nana & papa arrival pics

I love the way Jester just melted into Papa and the way it looks like Nana is squishing William way too hard! 

 

One pic is the official 'mac' ceremony picture.  I'm in heaven.

nana & papa

My mom and dad are here with us for the next 4 weeks. Are we excited? YES! Are we happy? YES! Are we being spoiled? YES!!

Nana is the apple of Jesse's eye and Nana is officially my replacement. My current status is chopped liver (but I don't mind....also keep in mind I don't have an unending stash of fun fruits to give him). William is busy being the tour guide. He is a walking encyclopedia, knows all the short cuts around town, and gives commentary to every movie we watch together. In Tok Pisin we say, "William, em i mauswara pikinini," (William is a 'mouth water' kid - which is he talks LOTS).

It's so fun to have Nana & Papa here....2 new faces to show of the latest Lego creation or the latest 'bug of the day'. I know the time will go by way too fast. Hopefully when Nana leaves my status will go up from chopped liver.

Bilum Boys

This is a familiar sight every Tuesday and Thursday morning.  Off to school they go with their bilums hung around their necks.  I love seeing how Papua New Guineans react to the boys when they see them walk around 'PNG style'. They love it. Our hausmeri made these little bilums for the boys and they are very proud of them.

bug cocktail anyone?

Cocktail of the day: Bug Juice. 

 Ingredients: 4 Spiders, 1 Gecko, 1 Giant Grasshopper, 3 Earthworms, and a few other species I've never seen in my life.  Any takers? 

 

 

Jesse & Co.

Jester's main mission in life is to capture anything that crawls. Unfortunately most of his friendships end fatally. That spider isn't poisonous, is it? Jester assured me it was.

this is how it feels sometimes.....

Jesse has a growing fascination with anything that moves right now. His latest pet is this oversized grasshopper with one leg missing. He carries it with him in a jar wherever he goes. The grasshopper faithfully sits beside him as he eats at the table, watches over him as he sleeps at night, and endures 'playtime' which involves being put through earthquakes that would be at least 7.0 on the Richter scale. This morning Jesse went to nursery so his faithful friend was left behind, just sitting on the table with nothing to do but wait for Jesse's return. As I looked at the grasshopper I felt sympathy come over me. "I feel like you," I thought, "Trapped".

Geologically, on the map, I am smack dab in the centre of Papua New Guinea. I am living on a fenced in mission base. I have no car. And I'm living in this country where I don't have the same freedom that I had at home. I can't go out alone after dark. I can't just hop in a car and go shopping to 'the city'. I'm just...here. And it's not always a bad thing, it's just something to get used to.

On a spiritual level I've been feeling trapped too (this is the point I'm really trying to get to)..... I'm reading an eye opening book called The Supernatural Ways of Royalty by Kris Vallotton and Bill Johnson. Throughout my Christian walk I seem to struggle with the same issues over and over. I haven't fully grasped the implications of the profound truth that I am God's child. In many ways I've accepted 'Pauperhood'. What is a Pauperhood? Here is how Kris Vallotton describes it in his book;

"Pauperhood is relegated to the children of a lesser god. It is the condition of slaves who have yet to discover their freedom on the other side of the river of baptism and find themselves still captured by the dark prince of torture and torment. He is the one who assigns them to a life of poverty, pain and depression through a diabolical play of illusion hoping to conceal their true identity forever. This evil prince feeds his captors the rations of religion to fill their soul's hunger for righteousness. These slaves, blindfolded by their sin, think that they are laboring for their own freedom and work to pave their way out of prison with bricks built from the miry clay of self-righteousness. Yet unknowingly, brick by brick, the are erecting their own chambers of death."

After reading that being trapped inside a jar doesn't sound so bad. But if I'm honest with myself I find myself in this very state. Something my pastor said has spurred me on; "We need to start praying that our true identity will be revealed to us." So I've started praying. I'm tired of living like a second class citizen and believing the same lies over and over again. The reality is that I have the mind of Christ. I have his divine nature. I can know the thoughts of God and I do hear His voice. I am heir to His throne. I have the same Spirit living in me that resurrected Jesus from the dead. I have full rights and privileges to God's promises because I am his daughter. These things are true, so why isn't my life radically different? Jesus is inside me and is ready to come out!

Since coming here I've really struggled. I've felt so discouraged. Before we left the Lord gave me so many dreams about our time here...things He wanted to do through me. Now that I'm here those dreams seem so impossible. But I think they seem impossible because I've been living as a Pauper. Too often my thoughts are, "Can God really use little old me"? The answer is YES. I need to change the way I think and start walking in the authority I have as the Lord's daughter.

"The lowest (the least) member of His body is superior to the highest principality and power of darkness. The original target in the creation of man was for us to live and dwell in His glory. "All of sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). The cross removes the obstacle to His purposes, and restores us to His original intent. The religious heart is unwilling to recognize that we really have been made in His image, and that being born again restores us to a place of absolute purity.
Jesus added to this in His priestly prayer, "The glory which You have give Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one" (John 17:22). It is recorded in Proverbs that wisdom will bring to us a crown of glory. Even our bodies were designed to live in His glory. As we become more and more accustomed to the presence of His glory, even our bodies hunger for God's glorious presence. The sons of Korah, who had spent considerable time in the actual glory of God, and had seen the effect on the physical being, sang, "My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God" (Ps. 84:2).
When God's royalty touches our lives, we discover we are designed to live in God's glory. We no longer live in the bondages of our past - performance and comparison in our daily lives, but we know our worth in simply loving Him. For out of that springs living water and revelation for those who have not found the truth in the nations of the earth!"

I've found this to be so true. I have had God's royalty touch my life many times before - my physical body has felt His glory and once you've experienced that you are never the same. You just crave His presence and nothing else satisfies you....

So that's where I'm at. It's a little scary to be transparent....but I think we can learn from each other's journeys. So here's hoping you'll take something from mine.

if only.....

William asked me, "Mommy, do marshmallows grow here?"

 

Unfortunately not....but here is a picture of a marshmallow I know.

Mama i stap wantaim mi

She's here!  My Mama from Sarang has arrived.  I thank the Lord she is here with me.  She has big a huge help and encouragement to me. She has a strong faith in God and I know she prays for me a lot.  She is really becoming a 'Mama' to me and my love for her grows daily.  I can't believe she came all this way to help me while Andrew is gone and she's going to stay the full three weeks.  At first I was very nervous at the length of her visit because I didn't know what it would be like, but now I'm incredibly thankful.  I couldn't do it without her here - I told her that if she would'nt have come I probably would be on a bus by now with W and J to come and stay with her in Sarang.

 

 I've been finding it almost comical at the things I had to learn when I lived with them compared to the things she is learning living with me.  Here are my observations:

•  I had never bathed in a river and was scared to death the first time.  How do you bathe in public?  And how to you bathe when all those curious onlookers are watching you?
• I had to show Mama how to turn on the water for her shower.  I wondered if it was the first time she'd ever showered in complete privacy.

 

• I had never anything over a fire other than the odd hotdog or marshmallow.  While I was in Sarang I had to master cooking rice, baking bread, frying fish etc etc  over a fire.  It felt silly to have a 10 year old know more than me about cooking.
• Mama is scared of my stove and doesn't touch it.  I do the cooking. :)

 

• The first time I washed clothes in the river I had NO idea what was the best way.  I wanted to observe the other ladies and just copy them but unfortunately no one was washing clothes.  But I did have a crowd watching me to see how I would do it.
• Mama doesn't know how to use a washing machine.  She lets me wash her clothes (except her undies - she insists on washing those by hand)

 

• I often forgot to bring my dishes with me when I went to bathe.  They bathe and wash dishes simultaneously.
• Mama loves washing my dishes, but I had to show her which soap to use and how to turn on the tap. 

 

• When we lived in Sarang I had to get used to making just enough food as we had no way to keep it.  Whatever we couldn't eat we'd give away to somebody.
• I noticed that Mama seems to forget we have a refrigerator and she tries to finish all the food at meal time.  Sometimes I actually purposely make extra so that we have leftovers for the next day to eat!  I'd better tell her that!!

 

• In Sarang they thought it was kinda strange that Andrew and I shared a bed and our boys slept separately from us. 
• Our Papa stayed one night when he dropped Mama off....so here's the dilemma; who will sleep where?  They did share a room which turned out to be fine, but Papa had a terrible sleep because he doesn't like to sleep on a mattress.  When he comes to pick up Mama he wants to sleep on the floor.  I noticed that Mama was sleeping on top of all the blankets instead of between the sheets.  She had been complaining that she was itchy at night and I saw she had been using a scratchy wool blanket to cover up at night.  I explained to her she needs to sleep underneath the sheets and then she'd sleep better! 

 

• I loved the strong family ties in Sarang.  I could hardly tell who's kid was who's while we were there because they are just so intermingled.  Every kid has several Mamas and Papas.  They really take care of each other and share what they have.  It's like one big happy (most of the time) family.
• Since Mama has been here I've been very conscious that I don't even know what some of our neighbors names are.  We live so close together yet so independantly of each other.  It's completely opposite of the way they live.  Mama feels responsible for me and has come all this way.  And if she hadn't come who would've come to help me?  Who would've cared for me?  I have friends that would've helped, but not in the measure that she is.

 

I love it how God has taken two completely different people from opposite ends of the earth and put them together.  The thing that is so obvious to us is that we share the same Spirit - the Spirit of God.  It has united us and made a strong bond.  I know we'll be lifelong friends.

 

An explaination of the pictures:  Mama has never been to the highlands of PNG before so she wanted a picture of her and the mountains.  Her, me and the boys went to watch the horses.  She hopes that W & J will ride horses when they turn 7. :)  In her spare time she's been working on a bilum.  She is going to give it to somebody very special from Canada....

You're all tagged btw.

get to know me...

This is the Lisa edition of getting to know me. I think Crystal will be tickled...

1. What's your favorite dish your mom makes? well, it's more of a tag team with mom and dad....their famous steak dinner with usual; G.B., caesar salad, steamed broccoli with cheese sauce. okay, i'll stop.

2. If you could be anywhere else in the world right now where would it be? I'd be heading off to Winkler, MB.

3. Who's your favorite character on LOST? Siyid, hands down.

4. What is the oldest item of clothing you own and still wear? I still wear my U2 Popmart Tour t-shirt. I got it in summer of 1997. (and FYI I sat beside Mr. Deschauer at the concert..i know...crazy.)

5. Are you an introvert or and extrovert? I'm and introvert with a dash of extrovert.

6. What's your biggest pet peeve? Stinky dishcloths and towels. Ew. Bleach, people! Bleach.

7. If you could be someone else for a day who would it be and why? I'd want to be Andrew so I could know what really goes on in a man's mind and I could find out how to love him better.

8. Write down the first fond memory that comes to your mind. Our dinner party at C&C's with the gourmet burgers, homemade icecream, and a whole lot of laughs. sniff.

9. Do you like tupperware? I'm afraid to now.

10. If you could have any superpower what would it be? I'd like to be invisible. It'd come in handy.

11. Which countries have you all visited? (not including layovers where you were just in the airport) Ecuador, United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru, Japan, England, Kenya, Australia, Papua New Guinea.

12. Which country would you like to visit next? Vanuatu

13. Favorite icecream flavor? Rolo...but it has to be eaten at Clear Lake.

14. Are you a rebel or do you follow the rules? weellllll.....I have been tagged the black sheep in the family.

15. What's your favorite chore? I like hanging up clothes on the clothes line.

16. What do you like about yourself? I like it that I like to have meaningful friendships.

17. What would you change about yourself? fear of man is no fun.

18. What inspires you? Being around godly people.

19. What's your favorite fruit and your favorite veggie? Grapes (I miss them!) and Broccoli.

20. Last place you ate out? the Teen Centre! Yay!

21. Are you an early bird or a night owl? an early bird, but not by choice.

22. If you were on a deserted island and could take one person with you (not including your spouse) and one thing with you what would it be?
I'd have to say I'd bring Ruby, Gideon, and Ethan (I know that's 3 but I need to get to know them...and I can break the rules because I'm the author of this thing) and I'd bring along my collection of Robert Munsch to read to them.

23. What's your favorite smell? Arlene. (Crystal Loewen must state her 2nd favorite smell because I already know her favorite smell is Chris' temples)

24. What's your least favorite smell? Stinky dishcloths. We covered this already.

25. Are you a door slammer? Yes. (blush)

26. Do you tell people when their fly is open? Depends on who it is. My rule of thumb: if it's a man that you don't know very well...keep your mouth shut. Anyone else - yes.

27. Share something quarky about yourself. Not under any circumstance will I touch the hand railing on an escalator. (I watched a 20/20 investigation report...thanks a lot John Stossel.)

28. Worst movie you've ever seen? Happy Gilmore.

29. Do you like the person who wrote this? I hope you do...

photos of the week

Here are a few of my faves from this week. 

The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments:
DPP_2603.JPG
DPP_2613.JPG
DPP_2619.JPG

Note: To protect against computer viruses, e-mail programs may prevent sending or receiving certain types of file attachments.  Check your e-mail security settings to determine how attachments are handled.

yum-O

I made this recipe tonight. It's one of our new faves. You should try it.

SAUCE:
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp honey
1/8 tsp ground red pepper

VEGGIES & CHICKEN:
3 cups broccoli florets
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 Tbsp minced ginger
4 tsp minced garlic
2 lbs thinly sliced boneless chicken breasts
oil for cooking
1/2 cup cashews (I used peanuts cuz they're much cheaper here!)
4 pkts ramen noodles (or you can use rice)
Combine sauce ingredients and set aside. Steam broccoli and set aside, keeping warm.

Add a couple of tablespoons of oil to wok or large skillet. Add garlic and ginger. Heat until garlic starts to spatter. Add chicken and onions. Stir in sauce and bring to a boil. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions. (Save seasoning packets for another use). Drain noodles and add chicken mixture, stirring to mix. Arrange broccoli on top and sprinkle with cashews. (I just stirred in the broccoli with the chicken and served it over rice...forget the noodles.)

Bill's birthday with the Ladies

Today was the big day! Bill celebrated his one and only 4th birthday with 4 cute (and single) chicks. Jester is lucky enough to be Bill's little brother and got to join in on the fun. A 2 to 4 ratio ain't bad. I arranged for all the kids to get horse rides. It was a big hit!

For more birthday fun check out our picasa album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lisandrewvb/WillS4thBirthdayWithTheLadies

also check out the new post below - 'she left'

Bill's Brush

This is my guess - Bill will be the artsy type and Jester will be the athletic type. We had a big downpour this afternoon so we got out the paints.

she left

Despite the popular vote that she would stay - she didn't. Auntie Arlene left on Monday. I keep wanting to set the table for 5....



We ended off our time with Arlene in Madang. Drew and I attended a conference with our organization for the first 5 days (all expense paid at the hotel!!!). Arlene watched the boys for us while we were in meetings. After the conference was over and the free stay at the hotel was over we moved to the 'guest house' flat for a few nights (I can't mention the names of our organization on my blog). Arlene got to experience a night in Sarang (our POC village). Her and I slept at our wasfamili's house and Andrew went back to Madang with the boys and picked us up the next day. It's about a 45min drive from Madang. We had a great time catching up with our dear wasfamili. Arlene was presented with a beautiful Madang bilum which was a pretty big deal! They treated her like a guest of honor - if she's our sister than she's family to them too.



One memorable moment.....we took a boat taxi to a secluded island for a morning. I had the unforgettable experience of getting stung by a jellyfish. It was really scary because we were pretty isolated and I was in a whole lot of pain. To make a long story short we found a boat ride back to Madang and I went right to the doctor where I got two injections - one penicillan shot and one anti-histamine shot. I would say that the pain was different than childbirth, but definitately on the same scale. I hope that never happens to me again!



Check out these pics from our time in Madang:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lisandrewvb/Madang0109

sweet 16

here's my 16.....

1. I love taking pictures and wish I had more time and money to spend on my hobby.

2. I have a sweet tooth like you wouldn't believe. I don't understand it when someone says they're too full for dessert.

3. I think Crystal has the most beautiful skin and eyes. I'm kinda jealous. (You go girl!)

4. I never ever get tired of hearing Jesse's raspy, gravelly voice. It makes my insides smile.

5. I love playing Lego and hope and pray my boys will be big into it....especially castles. I'm always up for playing Lego....or 'Legos' as we call it.

6. I've recently discovered that scuba diving is way more fun than anything else you can do in the water. It's really hard to drown....which is a fear of mine.

7. I had a major crush on McGuyver once.

8. My least favorite chore used to be emptying the dishwasher.....now I wish I had a dishwasher to empty.

9. I want to be like Elf one day.

10. I have this amazing ability that I look like I'm listening and following along, but really I'm not. It runs in the family.....right Chris?

11. I'm scared to call to make appointments. I wish my mommy would still do it for me. Drew refuses.

12. I want to learn how to make bagels and black bean sauce. Anyone have a good recipe?

13. All I want is a big slab of farmer sausage.

14. I need to lighten up more. Life shouldn't be so serious. Laughing feels so darn good.

15. I wish I could be more opinionated on stuff.....I'm on the fence a lot.

16. I've discovered that homesickness is an incurable disease. I could use a little Winkler lovin' right about now.

my day off.

My day off means two things.....I got off the centre - WOO HOO! And I had a day off from the regular routine - WOO HOO!!! On Tuesday we travelled to Goroka with Arlene, Nato, and Ryan & Crystal. Goroka is a big town about a 2 hour drive from Uka. We definitely pray for safety when we travel because rascals are unfortunately a part of life here. We had no glitches...only came close to hitting a few pigs and one goat....oh yeah - and a car veered into our side of the road, but missed us by a hair. Thank the Lord for his protection!

The scenery on the way to Goroka is absolutely breathtaking and we were fortunate enough to have a clear day so we could see the mountains. Goroka is known for it's coffee, bilums, and woven baskets...and you better believe I bought some coffee to send home to my coffee lovin' friends. That was practically the reason for the trip!

This is 'Blue Mountain Coffee' - we actually watched them package the coffee I'm sending home for everyone! It doesn't get much fresher than this. The smell in the place was intoxicatingly wonderful. I wish I could put in a bottle and wear it as a perfume.

Here are Ryan & Crystal - having a hoot in the back of the Land Cruiser. No Ryan, we're not there yet.
This was probaby my favorite part of the day - eating out! We rarely get the chance to eat out so I enjoyed every bite! And sharing a milkshake with my honey just topped it off.

Here's the group! Cheers to great day!

Oh yeah - and I'm still eating my words....I'm sharing this to keep me humble.

1. I said my kids could NEVER drink pop until they were 18 years old. Being in a developing country changes that.....they're averaging about one a week. Gotta keep hydrated, ya know?

2. I've never been a big vitamin/supplement person....I thought I'd never get into it. Just eat your veggies! But now I've got about 3 different vitamins/supplements I take with my breakfast....it's practically like a breakfast in itself!

don't leave us Auntie Arlene

The boys are having a hoot with their auntie. Arlink is thinking of extending her stay......we think that's a grand idea.

To check out all the fun we've been having click on the link below:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lisandrewvb/AuntieArleneIsHere

slip 'n slide

We've loved having Auntie Arlink around. She's full of brilliant, fresh ideas. She set up this slip 'n slide on a very steep down slope on our yard. Turns out we hardly needed the plastic. When the grass got soapy enough it worked as well as the plastic.....actually, better.

artsy flartsy

when i get bored.......i take pictures.

Eat Your Words

Here are a few things we said would NEVER happen and now we're eating our words.

1. I now put sugar in my coffee. I was set against this. PNG is rubbing off on me....they love hot, sweet drinks....and so do I. I'm eating my words.

2. Andrew drinks caffeinated coffee. He used to adamently be against any form of caffeine and now he "kinda likes the 'pick-me-up". He's eating his words. (and I remind him daily, but drinking coffee together is wonderful)

3. Andrew said he thought Lost was silly. Why would anyone watch it?! Now we can't wait to rent the next DVD. Yup, he's eating his words.

4. I said that Bill would wear pull-ups the rest of his life for bedtime. He has now gone 3 weeks with staying dry and is wearing big boy gitchies for night. I'm eating my words....and I'm happy to do it.

5. I said that I'd never miss a Winkler parade or a Christmas with snow. Unfortunately I'm eating my words. I mean, those motor homes ROCK every year.

If you've ever 'eaten your words' you should make a post about it. Let's hear it! I eat my words so much I'm putting on a few pounds.

A PNG Christmas

The holiday season always gives me a hankering for crocodile meat. We had some delicious crocodile stirfry the other night. It tastes like......chicken.

Mama Opa's son found us this Christmas bush - I mean tree. We actually have Christmas lights that have 7 different settings. My favorite is the 'romantic setting'.....the lights gradually fade on and off. It's pretty sweet. Bill's fave is the 'vegas setting'.

Our tree is definitely unique this year - as will be our Christmas. It will be my first Christmas away from family and away from snow. It's like having a clean slate. What will be our new tradition? Not sure yet.....I've got one more day to think about it.

Here She Comes

She made it after a 2 day delay. Welcome Arlene! She is our first visitor.

Divine Appointment

One thing I had written down that I wanted during village living was to have divine app0intments with people. It was pretty crazy how the plug got pulled on the other village and we ended up where we did. So right from the beginning it felt like God was planning something....he wanted us in Sarang for a specific reason. Looking back, being in Sarang was one big divine appointment for us!

Our connection with our wasfamili was something orchestrated by the Lord. They were spirit filled Christians who really lived a life led by the Spirit. They had so many amazing stories of people being healed and delivered. We had some great times of prayer with them. My spirit really came alive while I was with them. The Lord used them in my life greatly and I felt renewed and encouraged when we left. I know that we will have a long lasting friendship with them. I'm waiting to see what the Lord will do....I know it's going to be big!

Sarang Pikinini

POC is officially over and we are back in Ukarumpa. Living in Sarang village for 5 weeks was one of the most enriching experiences of my life. I hardly even know where to start. Please check out my picasa album to see our village living pics.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lisandrewvb/Sarang

For now I'll post an email I sent to my family and friends when we got home. Here you go!!

I had 2 wonderful sisters who almost always did my dishes for me. That was a big relief and a big help for me. The river where we bathed and did laundry and dishes was about a 10 minute walk away (longer for the men because their bathing place was further upstream). It was hard for me to lug all the stuff back and forth. They could carry everything no problem, often balancing a hug bucket of dishes on their head. One thing I had to get used to was bringing dishes or laundry with me when I went to bathe. We never bring dishes with us when we shower. :) I did Laundry about every other day. This was probably my least favorite chore to do. It took a long time! I liked it when the boys went shirtless or even naked - less laundry!!

One thing that surprised me was how often the village people bathed. It was often the topic of discussion. "Have you bathed?" or "are you going to bathe?" or "you should go bathe!". They were totally into it. At first I thought they just were wanting us to bathe all the time because we were white, but it was that way with everyone. After W & J went to sleep at night Drew and I (or I'd go with my sisters) would sometimes go shower at a tap by the beach. It was quite a long walk (15 minutes), but I'll never forget being on the beach at night...looking at the ocean with a sky full of stars. And besides I felt more comfortable bathing at night when it was dark. It was definitely something to get used to bathing in public! I got better at it and felt comfortable doing it by the end.

One of our biggest struggles in the village was how the kids interacted with w & J. We were often frusterated and annoyed....the kids were pretty aggressive...slapping and pinching the boys (this was affection) and constantly calling out there names over and over and over. W & J were overwhelmed a lot of the time and would often cry and try and run away. But there were other times where all of a sudden the boys would just go a few houses over and start playing with the other kids...just having a blast. It was hit or miss with them. Looking back I wish I would've stepped in more and told all the kids to just take it easy, leave them alone completely and let w & j come and play when they were ready. I have to remember that there were many great moments as well. The times that the boys did play with all the kids was really awesome and they did have fun and talk about it fondly.

Another battle was sores. We had some sandflies and mosquitoes. The boys would scratch their sores and then overnight they would turn into these painful, infected sores - all pussy. I think they were actually considered tropical ulcers. Literally their legs are covered in sores. I had quite a few too for a few days. Not fun! Hopefully being in this cooler, drier climate will help us heal up.

We were amazed at how much of our time was just spent 'living'. Andrew was the water boy. He went to fill up our jugs at that tap on the beach. It was a long way to walk and the jugs were very heavy to carry back, so often he'd just take a dug out canoe to the tap. William would often go with him. We used a lot of firewood because of the drum oven we took along. Andrew went out several times to cut firewood. What he wouldn't have done for a chainsaw!! He had to hack at a fallen log with a dull axe....and then the wood had to be carried back! Even bathing, laundry, dishes took a lot of extra time....it wasn't just right there...it was a little hike everytime. Life just takes time. Typically they eat twice a day. In the morning and then again at night. Cooking in the heat of the day is just way too hot (but we did it anyway). Running water is a wonderful thing! I'm very thankful for it.

Andrew got to be part of a few community meetings (I sat in too sometimes)and was even asked for his opinion and asked to give advice. Our waspapa seemed to really respect Andrew for his business mind. There are several land disputes going on right now (very common problem in png). The village men decided they needed to go find their land marks on top of the mountain. There was another village ontop of the mountain that thinks Sarang has gardens on their land and have actually gone in and ruined someone's garden to make a statement. So Andrew decided to go on this hike along with approx 80 men to find the land markers (3 of them). It was about a 7 hour hike all together (with a lot of stops to talk). At the top of the mountain the other village made an appearance along with some bows and arrows, spears, and even a gun. The Sarang group decided to turn around and find the second marker, but soon realized that the 'enemy' had blocked off the road. So they decided to bushwack....the younger men went first with their bushknives - wacking away making a path. Overall the day wasn't a success. They didn't find the land marks and Andrew got a bit of a scare! It just seemed like another day for waspapa and all the others. Land disputes are a part of life here.

As I mentioned in my last email we used our money to help our family buy cement for their trade store. So we had no money left and were running out of sugar and oil. One day while I was doing laundry and was praying about this and I suddenly thought, 'Hey! I should bake something and sell it on the side of the road.' I had seen lots of ladies do this. So the next day I baked a few dozen biscuits and sold them for .40 toa. I made enough to buy sugar, soap, and oil! Towards the end we ran out of money again. We had little food left. Andrew and I were praying that the Lord would provide for us somehow. We had no way of getting money. The day after I prayed this prayer one of the mamas in the village asked me to go with her to her garden. It was about a 45 min walk. Not too mountainous so it wasn't hard. While we were at the garden she started filling up a bilum of food for me. Then she gave me a rope of buai and said to me that this was MY buai and I needed to go sell it to a buai buyer. I smiled at her and told her she was my answer to prayer! That afternoon I took my rope of buai to the buyer and got 8 Kena...enough for the rest of our time there. Oh and by the way...I saw 2 snakes on my trip to the garden...one of them was extremely poisonous!

I'm proud to tell you that William speaks and understands tok pisin better than any other kid at POC. Seriously, I think he's better then the rest. This afternoon him and Jesse were speaking to each other in tok pisin...even Jesse is mixing english and tok pisin together. They were pretending to go to their gardens and William said something like this: "mi go long gaden bilong mi. mi go kisim kaikai bilong yu. mi kisim korn na kaukau na onions. mi go long dispela rot. yu laik sampela kaikai long gaden bilong mi?" And it's so cute because Jesse responds to him in his tok pisin. It's great! I hope they won't lose what they've learned. I'll have to be sure to speak it to them and get my hausmeri's to keep talking to them too.

One thing that gave me some purpose during village living was baking. I taught my sister how to make cookies and demonstrated to some other women how to make bread and banana cake. Our waspapa LOVED bread and would say, 'oh baby bilong mi, yu kilim mi long bret'. Once he bought me flour so that I would make him bread. I baked him 2 loaves of bread, cinnamon buns, and a tray of buns that day. He was a happy man. Wasmama would tease me that she wasn't leva bilong (sweetheart)Papa anymore, but I was! We taught them the saying, ' a way to a man's heart is through his stomach.'

We slept really well for the most part. The boys seemed to wake up in the night more often. We were so tired by the end of the day that we'd just cash out in a matter of minutes. I loved hearing the sound of the waves as I fell asleep. The roosters started crowing around 3:30 am, but we got used to that. Our family's pig was also noisy sometimes....the pig's name was naughty girl which we just got a kick out of.

Spiritual warfare is a big reality for Christians here. Papa has been spiritually attacked a few times to the point of death. People who don't appreciate his faith will put curses on him. There are witch doctors around who work their 'magic' and put curses on people. While we were there there was a group from another village who came down and tried to kill someone using witchcraft and curses. (we didn't see it, we just heard about it a few nights after it happened). There was one night I went to story with one of the mama's in the village. It was just her and me sitting in the dark. She started telling me about her brother who had died when he was 22 years old. The night he died he came to visit her in her room and he was glowing white and had white skin just like me. He visited with her for several hours and wanted to give her a huge bag of money. She didn't take the money...didn't want it. She told me that others from her family (that have died) come and visit her in her house and they glow too and have white skin just like me. They always try and give her money. Then she went on to talk about the tourists that come to their area. She said some of them are her relatives that have come back as whiteskins. She had seen her brother one time who had come back as a white tourist. Let me tell you my hair was standing on end and I had such a heavy feeling. The whole time she was talking it really felt like she thought I knew all of this or had some special knowledge because I'm white. This is a typical 'cargo cult' belief and is common in PNG. I felt like I had to get out of there! I told her I needed to go back to my house and drink some water. She walked me back to the house, then left. I went to sit down with Andrew and Papa and told them everything that Mama Kristine and just told me. I was shaky and scared out of my mind. Papa told me that I cannot be scared. I can't let the enemy laugh at me because I'm afraid. I can't let him win! I have Jesus living in me and he's more powerful then any 'die spirit'. There is a lot of crazy, evil stuff in this world, but we are more than conquerors! I felt kinda silly for being afraid. I have Jesus!

I am incredibly thankful for this experience. One of the things it did for us was it gave us a better understanding of the life of a translator. I have a better appreciation for the work they do and what they all go through to bring God's word to a people group. Another great thing that happened is that we are now pretty fluent in Tok Pisin. It is so crucial to speak in Tok Pisin in order to relate with the nationals and now we can!

Mysterious Ways

Most of you have probably heard that I have not been feeling well the last few days. I had a lot of stomach aches and then two days ago I started having some sharp pain on my right side. Yesterday the pain was a lot less and only hurt when I pressed down on my right side. We went to see a doctor in Madang. She was concerned it might be my appendix. She highly recommended that I wait to go to village living until I met with the surgeon. Thankfully today I got an appointment with the surgeon. Today the pain was virtually gone and he said I very well could have been my appendix and gave me some very very strong antibiotics to take. He thought it would be fine for us to go to village living as long as we weren't in a very remote area and could easily contact help. So we are so relieved!

Meanwhile the rest of the POC students were being dropped off at their village allocations. It turns out that out of the 11 allocations ours was the only one that wouldn't have worked out today. Our wasfemeli hadn't vacated the house that we were to live in and they didn't even have the hole dug for our 'liklik haus' (outhouse). This is a bit of a red flag for our village allocator. If we had gone today we would have had to have come straight back to POC. When we got back from my appointment we found this all out. The Lord definitely had this all planned out and knew that today would've been a big disappointment and very stressful if it would have gone according to our plan. Another thing we found out is that the police were in this village less than 2 weeks ago on a drug raid. A riot broke out and the police ended up burning down their market.

Ray (the POC director) left shortly after 4:00 this afternoon to try and find us a new allocation. He came back with some very great news. He found a family that was willing to take us in. They were a wasfemeli for someone about 1 1/2 years ago. Ideally they try not use a village that frequently for village living allocations, but they were desperate to find us a place. This family just happened to have a vacated house and liklik haus for us (which is a miracle in itself!). This village is even closer to the beach than our last village allocation. Ray said he saw a bunch of fishing boats out on the water and our wasmama and waspapa were in the middle of drying cocoa. Hopefully they will put us to work! Our house is an older house, but it has a metal roof - ideal for collected drinking water. We are the closest village out of everyone's to POC and Madang, which is a good thing if my pain should flare up again. The family is a wonderful family - they attend a four square church, which is a charismatic type church. We are very excited and it just feels right! The Lord is so good and he does not give us more than we can handle - it's true! I feel like he's really keeping me in the shelter of his wings. He knows I am weak right now and he's protecting me from added stress. He's a such good father. Yesterday and this morning I spent some time reading Psalm 121. This scripture has come to life for me today.

Tomorrow at 1:00pm we will be heading out to our new village, Sarang.

Mirap, Drum Ovens, and BEYOND

It is difficult to convey to you what we've all done and been through in the last 2 months at POC. We've learned a lot about the culture, learned to speak Tok Pisin, completed a lot of assignments, conquered a 3 day hike in the jungle and made a lot of great new friends. It hasn't been easy - in fact this has been some of the most challenging times we've been through. We have little privacy and communal living can be stressful at times. God is definitely our strength. Little Jester has been finding life at POC very difficult. He is quite moody and clings to me a lot. It's been getting better now, but it has been a strain on our family. Please pray for him! William on the other hand has loved his experience at POC thus far. He's enthusiastic as always.

This week we'll be leaving for our village of 'Mirap'. Our little family will be living there for 5 weeks trying to learn all we can about Papua New Guinean culture and improve on our Tok Pisin. We'll have our own village house and our own 'liklik haus' (outhouse). We'll have no electricity, wash our clothes by hand, and be cooking over the fire. Our village is a hop, skip, and a jump away from the ocean. Andrew is hoping to get in some fishing! We feel excited and nervous, but up for the challenge. We 'waitskins' have so much and we're used to a pretty cushy life compared to most Papua New Guineans. It will be quite an experience to say the least.

We will be putting out a new newsletter shortly before Christmas. We will be back in Ukarumpa December 3rd. Thank you for praying for us through this difficult time!

Here are some prayer requests as we head off to 'village living':

*Quick adjustment for the boys (especially Jesse)

*Marital Unity

*Divine appointments with fellow villagers

*that we'd be a blessing, not a burden

*meaning relationships with the villagers

*that our Tok Pisin would improve

*good Health!!!!

Stay tuned! I'll update again after village living (5 weeks).




We were able to celebrate PNG's Independence Day with the local people. It was so great to see the traditional dress and dance.

This is Andrew with our 'waspapa'. He taught Andrew how to weave mats out of coconut branches. While we've been at POC we've been 'adopted' into a local family that we call our wasfemeli (was means to watch). We've shared meals together, gone to the market with them to sell fruit, and even had an overnight at their house.

There is an endless number of bugs around here. We saw this baby praying mantis on this bright flower. Other bugs we've seen: Millapedes, stick bugs, bugs that look just like leaves, and many amazing butterflies. We've even seen the biggest moth in the world (I'm not kidding).

This is a drum oven that Andrew made for us to take with us to the village. With this great little oven I will attempt to bake bread and cookies.

This is W & J with our 'wasfemeli'. This is taken at their house the time we spent the night with them. The little boy beside William made the kids little balls out of coconut leaves. He even made William a little wrist watch! Who needs toys?