ThatTheyMayKnow - Article Archives

Article Archives

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:53:52 UT

Update on damage at Kotidanga

Matt Allen — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:23:07 UT

Many of you already know that last night about 7:30 pm a tornado went through Kotidanga. The good news is that as of 8:00 this morning, we have had no reports of injury to people.

The roof on Dad’s back porch got ripped off, and broke part of the roof on his house. The work shop behind my house where we keep the Kawasaki Mule and Dad’s “puppy truck” collapsed. The girls’ new trampoline disappeared (gone with the wind), and the clinic got demolished (it is laying flat on the ground). The HF antenna mast on top of my house is broken and leaning over. The roof off the Bible School Student’s store got ripped off too. Several national’s bush houses were knocked down flat, and there are lots of trees down across the “roads.”

For those of you that have been to our property and know the lay-out, pieces from Dad’s roof ended up at the Single Boys’ Dormitory! For those of you that don’t know how far that is, the Single Boys’ Dorm is about 150 yards away or more.

Dad said there is no damage to the hangar, so all you Temple guys, “It didn’t fall, but if it had… you wouldn’t have seen it from Herndon.”

Please pray for Dad as he cleans up and tries to rebuild. I do wish I could be there to help him.

On a side note, I am currently getting paperwork approved with the Civil Aviation Authority here in PNG to start flying our airplane. Lord willing, I will have a meeting on Friday with the guy that gives out the approval.

Thank you for your prayer. We will try to get pictures up as soon as we get them.

Please pray...

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:11:00 UT

Dad just called me and said they had a tornado come through Kotidanga about an hour ago. It is dark outside, so they can’t see very well, but with the lightning flashes, they can tell that the medical clinic is gone. Mom and Dad’s back porch got ripped off, and their roof is “pouring” water into the house. Dad has not been able to get to my house yet, but he said the HF radio antenna on my roof is “snapped in half.”

They are very worried about the local people as the locals live in grass houses. Please pray for the weather to calm down in our area.

The good news: Pastor James has gotten a big in-road with a very influential man in the next valley over in the last few weeks, and the man asked him to come back tomorrow and talk to his dad and brothers about the Gospel. Please pray that God’s grace will outweigh emotionally the attacks from Satan.

Thanks, Matt

P.S. Dad will call me in the morning with a better report.

Photo journal September 2009

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:26:10 UT

Tags: John Allen

We're Going Home

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:35:09 UT

After much difficulty obtaining a work visa to return to PNG, we just got it! About an hour ago, FedEx delivered our passports back to us with the approvals in them for our return trip on Monday!

Praise the Lord! We can officially go home now!

About two weeks ago, we were told that our work visas had been approved and that we could send our passports to Washington, DC for processing. I sent them, and a few days later called to follow up on them. It was then that the “fun” began! The lady at the PNG Embassy in Washington stated that she had our passports, but no approval from Papua New Guinea to process the visa. I began to get nervous.

A few phone calls later, it became public knowledge that about 200 visas had been approved for people from around the world, but nobody had been processed due to some unknown reason. Did the phone lines go down stopping the fax from being sent? Did a worker in the bureaucratic system have a hiccup and stop the procession? Did the fax machine run out of ink? Who knows?

The paperwork was re-submitted on Monday, November 23 in Port Moresby, but we had an absolute deadline from Washington, DC of Wednesday afternoon at 1 pm, since they would be closing for the Thanksgiving holidays at that time, and would not return to work until Monday morning (after our flight was scheduled to depart). Wednesday afternoon came and went, but no approval had been received from Port Moresby. Lots of promises came from Port Moresby, but no fax with an approval number on it.

Thursday night, Thanksgiving Day, about 9 pm, my cell phone rang. It was the nice lady at the Embassy here in Washington, DC. She was calling to inform me that out of the kindness of her heart, she felt like she should check on my paperwork. She went into the office that night and found our approval was there on the fax machine. She processed the papers Thursday night, and sent them to us by FedEx on Friday.

We now have the passports in hand and will be boarding the airplane on Monday morning! We serve an amazing God!

Special thanks to the lady at the Embassy, too, for her kindness and help!

Tags: departure, passport, visa

Photo journal August, 2009

John Allen — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:39:16 UT

Getting information on unreached tribes John Allen and Malcolm Uyavaita discussing unreached tribes in our area. Malcolm is from the Hamtai, our neighboring tribe to the east and in the same language group. He has been a translation assistant with New Tribes Mission since 1990. He has translated several books of the Bible and assisted on several more, and is now presently involved with Missionary Tom Palmer on a revision of the Hamtai New Testament, first published in 1975.

See letter from Selina on Medical Missions Outreach: “Infant Nutrition, lives in the balance”

Tags: formula, Haus Sik, John Allen, MAF, medical mission outreach, translation

A House for Pastor James

Matt Allen — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:56:08 UT

Walls and Roof go on at the same time. The guys have learned so much, and are able to help tremendously, when it comes to putting up a building!

James, Seba, and Caleb Naudi. These folks are our precious national co-workers in Papua New Guinea.

Bob, the national carpenter, installs the down-spouts for the water collection system. This provides the house with fresh, clean water.

We make a door for Pastor James’s house.

This is Pastor James’s house—all finished up, with paint too! Underneath his house, wood is already being stacked to build the new church building!

Pastor James moved into Kotidanga with us. He is from a village about four hours walk to our south. Together, we lived in a bush house. In 2005, our family moved out of that house and into our own “proper” house. Due to insect problems, the bush houses do not last very long. A bush house must be rebuilt every three to four years.

When we saw that Pastor James’s bush house was beginning to wear out, instead of building another bush house, we decided to build a proper house for him. Unless the Lord leads him somewhere else, James will be in Kotidanga for many years to come. Why not take care of the pastor?

In 2007, we did the whole “cut a bunch of wood” thing again! It took about three months to cut all the wood needed, and to carry it back to stack at Kotidanga. The Lord supplied the finances to purchase the materials to stand up the house, and we finished it up just in time for the December Rally for 2007.

Water is collected off his roof, similar to our house, but instead of pumping it back up to the roof (this would require another generator, pump, and a constant supply of fuel), there is a small kitchen area at the back door of the house. There is also a shower and toilet on ground level, allowing the water to be fresh and gravity fed.

A quick story about Pastor James Naudi’s testimony. James got saved in 1997, and was one of the first Kamean men to accept Christ. He walked three days to Kerema, the closest town, and attended Bible Institute under Missionary John Gray, at Charity Baptist Church. Upon graduation, James and his new wife Rhonda, moved with Matt and Becky Allen up to Kotidanga to begin a new ministry. A little over a year later, the Lord took Rhonda home to heaven as a result of typhoid and malaria. That left James with their little baby boy, Caleb, to raise on his own. Caleb is now three years old, and the Lord has brought another precious young lady into James’s life. James married Seba the first of this year, and they have been perfect complements for each other!

Departure for PNG!

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:49:57 UT

Learning an unwritten language requires thousands of hours of sitting—just like this, and repeating sounds, words, and phrases that will be corrected, laughed at, and confirmed.

Selina Allen greets Cherith at the Arrival Gate in Lae, Papua New Guinea. Smiles all around! Help has arrived!

Psalm 63:7 “Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice,” was the verse the Lord used to encourage me at the beginning of my deputation journey. Now after ten months of deputation and three months of waiting I can truly say I rejoice in all the Lord has done. He has gone before me, prepared the way, and given the increase. My lips shall praise Him!

My heart is rejoicing as I share with you that my departure date for Papua New Guinea is November 9^th. The Lord has opened the door for me to go over on a short term visa with the prayer that my permanent visa will come through while I am there. Upon my arrival in Kotidanga, I will immediately begin working on learning and writing the Kamea language. Since a short term visa is only good for sixty days, I will be visiting with a Bible Translator in Vanuatu for two weeks in January. During this time I will be able to get my linguistic data reviewed and also learn from an experienced missionary. I look at this time as a large reinforcement to the Kamea work. After this brief interlude out I will return to Papua New Guinea for another sixty days to continue my language learning. As I think about my desire to reach the Kamea people’s souls and see them grow in the Lord, it always comes back to their need to have this language written down. The need is great and the job is tedious. I look forward to sharing with you examples of the Kamea transcription shortly.

Please strongly focus your prayers on gaining my permanent visa and also that the Lord will open my ears and loose my tongue to learn Kamea correctly. I feel I need your prayers more than ever as I will be facing new challenges in a spiritual battle for Kamea souls, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood.

In His Care,
Cherith
II Cor. 3:5

Tags: bible, deputation, translation

Walking for Days

Matt Allen — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:58:39 UT

Ariel went for a short hike with me.

Here, Bro. James Naudi is ducking under the tree that came across the path. No need to clean it out of the way, as you can still get around it!

This was my first time to hike through Suwatua. I had no idea at that time that God would lead us back to this place for our second church-plant!

In our area of the Gulf Province, there are no roads. We can only walk or fly. Flying is always the preferred method, but sometimes, you just can’t fly. Usually, the problem is weather, and the airplanes can’t get to you. Sometimes, it is a maintenance issue and the planes are down. There have been stupid problems, too, like the air traffic controllers went on strike (that has happened twice now!).

I have walked to just about every airstrip in our area. Some of them take 2 or 3 days to get to. The farthest hike was four days. My first long hike was from Kotidanga to Kerema. I was on a “live-like-the-people” kick at the time; and two weeks later, I was in a hospital bed being treated for amoebic dysentery. The missionary cannot live like the people because if he did, his life expectancy would drastically decrease, just like the people’s. But, I was inexperienced.

My first night on the three day hike to Kerema, we slept in a bush house in a village called Anewa. The rainy season fog had settled into the area, and everything was damp and cold. I wanted to save weight in my backpack, so I had not packed any kind of blanket. That night, the fire went out in the house about 8 pm, and everybody was asleep. I tried to sleep, but without a mattress or a blanket, my body began to feel every ridge in the split-bamboo floor. The wind came up through the floor, and I began to worry about hypothermia on this 60 degree night. Well, maybe I wouldn’t die, but I might get frost-bite, or at least I thought I would. I tossed and turned for about two hours, and convinced myself that I could restart the fire and warm up the room.

I went outside and got a small log to put on the fire. Keep in mind that at this time, I was a green missionary. I had only been in the country for less than a year, and I had not mastered the art of starting a fire. (For those of you that think you’ve got it under control, try to do it without any lighter fluid.) I brought that log back inside and laid it across the open fire pit in the middle of the house. Either everyone was fast asleep, or else they wanted to watch in silence so they could have a good laugh together later on.

After putting that log across the fire pit, I tried to light it. I had a small box of matches, and they were quickly used up. Then, I remembered that I had a gas lighter in my backpack—the kind people use for lighting cigarettes. I took out that gas lighter and tried to use it to light that unsplit, damp log. I thought that, given enough heat, the log would eventually catch on fire. I held the lighter there until the lighter melted. That’s right—in a few minutes I had a melted lighter, some scalded fingers, and a wet log.

After giving up, I went back to lay down and shiver. About an hour later, someone else got up and started the fire—within seconds! (I’m wondering if they even used a match), and a mysterious smell of burning plastic wafted through the air. I lay there, acting like I was asleep, soaking up the heat.

Two days later, I came dragging into Kerema, covered in mud, but much more experienced in jungle living.

Day 2 of a three day hike.

The First "Proper" House in Kotidanga

Matt Allen — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:59:37 UT

Being a bush missionary, you get to do a lot of different things. So, this day, I was thinking, “I’m a LumberJack, Baby!”

I taught some of our Bible School students how to run the chainsaw. They just don’t like all the safety equipment. They prefer to be barefoot and not have to worry about gloves. I cringe when I find them working that way!!! (Please don’t send me letters about it…I know they need to use safety equipment!)

This picture shows the amount of wood that the mill could cut in a few days. We had to pull all the logs to the mill, and then carry out all the cut timber. It took about 20 minutes to get out of the bush from here, so that meant we had to dedicate several days to just carry timber away from the mill.

Cutting wood with the Wood-Mizer LT15

When we moved into Kotidanga, we shared a house with Pastor James Naudi. At that time, he was married to Rhonda, and she was expecting a little one, who we now know as Caleb. Becky learned how to cook over the open fire from Rhonda, and they spent hours together every day. As the time for delivery drew near, I felt the sincere desire to be free of the bush house with a soon-coming crying baby. You see, our two little ones were past that stage, and I was not thrilled with the idea of putting up with someone else’s baby! (Babies are fun—for about five minutes, then they can go back to their own parents!)

We had been working on building our house. We started cutting wood for it in August of 2005, and all the wood was ready by November. We let it dry, and started building in March 2006. There were several challenges. I had never built anything before. Now, it was time to do my best to get things straight. God brought us in contact with two carpenters, Bob and Lako, from Charity Baptist Church in Kerema town. (For those of you familiar with the ministry at Charity, Lako is Ilava’s dad…but that is another story for another day.)

In April 2005, we had finished building the house. It has taken us since then to finish the inside (and it still isn’t done completely…) This house sure has made it easier to live in the bush.

Here, we have the frame up. Notice the house is on “stilts.” Several people have asked us about that. The primary reason we do that is because the alternative is to put the house on the ground. That would require cement, which is extremely heavy, and would be cost prohibitive since we would have to fly it in. One bag of cement costs about $8.00 in town. The shipping for that same bag of cement is about $65!!! I don’t mind having “stilts.” The benefit is instant storage space! (Americans love storage space.)

We didn’t have a crane to lift the rafters, so a lot of men put in a lot of work, and we lifted them up!

This picture gives an overview of our water collection system. We put in gutters on both sides of the house, and those gutters empty into our 1,000 gallon rain tank. A transfer pump, run off the generator, can lift 50 gallons of water up to the “header tank” in about three minutes. The indoor plumbing then is gravity fed from the header tank. We refill the header tank every morning.

We got the house built in April 2005, and then we moved in. Our puppy, Blue, did not take well to changing houses, and to this day prefers to go hang out at the old house.

We painted the house, and installed a veranda on the front. This is our “home, sweet home” now!