5 years in PNG!

 

 

June 29th, 5 years ago, we stepped onto PNG soil for the first time. It has been wonderful and it PNG has became our home. We celebrated with a game of Settlers of Catan and American food. Brittney brought a suitcase full of US food-thanks Garnett church and Brit- and the Brothwell's left some candy bars. We did throw in a few leftovers of fruits and veggies, so it wasn't all junk, but pretty close!

Here's praise to God for leading us to PNG and prayers for many more wonderful years where He calls us.

Phil 4:4

This is a dear old friend, who I have known through our five years here, I call her Mama and she calls me Mama. 2 of her sons are pastors and she was close friends with the some of the first missionaries here. I gave her a bracelt in the past, because she liked it (it was from my Springfield bible study friends). She wore the bracelt for years until it broke in the garden. She has had a stroke and is a bit difficult to understand now. Also, she only speaks tokples (talk place), so I could not ever understand her. It doesn't stop her from talking and I just nod and smile. It brought joy to my day to be with her.

 

She had no idea what a camera was.

 

"o-my that is me!" She exclaimed as I showed her the play back of the picture on the screen.

 

Now she has it figured out and everyone tells her to smile. Isn't she precious.

 

I wish I could have gotten a picture of what happened after church. I brought a bag of 100 peices of gum to church and they handed it out, first to the kids, then to the 16 people who were baptised, then to the adults. They skipped Mama and another old lady. Soon the gum was gone. I had a couple peices of Bubble Yum in my purse. Now, you know what it feels like when you stuff a big piece of gum like that in your mouth. But think if you were 70, had never experienced that, and you find yourself with a huge super sweet substance in your mouth and your few teeth and tongue do not know what to do! She loved it. I was a bit worried that she would aspirate or something, but about 10 mintues later, she was still chewing, or should I say wallering the gum.

Lena told me that Mama always shares verse Phil 4:4. During testamony time. Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice! What a great life verse to have.

What's in the bag?

 

Okay, traveling to church, Scott picks up people, drops them off at the church they are going to, picks up other people walking along the road, just to give them a ride. One lady came in the back of the Land Cruiser with her bilum filled up. Can you tell from the picture what is in her bilum? Leave a comment with your guess. Needless to say, it was a fun ride!

Bubble gum

 

What else do you do on June 27th, besides make bubble gum?

 

Uncle Mark gave Allie this a couple years ago. There are lots of experiments inside.

 

It was fairly easy for Al to make, other than burning herself on the hot liquid.

 

The bubbles were not as good as the picture on the box, but it was fun to make and was an adventure.

Fruits of PNG!

Just in case you are curious...here are some fruits that grow close to our house.

 

Lemon Tree. This is the first time I remember it bearing fruit.

 

Berry bushes, they will get blue/purple when ripe.

 

Pineapple

 

Guava tree, do you see the guavas?

Koki Koki Fort

You are about to enter a land that few adults have stepped foot. It is the land of the Koki Koki fort.

 

This may look like ordinary bamboo, but it holds a secret area, alive to the minds of children, contained only by the limits of their wildest imagination.

 

Inside footage of the fort. The members- who will remain nameless- quickly initiated Brittney as a full fledged member.

 

Welcome Brittney!

 Thursday, we headed to the airport to pick up Brittney! Yeah! She is here to stay with us 2 months. We are very excited. Emma asked "Can Brittney be another sister?". Al, Em and Liv were all in Brittney's room by the time I was out of bed at 7 am.
 

Emma's big bandage

 
Coming home from the women's gathering, I found Emma wrapped up like this. A peice of bamboo hit her on the head. There is less than a centimeter cut, no stitches needed. Scott and I were both gone, so Rebeka, who was taking care of the girls and the work and witness team lovingly took care of Em, washed her up and those at the hospital gave her such a nice bandage. I am not sure that I will ever get her to take it off, she is so proud of her bandage.
 
 
The pictures are from Emma, herself, as she wanted pictures of the blood on the rock and the bamboo that hit her. The little cut didn't slow her down for long and she never stopped talking!

Thank you God, for watching over my little one that she wasn't hurt any more than this little cut and thank you for the hands that helped her.

Western Highlands Ladies Camp Meeting

 

Today, I got the privilege of praying with a new believer who was asking God into her heart for the first time. Kathy and Allison and I went to a meri bung and worshiped with probably 400 ladies. The morning message was wonderful and many women responded. You can see them praying at the alter.

After this service, Kathy and I shared about how to handle conflict in marriage. I was a joy to share with these women and I am thankful that God allowed me to be a part. We talked about when we have conflict in our marriage, how, when, and where to resolve those conflicts. It was a great morning of excitement.

Medford team

The Medford team also has 3 children on the team. The kids are such a wonderful treat for my kids! The first thing Olivia says every morning is "Can I go to the wickness team house?" The team is staying at the 2 houses closest to us, and the girls are enjoying running out to play all day long.

 

Allison and Allison keep wearing the same color dresses on the same day!

 

Olivia and her "best friend" Brandon, playing Subway and Lego's.

Kudjip Pediatric Ward

The Arizona work and witness team left last Friday and the Medford, Oregon team came Monday. Medford has 19 amazing people here doing various jobs and being a blessing. 3 of the team members are nurses and 1 pre med and another interested in medicine. I have been walking them up to the hospital in the morning to get them settled with a nurse to shadow and just making sure they are comfortable with the day.

 This is what the Peds ward looked like this morning! 27 beds and 35 patients! Amazing place to serve.

  Olivia had a great time shaking everyone's hands this morning. Sometimes she is a little shy, but was eager to greet everyone with a smile and a "moning" (pidgin greeting in the a.m.)

Father's Day

I had been busily planning all week for a nice Father's Day for Scott. We do not have phone lines at our house. So, to make a call, I have to go up to the hospital and find a working phone line. So, calling to make reservations, is an effort. Any way, it was great!

 
We went to RonDon Ridge, a fancy tourist place, which we can not afford to stay at, but we can go up for lunch.
 
There are beautiful flowers all around the resort, and trails. It is high up above Hagen and a very pretty view.
 
Lunch was great! Especially since someone else cooked it and cleaned up. We could choose chicken, fish or steak.
 
And what is better after a full lunch than a relaxing nap? We got Scott a Aussie hat to replace the one he lost and the girls made cards for him. Hope your Father's day was special as well.

Full Pantry

Thursday afternoon, Scott and I headed to Hagen. We had a good time and now my pantry is stocked! I thought that maybe you would enjoy seeing what things we buy here on the other side of the world. First of all, NO WHERE is like America. 3 years ago, Scott and I went to Australia, and there is maybe 20 kinds of cereal and 15 kinds of chips there. Not near the extreem volume of the states! So, next time you are buying cereal, just be happy at all the choices!

 
You will see lots of canned corn and mushrooms or champignons as they are called here. Black olives! We usually do not have those! Did you see Kraft cheese spread? We love it! It is 25Kina per jar-$8! But we use it for mac and cheese, soup, lasagna and more! Peanut butter, 30 kina-$10. Cereal, is from 15K on sale to 30K for a box. We don't eat cereal often. There were Ritz crackers and pringles in town! Yipee! Sometimes, it is worth the money to get a taste of 'home'.
&nbs
On the top shelf is little blue boxes of thickened cream, we use those for sour cream, ice cream, whipped topping, and more. I buy some canned fruit, what I can't get fresh. We get milk in boxes, but those are on the floor. It is about 5kina per liter and four liters per gallon, so $7 per gallon. You can see bread and rolls in ziplocks, I bake bread once or twice a week. There is also a not too pretty pile of used ziplocks and used tin foil there on the left. Should of cleaned the pantry before taking the pictures! I was pretty excited for the sliced pickles yesterday for $3, they were $10 at the other store!
The grocery stores are pretty expensive for Western things, but we can make up for it at the market-fresh fruits and veggies! We bought all we could carry yesterday for about $8.
Thanks for looking in my pantry!

Here we are at Kusila Church

 
Now this building might look different that your neighborhood church, but they are worshiping the same amazing God. The service is much the same with music (in Pidgin and Tok Ples), the scripture reading is different as they read from a Pidgin bible and the pastor translates it to the local language, the testamony time is precious as people share from their heart. The sermon is from Numbers, when Moses hits the stone and water comes, the title is "Sakim tok long Bikpela, em bai baragupim lip bilong yu" (if you don't obey God, it will mess up your life)
 
Of course, there are lots of little kids to stare at you and wonder what that camera thing is that you are holding.
 
And cute old papas who happily sit cross legged on the dirt and straw floor to learn more about his Father.

Hope you had as good of a Sunday as I did.