Hello again Friends and Family!
I apologize about the two month delay in writing to you but time just seems to fly by. We have had a busy two months including that start of school, a trip on Papua New Guinea's Independence Day, and getting our very first pet as a couple!
First off, if you haven't seen pictures yet, you can click on this link to view pictures of our house here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hollenbergpng/sets/72157627358274853/
School started on August 29 and has been going well ever since. I started the year with only 3 kids who were in grades 7, 8, and 10. For the past three weeks, I have had another two kids added to the pile so now I have a 7th, two 8th, a 10th, and an 11th grader. My sixth student will be joining us on November 1.
A typical day of school starts with 15 minutes of devotions at the beginning of the day, then the kids begin their work. Most of the students classes are done either with video teachers or self learning. My primary job at school is to grade papers, plan for which video lesson they will watch each day, and to keep them on task. I do teach 7th and 10th grade math since we don't have videos available.
After lunch, everyone does a language class first thing. If you walk into the school during that time, it is quite a mix of languages. We have 3 students learning German, 1 doing Chinese, and 1 doing spanish. Combine that with English and some Pidgin and the room gets very exciting. The final class of the day varies between Bible, P.E., Art, and a fun elective.
For Bible, the kids are all participating in Bible Quizzing. We are studying and preparing with the hope that we can send them to the general quiz at Olivet this upcoming summer.
The elective period is supposed to be a very fun class so the kids picked things they want to do and most of them have 2 electives. I am teaching Josiah and Ethan computer programming and they are watching a video on computer repair as well. Allison is learning how to use Photoshop on the computer then spending an hour a week learning how to be a teacher at the younger kid school. Lydia is learning pottery and spending an hour each week learning how to garden with Dr. Bill McCoy.
Overall, school keeps me pretty busy and I am there from around 7:30 am till between 3:30 and 5:30 in the afternoon.
Amy has been keeping busy teaching handwriting, spelling, and math at the younger MK school in the mornings. She also has joined the hospitality team here which keeps her busy planning events and cleaning in the afternoons.
On September 16, Papua New Guinea had it's Independence Day and we were invited by the Dooley family (some missionaries here) to spend the long weekend with them in Goroka which is a town about 3 hours away. It was a nice relaxing weekend where we got to swim a lot and enjoy some restaraunts. The following link has pictures of that weekend:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hollenbergpng/sets/72157627668806253/
Amy and I haven't had a pet yet in our two years of marriage and we both like dogs more than cats. However, one of the missionaries here has a cat that had kittens right before we came. We decided that we would take one of the kittens and it turned out to be a great decision! We both (Amy especially) have grown very attached to our little Florence Nightengale, or Flo for short.
However, while it does seem like a silly prayer request, we have one in regards to Flo. Flo's brother, adopted by the Radcliffe family, has recently developed what appears to be a bone problem that is making it very hard for him to walk. We thought it was caused by an injury but just about 2 weeks ago, Flo started limping on her right front paw. We suspected it could be an injury as well but then tonight, she started limping on her back right leg as well so that she can barely walk.
We suspect it may be a vitamin deficiency so we are trying to increase her calcium and vitamin D intake. Flo has been a wonderful companion so far and keeps Amy company in the afternoons. We are praying that we can fix this problem and that it isn't a genetic defect but would you be willing to lift our cat up in prayer? She is our first "child" and it makes it very sad to see her hurting.
As a praise, my roommate from college, Jordan Thompson and his wife are coming back to PNG this week. We are really excited for them to come and it will be a wonderful to spend time with them while they are here. Thank you if any of you were able to support them in their ministry. If anyone else would like to contribute to their mission fund, you can at: http://web.nazarene.org/goto/thompson.png.
Thank you so much for all your love and support. I will leave you with some prayer requests and praises.
On the Journey,
Stephen
Praises:
-Jordan and Rachel coming back
-A great 2 months and being able to adapt
-Having a wonderful cat to keep Amy company on days when she has nothing in the afternoon
-A country wide women's conference had a wonderful turn out last week
Prayer Requests
-Pray for Flo that she can recover from this problem
-Pray that God will open some doors for Amy and I to new areas of ministry.
-We have a hydro-electric plant that isn't working right now but we are trying to get it started again. Pray for everything involved in that process because it will take a lot of work and a effort to get it going again.
