Susan’s story ----- There's a new name written down in Glory

Praise the Lord for the special privilege He gave Lynette of sharing the Gospel with Susan, the sister of Pangua one of our Sobega workers. She was dying of mouth and throat cancer and trusting in her own good works to give her entrance into heaven. I, Lynette, went into the hospital and spent about one and a half hours with her one Saturday and two hours on the Sunday taking her from Creation to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. When I finished I asked her did she believe what I had told her and did she want to be reconciled to God. Susan said yes and so I suggested she pray in her mind and say thank you to Jesus for dying in her place and tell Him that she was placing her trust in all that He had done so that God could accept her as His child.

I wasn't sure whether she really meant it or not. So, on the following Tuesday when Pangua and his wife Kamaru were going to the hospital to visit Susan, I asked Kamaru to ask Susan what she had thought about what I had shared with her.

The next day Kamaru reported, "I asked Susan, 'You know that white skinned lady came and talked with you. What did you think about what she said? Susan replied, 'I used to think I was a good woman, but I found out that I was a sinner and that I was on my way to Hell. BUT Jesus died in my place and now I am going to Heaven.' I said, 'Oh Susan, I am so glad! I have trusted in what Jesus did on the cross to save me too. You are going to die soon but your spirit will go straight to be with God. Then some time later I will die also and my spirit will come to Heaven and we will be together forever.' Susan responded, 'I'm not afraid to die now.'"

Two Sundays later Bill and I dropped Pangua at the hospital to visit Susan. We planned to visit her ourselves after attending church. However, Pangua met us after the service and told us that she had died. She had trusted Christ as her Saviour just 14 days before the Lord took her to be with Himself! Praise Him.

Please pray for Lina [leena], Viki and Aisere [eye-se-ray] whom Lynette meets with on Wednesdays and Sundays for a Creation to Christ teaching class. May they all be saved. We had started working through the account of Moses and the deliverance from Egypt when we went away for our break. Lina and Viki have attended one study since then but Aisere has not come at all. I do pray they will all return to the studies after all the distraction of the elections is over.  The voting in this electorate took place last Wednesday but the counting is not complete yet.

MEDICAL TRIP to Cairns for Lynette

For the past three years I have had one UTI after another.  Dr Kevin, our doctor here, wants to get to the bottom of what is causing them.  Whenever they test a specimen of my urine there is always a trace of blood.  He thinks this may mean there is an area of irritation or a small lesion in the bladder.

I am booked on a flight from Goroka to Port Moresby on the morning of Sunday 5th August and then on to Cairns that afternoon with an ETA of 6:40.   I have an appointment for an initial consultation with a urologist Dr Neil Gordon on the morning of Tuesday 7th August. 

Bill will be remaining here in PNG.  He asked Dr Kevin if he felt I was likely to have an operation and Kevin thought NO.  If I had to have an operation, Bill would want to be with me.  I don't know how long I will need to stay in Cairns, it depends what Dr Gordon finds out.  Therefore I have not booked my return flights yet.

 I shall be staying with Trevor and Estelle, our NTM personnel in Cairns who help with medivacs and supply buying, for the first few days.  Then I shall move to the home of Steve and Gay, very good friends of NTM, on the Saturday 11^th for the remainder of the time I need to be in Cairns.

Lynette   If you email me, I can give you a mobile phone contact number for while I am  in Cairns

--   Bill & Lynette Cottam <IXOYE><  NTM PNG Highlands Tech Services  P.O.Box 1079 Goroka EHP 441  PNG  Phone: 675 532 1670  Mobile: 675 72767069 OR 71259593  www.mmol.org/cottam, http://cottamhts.wordpress.com  and http://billnalynette.blogspot.com

Soon Gerolf and Mailis can move into their home

Look at the view Gerolf and Mailis will have from the front verandah of their home!

Gerolf watches the progress of the work with satisfaction.

The Dom believers are helping also

Philip who has been such a help to Jim over many years has been very involved in the construction.



The Dom men have helped with fencing Gerolf and Mailis's property.



A group of the men have also been digging the pit for the septic.





Some of the ladies came to inspect.

Showcasing some of the building team

I now have more photos which show the men working.  I am especially pleased to be able to show some of the men who have taken time out of their other ministries to provide a home for Gerolf and Mailis.

Chris works in our ICT department as part of the team who take care of the computer, internet and emailing needs of the whole field.  He took 2 two weeks out to work on this building team.  Thank you, Chris.

This is Bill, He is one of our leaders who gives oversight and direction to all our church planting missionaries.  He is also very skilled with his hands.  Thanks, Bill, for your contribution of 3 weeks to this project.

Here's Kevin our HTS co-worker.  Kevin was one of the first on-site.  He accompanied Tim the project co-ordinator and together they carried out the preparatory work and then continued on after the rest of the team arrived.  Bill has gone up to Dom this week to work alongside Kevin in order to see all the electrical work on the house finished.  A special thank you to Kevin.  I hope to have photos of Bill working to add after they return home at the end of this week.

Here I'd like to specially point out Tim up near the ridge.  Tim has given over 3 weeks to head up this project.  He is a skilled and experienced builder.  Not only has he taken time out of his ministry in our resource centre printing materials for our church plating teams but he also also take up has tools again in spite of his back problems.  A VERY BIG thank you to Tim.

In the photo you can also see Kevin and at the bottom Erwin from Germany and a Dom man whom I cannot recognise at this angle.  We have love having Erwin working alongside us for 3 months.

In this shot Kevin is doing one of the primary things we do in our HTS ministry ---- fitting the solar panels which will provide electricity for the home [MOST of the time, we hope].  Gerolf for whom the house is being built is up at the top on the ridge capping.

Fitting the solar charging controls inside the house

Before and After Pictures of Gerolf and Mailis' House

The block of ground with the previous building on it

After the Dom believers had cleared the land ready for the house to be built

The house structure completed but not finished inside

Progress report on Dom house building

Erwin

All of the building team except Erwin returned yesterday.  Erwin, Jim and Gerolf are continuing on and another team will go up later, I believe. 





Here are some pictures showing the progress before they left.

I call this the rainbow house.  They are using plywood from the house of former missionaries which was dismantled.

This view shows the verandah.