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Summer Zimmer, Communications Manager
Papua New Guinea: October 2021
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The Rougher the Grit . . .

This was originally written on September 12th.  Hard to believe, almost a whole month has flown by, let me explain. . . Upon my return this time I moved into my 5th house on center.  Previously I’ve lived in other peoples’ houses and I didn’t want to mess up their set-up, so I decorated around what they had.  This time, the house was empty and unfurnished.  As I have no real furniture of my own, I am borrowing someone else’s for the year— praise the Lord for His provision through their generosity.  So, I was able to move in and place things where I wanted and decorate the way I wanted and was grateful for a week of quarantine!
 
I’ve been doing a lot of home improvement projects that are out of my realm of expertise.  I’ve put up laundry lines, hung three shelves, figured out how to mod podge maps to boards and hang them, used a tension line to hang curtains, and hemmed fabric with a sewing machine. The biggest project has been sanding and varnishing a table, which 4 weeks ago, I was astounded I had been working on for three weeks, but I’m still not quite finished.

Moving in is always a bit chaotic at first!  But over my week of quarantine the house turned into something I liked more than I thought I would!
Lessons in Home Maintenance . . .

My conclusion is this— there are a lot of life lessons that can be learned from maintenance projects!
  1. Don’t do something alone that would be better if done with 2 people, even if that means you have to be patient for timing that isn’t your own. I would struggle, struggle, struggle to do something alone during my quarantine, but as soon as I could invite someone else in to help with it, it was done in a flash.
     
  2. Be willing to learn and make mistakes. I broke someone else’s drill bit, and I’m grateful for their grace.
     
  3. Use the right tools, even if it takes more time and effort to get them. Again, a lesson in patience, but I can choose to tear up my hands trying to hold onto a tension cord when screwing in the screw eye thing, or I could wait until I can borrow pliers and it will go 10x as fast and not hurt!
     
  4. Be willing to ask for help— and advice. This is true for times when you don’t know what you’re doing and times when you think you do! Did you know you can use a magnet on a string to find the wall stud? And did you know that if a New Zealander built your house the studs would be 24 inches apart instead of 16 inches?  Me neither.
     
  5. Never think that sanding down and refinishing a table is a quick and easy job. When this table and 6 chairs were for sale last year, the family said – "it just needs a little sanding and varnish and it will be a nice table" Well . . . I really had no idea how much work it would be! But through the hours of dust and sore hands and rubbing away at this thing, I had time to think of the refining God wants to do in us.

I started off the project with a circular sander, with rough paper, and I wasn’t sure how far to go with it before switching to a finer paper.  Long story short, I made a lot more work for myself and took a lot longer with the project, because I switched to fine sand paper too early.
 
I’ve heard some messages about suffering lately and about how persecution and suffering grow the Church.  We don’t really like to think about that.  But what if in wanting to stop the hard, rough, grit we also miss the refinement and maturity that come from those things in our lives?  What if too often we want to stay where we are secure and comfortable and where there’s a very fine resistance to our nature and character?  Won’t being refined into His image take a lot longer?  It makes me grateful that unlike me, God knows exactly what tools to use and how far to go in each of our lives

We just have to be willing to let Him do the work.

I realized after putting six coats of polyurethane on the table top that I was applying it incorrectly.  It looked kind of ripply in places and patchy in others.  I had maybe five different people give me advice— telling me and writing me different recommendations.  I tried to remember every detail.  Don't use short brush strokes, don't use too much varnish, pull the varnish to thin it out, sand in between coats, clean it off, let it dry 24 hours etc. 

Yesterday, I had someone new give me advice. But he went and got a paintbrush and showed me what my strokes should look like, how long they should be and how they should overlap. I had been given just enough advice to start in on the work, but I didn't quite understand what not using short brush strokes meant—I thought I should try to pull the varnish in long strokes the whole length of the table. This meant I was brushing through already drying varnish.  Not pretty.

I'm hoping it's fixable.  But I think sometimes the same thing happens in Christianity.  Maybe sometimes someone gets just a little bit of Jesus. Sunday School stories. Hears one side of a debate or a message that introduces them to "religion" instead of leading them to faith. I'm so grateful I work for a mission that takes the time to show people what the Bible says, to show them who Christ is, to show them what it looks like to lead a church in a godly way by equipping them to read God's Word for themselves and discipling believers into maturity.

Teaching adults who have had little to no formal education is a daunting task, so how is it done?  Our missionaries, and then later, the national people themselves, are able to break down the process into manageable chunks, so that those who keep at it can successfully read and write at the end of the class.  

What's Happening Next

While I’ve been spending a lot of time settling in to this new house, I’m starting to have ladies over for dinner again. I’m planning on being the “mission mate” for a family returning in two weeks, which means I get their house ready for them and get their groceries and market food and set up meals for them for a few days. 

I’ve just finished two videos (one above), am in the middle of two and preparing for another. I’m excited to start the 6th missionary care discussion group next week with 7 churches!

Because of Covid ramping up here, our Central Area Conference was cancelled.  I was excited for the opportunity to meet with our church planting families during that time.  But instead, I was able to set up one on one times with those families to discuss communication resources and tools.  That time gave me a renewed desire to meet with each church planting family on our field individually to show them the resources available to them and offer assistance as they report back to their churches what God is doing.
 
Since being back, I was able to join a ladies’ Bible Study about the "I AM" statements of Christ in the book of John. I’m also excited about the study through Ephesians that I can watch from my home church, WCC.  We’re also studying Revelation in our church services here at Lapilo, which I’ve never studied before. I've always been intimidated by it, so it's nice to go through it a segment at a time with teachers who admit that they don't always understand what it means either— and that's okay.

Praises

Praise the Lord for the smooth travels I had back to PNG.

Thank Him that I've been able to settle into my new apartment well and that He overcame my expectations of it.

Praise Him for friends here that are willing to share their tools and help me learn.

Praise the Lord for good feedback on the videos I've been making, that they are being used to help people understand how God is working here.

Praise the Lord for the next Missionary Care Discussion group and 7 churches who want to be involved.

Prayer Requests

Pray for Papua New Guinea as Covid cases rise exponentially and hospitals are overrun. Pray for our medical clinic as they treat those in our community who are sick.  Pray that vital services will remain operational and for protection from any severe cases.

I had to cancel the ladies' debriefing retreat that was scheduled for next week.  Please pray for the Lord to open the doors for another retreat sometime before the end of the year.

The next missionary care discussion group will start this week.  Pray for strong enough internet to have those conversations and an impactful experience for each person involved—that they'll come away from the call with a greater care for their missionaries.

Pray for me as I study more about who Jesus is.  That I would grow more in love with Him and recognize where in my life He desires to refine me.
More stories of what God is doing in Papua New Guinea can be found through social media:
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My mailing address is:
Summer Zimmer C/O New Tribes Mission
PO Box 1079 Goroka, EHP 441 Papua New Guinea

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