On the road again...

After our week at Pioneer Missions institute, Elizabeth and I took to the road again! We have supporters all over this country, and keeping up with them is just so much more satisfying in person than it is over the internet. Since school is out for us for a few weeks we took the opportunity to come all the way to Phoenix, AZ to visit with some of our supporters who made our trip this past fall a possibility. Since getting to Arizona we have had the chance to sit down to lunch with some good friends, work as volunteers in a church nursery, worship alongside some awesome Christians, and help a member of the church to move into a new house. Not bad for the first day.

Since we are in the area, we also plan on taking a short break by going camping near the Grand Canyon. Neither of us have had a chance to see this wonder of nature, and being so close it would be a shame if we didn't make the trip now. And since we are camping, the trip itself is costing us surprisingly little! Both of us are rather excited to be seeing something so "Grand" during our relatively short break this year. It will be a very much so needed vacation. (see Elizabeth's blog article on vacations here)

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In Search of A Hobby

Since the very beginning of our relationship, my wife and I have disagreed on what a hobby should look like. In the past I've spent most of my free time either reading books, playing games, or catching up on the news, but Elizabeth insists that the internet won't work very well as a hobby once we get to a place where we won't actually have the internet.


With that in mind, I have been considering a number of different hobbies that could help me pass the time, even while I'm off in a part of the world where I can't access my typical forms of entertainment. I think I've finally settled on one (we hope), but it was a long and convoluted path to get me there. I submit to you here a few of my more interesting attempts at finding a past time suitable for jungle living.

• Knitting - Don't judge me. Throughout all the years of my college education, I was constantly surrounded by people either knitting or crocheting, whether in my classes or out on the front lawn of my alma mater. We even had a blanket drive for the homeless in Little Rock where the idea was for each of us to knit or crochet a blanket so we could give a more human touch to our charity. Let's just say there are quite a few scarves that were handed out that year. I, however did not try to throw my hat into the knitting ring until I discovered that my wife has a great talent for the art. For Christmas, she even knitted me a false beard to keep my face warm! (see photo) I figured worse case scenario, I tried and failed, and the knitting needles I used could be incorporated into a spear once I got to PNG. My wife showed me the first few knots I would use to knit a small square, perhaps to be used as a coaster....or something. I valiantly worked on this small square for hours and hours (or maybe, you know...minutes) until I threw down the needles triumphantly! One row was finished! I have yet to pick the needles back up to start that second row. Probably not the best hobby.

• Photography - Ah, the arts. I actually got to try this one out while we were in PNG this past fall. Who wouldn't love taking pictures of the beautiful landscapes and fascinating cultural scenes that surrounded us overseas? Turns out, me. I tried. If you go through the photos from our trip you can actually tell just by looking which ones I took and which ones my wife took. Hers are the ones where you can't help but see the beauty of this fair country. Mine are the ones where blurry figures are walking around without heads. 

• Writing - Which brings us to my current endeavors. Coming up this summer, one of my favorite authors is broadcasting his creative writing class over the internet as part of a Distance Education project. What this means is that I will have the opportunity to learn writing techniques from one of the best for free. Needless to say, I'm excited about this. I've never written a book before. I still struggle with keeping an up to date blog. But that's all about to change! I'm about as excited about starting to write as a hobby as I was not for knitting and figuring out which camera setting to use after having already missed my opportunity for a great photo. In conjunction with this, my wife has encouraged me to start a new blog where I can practice writing by recounting stories of conversations we have had over a variety of different subjects. Hopefully writing for that will encourage me to keep writing for this as well. 

Words are important to me. My main hobby of the past was reading stories. While I may not always have the ability to find new stories to read once I'm overseas, I will always have access to the stories I create, and the stories about life with Elizabeth. If I can't read, I might as well write! Here's hoping this hobby sticks!

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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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