Deconstruction Trip: Our House

Cassidy • March 20, 2023

Yesterday the guys returned from the third trip into the village since the earthquake. While the last trip was gutting our home, this trip was taking the structure down and beginning the footings for the office. Here are some pictures (with a little more "how was the trip?" at the end):

Ryan, Lington, Kombuk, and Zach. Kombuk and Lington are trained carpenters who live in Madang. We hired them for these last two trips and have been really thankful for their skill, help, and for the relationships they build with our friends in the village.

Step one: removing the roofing iron.

There was a pretty significant earthquake on the day when they were removing the roof, but no one was on the roof at the time and the house didn't sustain any more damage - for that we were thankful!

Step two: Removing the walls.

Look at our floor!

Taking down the last few walls.

Step three: removing the floor.

Removing the floor trusses.

All that is left for now is our water tank and the concrete footings.

While all the pieces were coming down, we needed to hire other men to remove nails.

Early in the week, Ryan oversaw the construction of this shed to house all the wood.

Organizing the wood by size.

Securing building materials inside.

Ryan worked hard also in marking, digging, and pouring cement for the office footers.

All ten footers done.

We hired several men from the village each day to help.

And many of our close friends came each day to help for free.

The guys spent a full seven days working hard.


You might expect that a trip like this would be difficult. Let me tell you, it WAS difficult. Physically, it was hard. Ryan suffered much with an injured knee and back. Zach and Ryan both had trouble breathing (and therefore sleeping) each night in a smokey hut. And waking each morning with sore muscles to remove nails and haul wood again was tiring. Yes, it was physically difficult.


But let me tell you: emotionally it was more difficult. As an example, removing our boys' green walls: walls that were installed at the cost of lots of time away from wives and kids. Walls that we painted army green for Jude and Oliver in the early years of Mawerero ministry. Walls that saw those little boys do so much growing up. Walls that still had various artwork and nicknacks tacked to them. Those walls had to be ripped out and new ones will have to be rebuilt again some day. Yes, it was emotionally difficult.


Yet Ephesians 5:20, Paul tells the Ephesians that they are to give thanks always and for everything. Not just to always find some reason to give thanks, but to actually give.thanks.FOR.everything. Because of God's promises to us in the gospel, Zach (and I from afar) can give thanks to God for the very removing of our walls since in His wisdom God is doing all things for our good and the good of all those around us who know Him.


We are so very thankful that they finished all they set out to accomplish on this trip. Even more than they expected. And we are thankful to be back together!


Juli's Funeral

By Cassidy • October 31, 2025
Juli died yesterday. The news came to us through Bangena and her young daughter on our steps. “Juli died and her brothers are trying to hurt her husband. They are hiding him there in the Counsel’s house," they said, pointing to our next-door neighbor’s hut. So many people were shocked. “How could she be dead? She wasn’t sick. I saw her just a couple days ago…!” Eventually we learned that Juli had hemorrhaged all night and had died in the morning. A brand new baby, miscarried, and they could not stop the bleeding. Juli has seven children close in age (the youngest was still nursing). Her parents knew that children so close together can cause complications, so a while back they told Samuel to stop getting his wife pregnant. Samuel agreed and promised his wife she wouldn't have any more kids, but it was a promise he couldn't keep.

Millers' House Build

By Cassidy • October 30, 2025
As you may have read in email updates and other posts, we have new teammates - Josh and Autumn Miller! We are so thankful to the Lord for giving this sweet couple a desire to serve the Lord here among the Do people. They have been working since July to turn our previous office into their new home! Josh and Kombuk (our Madang carpenter friend) have flown in every couple weeks to work. A close family friend Johnathan is also here helping with the build. He flew out from the states in August and is staying here in PNG until the house is done! Johnathan has stayed in the village even between trips to keep working, which has been sweet for our family as we have been able to get to know him.

50th Independence Day

By Cassidy • September 28, 2025
On the 16th, PNG celebrated 50 years of independence! There were big celebrations all over the country. In our village, they had a flag raising ceremony at the school to start off the week. Then there were basketball and soccer tournaments, dart games and lots of food. Hiking down to the school:

Literacy Class 5

By Cassidy • September 3, 2025
On Monday, a new literacy class began! Our literacy teachers, Maikepe and Namura, have been gathering names and school fees for a year, but interest here was low. Once some men from a nearby village decided to join, interest (there and here!) spiked and we have an overflowing classroom. Sewing to bind four more literacy books to account for the extra students:

JAARS Video

By Cassidy • August 6, 2025
JAARS trains and sends pilots over here - we are thankful for them!

Highlands Break

By Cassidy • August 1, 2025
We were able to fly up to the highlands to take a break at SIL's mission base (called Ukarumpa). We wanted to rest, see doctors, connect with coworkers, and give the boys time with friends.

Teaching Video

By Cassidy • July 7, 2025
Zach and I put together a video for our church's Sunday school hour. The first small part explains how we keep ourselves supplied and the rest of it is how Zach handles foreign concepts in translation. If you have an hour and want to know more about the work here, see the video below:

Ellie Turns Two

By Cassidy • June 28, 2025
Our littlest Ellie turned two! We love this little girl and thank God for completing our family with her. We can see her beginning to grow A BIT in independence and contentment as she matures and is able to communicate. She has lots of words, giggles often at Annie's silliness, loves rice, and (as a last born) is usually just along for the ride. She is happy to write in the dirt or play on the rope swing, look at books on the couch or look out the window in a hut, but if anything goes wrong, she just wants her mama. It is sweet to see how good the boys are with her, and Annie is a good big sister, too! (Though Annie DID have a good cry a few days ago when she realized she wasn't going to get any presents on Ellie's birthday 😉)

April and Easter

By Cassidy • May 4, 2025
After celebrating Jude's birthday, we had a pretty low-key April and Easter. Zach has been faithfully preaching through Ephesians, and there have been good opportunities to follow up with people afterward.

Jude is a Teenager!

By Cassidy • April 7, 2025
The boy that made us parents turned 13 on Friday! This boy is growing up!  He has always been an analyst, but now he is thinking big thoughts about future plans and budgets. He has always been conscious of the feelings of others, but he is now taking more initiative to step up and handle things for others.