Ladies Bible Study

These are the ladies from the Bible study I attend. We decided to take a group picture since some of us are starting to leave already. Most of us who are leaving are were just short term workers and will probably never be back here in Papua New Guinea. It makes me sad to think about it. It has been a joy to gather around God's Word with these women. We have gotten to know our Savior and each other on a deeper level.

Emily's Birthday Party

Emily loves costume parties, so we had a Wizard of Oz costume party for her birthday this year. Most of us dressed up as some Wizard of Oz character, watched the Wizard of Oz movie, took a Wizard of Oz quiz and played "Pin the Heart on the Tin Man." Oh, and did I mention all the good food! Can you guess what I was?

Lapilo Orientation Retreat

I had the opportunity to go out to Interface for the weekend to help with the Lapilo Orientation Retreat. This is the first time that something like this has been held. In the sessions, the orientees learned about things like syncretism, cultural sensitivity, etc. One of the older NTM missionaries here in Papua New Guinea gave his testimony and talked about his experiences upon first arriving here in PNG in the one session that I got to sit in on. It was very interesting to hear the differences between how things were way back then and how they are now. The adjustments we face now don't seem nearly as huge after you hear about the adjustments they had to make back then. I guess the men used to go by themselves to live in a village with the national people while they learned language.

I helped with cooking and child care. Interface has a big fully equipped kitchen and it was fun to work with the staff there. I only had one three to four hour shift per day, so there was plenty of free time. In the mornings I spent my free time helping with child care. The rest of the day I enjoyed playing volleyball, hanging out with the orientees and playing games.

Keiya Falls

Over Easter weekend a group of us went hiking to Keiya Falls. It is about a two hour hike from where we live. The hike through the mountains is beautiful. I decided that since this might be the last time I made that hike I would try to enjoy it as much as possible, rather than rushing to get there and rushing to get home. Of course God's creation never disappoints. The mountains were as beautiful as ever.

The falls themselves are also beautiful. I enjoyed getting my adrenaline rush jumping off of them. The biggest shock is landing in the water. It is icy cold. After I came up out of the water it took me a couple of minutes to quit gasping. :)

We had lunch at the falls and then headed back home. The walk home was easier, since it was mostly down hill and the sun had gone behind the clouds. By the time we got home we were pretty tired, but it was a great day.

Lapilo Conference

The Lapilo Conference this year was great. I really enjoyed it. It is a time of fellowship and refreshment. There were serious moments and funny moments.

Our speaker and his wife were from a coworker's church in California. He spoke on the the book for James. That was kind of neat for me, since we are covering James in church and in the ladies' Bible study I attemd. It is always so interesting to me the way God brings up the same lessons from all corners of your life.

On a lighter note, we had ice breakers at the beginning of all of the speaking sessions that were hilarious. I ended up being "volunteered" for two different games. One of them involved playing a variant of "rock, paper, scissors." It was "bear, snake, hunter." Then there was the "humming telephone game" and the "charades telephone game." The second picture is of me playing the charades telephone game. I was relieved that it wasn't anything too difficult to act out (went fishing and caught a big fish).

A few other highlights were skit night, hiking, block parties and potlucks. The bottom picture is of the hike that we went on. It was pretty relaxed. We stopped and talked to a number of national people and saw a baby cassowary.

Baptism

Last month we had the privilege of attending a baptism service for some of the missionary kids who live here at Lapilo. It was not your traditional baptism service, either. Rather than gathering in a church, we all drove down to the river with our hats, umbrellas and sunscreen to watch the kids get baptized in the dirty, brown river. After an introduction/explanation in both English and Pidgin, twenty one kids were baptized by their dads. It was great to see so many kids demonstrating their commitment to following Christ. The fact that many of these kids were ones that we have taught or hung out with made it even more special for us.

Hockey

One hobby I have picked up since coming to Papua New Guinea is floor hockey. We usually play about once a week. It is a great time of fun, fellowship and exercise. It has also, like most things in life, been a good learning experience for me. It has helped me learn to do everything in a way that is honoring to the Lord. I am fairly competitive, so I tend to do things I regret when I am not winning. God has used hockey to teach me that winning is not the most important thing. Enjoying His blessings (good health, friends, etc.) and honoring Him in everything I do is more important.