Some Snapshots of our House Building Trip to Indonesia

This view is from the Sepik Valley in Papua New Guinea.

Our house building location was nestled in the rugged and isolated mountain ranges of Papua,  Indonesia…there were snow on some peaks we flew by that day.

It was neat how the Lord brought each one of us together on this work  team.  Each with different talents and trades.  We did not lack in any skill except someone who was good at keeping the rain away.  It rained almost every day we were there and it was supposed to be their dry season.

This small chunk of change equal to 1 MILLION Rupiah is equivalent to $100.  At least now we can say that we have been millionaire’s at least once in our lives.

While we worked on the house for the single girls…the tribal people continued to work on leveling the airstrip, one wheelbarrow at a time.  Some of those rocks you see jutting up turned out to be larger then they were so they had to build large fires by them to cause the rocks to split and crack up into smaller pieces.  Then they could be carried away off to the side of the airstrip.

I particularly enjoyed this moment watching the two girls practice their tribal language skills by trying to get the boys to wrap their clothesline around the proper fork in the tree.  Everyone was exhausted when it was all done.

Don’t think the fire marshal would have been too happy with our temporary wire job to enable all the computers and peripherals to get power for our tech help session at night.

When the plainer bearing burned up 3/4 of the way through the project, we were lucky to find a portable plainer we could use to finish up the really rough spots.

The wires for the premade kit arrived too short to fit in their designated spot so we had to invert everything and put each 70kg/250 amp/hr battery on a top shelf up above our heads.

I wish I could say that I was trying to explain why I was putting aluminum on top of a septic tank but in reality I was probably telling him that I wanted him to help us redig the hole that had just collapsed because of heavy rains during the night.  NOT FUN!

We were more then a few pieces short of plumbing parts on this job.  We were trying hard to figure out how we were going to “rig” it to give them water…by that time Dave, the Master Plumber had already given up on keeping anything to code.   “it will work…” would be his favorite line….he would then pause…and say, “out in the middle of nowhere”! 

The tribal people were trying to get Porter to climb the rickety ladder because they were worried I would topple it for sure and then they would be without ANY ladder!

As going away gifts…we gave the kids some balloons to play with.  You think we had given them some real treasures…and really got excited when I showed them how to make the balloons make noise by pulling the flaps of the balloon tight.

We met someone who had studied in PNG when he was a kid and had learned the Tok Pisin.  (the everyday language of PNG) and it was neat to be able to communicate with the tribe through him.  I would say a PNG joke and he would laugh with me and then get really serious and say, we can’t say that here…they will not think it is funny! 

Tim was seen grimacing like this for 5 hours during one leg of our trip as he sat right behind 500 smelly, chirpy, chicks.

Dave, was trying to prove his point to Judge Tim that it was on the black and not the yellow.

(It is ok Dave, we let you have that one because it was your birthday…)

Here are some final shots of the living room, office,  and kitchen areas.

Note: their oven sits on top of that flat stove…weird!  I don’t think they are into using the oven folks!

Video of House Building Trip to Indonesia

A little late in coming but hopefully you will enjoy seeing pictures and videos of our House Building Trip to work on the home of Joanna and Kubili in Indonesia.  I wish I could have taken each of you a long with me.  What an awesome way to partner together to further the gospel.

A Reflection on 2009

We hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  We have spent some time the past week reflecting on all the Lord has done for us in 2009.  We have faced many good times, as well as many difficult times.  Through them all, we have seen the Lord’s hand in our lives, and have experienced His peace in every situation.

We remember back to beginning the year in Missouri where we were serving with NTM at the Mission Training Center while Jessica received treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  We are still amazed with the Lord’s provision in this area as he provided a wonderful therapist who He used to help Jessica begin to heal.  He provided housing and the finances to cover many medical and travel expenses.

In March we began a “praise trip”—a testimony of God’s healing in our family.  We traveled from Missouri to Ohio where a couple whose children are missionaries in Indonesia graciously opened their basement apartment to us.  We then traveled to Pennsylvania, and then out to the west coast. We had so many encouraging visits with friends, family, and supporters all along the way, and were sorry time didn’t permit us to see everyone this time.  We arrived in WA the end of April where we spent time preparing for our return to PNG.  The Lord provided housing for several weeks with some dear friends of ours who have five kids near our kids’ ages.  This was a healing time for our whole family.  We were even able to leave the kids with this family and attend a Family Life Marriage Conference which was such an encouragement to us as a couple after the stressful year with Jessica’s sickness putting a strain on our marriage.  It was so good to reflect on the Lord’s faithfulness in our lives, and to recommit our marriage to Him.

For the remainder of our time in Washington some friends of ours opened their beautiful home on the bay to us.  We felt as if we were on a vacation with the ocean right outside our door.  Our yard was home to several bald eagles who we enjoyed watching each day.  Isaiah 40:31 often came to mind as we observed the eagles.  “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”  The Lord was preparing our hearts to return to the place where our daughter was carjacked at gunpoint.  We knew he was clearly preparing the way, and He would take away the fears we had.

The beginning of July we traveled back to PNG with a special stop in Tokyo to visit a college friend of ours and her family whom we hadn’t seen in ten years.  We arrived at Lapilo on July 5 and took several weeks to get over jet lag and get settled into our house.  We were once again so thankful for our family’s overall smooth transition back into the country.

The end of July brought school starting for the kids, and Phil starting back into his ministry in the computer department.  The coming months brought many struggles and times of discouragement.  We are thankful for how the Lord brought us through and allowed this to be a growing time in our lives.

Mid-November, Phil, along with three other men from Lapilo, had the privilege to travel to Indonesia to finish constructing his sister, Joanna’s house in the tribe.  He thoroughly enjoyed his time and was so thankful for the opportunity to be a blessing to the single girls who are working hard and making such great progress in the language of the people they desire to soon be able to share the gospel message with.

The end of November through December brought many activities for the kids with Christmas programs and piano recitals, etc.  It was difficult as always to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas without our family, but the Lord provided some special times with co-workers during this time.  Kristi and Karina were able to go with a group of co-workers to the local hausik (hospital)the day after Christmas to sing carols, share the Christmas story, and give toys and clothes to all the patients in the children’s ward as well as snacks to the many family members and hospital staff.  This was a growing time for us as we looked at the living conditions in the hospital and realized how blessed we are to have nice clean hospitals in the States where we can receive quality treatment.  The children’s ward we visited had thirty beds in one room, and the adult ward had 45 patients(men and women) in one big room separated only by a half wall in some places.  Jessica was also able to visit this same hospital with the Student Council where they passed out toiletry items—soap, toothbrushes, and toilet paper which is not provided by the hospital and most patients have none of their own.

As we reflect on this year, we are grateful for all the Lord has taught us.  We are thankful for how the Lord used each of you in our lives to encourage us in our endeavor to return to the field.  Thank you for opening your homes, providing meals, and fellowship.  We thank you for standing with us through your prayers and financial gifts.  We do count it a privilege to be partnering with you to help reach the people of Papua New Guinea.

Phil and Kristi Jansma

Trip to Indonesia

My sister, Joanna Jansma, and her co-worker, Kubili Condit, allocated to the Nagi people group of Papua, Indonesia last January.  They spend many hours each day working along side the people, building relationships.  They are doing an outstanding job learning the language and culture. When they first moved in, a group of national builders came in and built a shell of a house; however, they were unable to finish the job properly.  And so the house still sits.  Joanna and Kubili have been staying in their co-workers home while they are on furlough, but this family will be returning soon.  I felt God leading me to take a trip to Indonesia to help my sister. I decided to ask around here to see if any other missionary would be interested in joining me on the trip.  We were so thrilled when three men said they’d love to come help.  All three of these men are skilled in construction.  The team will be leaving tomorrow, the 16th of November and will return the 1st of December.

Please pray we will make all our many connections.  We will first take a twin engine plane from Goroka to the border town.  Then we will take a taxi to the border where we will walk across and then meet another taxi on the Indonesian side.   We will overnight in the mission guest house and will then fly in a small plane to a nearby village where we will shuttle into the tribe in a helicopter.   In a country where nothing goes as planned and you plan for the “unexpected” , we learn to keep flexible.   Pray we will have good weather and will be protected from the many diseases in this area.   Pray also for our families we leave behind.  They will most definitely need an extra amount of grace and strength during this time we are away.  This trip has already been a HUGE encouragement to the girls.  Thank you for your part in making it possible through your prayers and giving!

Sincerely,
Phil Jansma