“The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” ~ James 5:16 (NASB)

“If I should neglect prayer but a single day,

I should lose a great deal of the fire of faith.”

~Martin Luther

Dear Family & Friends,

Below are a few items that you can be praying about for us in the next few days. 

·         Lucy, Oliver & Stuart attending Spiritual Emphasis Weekend.  This is a weekend the school provides for grades 9-12 to focus on their walk with the Lord.  Pray for their hearts to be tender & obedient to what the Lord has for them.  There will be special speakers, times to be alone in the Word, interactive games to play and lots of good food.

·         Friday – Sunday for Bill & Karen traveling on the road to spend some time with a family to evaluate how the church is functioning and to be an encouragement to one missionary family there.  Pray for the vehicle to run well, thieves to stay away, safety on the road as the road is like a country road but semi-trucks/double sometimes triple bed trucks come barreling down the road and there are people, pigs and goats to avoid also. 

·         Bill & Mike, another fellow missionary will be traveling on Mon & Tues.

·         That our lives would be a reflection of Christ as we seek to make HIM known across this beautiful country of PNG.

We thank you and look forward to letting you know how God has answered prayer.

Co-servants of the Lord,

Bill & Karen

Lucy, Oliver & Stuart

Mexico Journal

Oct. 8 - 14, 2011

Saturday, October 8.  Torre Fuerte (Strong Tower) is a Bible church with over 2,000 members here in Puebla.  They had a baptismal service today with 30 people being baptized.  We had well over 100 people here for the day and it was a good time to renew some friendships and make some new ones.  All in all, it was a very pleasant day and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Sergio, the chairman of the board, and his wife, Janni, arrived this afternoon for the weekend.  I brought a battery for their robot vacuum cleaner down from the States.  A full charge was only giving them 5-6 minutes of running time, so they were very pleased to get the new battery pack.  Sergio and I had an hour or so to talk and got a lot of good discussion done about the camp.  I hope to get some more time tomorrow.  We have a number of serious decisions to make that I want to discuss with him before opening up to the whole board.  Please pray that the Lord will guide us in the right direction.

Sunday, October 9.  I didn't get to go to church this morning because I needed to spend time with Sergio.  He and Janni came over to see the progress we've made at camp and they were both very pleased with what has been accomplished just in the month I've been here.  I sometimes wonder what we've accomplished and then I make a list and wonder how we've had the time to do it all!  Sergio and I had a good time to discuss a lot of topics about the future of Oasis and I'm glad to say that he is solidly behind me in what I want to accomplish.  Our next board meeting will be in late November or early December when we plan to present changes we would like to make at Oasis.

Monday, October, 10.  It took me nearly an hour to change a light bulb this morning!  It is one of the security lights on top of the rooms facing the back alley.  I had to get a ladder to get to it and then I dropped one of the thumb screws outside in the alley, so I had to retrieve it.  Then I couldn't get the second screw loose, so I had to get a pair of pliers.  (We have 4 pair: one needle-nose, two electrician's pliers, and a regular pair.)  I couldn't find any of them, so after 20 minutes or so I found a pair of horseshoeing pliers (what we got those for I haven't the faintest idea), but they worked with a thumb screw.  By the time I got done, I had climbed up the stairs and onto the roof about 5 times.

They called me from the ophthalmologists office to say me glasses had arrived.  I was surprised they came when they said they would!  So, I headed downtown.  After getting them I went to the big mall again to get something to eat.  (This time I paid attention to where I came in and where I went so I would get out the same way.)  I got progressive lenses for the first time and find they are going to take some getting used to.  In fact, I had a headache after about 4 hours and changed back to my old ones for part of the evening.  That's when I found out how much difference the new ones make in my vision.

Tuesday, October 11.  We never have cleaned up the yard outside the inner fence where the eucalyptus tree fell last year, so today Cirilo, Willy and I worked on that.  We got another 4 big pieces of the trunk cut and we have it down to about 6 feet left, but now we are talking about 6-7 foot diameter and we are probably going to have to burn the rest of it to get rid of it.  We got all the rest of the branches cut and piled up for firewood and stacked a lot of the big trunk pieces...man, are they HEAVY!!!

I got some pictures of the baptism Saturday for our web page.  Joel had wanted to put some on the web page but everything we had was not very good.

There has been an electrical cord tied to the inside of the kitchen screen door ever since I have been coming, so today I found out there was no current in it and followed it some 50 feet out through the wall, along another wall, over an open passageway, and along yet another wall.  Then it disappeared into a block wall.  I pulled on it and it wouldn't budge and I couldn't find where it came out, but since the bare end in the kitchen was all rusted I wound up just cutting it.

I'm not sure I like these progressive lenses I got.  I'm having quite a time adjusting to them and the reading portion seems to change in the wrong place.  I definitely have to look out of the bottom ¼ or 1/3 of them to read without it getting fuzzy

Wednesday, October 12.  Alejandra called today to say she was sick and needed to see the doctor.  She has been having problems with her kidneys. 

The pastor of the group that is supposed to be here this weekend came with his wife late in the afternoon to give us a deposit.  He didn't sound too encouraging, as he didn't know how many would be coming.  They told Alejandra last week that they expected only 25, which is our minimum but as of today they didn't know just how many would come.

Thursday, October 13.  Alejandra came in today, but said she was not feeling the best and was sore from the three shots they gave her.  She was drinking an electrolyte all day.  I have a feeling one of her problems is that she doesn't drink near enough water.  I never see her drinking here at camp, except maybe one glass during a meal.

Friday, October 14.  The lake finally rose to where it is coming in under our outside gate.  At least we won't get Saturday and Sunday picnic groups that always seem to trash the area outside our fence.

We got a call this morning from the group that is supposed to be here this weekend saying they were canceling.  However, when Alejandra told them that all the food had been purchased and what the cancellation charges would be, they changed their mind and said they may not have the 25 required, but that they would be here.  Well, we  had 23 show up, so that is pretty close.  This is the first time that I am aware of that a group has wanted to cancel at the last possible moment.  We make very little both in amount and percentage-wise with small groups that come and we would have to charge them a fairly large percentage of the cost just to cover expenses.

“And now, just as you have accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord,

you must continue to live in obedience to Him.

Let your roots grow down into Him and draw up nourishment from Him,

so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught.

Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all He has done.”

Colossians 2:6&7

Dear Friends & Family,

September 21^st-26^th our co-workers gathered for the Annual Highlands Conference.  We have the privilege of planning and preparing for this long weekend of refreshment & encouragement.  Each year there are many details to work through to make the conference happen and each year we reflect back to see how God has answered each prayer. Over and over again we see the Body of Christ use their gifts to be a blessing. A highlight for us was hearing the updates given from the missionaries in their tribal locations.

Highlands Conference 2011 – representing  support workers, language learners, Bible & lesson translators, literacy teachers & consultants, kids!

When you pray for our family you all are touching these folks lives as well.

~ from Wahgi

The missionaries in Wahgi began teaching their first Literacy class!

Pray that it would be a good start and that our men (Dan & Andrew) would feel the Lord's presence and help as they switch from being learners to being teachers.

Lord willing, they are planning to start the Bible TEACHING (chronological teaching/ Phase 1) in November this year.

Announcing the Literacy class at the market.

Andrew & Dan are working hard on getting the lessons ready for the teaching. Pray that the Lord would prepare the people's hearts so that they WANT to listen to the truth.

Pray that they would know HOW to teach so that it will be effective and clear right from the start.

Pray for the team, for unity, love and humble hearts as we seek to do our part in reaching the people here in Wahgi.

Thank you for your part in prayer for the work in Wahgi. The battle will be won through prayer.

Meeting, meetings, meetings

We ask ourselves many times why meetings need to happen. With this ministry role that Bill has been involved with since 2005 he has attended his fair share.  Pray for wisdom & unity as decisions are being made on many different fronts.  On October 11^th-18^th Bill will be in meetings with other men from around PNG, October 21^st-23^rd Bill and two co-workers will be out in the Kuman tribe), and Nov 8^th -10^th Bill will be traveling to Madang for these meetings.  These are dates to mark for special prayer.

Grateful Hearts

We are very grateful and we praise the Lord for you, our dear friends, family, prayer warriors, financial supporters, and encouragers in the work God allows us to be involved with in PNG. God bless you for faithfully standing with us in the ministry of seeing the people of PNG reached with the Gospel of God’s Grace.  THANK YOU for the sacrifices you make on our behalf to keep us here.

Praise:

1.    Bill’s dad is recovering well from his heart attack and surgery. 

2.    Karen’s mom is healing well from her final knee replacement!

3.    4 new families have arrived and are busy learning Melanesian Pidgin and the general PNG culture

4.    Our recent Highlands Conference went really well- God answered so many prayers to see everything come together.

Prayer:

1.    For the new families as they adjust to life here, missing family & friends & for good health and strength for all.

2.    Bill & other field leaders involved with meetings

3.    Lucy, Oliver & Stuart as they began their 2^nd term of school on the 11^th

With Thanksgiving for all the Lord has done & will continue to do,

Bill & Karen,

Lucy, Oliver & Stuart

Bill & Karen Michaud

P.O. Box 1079

Goroka, EHP 441

Papua New Guinea

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Phone: 011-675-532-2575