pryor john bonita 1979 png

7/24/2019 Pryor John Bonita 1979 PNG

1/8

NEW

GUINEA

NEWS

Forwarding

Agents:

Mr.

nd Mrs.

Dale

Dunlap

Route16,

Rhea Road

Knozville,TN 37920

^

John

and Bonita Pryor

Volume

3

September-October, 1979

No

TheGras

ountry

Convention in June

was a

ood

experience or

l l

of

s,

espite

a

rather shaky

beginning.

The olk at

Samban

had

onstructed

anew

uilding

for worship,

but as

l l the folk gathered,

one of

the main

beams supporting

the

f l o o r

began to break. Amid

the

loud

cracking noise,

the f l o o r lowering

about

ten inches, and

people

jumping out the

windows,

some f

us began

to

wonder

f

we ere going

to

have a eeting

f t e r

a l l

The edication s ervice to commence

the

Convention did continue.

Afterward

al l

the

men

athered to

i f t

up the

l o o r

and

insert a new beam,

plus

add a

couple

more,

nd

h e

rest

of he meeting went

on

without urther incidents of

his

nature.

Michael, Helen and

Brooke

Burgar

represented

the

Australian Churches of

Christ

Mission

at the Convention.

Michael

led

a

series

of

studies

from

Hebrews 2:2 ach morning,

hile during

the

other

services

various

local

pastors

shared

from God s

Word.

And onita ed

twoafternoon

essions orthe

adies.

The

people of Samban had worked hard to

build the

new building,

provide

sleeping

quarters,and ather and repare ood or

those

attending.

Their

e f f o r t s

were

greatly appreciated

by those

in

attendance.

The

third

week

in

June

found

unexpectedly in Madang.

Jesse

required

to have

urgery.

Wehad b

keepinga lose check onhim or what

doctor

in Wewak had diagnosed

a

hydrocele.

Hehad

autioned us hat

f

swelling became pronounced we

ho

contact a doctor immediately.

Monday morning after the Convent

ended

on

Sunday,

e

alked

to our

doc

in Madang ia

our

radio

ked. He dvi

us

to

bring

Jesse

in

soon. So

ne

an

half

hours

later, we were

on

our wa

Madang.

The surgeon at the Mada

hospital confirmed a

hernia

condit

and

suggested we have t taken

car

because of our isolated living situat

Our i r s t reaction was ypical. But

the i n i t i a l

shock,

we

were

in

agreement

with our doctors.

As far as

we

are

concerned Je ss

recovery

was

othing

short

of

a

ira

His urgery was ver by :00 a.m. Aft

three

hour

nap

and some ce

cream

wasup

and wal king about as

f noth

had ever happened.

By

vening he w

running

up and down

the

halls of

hospital. Needless to say, he w

dismissed

the

next day. Within


2/8

weeks

we ot the

go-ahead to

go

back

to

the bush. The

whole experience

was a

tremendous

lesson

on how our Father

looks after His children.

Upon eturning

o

Samban e earned

in

more

e t a i l

whatwehad

otten

wind

of

in Madang about

our timber

being

transported, e

had

not

been

shipped

I

had

to

make a r i p

to Angoram to check

into

the problem. There had

been

machinery breakdowns

at

the

sawmill.

S t i l l praying that God would

take

control

and keep

the

water level

in the creeks

at

an adequate l e v e l

and

provide the

timber,

we

marked off the house and

began the cement

work.

thankful or

good

workmen

who

rovi

a ot of elbow grease". I was lad to ha

Bonita's

help,

too, as

she

was th

working right

along with

a l l us guys

Our house

will be up

on

seven-foot

posts, to guard

against

possible

high

water,

and

o

be

as oolas ossible.Sowe

had to

dig

forty holes, eighteen inches

deep and

about

ten inches square, and

form a

ten

inch

square

block above

the

surface

on

which the posts

are

to stand.

In addition to the

cement stumps we

needed a

ix

foot by ineteen foot

pad or

our

water

tanks to s i t on, a pad

for

our

outhouse, pads or the bottoms of the

two

staircases, and a twelve foot

by

ourteen

foot pad underneath the house for a

workshop and storage

area. All

of

the

cement

had to

be mixed by hand

and

therefore, took

two

weeks.

But we

were

We re now waiting for

the rest

of

timber.

It w i l l have to be

transpor

from Wewak. The

Lord

has

blessed

with several unseasonal showers,and

water has remained

up. In

fact,

creeks

should

have been down by n

People in a

nearby

village have accu

the Samban

people of working magic

keep the water up.

It has

been

a

go

opportunity

for

our people to witn

about

the power of prayer.

Another beautiful thing we h

witnessed

in just this

last

week w

twenty of our Samban eople giving

th

lives

to

the

Lord. The Mission h

ongoing

Discipleship

classes at e

station, taught by the local pasto

People interested

in becoming hristi

attend the classes to learn

about

Christian

walk. t heend

of

each er

of classes there is a aptismal

service

those who ecideto

follow

theLord. P

of the significance for conducting

classes

in this

manner s

the role

t

baptism plays in the

i f e

of

each

onve

Baptism

is

his

formal announcem


3/8

that

he

i s renouncing his

past

and

accepting

Christ as Saviour

and

Lord

of

his l i f e . It is interesting to

note

that the

local Christians do the baptizing, and

that men

baptize

men,

and

women

baptize women. Some f the folks were a

l i t t l e

surprised when I told them

that

back

home

I'd

never

seen

a

woman

baptize another woman, ut that t

was

customary

or

the pastor or male eaders

to do

a l l

the baptizing.

The

word

for

Christian in

our language

refers to one

who

has een washed

n

baptism. Soyou

can

see what

a

ignificant part baptism

plays

in the l i f e of a

hristian

here.

Not nly did July 22mark

he

Spiritual

birth for these

new

converts,

but

i t

also

marked the

second

birthday of our l i t t l e

Jesse. I t is hard to believe

he

is two

already. We aped his party

for

our

folks,

but wehad

o

doa ot of ranslating of is

speech.

Although he

understands

English, he speaks mostly Pidgin

English

with

a

mattering of

nglish and

Botin.

He

id enjoy a ery

nice

birthday,

and we enjoyed i t

with him.

The

next three

to five months will be

spent in building

our

house. We

s k yo u

t o continue in

prayer

with

us

that

o

timber w i l l getin and that

our house

go up

smoothly. We re grateful for yo

continued support of our work,and pr

God's blessings

for you.

JESSE S

CORNER

I guess the part I liked about going

the hospital was getting to eat some

cream. I

can'tsay hat

liked too much

the rest of

i t .

I

hope I don't have to

back there for a ong time. My octorw

real nice. I saw him

n Madang

efore

came back, and he

e t

me eat part of

sandwich

at the snack

bar.

It was

good o

get back

to

Samban

and o a l l

friends.

They

l l

wanted o see where

doctor

cut me Ed. note

-

idgin

operate on ).

I

really

like

to show

ff

scar, too. I really had

a

neat

birth

party.

We

had

cake

and ice cream an

got some neat presents. Mamma a

Papa

gave

me

a

i t t l e guitar uke) o no

won't have

o bother papa

about

playi

his all the time. Maybe l l

e

able

really play i t by

my ext

birthday.

S

ya,

Jesse.


4/8

SHARING

N

THE

WORD

One f the lessons we'velearned

while being here in PNG s that

while one sharesfrom the Word o

others,

he

must lso i l l himself

n

proportion to what

he

hares. If

he

doesn t

take

time

to i l l

himself,

he

may find himself

in

a

situation

where

he

needs to draw from

his

own spiritual

resources

and

then

find he has none from which to

draw.

It

can work onversely,

oo.

With no

sharing

and constant

f i l l i n g

there

will be stagnation.

Read

Hebrews

4:12, 13, and

consider

this

that I read

recently.

The

i r s t thing to

be

noticed is

that the

Word f

God s living. His

Word is

sure to

be living when

we

see t . For fwe do ot ind t living,

we simply have

failed to

see the

Word. We

ay have

ead over

the

words

f the

Bible,

but f we o ot

touch something living, we do not

see God's Word.

Jesse and

Bonita

in hospital

Madang.

w

W -7

OS


5/8

^0

N WGUINEA

Forwarding

Agents:

r

and

Mrs Dale Dunlan

Forwarding

Agents:

Mr.

and Mrs.Dale

Dunlap

Route

16,

Rhea Road

Knoxville.TN

37920

John and

Bonita

Pryor

Volume

3

November-December,

1979

Numbe

At

the

end

of

September

we

were

in

Madang.

The

semi-annualPBT eeting

had

been

the

20th

to the 23rd and

we

remained

in

Madang

n

order o r Bonita

t o f a m i l i a r i z e

brother

David Pryor

on

the

PBT

bookkeeping procedures. Bonita

had

been s s i s t i n g

Ron

ugsburger n t i l

he l e f t the

f i

rst

of October

for

a two

month s speaking tour i n the United

S t a t e s .

So

he was ble to acquaint David

with the accounting system of

th e

support work that he would be assuming

in

Ron s absence.

After

explaining the procedures, we

were readyand ager o r e t u r n t o Samban

and

resume work

on our house.

We

arrived

back

in Samban

on October

12,

and began immediately wherewe ad e f t

o f f back in August.

At h i s

point we e e l

that the

Lord has

eally

blessed

u s

n our

housebuilding. The work has

moved

along

q u i t e

w e l l .

There have

been

only

a

couple of minor i n j u r i e s . And

elays

in

working have come at times wh en r e s t

was

eeded anyway.

Typical work

days

began at

6 : 0 0

a.m. and

continued

u n t i l

noon. Afternoon hours rangedfrom :30-

3:00

u n t i l

6 : 0 0 - 7 : 0 0 depending on when

a

good

q u i t t i n g

point

was

reached.

T

midday

break was ong

enough

t o

al

for rest and

to avoid

the

midday

s

which is

unbearably

hot.

John and he lpers nailing door

jam


6/8

When

we e f t Samban n August, the

p o s t s

had been e r e c t e d , we ad n a i l e d

a l l

the bearers

the

timbe rs thatrun across

the width of he house

on

he ine of osts)

and

had begun to nail

l o o r

j o i s t s .

From

October 15-20, we inished nailing

the

f l o o r

j o i s t s ,

braced

among he

p o s t s ,

and

began p u t t i n g down

the

tongue

and

groove

f l o o r i n g .

The

ollowing

week we

f i

nished

the flooring,

laid

out the plates

and

chiseled

out for a l l the studs. The

usual method

for

building partitions here

i s

chiseling

out a l o t for each

stud.

This

adds

extra strength, and i s h e l p f u l

especially

where

earthquakes

are

concerned.

From ctober29-November

,

we tood up a l l

the

p a r t i t i o n s

and n a i l e d

no ggins

braces

between s t u d s , o r

the

same reasons

as above),

and ran out of

n a i l s .

At

he beginning

of

the

next week

we ot more

n a i l s , b u i l t

and stood up

the

back s t a i r s , nailed

the

a f t e r s ,

and

added

additional nailers

where

extra screen

wire would

be

stapled. Then from

November 2-17 we ut on he sisalation

(a

thick r e f l e c t i v e paper

that goes

underneath the

corrugated

iron roof to

Putting up

oofing

iron.

help keep

the

house r

om

e t t i n g too h

and f i

nished

putting

the

roofing iron

and

also

the

g u t t e r i n g . During

following

week, we

enclosed

the ho

and sleeping sections in screen

w i r e , a

built

the

ront staircase.

The

reason

p u t t i n g screen wire

throughout

the

ho

i s

to p r o t e c t ourselves rom

he

mosqui

which

are q u i t e p l e n t i f u l

here during

wet season. And we re hoping to av

having t o sleep

inside

mosquito n

which

wehave done n the

past.

Also,

wall

of our house will be o n l y eight

inches high a l l around

the house

so a

take

advantage

o f every

bree

Unfortunately, the breezes are not

p l e n t i f u l as the mosquitos. Next

we

the f irst week

in December

we will

going t o

Wewak

t o

p i c k

up plumb

s u p p l i e s

and

a l l

the i n c i d e n t a l s w e l

needing to f i

nish

up

the house.

During the

time

we ave

been bac

Samban we have enjoyed the comp

of Dianne

Feeney,

who is here

do

research among

he

Botinsand

maki

comparative study between them

another language group in

the

Ra

River

area.

Her

research

will

aid

u

several areas of ur work. Dianne

s

of the teachers at

Woolwich

ible Col

in Sydney ustralia.

Several

people

have

asked us how

spend

various t r a d i t i o n a l

U.S. h o l i d

Sowe hought you

might njoy

sharin

our Thanksgiving. We probably s

our time in

preparation

f o r

the

m

somewhat i f f e r e n t l y from you. All of

food

preparations were

from

scrat

e

utchered

our

own

duckand

hic

n o

turkey.

Our

umpkin p i e began

pumpkin, which

Bonita

cut up, t r a i

and mixed

with various

ingredient

make

a

t r u l y d e l i c i o u s p i e .

We

mis

cranberry sauce, nd a

r e s h

t o s s e d sa

but

Bonita's

dressing

was ood

enoug


7/8

us on

he house). And

on

op of

l l this,

have

the f a i t h f u l prayers

and

support

a l l of

you back home.

The

ord has

r

been good to us.

Our family

wishes

you a l l a hap

holiday season, and God's

r i c h

blessings in the New Year.

Bonita

cutting pumpkin.

make

up o r t . We

issed

being with l l

our

families,

but

explaining things

to

Dianne

on

the

details

of the f i r s t

Thanksgiving

helped

t o

make

the

conversation

at

the table quite i v e l y . We

we re able to listen to

parts

of some

holiday f o o t b a l l games

the

next day,

which

was

ctually Thanksgiving in the

States.

When we began to

count

ur

blessings,

we found much f or which we were

thankful.

First o f

l l ,

we

re

a l l

healthy.

Next, he

Lord

has e a l l y b l e s s e d us

n

the

progress

we

have been able

t o make

on

the house.

I t s

really amazing o

us how

rapidly

the house has gone up. And we

are

so thankful for

the

willingness o f

he

people to

help

us we

have

been

hiring

local men rom rea villages to work or

JESSE S CORNER

I have

e a l y

had a o t of un helpi

(Ed.

uotes)Papa ndMama uilding o

new

house.

I

s p e c i a l l y

l i k e t o

d r i l l h o l

butPapa e t s

c r o s s

i f I make a

o l e

i n

new l o o r , instead ofan l d p i e c e of o

A

ole

s

a ole,seems o

me.

didn't

seeing

my

r

iend

Mandape

cut

up

chicken

and duck

friends, but

they

s

were

good

a f t e r Mama ooked them

Thanksgivi ng. I can't wait o move

our

new house

cause then

l l

get

a

ro

ofmy ery

own. I

sure do i k e

riding w

Papa

on

the

motorbike.

I wish I had

o

of

myown.

Maybe

l l

get

one a t e r .

See

Je

Jesse,

watching Mandape

i l l and

up

chicken

and duck.


8/8

SH RING m

In some recent reading, I came

across

a thought

by

Watchman

Nee hat eally struck me

s itting

for this

holiday

season,

and

or

our

situation here. I ' l l just share i t

verbatim, as I ould not add

to

t .

What s 'blessing ? It s

the

working

o f God

where there

s

nothing to

account for

His

working. For

instance,

you

calculate that a

penny hould

bu y

a

ennyworth. But

f

y ou

have

not

paid your pennyand

God

has

given

y ou

ten

thou

sand penn ywo rth,

then

y o u

have

i o basis for your calcula

tions. When

five loaves

pro

vide ood or

ive thousand

and

leave-twelve baskets-of

f r a g

ments,

that

s blessing. When

the ruit y our ervice

s

out f

a l l proportion to the g i f t s

y o u

possess, that s

b l e s s i n g .

Or o

be

rather

extreme,

when,

ak

ing account o f your f a i l u r e s ,

there

should

be no r u i t

at

a l l

f r o m

your

labours

and s t i l l

there

i s f r u i t ,

that

s blessing.

Many

f us

o n l y expect e s u l t s

commensurate with what we

are in ourselves,

but blessing

i s f r u i t that s

out of

l l

corre

spondence

with what we

r e .

It

i s not ust

the

working o f ause

and

f f e c t ,

for

when

we

eckon

on

the basis o f

whatwe

ut

in

we

erely bar

the

way

or

God

to work b e y o n d our

reckoning.

Ifon he other hand we et

our

THE WOR

hearts upon

he blessing o f he

Lord, we

shall

find

things

happen

that are altogether out

o f

keeping with our capacity

and

that

surpass

even

our

dreams.

Prove me

now

herewith, aith

th

Lord

of

hosts, fI i l l no t open y o

the

windows

of

heaven,

and pou

y ou

out a lessing, hat here shal

not be r o o m enough

to

receive

i t .

Malachi

:1

S

S

I

1

|8l

S

pryor john bonita 1979 png

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