Hello friends!

As we enter our last two weeks here, we feel it is time to reflect on our five months in Papua New Guinea. We want to thank you so much for partnering with us and being part of the experience. Thank you for your prayers, your emails, and your financial support.

We came with a slightly apprehensive mindset – we had visited PNG 38 years ago and hadn’t enjoyed the experience. And when we both came down with giardia in the first few weeks, that mindset was confirmed and Jane, in particular, started counting down the weeks and days till we could leave. Yet people prayed and encouraged us, and we received the correct medication, and have been wonderfully healthy since.

As our health improved, we found that we were feeling much more like a part of the college community, and it IS a community. From struggling to recognise anyone, and calling people by the wrong name most days, we started to distinguish them as individuals. We were assigned to a cell group, and that helped us get to know some students better. We were asked to mentor married students in the group, and were able to enter into their struggles, and pray for them.

Kenneth spent the first few weeks getting to know the level of English of his 28 students, and how he could best push them to get to where they needed to be at the end of the semester. This is the only time they will be taught English in their time at CLTC. Many feel their level of English is inadequate. However, most of them have gained in knowledge and confidence, and most recognise that getting AI to write an essay for them is not a good choice.

Jane’s responsibilities have turned out to be different from expected, but we had asked for prayer to be flexible! She hadn’t known her duties in the library would be full-time, and so she wasn’t able to take conversation classes with women students who speak very little English. From a slow beginning to her job in the library, when she really struggled with feeling useless and underworked, God helped her to look for ways to make herself useful, and her attitude improved markedly. Although her interaction with students is limited, she has gotten to know a number of them, and has a real love for them and their children.

Over the past four weeks we have been inviting Kenneth’s students in groups of about six to our place for afternoon tea. That’s a really nice way to finish our time here, as we have gotten to know them better and feel we can pray more knowledgeably for them. The combination of NZ baking and the PNG sweet tooth seems to be a happy one! We’re talking 4 or 5 teaspoons of sugar in a hot drink here. A lovely, and unexpected part of these afternoons has been on the receiving end of really appreciative comments from them. They are so thankful for Kenneth’s teaching, and his patience, and the way he gives second chances when they muck up.

Jane has received nice comments, too. Last week she was sitting reading a book and one of the students came up and said “Jane, you are such a busy lady”, and he went on to enumerate all the different parts of her job, none of which she was doing at the time. Another student said that they are so encouraged by our being there, (he didn’t say ‘at our age’, but Jane kind of understood that part). They see people like us ‘cross borders’ to help stir others to go overseas and serve. We are so grateful to God for using us somehow, to be an example to others.

As always though, when you enter into service for our Lord, you seem to receive much more than you give, and this time it was no different. We are so inspired by the worshipful attitude of the students here. A few days ago, we went for a walk up the hill behind our place, and up at the top a couple was singing a beautiful worship song together, while the guy played the guitar. Students really want to serve God, and while they may have issues they need to deal with (such as plagiarism), they are respectful, humble and seeking to honour God with their lives. Their backgrounds are often tough, and they have been through a lot to get to CLTC, but they know God has called them here, and they want to use what they learn here to help their people.

So that’s pretty much it, although there are a lot of things still unsaid. We are very grateful to God for this opportunity to serve here, and thankful to you guys for your prayers and support.

We will finish with the verse God gave us before we came here:

1 Corinthians 15:58; ‘Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in Him your labour is not in vain.’

In Christ,

Kenneth and Jane

Get in touch with SIM NZ to find out more about Kenneth and Jane’s experience and how you can support the students at CLTC.