Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Email update: 7 October 2008
Dear Friends and Family,
It's really good to be back with the family again! The three weeks (Sep. 3-24) that I (Dave) was away from the family in Brisbane for SIL meetings felt pretty long. The purpose was to participate in personal skills development training and Pacific Area staff orientation, and when you add in the chance to meet face-to-face and develop friendships with the other Pacific Area staff, it was really worth it! I enjoyed having a dedicated time (and consultants) to help me think through my skills and how I can use those skills in God's work. A very nice side benefit was that I was able to see a good friend who had left PNG a few years ago!
In a nutshell, I gained a vision of how I can help encourage SIL researchers to develop their skills in anthropology, and of the benefits of networking among other anthropologists, missionaries, non-governmental organizations, and the government.
While I was away, Sarah deftly handled the family and home life. But she is glad I'm back. :)
Soon I will go back to work on the village house. On October 13 I will drive down to Madang with some construction workers to finish the house. We'll have one crew there for one week, and then swap them out for some other people to work on the house for not quite a week. By the end of that, the house should be in pretty good shape and on October 24th the rest of the family will come and everybody else will go back to Ukarumpa. It will be amazing to be in our new house! We are going to have a young lady come to stay with our family for two weeks to begin to investigate the Sam culture as part of her desire to find out if God wants her to work in anthropology as a vocation.
Blessings,
Dave and Sarah
