Day 5

Thank you everyone for your support and prayers! It's amazing to know that people all over the world are praying for Lae. And your prayers are needed! We know this is more than just a physical struggle, and that there is also a very real battle going on in the spiritual world. The Prince of darkness will do what he can to keep the hatred and fighting and killing happening and to try to break up the unity within the body of Christ. He may try, but Christ will keep His flock together, and protect His own!

Last night around 9:00pm, we got a frantic call from the families living on the church property saying that there was panic again in the settlement, with people running everywhere, saying that the Morobeans were coming to fight, but they weren't sure which way they were coming from. They were very afraid. Ian asked if they wanted him to come pick them up, but they didn't want to risk him coming over there either. In the end, they turned the lights off so as not to attract attention to themselves, and they prayed. After that, in the midst of the chaos, they felt the peace that passes understanding. And the Morobeans never did come. We think that the increased police presence (recruits were sent in from Port Moresby and the Highlands) held them off at the back of the settlement.

Today, was almost a normal day. Stores and businesses reopened; people seemingly went about their lives as they normally do. We were able to re-stock our fridge and cupboards. Jonathan and Karlyn had a fun day off of school swimming in the pool and playing with the other kids in the compound. However, there was another reality check, in a certain area outside of the city, we heard that the fighting continued and that there have been more deaths. It's difficult to know what's really happening and what are just rumours and certainly the Father of lies loves to twist the truth to put fear in the hearts of many. A friend called this morning to say that she heard from more than one source that the town water had been intentionally contaminated and that we shouldn't touch it. This put us into a bit of a tailspin, especially since I was in the middle of doing the dishes and laundry. We were very skeptical that this could occur, but then again nothing really surprises us anymore and many people were saying it was true. In the end, it wasn't, thankfully, but this just added to the stress of the whole situation.

Tomorrow, school will reopen again and we hope we will be that much closer to a peaceful resolution. Please keep praying--not only that the fighting will stop, but also that God will use this to bring people to Himself!

We also want to praise God for His care and protection over our coworkers, Tim and Francine Sikkema, this past weekend. As they are in the middle of cultural training, they're living in a village for 5 weeks--and are about 2 hours from town and the nearest doctor. Tim ate some grubs and had a toxic reaction to them--and even went in and out of consciousness a few times until his village papa told him to eat some charcoal. This worked quickly to help absorb the toxins in his stomach and stop the effects of the allergic reaction. It was a very frightening experience for them, and we're thankful that the Lord spared his life. And he is doing much better today! Their village papa has sent out a "decree" that no one in the village is allowed to give him anything unusual to eat--looks like it's just kaukau (sweet potato) and kumu (greens) from here on in!