Author: Keith and Elspeth Campbell

POC is all that we expected, and yet for none of the reasons we expected.
The site, on top of Mount Nobnob, is amazing. You have to stop and absorb the view every time you walk from the haus slip (sleeping quarters) to the haus kuk (kitchen / dining area). Yet it has a dark side.

Prior to leaving for PNG, many friends questioned whether it was a safe place to live – obviously with the reports of violent people in mind.
The people couldn’t be nicer – it’s the environment that is out to kill you!
We have had numerous lectures on avoiding germs and disease carrying parasites, poisonous marine creatures, and creepy-crawlies that bite or sting. Even some of the plants can result in nasty looking blisters if you touch them.

Yet POC leaves you no choice but to put these issues in their right and proper place. The coastline is beautiful; the water warm and crystal clear; the bush fresh and full of life; and the local people welcoming and helpful. To succumb to fears of the bad would also limit our ability to experience all that is amazing about PNG.

   

We expected to find much beauty in PNG. What surprised us, will be no surprise to many who have served, or continue to serve here. The true beauty is in the people.

People like our Tok Pisin tisa (teacher), who walks up the mountain every day to spend mornings with us. Tisa Bat patiently corrects our mistakes, and encourages us to keep trying, keep learning. He knows that it is only through wantok (common language) that real relationships can be built. Wantok is a core value of PNG culture, maintaining ties within the village, clan, and nation.

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ              Romans 15:5-6

Please pray…
• for safety and good health during POC, for staff, students and families
• thanking God for the PNG Nationals that feed us, do our laundry, maintain the property, and find time to guide us in our language learning
• that we be able to grasp Tok Pisin, so as to relate to Nationals in meaningful ways

If there was one word that we have heard the past few days, it would be ‘waiting’. We have waited in airports for boarding calls, waited for take-off clearance, waited for the next flight. Even while enjoying a few days in Madang, there was a sense of ‘waiting’.

As we walked the streets, adjusting to the heat, the crowds, the sounds, and aromas, our minds were still on what lay ahead – POC, Ukarumpa and Lae.

But it wasn’t just us. In a way, the whole town seems to be waiting.

Street-stall vendors waiting for a buyer; labourers for their rest break; water taxis for the next load (or more than a load) of passengers; door security guards for someone to test their authority.

And always, there is the sense that they are waiting for something to happen.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.                                                                                                                          Romans 8:19-21

Madang is no different from Townsville, or anywhere in Australia. The developed world simply masks the waiting with schedules, projects and timetables. We plan to work, to eat, to exercise. We even plan our leisure time months in advance.

That isn’t the PNG way. Here, they wait.

Please pray…

• that we patiently wait for God to unfold all that He has in store for our next four months
• that POC be a valuable learning experience for all – 30 students and 17 children
• for good relationships during the next twelve weeks, as we ‘live in each other’s pockets’
• for the PNG church, as they wait for God’s glory to be made known across their country

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.    (James 5:13-14)

Our commissioning last Sunday (August 3) was everything we had hoped it would be. It was not so much a tearful farewell, as a joyful send-off from our church family of the past nineteen years. Special thanks to those visiting friends who joined us on the day – a reminder of the way in which our concept of ‘church family’ has been redefined over the past eighteen months.

Keith – That said, it was the final ‘man-hugs’ with a couple of guys that brought a lump to my throat. They were among the first to welcome me to the church back in 1995, and have continued to both challenge and support me in word and deed ever since.

Elspeth – I expected that saying goodbye would be too much emotionally, and was surprised that I held everything together. Then about 3am the following morning, I woke up, and cried at the thought that it was all over – 19 years of learning, growing and serving.

Next weekend sees us dash to Sydney for a family wedding, and yet more farewells. Please pray for us in respecting the emotions involved. It is easy to be focussed on our excitement at serving, and miss the potential impact on relationships of being away for two years.

A fresh dozen…

Come and see what God has done:                                                                                                                                          He is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.                                                                                                       (Psalm 66:5)

Since our last blog in July, the Lord has moved an awesome outpouring of generosity. We have committed to the Pacific Orientation Course, with our initial costs covered in full by the advance financial support received so far. As to our ongoing position, we have pledges and gifts totalling 88% of our required support – so if you are able to commit $30 per month, contact us this week to be one of those dozen 1% supporters.

We can do nothing more than trust Him for the remaining 12% pledge as we prepare to fly from Cairns to PNG on August 14. Humility has become a way of life for us now. There is no other way to react other than to acknowledge that God is at work in all things. We continue to receive support from folk we have not even met – and are reminded constantly of the prayers of many paving the way.

Prayer points

• Praise God for an amazing month! In our weakness He is strong.
• We need to give time to what matters, namely relationships – with God; each other; family and friends as we say goodbye.
• Uphold us in all the ‘little things’ – safe travel, remaining calm, managing to sleep.
• Pray for the 20 people taking part in POC, and the leadership team. It will likely be a challenging time culturally, socially and spiritually.

Exciting news! Word has come from SIL Papua New Guinea that we “have been penciled in” to assume the management role at Lae Regional Centre. There could well be the possibility of this changing – apparently there is a saying among American missionaries in the Pacific, “That’s set in Jello!”

The folk there are praying for us – the PNG National staff, the project teams, and particularly the ‘temporary’ manager who has been covering the role since early this year.

Continue to pray for our progress in these last few weeks before we need to fly out for the August orientation course. Our pledged partnership support is currently around 70%, however the generosity shown by those supporting us through our preparations for mission, and the gifts from churches we have visited since November last year, have us at 86% for the initial qualification to commence our assignment.

If you, or your church has been considering partnering with us, please pray about it, and let us know of your decision in the coming week.

During EQUIP Summer School earlier this year, a lecturer shared a YouTube clip of a young boy riding a roller coaster, as an introduction to both the imminent learning process and the journey we may be undertaking as we seek to serve God.

With six weeks to go until our scheduled departure, it feels like we are at the highest point of a wild ride, with gravity about to kick in! From the moment of stepping on board in December 2012, we have been conscious of the fact that it is God, not gravity, controlling things. The sense of trusting Him is progressively building along the way. We have been encouraged by those who have been on the ride before us, and their cries of “It’s AWESOME!”

We really do not know what He has in store for us, but we know His character, and have experienced His love and faithfulness. That will do us for now!

The Definition of an Emotional Roller Coaster (The action is from the 45 sec mark, and the punchline at the end)

August 3 commissioning…

Our commissioning will take place at Willows Presbyterian during the August 3, 8:30 am service, but we will be attending all three services as this is our final time worshiping with our church family of the past 19 years. Please pray that we will be effective in maintaining the relationship with folk who have been such a blessing to our family. They truly are our “brothers and sisters” (Matthew 12:48-50) and we love them dearly.

1% interest…

It is a challenging thing to reconcile trusting God fully, while actively looking to the Church for support of the mission work. Wycliffe focuses on Paul’s relationship with the Philippian church in laying a foundation for the whole process. In Phil 4:15, Paul applauds their sacrificial giving in support of his gospel work, acknowledging their “partnership in the gospel” from day one (Phil 1:5).

The requirement for 100% financial support ($3,167 per month) is the only hurdle before August 15. To date, our support is at 66%, so we are seeking another 34 people to commit 1% of that total – around $30 per month – to fulfil our obligation to Wycliffe of covering our costs in full.

If you have been following our journey, and can help us make that final step, we would love to hear from you. Send us an email at keith-elspeth_campbell@wbt.org and we can guide you through the Partnership process.

If you prefer an anonymous contribution, simply visit Wycliffe Bible Translators’ donation page at wycliffe.org.au/donate/payments/ and follow the prompts.

We hope to have our Partnership finalised in time to schedule flights for mid-August 2014, to commence Pacific Orientation Camp near Madang – where we will learn (or begin to learn) the Tok Pisin language and some cultural insights needed to build relationships with our local community.

Prayer points

Join us in praying for the remaining funds to come in. That’s a big one!

Thank God for the support we have received from Wycliffe at every stage of this journey. There are many who have gone before, and are prepared to share their experience with us.

Pray for God’s people in PNG. They have showed much patience over the decades taken to provide them with the scriptures in their heart language – and there remains much more to do!

Pray that others will be stirred by God to fill vacancies in the field. Be specific – check out Wycliffe’s vacancies on their website, and pray for workers to join the harvest.

Heaps of friends have questions about what we are doing, and when we take the step on to a plane bound for PNG. So here is a refresher!

What we can tell you …. 

We are ALMOST there!  Our home-based training has been completed in February 2014, our visas and medicals are in process, and we are sorting what remains of our worldly possessions into three piles – give away, ship to PNG, or store for two years.

All that remains is for our Partnership Support to be finalised, and we continue to visit churches, chat over cups of coffee, and generally take every opening to share the opportunity of this ministry. We have partners committing around 51% of our required $3,167 monthly support, with perhaps 3%in additional pledges yet to be confirmed.

If you have been following our journey, and can help us make that final step, we would love to hear from you. Send us an email at keith-elspeth_campbell@wbt.org and we can guide you through the Partnership process. If you prefer an anonymous contribution, simply visit Wycliffe Bible Translators’ donation page at wycliffe.org.au/donate/payments/ and follow the prompts.

We hope to have our Partnership finalised in time to schedule flights for mid-August 2014, to commence Pacific Orientation Camp near Madang – where we will learn (or begin to learn) the Tok Pisin language and some cultural insights needed to build relationships with our local community.

What our job will involve!  The Regional Centre managers directly assist multiple translation and literacy teams, providing administrative support, financial management, arranging supplies, transport or medical aid, and maintaining their lines of communication with the organisation and Partners. The Centre also provides temporary accommodation, and facilities for training and other events.

We will be working with PNG national staff in the Centre, so our ability to communicate and build relationships will be crucial. Making contacts in the community, and getting involved in a church will be high on our agenda in the initial months.

What we can’t tell you, yet ….

Where our eventual assignment will be! Of the seven Regional Centres supporting translation and literacy projects across PNG, five are in need of qualified, permanent managers. We have been advised that
several centres are managed by translation staff diverted from active roles in the field. This really generates a sense of urgency in our hearts – we can free a couple to return to the task they have trained hard for… putting the word of God in the hands of the PNG church.

Thankfully, the decision rests with SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) in PNG, and we know the outcome is in the Lord’s hands.

Prayer points

Join us in praying for the remaining funds to come in. That’s a big one!

Thank God for the support we have received from Wycliffe at every stage of this journey. There are many who have gone before, and are prepared to share their experience with us.

Pray for God’s people in PNG. They have showed much patience over the decades taken to provide them with the scriptures in their heart language – and there remains much more to do!

Pray that others will be stirred by God to fill vacancies in the field. Be specific – check out Wycliffe’s vacancies on their website, and pray for workers to join the harvest.

April 5, and one week out, there was more than just our daughter’s wedding day approaching. Cyclone Ita certainly made for an interesting time the following weekend, as guests joined us to celebrate the marriage of Shawn and Elisabeth Auld. It was a joyous time…

Sorry, I have to pause the wedding update.

As I research the Cyclone Ita facts, I am confronted by the tragedy which preceded it in the Solomon Islands. Flooding resulted in the deaths of twenty-three people with more unaccounted for. As the media in Australia focus on the Qld situation, 10,000 have been left homeless in Honiara alone, and over 50,000 people are in need of aid. Pray that the Christian community, and Wycliffe teams particularly, will be able to respond to community needs in ways which display the compassion of Christ.

The rest of April offers a short time to recover, while refocussing on preparing for PNG. During May we have four mission presentations, including a mini-road trip north for two weeks, before returning for a Christian Convention early in June. Partnership building is progressing in earnest, with only four months to go til our intended departure. [Pacific Orientation Course (POC) has been rescheduled to commence August 24, near Madang]

In the midst of this, Keith has picked up some contract work with a past business client, and has aspirations of completing a few much needed renovation projects around the house. Elspeth continues to be the effective hub of all the visa applications, medical forms, arrangement of mission talks, etc., that have been part of our lives since mid-2013.

There is a verse on our living room wall which keeps us grounded…  “Many are the plans in a man’s heart,but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”  (Proverbs 19:21)

Prayer points

Praise God that He is in control… of cyclones, floods, daily provisions… and achieves His purposes through all things. Pray that we might trust Him always.

Pray for Shawn and Elisabeth, that they may set a godly example in their relationship as they continue to connect with friends and family.

Thank God for Keith’s work, and that it provides time for many other responsibilities.

Pray that we may make the most of opportunities to reconnect with churches visited in 2013.

It was an odd return to life in Townsville. We arrived late morning, March 3, and ended up just sitting on the couch for several hours, adjusting to not being on the road in ‘mission mode’. That afternoon, we participated in a memorial service for one of the dear older women at church, with Elspeth delivering the eulogy.

Our pastor spoke from Psalm 23, on the comfort that comes from knowing the Good Shepherd in the face of troubling times, and even in death. It was good to dwell on the relationship God has with His people, His ability to provide for every need and in every situation, and His desire to sustain us to the end.

It seemed easier to keep our focus on God while travelling and either speaking about PNG, or training to get there. Back home, we have so many other things vying for attention – work, bills, housework, home maintenance, and organising a wedding – that it is a trap to see these things happening outside of God’s purposes for us.

While in Toowoomba, we picked up a study on Matthew by Phil Moore, planning to use it for regular reading together. On returning to Willows church, we found the current preaching series working through Matthew chapters 3 to 7. God is less than subtle at times!

From Phil Moore’s introduction;

“(Matthew) uses the Greek word basileia, or kingdom, fifty-six times in his twenty-eight chapters, stressing the revolutionary call of Jesus the King and of his Kingdom. He divides (the book) into Jesus’ words and Jesus’ deeds, so that we will not mistake Jesus for a mere lecturer in religious philosophy, but grasp that he is the-King-on-a-Mission and that he wants to enlist us as his willing followers.”

Christians aren’t just biding their time till heaven, but are part of Jesus’ Kingdom now. During our time of ‘waiting’ for PNG, perhaps we need to see all that our lives entail at the moment as part of God preparing us for Kingdom service. Certainly in our work, our finances, and the wedding preparations, there is the clear choice to do things in a way which honours Him.

Pray that we make the best choices!

Prayer points

Praise God that His word is sufficient to teach, rebuke, correct and train us for His work. (2 Tim 3:16-17)

Uphold Shawn and Elisabeth as the wedding day approaches (April 12). Pray that the event itself and their life together, will honour God.

Thank God for our church family (Willows Presbyterian), for their continued encouragement and support of us, and that the preaching continues to hold us accountable!

We find ourselves immersed in language continuously, and have discovered that Summer School tends to get into your brain, changing your thinking on many issues.

But it’s not all serious…

It had been a rough day, and as I arrived at the party I was chalant, despite my efforts to appear gruntled and consolate. I furled my wieldy umbrella, then saw her, a descript individual, in a state of total array. Her hair was kempt, her clothing shevelled, and she moved in a gainly way.    (adapted from Jack Winter, The New Yorker, July 25, 1994)

Just one of the examples of how we all understand and follow language rules daily, yet the majority of us haven’t studied intently. Language is learned rather than studied.

For our Language Learning subject, we are experiencing a crash course in Indonesian (Jakarta) over fourteen one-hour sessions with a local native speaker. Pak Agus is a gracious Christian man, and very patient with us as we butcher his language repeatedly!

Our core language development will come later in PNG as we work, worship and relate to the community in the Tok Pisin language. The main point of our time in EQUIP is to develop skills which will prepare us to learn effectively – to reprogram our brains to become language learners.

As we study Language Awareness (grammar), we have worked through homework examples from Vietnamese, Bisa (Ghana), Arabic (Iraq), Farsi (Iran), Swahili (Kenya), Icelandic, and many others. (Don’t expect us to understand anything more complex than “The boy climbed a tree”).  Each language has its own rules and distinctive style – it is no surprise that scripture is often ‘lost in translation’. Before Des Oatridge translated the gospel into Binumarian, he asked a village leader what he knew about the crucifixion.

‘Oh, when Jesus came to earth he handed out money, watches, clothing, cars, aircraft, knowledge – all the riches you white men have. Then the white men crucified him on a cross to prevent him giving the same things to the black man. White men don’t want black men to have these things.’

Hopefully, what we truly want to give to a needy world is that which they need most…. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32)

Prayer points

. Pray that we may fully trust all things to our great God “who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”. (Ephesians 3:20)  We still have a way to travel before we get to PNG.

. Give thanks for general safety during a period of high bushfire risk. We evacuated at one point, and the fire fighters (CFA) based their operations at the end of our street!

. Thank God for providing a wonderful church to attend – Reservoir Presbyterian. (Photo above)

.  Pray for the students to be clear on God’s promises, as we confront many issues related to cultural exposure and other religious worldviews.

We found the two to three weeks holiday to be a much needed break, even though we managed to add a few thousand kilometres onto the ute. 

We farewelled Elspeth’s family in Toowoomba, and on the Sunday, worshipped with Keith’s parents in Maclean, and shared our PNG plans. We had some great conversations afterward and were assured of everyone’s prayers. Christmas with the Campbell’s provided the anticipated food, stories and laughter, with everyone together for lunch. A dash to Brisbane meant Hannah could join us, and then we delivered her back in time for work on Boxing Day. The trip south provided the opportunity to visit family and friends on the way, before basing ourselves outside of Wangaratta for a week. In a comparably small region, there was such a diversity of scenery – from dry bush, through lush forest, to chilly alpine country. God is an awesome Creator.

But now we are here, at Kangaroo Ground! Our group of fourteen students are diving into Language Learning, Language Awareness, Phonetics, and Anthropology. The learning curve is fairly steep at times, but there is a great amount of support and encouragement from everyone on site. It is a change to be learning from lecturers and texts with a clear mission focus. One reading included a moving passage from Lynette Oates’ Hidden People, an account of Des Oatridge’s translation work among the Binumarian tribe in PNG. After helping in checking John 6:58, a national translator working with Des confronts him;

“Why didn’t you tell my father? You have known all this time that all anyone has to do to have eternal life is to have faith in Jesus. And you let my father die without telling him. Why?”

“But Su’uwa, in those days I didn’t know how to say it to your father. I couldn’t find the words. Only now have you given me words to say it to you.”

We must do all we can to help find the words.

Prayer points

Ask God to continue “to send out workers into His harvest field.”  (Matthew 9:38)

Alan and Faye Canavan (Wycliffe missionaries) begin their journey home to Townsville this week, after a year on furlough. Pray that they will be able to rest and relax along the way, and for safe travel.

Praise God for the time with Keith’s family, particularly that Hannah was able to enjoy it with us.

Pray for all of the Summer School students, that we would develop skills to be useful in service to God. Some are also still determining what form that service may take in the near future.