Christmas 2016 Update

Christmas is Christ for us--the demonstration of God's love. More than heartfelt sympathy, the action that God took by taking on flesh is the ultimate definition of 'Divine Intervention.' In our sin we were lost, helpless as a newborn. In humility, He became like us in every way, yet without sin. And this sinless Son of God and also Son of Man humbled himself further by dying a death we deserved, by experiencing eternal hellish separation from God the Father.

And therein lies a two-fold mystery:
that God would bind himself to flesh
in time for all eternity,
and the sinless one would suffer hell
to set the sinful free.

Peace be with you as you celebrate the magnificent Incarnation of God, the birth of the Savior, the redemption of His people. Amen.

Answers to your Questions

The Sunday School class at United in Christ Lutheran Church in Flint, Michigan was curious enough to send us a list of questions. Here they are:

1. What does your house look like?

2. Do you have electricity?

3. How do you wash your clothes?

4. Do you have running water?

5. How do you get your food?

6. What is a normal day like for you?

7. How do you use the computer, such as internet service?

8. How was having a baby there different from having a baby in the States?

 

And here are our answers in video form:

 

https://youtu.be/1kbuH6r_k48 

 

But if you'd rather read:

 

1. Our house looks like a normal American ranch style house, but with a few minor differences, like a big water tank on the roof.

2. We have electric power lines connected to our house that sometimes have electricity in them. When they don't, we use a diesel-powered generator.

3. We let a machine wash our clothes. We let the sun dry them.

4. Rain water collects in a giant tank that gets pumped onto our roof (when we have electricity) that goes either into our house 'cold' or goes through the roof-mounted-solar-heat tank, and then into our house.

5. We get our food from the store, mostly, or from our garden when we can get stuff to grow, which my wife is getting better at doing. Growing food here is different enough that she has had to learn new skills to get things to come up edible, and hopefully just for us, not the bugs, of which there are many...and they're hungry.

6. I have not had a normal day since I got here. The kids, however, are forced to be normal. We make them read and do chores.

7. I could do an entire blog post about what we had to go through to get the internet working here. It might take two posts, or just one with charts, graphs, and pictures. But we have internet now, and we have ways to keep it going even when the power goes out. Confused? Relax, I'll write another post.

8. Having a baby in PNG is not really that different. But maybe I'm just saying that because Charles is our sixth child and somewhere around number four you get into a groove of parenting. It is still challenging, but you know what to expect, and even in a different country babies mostly just need loving parents who can function reasonably well with minimal sleep. Coffee helps, and PNG has plenty. The other kids help, too, but we try to keep the coffee away from them.

That's all for this list. If there is something else you want to ask, put your question in the comment section below, and if I remember to check it I'll try to respond if I have electricity and an internet connection. And thank you for your prayers and support.

~Michael

Missionary Update, with helicopters

Click on this video:

https://youtu.be/6sqJJ1OViWo

It shows a typical day here in PNG.

Although 'typical' for PNG means a helicopter might land in your front yard. And by 'front yard' I mean the field out in front of the seminary, which is the campus where we live, so it is kind of like our yard.

I think it would be fun to be a helicopter pilot. I think it would be horrible to be a helicopter passenger. I get pretty bad motion sickness whenever I'm a passenger in a vehicle, whether it is a car, plane or boat. And although I have never been on a helicopter before something tells me it would be fun to drive (fly?).

But you do not need to know that; you can just watch as this helicopter, which I am not piloting, takes off from the seminary campus after delivering someone safely back home.

Like I said, a typical day.

~Michael

Missionary Update 17, Travel highlights 2014

Hello.

Today is May 2, 2016.

You are tired of looking at political news and you want to watch a missionary family prepare to deploy to a foreign land. That's great, because I just posted a video of exactly that!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq3zyhklOWQ

And because it is from 2014 you won't see one iota of political stuff. I promise. Unless you consider buffalo, ice caves, and waterfalls political?? Don't...that would be weird.

~Michael

New Videos, Updates, and Bunnies!!!

Maybe you are only subscribed to this Blog and not my Facebook account (Michael Ritzman) or my YouTube channel (OMPNG). In that case this will be great news: I have a Facebook account and a YouTube channel!!!!!

Now that you know you should go look me up on FB. And while you are clicking around go see the two new OMPNG Missionary Update videos on Youtube. Here, I will give you convenient links:

Most recent OMPNG Missionary Update with Rev. Dr. Willard Burce, one of the first Lutheran Missionaries to Papua New Guinea.

Second most recent OMPNG Missionary Update with me and Pastor Larry Matro. We deliver our totes to the international shipping company.

Some of you were asking if our shipping crates arrived safely. I do not want to spoil the surprise, but they are sitting directly behind me as I type. Wait, that kind of spoiled the surprise, didn’t it?

So what else is new? Well, I am finally in Papua New Guinea after a long wait for my paperwork to pass through the vaunted halls of government. But maybe you already knew that. I can’t remember what I previously wrote, and I am too busy/lazy to go back and research. So, here I am.

We are learning the language. It is easier to hear than to speak...as if my ears are connected to my brain but my mouth is not. Sometimes I speak French...is that weird?

I got a car, and the seminary students helped me build a carport to keep it dry. It is supposed to rain a lot here, but lately it has not. Here, 'lately' means about seven months, which is an incredibly long time to go without steady rain when you are a subsistence farmer.

The internet is incredibly slow here. By ‘here’ I mean at my house. There are spots where internet connection is good and speeds are decent. These spots are called Cell Towers, and if you are fortunate to live near one you happily surf the net. The rest of us click and wait.

The food is good and we sleep a lot. Not because we are lazy, but because it gets dark (very dark) at 6:30pm and stays dark until 6:00am every day. And if the power is out the only reasonable thing to do is go to bed. And the power is out often, like, right now. I’ve lost 20 pounds.

We have big spiders. I will not go into detail because you need to hear about giant spiders as much as you need to hear about some of the bathrooms I have been in. Both come straight out of your nightmares, and involve equal parts fear and crying.

Baby Bunnies are the opposite of spiders

And we are helping the drought victims…some of them. We would love to help them all but it would take a ridiculous amount of resources and we would probably only reach a portion and only for a limited time. So we pray for relief. Please pray with us:

Father of all mercy and grace, please look favorably upon the people of Papua New Guinea and give them good weather so their crops may grow and they may live to serve you and their neighbors in peace and love. Assist those who bring aid to find alternative solutions to the drought. Strengthen and encourage your shepherds to minister to those who are suffering. Give them counsel and courage to proclaim your steadfast love shown in the death and resurrection of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. We pray all this in His name. Amen.

~Michael

Missionary Update update. PNG Mission Society Conference 2015

https://youtu.be/gUYEPIQcTlo

I am updating my blog to update you on the updated Missionary Update video. Consider yourself up-to-date. Click the link up there to see the YouTube video. I'll wait. Are you back? Okay, continue...

And I am not going to look at the last time I posted something here; that would depress me and waste your time. Instead I will post as if I'm one of those prolific online posting people like The Pioneer Woman or Matt Walsh, although you won't get any recipes or political commentary because I don't cook and I don't spend enough time watching politicians to provide meaningful insight. Alright, fine...here's some political commentary, but it's all you're going to get:

Politician A: Politician B is wrong. Send me money.

Politician B: Politician A is wrong. Send me money.

My Commentary: A & B are both wrong. Send me money. :)

So brace yourself(-lves) dear reader(s), for we have arrived in Papua New Guinea!! And for as long as I have Internet access and electricity (which actually isn’t very long) I will continue to bring you frequent updates of all our exciting adventures. Alright, fine…here’s a recipe:

FAT BOMB (a.k.a. the most caloric-dense smoothie concoction known to man, a.k.a. you won’t need to eat for the rest of the day after consuming this)

1 Avocado, ripe

1 can Coconut Milk, 16oz.

1 can Water, 16oz

6 Egg yolks

½ cup Macadamia nuts, or Walnuts, or Pecans

1 TBSP Chia Seeds (optional, but fun)

2-4 Limes (to taste)

Blend everything. Drink/eat with a spoon. Actually don’t blend the Avocado rind, and only use the juice from the limes. Depending on how big the limes are and your preference for citrus, use between 2-4 limes. I think 3 are good, but you’ll have to decide for yourself. Nuts are optional (as are the chia seeds), but they add an interesting texture. Macadamias taste the best, but are also the most expensive, hence the inclusion of alternates. Buy your avocadoes at George’s International Market in Fort Wayne, Indiana. They are the best you will find in the Northern Hemisphere. Get your limes there, too. Sometimes you can get them for a ridiculously low price of 10-for-a-dollar. Consider a diversified portfolio of Dividend-yielding stocks, bonds and money market accounts. Consult a Certified Financial Planner before pursuing any financial advice given on a blog site. Consult a physician before eating any recipes found on a blog site. Consult your parents and your pastor before marrying that person you met at the Higher Things conference. And call your mother; she hasn’t heard from you in a while.

Papua New Guinea Mission Society Biennial Conference

Every two years, former (and the 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".

In addition to many great teachers, aid workers, spouses, and support members, this year they were joined by one of the first missionaries to the Enga 'Highlands', Dr. Willard Burce.

Look for a video series coming soon with presentations from Dr. Burce and some of the PNG nationals. Search for my YouTube channel at OMPNG.