Photo Frenzy

A friend of ours came up with this idea to make light sabres out of pool noodles and duct tape. After reading his blog about it, I went to our local store. They NEVER have pool noodles but for some strange reason they did, first time ever. And so I picked up 2 and made LIGHT and DARK force sabres with duct tape and electrician's tape. Then we turned up the Star Wars music and had daddy time, and a big pillow-fight like war. It's been over a week now and the kids haven't put the noodles down, and are always challenging me to a fight. These toys cost pennies to make, and are really very popular. I'm still amazed our store had fun noodles.



christmas pose. The string is because I tried to make a 'force grab' of my own sabre when it dropped. It turned out to be silly.



for my birthday in November, my wife made a normal sized apple pie, but when I took a picture of it, the pie looked HUGE because of the angle I used. So we're telling people this is the world's largest apple pie. Most folks enjoy seeing our kitchen, which was newly remodeled by the previous owners right before we bought the house. Kendal spends a LOT of time in this kitchen so I'm glad it's a nice place to be. The ceiling comes to about 6'6" so I can actually hit my head on it in parts. It's a low ceiling (-;.




Quite the pose. I dunno Christmas and Star Wars... do they go together?
I used to make a lot of sound effects during our sabre fights, but we found that if the foam rubs against other foam, it sort of already makes the sabre clashing sound.

more power to ya

Today the family took a trip into town to see if we couldn't find a special item to bless our haus meri with.

We're the only remaining family that employs this wonderful woman. She helps keep our house orderly so we can do the jobs we came to do. Since it takes all day in the sun to dry clothes, it's nice to have someone devoted to doing your laundry, and mopping the floors. Over the years we've developed a great relationship with this woman, and so for Christmas, the only time of the year we can 'amamas' (bless, give a gift to) someone without them incurring 'dinau' (debt) to us, we decided to find something her whole family could use.

We settled on blankets and towels, and school bags for her children.

In the process we saw this electrical pole. I only have a few ideas how it got to be that shape.

MPEG4

today as I was busily troubleshooting a backup issue, there came a knock on the door. I wanted to ignore it but didn't. It was the wife of the pacific area director. They were visiting. She had told me without knowing I was the author that:

"I have this bible dedication video and I can't seem to show it on my toshiba laptop."

I was surprised that the pacific area director had a copy of the video. I had originally burned the dvd so it would play NTSC, PAL, on any dvd player or provide data files for MAC or PC... so this was my first complaint about inability to show.

I compressed the data file with MPEG4 (h.264) and it dawned on me, she either needed ffdshow codecs or vlc player installed.

She asked "am I truly the first complaint about this?"
I replied "well I didn't know the video had made it outside our country, and most folks here are adept at using VLC and multiple format dvd players, so ... yes... you actually are."

"well look at that, Ukarumpa ahead of the rest of the world." she replied jokingly.

I chuckled. Of course we're not ahead of the world, it's a common format... but it did feel good for a moment to think that at least were weren't BEHIND the rest of the world.

She then explained to me her intentions to copy the video and disperse it, which I'm fully in favor of. Still I don't think she knew I was the creator of the video.

It's odd to me, that this little video I did for fun and for ministering to people HERE, to remind them why we do what we do.... has reached so far already.

Side RANT:
the compression formats that work best for me (smaller so I pay less to transfer) (divx, h.264) simply don't work on windows machines with XP by default... so when I send videos home folks can't play.

INSTALL VLC (videolan) player, or install DIVX and ffdshow codecs... and this problem goes away.

Tidbits

You might not have thought about it but:
how do we get our hair cut in a land of no barbers or hairstylists?
or
how do we handle the 'christmas tree' in a land with no tree lots?

Hair - different people who have some modicum of hair styling skills will make themselves available at certain times to cut hair. Some for free some for a small fee. Our daughter decided she wanted short hair and so we found a friend who would cut it. I personally get my hair cut from a friend who does it for free. Others simply shave their heads with their own clippers. You get used to not seeing very fancy hair styles, which is usually rather okay with the guys but the women do seem to look forward to a nice haircut when they go on furlough.


Before and After





Christmas Tree:

It is our yearly tradition (our third now)to go tree hunting. We brought with us a $15.00 artificial tree (tiny) from Costco. Each year I paint a "TREES" sign, plant the sign somewhere on our centre, and hide the tree. Then we pile in a vehicle, listen to christmas music, sip cocoa, and the kids direct my driving "turn left dad.. no turn right" until they find the elusive "trees" sign. Then we stop, get out and go searching for OUR tree. This year I hid it harder than ever, but from the time I hid to the time we found it, a torrential downpour soaked the tree (complete with lights already on it) So we all got wet finding it this year. It was a LOT of fun. My original idea was to get everyone who had fake trees together, and put them in a field and make a huge fake tree lot. And everyone comes and 'cuts down' their own tree. Complete with free firewood, mistletoe, families arguing over which tree to find, and all these services. When we first got here, everyone ignored my idea. Now that we've been here 3 years people know us more and my sense of humor and have decided they really like our tradition and want to be a part of it. NEXT year we'll be in the States for Christmas, so we'll have to do it 2 Christmasses from now.


We make our own fun here.

A Video to Share

http://www.gimpel.tv/ftp/charlieborman_png.m4v
(be kind this is my website, try to download it only once)

This is a 1 hour documentary airing on BBC and I think Discovery called “By Any Means”

This episode is very much a typical PNG experience. Several of the things Charlie experiences, we've experienced or know folks who have. To his credit, he's not a dummy, and picks up on things quickly. I'm hesitant to share it for fear you might get the wrong idea, but they do such a good job accurately presenting the country, that it's worthy of showing.

Warning: partial nudity and some swearing.


2:56 Lae is about 2.5 hour drive from where I live. Charlie goes right passed where we live and even picks up two high schoolers from here for his trip.

3:31 Goroka is 2 hours the other way from me.

4:36 one of the best stretches of road anywhere in the country

5:51 the peanuts are good, but all they are is garden fresh and boiled.

6:14 people only throw stones if you do something to anger them, which truck drivers often do.

11:25 This man gives an insight to the culture you don't normally hear from men regarding men vs women roles.

20:10 Tourist attraction... hehe not a lot of tourism here, but when these guys come at you (mudmen) they come pointing spears and arrows, and it's a bit awkward if you're trying to eat lunch.

14:25 we've been to a few mumus.

17:40 Daniel is a cool guy. A friend of a friend. The expat blonde kids here are friends. Luke and Brett.

18:24 I don't know where they got all this nice CLEAN new equipment, you almost NEVER see a bike that that in the highlands.

19:35 The crowd around the bikes, is common. Often times they try to high five you or throw flowers..which don't feel great passing at 60kmph.

20:00 This road is typical, however the route they're taking to Madang is not the route we typically take. We take a much more safe road when we go.

25:50 Typical of highlands culture. These men didn't do any work on the road but they own the road and want payment. I was actually surprised that they were able to negotiate not paying anything. Bribes DO cause problems for locals.


29:13 Remember all that news about our bridge out. I'm glad they included this, because the other bridge they crossed was too nice. This is more the typical bridge here in country.

33:00 We're down on the coast now. PMV's are popular everywhere, but the culture on the coast is a bit more friendly in most places. Most PMV's put english names on but they almost never make much sense. My favorite so far is "I'll be back".

34:00 This man shows us how the men view the women. The woman is telling you one of the many differences between the highlanders (where we live) and the coastal culture.

43:35 This stuff is HARD to digest. It's very thick and heavy, and sits in your stomach for a while. Much of their food is this way, but it helps you to understand the difference between food for survival and food for enjoyment.

56:48 You NEVER know when going to a village or on a trip if you're going to have to wait, if the road is washed out, if the bridge is out. Often times you have to wait or make a decision to turn back.

57:40 Don't let this concern you. Compensation is a VERY large part of the culture. This man is saying "i want you to pay me because I built a bridge over my land 30 years ago. The government needs to make a new bridge, and pay me for the right to build on my property." This is why the road infrastructure here is so sketchy, this concept of compensation. The heat building up, we ex-pats know these signs and often get out of there in case anything ocurrs. Often times though it is simply men yelling and talking and turns into nothing. Don't let this concern you.


Thanks for watching it. Charlie's experience might be very similiar to yours if you came to visit!

The Red Carpet

This was an important weekend.
1 - We dedicated our new plane the Kodiak! It was a big official ceremony that took place in the nation's capital and a small group of people (not including myself) went.

and

2 - A couple who have been translating for 52 years returned from their village for the last time today. A small ceremony was pulled together (the couple dislikes a lot of attention constantly declaring to give the glory to God).

Someone lent a red piece of runner that we used as a red carpet, and had the helicopter land, prayers were said, a hymn sung, and verses read.

52 years of ministry, and it isn't ending, simply the village living portion of their ministry is over. They're still going to be working on dictionary and language items.

We gathered to honor them. We give them honor but God the glory.

1 Timothy 5:17 (New International Version)

17 The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

We are rather new to this part of our lives and our ministry, having been here for coming close to 3 years now. This couple has been living in the village since long before we were born.

A funny joke he told,

"When I first left for the village in 1956, half of the center was there to see me off. The other guy went to the wrong town. Now it seems as we leave the village, half of the center is here to welcome us back. Thank you."

Back in 1956, there were but a handful of people here, and now, in 2009 there are over 500.

Why I'm Here

or maybe better titled "Why Trees are Here"

This is a pretty neat story, I'll try to make it concise.
Yesterday was a quiet day, so quiet that I decided to leave an hour early so I could go home to prepare for the evening dress rehearsal of the community play my daughter and I are in.

At 3pm I had a visitor touring our facility and he talked about a spiritual attack where lighting struck his network and took it out for 6 weeks during a translation project.

At 4pm the phone rang, a server in our aviation department was offline and they needed my help. I suddenly realized I was at risk of missing my dress rehearsal.

As I was on the phone, it began to rain heavily and within 15 minutes, practically no warning, a loud CRACK made me jump out of my chair. The lights dimmed, the phone hissed. Lightning had struck something nearby.

We have lightning storms often, but in my 2.8 years here I haven't see it touch down. This time, it struck a tall tree down the road.

So as I went to tell my aviation friend I had to go, instead the solution to the issue jumped out at me... we solved it.

Before heading to my rehearsal I decided to look at my network.

Sure enough a switch was killed by the lightning strike (or residual EMP). Guess which department? The only one currently actually printing a Bible. Coincidence?

I don't believe in coincidence.

I rush down in the pouring rain to look at the switch
(remembering for the rehearsal we were instructed to keep our hair dry).

I ran into a low door jamb and hit the top of my head... and fell over. I didn't black out, but I thought I might.

Soon I was up and working on the network issue. The switch was gone, and I had to drum up a replacement. This could wait till morning since it was quitting time for everyone anyway.

I went out in the rain and couldn't start my bike.... so I was fuming now. I mean... stressed and upset and.... when you have a very full plate, to have it doubled is a lot to bear.

So I stopped and prayed and calmed myself. GOD, this is your equipment, everything, I pray against the enemy, heal it, calm me, help me not to home and be gruff.

Suddenly my bike started up, and I went home.

God reminded me He was there... and caring for us.

But wait it gets better.

The night before I woke up in the middle of the night and said "hey, the set we adjusted is heavier now, I better warn folks."

So sure enough, I warned everyone "the set is now top heavy, it may fall."

And it did, but no one was hurt because no one was behind it. I felt bad for predicting the problem but having no feasible solution.

That's a side note.. but another reminder.. God is watching over us.

So this morning, I'm running around fixing things. People are telling me stories of having felt the static. Children were near the very tree that was struck and felt a tingle in their feet, that's it.

NONE of our server equipment was killed but the 1 switch. (a very old one).
AND... one entire department went down, and the fix was a simple surge protector and a dsl filter. TOTAL cost for them, around $3.00!!!

The harshest strike I've ever been witness too, and tons of stories of "well my surge protector died, but that's it." come rolling in.

GOD, thank you for that visitor that reminded me to pray, and thanks for answering the prayers and sparing the more expensive equipment.

I woke up thinking "today could be really really bad news, lots of expensive damage might be." but instead.... I'm hearing "well a $2.00 piece failed to spare a $150.00 peice"

GOD is the GOD of technology too.

Encouragement

well, I've been busy, working on my own in here for a few weeks now.
Also next week my daughter and I begin performances for the community theatre production of 'Fiddler on the Roof'.

We've been rehearsing with about 30 others for 7 weeks now to give this gift to the community and have fun together doing it.

Today I helped put out a grass fire that was threatening our water supply pump building.

I helped a single lady fix her alarm.

I helped a visiting couple get internet

as if that wasn't enough
I also got this encouraging email

Chad,
I just wanted to drop a quick note to say thank you so much for the video of the dedication that you put together. We've been back in the US for six weeks and have shown it over 20 times.
Every time we've shown the video someone in the audience has cried! Every, single time. It is a huge blessing to us and to everyone who has seen it. Thanks for your creative contribution to our 'victory lap'.

Cheers,
[translator friends of mine]

EDGE

I know it's hard for you to understand, but today I am celebrating the EDGE network capabilities.

Our cell service went down for a few hours last night and when it came back on the EDGE network was online and GPRS was not.

THIS is great news since we're playing with many different devices for cell networks, EDGE is significantly faster than GPRS. (about 2-3x faster here)

The sad news is I may not be able to go to the village soon to present this, because of vehicular issues.

The good news is that I'll be able to present this nifty new device to fellow computer geeks here who may find it useful, if nothing else, will be able to support it.

It does feel odd celebrating something that is "new again". It was new to me, back in what.. 1999? But it's new again!

Pick me Up

We've probably mentioned the miracle of owning a car here. Short version, someone was selling a decent 1991 Isuzu Trooper Diesel, and asked more than we had budgeted (2 years ago) and so he said, go pray. We prayed and the next day someone sent us an email with money without being asked.

Things like this happen all the time in the service of God.

Today I was a little tired. Not sad, not down, tired. Because over the weekend a few things broke. The biggest was our car. The clutch went out. We have a trip to the village scheduled for this weekend. The blessing we can be to others is two fold.

1 - Single ladies find it hard to travel about the country, so we would be able to give a ride to someone to visit the village for a day trip

2 - if I were to get there with my equipment, I could measure their gprs signal strength and tell the translator family that lives there, if they could get email in their village and how to do it

But then Saturday our clutch went out. Sure I could drive everywhere in first gear only, but I could get to the village that way. So we had to cancel the trip, knowing full well that it takes weeks to get car parts here.

Silly me, I know how to do small maintenance on a vehicle, I decided to check the fluids, and the clutch cable. Oddly the clutch fluid was very low.

I called the auto-shop knowing they might have to take apart my transmission to look at the linkage, and they said "we're very busy, maybe tomorrow" then called me back and said "we have a guy who can look at it quickly today, but he won't tear it apart because we can't have another car torn apart in the shop, no room."

So I dropped it by the auto-shop today (thank God for their services). And in 2 hours it was fixed. The Clutch cyllinder (they call it a fluid cup) was cracked and leaking... they didn't have an IN stock part, but they had a similar one that they fashioned to work until the after-market parts can come. The BEST possible scenario was that they got it in TODAY and fixed it TODAY but that is very difficult to do here, so I'm excited.

And Bingo, before lunch we weren't heading to the village, and after lunch we were.

Stuff like that energizes me. Little things, notes from home, someone sending us a dvd, a note, things that aren't HUGE but they are reminders to us that God is looking out for us.

I was so very tired only a few moments ago, and now I feel as if new life has been breathed into me for the day!!