Bouncing Around PNG!

PNG is a breathtakingly beautiful country! We have just come back “home” to Lae after traveling through some of the coast and mountains of this amazing country. We first went to Madang, a small coastal town – we had to go over a mountain to get there, what a ride! The road was steep, windy, sections of the road were washed away from landslides and full of huge potholes – we bounced around a lot but 5 hours later got there safe and sound! It was like a jigsaw puzzle to get us all in the vehicle together… we barely fit! But the drive was definitely worth it – what a beautiful place! We stayed in little cabins right by the Pacific Ocean, with a close little beach, the kids had a great time playing in the sand and water for 3 days!

Here are some Nationals bringing bananas from their garden to the village, this was the view from our little beach area.
Tim, Ian, Jono and Noah went for a boat ride to a nearby island where they played on the beach and the guys did some snorkeling there, the reefs were breathtaking!

Lucas playing on our bed in the cabin... he is so smiley!

From there we drove back through the mountain, then through a river (yes, literally – the bridge was out), and up another mountain to Ukarumpa. Ukarumpa is the SIL and Wycliffe Missionary Base up in the Highlands of PNG and is another amazing place to visit! The weather is wonderful, very cool – we even wore sweaters at night! We visited with some of Ian & Nadia’s friends, and really enjoyed meeting these families! On Saturday we went for a day trip to Yonki, a lake where a wonderful family is starting an orphanage… we also had a “moomoo” (festive meal) with some nationals in Yonki.

View of Yonki from the mountain road, was beautiful!

Back to life in Lae here, and back to the heat, humidity and rain! As I sit here typing, Tim is busy cutting Ian’s hair (much to Nadia’s apprehension), but it looks good from my angle! He has also planted a vegetable garden here, and is working on a shade cover for the sandbox. I am planning to go to a literacy course tomorrow morning with some of the women in the church, and am working on setting up some more health sessions for next week. The kids are still doing really well; we are realizing that it will be hard for the cousins to be apart when we leave. If we reflect on the past 5 weeks, we realize how much we have learned and experienced already, how much Pidgin we have “picked up”, how many people we have met, the sights we have seen, and we are learning so much about the power of God at work in PNG… we look forward to treasuring the next two weeks here with family.

A little of this, a little of that...

Well, so much happens in a week, it’s hard to write it in one entry, but I will try! Tim has been busy with a bit of everything it seems! He has spent almost a week working at the church, putting up screens and metal grates (for security) and finished that project this week. Each day he had some helpers from the church join him, and Tim loved getting to know the people and working with them.

Tim has also spent some time shopping for materials here in PNG, what an exercise in patience! Tim went to pick up some lumber supplies (to build a shade cover for the kid’s sandbox), and it took him about 3 hours, and the building supply store is only 5 mins away… as you can tell it is a long story, but we are learning that time is not of the essence here in this country (it’s a good lesson for us busy Canadians!). Tim has also been running some extra soccer clinics for kids at an open field near their settlement – he had about 60 kids come for a few hours, and they love him! Tim was also invited to play on the PNG Division 1 team on Saturday at the stadium, we’ll have to see how that goes!!

This morning I held the first health teaching session in the Biwat Settlement. We had about 25 “mamas” (moms) and lots of “pikininis” (children) come. The teaching was about disease prevention (healthy living, cleanliness, nutrition) and about treatment of some common problems (dehydration, diarrhea, wounds, TB). In the settlements, the people live in small shacks, with no running water – they bathe in the nearby river. Many of the homes are built on stilts, and we met under a home that was built that way. It is quite a crowded area with lots of families in close proximity. It is sad to hear about how often sickness (and even death) happens from situations that could be prevented (such as untreated, infected sores can quickly make a person septic and if untreated, die). It was an amazing experience to work with the women in the settlement, their desire to learn was so encouraging. I pray that they may live healthier lives. We hope to do a few more teaching sessions in different settlements, as well as to do an evening session on HIV/AIDS and invite the entire community to attend.
The boys have been keeping busy too – swimming, biking, bonding, learning how to share, growing, learning new words (Lucas can say “dada”, Noah can say “sorry”!), they are just doing so well here! We are so thankful that they are adjusting so well, there are so many changes in their little lives. It has also been so special for the cousins to spend so much time together, and for us to get to know Jono and Karlyn!

We are excited to see more of PNG this coming week when we go on a little vacation with Ian and Nadia. We plan to drive to Madang (5 hours away) – a town up the coast – for a few days, then up to Ukarumpa – the missionary base for Wycliffe Bible translators. We’ll be sure to update you when we return!

On our way to Biwat Night Fellowship (yes, Lucas is in a sling, and Tim has a purse, I mean a bilum - a gift from the nationals, all the men carry a bilum here!)

Some Pictures...

Lucas & Gami bonding after church

My first trip to the market - what a place! There was probably 1000 people there, and all the vendors selling their fruit, veggies, peanuts, and even a roasted turtle!

Tim drinking some Kulau (coconut juice), he got the coconut as a gift from one of the parents from soccer camp!

Noah, Jono & Karlyn playing in the sand pit at the track with some friends

Noah & Jono

Life in Lae

Hey everyone! We hope that you are all doing well! Things are still going really good here in Lae, we are loving this country! It is absolutely beautiful, with lush tropical jungles everywhere, mountains and the Pacific Ocean border the city of Lae. We are getting adjusted to the climate, but still almost always feel hot and sticky – we shower at least 2x a day, and often swim too! It is the rainy season, so almost every day it rains at least once!

I am planning to do the first health session (basic education about disease prevention and treatment for common issues, ie. dehydration, boils, tropical ulcers). The session is planned to be in the Biwat Settlement, and all the mothers are invited to attend. There is a woman from the church who is going to help me by translating - she has some experience with health teaching (such a blessing)! I am trying to make the session as hands-on and practical as possible. We are planning to do an evening education session about HIV/AIDS later, and invite the entire settlement to attend.

It has been amazing to have this glimpse into Ian & Nadia’s life and work, and so powerful to see how God is working in this country. On Sunday we were priviledged to listen to a group of singers from a village in the mountains – they sang with tambourines and guitars, such beautiful and uplifting praises! It is so amazing to worship in a different language and experience how praising God together crosses all language and culture barriers!

(I'm having a hard time uploading pictures, I will try to do that another time!)

Outreach Soccer Camp!

Hi, Tim here! Well our first full week has gone by, and we are feeling quite at home. This week we ran the soccer outreach camp. Monday we used as a planning session, not knowing what to expect it was difficult to anticipate how things would go. The first group of kids showed up around 8:45, the morning was cool for PNG weather around 24 degrees. I was sweating already, perhaps more due to nerves then the actual heat and humidity! The stadium has a seating capacity of about 1000, it has a beautiful track used for the South Pacific games in the 90’s, and the grass was comparable to turf on a fairway, very lush and green. It was quite exciting to have the opportunity to use this facility.

The plan was to start at 9:00 but groups of kids kept showing up. By about 9:30 we started running the first drill with about thirty kids, and I thought to myself this is a good manageable number with the 16 balls I had brought along! But the kids kept joining in, by 10:00 there were over sixty kids. And instead of 8 – 12 year olds as Ian mentioned at Church, 16, 17, 18 year olds started joining in as well, and some younger than 8 as well. They all seemed very keen on learning or perfecting there skills. I was amazed that only 3 or 4 kids wore shoes and only 1 had soccer shoes, the rest went barefoot. At around 10:30, everything is approximate with time here; Ian led a devotion in the grand stands. Ian also had them cheering - I’m sure you could hear the cheering all over Lae.
I guess the word was out about the camp, kids began showing up before we would get there to set-up at 8:30 and by 9 ish on Wednesday there were about 100 kids, youth, and some adults. Some lived in settlements close enough to walk but many rode in on the bus. I would give the instructions and demonstrate and Ian would translate if necessary, it was difficult for everyone to hear so Nadia borrowed a Megaphone (besides the soccer balls, the most effective tool at the camp). Wednesday I lead the devotion while Ian translated. Ian then asked if they wanted to sing and before he was finished talking they broke out into a song with various parts, it was unbelievable. Many of the children have some church background, some attend the church Ian preaches in. Ian mentioned that there is list of Christian songs that are well known by the Nationals. The singing was amazing – they sang with all their hearts, I’m sure with the 120+ people including Moms & Dads that it could be heard all over as well. After serving drinks and kaikai (food), we took to the field and finished the session with games. Thursday was pouring rain but that didn’t stop kids from turning up we still had over 100 and they all wanted to play! On Friday we included various challenges worked into the program. Lis and I had brought 30 t-shirts to handout – we were not able to give one to everyone, so we had juggling and penalty shot competitions and gave a shirt to the winners from each age group.

We donated most of the soccer balls, giving 2 balls to the 4 different settlements there were represented at the camp. Unfortunately, one of the groups ran off to the market we were told to sell the balls! There were a number of parents and older members of the Reformed Church that helped out, we gave them Canadian souvenirs. It was a very rewarding experience – though it had its challenges trying to communicate – the kids were always very excited, and really created an opportunity to get to know the Papuan Nationals, kids wave when you see them on the streets and smile quickly. It was also a great way to draw in the older youth and young men, very few go to Church and there is an issue with gangs, and share the gospel with them!

Our First Few Days

It is so hard to capture our first few days here in words, we have experienced so many amazing and incredible events! So, we arrived Friday afternoon in a tired daze – quite overwhelmed with the sights and sounds of both Port Moresby and then Lae. Then we arrived at Ian & Nadia’s cozy home, with a bedroom so thoughtfully put together for us, we felt so welcomed! We feel very safe here in their home, they have a big razor wire fence around the compound, and 24 hour security guards around.

On Sunday we went to the Living Waters Reformed Church – WOW! We were so moved to hear Ian preach so passionately and powerfully there (in Tok Pisin of course, so we couldn’t understand exactly what he was saying, but we could certainly get the gist of it all!). We had goosebumps singing with the members, it truly is amazing to worship with Christians from the other side of the world! The service was really special because 3 members did profession of faith, 4 children were baptized and we celebrated Lord’s Supper together – what a celebration! Following the service there was a time of food and fellowship, I think that we shook everyone’s hand at least twice before going home! It was also so amazing to see Noah playing with and interacting with all the kids there, and Lucas was held by so many women in the church – they all love his blonde hair and blue eyes!

Today (Tuesday) was the first day of Soccer Camp! And wow, what another experience! There were about 80 kids that showed up (aged from about 5-17) and they were just so excited to play and learn. Tim did a great job organizing drills and games with so many children, they really learned and participated. Then during a drink break Ian lead in a time of prayer and devotion, it was really special to see the kids listening so carefully – we pray that seeds will be planted!

We are doing well here and are so thankful that we have been granted this opportunity to work with and share with Ian & Nadia in their mission.