Burning Isles

Another year gone!

2010-12-14T09:29:00.003+08:00

Another year gone and where are we? That is the question we ask ourselves at the end of each year but often the answers give a resume of acts of accomplishments (or not) that have filled our days. We think of the projects that have been completed, the successful business that has transpired or perhaps the amount of money we have made or debt we have piled up.

Many of us think of who got married, who had a baby or how our family has grown or moved away. Perhaps we think about the visitors that have passed our way and the friendships we have made. Sadly for some there have been tragedy, heartaches and failures that we wish we could forget. Of the events that have filled our year, some have already faded away but some have been imprinted indelibly on our minds and hearts.

Amongst all these things I would like to think that from each and every event something of worth has been added or a valuable lesson learned. I hope that my character has grown in graciousness and more harsh edges chipped away. How wonderful it would be if we could look back and see that our love has been a blessing to others.

Most of all however I would like to know that my love for my God and saviour Jesus has grown to a place where I didn’t notice myself at all but saw only how much He loves me and those around me.

All too sadly though we find ourselves in the place of Paul the apostle who said, “Wretched man that I am!” Why did he say this? In context we see why. He wrote, “I see in my members (that is in me, in my flesh) another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members (what “I” want to do). Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:23-25)

Some of our year's achievements

If we think along the lines of changing this situation by ourselves, by our will or knowledge or self effort we continue to fail, we continue to come up short. Solomon tried and failed. “Vanity of vanities” he said, “all is just chasing after the wind”. We too cannot rectify our own situation. What is the answer to this dilemma?

The apostle gives us the answer, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” Paul learned that there is nothing of this life or in us that is capable of living the life the way we should. None of this world’s solutions will lead us to love God and others so we can love ourselves.

Only when we rest in the finished work of God through Jesus Christ and accept that He has paid the price for our imperfection can we have the Spirit of God in us. Only then can we call on Him for the power to love, the wisdom to love and the motivation to love.

How about you? Has your year been marked with God centred selfless giving and caring for those without love? Can you look back and see those precious times where God has been able to touch someone else through you because you were given over to Him? If not then it is time to stop trying and start letting. As believers in Christ we must stop trying to make things work by ourselves, start letting God shine through us so that the right kind of momentous occasions will last into eternity.

If, however you are one who does not believe that Christ is God’s Son, that He alone was able and did pay the penalty for our sin (imperfect before God), then now is the time to change. Be honest with yourself and with God, admit to Him that you are wretched (like Paul did) and trust that He has forgiven you. I can empathise with you because I was once there and counted myself a failure but I thank God that His forgiveness is real and in Him my failure is forgiven. Why make your next year as pointless for eternity as the last?

If you are willing to admit that you truly cannot make it alone then put your trust in Jesus today, He will forgive you and the Father will accept you. If you turn to Him then next year you will find peace through your trials and in the end have eternity with God.

Acts 4:11-13 (English Standard Version)

“This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

God's glory, not ours!

2009-12-20T10:25:00.007+08:00

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:14)
I am reminded by this verse of the real reason our Saviour came from His heavenly place to be among us. Unfortunately this is one of the most abused verses in the New Testament as many think on it as something God owes to man, no matter what their attitude or actions, but this is not so.
In Matthew 5:3 Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” God’s requirement is a repentant, humble heart and though God’s good will is freely given, it cannot be presumed upon. I do not find any comfort at all in the hype that is leashed on us each "Christmas" season, it only heightens the level of alarm I feel that the world is becoming deadened beyond the point of repair and that the true message has almost been supplanted entirely.
At the danger of becoming a self righteous prig myself, I turn to Jesus' words to say that we on this earth do not think that Christ's real reason for coming matters any more. I fully realise that if it were not for God's grace in not putting to my account what I truly deserve for my selfish ways I would have no authority at all to mention this verse. “For I did not come to call the [self] righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Matthew 9:13)
I truly hope that as you do the traditional annual celebrating and partying and getting of goodies, that you will be halted in your thoughts to contemplate that it is really about celebrating God who came in the form of Jesus for one purpose and one purpose only, to eventually pay the price of our rejection of Him, or to be more precise, of God's standards and we can never reach those. The good news is that although we no longer can we also no longer have to reach that standard, but we must simply accept that God's Son, Jesus has already paid the penalty for falling short and believe on Him, that's all.
I trust then that you will believe this and place your trust in Christ who through the giving of Himself freely has set you free from the penalty of sin, as He has for me.
If you do believe you will truly have God’s peace this Christmas, not just because of how Jesus loved us by this His selfless act but also because of how we love the Saviour, Jesus Christ Immanuel (God with us) for diong it.
I say these things, not because of any good in myself but on the contrary, it is because of my saviour who gave His life for me. May Christ be the one glorified this Christmas,
Trevor Burns

Splat

2008-10-31T17:48:00.011+09:00

What a day! I had been busy all day sanding down windows and cabinets, had a bit of time to catch up with family on Skype and finally got down to the kitchen to prepare some dinner.

Mmmmm…what should I have? Out came the frozen trees (broccoli and cauliflower), the carrots and potatoes, ah! There is some topside steak, which will do. Into the microwave it goes to defrost and then on with the oven 180° C. How can I treat this steak? I know, I’ll marinate it a bit to get some of that sauce into the cuts and then into the oven to cook. Yum I can taste it now! Well…out came a few sauces and, ok, some tomato paste in one of those flip top type of bottles from the fridge, that will do it. Hold it over the dish so I don’t spill it …boom!!!

I was dazed for a few seconds. The cap flipped open and when I was able to clean the paste out of my eyes I slowly came to realize that the room suddenly had a new pattern on the walls, my newly painted walls. On further investigation there was not one surface in the room that didn’t have paste blotches on them, walls, ceiling, cupboards, venetians, canisters etc, floor, me and the doors, even the door in the

next room. What a mess!

Well what would you think at such a time? I had a few thoughts, the first one being aaaaah! Then, Oh man! I knew I only had a short time to wash it off before it set and for the next hour and a half I washed and wiped and rubbed until I was as wet with sweat as the walls I was washing.

What did I think? “God has a good sense of humor.” He has such interesting ways of reminding us that the things we own and the things we work for are so temporary. One moment the work is done the next, “splat”, it’s not. It just reminded me that there is nothing in this world that doesn’t start to corrupt the moment we think it is perfect. That is certainly true in this life, the only thing that lasts being those of eternal value, belief in Christ and trust in our heavenly Father. I’d rather put my trust there where it will be kept and actually I can have it now as well as receive it later.

Until next time.

Uroo,

Into the Frey

2008-10-21T15:29:00.005+08:00

Well what a blessing Keswick Convention has been all around the world, here too in Western Australia it has been established for about 60 years.

Last weekend I made my way the the Spring convention that they ran but felt rather tentative being there as there were so many people that new me. The trouble was that I usually forget who they are. If you have had the experience of taking meetings in many different places and then they meet you at Keswick after 4 years you will know what I mean, they remember you but you can't recall them out of a multitude of faces. :(

The speaker was Mr. Charles Price senior pastor of the Toronto Peoples Church, Canada. I had heard him speak 18 years ago at the same place when he was 2IC of Capenwray Bible College in England. He taught from Romans 1-7 dealing with man's depravity, God's glory the Law because it shows His character as holy or perfect and then showed how though we are wretched in our flesh we are made righteous by the propitiation. In other words God was righteous and gracious at the same time in Christ. He must meet the law's standard by judging law breakers (all of us) this pulls us down (like gravity) but He showed grace to us by pouring out that judgment on His Son and was satisfied. Therefore His grace was toward us through Christ the one who carried us (in our sinful state) setting us free from law's judgment, counteracting it (like the law of aero dynamics against gravity) one cancels out the other. Romans 8:12 I am so glad we don't have to worry about it ourselves!

It was a wonderful time of renewal and I was very blessed both in teaching and fellowship.

Until next time,
Uroo

2008-10-04T20:11:00.034+08:00

Re-entry

Shocks, shocks, everywhere and what will happen next!!

It appears we are living in uncertain or exciting times, depending on how you view the world today. Coming home from a foreign country to learn to live again in an Australian environment certainly adds to that mix and we have certainly felt the brunt of the uncertainty that comes with that. Rising fuel prices, re-enrollment for taxation, gas and water bills, electricity connection, telephone and broadband for the internet let alone the council rates the garbage pick-ups and all that comes with assimilating into our home again. On top of this are the other things of family life and death which is enough to give anyone ulcers. (Not to mentioned Wall St.)

This is the “baggage” that one has to handle on what they call “Re-entry” after having lived in another culture for many years. Is it any wonder that one tends to become a bit of a recluse, trying not to venture too far away from known ground to that dark unknown of the unfamiliar?

This reminds me of what happened to Jonah in ancient times. He, it seems took the long road to where God wanted him to end up. On top of this he was supposed to be involved in preaching a message of warning to a group of “heathen” as he saw them and an undeserving lot at that. Yes he went through a bunch of stuff including a one way trip the wrong way, a violent storm that nearly wrecked their cruse and he ended up having lunch with or should I say being the lunch of a great fish. It was just as well God was the one in control or he may never have reached Nineveh! Oh, hang on, was that a good thing? You might say he was in very unfamiliar territory.

Again we ask ourselves, “Well what is the right direction?” This unfamiliar territory can be quit frightening as it was for Jonah. For him it was foreign and seemed to go against everything he was raised to believe. After all these Ninevites were not God’s people were they? It went against everything he believed in, unfortunately in self righteousness! It does make me think of our own position and attitudes though.

What was God trying to get through to Jonah? After Jonah preached at Nineveh God ended up planting a rather quick growing bush behind him where he sat sulking. God give Jonah shade from the exceeding hot sun he found himself under. Well that was great; you could say that it means, “… my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19) Trouble is the next day God sent a worm to eat up Jonah’s shade. Well you could surmise that “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21 - NKJV)

What Jonah was blind to was not God’s provision for his benefit, rather Jonah needed (and WE need) to simply recognize that everything is according to God’s will and NOT ours. God will do whatever He wishes and if we see that as unfair well let me say that there is no way we will be preaching to God or complaining when we stand before Him in eternity!! I think God will be the only one doing the talking, we will only be able to listen.

The bottom line, -- No matter what we do, no matter who we are and no matter what our situation, God alone is in control! In the book of James it reads, “Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” (James 4:15)

Presently we are doing a whole lot of house renovations and just waiting, perhaps a little impatiently to see what ministry God has for us in future. It would be good to add to this some time soon and tell just how God has directed.
Until then,

Uroo.

Wars and Wounds

2007-05-06T15:45:00.000+08:00

Don’t we live in a complex and sometimes fearful world? The question is a rhetorical one but even asking it seems absurd because the answer is that obvious. We read the news and it seems that crime is at our doorstep, society is hiding its head in a proverbial hole of moral ignorance; morality itself (to stand against the selfish acquisition of what we feel want to satisfy our lustful desires at the expense of others) has been flushed away as if it doesn’t matter any more (if it feels good, do it) and corrupt governments are wherever one looks.

Am I being paranoid about something that you take for granted? I hope so! Why then is this all happening?

We are also led to believe that with all the socioeconomic programs being put into place and our social bent to “political correctness” (at the expense of rightness and justice) and a sense of “fair play” that eventually, things will get better.

Jesus Christ, gave the words that are the world’s most fought over in its short history but contrary to what many believe, His message was not supposed to lead to peace as the world sees peace. He never used political correctness and fair play was not in His mind. At one time He said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ (Matthew 10:34-36)

Why would he say that? Did He mean for us to kill and hate as in some beliefs? Why would He do that? More importantly, what does he mean?

Rest easy, Jesus ways are never violent. To understand this you first must understand His mission. The Jews thought he was come to save them from the Romans who ruled them with an iron fist but they missed the point. Others hoped that He was there to heal them and patch up their sin induced sicknesses (some were not personally sin induced). Some were hoping for a king that would supply all their needs, or should I say wants (wants – usually at the expense of others) but none of the above were part of His agenda.

To understand His mission you need to trace the history of man right back to its inception where man was formed perfect. A time when man was glad to listen to his heavenly councilor, talk with Him, even walk with Him; accept the perfect instruction and things that came from the Creator’s hand, things that had been put in place for man’s benefit.

Those times and things no longer exist and there is a good reason for that. It would be hard to believe that a person so blessed as that man, would be so willing to choose to go it alone, throwing away all those “perfect” benefits. Who was that man? It was Adam, who was made perfect but chose the imperfect way and so we are.

So ask your self that question again. Why is the world so complex and fearful? I have just answered it, man chose to ignore God’s ‘best’ for what he decided on as ‘good’ and it was all down hill from there. If you were to be honest you would agree that we messed it up. But what does this mean for us and our society? Simply this; We have chosen and still choose to make life’s decisions based on what we think is right and best according to our own estimation. God calls our bluff and says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6) In other words trust Me and see!

So again, why did Jesus say he came to divide with the sword putting family against family? Simply this that He walked into this corrupt world took our place for payment of our rebellion and asks us to accept Him and his forgiveness. What causes the offences, wars and family divisions then is that some do not wish to accept Him or His forgiveness and it is an affront to them that this the new believer has accepted what they refuse, which leaves the obvious suggestion that they still walk in sin, still wishing to say they can do without Him. This is an offence to their pride and pride like a drug makes one think they are better than they really are. The next verse of Proverbs 3 says, “Do not be wise in your own eyes”.

The good news though is that it doesn’t have to be that way. Rest assured that if you feel conviction and a certain rebellion to that conviction that Christ was right, the best course of action is to let go and trust God for He is right and not your pride. Trust Him! His comments on division are there to make you think and choose Him and His payment for your sin; otherwise He would not have said it in the first place. The peace He talked about is from your knowledge and acceptance of forgiveness and not from a lack of war as the world sees it. That doesn’t mean He wants war of course, but His peace is an everlasting one which destroys everlasting fear – think on that.

Patches!

2007-01-01T19:12:00.000+09:00

Well, where are we at? It is New Year’s Day 2007 and it seems that we have dropped off the radar for awhile but in reality what has really happened is “life”. What do I mean by that? Just that some of the normal things that happen in the natural course of living are not so wanted but they always make the twists and turns in our lives interesting to say the least and yes, whether we liked it or not we have certainly had our share of some biggies lately.

Everything was sailing along as usual, me in the publications office and my industrious wife busy with needle and thread lovingly sewing up a rather large quilt for our daughter’s bed. Before you could say “hang on” I was on a flight from Papua New Guinea back to my father’s funeral. Along with that there was my mother to help care for; visiting of old friends, Christmas, New Year and nursing mum back to health after her double pneumonia and all this before we could consider what our next move was to be.

Strangely enough after all that it is that quilt that brought a few things to my attention.

It wasn’t just any old quilt, it was one composed of many small squares of different colours, each one having a different picture, motif or theme. You see it was to be a patchwork of life’s little happenings and she had selected specific colours and designs in line with the various events in our daughter’s life from when she was young through to her marriage etc, their time in Africa and so on. Another feature was that it started with one corner having very dark cloth then as each square was added it became paler until it reached the final square in the opposite corner which was white.

Well this really caught my attention because you see this is something like many people’s path through life. All start with the dark square and this I liken to the fact that we are all born in the linage of Adam which is biased to the rejection of God’s control in our lives, the Bible calls this rejection sinfulness. If all people’s lives were a quilt some would be dark from corner to corner, others’ would have that graduation from dark to light but the reason for this graduation seems at first to be hidden. However, as with my daughter’s quilt, on closer inspection you discover hidden in the fabric is a ‘red’ square and it is from this point on that the shades start to become paler. It is the red that makes all the difference. That one red square represents blood, not just any blood but that of God in the form of Jesus of Nazareth, His Son. His blood was drained on a cruel cross as payment for crime, for the cross was an instrument of death for a criminal. Do not be mistaken, this payment could not have been for himself as He was sinless, rather it was for any and all who accept that payment (His blood loss) in their stead, in which case the debt of Adam is paid and the one that claims it is accepted by the perfect God.

If your life was a quilt, what colour would it be?

Until next time ................

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED!

2006-09-23T13:27:00.000+08:00

Here we are again! Thought we'd forgotten you didn't you? No such luck. What’s that you say? Christians don’t have luck? Well you’re absolutely right as there is not a sparrow that falls, not a hair that drops and not a thought that comes and goes that our heavenly Father doesn’t know or care about.

Speaking of which …what a marvellous night it was last night, one of those rare cool tropical nights, the weather was balmy and everything seemed pleasant. Then we went to sleep and when morning came I felt like it was time to go to bed.

Do you experience those types of mornings? I’m sure you do, and some perhaps more than others. It is a strange thing, how our minds are affected that is, by the circumstances around us, one moment one thinks things are great and the next morning it is as if nothing good has happened. Boy! Am I glad we don’t live according to our feelings or we’d probably crawl into a hole some place and stay there.

This reminds me of what I read this morning in the book of Ecclesiastes Ch9 V10-12, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you will eventually go.

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.

For man does not know his time: as the fish that are taken suddenly in a net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time [unexpected], when it falls suddenly upon them.”

No one is able to say that he or she will go here or there and do this or that. Will happen as they planned? They might die unexpectedly on the way and then where would they be. Mmmm, that is not a bad question in itself. If the unexpected came upon you, where would you find yourself?

Perhaps I should explain it more plainly just as King Solomon did. You and I can be the best in what we do, be at the top of our profession, even gain the hall of fame or an OBE etc. but the way I see it dead is dead and there is nothing we can do about that. Where then will all those gains be that we make for ourselves? This life is not the end of us all for eternity because from my perspective there are too many things that show that we live on after we leave this tent that I call a body.

God has made it plain enough, we will either be with Him or we won’t and the only place where there will be any light is with Him. Think about that!

Perhaps I’ll write more again, but then again ………

Our Latest News

2006-08-15T21:24:00.005+08:00

Hi Folks,

Goodness, I can’t believe it! Six months gone already! We must have been busy. Oh yes, that’s it, we were busy.

“Let love (our worshipful service for Christ) be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. ... Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;” - Romans12:9.

Are we there yet? Certainly not! As I last recall we are still in the midst of a battle, one that Christ has won but our flesh and the evil one are poor losers and we often feel the brunt of their pout.

You may recall that our work in the TRC office started this year with a vengeance. Well nothing has changed there and so far we have been able to produce books and literacy literature for Myu, Asengseng, Kaulong, and Lamogai in the southern areas; Ata, Mangseng and Ora in the East; Mouk, Ivanga and Maleu in the west of New Britain and also for the Tigak tribe in New Ireland. Presently we plan to set up some computers to train some of the tribal church elders to become computer literate as a tool in their work. One of our concerns is that there is no one trained with the required skills to alternate with Trevor in the TRC ministry for times of breaks and furlough. Equally Estelle has had her hands full learning the ropes in the finance office and is now there on her own, waiting for our accountant Barb Keucken to arrive next month.

Estelle has been enjoying re-establishing a ministry she had during our last term here in 2004. Escafé is the name of her “cafe” away from home which we set up on our large balcony veranda once a month. It is highly liked by all of our Hoskins centre people as it is a place where they can sit around in a “real” (simulated) café and enjoy desserts and coffee etc. It provides a space for people here to be alone and chat in a friendly atmosphere without that “mission” aroma. What is Trevor’s roll? He has very good dish washing skills.

In our last news we mentioned the need to “smell the roses” in a busy world. We praise God that He has given us more opportunities to do this with a weekend on the south coast just doing nothing (Oh yes, and fishing) and a surprise over night stay at Liamo Resort for Estelle’s birthday (during which Trevor had malaria). Pic at the top of the post.

Family:

Johnathan & Candy have moved house to the opposite side of the centre and are settled in. Malachi is now 16 months old and is very inquisitive. He tries to talk a lot and is growing up fast. Johnathan is passed check 2 in Melanesian Pidgin studies (language not birds) and has taken on the roll of Islands Admin Assistant. Candy is heading to check 2 and is helping out in the supply office. You can find more of their news buy going to burnsabroad.blogspot.com

Amanda & Michael are now the official Western Australian SIM representatives and their work includes speaking engagements and camp seminars on mission. Amanda is very much enjoying being a mum with Keziah growing in leaps and bounds (73cm at 9 ½ mths). Michael is in his last 6 months at Theo collage. More information can be found at amandasmusings.blogspot.com

It has been exciting to see an influx of new couples arrive here in the Islands to work in support and in tribal locations. Two couples have surveyed a southern locality where NTM has had a request for missionaries (translators/church planters) for at least 6 years and had almost given up on us. Praise the Lord that this request is now being answered. Likewise another couple has built in a western location to work with the Mouk elders and Bible teachers to translate for their outreach to their northern neighbors. Presently there are another 4 new couples here preparing for a tribal location. There are also invitations open to 5 other language groups in the Islands Region.

Needs:

This all sounds very exciting but it still does not cover (rather it creates) the urgent need of MK teachers and dorm parents for both Hoskins and Lapilo. The PNG field still has a very urgent need for people for accounting/book-keeping, school teaching, and dorm parenting. This a major problem for HQ as the finance office is only operating with input staff at the moment.

Answered prayer:

* Thankfully Johnathan & Candy’s crates arrived in May. * Our March Islands conference was a great time of fellowship and the speaker Barry Challinor was a great encourager. * Praise God for new Kol believers of Ora. Though a small group they are fervent. * We are thankful to God for a replacement stapler that is far better for our work. The original stapler is still a problem though as it has become lost in the post.

Thank you all for praying and for your support,

Trevor and Estelle.

Busy and Working Hard

2006-05-28T13:11:00.000+08:00

God's colourful contrast

Another week over and another dollar. Well, we do have a bit more than that but like every other country PNG has inflation too, it's like a dog chasing its tail. Talking of tails, I have been chasing mine lately with 5 separate publications expected out before mid last week and 3 more lots by the end of the next. Meanwhile as I am busily pushing toward this goal two more printing requests come in, one via email and the other delivered on a CD. Are we busy? A little!!

What is God teaching in all of this? Well for one thing long suffering. :) Or is that patience? The promised computer memory card still has not arrived, it is only 6 weeks late. How does it work? Slowly! It is a good thing that it is not machines and projects that matter but God's will and our relationships to people that do. We are learning to not criticise but to listen more, relying on God to give the grace to be kind and encouraging to others. It is not the things of this world that are important nor do they count for eternity but they will fade away to count as nothing. Jesus Christ said to store only treasures that will count for eternity and those are the things that He loves the most, People. I trust you will be there too. See you next time!

April Update

2006-04-16T11:03:00.000+08:00

Things have been super busy in the office but guess what? God put a stopper to that when the toner cartridge that i had refilled failed due to it's drum wearing out. Should have sent it away to be re-filled instead. Oh well! Now I have to wait for a couple of new cartridges to arrive from Port Moresby and then I will learn a new meaning to the term busy. All of those urgent, impossible jobs that I do now (leaving the miracles to later) will kick in then and if we get them done it will only be by God's grace.

What else happened this week? Oh yes, how could I forget, we ran Escafe for the first time since returning here to Hoskins. Was it a great night or what! The Missio's here are so appreciative of having somewhere once a month where they can kick back and at least pretend they are in a real cafe like back home, it actually felt like it. They don't get much else as there is nothing in Hoskins town and any trip out of here to have a break costs the earth. Praise God for His Blessings.

Till next time.
Trevor and Estelle

Pics: The Escafe (a once a month cafe we hold at our house for all the missionaries on base) all set up. Named after Estelle, she's standing at the front on the right.

Ready To Sleep For a Week!

2006-03-17T09:41:00.000+08:00

Well it is the end of a great 4 days of conference here at Hoskins. The NTM team in the Islands Region has celebrated what the Lord has done for another year and we are all but ready to sleep for the next week. Our speaker was Barry Challinor from NTM Durham in Canada and what an encouragement he was.

We have a great team here in the Islands and this is the "best" region. That sounds a bit presumptuous but it just means that wherever God has you is the best place otherwise why would you be there? I guess that it boils down to whether we serve Christ out of duty or because we love Him. That's it for this week. Hope you have a good one too.

Our son Johnathan (left)

Various Conference Photos

Burns' News March 2006

2006-03-05T18:12:00.000+08:00

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” Proverbs 3:1

One of the biggest questions that man has to ask is about purpose. Why are we here; what is it all about; and how do I fit in the plan of eternity? We have all had these thoughts from time to time but we are not left in the dark, God has already given the answers, it just depends on whether we choose to listen or not. On such, hang life and death, in eternity that is. We often find ourselves in strange situations and feel we are not in the place where we should be, doing what God intended. We will see this for what it is if we but realise as did Solomon that God has a reason and a purpose for every situation we find ourselves in. At the time we may think our situation is just plain awful but when we place our trust in the providence of God we will be able to look back and realise that it was His plan all along and the end result will be to bring many more sons to heaven and so doing glorifying our Heavenly Father.

You might say that our past year has seen plenty of those ‘why’ questions, with unknown directions and unrequited reasons as to why we were spending so much time dealing with a patchwork of family, medical, debriefing, psychological, stress and rest situations.

Family

2006-03-05T18:09:00.000+08:00

Well for one thing we needed to have some serious family time and God was in the business of seeing that we did. What blessings we received in the arrival of our two grand children, Malachi and Keziah! Our times with Amanda and Michael and Johnathan and Candy were a real blessing and we feel we have come to know our children afresh.

Being able to trip up and visit my (Trev’s) parents was well worth the effort as we shared many things and caught up on lost time together. For the first time God opened up an opportunity to share of His love to dad as I saw a renewed interest in his heart for spiritual answers. We spent two great days just being with Trev’s brother in the country at the foothills of the Stirling Ranges.

Amanda and Michael are now settling into their new ministry with SIM in the Wattle Grove Baptist buildings. They have just been involved in the SIM Rep seminar in Sydney and are eager to get involved a lot more. Michael has to reconsider his options with his theological studies as one of the subjects is not available this year. Keziah is blooming and healthy, we miss having her around.

God had another purpose in having us home too, that of making some readjustments to our thinking and His priorities. We learned to trust Him more for those situations we did not understand. We learned to become more honest with each other and others. Most of all we found that place of resting in Him who leads us through all of life’s situations, to accept all His purposes under heaven.

Returning To Hoskins

2006-03-05T18:05:00.000+08:00

Our trip back to PNG was a long one with a stop off in Goroka to baby-sit Malachi while Johnathan and Candy attended an important seminar. Arrival in Hoskins was to a new flat, nicely finished, just missing enough storage. That is now slowly being changed with the installation of tailor made furniture that fits the small area and hopefully we will soon be able to stow all our chattels.

Work in the Resource Centre started with a vengeance, reorganizing office space, stock taking, printing for half a dozen books lined up. Some exciting things are happening as God is moving the Mangseng Bible Teachers to re-start their literacy school. On top of this they are having lessons printed for 1 Corinthians, 1Timothy and Titus as well as a full set of phase 1 (Creation to Christ). God has touched their hearts to walk with Him. In the midst of this was the blessing of having 3 Mangseng teachers come to help work on the project. This gave them a better insight as to what goes into producing their books and has helped to build relationships between us, which is so important. Remember how God provided moneys for a new Guillotine? Praise God, this machine has already saved much time and back breaking work. There has been a small hitch as a new Saddle stapler was not the standard we needed. Estelle is now learning the ropes to help out in the finance office but will be the only one to run it for the month of July.

Johnathan and Candy have settled in and are now into their third week of Orientation and Tok Pisin study. Malachi is doing well with the climate; has cut his first tooth and is just a bundle of delight to have around. Of course his Nana and Grandad enjoy him and are quite handy or should I say at hand. Our Islands Region Conference is from March 11th-15th and for our part we are to run a TRC workshop on print-shop procedure and the ice-cream social. Candy is to set up and oversee the children’s meetings. Some hear that we are back and are quick to pay us a visit.

There are some exciting times happening as our fellow Aussie Gary McCay brings years of work to a climax as he teaches from Creation to Christ. Please pray that many there in Ora Village will respond as he finishes presenting the final teaching on Christ’s crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

Prayer and Praise

2006-03-05T17:51:00.000+08:00

Praise God for the times He gave us with our families while we were home on medical leave. Praise Him for the rest and restitution we received via the prayerful help of His servants while we were “smelling the roses” in Australia in 2005. Praise God for strength for all our co-workers who serve Him faithfully here to bring the precious Word of God to the lost in PNG. Praise God for bringing Johnathan and Candy safely to PNG and that their household goods have finally been sent from Geelong.

Pray for Johnathan and Candy as they orientate into PNG culture and language and pray that their goods will find safe passage and not be too long in coming (generally takes 2-3 months). Pray for the coming conference and our parts in it. Pray for the Kol people of Ora as they hear the gospel of Christ in their own tongue. Pray that work in the TRC run smooth and be a blessing. Pray that God will send someone to help Estelle in the finance office during July. Pray we will be able to negotiate for a better saddle stapler. Pray for His continuing supply of finances, as living expenses has risen greatly.

Because Christ first loved us,

Trevor & Estelle Burns

A Haircut in PNG

2006-02-27T23:18:00.000+08:00

Sunday after church a van load of us ladies are going in to town to get haircuts. To get a haircut here at the moment, we take a 95km round trip to town, pay K30 (about $13A) and will perhaps have lunch in town. A full weekend in store just for a bit of a trim!

Visitors

2006-02-11T18:17:00.000+08:00

Elma, Angelica, Margaret, Us and our grandson Malachi

Been a busy week with sorting out the office finding out who charged what, or not. Consequently there was a lot of catching up to and some might find a bit of a surprise next month.

The rain has stopped for a spell and it is warming up again so I suppose volleyball will be happening again. Today we had the promised visitors that had threatened to come for the past two weeks, Alma a nice lady with whom we have fond memories from our language learning day here. Two of her daughters were with her, quite grown up now. Angelica, the older one is in her final year in High school and wants to go to teachers college in Rabaul. The younger one is named Margaret and had a desire to be an engineer, quite a high goal for a PNG girl, I hope she gets there.

A whole lot of printing has been asked for so will be busy until conference in March. The SIL chopper has been here last Wednesday to take some of our co-workers back to the bush. As they flew into their location a message came up on the radio of an emergency. The daughter of another of our Co-workers in a location close by had a seizure and the chopper was there at the right time. God's provision is always perfect.

Tropics and Earthquakes

2006-02-06T18:17:00.000+08:00

The tropics are once again living up to their reputation with rain bucketing down 70% of the time but at least it has cooled things down to a moderate 30°. It has been a busy time this past week finishing the production of Mangseng literacy books etc but things have not slowed down any. Bookwork has caught up with me (not that I am getting to it as I should) but am slowly getting a handle on it.

Estelle has started to work in the finance office and will need to get up to speed before the end of the month when one of the staff heads home for an extended stay.

Just had our first earthquake for the year. Things in the fridge started rattling, then a big boom and the whole base shook. Had some "rolling" sensations afterwards. There is a volcano 30 Kms away that is steaming letting off a sulphur smell. It blew it's top in 2002, so I guess it could go again.

Trevor went exploring with our son Johnathan and two others for WW2 plane wrecks and found one under the jungle growth. Had to hike in the "big bush" as they call it, for a bit but they had a metal detector, and Craig had been there about 9 months ago.

Till next week,
Estelle and Trevor

A Note

2006-02-06T11:36:00.001+08:00

Hi, it's Amanda here, Estelle and Trevor's daughter. Just thought you'd like to know that their email has been down for a while, hence the reason there have been no entries here. I know that there will be one soon though because a few days ago they mentioned they were writing a new entry so keep on checking in!

Let Us Introduce Ourselves....

2006-01-28T16:15:00.000+08:00

Me (Trevor) and the men from the Manseng Tribe helping with their Bible teaching materials

Hi there folks, we're not new up here in PNG but we haven't been here that long either, just five years with a few breaks here and there. What are we doing here? many things but mainly we run a resource centre to supply printed materials to tribal churches established by New Tribes Mission here in the Islands of PNG. We have been on a break back in Oz (Australia, for the uninitiated) for the past year but are finally back here in Hoskins, near the main airport of West New Britain.

Of course pulling things out of storage and setting up house 'again' is a mandatory ritual for us but after two weeks back we are at least half way there. Our house is a nice one (for a mission supply centre), small but quite liveable. I (Trevor) have been busy from the time we hit the door and the Resource Centre has been in full production since then. Thankfully we had a few willing Mangseng men out to help and so the first spurt is over.

Well that's it at the moment. Great to see God's Word getting into the hands of people who actually want it.