OMPNG Retro Video: Hong Kong pt. 2 - Thwarted at the Temple

Share in my frustration:

It seems I was not meant to capture video from the inside of a Hong Kong temple. At least, not without some passer-by crossing in front of my camera. Oh well. That just means you folks get a blooper video.

My, but they do burn a lot of incense in there, don't they?

I hope you are enjoying these 'retro' videos. Soon I'll post some PNG stuff that's relevant to my work. Stay tuned!! In the meantime...

 

It is my joy to serve in Papua New Guinea, but in order to continue it is necessary for me to receive adequate funding. The current LCMS ‘network support’ model requires missionaries to raise their own funds, which come from both individual donors and congregations.

Will you please join our support network and become partners with us as we ensure the Good News of Jesus’s death and resurrection for our sins is spread in PNG? The following are suggestions for donations:

Pledges or Recurring Gifts:  These gifts occur monthly but can also be quarterly or yearly. Typical giving is $20-100 monthly for individuals, but can be set at any level. These form the backbone of our support network. To establish a recurring gift go online to www.lcms.org/givenow/ritzman, or call 888-930-4438 to speak with someone at the LCMS Office of International Mission.

One-time Offerings:  These monetary gifts are given one time, or as desired. These gifts can also be done online at www.lcms.org/givenow/ritzman or by sending a check to:

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod                         Mission Central

PO Box 66861                                               or        40718 Highway E16

St. Louis, MO 63166-6861                                        Mapleton, IA 51034-7105

Make Checks payable to The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Write ‘Ritzman-PNG’ in the memo line.

Thank you. Your support allows us to help spread the Gospel despite many difficult challenges. People are blessed, souls are saved, and God is glorified.

Retro Video: Hong Kong, pt. 1

On our first trip to PNG, back in Sept 2015, we first went to the LCMS Asia Region Headquarters in Hong Kong. Here is a video. We were led around by the Haugen family and subjected to a double-decker bus ride through the town. Enjoy!

The Haugen family are great people. Committed to sharing the Gospel, devout in their worship and just a little bit nutty. We love them. They were on the mission field about two years, but due to difficulties in obtaining valid paperwork were never able to get settled. They are now in Minnesota serving a wonderful congregation that appreciates their quirks :)

Stay tuned for Part 2, wherein I try to get footage of a Buddhist temple, but things go wrong...

Your missionary in Christ, ~Michael

As a missionary, my work in PNG is only possible because God has used people like you to support us. If you support us financially, please know what a blessing you have been to us and we pray that we can continue that partnership. If you have not yet and are interested in giving, you may do any of the following:

Support our work in PNG by going online to lcms.org/ritzman or by sending a tax-deductible gift to:

The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, PO Box 66861, St. Louis, MO 63166-6861

Make checks payable to: The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod or LCMS

Put in the Memo line: “Ritzman-PNG”

Alternately, Checks can be mailed to: Mission Central, 40718 Highway E16, Mapleton, IA 51034-7105

Thank you, and I pray that God richly blesses you in Jesus Christ. God and sinners are reconciled through the shed blood of Jesus. Our sins are atoned for, paid for, and forgiven. Peace with God is ours and Heaven is our home. Alleluia. Amen.

Video: Highlands Highway

Here's a short video of what it is like to drive on the (in)famous Highlands Highway in Papua New Guinea:

https://youtu.be/re1aBJL4bts

There is only one road leading from Lae, the coastal port city, up into the hills and through the 'higlands' region of PNG. Sometimes it is paved but then there are potholes, sometimes very large, that must be avoided. In addition, frequent landslides will cover over the road, or will collapse from underneath, taking the road with it.

Also, sometimes there are people that fill the streets, and they must be avoided too! Then there are dogs that wander into the road, and pigs, and goats. Once, I rounded a corner and a large cow was running in my lane straight at my car. I swerved to avoid it and watched as it ran past with about twenty men running after it.

Driving on the Highlands Highway is a little like being in a boxing match. You are constantly on guard, you never know what to expect, and so you can never relax. Sounds fun, right? Strangely you get used to it.

Blessings to you all. Pray for safe travels, in PNG and everywhere else.

Your Missionary in Christ, ~Michael Ritzman

**As a missionary, my work in PNG is only possible because God has used people like you to support us. If you support us financially, please know what a blessing you have been to us and we pray that we can continue that partnership. If you have not yet and are interested in giving, you may do any of the following:

Support our work in PNG by going online to lcms.org/ritzman  
or by sending a tax-deductible gift to:

The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, PO Box 66861, St. Louis, MO 63166-6861

Make checks payable to: The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod or LCMS

Put in the Memo Line: “Ritzman-PNG”

Alternately, Checks can be mailed to:  
Mission Central, 40718 Highway E16, Mapleton, IA 51034-7105

 

Wabag Town

Hello Missionary Supporters.

Wabag Town is located twenty minutes away from where we live. If you saw the last post about the Wabag Market, then you will know a little of what goes on there. But if you go up the hill from the market you come to Downtown Wabag, which sounds more fancy than it is. Take a look at this video and see:

Wabag Town Video, with commentary from me and the kids

We love Wabag, and not just because they have ice cream. They have two Lutheran Churches (as well as other denominations), a bank (just one), four or five small grocery stores, and three hardware stores, as well as a number of tiny 'trade' stores. There is also a Post Office where we get our mail.

I have noticed a curious phenomenon of people standing around (or sitting) and just watching. At least that's what I think they are doing. Maybe they are just resting? It is probably more enjoyable than sitting in your garden watching the vegetables grow. And there is ice cream.

Thank you for supporting our mission. God provides our every need, and with your prayers and financial support we can continue to provide the Spiritual care needed in Wabag and the rest of Papua New Guinea.

Wabag Market

Hello Missionary Supporters,

First, some background information: look behind you...that's your background.

Second, we went to Wabag, the town about 20 minutes away. We took video of us going to the outdoor market where you can buy vegetables from the dirt. I don't mean that the veggies came from the dirt, which they did, but that they are sitting in the dirt when you buy them. But sometimes they are on tarps, and sometimes the vendors throw water on the veggies to make them look shiny and wet, and sometimes the water is clean.

As you walk around people, muddy rocks, dogs, and the occasional pig you get to pick up your food. Sounds appealing? You'll have to see for yourself, because I'm realizing that my description is probably creepy. Watch this video, because we didn't take any still pictures. We usually take lots of still pictures (too many, in fact), but we made a concerted effort to get video, because some things must be seen in motion to be believed, things like the Wabag Market:

https://youtu.be/0ilwsycSDmY

Third will have to wait till next time. Seriously, the Wabag market is overwhelming the first 38 times you go. Then you enter a stage of desensitization the next 24 times which leads to resigned acceptance for the rest of your life. The place changes you, and I haven't even told you about the buai market that's up the hill. No, you have to wait. Just enjoy this little slice of PNG for now. Be content. Kroger/W-mart/Meijer/Safeway/Albertson's will take on a whole new joyous pleasurable meaning. There are no pigs (alive) there, are there? No.

God bless you. And us. Christ died for our sins. It doesn't matter where you buy your groceries. Thank God for our daily bread, even if they are dirt covered potatoes. Dirt washes off, and so do our sins in Holy Baptism. Thanks be to God.

Christmas 2016, or "Where is your family and what are they doing?"

Our family did, in fact, celebrate Christmas, but you wouldn't know that if you just read our last newsletter. There was just so much 'business-related' stuff that I didn't have room to put in the family-fun news. So here it is...

We woke up on Christmas day, sick. Actually, some of us went to bed sick the night before, after attending the candlelight service. So we decided to have an 'at-home' Christmas day prayer service.

And there was coffee. Then began the gift-giving portion of our day. Christmas day gift exchanges in our house always have been relatively subdued. I say relatively, because I'm comparing us to an imaginary family that showers their kids with presents and puppies and inflatable bounce-houses and everyone eats fudge and Twix bars until they can't play video games anymore. Then after the professional photographers are gone, the wait staff cleans up the tape and paper while everyone naps.

We, on the other hand, do this:

Chaos is set on low. Small people get the most stuff. Everyone smiles. A lot. We forget for a while that we are half a world away from our families.

Some things need explanation. Like, where does the 'i' in explain go when you add -tion to the end? Also, what is this a picture of...?:

Yes, technically it is a picture of a someone holding a drawing. The drawing is done by Moreah, and it shows the two main characters in a story written by Onika (that's who is holding it). The story is about two characters who fall in love, reluctantly. Or one of them does, maybe both. I am reading it right now; I'm about three chapters in, and it's really good so far! But Onika was THRILLED when she opened it and saw who/what it was. Just look at her super-goofy-happy face:
 

She is beyond excited. Other than that the day went normally well.

If you want to watch (and hear) more, then click this video link to our YouTube channel and see all the Christmas day fun for yourself!!

https://youtu.be/QC-pSDosWKg

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.