last post in png!

Tomorrow we fly away from PNG, but not to home yet. We will be a week in Australia first. The last two weeks have flown by.

Last week Tuesday morning through Thursday afternoon was the youth camp. It was out at Opalai, a village about an hour away. They have a big house with several small rooms that all the campers and interns stayed in. We had 43 campers, with a good mix of church kids and non-church members. Marcus taught 2 out of the 4 big “lessons” and Logan and Leslie Williams each took one. After each lesson, the campers divided into their groups and each of us led “group discussion” which in this culture basically means the leader talking because they’re so shy. I had the oldest girl group, and they did talk a little bit. None of the missionaries stayed there overnight so we were basically in charge. We had some organized games and team building activities, and lots of soccer and volleyball in-between scheduled activities. Overall it was a good time. After the last session we had a time for them to ask questions individually to the group leaders. One of my girls, Jacinta, asked me “how many times do you have to be baptized?” We talked for nearly half an hour…I’m leaving out so much about youth camp but that will have to do, for my sake and yours.

Friday we did some souvenir shopping and that night had dinner at the Reeses. They told us story after story about their time at Harding (they were there 8 or 9 years ago I think). Diane told hilarious stories. The best one is that at their wedding, instead of kissing at the end, they gave each other a high five!

This week has been our “dis-orientation” week. Tuesday we hiked several hours up a mountain to a point on the ridge that the Allies used as a look-out point for all of Milne Bay in WWII. Then we hiked back down to a gorgeous waterfall. Coming down it was very steep and very muddy and we had jam our walking sticks into the ground for every step and even so we were slipping the whole way. Our guide, Wesley, was a man from Gama village. He got lost a couple times and by the time we got back to the main river we were all exhausted. The rest of the hike was down the river over huge boulders and slippery rocks. I kept thinking of how much my brother would have loved it. That night Gama church had a goodbye dinner for us.

Wednesday we went out to an Island, a couple hours from Alotau. Leslie, Tate and Thomas fished most of the time, but the interns stayed on the island and played on the beach. There was several islands in view from our beach and it was absolutely amazing. We came back Thursday night to delicious Mexican food Loopie made, icecream, and hot showers.

It’s so bizarre that we’re leaving tomorrow!

Prayer requests: Safety and harmony in Australia.

Rachel and I flew to Kiriwina island of the Trobriand Islands on Monday, where Luke, Daniel, Bekah and Marcus Reese and 4 local women from Alotau had been for 3 days already. Lots of prayer and mental/spiritual preparation went into this trip because of the difficulties of the village stay. It was the same kind of village setting, with grass huts and village food and an outhouse with only a hole in the ground to squat over. The experience, however, was completely different than the village stay. First of all, we were all together, and we had a purpose for being there and activities to accomplish that purpose. I was not sick. Also, the atmosphere was MUCH more relaxed and we had our own space. Three small houses were completely cleared out of for us to use. With the exception of fat, hand sized spiders with red eyes in the latrine, I rather enjoyed the week there.

Our “plan” was to have two nights of “cultural exchange” and then invite the attendees back to 3 nights of bible studies. That was to be in the evenings, and then we would be doing survey type work during the day. No one showed up to the cultural exchange the first night so we had readjust our plan. Basically there was no plan and Marcus did as many Bible studies as he could muster up and we were on our own to plan the surveying. Our main “survey” project was to walk 2 hours to the only “town” on the island which is only a few government building, a clinic, and 3 canteen type stores. Kiriwina is small and FLAT. I hyper extended my right knee over the 4 hours of walking (I blame my shoes) so I couldn’t walk very well the next few days. I felt good about the information we gathered that day. The rest of the time we did a couple more interviews, swam in a lovely, cool fresh water cave (about 30-40 feet in diameter, and I’d guess about 15 feet deep), and observed Marcus doing bible studies. It was wonderful getting to know the 4 PNG women that came with us from Alotau. The last full day there we met with the high chief of the island. Walking everywhere on the island kids would shout out “dim-dim” which means white skin, and follow us, grabbing our hands and stroking our arms. People told us that the Trobriand people would be more bold, and they weren’t kidding.

Please keep praying for our group, I think people are getting ancy knowing we only have 2 weeks left. I really am so grateful for how are group has bonded. God has answered prayers beyond my expectations… The time has flown by!

glory

Two Mondays ago I was beginning my village stay after a trip to the hospital for some antibiotics which Diane advised me getting. Since I was still not feeling well, the village stay was a hard time. Rachel and I stayed in the same village and the other 3 were in a different village so we didn’t see them until it was over. Even though it’s only a 15 minute drive out of town, village life is like stepping into another world. They live in grass huts on stilts, and sit around most of the day not doing much, and are all together as a community family. Their “parenting” is rough and harsh and it was hard to be around. We learned to weave fans, make a “broom” scrape coconut, peel taro and yams and kau-kau (all of which taste similar and are dry, tasteless starchy vegetables), saw a man making a Taro-leaf roof, and another man’s canoe half-carved, hiked up to their gardens which they plant on the side of the mountain, hiked a long ways out to a WWII memorial, had baths in the river (with an audience of a few women and a dozen kids), played with the kids and visited with the adults as best as possible. It might have been enjoyable had I felt well, but I was very relieved to get back to the Williams on Wednesday afternoon. I was overwhelmed by just the sheer differentness of everything and the strain of effort to function and communicate and not show our hosts how tired and sick I was feeling. All this made me even more homesick than I’d already been feeling, and I had a good cry when it was over… girls have to do that sometimes.

The group was scheduled to leave Friday morning for our trip to the Trobriand islands. Diane suggestested the option of Rachel and I staying until the next flight on Monday, and after much prayer and inner debate I decided that would be wise. Those few days of rest were such an energizing, encouraging gift of a time! The Lord is faithful to provide strength for the weak, and joy for the sorrowful. He is so good and it has been such a delight to seek and know him, and just be with him. I’m learning that that is and must be my primary goal above all else. And when it is there is no fear of failure! I am also learning the hope of heaven, when all strivings will cease and we will be Home.

The weekend was by no means empty or boring. On Saturday, Rachel and I had a tea party with the 3 Reese girls, and the William’s 4 year old, Bailey. Diane needed the afternoon off, and we were thrilled to do it. I also taught Sunday school for the youth since no one else was scheduled to do it. That was a blessing because it was open to whatever I wanted to do, and through teaching it, God taught me in a clearer stronger way what he was already teaching me, that being to seek him and delight in him, and then other things follow. I used psalm 27.

I had been overwhelmed with tiredness and homesickness and culture shock and physical sickness, but in that God showed me Himself in such a glorious way that would not have been possible without the difficulty driving me to collapse at his feet. I am knowing and loving my Lord, and enjoying His love, as never before. I am so thankful that I have real pain in my past so that I already knew what turning to God for healing meant before this trip. Thank you for your prayers! I think this is long enough that I’ll have to wait and write a separate update for this past week.