Pam McCurdy Just another weblog Easter 2011
I trust you had a wonderful Easter season. It’s so encouraging to have a sure hope in the future because of Christ’s work those many years ago. As I listen to the huge news stories these days of the disaster in Japan, wars in the Middle East, and even a tornado just a few miles from where Don is in school in St. Louis, I try to remind myself that even more important things than these are happening in the world each day. I’d like to use these pages to share with you some of these events.
First, from the Akolet tribe in PNG. After presenting the gospel one of the missionaries wrote:
“Malaka and Oltupme pretty much tackled me right after the lesson, eager to share that they are believing this truth! They each gave clear testimonies of faith in Christ alone, and the tears in their eyes and the joy on their faces were priceless!
Dina said, “I had heard before that the sky turned dark when Jesus died, but I had no idea what any of that meant! Now I understand! God was turning his back on Jesus because God can’t be with sin and Jesus took all our sin on himself! I understand that now! Jesus is the only way, there’s no other way!”
Kotme and his wife also believe! We’re so excited to see a married couple get to start on this exciting new journey together! His wife was not her normally bubbly self today, but sat in seemingly stunned silence. She just kept saying, “I never understood! I never understood! But the way to be made right with God is just Jesus! There’s no other way!”
Secondly, you may remember that Bruce and I often shared of the work in the Simbari in PNG. It has been an area that has taken years for a strong church to be established, but now that the church is doing well, this is how God is using them:
The Simbari believers have received persecution over the years from another religious group that teaches salvation by works apart from Christ. Rather than engage in arguments about what they believe, the Simbari believers wanted to show their faith by serving and loving their enemies. So during the last year they have picked “work days” to help unbelievers in the community with garden work and building houses. Recently this idea was reinforced while studying through the book of Romans with verses like Rom. 6:13 and Rom. 12:1.
Up to this point they haven’t really seen much fruit from this loving service but in the last few weeks God has opened a door for ministry. The unbelieving group was gearing up for a district conference and so the Simbari believers were discussing how they could show Christ’s love in a tangible way in spite of the fact that they had been persecuted by this very group. They decided to give a gift of food since that is always a need when there are a lot of mouths to feed. They collected 17 bags of food and went to deliver their gift. They wanted to give it quietly but the other group didn’t let them. The others wanted to hear what these “men and women of Jesus” had to say. The believers were immediately surrounded by hundreds of people. Some of the other people broke down in tears when they saw the gift of food. One of the Bible teachers shared and used verses like John 14:6 to point them to Christ as the only way of salvation. By the end, others from the group were also in tears including some that had been involved in the persecution. Some of the leaders from this other group said they had never seen this kind of behavior and considered it history-making. They wanted to lift up the believers but the praise was refused and the believers said that what they were seeing was not them but Christ in them and that such behavior is not unusual for people who follow Christ and have His Spirit living in them!
Back here at the Tech Center, we consider time to be a non-replaceable resource. Because of that, we want our missionaries to be as free as possible for language learning, building relationships, and teaching on the field. We use the time when the missionary candidates are in training to teach them about solar electricity and water purification among many other things. The less time they spend in equipment maintenance and repair on the field, the better we have done our job. Here is a recent testimony from one of our missionaries:
“Thanks for all you do back there! I have to tell you that the solar electric system that we have has saved us an IMMENSE amount of time! Ultimately, God is the one who has kept our stuff running but I believe that all the time I spent with the Tech Center team was a big part of that. Thanks for all of your teaching and time. “
I want you to know that I count YOU as a valuable member of MY team and I thank God for you. With all of your help, I am able to be a part of this ministry. As the missionary stated above, “ultimately it is God” who accomplishes anything of worth through our feeble efforts, but I am thankful to be a part of the team, alongside you, to serve our wonderful Savior. I am making an effort this year to watch the “news” less and watch for God more! He is faithful!
A couple prayer requests:
Please join me in prayer for my boys, Don and Grant. They are both doing well, but each has choices ahead of him that will affect the course of their lives. Please pray that they will be sensitive to God’s timing and leading.
I need to find some additional ministry partners to allow me to continue to serve in this ministry. Nothing drastic has happened, but with the economy and other various situations my support has been lowered to the point that this is becoming a priority. If you know of any churches or individuals that I could contact to share this ministry with, please let me know. Thank you!
Thanks also for your prayers as we look at how to best use our Tech Center staff and resources to meet the needs of our students and overseas missionaries.
My ducks are lost…but God is good!
Merry Christmas from our home to yours! Don is home from college, Grant has two more days of school before Christmas break, and the weather outside is “frightful”! What a wonderful time of year! As I think of the end of 2009, I’m so grateful for health, a warm home, exciting ministry, amazing boys, and terrific friends. I count YOU among those blessings! You make my ministry possible through your encouragement and prayers and I’m privileged to include you among my friends! I know 2009 has been a difficult year for many, and we have not escaped without our share of trials, but Hebrews 12:28 was an encouragement the other day as I read that “since we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe.” A friend shared the other day that she couldn’t “get all of her ducks in a row” these days and that sometimes it seemed like God had taken all of her ducks and thrown them up in the air. I agreed and had to confess that I couldn’t even FIND all of my ducks these days, much less get them to line up! 
Rejoicing in God’s Goodness
Here we are, smiling as we think of you and your part in our lives. God has been so good to us and we are grateful for your huge part in that goodness in allowing us to minister with NTM for all of these years. Thank you for your prayers!
The Tech Center, where I work, continues to be a vital ministry as we train students headed to the field and help the missionaries already overseas with their needs in tribal locations. I’m so grateful to have this part while being able to be here in the States for my boys during these transitional years in their lives.
Don is a sophomore in college, double majoring in computer science and physics and singing in a Christian a cappella choir. Grant is a senior this year planning to go to college but undecided as to his major except that music may play a major role in his life. Both of them are a joy to me and I’m enjoying watching them become wonderful young men.
Please pray for me as I find my days very busy. Pray that I will be efficient and productive for the Lord in my ministry in the Tech Center. That I will be a good mom to my boys and that I will be a godly leader in the Awana program that I help lead.
Please know that you are loved and appreciated by our family! Please be encouraged. God is good – all the time.
Grateful to Serve,
Pam, Don, & Grant
Lord bless these hands!
The Tech Center, where I serve, is focusing on Papua New Guinea these days! How exciting! Several businessmen here in the US have offered to provide the money for a start up “repair center” in PNG. This would provide local help for solar electric systems and water purification systems that the missionaries use in tribal locations. We build these systems here in the Tech Center and ship them overseas for our missionaries. This “repair center” would be a huge timesaver for missionaries when they have problems in their remote locations or are in the initial house building stage. The leadership of PNG has also expressed the need for seven “tech reps” to come provide needed help. These “tech reps” trained by our team and could be our “hands” overseas. Their goal, as well as ours, would be to solve any sort of technical problems that arise so that the tribal missionary can stay focused on language learning and teaching. We currently have four interns training with us now for this type of job. Three of them are headed to PNG, and one to Brazil. We will have four others coming to train this spring before heading out to various countries. It is exciting to be a part of this growing ministry and to see the Lord using our team as a blessing overseas, which, of course, is our main focus whether we are building systems or teaching missionary candidates as they train here at Camdenton.
“Snowed Under”
The first real snowstorm in several years to hit Missouri and we were not prepared. We knew it was coming. The weather men were faithful to predict and warn us. We had gas in the cars and milk in the fridge…but only one pair of boots.
We owned more boots, and snow sleds, and a shovel, but we neglected to retrieve them from our storage area in town before the ice and snow arrived. You just never think it will happen to you! And so, on that first blissful morning as my sons heard the announcement of "NO School! Snow Day!", and prepared to head out the door…to their dismay…MOM commandeered the boots! There might be no school, but Mom still went to her ministry in the Tech Center here on campus. Missionaries in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Guinea, West Africa still needed to hear from the Tech Center about their various supplies and issues. Mom took off walking in "the boots."
And so, being energetic and warm-blooded young teenagers, the boys headed out to play in 10 inches of snow in sneakers. Not a big deal really. What IS a big deal is that many, many people in this world are not prepared for what is headed their way and substitute footwear will not suffice. Some fine day we will awake – not to a snowstorm – but to our Lord’s return.
We have the knowledge, we have His Word. Let’s each be faithful do our part, no matter how small it may seem today, so that others, in far flung regions and also our own neighbors, will be prepared and living in anticipation of His coming. In I Corinthians 15:34 Paul says; "Some have not the knowledge of God; I speak this to your shame." Lord, help us to "stay the course" that this may not be true of us!