By God’s Grace As we begin this new year we do so with thankful hearts that the long process of procuring work permits and visas is behind us.  Thank you for praying with us through that time and we were so glad to be able to celebrate New Year’s Day back in our house at Bobiufa. There are so many things involved in keeping this ministry going, that there is no doubt that apart from God’s grace it could never succeed.  That’s a great place to be, dependent on the Lord to provide, protect, and guide.  Our prayer for 2010 is that we can be dependent on His Spirit for His provision and timing in all that remains in completing the Mesem New Testament. Boys Deliver Pregnant Mother The road from Goroka town to Bobiufa is two lanes of dirt. Without street lights and with the rain turning the dirt into mud, a night-time drive from town has all the excitement you could want. Add to that a group of people crowding onto the road with the obvious intent of slowing or stopping your vehicle, a tactic often used in robberies. That is just the situation Tony and his friend, Seth, were found themselves in as they were returning from Goroka. (We’ll leave aside questions concerning what irresponsible parent would let their kid get into such a predicament.) Tony and Seth had just a couple of seconds to decide what to do and they both felt the Lord wanted them to stop. As it turns out, just behind this group of anxious relatives was a woman in the late stages of labor who desperately needed to get to the hospital. The boys got mom into the cab of the truck, all the other relatives climbed on the back and they got to the hospital just in time. Three days later we were waved down during the daylight and a man told us that a bunch of bananas awaits the boys as thanks for their efforts. (We are not simply irresponsible parents, we are proud and irresponsible parents.) A baby boy was born shortly after mom and extended family got to the hospital. Mom and the newborn are doing well and Tony and Seth were proud to have been able to help. Emmanuel in Action About two weeks later Neil and Tony took a day trip to Lae where they met some men from our village and got replacement parts for our washing machine. Leaving at 5 A.M., the trip down was uneventful and it was great to see some of the guys again. They left Lae about 5 P.M., for the expected 5 hour return trip to Bobiufa. Tony and Neil shared the driving. As they traveled the truck seem to develop a new shudder. Not too odd given an old vehicle and some of the roads we travel. They checked the tires and steering and finding nothing unusual, continued their trip home. At about 8 P.M., they crested the Kasam Pass, a 2,000 foot assent over about 5 miles. At the top, just after they passed a bus parked along the side of the road there was a loud bang from underneath the truck. From experience Neil guessed it was the drive shaft and after getting out of the truck, started walking back up the road looking for the drive shaft he felt sure had rolled off into the drainage ditch. Not finding the drive shaft, he went back to check under the truck and was quite surprised to find that the four bolts which connect the shaft to the one coming out of the transmission had vibrated lose! Good news: the shaft and u-joints were OK. Bad news: they just didn’t have four replacement nuts, bolts and lock washers handy. Just after Neil was thinking that he and Tony would be sleeping in the truck some Papua New Guineans approached. Broken drive shafts are common enough that our new friends also recognized that sound when they heard it. One was the driver of the bus Neil and Tony had just passed, the other was from a near-by house. Our more resourceful friends wasted no time in coming up with a solution: They removed bolts from elsewhere along the drive train so that each connection – including the one which had come loose – had at least three bolts holding it in place! These guys even did the work! As Neil and Tony were watching this mechanical act of cannibalism, Tony asked his Dad if he was correct in remembering that Emmanuel means ‘God with us.’ When the ol’ bible scholar affirmed his son, the ‘kid’ first pointed to an approaching bus, across the front of which was painted “EMMANUEL”, then he pointed to the guys creatively fixing our truck, who came as if from nowhere,  and said “Get it?” Amen and amen. Photo below taken by Anthony LoCicero This photo was taken by  our nephew,Tony LoCicero, at the annual Goroka Show in September 2009 Alpha and 2012 We made a commitment to the Mesem to dedicate the New Testament by 2012. That requires that we typeset the scriptures in 2011 leaving us 18 months at this point to ready the text before we return to the US for the process of typesetting and readying the dedication and distribution of the New Testament. At the same time, there is interest in the Alpha evangelism course at the University of Goroka, among some staff at the Goroka hospital, and some business men and women in Goroka. We’re excited at the open doors but want to walk through the right ones at the right time as the Lord leads. We appreciate your prayers for wisdom and the Lord’s empowerment as we seek to follow His leading. We love you and we thank God for you, Neil, Kathy and Tony Neil, Kathy and Tony Vanaria Home address: PO Box 346 Goroka, EHP 441 Papua New Guinea +675-7212-9872  For gifts to the work:  Assemblies of God World Missions 1445 North Boonville Avenue Springfield, MO 65802Acct. #234538 (Please mark “For Rev. Neil. Vanaria)