be called for an interview.
- Julian (Naomi’s son, Faith’s grandson) is enjoying 5th grade and learning that homework can be completed in record time when electronics aren’t competing for his attention. He has attended 2 Boy Scout meetings to date and we pray that this might be a means for him to get more masculine interaction and mentoring in his life as he lives in a household of all “old” women!
- Faith’s other daughter Eva has a good nurse practitioner who can prescribe her meds but she still needs a Christian counselor who can give her Biblical input regarding some of her fictious beliefs. The recommended one doesn’t return her calls.
- I’m playing chauffeur and deal with current house issues:
- Plumbing issues in the kitchen drain – again.
- Exterminator for an outbreak of roaches. 2 other neighbors have had these unwelcome critters suddenly appear in their homes this summer too, possibly because another nearby household known to be overly infested finally started cleaning up their yard!
- Looking into a replacement furnace, maybe getting central air / heating installed in this century old abode. We’re in the process of getting quotes from 3 companies and will appreciate your prayers for wisdom as to how to proceed.
Our opportunities with neighborhood contacts continue.
Sadly our most focused attempts are still being met with nil results or interest in things of the Lord. We continue to try to show them Jesus even when words bounce off the walls of their hearts and minds. – Even the guy I visit nearly daily in an assisted living facility doesn’t respond when I mention Jesus. Other residents at that facility and the staff though are open doors to talk to and encourage in the Lord. – The 1st week of October our church will be doing an intensive community outreach. This year our family will be working about 30 others to pack and distribute care packages to needy in the area. My involvement with this outreach in the past led to opportunities to visit and pray with the recipients so we will be looking to the Lord for that inroad to share Jesus with them.
Meanwhile back in PNG:
This is Papua New Guinea’s 50 year anniversary as an independent nation. If Facebook is to be believed, instead of the normal one day September 17th
Independence Celebration there are numerous events already reveling in the developed locations around the country. I confess I REALLY miss getting to be there for the festivities. Those 39+ years in PNG were the ultimate best of my life. BUT – I also know God has closed that chapter and He is all sufficient for fulfilling every need and even the desires of today.
Out in the “rural areas” of PNG like Hewa, God’s Word is being shared with people once blatantly opposed to any mention of Jesus. Faimpat and his family are leading an outreach to teach God’s Word to one of these locations.
Missionaries had lived there from 2000-2006 until a war drove them to relocate in another region of the Hewan people group. A few years ago that once hostile village had invited Faimpat and another Hewan Christian, Eyaka, to teach them the foundational truths of the Creation through Christ lessons. That resulted in several of the villagers placing their trust in Jesus as their Savior. They were then taught through the book of Acts and Faimpat and Eyaka are currently sharing with them the important truths from the book of Romans. Please pray they will not be distracted by current and ongoing threats from other villages, but that the Lord will give them safety and the ability to focus on teaching more of God’s Word over the next few months.
In another Hewan village Ken and Maikol have been team-teaching from the book of Jude. What timely input, no matter where you are in the world! Do
please be praying for the church elder/pastors, the school teachers as well as other leaders in the village, that they will lead with discernment and courage, that the Lord may raise up many new believers as well as more Christian workers for His harvest from among them. That is certainly an ongoing prayer need for each of our tribal churches – and her at home in the USA as well!
As always, my sincere thanks to YOU for your care, compassion, your prayers and support, not just during my time overseas but over the trials of these past few years as well. We have much to praise the LORD for in closing out the California era for my sister, 2 of her daughters and her grandson who now live with me in our family abode. Personally, after living alone for 35 years to now being the “head of the family” proves to be an ongoing transition. May God work mightily thru this period of life as well to make me more like Jesus!
Because Christ came and is coming again, we have ………….HOPE !!!!
Hope Sharp – Retired from PNG
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