Chris recently had the opportunity to go help build a house in a
tribal location for a team that is gaining a new family. For 10 days he
worked with others to frame and roof their house. He also had the
opportunity to fellowship with the handful of believers from that
village and be encouraged with the work the Lord is accomplishing there.
Chris continues to work on some IT training material in his "free"
time. The demands of a limited personnel in the IT department means he
doesn't get much time during the day to work on projects like this, so
much of his evenings after the kids are in bed is spent working on this.
Already, different ones from the community have asked for, and
received, copies of this training program, incomplete though it is. His
goal is to have it finished by summer.
Family News
This weekend we are celebrating 11 years with Jael! She is super
excited about the huge slumber party that is planned, while mom and dad
brace themselves for a night of little sleep and giggly girls. ;) And
with Titus just a month away from turning 4, we are reminded of how
quickly the time is passing.
We again ask for prayer for wisdom in parenting our children.
Recently, we've made some significant changes and adjustments to our
daily lives in an attempt to address some ADD symptoms we are seeing in
Baruch. Pray that these changes would prove effective, that our minds
will be open to further change if needed (difficult as it may be), and
that we will always know the right thing to do in regards to not only
Baruch, but Jael and Titus as well. As our children grow, and their
lives unfold, we marvel at the complexities, strengths and gifts that we
see in each of our kids. Pray that we will know how to mold the
weaknesses that are there into strengths, and that we will continually
look to God, and teach them that they can also look to God for direction.
Trip to Manila
Angie continues to make plans for a trip to Manila this summer for
her next level of training as an educational therapist, as details
slowly become available. We now have the solid dates of June 4 - 15 for
her class, and have been able to look at airline tickets. "Sticker
shock" puts it mildly when you look at flying to and from PNG.
Originally she found tickets online for $1,800! But, by going through a
local travel agent, we have found tickets for a more reasonable $1,200.
It still feels like an awful lot for a 6 hour plane ride, but we are
thankful nonetheless. So, tickets are found, though not yet paid for.
Next will be lodging...which we can nail down as soon as they decide
where they will hold the training! Then there will be course fees, and
the required work and paperwork to hand in beforehand. Again, we ask
you to pray for provision for this trip, not just financially, but
logistically as well.
Car Repairs
I know it sounds funny to ask for prayer for a car repair...but we
are! Several weeks ago now, our clutch completely burned out on it as
we were driving it into town. Thankfully, it happened in a "flat" spot
in the road, and we were able to safely pull well out of the way of
traffic as we waited for friends to come and tow us back home. Here is
one case where the notorious "wan tok" system is actually working in our
favor though. (The "wan tok" system refers to the PNG system of
identifying folks from the same language group, clans and families, who
are obligated to help each other out in times of need. Usually,
national folks are very eager to "claim" ex-patriots as "wan toks",
since they are often much better off, and are able to help...and we have
had to be careful that we not be taken advantage of through this system,
but at the same time be able to use it to build trusting relationships.)
Chris has a relationship with a friend in town who has started his
own computer shop. Chris has helped him and his business out by making
old computer equipment available to him, as well as referring quite a
bit of business his way. This guy rents a corner of a auto-mechanic
shop/garage from his father, and has mediated on our behalf (unprovoked)
to have his brothers help us out with repairs on our car! They have
made two trips to our house now, to try and disconnect the clutch, so
that we can see whether or not the part can be attained here in PNG, or
if we need to special order it from Japan. However, they've now
determined that the engine compartment is too compact, they cannot reach
it, and the engine needs to be lifted out. So, it will need to be towed
into town after all (an expense we were all working to avoid). Chris's
friend continues to work to negotiate discounted rates for us, which we
appreciate immensely (labor fees for this type of work is usually very
high). Anyways, we are grateful for the relationships this is allowing
for us to further develop, and we ask for prayer for wisdom as this
moves forward. In the mean time, we are sorely missing the use of our
car...especially the freedom it affords us to fellowship and worship
with our national brothers and sisters.
Thank you to each one of you who cares and prays for our ministry here.
Chris, Angie, Jael, Baruch and Titus Walker
