It has not gone unnoticed by Judy and me that our post middle age bodies are beginning to show the wear and tear of life. We don’t function at full capacity anymore. We will have to wait until these mortal dwellings are replaced with brand new, perfect ones that will never grow old!
Our equipment on the field is wearing out as well. Some of it is over 20 years. It is a hodgepodge of old panels that we acquired here and there, of various wattage, most of them already used when we got them. Many wires come into the house having to use several solar regulators as they cannot be run together. We find ourselves limping along trying to keep things running. As you probably know we generate our own power out in the bush through solar panels and back up generator. Lights, computers, printers, washing machine, 12 volt refrigerator etc for our daily living and ministry depend on it. Sadly our elderly solar panels, battery array and inverter run at only half effeciency and the generator has been repaired twice. Definitely not cost effective and more importantly the loss of time spent pushing it all along, time that could be better spent on ministry related activities. The generator is very old and heavy and can no longer be repaired.
One of the problems with our 12 volt fridge is that it isn’t really a true 12 volt fridge and it pulls alot of power causing us to have to run the generator every night. Due to the fact that we only get supplies in every few months, we have to have space to store enough. The smaller one on the left is the regular fridge turned into a 12 volt and it is no longer efficient. The one on the right is a kerosene fridge that we would like to take over to a village house that we hope to build at our old location to teach literacy 5 days out of a week.
It is apparent to us that we cannot limp by like this for much longer. Our old equipment may not even make it through this coming four year term on the field (2015 – 2019). Therefore we are trusting the Lord to meet this need through His people as He directs them. One of our supporting churches strongly recommended that we make this need known in a better way.
Solar electric “kits” are available for purchase through a contact of ours and can be shipped to PNG and installed by our tech supporter personnel on the field. These kits include panels, batteries and inverter. Solar technology has come a long way in twenty years and power output and efficiency of these kits is remarkable.
If you are interested in knowing the details of all this please contact us through this website.
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