Lots of people...

So one of my misconceptions about PNG was that there wouldn't be so many people. I guess I figured that because it was so mountainous and had so many different language groups, the people people must be pretty spread out. Well, I expect that this is often true, but it isn't true in Goroka. It seems that there are people everywhere. And they all seem to be going someplace. A huge number always seem to be walking down long stretches of road. And of course there are lots of people on the beds of trucks. Actually, it is theoretically illegal to have any part of your body 'outside' a vehicle except if you need to signal for a stop or turn. Apparently they aren't too active in enforcing that! (Actually this is a very lightly loaded truck ... sometimes I'm a bit bashful about the pictures I take ...)

Another surprise is that things are actually pretty expensive. I figured that being in the developing world, the dollar would go a long ways. Actually, things are quite close to the prices at home, whether it is eating at a restaurant or buying gas. Part of it is that so much has to be imported. Part of it may be due to corruption. I really don't know much ... except that my expectation of my dollar buying a lot more here than at home turned out to be false.

On a more serious note, if you would pray for my interactions with the pastors in my class, that would be great. They preached their first sermons yesterday and today, and tomorrow I give them their grades. I also made a digital video of their preaching that they had to watch (there is an office computer here that they all used). I've heard indirectly that they weren't very pleased with their preaching. Well, they'll discover from the grades that I wasn't always completely impressed either :-(. Actually, they did well, but I know I am pushing them, and I know that many are preaching in their 3rd language, so I realize that it is very hard.

So, my prayer is that I would be gracious and encouraging while also giving them helpful feedback. And I pray that they wouldn't be discouraged by the grades. The good news is that they get to preach another sermon on Thursday/Friday, and the goal is that they would learn from this feedback. And I'm going to offer them that if they do better on Sermon #2 than on #1, then I'll give them the second grade for both sermons. So everyone still has the potential for a good grade ... but it will be a shock anyway.

And it has been great to see the improvement even between Monday and Tuesday. I am hopeful that, with what we'll cover tomorrow, they will make significant strides by the next day.

It is a privilege to work with them and I do pray that this experience will make a significant difference in how they approach their preaching. After all, that is why they signed up for the course!

Thanks! -- John