Madang Escapade

Sue writes:

What an adventure! We are thankful for some team members who sent us special gifts so we could take a vacation.

The PMV (public motor vehicle) rides had some surprises both ways. On the way to Madang, the police made a false charge against our driver and boskru. The officer required a fine to be paid on the spot. (He said they were improperly dressed.) The riders were so incensed that they told the driver to go directly to the traffic department in Goroka, but the desk clerk there stood up for the officer. There was quite a lot of discussion among the riders about that series of events.

The scuba course we took in Madang was quite grueling. We didn't know how much would be required of us. We would recommend to someone wanting their scuba certification to take a class spread out over several weeks, but we only had a few days. We didn't want to invest our money and fail, so we over-achievers drank our share of salt water to pass.

The pay-offs were getting to see some terrific sea life at 60 feet under the warm water surface, earning our open water diver cards, and not having our lungs explode on the way up. We were relieved about all three!

On the trip back to the Highlands, we enjoyed conversing on the PMV with a young couple from Australia. They were vacationing in the country, and they were keen to talk about the observations they had made about life here. That was one surprise.

The other one was that the brakes on the PMV were faulty. The driver stopped at one point to change the brake shoes himself. After that the brakes were too tight, and we had to go quite slowly. We were thankful to arrive safely in Goroka and stop for the night.

The next day we boarded another vehicle. That one was a new Coaster (30-seater with leg room) in good repair, and we arrived back at CLTC without any further surprises.

We appreciate the Lord's protection and our team's prayers and generosity!

Safe New Year's Trip, Continued

OK. So Joe the Prayer Warrior saw us safely to Raboni, our host.

Raboni's family was so interesting and generous. They gave of their time so willingly. He and his wife gave us their mattress and mosquito net and bedroom. They explained to us about many of their customs: making clay pots for cooking food over an open fire, using palm products for various uses, and living as loving extended families. What a gift they gave us in having us visit.


Highlights of our time at Umi were observing the way the extended family helped each other. Raboni is the youngest of ten children. His eldest sister's husband left her, so she is a part of his household. She helps with cooking and taking care of Raboni's handicapped third son. And the rest look out for her too.

We waded across a wide shallow river on the way to the New Year's camp. Raboni, his wife, his sister, and their nieces and children showed us how to accomplish the task. After arriving, Jeff spoke to an assembled group of about fifty about the prayer pattern we learn from the Lord's Prayer.

The food was delicious! Meals were times to enjoy talking together in a leisurely manner, sitting on coconut frond mats. Coconut meat and milk and many varieties of bananas are the staples, but different tasty greens and chicken are also consumed.

Different clan members had a number of specialties. Their stories were fascinating.

The dozen or so members of Raboni's nearest relatives were concerned about getting us safely back to CLTC on New Year's Day. The trip through the highlands was a particular concern after people had been drinking. Also, finding a seat on a Coaster, the larger buses, would be a problem. The family sat discussing the challenge together in their village language. Though we couldn't understand the words, we could observe that each member was allowed to contribute and they respected each other's opinions.

They decided Raboni would accompany us to Lae, the big city about an hour and a half further east. We would stay overnight and catch a bus back west early in the morning.

As we watched on New Year's morning for a bus to take us to Lae, the family sat and visited with us for the hour we waited. Raboni talked the boskru down to the usual price when the conductor tried to overcharge us.

Once in Lae, we thought we would have an easy task arranging to stay at the Lae extension of CLTC. Not so. The director was away when we arrived, but another of God's kind emissaries helped out. Miriam was a guest at the Lae center, but she took it upon herself to assist us.

First, she brought cold water (welcome on a hot day!) and sat with us three to find out what we needed. Then she offered to have her husband drive us to buy food and find another place to stay. Thomas, her husband, was also willing to visit with us and help us out. He drove us two to find a space at the SIL Guest House while Raboni stayed with his brother who runs a Lutheran district office. In the morning, the Lae center director drove us to the PMV stop and got us on an acceptable big bus.

The ride back had only one incident. In Chimbu province some guys were trying to extort money from travelers. Our driver wouldn't stop when about a half dozen guys across the road said to. He just drove on and no trouble developed.

Friday night before dark, we weary but happy travelers were back at our CLTC Banz campus. God's provision and the kindness of numerous folks were heartwarming.
Here are two gifts Raboni's family made for us from different parts of coconut palms. We'll take guesses about what their uses are. For the back one, tell what the top of it depicts. If you have trouble posting your answer on the blog, you can email us.

It may be a while before we announce the answers because we plan to PMV to Madang and take scuba lessons!

A Safe New Year's Trip

Sue writes:

New Year's greetings to our team! Wishing you-all a year of growth in our Lord.

Thanks to those of you who prayed for our safety as we traveled over New Year's. We had quite an adventure! God granted us a safe trip, and He sent several helpers along at pivotal moments to guide us along. This was our first long-distance PMV (public motor vehicle) trip. Sorry we have no pictures. We had to leave our camera at home.

A friend from the college drove us to Kudjip junction early last Tuesday so we could catch a Coaster bus. These are 30-seaters that have more space than the usual 15-seater vans. Buses from Hagen go past the Kudjip junction for several points east.

As a PMV stops, the boskru (team leader) calls out the end-destination of the vehicle. I believe one qualification of a boskru must be that he can yell unintelligibly. He also collects fares and settles any problems that come up.

Peter, the man who trains security guards for this area, just happened to be at the stop. He decided he would help us find a suitable bus. After about an hour's wait, the right one came along. We were the last passengers who would fit in.

Leaving about 9 am, we headed to Kundiawa, in Chimbu province. A Christian woman from Hagen spoke with us along the way. Shortly after we started, we passed into Chimbu, the province where the big landslide stopped all highlands traffic earlier in the year. The roads there are constantly shifting and buckling because of seismic activity.

At the Kundiawa stop, Jeff bought a phone card from a seller who came to the bus window. We wanted to call our host to let him know we were on our way. Something underhanded happened with that card: either someone looked over Jeff's shoulder and used his card number before he punched it in or it was a stolen card with a canceled number. At any rate, that card wouldn't work for him.

The Christian woman bought us some boiled eggs at the stop, and she said she was thankful missionaries had come to her country to bring the Good News of the one true God.

Also at Kundiawa, a woman and her children got off, so we were able to take their seats and spread out a bit more. A student on his way to Lae filled in the fold-down seat next to me. Since he was a Chimbu native, he told us a bit about the sights we were seeing. Between Kundiawa and Goroka is Daulo Pass, at about 8000 feet.

In the Eastern Highlands at the Goroka stop, Jeff found a shop that sold phone cards. That card worked, but our host still wasn't answering. We gave the Christian woman and her son a snack. She was pleased because Melanesians show friendship by reciprocal giving.

Still, in the Eastern Highlands, just past Yonki Dam, we stopped at a place that sold a number of home grown and home made snack foods. There were fresh cucumbers, pineapple slices, fried fish from the lake, plump, sweet fried bananas, fried potatoes, fried kaukau, and cold soft drinks. Cool water springs out of the hillside for washing and drinking. There too I found out which bushes to proceed to for the women's toilet. Men seem to work that out more easily.

Kassam Pass came next. It looks down on Morobe province and the great Markham Valley, which reminds me a bit of the Central Valley of California. It is wide and fertile and warm and there are tall mountains on either side of it. Our hosts live in that valley, and we got off our bus at the Umi market.

It was the end of the day, and many sellers were packing up to go home. An older man came right up to us to ask what we were doing there. We mentioned the name of our host, and he said he knew the family. He asked us to sit in the shade of the food stalls, and he and his family spoke with us for a while. Then he went off to arrange for a PMV to take us to the place our host's family lives.

While we were waiting, another guy came up and introduced himself as Joe, the prayer warrior. We said a prayer warrior was just the guy we needed. When we mentioned our host's name, Joe said he was his pastor, and he could take us right to him. When the older man had a nice, new 15-seater PMV ready for us, Joe came along and did take us right to our host.

Evidently the cell phone service to our host's village was disrupted, so he had received none of our messages. He did stay at home, though, in case we just turned up the way we did.

This is quite long. I'll continue it later...

Melanesian Christmas

Jeff writes:

Our son Jonathan suggested that we send him some Christmas photos from our celebration here in PNG, so here they are.

We begin by wishing all of you a Merry Christmas. At this time of year we miss you more than ever. However, God comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to offer His comfort to others. (2 Cor. 1:3-4)

Yesterday, these men in the picture distributed Christmas presents - live chickens for a special feast. We had a choice between a big live tough bird or a smaller, more tender, frozen one. Guess what we chose?

Sue likes to bring Christmas cheer indoors. Yesterday, these dahlias were cut from our flower garden just outside our kitchen window.













We have a locally-crafted manger scene. The animals and figures are burned into bamboo by a red-hot piece of coconut husk. You should be able to recognize a shepherd, two sheep, a donkey and a cow, Mary, Jesus in the manger, Joseph, and the three wise men.

The entire scene is back lit by our Christ candle. We wait to light it Christmas morning to celebrate our Savior's birth.




We had a request to show all of you what our weather was like on Christmas day. This photo was taken from our front porch. It rained hard all last night so the morning was foggy. However, at about 9:00 a.m. the fog lifted. The mountains in the background are still hidden by clouds. In the foreground our neighbor's garden is in view complete with their banana trees. They put a sack over the banana bunch to help it ripen and to keep the flying foxes (fruit bats) from eating them.













Sue is modeling her "elf hat." She received this as a special gift at our Christmas Eve service. It lasted from 7:30 to midnight. Our principal gave these out as special incentives to get people to stick around for the whole thing. First, he presented hats to all the kids, then at another break the moms, and then (I assume) the dads. However, by that time we were both dead tired (I had preached twice that day.) We went home at 11:00 in a pouring rain. Needless to say I did not get my matching "elf hat." (If some of you are worried about our principal handing out "elf hats," he didn't. I just call them that. They were actually give aways from our vet Te Awamutu Veterinary Services. Each one has its name boldly stitched on it.) Notice that Sue is wearing hers inside out.

Sue took this shot to make you all feel envious of our perpetual spring-like weather. Of course, the drawback to it is it doesn't feel like Christmas. It got up to around 80 today.













Our principal Ezekiel started our Christmas morning service off by reading good wishes and Christmas greetings from our friends throughout the world. People really took care to create a festive holiday atmosphere in our auditorium. The poinsettias in the flower basket were picked right here on campus.









What would Christmas be without a special story for the children? Don, who is a great mate of mine from Australia, entertains the kids. Don and his wife Heather are SIL missionaries doing Bible translation work for a neighboring people group. Don is an all-around guy, who helps with all kinds of "fix-it" projects including our computer network. His wife Heather planned the worship time for our service. We enjoyed hearing the Christmas story and singing lots of familiar carols though some of the tunes were different from what we were used to singing.


The kids did a Christmas drama. I especially liked the eight-legged camel which carried the wise men to Bethlehem. Four kids got under bed sheets to bear the three wise men. One stood up at the head, and the other three bent over and held on to on to one another with each one carrying a wise man on his back. We all laughed a lot. Here they are singing their final song.









Our principal Ezekiel preached the Christmas sermon. He spoke about the two sides of Christmas. He said just like both sides of a bank note tell a person that it is genuine, the Christmas story too has another side to it which makes it true - Christ's death on the cross. The baby in the manger without the cross is not the true gospel, and neither is the cross without the Incarnation.








After the service we dedicated a new 15-seater college van to the glory of God. This van was part of a bequest from a supporter of the CLTC. This person made it possible for us to buy two vans and to pay off our remaining debt on our Port Moresby campus. We had a lot to be thankful for today.

After church Sue and I headed home to our own private celebration. She made lots of good food. We got to take a nap. We opened presents; had some cheese and crackers; ate apple pie. (Yum!); and watched the Nativity Story.

Well I have been working on this entry for a couple of hours now. (Our Internet is very slow, and Blogger has not been very cooperative.) I am going to head to bed. God bless you all and Merry Christmas!

Communication

Communication is funny. It seems that it's taken 34 years for me to really listen to what special baked goods Jeff wants me to make for Advent/Christmas. OK, maybe I'm hard of listening. I'm glad I finally got it right. He likes sweet rolls with a buttery, sticky sauce for them. Here's what this year's sweet rolls look like.
Yeah, some rose better than others, but Jeff feels heard.

Solved Baby Adoption Conundrum

Jeff writes:

It has been quite some time since I posed the conundrum of what to do with the baby I was offered to adopt. (Click here to see our post on October 4.)

This turned out to be a triam tasol. The father, who offered me his child for adoption, was trying to see if I would be interested in the hopes that I would raise it and more importantly pay for its education.

Missionaries and other ex-patriots have been offered children like this before. The scheme works like this. The ex-pat does decide to adopt the child. It is easier to do this informally ... no paper work and no bureaucrats! In fact the child's relatives encourage this. The ex-pat raises and educates the child. When the original family gets wind of this, the following happens. The child's parents or their relatives come to demand that the now well-educated child be given back. Of course, the ex-pat refuses to do so, but now he or she knows that the family can no longer stay in PNG. However, the government won't let the family leave. Why? The child is not legally theirs. Child goes back to tribe. Tribe wins. Child and family loses.

How did I learn this? I consulted with the Dean of Students, who is a good Melanesian friend. He also told me that abortion is illegal in this country. (Infanticide is practiced, but it is rare.) Second, he said that if the mother did abort or kill the baby her tribe would be extremely angry as children are seen here as a sign of wealth.

I still had the problem of how to say "no thanks" to my friend without harming our relationship. Again the Dean came through by offering this Melanesian way to decline such a "generous" offer. I did follow his advice, and it worked.

This is what I eventually did.

I had not seen my friend in quite some time, but last week he came by my office to give me back his key to our weight room. I had been rehearsing my speech for some months, so I was ready. I told him that I was honored by his request. However, the government's adoption process is a long and a costly one. In addition, CLTC policy allows new employees to bring their already-adopted children to the college, but to adopt a child while living at the college is not permitted. I told him this, and I hoped that he and I could still be friends. He agreed and that was that. Finished!

We still have a lot to learn so keep us in your prayers.

NEW Protozoan Diet!

Jeff writes:

I think I have discovered a new diet. It really works. You can eat all you want and still not gain weight. It is all natural. No dietary supplements or drugs are necessary. It is the new Wunderdiet!

I call it the Protozoan Diet. Just fill up your stomach and small intestines with all these little critters and bingo the pounds just melt away! Imagine billions of guests at your dinner table. Eat all the ice cream you want. Cake no worries! Forget diet coke; go for the real thing. Eat real sugar. Enjoy real fat. Super-size at will. Feel REALLY satisfied. Do you like chocolate? Good have some more! There are plenty of mouths to feed.

Side effects you ask? Well yes ... there may be some burning in your gut generally accompanied by prodigious amounts of gas, but think of all the fabulous fatty food you can consume. Think of all the pounds you can lose. No pain no gain. Right?

To be truthful I can't say I really recommend this as I am trying to get rid of my "guests." So far I have tried twice to do them in, but you know what? They just won't go. So yesterday I went to Kudjip Hospital to get some REALLY STRONG antibiotics. Hope they work, but then again ...