Tyler and Emily in PNG

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Eph 6:16

The month of January has been a tough month for me and I am glad to see February on the calendar in a few short days. You remember the 14 of January my apartment/flat was broken into. Well, the devil is still hard at work and still attacking me. The next week (I did not have courage to write this last week), my cousin wrote me an email stating there was a fire in Alaska.

Before I moved to PNG, I moved out of my one bedroom apartment and my cousin graciously allowed me to store many of my belongings in his basement. I moved many of my earthly treasures to his place and stored other items in my small trailer at another location. Friday the 13th, I got an email stating the house my cousin was living at had a 3am fire. The fire started in the basement and consumed everything there. The fire did not destroy the house but caused much smoke damage to the two story building. The newspaper story said the floor was hot and nail heads were showing through the carpeted floor.

It is hard for me to put words to my frustration and sadness. I cannot recall all items I placed there for safe keeping but do remember I had a twin mattress, desktop computer, and majority of my clothes. I do anticipate returning to Alaska later this year. At that time, I will have a final count of items lost.

Apart of me says I should not go back and count it all as lost. I should just stay in Papua New Guinea where my life exists now. Why go home to a life that once was? The good news is I still have many people there that love me and a small trailer with some treasures still left. I pray as my trailer which is probably buried under 6’ of snow that there is no major water leak causing mold.

As I review the month of January, I am aware that I am under spiritual warfare. I am being attacked by the ‘flaming arrows’ but I stand in the victory of Jesus Christ. I thank you for your prayers after the break in and now I plead again for your petitions. We serve a mighty God and a loving God who is gracious and a forgiving Savior.

Prayer Requests:
Protection again the evil one
Settling into a new house
Settling into a new community and surroundings
Emily who has left for furlough
Airfare and good flight schedules for my return in a few months

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Eph 6:12

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One year ago today I stepped out of the Air Niugini plane onto the soil of Papua New Guinea. Today marks my one year anniversary of ministry with Pioneer Bible Translators in Papua New Guinea.

Today also marks moving day. I moved out of my apartment/flat into another house. A God given opportunity presented itself and He opened the door for me and for the future years ahead. I will not go into too much detail at this time but the house and location is a significant upgrade that the previous one bedroom apartment I have been staying in for the past 8 months.

Last week, the membership of the branch held its annual general meeting (AGM). All week we discussed hot topics, made decisions, and heard many reports including team ministry reports from all missionaries. It was a long week but I believe somewhat productive. This year will be different for the branch as many missionaries are returning home for furlough, including myself.

As you have heard, I am officially the Administrator of IT for the branch. Following the meeting and for the weeks ahead, I will be seeing fit that my ‘new’ office is to my liking. It will be a big task to sort through the various odds and ends that were left by the previous administrator.

I am stilling moving forward from my recent break-in and theft of electronic equipment from my apartment. I am grateful for the many prayers and hedge of protection that has been around me. Last week, I heard more bad news from Alaska as well. I am trying to move forward and not dwell on things that I cannot change or influence. The ‘deceiver and destroyer’ has been trying to discourage me and knock me off track but I press forward with Christ at my side.

Thank you for praying and please continue praying for me. I enjoy the ministry that God has put in front of me here in PNG. My I aim remains the same, to bring honor to Him in all I do.

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A typical Saturday turns out to be anything far from ordinary. A day planned to spend time with friends out of town ends with an unexpected phone call. A phone call from a fellow missionary stating my flat/apartment has been broken into. As I arrived back to my home, indeed I found that a person broke in through three security doors. The person used a 1/2” piece of rebar to pry and force entry through these security doors. Once inside my home, they took any and all electronics that they could find. Including three laptops, GPS unit, camera, speakers, MP3 player, mobile phone, along with a pair of sneakers and a water pump/filter. The police were notified and came to the scene of the crime to document and interview.

The good news is no one was harmed or injured. Plus the Lord was looking after me as my personal and work laptop was not at my home but at the office. The person also did not steal either of my two external hard drives which store all my personal information and data. Thus I did not lose any critical data or information. All three laptops were not mission critical. Their primary purpose was home entertainment (movie watching or music playing) plus emergency backup to my main laptop.

I am actively working with the local authorities. I provided a detail list of items stolen and the values of those items. I am far from holding my breath on the chance of recovering any stolen items.

The biggest distraction to me has been personal violation of my home. I feel disturbed, interrupted, and simply violated. The trust or sense of security I had in my little apartment is now gone. I personally feel safe but none of my possessions I feel is safe while I am absent from the home.

Please pray for me as I struggle emotional. Pray for security and safety while I reside at my home. Pray that I may rest well at night. Pray that God will convict those who broke in and stole from me. Pray that the local police will be active in searching for those who have committed this crime.

As I have been mediating and praying over the past few days the scripture God brought to my heart is that of Jars of Clay in 2 Corinthians 4.

⁸ We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. ⁹ We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.

¹¹ Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies.

¹⁸ So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
2 Corinthians 4 (NLT)

I may be knocked down however I am not destroyed. Yes, trouble is lurking on all sides. However, Paul challenges us to fix our eyes on things that cannot be seen. Not to fix our eyes on earthly material possessions but things that are stored in heaven where moth nor rust will destroy. Thus these things we cannot see will last forever.

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So here we are year 2012. 2011 has come and gone and was it a year to remember. (If you are a blog follower of mine, you can view my 2011 Year in Review for more detail.) As I reflected on the past year, I give honor and glory to God for blessing me and holding me close to Him. During the past year, I have done many things in which I never dreamed I would do. Only through God all things were made possible (Matt 19:26). Now with the new year upon us, I glare into the future and see a bright future and many great things to come. With the official notice of my role and long term future with PBT, I am excited to see how God will use me to build His kingdom here in Papua New Guinea. I am reminded that I must continue to ‘Trust and Obey’ as the popular hymn title states.

With the new year comes resolutions, goals, and new beginnings, I like to focus my energy on how I can grow and become closer to God in my relationship with Him. In a recent e-devotion, I captured this which I believe gives me a good focus for 2012:

Consider that we’re on a journey, through Jesus, to become like the heavenly Father, where we become one with his heart, one with his mind, and one with his other-centered focus. We are called to become Christ-like, and when we resemble Jesus, we resemble the Father (John 10:30).

During the holiday season it became known to me that Christmas and any other known holiday is just not the same on the mission field. Being stripped of your comforts and traditions lessens the joy and steals the attitude of being like Christ.

Please join with me in prayer for the annual general meeting, pray for my attitude that it may represent Christ, and pray for my patience and irritability when dealing cross-culturally. Continue to pray for health, safety, and security on the mission field. Pray that God will cast satan out of my life and out of my way.

To read the full January Newsletter: click here

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