You are here: Home -> Carver Jnr's (Richard & Andrea) -> Latest Newsletter

Laura with a friend at the EHP Conference. Her dress was made by Sis Cook of Cairns, Australia.

Richard & Andrea Carver

Latest AIM Newsletter:

• View more photos here

December 20th, 2007

Well, it has been a little while since I’ve written my latest Chronicles of New Guinea. I’m sitting down to write now at 11:00pm; I’ve just heard a preliminary report from our National Youth Camp this evening and it has got me excited enough to remove sleep from my eyes. I don’t know all the details as yet, so I won’t of it write in this newsletter, but the next.

This month’s newsletter is not quite as melodramatic as the previous ones, but I’m not complaining… melodrama is something I can live without! We have now been in PNG for almost two months, and can truly say that, after a few preliminary hiccups, we are now fully in the swing of life and work here.

Smoke billows from the house behind us

House Fire

On one of the first Sunday’s we were here, we stepped outside the back door to go to church, when we heard shouts of “Fire, Fire” from the neighbours. The house behind us had caught fire, and smoke started to billow from the windows. People rushed in to assist, removing furniture and gas bottles, as the flames steadily seized hold of the house. The Fire Department eventually managed to subdue the fire, but there was extensive damage. It was caused by a young boy playing with a candle.

I will never forget the image of the owner of the house, a Filipino lady, clambering to the top of the 6ft chainlink fence, crying out in panic and desperation “Please, somebody come and save my house”. It spoke volumes to me spiritually.

Well, I guess that’s why we’re here in PNG, to be part of that great Mission by assisting the church. But it’s easy to forget sometimes in the busyness of it all, that there may be an individual, one of another race, someone wounded on the Jericho Road, a “neighbour”, whom the Lord would have us rescue, and who we are commanded to love as ourselves.

The crowd who attended the Eastern Highlands Conference

Eastern Highlands Conference

It was the house fire that motivated a message that I preached the next week at the Eastern Highlands Conference. I incorporated that Good Samaritan “neighbour” into a message I preached. It was a lovely service, and I had all the Pastors pray for each other, all the saints pray for each other, and then all the saints come and thank every Pastor for their work and labour. It was very touching, and a wonderful spirit of thankfulness was evident across the Conference.

The General Secretary and the Regional Presbyter also preached at the Conference, and a wonderful spirit of worship and appreciation arose, particularly on Saturday night, which was a wonderful refreshing move of the Spirit of the Lord.

Computer 'Issues'

It seems at times as if computers are our worst enemy, and in spite of all the love and tender patience you throw at them and quality time you give up to be with them (instead of with your wife and kids), they repay you with nothing but guile and contempt.

The first day that I ‘officially’ started work in the office, I discovered that the Backup Drive (the one that was stolen and returned) had bitten the dust. Not having an abundance of spare hard drives here, and reluctant to pay through the nose here, I laboured long and hard to try to coax it back to life. Without success, alas; every sector from 1 to 1 million was unrecoverable (it stopped trying to recover after 1 million).

Brother Richard, Brother Technician.

I did manage to find a spare drive, and got the Backup Drive working again. But that very same day my computer (which had travelled all the way from Australia without incident) was touched by the Blue Screen of Death; totally unrecoverable by natural means, and gleefully beckoning for a total reinstall (all my disks are back in Australia).

But thanks to my trusty BartPE CD and the veritable 3.5” floppy disk, the computer was raised from the ruins, and all my programs and data intact.

I believe it was the next day that Sis Bennie came in to my office to say that our Brother Multifunction Centre was not working. Sure enough, “Error Code 5: call Brother” was written on the LCD display. Sis Bennie wasn’t sure which Brother they were talking about, she assumed they meant Brother Richard. So she called me.

I guess I am the only Brother around here that could fix it. There’s no Brother Service Agent that I know of in New Guinea. So I took a deep breath and became one. I completely pulled the machine apart, cleaned it totally from the sticky dust which pervades everything, put it back together, and viola! It works.

The only thing I wasn’t able to do was to correct the error message to read “Error Code 5: call Brother Richard”.

Blessing for the Ministry

The Ministry received a Magazine and a DVD

With the computers now all working again, I decided with Sis Bennie and Joanne that we would attempt to send a end of year thanks to all the Pastors around the country for their faithfulness in Monthly Reports and Licence Fees.

It was a huge undertaking, but we would attempt to publish a 20 page Ministers Magazine, and also include a free DVD to the ministry. Sis Bennie and Joanne worked so hard and late to assist me in finishing it before the HQ Office closed for Christmas Holidays. They have such a heart for the work of God, and are so willing.

We sent the packages out yesterday, and almost instantly we’ve heard joyful feedback from Pastors, who were greatly encouraged by the Magazine and DVD.

It is people like you who are making this blessing a reality for the ministry around the nation. Truly we are labourers together!

Revival comes with Persecution

I have heard a report from Southern Chimbu, from a Pastor in a remote area. The only access to his area is by plane, and they make the trip by plane to Headquarters every few months to pay their Monthly Reports. Apparently, a group of escaped convicts have terrorised his area, taking over the small town and implementing their version of “Criminal Law”. Because the Pastor stood for righteousness, he and his wife’s lives were threatened and house damaged.

The Pastor has fled to another area, and in the last three months has begun four new churches in that area! So even in the midst of tribulation, God’s Word is spread abroad! Praise God! However, this brief victory report doesn’t show the fear and emotion the Pastor and his wife faced during the time when their lives were endangered. Please pray for the church in Karimui.

Christmas

Laura & Timothy playing with Roscoe in the rain

It will be our first Christmas on our own, away from family, the kids away from Grandparents and cousins. We of course will miss them and maybe feel a bit lonely. But our hearts are knit as one, an in spite of the distance, appreciate our natural and church family around the world.

We would like to thank you for your encouragement and support during 2007, and wish that wherever you may be, that you would have a safe and blessed Christmas, whether near family or far; and that the Lord would be with you as we enter a new year.

May God bless you,

- Richard & Andrea Carver, Laura & Timothy

• Be sure to view more of our latest photos! Click here.

NOTE: You can be informed whenever a new newsletter is available by subscribing to our website and newsletter updates service.