The wedding was beautiful – yep, that’s right, I said “Wedding”! and it was mine by the way… I think I should explain that the courtship, the writing, the meeting, the prayers, the emails, the phone calls… all the way back to the first introduction – all of it takes a lot of explaining. Those of you who know me, know I can be a bit verbose.. I like to tell stories and for some reason, this one is hard to tell in “short form”. So, perhaps what I’ll do is tell it in installments – make it a little more “bite-size”-readable, if there is such a thing:
So, the beginning: I was first introduced to Beth by Dave, her husband. He was a friend of mine flying in Papua w/ another mission organization and the lived in Wamena. I’d heard of the “Clapper family” and I knew Dave from his periodic shopping trips to Sentani. Where I’d usually run into him at a local restaurant or in one of the local stores buying bulk items (canned goods, rice, sugar, tp, etc.) to haul back home to Wamena for their home. One night at Manna House (restaurant in Sentani) I met him and his family – this was probably about 2 years before his accident. I know I’ve mentioned his accident in a blog entry back in 2008 , but didn’t realize how personally that prayer request for his family would impact my life!!
Beth and the children went back to the U.S. for several memorial services after his accident, but returned in October of 2008 to work in Wamena as a English language coach and mentor under a new Visa from the GIDI church. I met her the first weekend they were back coming through Sentani and shared w/ her my mom’s experience of pressing on in her ministry with MAF by coming back to Papua (then called Irian Jaya) after my own dad’s fatal accident in 1979. Specifically, I encouraged her to follow God’s calling and don’t let anyone tell her as a widow that she shouldn’t or couldn’t work there. I know I felt an eagerness to see her continuing to serve Him and wanted to assure her that she AND her children would see God take care of them and be “Father to the fatherless” as He promises. I know because I have seen how He has taken care of my brother and I all these years.
When I ran into Beth and two friends having dinner at Manna house 4 months later, I asked how she was doing and they invited me to sit and eat my ‘take-out’ with them (despite my sweaty, been-building-my-kayak appearance) and the next morning I offered to drive them to the airport for their return flight to Wamena. That evening I got a nice note from Beth thanking me for helping her w/ her bags/boxes at the airport and we became Facebook friends. That led to exchanging occasional emails and notes, then an sms or two. As we got to know each other, I was intrigued and challenged by her – I also remember asking if anyone was praying with her regularly and asked if I could pray before we got off the phone that night. She let me and thanked me and that habit of my praying over her and the family has endured to this day. More in the next installment.

Advertisement