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!