We have arrived in PNG.
Before I get to tell you all kinds of stories, first let me say, PRAISE GOD!
He has been so good to us.
Next let me say, for those of you who don't like to read a lot of wording, we have pictures! And.. movies.
goto this link and to see the pictures in a slideshow you can click to the left on "view slideshow"
(change the size to 640x480 and click on "show more info")
I took the time to add captions so that you'd know what you were looking at.
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Story time (hopefully not all posts will be this long, as I have a LOT to catch up on) (please forgive the errors, I wrote all this when jet lagged to capture the moment but it still needs some editing which I have forsaken in the interest of getting this online sooner than later for those who are anxious)
Ukarumpa aircraft information (many have asked)
the hangar has 6 planes, 2 helicopters
King Air - uses jet fuel, is a twin turbo prop (which means it has two jet engines with propellers in front of them)
it is their biggest and fastest plane.
Islander - uses jet fuel, is also a twin turbo prop, doesn't go as fast as the king air.
4 Cesna 206's - piston engine, uses AVgas, single prop plane. (smaller)
2 Bel helicopters - turbine engine (one is a jet ranger, the other a long ranger)
--March 19/20
Today we met Sherwood Lingenfelter. He was sitting in the lobby when I walked in. How surreal is that? Joel's dad jsut sitting in the lobby of the MAPANG house in png. He was an instructor on Multi-cultural teams in ICC and we read much of his work on the subject of intercultural integration. He also is speaking on center for center meeting. It blows my mind, all the little confirmations the God has given us. Here we have gone to Biola, where Sherwood was provost, never met him. Read his essays in training for weeks, watched him on video, and gotten to know his son over the years. I talk to his son practically daily, and yet have never met him. And finally, here, where you'd lead expect to find anyone you knew, we run into Sherwood sitting in our lobby.
--March 20
we loaded up the van and were taken to the MAF air hangar. We waited there in a cooled office for about an hour or more. The heat and humidity of Port Moresby was very tropical. They weighed all our luggage. We have these really nice duffel bags from an army surplus store called German Quartermaster bags. We had a conundrum on what to use for bags, and we wound up with duffles that my wife found. WHAT a blessing from God! The bags are very nice, very strong, very squishable. If it were not for these bags, we would not have gotten ALL 8 of them on the plane. They weighed our luggage and us. I realized that I weigh the same as my wife and children put together. One of me equals three of them!
Anyway, we were instructed to pack only 1 bag for priority overnight should the rest be put on layaway for another flight. But, God prevailed and because they were duffels, all 8 made it. We rode in a large king air, I was seated first behind the pilot because that has the most leg room. WHAT a fun plane ride that was! We got to fly high up in the clouds, see the pilots fly and talk with Sherwood for the entire flight.
What a fun time that plane ride was! It was gorgeous coming down into the center from that perspective!
When we landed, we were enlightened by what Geoff and Sue were preparing for us to "recognize" them with. They were waving a huge California flag (the republic). It was very funny, to arrive and see the flag and them, we all had a good laugh. Turns out the pilot was from San Jose before he came out here.
Are you counting the blessings:
1 - God's providence with the luggage, and how it would not have fit had we kept our original rigid square containers
2 - God's provision in making the flight simple, the kids handle it well, and all our luggage arrive (we checked it through to Port Moresby from San Francisco, so we didn't have to wheel it around
3 - God's provision in sailing us through customs. We were not stopped at all! We walked right through.
4 - God's blessing that we got to meet and talk to Sherwood Lingenfelter and to know him a little.
5 - God's blessing that the pilot was from San Jose
6 - God's humor with the California flag, and getting a good laugh when we arrived
7 - God's timing, in that the Russells were there to greet us at the airport and to feed us, and to show us into our new home. How awesome is that?
It was great to spend the night with our friends the Russells. They are our hospitality family, and we have 2 weeks to work into the scheme of things here before we get to work. I'm told I'll be busy. My first visit here was with them, and seeing them was so great! They have a great agenda planned for us, so we'll be able to get to know some people, get the lay of the land a little.
I can't express how wonderful it is to be finally in our new home, to have been greeted by our friends, and to have had a taco dinner with them. They even provided us with groceries for the morning. I'll have to remember that if we're ever a hospitality family.
Our new home is wonderful. It's gorgeous. It has a dishwasher. There are those who are jealous that we start out with a dishwasher! The view is gorgeous here! We'll be putting some pictures up.
It's a 3 bedroom house 1 bathroom (with a nice sunken in bathtub). The kids rooms are great! They love them. The master bedroom is nice, and will eventually fit our bed. And.... praise God,
It is absolutely gorgeous here. The smells, the sites, the sounds, it is a tropical paradise. The house, is very nice, we will explore it more, post pictures and make videos so that you all know how it feels to be here.
The kids loved the tree at the Russell's home. They instantly ran to it because they heard so much about it, and played on it until dinner time, and then after until it was time to leave. They loved it! They have had absolutely no adjustment time here, no complaints, they hit the ground running and laughing and playing. They threw off their shoes and were so much in love with this place, they want to explore.
As do we.
Fears put to rest:
up here at 5000' the mosquitoes are not malaria carriers. Getting it up here is very rare.
no snakes, it gets too cold up here for them
no poisonous spiders, same thing,
there are lizards and geckos, but we like them because they eat insects.
there are centipedes which will give you a bad rash, but can be avoided very easily.
So there, many worries already put to rest.
One thing that will take some getting used to are the bug bites. We are all getting quite a few each night. It is most likely fleas and we will try and protect ourselves the best we can. Getting used to the bites is part of life here. We haven't had any asthma or allergy attacks yet, but the dry season is coming up.
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March 21
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The kids sat out on the porch today and said "appi noon" to everyone. Then I told them "culturally, kids, the girls shouldn't start conversations, it makes people feel awkward." of course that doesn't really apply to kids, but I was interested in how my daughter would take it.
So Sydney began singing "all the children sing..." then point to Calvin who'd say "appi noon, appi noon appi noon."
Then later today, Sydney insisted on walking barefoot with her bilum on her head, in the rain. My wife kept saying "are you sure you want to go barefoot?" After a while my daughter said "SSSHHHH.. mom, quit asking me that, they might hear you and think I'm not from here! I want them to think I'm from here."
She didn't have the heart to tell her that her skin color set her apart.
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March 22
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today the word got around, and the signs on our heads that read "new money!" seemed to bring the nationals seeking work to our front door.
First was Jouo who offered to give us milk to continue the milk delivery service here. Thankfully we had friends tell us how to politely handle these situations.
I respectfully said "we're still thinking about whether or not we want milk delivered, I will send you a message if we decide."
He told me to speak with a neighbor who knew how to reach him.
Now to me, that feels like a very impolite way to say no. To me, he's hanging around wondering if he has work. But to HIM it is a very polite way to say no. In fact saying NO is shaming him. Instead I give him the option of not being confronted with a no. Admittedly I did slip in a "no thank you" which I shouldn't have done, but I was warring with my desire to be honest and forthright.
Apparently I handled it properly, and then the haus meri came by from the previous owners and wanted to let us know she was available and we mentioned we were still thinking about whether or not we wanted to hire a haus meri and who it would be.
She politely gave us her availability and left after waving to me.
The worst thing we can do apparently, is accept gifts or say yes at the door immediately. For the next week or so we expect a lot of "askims" and job requests. An askim is when someone will ask you for a loan. It is proper for the LOAN giver to ask for repayment when they need it, however they know Americans never need it, so they have learned to use "askims" as freebies. It's an unethical perversion of their cultural habit of loan giving, and many frown on it. We in fact realize that should we feel inclined to help, (and honestly the temptation is usually the opposite, it's a desire to always say yes and always help) then we investigate and get back to them. Saying yes to people without knowing the facts, can possibly lead to a situation where a national develops the bad habit of begging. Our aim is to give the nationals nearby employment not free rides. Our aim is to create relationships that are based in Christ's love, not in our financial strength
The kids are doing great, we're practically over the jet lag. We are still very much in the beginning phases of culture shock, that being the "honeymoon phase".
We are excited to be meeting people and finding out how God is using their skills to further the translation work here as well. We have met only a few of the many people here but have been blessed to be invited into their homes.
Please enjoy the pictures and videos.
