Will you go to church with me?

Okay, It's 8:00am on Sunday morning, are you ready for church? Got camera, waterbottle, bible, backpack with 3 year old, bubble gum for the kids at church, snack for 3 year old during church, and your walking shoes one? Here we go!
 First you have to go past the beautiful tea feilds of Papua New Guinea.
 











It is also very important that you shake hands with everyone along the road that you meet.
 












Keep going past the banana and tabacco garden, no stopping. You also go over the old rickety bridge, but I would rather not talk about it.
 






Finally, when you see this bush house, take a right. You have been walking 45 minutes and are almost there!

Volunteers!

 

There are 25 people from Arizona here for a work and witness trip. They are building housing for volunteers who come to the hospital. This is the slab, prior to the guys starting the work. What fun to have them here, and they are staying in the houses nearest to us.

 

Also on the team is Dr John, a surgeon, and I think this is his 6th trip to PNG, He is scrubed in with Dr Taiye, a PNG resident. Drew is a surgical resident here for 3 weeks and a big help in surgery.

 

Dr Margaret is with the team from Arizona as well and has jumped right in with giving anesthesia, she is here with Mr. Mugang.
We are so thankful for doctors, volunteers, work men, and PNG residnets that come and help with the ministry here at Kudjip. It keeps the work exciting for us, as their enthuasium is contageous!

What is color?

 

 

Busy weeks!

 
As this was the last week of school, there were lots of activities. Tuesday was an egg drop contest, organized by Scott.
 Wednesday Emma and Remo made lunch for 20 people! Wow! We started cooking about 8:30 and were ready at 11:30. They made carrot sticks, pizza, fruit salad, and no bake cookies.
 Thursday was field day with our friends from CLTC, they brought about 20 kids. The girls favorite game was elbow tag and 3-legged race. Dr Erin was in charge and Aunt Kathy organized lunch. What fun!

BIlums, bilums, everywhere.

 
 
 
 

How to not lose a bilum...

What is a bilum? A yarn or mesh or bush rope bag that hangs over a shoulder or from the head. Men, women, children carry them and babies ride in them. There are rules of looking after a bilum, which I tell to every volunteer or visitor who comes to Papua New Guinea. Here they are...
1. Never leave a bilum in a car, on the seat, in plain slight of rascals.
2. If you do leave your bilum on the seat, make sure the windows are closed.
3. Take a watchman to town with you.
4. Lock the doors.

Well, I followed rules 3 and 4, but omitted rule #1 & 2 on Monday. Okay, here is my reasoning. Traveling with a 3 year old can make my mind not always be where it should, and I wanted to not take the bag with me because it had money in it and I only needed a few kina for coffee at this shop, and the street was notorious for pick pocketers.

Okay, so sure enough, the bilum is gone when I return to the car. I start asking if anyone saw anything and soon there are hundreds-yes, really, not just a Gail-made up number- of people around to listen to what happened. The advice from the crowd was to go to the radio station and make an announcement of what happened. We did this, and asked for my credit cards and checkbook and house key to be returned.

Thursday, we got a phone call that the items were "found" and I was to meet them on Friday, 10 am. Went to town, but the other party did not show up. I left the "reward" and a note for the guys if they were to return my bilum later.

Saturday, my friend, Margaret, came to my house with the important things returned! Yeah! Lots of sentimental things gone and no more cash of course, but all of those things that would be so hard to replace were present. (Typically, a steal-man in PNG would not try to use credit cards/checks or ATM cards-which is a blessing.)

So, what does Gail learn from this, other than to watch out for her bilum more carefully? I learned that even though Christianity has been in PNG for 50 years, there are still millions that do not know their Saviour and need His love. My eyes are seeing more of the hurt and pain in this country that I live in, and I am moved to compassion.

Thanks for your prayers, and I promise to help you look out for your bilum if you come to visit.

Saturday in PNG

One would think that it would be easy for my white kids to play with national kids, living here in PNG. Our mission station has a history that goes back a long way. So, somewhere in that history, the national leaders felt that missionaries do not wish to be bothered while at home. There has been threats of fines or parents losing jobs if PNG kids are found playing around missionaries homes. Thus, making spontaneous play time hard. My girls love their national friends, and I just have to make the effort to plan play times. Saturday was our first big play time, after getting back to PNG.
2pm was the scheduled time. First guest arrived at 12:30! We swam in the baby pool. Ate popcorn, koolaid, bananas and jello jigglers, then watched Shrek 3.  
The pool was dirty with grass and dirt, so we emptied it and filled it again for a after the movie swim. While the pool was filling, we had a blast with huge beach balls (Thanks Aunt Wetta). 
The pool was a hit and the party finished at dark, 6:15 pm. We are all eager for another party, the next time Scott is on call.