I hadn't planned on writing another update on Pastor Richard and his family. However, so many of you have written me on facebook or emailed me and asked how they were doing and if I had another update coming. So I decided I should just write out something on here for all of you to see.
The reason I hadn't planned on writing an update, is that although this was obviously a big deal in their lives, its not something they have had time to stay fixated on. Here in PNG life has to go on. There is no time to sit and dwell on the past. Now some of you may be thinking that given what happened to Caroline, it is cruel to suggest that they shouldn't dwell on it (it has only been a month). But there are things that go on here that make it impossible for them to not move on. Like the fact that 2 weeks ago Richard's half brother went and did something stupid that caused a fight to break out between two tribes. And although no one from Richard's immediate family group got injured, 4 people total died in the fighting between the two tribes. Because of the fighting and the fear that they would also be killed, Richard and his extended family couldn't leave their homes for almost a week.
Then in the wake of the fighting that was just getting calmed down, Richard's half brother went and got caught stealing K4,500 (roughly $2,250) from someone from another tribal group. In order to stop another fight from breaking out, Richard himself went and hunted his half brother down, tied him up, and took him to the prison. The cultural thing would have been to protect his half brother no matter what. But Richard told me that the only way his half brother was ever going to stop doing these things long enough to learn not to do them would be if he got killed or was in prison. So he hunted him down and took him to the prison and filed a report himself against him. However, as the police officer took him from Richard and was walking him back to the cell, apparently he twisted the police officer's arm and escaped. Inside the prison. When he found out, Richard said lets go get him in your police car before he gets too far. To which the police replied that they had no vehicles available at that time. So Richard's half brother escaped. And here in PNG, the police rarely ever go and track someone like this down. So now he is just out there and we are waiting to see what stupid thing he will do next.
So that is the update on Pastor Richard. Now you see why it has been hard for them to dwell on the past. I have been passing on your comments and prayers to Richard and he has been so appreciative. We would like to ask that you continue to pray for us as well. It has been great to be here and work alongside Richard during all of this. We have been able to encourage him and he continues to encourage us when we have problems. That's one of the many reasons that we are working so hard to get our account back up. Currently our account has dipped down into the red and we are facing having to leave PNG and head back to the States early if our account doesn't come back up. Please take a moment to pray about Pastor Richard and his family, our ministry here in PNG, our account, and how God can use you to help out. If God is leading you to help in some way head over to our Partner With Us page. Thank you so much for your concern for the work here in PNG
The reason I hadn't planned on writing an update, is that although this was obviously a big deal in their lives, its not something they have had time to stay fixated on. Here in PNG life has to go on. There is no time to sit and dwell on the past. Now some of you may be thinking that given what happened to Caroline, it is cruel to suggest that they shouldn't dwell on it (it has only been a month). But there are things that go on here that make it impossible for them to not move on. Like the fact that 2 weeks ago Richard's half brother went and did something stupid that caused a fight to break out between two tribes. And although no one from Richard's immediate family group got injured, 4 people total died in the fighting between the two tribes. Because of the fighting and the fear that they would also be killed, Richard and his extended family couldn't leave their homes for almost a week.
Then in the wake of the fighting that was just getting calmed down, Richard's half brother went and got caught stealing K4,500 (roughly $2,250) from someone from another tribal group. In order to stop another fight from breaking out, Richard himself went and hunted his half brother down, tied him up, and took him to the prison. The cultural thing would have been to protect his half brother no matter what. But Richard told me that the only way his half brother was ever going to stop doing these things long enough to learn not to do them would be if he got killed or was in prison. So he hunted him down and took him to the prison and filed a report himself against him. However, as the police officer took him from Richard and was walking him back to the cell, apparently he twisted the police officer's arm and escaped. Inside the prison. When he found out, Richard said lets go get him in your police car before he gets too far. To which the police replied that they had no vehicles available at that time. So Richard's half brother escaped. And here in PNG, the police rarely ever go and track someone like this down. So now he is just out there and we are waiting to see what stupid thing he will do next.
So that is the update on Pastor Richard. Now you see why it has been hard for them to dwell on the past. I have been passing on your comments and prayers to Richard and he has been so appreciative. We would like to ask that you continue to pray for us as well. It has been great to be here and work alongside Richard during all of this. We have been able to encourage him and he continues to encourage us when we have problems. That's one of the many reasons that we are working so hard to get our account back up. Currently our account has dipped down into the red and we are facing having to leave PNG and head back to the States early if our account doesn't come back up. Please take a moment to pray about Pastor Richard and his family, our ministry here in PNG, our account, and how God can use you to help out. If God is leading you to help in some way head over to our Partner With Us page. Thank you so much for your concern for the work here in PNG