Sanders Party of Five

We have been in PNG for ten months now, and our knowledge of local language and culture is beginning to reach a point where we feel like we can actually minister to people without making quite as many mistakes as we did at first. We still commit plenty of cultural blunders, but these missteps will likely continue to be a part of life as long as we are involved in cross cultural work. It seems we understand something about our new culture, as well as ourselves, every day. We’re learning to laugh at ourselves when we say silly things in our new language and ask forgiveness when we accidentally do something completely culturally inappropriate.

An advantage of gaining some language proficiency is that Jeremy has recently begun to spend a significant amount of time training some Christians in our area. He meets with three men every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, spending each day leading them through various studies of scripture and doctrine. Two of these men have been preaching for quite a while to very small congregations in their villages, with no biblical or pastoral education. They have just finished their third week of class with Jeremy and have enjoyed their time together in the Word. The pastors are excited about this opportunity and have already been talking to their families and neighbors about the ideas and scripture passages they’ve been learning.

This week was a good opportunity for these men to practice teaching what they’ve learned so far. A few times a year, all of the New Life pastors meet for a week of training on how to study and preach various books of the Bible. In the last training, which took place in June, they studied the book of Titus, learning how important it is to rightly divide the word of God and to faithfully teach sound doctrine. In order to go further with this concept, this week’s class, which was attended by more than twenty pastors from all over Goroka, focused on doctrine. Many topics were taught, including the attributes of God, the person and work of Jesus, the definition and purpose of the church, and a Christian understanding of the Sabbath. Two of the men that Jeremy has been teaching for the past three weeks were able to participate in teaching some of the sessions, sharing with the other pastors what they have learned about God from the Bible during their studies.

The closest we got to a group shot during one of the breaks

Abel taught about God’s eternality

Listening and taking notes about the nature of the church

Jeremy teaching about the nature of the church

This pastor training is vital to the work that we’re doing in PNG. We do not currently live in an unreached village, and it is unlikely that we will live in one for quite a long time. With the lack of basic infrastructure in much of PNG, it isn’t feasible for a family to live in a remote jungle village without support from someone closer to town. We believe that training national Christians to take the gospel to the unreached is the best way to evangelize those people groups anyway, so we aren’t terribly distressed that we are unable to move into a village right now. We are open to that possibility if and when the opportunity comes, but until then we are doing what we can, where we are. 

Next week, these three men will accompany Jeremy on a trip back to visit the M people who live far out in the bush. You may remember our post and video about the previous trip. They will spend most of their time getting to know more of the villagers, as well as engaging individuals with conversation as the occasion arises. They plan to do some teaching in the village each day and show the Jesus film with a portable projection system one night. We’re excited about this trip and the opportunity for these pastors to catch the vision for reaching the unreached. 

We want to be doing everything we can to equip those who live here to carry out the work of the ministry, for them to be approved workers of God who can then entrust the gospel to faithful men. We desire for the work of the gospel to go forth whether we are here for six months or ten years. Ultimately God gets the glory, and we feel privileged to participate in some small part of His work in Papua New Guinea. 

Transitions

Prayer Requests

• The guys will be taking a trip to visit the M people on Monday, October 20th, and plan to stay until Friday, October 24th. Pray for safety during the long journey, for receptive hearts in the village, and for clear communication of the gospel. 
• Pray for Kandy and the kids as they stay back in Goroka. 
• Pray for us as we deal with several big transitions all at once. 
• Pray that we’ll keep our eyes on Jesus and stay strong against attacks from the enemy.
• Pray for us as we prepare to travel to the US in January.
• Pray for Sam as he gets ready to begin the next stage of life. Pray that he will have wisdom in the decisions that he will be making regarding his future. Pray for us as parents, that we will have wisdom to guide him in the best way we know how. 

We will be leaving Papua New Guinea the first week of January to come home to the US for two months. If you intend to send anything our way it really needs to be in the mail by November 1st. The post office here will not hold packages indefinitely. So if your package arrives after we leave and we are not here to get it, the postal workers will have a nice present, and we would be really sad that we didn’t get to open your package.

Shipping address:

PO Box 873

Goroka, EHP 441

Papua New Guinea

Some ideas for items to put in care packages:

American candy
Kool-Aid mix
Powdered Gatorade
Ranch dressing powder
Taco seasoning
Beef Jerky
Jigsaw puzzles
Art supplies
Liquid Benadryl
Ibuprofen
Tylenol
Tums
Children’s Bibles
Biblical movies
Books of any kind for children or adults
Personal notes and cards are always a great encouragement.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. We couldn’t be here doing this work if it weren’t for the sacrifices that you make.