Provision

I've mentioned before, I think, that I'm working full time as a waiter in order to work my way through grad school. School is great and all, but it is amazing to me the variety of lessons one can learn in the workplace, if only you take the time to look around and think about what is happening.

One lesson I have learned is that there will be good days, and there will be bad days. Some days, you can work for a short time with tables that demand very little of you, and you will go home with more money than you expected. Other days you can work yourself to the point of exhaustion with tables who are hard on you, but you will make next to nothing. Don't let it bother you. Waiting tables, like much of life, is a game of balances. You may have a week of bad days, but if you trust in God, and persevere, God will take care of you. More than once I have started the week off poorly and made the entirety of what I had budgeted for in my final shift. Or conversely, I've started the week off great, and (admittedly) I grow confident that I will make more than enough for  my week, yet somehow I end up making just the same as the week before.

All throughout my waiting on tables, I have never been what I would consider rich, but we have always reached a point where we could pay our bills, even when unexpected expenses come up. (like a flat tire a couple weeks ago) God is faithful. But he also wants us to depend on Him. I think, perhaps, that is why He doesn't let us get too far ahead of ourselves. Even so, I know that if I work my hardest at my job, God will provide what I need to provide for my family. And I don't worry about the rest. I don't expect to get rich. I only expect to get by until such a point that we are ready to go to the mission field. And that's enough for me.

I don't know where everybody reading this is in their lives. If you are struggling, or gliding by. But I do know that God will provide for your needs. (read Matthew 6) I have the same confidence that by the time Elizabeth and I are ready to go overseas long term, we will have found enough people who believe in translating the Word of God into a language that has never had it before that we will be able to go. But for that to happen we will have to work our hardest, and persevere. And still we may just barely make it.

I hope God blesses each of you who is supporting us to get us through GIAL and to Papua New Guinea. And I pray that some of you reading this now will feel the call from God to start. We have a long way to go, but each day is a day closer.

Press on,

Jacob Smith

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Back to Class

Since getting back to the States, I haven't really felt as though I had very much to write about, though now that I look back on my time since PNG, I have accomplished quite a bit. This January I began going to classes again here in Dallas. I'm still taking it sort of slow as far as classes go, though, since I'm also working full time in order to be able to afford grad school. In January I took Grammar A, and then took a month break, as I have already taken the classes that were available in February. I took the opportunity having the month off of school afforded me to pick up some extra shifts at work for awhile. But now, as we move into March, my studies have picked up again, and Elizabeth and I could not be busier. Since classes started on Friday, we have been spending approximately 7 hours a day at the school, and Elizabeth has been spending pretty much the rest of her waking hours doing homework. Since Mondays and Tuesdays we don't go into work, she spent those evenings working ahead on her homework so she could go to work tonight and tomorrow without feeling too overwhelmed. Fortunately, in another week Elizabeth will be dropping her hours at work so that she will be able to devote more time to her studies, which is necessary if she would like to keep her sanity. Which I know I would prefer. I'm sure that things will smooth out for our schedule as we grow accustomed to our classes and what they require of us, and even if it doesn't, this session is only a month long. So, either way we will soon be through this rough patch and able to breathe again.

Please continue to pray for us, for supporters, and for learning to take place in our classes so we can gain the knowledge necessary for our work in PNG. I've been spending my days at the school after my class so that I can work on contacting or partners and save money on gas. If any of you would like to chat a little about where we are in our process and what our plans for the future are, give me a call any day between 9 and about 2-2:30. I'd love to hear from you!

Pressing on,

Jacob Smith

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I love my job

Our time here in Papua New Guinea is coming to a close. This time around. Our exploratory trip has been an absolutely wonderful experience, all in all. I've loved getting to know some of the other missionaries with whom we will be working, and I've loved meeting others of the missionaries here who will not be on the field by the time that we get here long term. Already I know that Elizabeth and I are looking forward to coming back for our first full term. The people here have been super friendly and helpful, and you can see the excitement in their eyes as they see scripture being created in their language.

Last week I was spending most of my time in the publishing office here in Madang, and my project was to work with one of the literacy guys who was in from the bush. He had written four stories in his language that he wanted to turn into books so that he could use them in his village. I had the opportunity to go over these four stories with him, and get them typed into the computer. Then he sketched up illustrations for them and we scanned them, and after a few more editing checks we had created four books that can now be used to help teach people to read. In the next room over Elizabeth was working with men from the same language group helping them to use the computer to make a first draft of Genesis in their language. That draft will go through some editing to make it grammatically correct, and then numerous checks to make sure it is a good translation, but she helped them to get them started on their way to having Genesis when before they did not have it. How awesome is that? And while we are only here for a short time this trip, we are just getting a small taste of what we will be doing with our lives here in PNG.

I love my job.

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Back to Madang

Flexibility is a virtue. Elizabeth and I have finally made it back to Madang. Our trip out to the village was only supposed to be 2 weeks long, but ended up being right around 3 due to some miscommunication. That's alright though, because during our extra week in the bush we had a ton of awesome experiences, from spearfishing in a nearby river, to petting a baby owl. During our time there we helped organize the literacy center, helped clear a garden plot with one of the families there, played soccer, and helped with a medical course. We cleaned wounds, and learned how to make bags. We ate fire roasted yams and discovered custard as a dessert option. We watched and participated in Bible studies (which doubled as great literacy classes), and we worked on putting fiberglass patches on the missionary's boat. We rejoiced in the birth of the village's newest baby, and we mourned with the village at the funeral of a young woman.

It truly was a fascinating few weeks for us, and really was confirmation for Elizabeth and I that we want to spend our time in PNG in a village setting as much as possible. For now, though, we're back to the daily grind of office work and translation checks here in Madang. Elizabeth has a checking session coming up where she will be going over a translation done by nationals with them. I was supposed to be doing a literacy workshop with another people group, but that has been postponed to a time after we will have already left country. So for me it is back to finding odd jobs around the office and helping where I can. For instance, today I filled in the text on 20 or so shell books to be used with literacy work and health education here in the city. T'was 4 and a half hours well spent, in my mind. I'm rather looking forward to seeing what I get to do tomorrow!  

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A slight delay...

I'm spending my birthday in the jungle. And not just the general, “oh, I'm in a nation that has jungles” type of jungle. I'm in the rainforest. In the bush. The kind of place where I get to go fishing by cutting up a vine and throwing it in the water and letting it kill the fish before I stab them with my spear. That kind of place.

But I expected that. What I didn't expect was my extra week here. You see, somewhere along the line we ended up not getting our helicopter ride out of here booked. It was one of those moments where every body thought somebody else had done it, but really nobody had. And 2 weeks in the village becomes three. I suppose that's alright though. There are plenty of things to do out here. For instance, the fishing I talked about above. Or cutting down trees to make room for planting crops, or playing frisbee. All good things. Then there’s the maintenance items for the missionary that lives here. I have been working on patching up the bottom of her fiberglass canoe so that she can use it again to get to town, instead of relying on helicopters and other people's canoes. Unfortunately, I am really bad with fiberglass. It is not a pretty looking patch job. So I have a lot of sanding to do, too. Along with pumping water into the head tank every day. (That's a tank of water that sits on top of the house so that gravity can provide us with running water) And whatever other maintenance items that she comes up with. I don't mind doing the extra work, I just wish I better knew what it was that I was doing. But she likes to have the help, and really, I could use the training, so it works out well for everyone.

Nevertheless, that's one week longer without a coca cola. Oh well.

*written Oct. 2nd

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PNG Independence Day!

Today is a national holiday. (Today was Monday, when I wrote this)

Well, yesterday, really, but as that was a Sunday, today is the day that everyone gets off work. Yesterday was the Independence Day of Papua New Guinea. They are celebrating 37 years of independence. So we, as missionaries, decided that we should celebrate by heading out to Jais Aben! (coincidentally, the office workers here do that every weekend anyway, but it was my first time!)

Jais is a resort on the coast of Papua New Guinea, about a 30 minute drive from town. From the very day that I started dating Elizabeth I have been hearing about her misadventures in Jais, from coral cutting her, to jellyfish stinging her, it just didn't sound like a good time. But she was excited to go back, and I had never snorkeled in a coral reef before, so when the truck was being loaded up we grabbed some snorkels and masks and hopped in the back.

First off, while the paved roads of PNG are much better maintained than the ones I remember from Africa, the truck we were in was not. There was much jouncing and bouncing in the bed of the truck, and I began to wish that I had brought along a seat cushion to sit on. Secondly, it was a holiday. The roads were filled with pedestrians walking to and from different goings on in the area. It was cool to see everyone out and about and dressed up in PNG colors. It was not cool to have people so close to our truck while we were driving that someone literally reached out and touched me as we drove past. I thought we were going to kill someone! Luckily, no one died, and soon we were on the open roads outside town.

Once again I was struck by the beauty of Papua New Guinea. Outside of town the trees were greener, and more plentiful, and I began to see more traditional houses instead of the concrete buildings you commonly see in town. Children in the tops of coconut trees waved to us we drove by. Turning off the main road, we found ourselves driving along a dirt path through the trees. At the end of this path was a gate, and through the gate was Jais!

Jais had well manicured lawns, trimmed bushes, and flower gardens, but the real draw was the beach! There was a sandy area about 10 ft by 10 ft square where you could get into or out of the ocean, and a tree with a rope hanging from it where you can swing out over the water and drop! Elizabeth and I walked into the ocean, put our faces in the water and took our first breath from our snorkel, and we were off. We spent probably an hour swimming above coral, and gazing down at an assortment of fish. (I even saw a clown fish, briefly) It was breathtaking. There were starfish so bright blue that I thought they were made of plastic, and a sea urchin I saw that was bigger than my head! Colorful fish flitted through the water below us, while canoes passed us by on the surface.

Back on land, we shared a plate of chips (french fries) with our friend Michelle who has been in PNG for a few months now, and listened to a group of local musicians playing on a bamboo instrument using flip flops. It was actually quite impressive. All in all it was quite a relaxing trip, even if it did only last a couple of hours. No cuts, no jellyfish, good friends and good times.

And the best part? This weekend, we're doing it again!

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Papua New Guinea!

I'm in PNG!

And it turns out my wife wasn't at all exaggerating when she told me we would be living in paradise. Although I've barely spent a full day here in Madang, I've already been impressed with the sheer beauty of this country. This is dry season, when it is sometimes possible for missionaries to run out of clean water to drink, yet everywhere I look this country appears green and vibrant to my eyes. Most of our day was spent at the Pioneer Bible Translator offices here, so I haven't had much time to see the strong sense of hospitality displayed by the Nationals here in PNG, but I'm certain that that too will come in time.

Elizabeth and I are most definitely still recovering from our time traveling. A day and a half of flying will exhaust anyone for a day or two, and adding in the extreme time difference, we've been lucky to have been able to stay awake during the few meetings that we've already had. In fact, our first two nights in PNG we both ended up falling asleep around 7, and waking up at 2 in the morning. Tonight we've already managed to break that streak. We're thinking about staying up til 9 or 10 even!

Even though I've traveled a fair amount, and been on numerous mission trips, I do believe that this trip would only be the second one where I could describe my time here as living in a country, and not just visiting. We do our own grocery shopping and cooking, we work in the office daily, and we have our own apartment. This trip, for me, isn't about the possibilities of Papua New Guinea, of what we could do while here, but rather about the realities of PNG. Of what my job will look like, and what it will take to live and work here long term. I appreciate that so much. Yesterday, for example, I inventoried a box of literacy materials that hadn't been looked at in over a year, due to lack of manpower. Most of what I found had already been documented and recorded elsewhere, but I did find one or two items that would allow the team to move forward with checking the translation of some teaching aid books. Today, I'm looking at doing data entry in the office. Indeed, we are living here, not just visiting.

Even so, there are a number of fun things that we will get to do on our weekends. We plan on going snorkeling around some coral off one of the beaches, we've heard of a nearby crocodile farm that we might decide to visit, and I'm still looking forward to the possibility of going spearfishing and pig hunting while we are doing our bush living.

As I write this out I am sitting in my living room talking with my wife. We had pineapple and Blue Mountain coffee for breakfast, and I cooked a stir fry for us to take to the office for lunch. We are in Papua New Guinea. And it feels like life. 

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