Work Team Begins Work on House--and Christ Became Poor

This is the inside of the handmade adobe brick house that Randy Dimmett had built. They are not planning to stay there in New Guinea forever, just perhaps 2 1/2 more years to help the orphanage get on its feet, unless the Lord leads otherwise.

We were blown away with how primitive they were expecting to live.

We deeply admire their courage and sacrifice.

They are trying to spend as little as possible on themselves so they will not be living richly right beside the ones living in abject poverty beside them. They also want to be the biggest help to the orphanage that they can be. They are also under the authority of people higher up on the board of the orphanage, and so while the Dimmetts were willing to live with an outhouse because of lack of running water, the head of the orphanage insisted on a higher standard of living which is nice on one hand for comfort, but difficult on the other hand because it will use more rainwater which they need for other things.

The biggest thing Randy was asking our Mission Helps team for was some simple cabinets and simple furniture. 

They had no furniture and no cupboards, and Sharonna didn't even have kitchenware!

Here the men are starting to build a table.

That first Monday was a holiday for the country, called the Queen's Birthday, in honor of Queen Elizabeth, even though it was not her actual birthday, because of the country's relationship to Britain in the past.

The country chooses a day and makes that her birthday, and schools and stores are closed.

So the men could not purchase materials yet.

So they did what they could that first day, including getting the generator running, thanks to Dave Holderbaum.

Here is what the house looks like from the one side. A container that had been shipped to New Guinea was held up in customs over six years, and when it was finally delivered to the land, they had to throw away much of the foodstuffs.
But Randy decided to use one side of the container for one wall of their house. 

Here Randy and Dave are working on figuring out how to hang the gutter.

The biggest project done that day was to finish leveling the hole dug for this rainwater tank and to set it in place and get it ready for plumbing.

The girls of the orphanage, who are right now living in Aunty Rosa's own house, spent the morning working in the gardens on the orphanage property.
They dug up the dirt and pulled weeds and found a few stray sweet potatoes, called "kow-kows."

We ladies helped prepare a big holiday lunch celebration.

Since I knew how to cut whole pineapples, my job was to cut up about 8 pineapples, plus orange sections and cucumber spears.

Here is the thatched roof pavilion that was built to dry the adobe bricks,

and is now being used for eating and school work. 

There was a single picnic table under the pavilion--something the Mission Helps team noticed right away and decided to remedy by building two more while they were there.

The orphanage boys had sprinkled flower petals all along this dirt path to the pavilion to celebrate our coming.

It was so dear of them!

Here is the scene of what is there of the orphanage right now: 

The boys' "dorm" is the structure furthest back, with walls of woven grass and metal roof. 

It houses about 18 boys, with cement floor and wooden bunk beds. 

The building closer to the front left here is the home of Namba, who stands as boys' dad and dean.

The dark roof in the center of the picture is the cookhouse where they have a fire in a hole in the floor, 

while smoke curls out the grass roof.

Namba has several children of his own, and recently a brother-in-law was killed in a landslide, so Namba is caring for six of those children as well now. 

Before he became a Christian, Namba had two wives, but when he became a Christian, he put away the first one, but gave her a piece of property and is making sure that she and her children are taken care of.

This is a common scenario in PNG, men having more than one wife, but Christianity makes a difference both in limiting a man to one wife but also making sure that he treats even the ex-wife with the care due her. 

Here is inside the cookhouse where I believe it was Namba's wife and another helper lady were cooking chicken, bananas and kow-kow.

Looking the other direction from this picnic pavilion is the Dimmett's home.

The boys had strung flowers all around the pavilion.

So pretty and so thoughtful of them.

I was amazed at the way these people use what they have, even if it is just the beautiful flowers that God has made to grow all around.

Two pigs are kept to grow and provide meat.

I offered to do the duty of giving it the garbage we'd collected from our cooking the days before.
They had it staked in an empty part of the garden where it roots around.

Randy and Namba try to keep the boys busy on days they don't do school.

Here the big boys are hauling in firewood that another pastor gave the orphanage.

Here is the dear man who had given the firewood from his property.

What a beaming face!

That afternoon, the orphanage received a visit from a government official, assistant to the MP [Project Minister of PNG]!

As I understand it, this man goes around looking at projects that the government can assist with.

This caused quite the stir!

The orphanage staff and children sang him their welcome song, and here Randy is showing the official the property and what each building is.

The official then made a speech saying he would do what he could to see what could be done to help the orphanage.

Aunty Rosa and the Dimmetts are not all that certain that anything will actually come of it, knowing how corrupt the government is, and how little money there is to actually help needy projects after the greedy officials have taken most or all of the money for themselves and their pet projects.

Rosa and Dimmetts, while appreciating the gesture, reminded us that their trust is in the Lord, not the government.

In the above picture, you can see Bro. Wilmer Paulus to the left, who had just been picked up with his wife at the airport.
It was felt that having us Americans present made an impression on the government official, letting him know that this little orphanage was important enough to some in another country that we had come all the way here to help.
The official acknowledged this and appeared quite humbled about it.
Pray that the Lord will use this contact in whatever way He wants.

Meanwhile, some of our crew and Rosa's husband, Jiwa, were staying busy even while the speech was going on.

l

Later, while the men were showing the government official all around the property, the young people played volleyball, and for a while Sam joined them.

Here the men have finished the rough wooden table and are figuring and making plans for buying materials and working the next day.

More pics and news later, when I can get to it.
But tomorrow, Monday, is our graduation celebration for Carrie and Sam so I don't expect to have time to blog!
I have enough pictures and news from this PNG trip to keep me busy for a long time, and I'm so thrilled that we got to go.
I can't stop marveling at how God was all over this trip, using us to encourage and help both missionaries and nationals, and in turn using them to encourage and lift us!
He is amazing!