Admiral’s Update No. 8 2011

Greenings Everyone,

We have been a week in Rossel after a rough bash down from Misima.  We have two young men with us, Israel and Jerome.  The latter a Bethel student from the Sepik doing his two year commitment in the Louisiades.

Phil has spent his time rewiring the lights and radio to fit a new bush building.  The buildings only last about eight years and have to be totally rebuilt — and we in the West think we have maintenance problems.  He has also been showing DVDs on his new portable projector which is proving even more effective than we’d hoped — reaching over 100 people at a time.  Last night we showed one of the speakers from last year’s CRC Conference — a dynamic pastor from Ghana — and the audience was riveted.

Phil is going around to the south side by dinghy today with his diving hooker to rescue our friends Steve and Caroline whose anchor is wrapped around some coral in 14 metres of water.  Tuesday I’m teaching a simple counselling course to some of the leaders here and on Wednesday we are taking the boat around the south side to a new anchorage in order for Phil to wire up lights for the new Bible College and install their HF radio plus whatever else they plan for us when we get there — last time a three day youth conference with no advanced notice!!

It’s good to be useful.  Pray for us that we have no problems with the trip and the anchorage as that side is riddled with coral outcrops and is largely a lee shore.  There’s one hair-raising shallow passage where you can almost touch coral on each side and the current races through.  I shut my eyes and leave it to Phil.

God bless,

Pam and Phil

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Admiral’s Update No. 7 2011

Greetings everyone,

Phil is sweating.  Not with the heat but because Pastor Kingsford has informed him he is doing a three day Men’s Conference in October on the North Coast of Misima.

It was great catching up with all our friends here and seeing real growth in the church.  Many of the children we met when we first came ten years ago have turned into young men and women with several marriages coming up in the near future.  It is good to see the strength of the youth groups and the way it is allowing these young people to meet in a godly way.

Phil spoke in one of the new outreaches on Sunday and really challenged a young man there who we hope will become a future leader.  He also trialed his new projector set-up and showed videos of Maranatha and the flood, the royal wedding, some wood chopping contests and some sheep-dog trials — a strange mixture but definitely well received.  (I was trying different input systems — DVD, USB and AV — and these were the only subjects I had. For those interested, it looks as though we will be able to show the DVDs to over 50-60 people at a time with no problems. Phil).

Tomorrow we are leaving for Rossel Island and will come back here later in the year for Phil’s mens’s conference and a leadership conference at Panaeati Island.

God bless you all,

Pam and Phil

PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW SHORE-SIDE ADDRESS:-  dunnarken@gmail.com

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Admiral’s Update No 6 2011

Greetings Everyone,

The seas were ROUGH and the winds were far from fair but we are here!!

We almost turned back on the first day out as the autopilot suddenly ceased functioning.  It was late afternoon just as we were approaching the reef passage and very turbulent water.  Phil went below to see what was wrong.  He really is quite amazing in the number of things he can fix and after a half hour or so had jury-rigged a faulty part.  It was probably the most sustained bad weather we have had on a crossing with a constant 25-30 knots rising to 38 at one stage with the accompanying heavy seas.  I found the nights hard to take as it was pitch black, the winds roaring through the rigging and a rough wave slamming into the boat every now and then.

Anyway, we arrived safely at 2.30am on Thursday morning with no damage other than the handle of the kettle breaking when the stove lid fell on it.  The weather is still wild.  We are hoping it will ease enough tomorrow so we can go on to Misima and go to church there on Sunday.

God bless,

Pam and Phil

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