Taking a break….

Adam and I had a great time together in Australia and made it back to PNG safely! 

A few months back, after a rough patch, we decided we needed this break. At first I felt guilty, even selfish about going on holiday (holiday=this part of the worlds word for vacation). I could hear the enemy whispering in my ear, “it will cost too much”, “people will think you are waisting money on luxurious vacations and frivolous things”, “you can’t leave the kids for a week”, “you have work to do”, etc. So, feeling heavily influenced by what the world was going to think of this “frivolous” use of time, I took it to prayer. 

Well much to my surprise, right away God gave me a tremendous sense of peace regarding taking time away from our work and the kids. I also felt Him telling me to stop worrying about what everyone else was going to think, that this was about building up our marriage and our call...and that He would speak to those who are behind us so that we would have their encouragement and support. 

While gone, I realized that we really needed this break, this time of refreshment, a time to “get” on the same page, to enjoy life together with little to no stressors. I remembered that guilt wasn’t from God, and as He lined up every flight, every taxi, and every bus, I saw His hand and blessing on our marriage and our time together. Learning to serve God with all our heart, mind, and soul is a process. It is not just about the times when we are turning out visible results. It’s also about the time when we are just resting in His embrace, enjoying His creation, taking time to refuel and unwind.   

This was the first truly intentional un-work/church/family related vacation we have ever taken alone. It was a building block in our marriage, a blessing. Thank you to those who encouraged us to take this time together. Thank you to the brave ones who loved on the girls for the week. Thank you to God for the beautiful world He created and for the realization that we CAN enjoy it!

"So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun."

Ecclesiastes 8:15

We went estuary fishing.

A Glimpse of our time…. 

We rode the Sky Rail to Kuranda and took the train back.

We went on a river boat ride.

We went to the Australian Armour & Artillery Museum.

We took time at the Cairns Zoo.

We had a great holiday together... 

Thanks for all the love and support while we are on this journey!

Spoiled...48 hours of uninterrupted electricity!

April 30th brought us the grand opening and celebration of our new hydro electric dam. It was standing room only, as representatives from AUSAID and Nazarene Health Ministries, along with community leaders and many others, shared in the excitement of a new, reliable, power source at Kudjip Nazarene Hospital.

  We came into the project a little over a year ago as it was about 1/3 of the way done. In the past year they have finished building the dam, canal, & power house, along with installing the gates, penstock, turbines, and new power lines through most of the mission station. However, not all of the change has been by means of physical construction. Around Christmas time last year, the national crew from the project had a revival which stretched into their communities and lines (tribes). Earl Hartwig, the project manager, has done an amazing job overseeing this project and leading by example.

The gates being lowered

Reservoir being filled

This past month , in preparation for the opening, we had a christian team here from Pennsylvania called “i-tec” (International Technical, Electric and Construction). They were made up mostly of linemen, but men of varying construction skill sets. They gave the station a much needed over haul in regards to our power lines. I really can’t explain what all they did, but it looks really nice! You can read more and check their group out at www.itec.org.   

Scott Dooley, Hospital Administrator,
helping to lower the gates

For the grand opening celebrations they closed the main gates at the reservoir and opened the gate to the new canal that leads to the hydro power house. This week they actually started up the turbines and we are officially operating on hydro power. It has been a shock to all our systems as we went a whole 48 hours without a power outage! 

"Kudjip Water Park"

There have been so many instrumental people over the past several years working to put this whole project together. I can’t even begin to name them all, but am very thankful for the long hours and sacrifice it took to get this project to completion. It will make a big difference for the community, but especially for the Kingdom, as Kudjip Nazarene Hospital is able to function on a more reliable power source. 

Stories from a Nazarene Hospital, from people just like you...

I wanted to share a story with you, for those of you that did not see my link on Facebook this week.

http://www.asiapacificnazarene.org/medical-failure-turns-into-spiritual-success/

If you click on the link it will take you to our Asia Pacific News Website where you can read an article written by Dr. Jim Radcliffe, who is our missionary surgeon on station. The article was titled "Medical Failure Turns into Spiritual Success", about a matriarch whose passing caused a bit of a stir. 

So many times we look only to our current situation and morn the depth of the situation or even dwell on the failures and disappointments. All the while, unbeknownst to us, God is orchestrating something so much bigger than we could even imagine. I was reminded this week of Ephesians 3:20, "Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." I was reminded once again (I'm a little slow, sometimes many reminders are needed!) that He is big, He is in control, and He is able. Out of the ashes we will rise...out of our complaining, out of our doubt, out of our loss...He will use it all. He will use the situations that look bleak and hopeless to make change. "More than we might ask or think..." He will use each of us and the situations that surround us to change the hearts and minds of our brothers, our sisters, our mothers, our fathers, our neighbors, our friends, our children.

I don't know about you, but I can get so caught up in the to-do's of daily life, the good and the bad, that I forget that out of winter comes spring...comes new life! Here in Papua New Guinea, grieving is such a part of daily life and in a way that western society cannot even imagine. The girls and I often make at least a weekly trip to the north end of station in which more often than not we pass the morgue only to witness another family grieving the loss of yet another family member, another father carrying his lifeless child, another loss, another heartache. My hope is that like Gertrude and her line, the family in Dr. Jim's story, I will choose each day to be an opportunity to have victory over my heartaches. I will choose to trust in the one who is able to handle more than I might even think or ask. And I will choose to celebrate and rejoice for this day that God has given me.  

We went to sing and pray with patients at the hospital this morning and my heart is heavy for a little girl with Pig Bel (a fatal type of food poisoning), they operated on her several weeks ago and her prognosis is bleak. Tonight as we prayed for little Haddi I thought of how God has a plan for each one of us. It may not be what we expected or what we want, but if we trust in Him He will not disappoint us. He will use our lives, no matter how short or long, to to do so much more than we could even ask or think. So, I want you to know that even at the ends of the earth, in PNG, God is at work. He is using lives to change peoples hearts and minds towards Him. He is using you and He is using me in such a way that we cannot even dream. Don't waste today, but use your situation no matter how marvelous or how bleak, to glorify Him and out of this season will come more than you could ever imagine. 

Blessings,

Stephanie Peterson

Kudjip, PNG

Gracyn and I praying with Haddi and her mama this morning...attempting to use our broken pidgin! 

Praise God that he knows our hearts and minds, because I'm still working on the Tok Pisin.

Final Photos: House C

Some amazing team work came together 

to finish these houses here at Kudjip Nazarene Hospital and Mission Station. 

Thank you also to the Nazarene Hospital Foundation out of Medford, OR, for the shipping of supplies to help furnish the houses.

Here is a look at House C

House C

2nd Bedroom

Master Bedroom

Master Closet

Bathroom

3rd Bedroom Closet

Dining Room

Kitchen

Kitchen Eating Bar/Dining Room

Laundry Room

Entry 

Living Room

Pantry

Each house is just a little bit different. Watch for the next update on House B, soon to be finished.

New Doctors Housing at Kudjip Nazarene Mission Station

We arrived in PNG mid April to find that Adam’s first big project was to take over the new doctor housing project, which was in mid swing. The hospital was building three new houses to accommodate prospective doctors coming on a more long term basis. We seem to have a real housing crunch here in at Kudjip, for both national staff and missionaries, the new houses are to be a great asset. 

May brought exterior painting and a great
Work & Witness Team to help.

Adam took over the position of supervisor on the
doctor houses as interior painting began.

When Adam took over the project there were about 15 national carpenters busily working on the interior walls. Adam oversaw the project from interior walls to a finished product. He worked with two Work & Witness Teams on the project and really had the opportunity to build his leadership skills as he worked along side the carpenters day in and day out. It was a great learning process and an opportunity to learn how to “build” an american style structure in Papua New Guinea.

In August, finish work started on the exterior.

As we speak, the last house is being cleaned and set up. We have a young doctor and his family moving into House C at the beginning of January and a visiting family staying in House B for Christmas. Though the project was a bit trying at times, it is a blessing to see a finished product and know that as one doctor leaves, perfect timing has played itself out for another doctor to come and have a home for his family.

Adam even got a chance to showcase his artistic metal work skills
with a custom railing on House A and B.

We had a local mission, EBC, come to help finish the kwila
floors, the finished product is really beautiful.

Our prayer is that these houses will be a blessing by providing more housing here at Kudjip. In return, we hope it will bring in missionary doctors to help with the continuous need at the hospital. 

Continue to pray with us as future doctors answer the call to serve at Kudjip Nazarene Hospital and Mission Station in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

House C

Look for three follow-up blogs highlighting each individual house in it’s finished state.

Hurried Life...

“If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, 

you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction 

and it’s not so bad.” ~ C.S. Lewis

This past month has been one of ups and downs, physically and emotional. I posted on Facebook that out of these trials came an opportunity to draw closer to God, a time to “get my attention” and refocus it back to Him. 

Sometimes it seems that I’m no different than a toddler. I find that once again God is having to repeat Himself to me. I thought we were past this? I thought we had this handled? But no, just like a small child, He has to tell me again, “Slow Down!” Funny how I thought to myself that moving 7,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean would some how slow life down. But, it seems that God is still tending to find me caught up in the to do’s of daily life; where rest only comes at the end of the day, that moment when my head hits the pillow. Too busy for God, but busy raising kids Gods way. Too busy for God, but busy nurturing my marriage. Too busy for God, but busy serving in missions overseas. All great things, but too many excuses, none good enough.

So, through divine inspiration and a friendly conversation, God is now leading me on a journey that my hurried soul needs. I am journeying through the book, One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp. I’m finding it a sometimes painful journey (as my eyes are opened to the truth), but none the less exactly where I need to be in this season. 

As of today, I finished the chapter called, A Sanctuary of Time. Imagine that! I revel in how perfect Gods timing and correction can be. But, as for painful, let me sum it up for you in a quote by Evelyn Underhill, 

“On every level of life, from housework to heights of prayer, in all judgement and efforts to get things done, hurry and impatience are sure marks of the amateur.” 

Ouch! At times...that is exactly me, an amateur. The hurry to get things done. Amateur; incompetent, inept, unskillful, clumsy. Well, I like to think of myself as the opposite of all of those things; I can cook, cloth diaper, keep house, manage a family, school my children, keep a garden, wash the laundry...and I can do it in record time, always able to squeeze in just one more thing; life as a housewife, I think I’m quite skilled. And, maybe so, but I think I’ve missed the big picture once again. Mark Buchanan in the book, The Rest of God, sums it up, 

“Being in a hurry. Getting to the next thing without fully entering the thing in front of me. I cannot think of a single advantage I’ve ever gained from being in a hurry. But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands lie in the wake of all the rushing...Through all that haste I thought I was making up time. It turns out I was throwing it away.”  

So, in fact, the very things that I am “skilled” at have made me an amateur at life. Life; the things in front of me today, the things that matter, the moments that make you stop and thank our Creator for His Grace. Amateur, yes, I am an expert at hurry and impatience, but unskilled at relishing life. Why didn’t I see it before? “We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing around ends in nothing.” (Psalm 39:6) Nothing...

So, the question must be asked, “What am I doing about it?”. You can’t have change without action. In the first few chapters of Ann’s book, she talks about being present, thanking God in all things, finding an attitude of gratitude in the seemingly insignificant. One question she asked hit home, “When did I stop thinking life was dessert?” Enjoying every morsel, bite by bite? I must see the seemingly insignificant moments, the every day moments, as dessert. I must stop my hurried pace in those moments and thank God for them, name them, say them, point them out.

This book, this challenge, to live right where you are, indeed a lofty goal. I am taking this moment by moment, for there is much more work for God to do, so many more details to work out. Yet, as I stop to thank God for the little moments, He is certainly showing me how He can multiply my time. He is showing me that in the hurried pace I loose so much, so many “dessert” moments, the little things that will one day be just memories.

Whether a first “meow” for a babbling one year old, a warm gooey chocolate chip cookie in the stillness of the evening, or the simple twinkle of Christmas lights atop a tree, I will stop, slow down, savor, and thank God for the tasty morsels in my life. I’m certainly not all there yet, but I’m consciously working on it...

And yet, there are seven more chapters to go on just this one journey...

Blessings,

Stephanie

“I will not desecrate this moment with ignorant hurry or sordid ingratitude. 

I will be Jacob, and I will name this moment the “house of God” (Genesis 28:19).” 

One Thousand Gifts, pp. 70