20210811
Shalom, dear all!
Thank you for faithfully praying for us. Through injecting EPO (Erythropoietin) and taking supplements, my Dad is feeling better now. And I have learned that senior people have to face challenges that we won’t be able to imagine until we get old. They need family members’ accompany and affirmation so that they can be courageous enough to accept and get through the challenges that come upon to them one after one and can easily make them give up.
各位代禱勇士，收信平安。
感謝大家忠心為我們代禱。藉著注射造血針以及服用營養部充劑，我父親現在比較不那麼虛弱。我也學習到，老人家要面對很多挑戰。這些挑戰，還沒到老的人很難想像。他們需要家人的陪伴與肯定，才會有足夠的勇氣去面對接二連三的挑戰，否則他們很容易放棄。
This month I would like to sharpen my skills of making man’s shirts. There are many details that I must dig deep so that I don’t make a shirt like a blouse. And the first “real” shirt I have made is for my Dad. This must be the best Father’s Day gift to him.
這個月我要來好好鍛鍊製作男襯衫的技巧。其中有很多細節必須深入練習，否則就會把男襯衫做成像女襯衫。我做的第一件「真正的」男襯衫就做給我父親。對他而言，這是最好的父親節禮物。
Since I have spent more time accompanying my Dad, he has been able to talk out about his concern as a parent. He was hoping that I would stay in Taiwan due to the global pandemic. And I told him that there is a mission for life that I have to pursue. The next day, he told me to schedule some time for him to teach me piping. This is the way that my dad shows his support to me.
由於我花更多的時間陪爸爸，他終於能夠說出為人父母的擔憂。在全球疫情肆虐的此時，他希望我留在台灣。而我告訴他，我有我一生的使命必須追求。隔天，爸爸就要我趕快安排時間讓他教我接水管。這是爸爸對我表示支持的方式。
Learning sewing and learning piping are both for my ministry in PNG. Yes, a country like PNG needs out comers to bring to people all kinds of schools. But what my first mentor taught me was that a missionary must learn to be a pupil instead of invading the receivers life with his/her culture or so called “advantages”. I thank God that He has kept making me learn this important lesson again and again over the years through each of my visit to PNG.
學習裁縫和學習接水管都是為了到新幾內亞服事。是的，像新幾內亞這樣的國家，需要很多外來的協助到此開設各種課程。但是我的第一位宣教士導師教導我的卻是，ㄧ位宣教士必須首先學習如何當學生，而不是用自己的文化或者所謂的「優勢」來侵略受眾。感謝神，這麼多年來，透過每次到新幾內亞的服事，神總是一直給我機會學習這個寶貴的功課。
Let me ask you… what would you get ready to take to the classroom when school is open?....Well....When I first visited PNG in 2011, I conducted a Bible story telling workshop in a village in the swampy area. I had been expecting that the participants would bring their pens and notes to the classroom. Actually, most of them didn’t. And I was badly terrified that one of the participants came with a one-meter-long bush knife.
讓我先問您ㄧ個問題…..。開學了，您會準備好帶著哪些東西去上學呢？…是這樣的…2011年我第一次到新幾內亞，在ㄧ個沼澤地區的村子開設聖經故事工作坊。我想說，學員們應該都會帶他們的筆和本子來上課。結果，大部分的學員都沒帶文具。而且，有ㄧ位學員帶ㄧ把ㄧ公尺長的開山刀來上課，把我嚇得不輕。
At the end of the five-day-long workshop, I finally piled up enough gut and asked him why he came with a bush knife like that. He told me that he had to walk 5 hours from his house to my class, and he needed his bush knife to cut the weed and fight with the snakes so that he could make his way through the juggle and come to me. I was glad that I hadn’t told him not to come to my classroom with a terrifying knife, thinking that he had to walk home 5 hours in the dark after the class each day.
到了五天的工作坊快結束的時候，我終於鼓起勇氣問他為什麼上課要帶那麼長一把刀。他告訴我，他從他家來上課必須走路5個小時。他需要他的大刀一路上砍草、砍蛇，才能開出路來，穿越叢林，走到教室。心裡想著，他每天下課後還得摸黑走路5個小時回家，我很慶幸我之前沒有要求他上課別帶ㄧ把大刀來嚇人。
In 2015, I thought I had mingled with the local co-workers well enough, and asked one of them, Lawrence, to let me walk with a bush knife like what they did. He kindly gave me one of his knives and allowed me to go to his farm with him. Well, …. Wearing tongs and walking with a bush knife, I soon cut myself on my toe and bled a lot. Stopping my bleeding with some banana sap, Lawrence was stunned. They had walked with a bush knife since they were very little, and never thought that a person could cut himself by doing this. Well, …it was my turn to scare others.
在2015年，我想我已經與當地同工混得很熟了。就請一位當地同工勞倫斯讓我跟他們一樣帶著開山刀走路。勞倫斯好心地選一把刀給我拿著，又讓我跟著他去他的田裡。結果，穿著夾腳拖又帶著一把刀走路的我，沒多久就砍到自己的腳趾頭，流了很多血。勞倫斯被我嚇得目瞪口呆，趕快用香蕉樹液幫我止血。他們從很小很小就拿著大刀走路了，從來不知道這樣也能砍傷自己。喔喔，這次輪到我嚇壞別人喽！
I hope that God will soon take me back to my school--- PNG.
希望神趕快帶我回到新幾內亞---我的學校。
From one man he made all the nations,
that they should inhabit the whole earth;
and he marked out their appointed times in history
and the boundaries of their lands.
God did this so that they would seek him
and perhaps reach out for him and find him,
though he is not far from any one of us.
他從一本造出萬族的人，住在全地上，
並且預先定準他們的年限和所住的疆界，
要叫他們尋求 神，
或者可以揣摩而得，
其實他離我們各人不遠。
Please remember us in your prayers.
敬請在禱告中記念我們：
1. Though PNG have received vaccine donation from other countries, only very few people have been vaccinated. The PNG government have to shut down the boarder again because the Delta variant has been detected in the country. May God help PNG people get rid of the myth of vaccine conspiracy theory.
儘管有其他國家捐贈新冠疫苗給新幾內亞，接種的人數非常稀少。近來國內發現有Delta病毒的確診者，使得新幾內亞政府又得宣布封鎖邊境。求神幫助新幾內亞百姓破除疫苗陰謀論的迷思。
2. May God evoke the awareness among out coming communities of the need of respecting PNG cultural heritages of PNG.
求神使外來的群體更加尊重新幾內亞的文化資產。
3. May God show His mercy and cure the pain on kellen’s knack and her back that is bothering her a lot.
求神施憐憫醫治Kellen肩頸及腰部的疼痛。
4. I am still suffering from periodontal disease and hope it can be cured before I take off for PNG. May God’s healings dwell upon me.
我的牙周病還沒好，但願在我到新幾內亞之前能夠痊癒。願神賜下醫治。
5. Coughing for two months has made me very weak. May God heal my cough.
咳嗽兩個月使我身體非常虛弱。求神醫治我的咳嗽。
6. May God guide us in all the work of website relocation.
求神在網頁遷移的所有工作上指引我們。
7. My old daddy is facing the fact that he needs to receive an eye operation soon enough or to loose his driving license. May God guide him and give him peace.
我年邁的父親如果不能在限期內接受眼睛手術，就要失去他的駕駛執照。求神引導他，使他有平安。
All for Him
願神得榮耀
主內末肢
In Christ
Sandy
20210811