NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

A couple weeks ago I left on a dawn departure on our mission’s Cessna 206 to be taken to a bush airstrip in the Highlands of PNG. From there, myself and three other guys hiked about 14 hours to the location of a missionary’s bush house.

Before I got married I was a fairly avid hiker, however, this hike was without a doubt the most physically challenging event of my life…it claimed 3, maybe 4 (time will tell) of my toenails. Within the first 20 minutes my thighs were already burning and, being a bit older now than before, my knees were aching due to the steep terrain. Throughout the hike I pulled countless leeches off of myself. At one point my knees were hurting too bad to risk the descent upright, so much of it was spent on my rear end scooting like like a child…thankfully my pride had been left on the trail many miles behind. It may give you an idea of what the hike was like to know that the helicopter later did the same path as we hiked in 5 minutes flat.

Once we were at the bottom there was an old tree serving as a bridge waiting for us to cross a very rapid and rocky river. From this point it was 4 1/2 more hours of the steepest climb of my life…one of which left me feeling like a little girl (no offense ladies.)

With about 2 hours left in the hike, two of the guys forged ahead in order to get the house open and supper ready as I was literally having to take breaks after every 10 steps or so. By “take breaks” I mean collapse on the trail with my face in mud (it rained on us about half the day.) Luckily, the missionary whose house we were going to tear down stayed with me and was so incredibly patient and encouraging. When I told him “I’m so sorry to slow you up like this, but I only have about 10 steps at a time in me now,” he replied, “Well, then that’s how we’ll get home…10 steps at a time.” ***side note***this missionary has now been back in country for only 6 months after breaking his back in two places while in his tribal location, and he OWNED this mountain. When speaking to a Hewan guy about how well he hiked the guy replied, “Yes, he walks in the bush like one of us.”***

Once we finally reached the summit it was only a 20 minute hike down to the village where the house was. However, about this time we heard the other two guys calling out as they had gotten lost on the trail and it was now long past dark (close to 10 p.m.) These two guys being friends of mine, I felt it, umm…necessary to give them a hard time that I beat them to the house.

We arrived at the house, washed, ate, and passed out. A week’s worth of rest and recoop would have been excellent, but there was much work to be done as we had to have the missionary’s house completely torn down in four days and ready for the chopper to haul it in sling loads to the new location to be rebuilt.

The tribal group these missionaries work with are semi-nomadic and have once again decided to move (with talk of settling down this time to build an airstrip) and the missionaries were forced with the decision to move once again (this being the 3rd time) or call it quits…they continue on.

After the first four days, the chopper flew in about 7 more missionaries to the new site to help with the construction of the new place. It was such a great experience to work with all those incredible men.

I know this post is long and there are many pictures to come, but it would be a great disservice not to say how hard working and dedicated the two missionary families we went to help are. I feel so very fortunate to have had this time to work along side them and to have learned from and be discipled by them. It is unbelievable the trials they have endured only to continue the work that shows no promises of getting any easier. Thank God for these families!

Ok. There is so much more to tell as God taught me many things these 10 days, but on with the pictures….

Since coming here to Papua New Guinea, I often take trips to the local haus sik (hospital) here in town. As people from the tribal locations where our missionaries work become too sick to treat there in the village, they will sometimes be brought here to receive more extensive medicine and possibly operations. Those of us here, will then provide some simple food, and encouragement as we can until they are well enough to return home. Even in the States, where medical care (as expensive as it may be) is sterile, air conditioned, and relatively comfortable, hospital visits still have a way of effecting you emotionally. Here, where I have to carefully examine where I step as to not fall through a rotten floor board, am found constantly wiping away the sweat from my forehead, and where I am always swatting away flies…well, I find it hard not to think on these experiences long after I leave.

My latest trip to the haus sik was by far the hardest, as I stood next to a man who honestly looked as though he was simply waiting to die…not waiting to receive medicine, not waiting for his body to strengthen…just waiting to die. The hand of bananas and dried fish we had brought for him seemed far too insignificant at the time. Even though my language skills are slowly improving I suddenly felt frozen, and the desire to lay the bag of food on the bed and just walk away was nearly overwhelming as I thought that I surely had nothing to say that would bring peace to this man. I felt helpless and I felt useless.

It was then that the woman who had come with me to the haus sik, a veteran missionary here for many years, took this man by the hand and began to explain to him what the doctor had just shared with her. The outlook was not good for him and chances were that he would most likely not survive this illness. Then, with extreme compassion in her voice she began to encourage this man to take hope…hope in knowing that even if this sickness takes his life, that God has prepared a new home and a new body for him, a perfect home and a perfect body…one with no sickness, no pain, no worries. She bowed her head and began to plead with God to grant this man His peace and His grace to see him through it all.

Soon after praying we left this man with the bananas, a few dried fish, and because of the compassion of a great missionary woman, hopefully some peace and comfort as well. I have never heard this woman claim any greatness on her own behalf. In fact, just the opposite is true…she’s an extremely humble lady, kind-hearted, and for a new missionary like myself (who knows nothing and has much to learn) is a great example of what God can do through us if we are willing to turn our lives over to Him.

One year ago this week I was awaiting a biopsy to find out if I had cancer or not. I was informed two days before Christmas that my chest x-rays I had taken in order to receive my Visa had shown some abnormal lymph nodes. I’m sure you could image my shock…as well as my wife’s. We had been preparing for years to be missionaries and Bible translators, and at this time it looked as our plans had come to a halt.

When the biopsy results came back we were elated to find out that I did not have cancer (we later found out that both my pulmonologist and my surgeon thought it was going to be Lymphoma.) I did/do have something called Sarcoidosis, however, but God has allowed this to be more than manageable and we have been serving in Papua New Guinea now for almost eight months.

There’s so much God taught us through this past year, but above all we learned much about His faithfulness. Even when God chooses to allow us to suffer, it is for our good. I think that in our sufferings we get a chance to experience the comfort of God’s eternal promise to us in a much deeper way. At least for me, in my sufferings I found God much bigger than I once knew Him to be.

“Our God of Grace often gives us a second chance, but there is no second chance to harvest a ripe crop.” — Kurt von Schleicher

I’ve often heard from veteran missionaries that one of the hardest things about this work of tribal missions is the time shortly after you present the Gospel message for the first time. It’s not uncommon for the people who understand, to ask the missionaries if their fathers and grandfathers knew this “talk,” and if so, why didn’t they come and tell their fathers and grandfathers.

“Wait, what? You’re moving to the jungle? AND your taking your children? To do what exactly?” Etc, etc, etc…

Before we came to Papua New Guinea to be missionaries these were the type of questions we commonly received (and often times still do.) Now that we’ve been here in country for about seven months I’ve noticed a change in the questions. Before, I think the gist of what people were trying to figure out was really “What…are you crazy or something?” And honestly, I asked myself that many times. Now, however, we seeing an interest in things like what daily life here looks like, do we miss our family…very real, down-to-earth questions that I’d like to try to give real, down-to-earth answers for. So, here we go…some of the most common:

1. “Do you ever get homesick?”
Absolutely not. I am a missionary and therefore reside on a higher spiritual plane than most. SIKE!!! Seriously, there isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t miss our family and friends back home in the States. In fact, I have struggled with the passage of Matthew 8: 18-22, about the cost of following Christ, more than anything else in Scripture. This passage has seemed so raw to me over the last two or three years. I continue to work through it…trying to work my head knowledge into my heart. The cost of leaving our loved ones behind is great. However, we have to trust that God can take better care of our family than we can, and that He alone can fill our need for companionship better than anyone. This is so easy for me to write, but actually living it out is hard. If I am totally honest it would probably only take one time of God not being faithful to His promise to be “enough” in my life in absence of friends and family for me to bail on this work…but He always proves faithful, He always proves true, He has always proved to be enough.

#2 “What do you eat? What’s the food like?”
Ah, so far, there hasn’t been anything too weird. Ok…maybe a little weird, like cassowary (a giant, dinosaur-like looking, flightless, angry bird,) and Saksak (the starchy staple of this country,) but nothing stomach turning. However, while many missionaries here have been initiated into the world of “grub worms” I have yet to take the plunge…though my time is coming, I know. We try to eat a lot of local food from the town market such as different types of greens (a green call “Tu Lip” is our favorite,) coconuts, mangoes, papaya, and kaukau (PNG’s version of a sweet potato.) However, produce here in the tropics is not too great and it’s slim pickin’ when it comes to variety. I’m sure that probably the most effective way to do foreign missions would be to live exactly like the people do: same kind of house, same food, same clothes, etc. However, I’m not really sure how practical that is…sometimes it’s just nice eat an Oreo! Thankfully we have dedicated missionaries here who work in “support” roles. These men and women are the behind-the-scenes folks who make it possible for the missionaries to stay in their bush locations. One such support role is that of our “supply buyer,” Derrick Dobbs. Derrick’s job is infinitely more detailed than I could begin to describe as he is the one who takes care of making sure all of the many bush missionaries stay stocked with the groceries and supplies they need as they can’t just drive down to the super market. Not only does he make sure that we have the essentials like toilet paper, flour, eggs, and milk (powered…but hey, what are you gonna do?,) but somehow he manages to keep special little things in stock as well, just to make life a litter “sweeter” when you need it to be…like Oreos!

#3 “How do you make your money?”
Well, we don’t exactly get a pay check, but we are always taken care of. We are “faith-based” which means that our organization does not pay us a salary. Instead, we rely solely on God to prompt the hearts of folks to support us and their obedience to respond. Crazy right!? But guess what…We have always had what we needed. “Do you worry sometimes about having enough money?” I used to…like crazy. But over the years God has really just shown out in our lives in the area of providing for our financial needs. So much so I just don’t think about it too much anymore. I figure as long as we are faithful to continue with this work like He has called us to, then He will provide what we need to do it. All this is not to say that I swim in a pile of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck, or that we don’t have to carefully plan our finances, just that God has always done exactly what He has promised to do…provide for our needs.

#4 “How do your kids like it there?”
Short answer – They seem to like it pretty good. Longer answer – Moving around like we do is difficult on them sometimes. Our oldest daughter tends to go with the flow pretty well. Our middle daughter has had some adjustment issues and I think sometimes wonders where “home” really is. And our youngest daughter is still a baby, so as long as she can see mom and dad and has her pacifier all is good and right in the world. Each of them at times, though, have certainly asked about their grandparents and friends back in the States (Well, not our baby, that would be weird.) Our oldest two will often say things like “When we go back to America…” not really understanding how long it will be before we are able to do that. As parents, Jessi and I often just try to reassure them that “home” is wherever our family is…be it in America, Papua New Guinea, in the city or in the jungle. We’ve also been realizing that all three of them play off of our emotions a lot. If we “hold it together” emotionally, often times so do they. However, we also try to find a balance where they understand that it’s alright to miss “home,” too. Modern technology has come to the rescue in the form of Skype which has kept the grandparents at bay, allowing them to talk with and see their grandkids.

Well, there are certainly many other questions, some silly, some very serious that are often asked. However, this post is becoming quite long and I am remembering the words of my seventh grade history teacher “The mind can comprehend only what the seat can endure,” so I will call it quits for now. If any of you ever have any questions of any kind regarding our ministry here in Papua New Guinea please feel free to ask away. You can e-mail us at “john_george@ntm.org.”

Language learning had produced some really interesting conversations with local folks here. I never really know what to expect when I turn on my recorder and strike up a random conversation. Topics have ranged from family to hobbies, animals to travel, and the most recent…giant earthquakes from time long ago.

Jo, has quickly become one of my favorite people in Papua New Guinea. He’s an older guy that lives in the fishing village here, but is originally from a nearby island. I’m not real sure exactly how old he is, and neither is he. When I asked him his age, he thought for a couple minutes and just said “Mi gat 60 samting krismas” (“I’m sixty something”…though I’m not real confident in this answer.) Either way, he’s a really nice guy and reminds me a lot of my grandfather. Our times together are spent sitting on the floor of his porch talking about all sorts of things.

Recently, about 2 weeks ago, about a 6.8 earthquake that hit off the coast of PNG. We didn’t get any damage here in town, but most people felt it. Jo told me a little about it, and it led me to ask if PNG had a lot of these type earthquakes. He talked on for a bit and then began to tell me about an really big earthquake that came during the time of his “tumbuna” or ancestors. I asked Jo more about it and when exactly it happened, but he didn’t really know. He said it was before he was born and before his mother was even born. It was a story that had been passed down through the generations. This earthquake or, “graunguria,” actually swallowed up a nearby island, he told me, and it was now a reef.

I found all of this really interesting. Who knows how far back in time this happened? I know it’s a looooong stretch, but I’ve read so many books about missionaries (ok, well my wife has read so many and told me about them…I’ve read a few) who after talking with local people have come across old “great flood” stories that turn out to have many similarities to the flood of Noah’s day. Now, I’m not saying that this story Jo was telling me is this kind of story, but it sure is interesting.  It makes me wonder what sort of stories we will hear one day soon when we allocate to a tribal location.

Click here to listen to Jo