Harvest is great but workers is few

PLEASE TRY TO READ THIS NEWSLETTER!

Ok it’s the end of the year and my head is spinning! This past year has just been an absolutely
amazing rush! It's been like a thrill roller coaster ride without an end. Yes an uninterrupted
adrenalin rush, but now that I am at the end of the year, I am feeling the consequences.

Ok, let me step back a bit, as you know we have stepped out of our bush location for a "short
period" of time with the purpose to help out at our support center and region. This eventually
turned out to be much more than anticipated, with me being center manager, business office
manager, regional coordinator, regional church planting consultant, church planting liaison
assistant and doing a ton of member care on the side as well. Not to mention trying to maintain
the momentum in the Mengen church.

Marie on the other hand has been much more busier than me, with being the corner post at our
home, homeschooling, supply buying for the region, running housing and guest housing and hosting
a ton of people.

So you can just imagine how God has used this year as a major growing opportunity and learning
curve for us. All that has been a challenge, BUT, personally I think the most difficult aspect of
my work this year was to hear people expressing their need for the gospel but not being able to
answer that for them. I again just realized the truth about the harvest being ready but the
workers being few.

The Mengen believers would say,

"...the popo's are ripe but we cant get to them in time so the bats come to eat it."

Meaning the harvest is ready but we do not have workers so Satan come to take all their hope
away from them.

So allow me to share this burden with you guys a bit.

LELE VILLAGE IS ASKING FOR MORE HELP

This last year has seen some amazing things happening

amongst the Mengen believers. Over and above the
Mengen church really growing in maturity, we have had so
many cries for help coming from different villages. This is
a cry for salvation, and teaching about how to be saved.
In our little village there have been a large group of
teens and young adults coming to hear teaching, These are
people we have been praying for, for many years, who are
breaking free from the animistic stronghold that have
been holding them captive.
 We are thankful that we have teachers who are attending to this need, but we had to
pull some teachers back from our outreach in Bologo to help us address this need in Lele. So our
outreach in Bologo is taking a knock. The Lele church and teachers needs a ton of discipleship
and I could not be there to help, so that has had
its toll on me. Furthermore these new hearers are
needing literacy help, teaching materials and other
curriculum resources, which we cannot provide due
to financial constraints. You see, in years past we
had 3 missionary families and 2 single ladies
contribute towards the pool, but this has changed
to basically us and 1 single lady carrying the bulk
of our ministry costs, and soon she will also be
leaving the work. This has been a major stress
trigger for us! Its so terribly sad to say no to
people begging for help, because we cannot
afford helping them!

MUALA VILLAGE

We have a strong call for help coming from the

village closest to us, called Muela. For many
years we have been praying for them, and now
God has been stirring up a hunger amongst
them. They have been traveling down to our
village regularly with requests for teachers to
come and teach them. I hear weekly from them,
requesting a date for teaching to start. They
even started to build a teaching house and
houses for potential teachers as well as making
gardens. They also already started to endure persecution even before any teaching has started,
with people being cut with knifes and their houses being broken down.
So they have a real hunger for truth BUT we are not sure how and when we will be able
to teach them, as we do not have enough laborers. Nor do we have funds to travel back and
forth and print the materials they need for literacy and teaching. The only thing I continually
tell them is lets wait and see. This has been draining for me, and is heartbreaking!

MALVONI IS ASKING FOR TEACHING

Malvoni is a village about a hours

hike past Mualla. Due to the
interest in Mualla we had a
requests coming from interested
parties in Malvoni as well.
Traditionally Malvoni was very
opposed to the Gospel due to a
witchdoctor with allot of
influence living there. But due to
the potential hearers in Mualla and the way they are standing up in the midst of persecution and
how they are apposing the witchdoctors, we are seeing a group of people interested to hear
about this Gospel, which is the power of God, saving those who believe.
But we had to say no, we cannot come! We do not have laborers. Do you know how
difficult that is! Just imagine sitting with those, in a bush hut. They have for years lived under
the rule of Satan and the grip of witchdoctors in their village. At last, due to the courage of
others persevering through persecution, they realize they want this truth about Christ. So they
stand up against their family and clan leaders, as well as the local witchdoctors. They are
ridiculed and persecuted for even considering asking for teaching. Then they hike a day or two
through rain, mud, rivers and mountains to come and see us and ask us to come and help them.
Then we say no, we don’t have teachers and cant afford it anyway. Man that’s painful!

MAR MAR IS BEGGING FOR HELP

Then from Mar Mar on the South Coast we have

been having families asking us to come and live
amongst them and teach them. This has actually
been going on for years. But recently there has
been a stronger call. This happened after some
revenge killing took place in the villages, and an
innocent man got accused for being a sorcerer and
he was killed by a mob of people. So at last these
people are realizing and saying to us that they are
captured by Satan and needs salvation. They have
been contacting us regularly; sometimes daily to find out whether we are coming.
Guess what we are saying? I can’t even get it right to say no anymore, so I say "well try"
or "we hope soon" or "contact me next month". The truth is that I know, we can't come! We
do not have laborers to send, and there is no way we will be able to sustain such a long distance
outreach financially. I can't even afford flying there for a survey.

NEW LANGUAGES HOPING FOR MISSIONARIES

Over and above all these Mengen people

begging for help, we also have new
language groups requesting missionaries.
Some of them have asked many years for
missionaries to come, and we have done
some initial surveys to evaluate the
situation. So there is a hope amongst them
that someone will come. Sometimes they
send letters, reminding us, or we hear that
they have already prepared ground for
missionaries to live on.
But again we can only say, "we'll
try". Sometimes when new missionaries
come I present to them the different works and it's as if I must market these needs to the few
new missionary families we have. I try my best to get someone to go! I tell them about the
spiritual need these people have, but I'll also tell them about the nice weather, or the beautiful
scenery or what ever I can to try and get a family interested. Its like marketing lost souls,
hoping someone will decide to invest!
I so hope they’ll say yes, but more than often they decide to go elsewhere. And then I
need to go back to these people groups and say sorry, we could not find anyone to come and
help you, and I know it will be a few years before we have some potential missionaries coming
around.
PHASED OUT WORKS NEEDING HELP

We also have established churches

without missionaries asking for help,
they don't have missionaries anymore.
Missionaries left for various reasons
and now we are having struggling
churches. They struggle with their
walk with Christ, they are concerned
about how they can get it right to
live a God honoring life. They realize
they are an unhealthy body, an
uncompleted house and an
unprepared bride. And so they are
asking missionaries to come again to

complete what they started. Others

don’t have translations, and so they
are reading the pieces of texts that they got from missionaries years ago. Some can't read at all
and are asking others to read Gods Word for them. So they are begging us for missionaries to
join their tribes and help in these areas. Recently I had to hear how Kandas believers ask for
missionaries to come and help them and also Ata believers ask for missionaries to help them
translate neighboring languages.
What can I say? Some how they think we have some bank full of missionaries ready to
come. In their minds the church back in our home countries must be full of eager missionaries
wanting to come and help. But I can only say, "I'll try to find some help", but I know the
chances are slim, for not many wants to work with established churches. Not many wants to
come finish what someone else started. Not many wants to fix up what someone else messed up.

I'M TRYING TO PROVIDE SOME HELP

So as you can see the need is great! And this last year it has
really caught up with me a bit. I have never really believed in
burn out, but I think I am feeling it a bit!
I had to handle my father passing away, and not being there to
support my mom. I have spent many weeks away from my family,
seeing my kids growing up and my wife struggling to keep the
house and family on track. I had to sleep many nights in bush
houses, some times next to the road or in the jungle. Traveling on
 12 hour boat rides on nasty seas, walking many miles through muddy
juggles. Struggling with stomach bugs, malaria, tropical ulcers etc. And I
am doing this to try and answer some of these needs, trying to help
where I can, trying to give hope. But to be honest trying to answer
these needs has drained me. I just can't go on saying no to those who are
begging for salvation! Sometimes I feel I would rather avoid seeing them,
just because its so hard to have to say no.

Furthermore trying to stretch your finances to try and

get to these people, trying to give them some hope,
trying to provide for at least the Mengen ministry has
also been very draining. How can we put a value on a
soul? How do you say no to people begging for salvation
because we cannot afford helping them? There is such a
tension between surviving and ministering. Should I buy
gifts for my kids for Christmas or should I fly into Mar
Mar to spend time with those requesting help? Should I
print Bible Booklets for those in Soi and Bologo or should
I pay for our school curriculum for our kids. This has
been a constant stresser.

Over and above having to emotionally carry these burdens, I am also realizing that this
road is a lonely one as well. This year has been 10 years spend in PNG. We are thankful for our
co-workers who helped us starting things off and laying a solid foundation. But the real
construction has only begun. I am starring down the road, and wondering how am I going to get
this done? To be honest the beginning was easy, learning a language was easy, and teaching
evangelically was easy, but to be honest, discipling these guys into maturity is a hard and long
term intensive labor! Working with them and helping them become self sufficient in all areas,
multiplying amongst themselves and multiplying cross culturally as well is nothing but long term
hard labour! And we do not have many who want to do this. This is also the reason we have so
many unfinished works, because allocating in a tribe, learning language and teaching the gospel
for the first time is very exiting and makes for great news letters but long term, slow moving
discipleship is not glamorous!

SO I AM ASKING YOU GUYS TO PRAY FOR ME:

- that I will persevere in trying to bring hope.

- that I will get the courage to keep on saying no and trusting God in that!
- that God will provide strong regular financial support so that we can sustain all these
ministries.

BUT ABOVE ALL I AM ECHOING CHRIST’S REQUESTS:

"ASK THE LORD OF THE HARVEST, THEREFORE, TO SEND OUT WORKERS INTO HIS
HARVEST FIELD.