Papua New Guinea Mission Society, Biennial meeting

Every two years, former (and current) PNG missionaries gather to discuss this amazing mission field. They are joined by members of the Gutnius Lutheran Church, who win the award for "farthest travelled".

The location for this year's gathering is Peoria, Illinois.

I will edit this post with pictures once I figure out how to operate this silly ipad :(

Video blog.

Now you can see us in action! I have started a video blog of our adventures. It is on my YouTube channel which is called OMPNG. Creative, huh? Here are the links; we have two videos up already:

http://youtu.be/RhxuFVOjeIg

http://youtu.be/azVBzdB2E2s

Please make sure to Subscribe to the channel so you don't miss any updates. Also click the "Like" button under the video. Also pray for us.

Twas the night before car repairs

‘Twas the night before Christmas,

And driving my car,

The engine was quitting,

It did not go far.

The drivebelt had slipped

Off the tensioner pulley.

The motor stalled out

Like a cast-iron bully.

I shifted to park

And turned the start key.

With the roar of the engine

I shouted with glee.

The light on the dash

Of the new running car

Was the battery light…

It would not get far.

With no force applied

To the dead alternator

I had to get home

Immediately, not later.

Away down the road

I flew like a fawn.

But turning was hard-

Power steering was gone!

More rapid than eagles

My curses they came.

And I grumbled and growled

And loudly complained.

“You bucket of bolts!

You big useless car!

I’m taking you into

the used scrap junkyard!”

The van made it back

To its parking spot home.

Then I Googled “drivebelt”

And watched Youtube videos.

Then taking a 15mm

Chrome box-end wrench

I pulled back on the tensioner

Until my teeth had to clench.

And slipping the drive belt

Back into its spot

I cranked up the car

Till the engine was hot.

My advice to you all

‘fore you drive out of sight:

Take a look at your belt

And make sure it’s on tight.

"...As Incense"

We were recently asked what we need prayers for. Here is our current list:

Pray that we and our children are drawn closer to God as a result of our mission work.
 
Pray that our family becomes closer to each other in love, respect, comfort, and concern.
 
Pray that the government officials in Papua New Guinea are receptive to allowing missionaries to remain in PNG.
 
Pray that we peacefully transition from the US to PNG.
 
Pray that our rental property sells.
 
Pray that our house sells.
 
Pray that we can obtain educational materials.
 
Pray for our health.
 
Pray for our safe passage and travel.

Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
    and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!

 ~Psalm 141:2

Still going, still praying.

We are still planning on going to PNG, that has not changed. In fact, they need missionaries (and a Business Manager) now more than ever. But it is correct that there have been, and currently are, attempts to deport Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) missionaries.

I do not have all the details, but I do know that the LCMS Office of International Mission and Synod President Matt Harrison are involved in resolving the current situation and are working toward a long-term solution that will enable us to have a continued presence in PNG. 

In times like these it is easy to get dismayed and discouraged. Add to future uncertainty the discomfort of current turmoil and you have a recipe for stress, fear, and trembling.

In times like these we need to turn to the founder and perfecter of our faith, and find comfort in God's word:

WORDS OF COMFORT

Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Behold, all who are incensed against you
shall be put to shame and confounded;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.

 

ISAIAH 41:10-11

 

Let us pray for everyone involved. For the missionaries and their families and even their pets and animals. Pray for the government officials to do their duty in all justice and honesty.

 

 

 

Pray for the communities who are assisted by the missionaries. Pray for the church body that the previous generation of missionaries established, the Gutnius Lutheran Church. Pray for those in positions of leadership. Pray that a beneficial resolution can be reached that will allow the work of the missionaries to continue unimpeded.

You shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
those who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
 

For I, the Lord your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.”

 

ISAIAH 41:12-13

 

 

 

Movie Review - Batman: The Dark Knight

I do not always write dry, boring accounts of detailed nonsense. Sometimes I watch movies. Afterwards I subject my family to rantings, ravings, and incessant blathering about certain particularities of subtly nuanced obscurity buried in the deep, dark, recessed corners of the movie. Other times I make sense.

This time I watched Batman: The Dark Knight.

Batman: The Dark Knight was released on the 18^th of July 2008, which makes this movie review Six-and-a-half years too late. If you have not yet seen Batman: The Dark Knight, then you probably never will, which is fine, because it was not that good. Here’s why…

The movie begins with a bank robbery. Bank robberies are usually very boring. Most bank robbers walk in, hand the teller a note asking for money, leave, and then go to Starbucks for a Caramel Macchiato and a lemon bar. Finally they go to jail, because robbing banks is illegal and Starbucks has security cameras.

The bank robbers in Batman: The Dark Knight do not behave in the typical polite fashion. They are very mean. They have guns and they push people. One of the bank patrons has a gun as well. Actually, I think he was an employee; most likely a loan officer.

Loan officers are like police officers, except loan officers are much worse. Both officers give you papers to sign, which require you to pay money. The difference is that, based on a mortgage loan’s amortization schedule, you will pay much more money to a bank for buying a house than you ever will pay to a judge because you were speeding while trying to get to Starbucks before they sold out of lemon bars.

While the ill-behaved thieves bungled their way through their nefarious deed, the brave loan officer produced a sawed-off shotgun from his pencil drawer. This was to be expected. Accountants have dangerous jobs and, in addition to 10-key machines and sticky notes, most have personal protection devices nearby.

What happened next, however, was so unbelievable that it ruined the entire rest of the movie. In fact, after I retell the atrocious event that transpired I will end this review. That is unless you want to hear about a man with extraordinary financial resources, supported by a team of gadget-making assistants, who single-handedly defeats an evil villain’s plot to harm civilians. And as always, James Bond wins in the end. Um…I mean Batman.

The valiant accountant approached his enemies, gun raised, prepared to defend his honor, the bank’s reputation, and stacks of inflation-devalued fiat currency. He shot once. He shot twice. He shot again and again, and I think he shot again. I can’t remember, because I had stopped counting. My mouth was hanging open in shock. I could not fathom how anyone, even a financial expert, could miss at such close range with a shotgun.

Disbelief can be suspended only so much. After this, my mind was unable to pretend that a guy in a plastic suit could jump off buildings, ride magnetic balloons out of windows and defeat rooms full of gun-wielding maniacs. Not to mention the scene when Batman drove the bat-motorcycle around the Joker instead of driving straight into him. Why didn’t Batman hit him with the bat-motorcycle? That would have severely injured the Joker. At the very minimum he would have been in intensive care for months while healing.

Then the police could have easily given him a ticket. Or even worse, they could have given the Joker a Long Term Adjustable-Rate Mortgage Loan. Let’s see him get out of that trap!

A New Normal, Part 3

Wherein I continue the meeting between me and another missionary.

Clergy, not laymen

“A New Normal” is a multi-part story of how I came to be a Missionary to Papua New Guinea. Click Here to read the second installment, and Here to read the first.


I have made a decision. At the end of the last installment of  "A New Normal, Part 2" I told you I was going to tell you what the newly-called missionary told me. I have decided that I am only going to tell you half of what he told me. At the end you will know why, although you will not be satisfied. But you will understand, in part, why I pursued the missionary field. At least, I think you will. Alright, here goes.

We were at a play date. There were three families present: Two seminarian-families and one layman-family.

Tangential aside (which might just win the award of "earliest 'tangential aside' in writing history"): I do not like the word 'layman'. Although I know, understand, and agree with its meaning and usage, I object to its sound. Before I continue, allow me to insert the definition, taken from www.dictionary.com:

Layman

noun, plural laymen.

1. a person who is not a member of the clergy; one of the laity.

2. a person who is not a member of a given profession, as law or medicine.

George Washington, layman

Now I am going to ask you to do something. I need you to take action; you must participate in this exercise before you can continue this blog with any hope of grasping my meaning. What I ask is simple, and almost anyone can do it.

You need to say the word 'layman' out loud. Do not do this if you are an air-traffic controller. In that case wait until your break or when you are off work so as to avert disaster. Everyone else, including babies, should say it...right...now!

Some of you said  /lay-mun/  and blurred the 'm' and the 'n' almost into the same sound. Others said  /lay-min/  because you were trying to emphasize the 'man' portion. It really doesn't matter how you said the second part, because both of you said the first part correctly. Congratulate yourself. Now continue...

Albert Einstein, layman

What everyone heard is the 'y' and the 'm' blur together. and that is the root of my dislike. Now watch as I transform a perfectly kind word into an insult. I begin by separating the word into syllables, then transition them into similar sounding equivalents. Regretfully, the end result will shock you.

lay - man
laym - man
lam - man
lame - man

Lame man!!

See?? Now do you understand!?? That is what I hear every time the word is said aloud. No, I do not assume the speaker meant to be demeaning or degrading. No, I do not launch into a long-winded explanation of the audible derivative of their utterance. No, I am not calling for an end to the ministry because of a poor-sounding designation. Neither am I demanding an end to the clerical distinction because of an unfortunate aural association.


I have an idea about how to fix this. As tempting as it would be to include the clergy in our plight and call them 'non-layman', I think we should leave them alone and come up with something new to describe ourselves. I suggest going with the opposite meaning and using that to create our new word. Since the opposite of 'lame' is 'cool' we simply go with:

Coolman

We will also accept Awesomeman, Magnificentman, Wonderfulman, or...Wait, I've got it!

Superman

Here ends my tangential aside, and this article. To be continued (began) in part 4...



In the next installment of A New Normal, I will get around to actually telling you historic information about me becoming a missionary without getting side-tracked off into coo-coo land. Hopefully there will be some of you who will stick around to read it.


p.s. The families, briefly mentioned, belong to: Pastor Christopher Gerdes, Pastor Peter Haugen, and Superman Michael Ritzman.