A New Year - A New Beginning

January 20, 2010 marked the two-month anniversary of our life in Papua New Guinea. It seems a fitting time to stop and reflect on this new beginning----for us and now for ELC-PNG. The newly elected leaders will be installed on March 7. A document, Vision 2020, was adopted at the Synod Assembly and now the real work of implementing the goals and synod resolutions begins. So, too, a new stage of our work begins, even though we will still be in orientation for some months to come. We don't know exactly what that work looks like but we feel we have a firm foundation. We have been received with open arms. We are the beneficiaries of the many missionaries that have come before us--pastors, teachers, and health workers---and we are called to work with the church of Papua New Guinea to continue to "build the church and strengthen the faith", a theme that we hear at Chapel every week. While there are likely to be some challenging times, we have faith that people will enter our lives, touch us in ways we never expected, and we will all grow together. That has been the lesson of our first two months. Thanks be to God! Or "Mi tupela tok bikpela tenkyu.." - "We give great thanks..."!