Chapel of the Cross Teens Pray!

Hello Chapel teens from PNG,

Well earlier this week we experienced our first situation with an unhappy birth line from one of the local tribes. They seem to get jealous and mad at each other for what ever reason at different times.

When I arrived in Kudjip the Hospital was closed because of a birth line stopping concrete trucks from coming on the project to pour concrete. Dr. Bill has to use the closing of the hospital to get their attention and calm things down with that line. During this closer we heard that 2 people had died that needed medical attention. (this is not good) The Dr’s here do this as a very, very last resort. after 4 days the elders put enough pressure on the line soon the line came to apologize to Dr. Bill for the problems they have caused. (this is a shame society so the line was embarrassed) Dr. Bill opened the hospital and tensions calm down. All of this was because they wanted a subcontract for mixing concrete that he was told he could not have.

There really is no court system here so people settle it on the own with the elders taking charge and settling the dispute or incident. In fact last night our missionary bible study Dr. Bill said the Dr. Mimi and Dr. Jim Radcliffe today are to trying and repair both hands of a man that had the chopped with a machete. It was a family argument and he may loose use of both hands or have limited use.

How you prayer worriers came into play is this, Dennis shared the prayer request that I had asked for.

It started Tuesday!

First the Project Manager for the general contractor “Heduru Contractors” was chased on site Tuesday morning by a man. He did not catch Peter Numa but soon left so he would not be caught. Peter then came to my office and told me a man had chased him wanting an electrical contract to install the switches and plugs in the new hospital. After some investigation by myself and Sailas Wuksik head of hospital security we found that the person that is the go between for the contractor and the tribes took a bribe under the table for 350 kina (about 115.00). Well the line was told that they would get the contract. Well that is why they chased Peter because as far as they were concerned that contract was theirs.

Well this is the situation, a tender (bid) process was let out by the contractor and the Australian government sees the tender and approves the monies for a fair process. The line was 3rd in the bid process but because they gave money under the table and told Heduru they would lower their price to the lowest they are to get the contract. Well this will just not work because of the rules set forth by the Aussie government. Also not fair to the other bidders. Well Wednesday and Thursday we had 4 meetings. If you can imagine they do not use watches so the meeting starts when all the people are there. Lots of time go’s by waiting. Well I arranged the meetings and had a local pastor come to the meetings that is well respected and was PNG’s first District Superintendent Pastor Tiame. We would open with prayer and then discuss the situation. Some of the meetings were tense a little but most of the time it was calm. They are very respectful and did not talk over each other. I would run the meetings and because I represented NHM (Nazarene Hospital Ministries) the give me a lot of respect. Also being a white skin missionary they will listen to what you have to say very intently. (This is a huge responsibility) then I would ask someone to speak then the next one to speak. We seemed to be at an impasse when I sent out the email to my construction email list for prayer. This is the email Dennis brought to you.

Next meeting Friday, (your a day behind)
We met with the line and they where very agitated they are now very insistent that the work is theirs and they want it! We keep explaining and talking and they do not seem to get it. Partly because of language between them selves and understanding the rules. Rules they have never followed. This time we brought a man by the name of Nick from Heduru’s work force to come with us to help talk to them. We then decided that the strategy was to tell them Heduru will throw out the bids and do the work them selves. This did not sit well! We then asked them to come along side and work with the contractor. This did not sit well! Then Nick had a great idea he would offer them work besides helping with the electrical. He offered them the mixing of cement to fill the block walls. Well this did not sit well! They wanted a contract! Well we asked them to go think about what was offered and we would meet at 1:30 pm. After the meeting I got myself, Sailas, pastor Tiame together in the NHM conference room to pray and ask Dr. Bill to come to learn of events at this time. We explained that the line is very agitated and we may be looking at hard times ahead if they do not come to reason.

Well Praise God!
We finally met at 2:15/2:30 pm and they where calm apologized then explained that they wanted the new Hospital to go forward and be a success and were willing to accept the terms but first had some questions. They wanted fair wages for doing electrical for the experienced men. We can do that! this was a 1 hour meeting that lifted the weights right off the shoulders.

The amazing thing is this and I have heard of this but never part of it. When we went in to the meeting at 2:15 Thursday it was 7:15 pm Wednesday in Anchorage!!! You were praying during the meeting! Thank the Lord for your prayers!

We would just like to say thank you for partnering with us with prayer. Our God is good and can do anything in his will. Remember as you grow older and become responsible adult that this story was created because of men doing this unjustly. The bribe under the table to get work. Men not talking and listening to each other. Study Eph: 5 and learn to be an upright Christian. You only get two things in this life first of all God and second Dad and Mom. First your name and second your reputation. Cherish it and do not tarnish it because you will not ever get it back from you fellow man.

You were part of this story in a bid way!
Love to all in Christ
Michael Chapman