Prayer Letter Archive

October 2004

HI there!

Hey,we're gonna need your prayers for the next couple of weeks. There is a work team from Hawaii, (Honolulu Christian Church) that has departed Oahu today and is on their way here. Please PRAY for US! No, just kidding, we are so excited to have them come. Finally, someone to talk to! We will be taking them to a bush location where they will be doing odd jobs for the missionary team up there, i.e.: carpentry, cement, and general encouragement to the team.

This will be a unique experience for them as they learn to adapt to life in the jungle. Pray for their safety in travel and on the job. Pray too for health...we may run out of food. NOT! Just kidding but they will no doubt eat some things they aren't used to (like bats, rats, snakes and lizards) if I have anything to say about it. Unfortunately, with Joan around, I probably won't get my way but I will try to make this a time in their life they won't soon forget!

This is real life "Survivor" so I'm sure Donna, Brandi, Frank, Stephen, Wayne (Second time for him. Must have missed the food) and Scott would appreciate your prayers.

I'll keep ya up to date as I can.

Mark

Earlier in October...

I've had an interesting week. Six guys with masks hijacked a truck then drove through town trying to find a store (there are only 4) that had an unlocked gate so they could rob them. Finding no easy opportunity, they headed out of town, the abducted driver drove into a mud bog and got the truck stuck so the "rascals" ran off on foot. A couple of the rascals were identified.

With my prompting although no one seemed too concerned, we had a "town meeting" later that day to discuss what to do. All the store owners are a bit more concerned than the general public so they came and the manager of the company who's truck got stolen and I met. Being that the town now has no police as they were instructed to take leave of absence as there is no money to pay them, calling the police was of no use.

Some were upset and wanted to catch the guys and blow their knee caps off thereby making them invalids for life. The problem was "how do we catch them" as they had home made shot guns? After much deliberation, it was decided we would "hire" a posse to go catch the bad guys. So, we're all to contribute to the "rascal fund" to pay the wages of the posse. So far they have caught 3 (1 surrendered) of the 6 young guys although one escaped already. You can pray the others will be caught but then what? Will they go to jail??? Get their knee caps shot off??? I doubt if much of anything will happen to them but who knows!

I know this may sound serious and we're trying to handle it seriously but we are not in a high crime area and although there was a hold up, it's hard to take seriously. Does that make sense?

I had a run with the boat so tested it twice before setting out but shortly after we left, the water pump gave up the ghost so we limped back to port. I got it repaired and yesterday we set out for a 2 hour cruise. The mission was to encourage a group of believers who's "missionary" had gone on furlough so they were left on their own. The seas were terribly rough and although we got there in good time, we were beat. We spent the day with them and they treated us to barracuda and turtle for dinner. Later that night we had a meeting and it was really neat to have a native guy pray and thank the Lord for me coming. Then two native Bible teachers spoke to the small group while a couple kids played with bugs on the ground, some kids with shirts pulled over their bent legs slept and the rest of us tried to keep warm from the chilling wind.

We hoped and prayed the winds would die down during the night but that didn't happen so we set off for our return trip which took 5 hours as we were heading into the wind so had to go slow...real slow. But, Jared and I made it back safely and Joan and the girls survived without us (except Mariko broke the lawn mower in our absence).

Thanks for your prayers!

Mark

October 13, 2004

Thanks again for praying!

If you enjoyed my last message, your gonna love this one.

One aspect of our ministry that we don't talk much about is the Guest House. Because of the many folks passing through our area we found it necessary to have a place to put them. Even in the early days we had built an attachment on our house in the village to accommodate guests. When we built our new house in 1996, we then had a 2 flat guest house built. So, when people pass through we take care of them. Along with keeping the flats tidy and sheets clean, (which the kids all get involved in) we also "entertain" the guests. (which the kids also get involved in) My job often requires me to take the guest out in the boat and try their luck at fishing.

The other evening as I was doing my share of the work, as we rounded a reef, our lure got stuck. We fought and fought tugging on it every which way but it would not break loose. It was getting dark so I tied a plastic bottle to the line to mark the spot for a later retrieval.

Yesterday, my guest and I got headed out in the morning to get the hook hoping no one had gotten to it first. Lures (and plastic bottles) are pretty precious in these parts of the world. And, most guys hate to lose a good lure. In preparation, I grabbed my diving mask and small dive tank knowing I would have to go down 6 feet to loosen the lure from the reef. As we approached the reef, I was surprised and happy to see the bottle still there.

After we anchored the boat alongside the marker, I hopped in the water only to discover there was a tremendous current. I climbed back into the boat and we re-positioned the anchor. I got back in the water and followed the anchor line down to just alongside the lure. I could see it but it was out of reach as I held on to the anchor rope. The current was so strong it was like being in a wind tunnel. My feet were being swept out from underneath me so I looked for some coral to brace against as I held tightly to the anchor line. It was then I discovered my air tank was out of air! I looked at the lure just out of reach and made the decision to go for it. I took my last half breath from the tank, let go of the anchor line and reached for the lure. It was stuck by both hooks as I struggled to free it and fight the current and keep my footing. I didn't have much time as I was holding my breath so I grabbed the lure and gave it a strong yank. The rear hook came free as my hand slid up the lure and the hook went through my hand! The other hook was still stuck to the reef so I was stuck to the reef 6 feet under water holding my breath fighting the current.

My mind instantly read the headlines of this tragedy so with my other hand, I grabbed the lure and yanked on it with all I had knowing it was now or never. To my relief, bending the hook, the lure came free and I came shooting up to get air! My friend in the boat had no idea of what just happened and even had I stayed under water for a half hour, he would have assumed I was breathing the air from the tank. While hanging on to the boat, he then saw the lure stuck to my hand.

I climbed in the boat and we briefly tried to pull the hook out but it had a big barb on it so we decided to head home for my workshop where I had tools to work with. When we got home I told the kids to come see the big fish I caught. They were excited and unbelieving cause I haven't caught any fish in a while. When I showed them the hook, after a quick glance, they all abandoned me feeling queasy.

The first thing was to push the hook all the way through exposing the barb. I held on to the hook with a pair of pliers while my friend pushed down on both sides of the point of the hook under the skin. It was unbelievable how much pressure we both had to use to get that hook to pop through the skin. And that was just the point! The barb took even more energy to get it to come through.

Once the barb was exposed, we tried to cut it off with side cutters but they didn't even nick it. We then locked the hook (and my hand) in the vise and tried to hack saw it off but that too only scratched the surface. So we got out the electric grinder and while we grinded the barb, the hook heated up which was like holding a lit match against your skin. OUCH! Then we filed the rest of the barb and slowly backed it out of my hand.

What an ordeal for a lure that was given to me. Joan will never understand this one. It's a guy thing I guess. I was glad that we didn't have to cut the hook as I can still use it now. I was also glad not to be highlighted in the next issue of SCUBA DIVING as a stupid dive tragedy.

So, that's how I started off my day. Hope yours went better!

Mark