The Real Tribal Wives of PNG

I am getting really tired of writing about gecko poo, so I decided to share with you a little bit about some of the amazing ladies I have met since coming to PNG. They are real tribal wives. They are way more beautiful than any of the Real Housewives and way less surgically enhanced. They are, in fact, the exact opposite of those "Real" Housewives in that they are genuine, selfless, compassionate, hard working, dedicated, humble, and godly. They are true examples of the Proverbs 31 woman and I just thought that you should meet some of them.

Today I would like to introduce you to Gail...





She and her family work with this people group...



Who live on this island (yes, that is a volcano)...



With this team...




Gail recently received an involuntary makeover...




Thanks to chemotherapy. But honestly, she is even more beautiful now than she was before. You see, she and her family moved to PNG to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a people who don't have it. They worked really hard to learn Pidgin then the tribal language, and right as the team was just about to start teaching the Bible to the Biem people for the first time ever...they found out that she had cancer. And she cried. Not because she had cancer, but because she knew this would be a set back for the team, and therefore would be a setback for the Biem people to hear God's message of reconciliation in their own language. She and her family have been in Taiwan since July, but while she is in between treatments, her husband comes to the island to do some work to help the team and spend time the people. The whole family is planning on coming for the start of the Bible teaching in June. Yeah, they were given an easy out. An "honorable discharge" so to speak, and yet they are still here. Still working hard through very difficult circumstances to do what God has called them to do. Anyone would tell them that it is ok to quit. To move back to civilization, and take care of yourselves. It is obvious that this is not what God has for you, right? I mean why would He make it difficult for you if this was His will? But they know better. They know they are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses that have suffered and even died for the will of God.

We had dinner with her husband last night. He had been to the island to visit, but had to cut the visit short because their daughter is in the hospital with pneumonia. Yeah, you heard that right. She is done with chemo, and about to start radiation, so her husband comes to here to do some work, and while he is gone her daughter gets put in the hospital with pneumonia. This family needs your prayers.

They truly are an amazing family that loves the Lord and is an encouragement to everyone who comes in contact with them. I have to admit that it makes me wonder sometimes why God allows the things He does. I mean, I know that good things are coming from all this. This wonderful family is definitely bringing glory to His Name through their suffering. God most certainly chose them because they are mature enough in Him to persevere. Their response to all this was, excitement. "We've been chosen to bring glory to God through the means of sickness and suffering!" was something they wrote to all of us in an email. And we were all humbled and felt truly blessed by the example of this family.

I don't have to question my maturity at all because a little trial we had back in January where we just *thought* 3N1 had cancer sent me kicking and screaming like a toddler into the presence of God and asking Him, "why us, Lord?". Sometimes I wonder if the rest of us were more mature, would it balance out the suffering of others? If we hadn't been such babies and failed the test, would this family and families like them all over the world be put through so much? Does being part of the body make me responsible to carry my share of the suffering to bring glory to Christ's name, so that others don't have to carry so much. Hmmm? That is a very difficult and convicting question...one I am afraid that I don't really want the answer too. And if this is the case, I bet this family wants to scream at all of us to get off our rear ends, grow up, and help take the load off of them!

Sigh. Who knows. What I do know right now is that one way we can all help carry their burdens is to pray for them. Pray for healing. Pray for peace. Pray for comfort. And pray for joy. They totally need it and totally deserve it. Thanks, Gail and fam for being such a great example to us as believers. Thanks for bringing as much glory to God as you possibly can while the rest of us are taking our sweet precious time to grow up. But, I promise watching your story unfold is helping us grow up. Thanks for your faithfulness.

To find out more about the Chen family you can click here.