Our week, in verbs!

Want to know what we've been up to since the last blog post? I thought I'd be a bit of a geeky linguist and tell you with this dynamic list of verbs (doing words) in alphabetical order, no less…

What we've been:

• buying - we finally bought Luke a phone (number +675 73617007 please send him a text with your name to let him know your number!)
• celebrating - Luke's birthday, spent swimming in a local hotel pool and eating very nice food (alas, we couldn't celebrate a success from Humperdinck)
• connecting - lots of wires, thus helping to establish an internet connection to the SPES (Sepik Partnership & Engagement Strategy) Office down the road
• developing - team-building day, where we had to talk about the strengths of our spouses
• driving - the Toyota Hilux - pretty fun on these roads

• enduring - 45 degrees C (30 indoors) with 90% humidity
• entertaining - Meg, a sweet girl from Australia who's come to help out for three weeks
• gorging on - an indulgent weekend of homemade burgers, buns and fries, brownies and pancakes, and pizza and popcorn for Luke's birthday

• jumping in - the hidden treasure of Passam Falls

• obtaining - Luke got his driving licence! £20 and 3 different government offices later… I don't have mine yet, because they ran out of laminating film when I went to get the photo part - fair enough
• playing - a round of Settlers Rivals - a (rare) victory for the birthday boy :P
• proof-reading - I checked the English of seven different literacy primers for the Yamuk translation team
• reading - the Week (thank-you B&J!) and information about BOLD, a linguistic diagnostic and survey tool we will be using in a few weeks
• researching -  a language group we will be visiting in June
• ruminating/considering - the pros and cons of 5 different language groups, one of which we will be visiting in a few weeks
• singing - I led worship in Tok Pisin and English for the team
• teaching - comparing the account of how the temple was cleansed during the Maccabean Revolt with Jesus' methodology nearly 200 years later
• watching - Arriety, Studio Ghibli's answer to the Borrowers on a borrowed projector
• wrapping - I bought Luke a bush knife for his birthday, now he can open coconuts!

The Epic Story we find ourselves in...

These last two weeks, our team organised a workshop which had in attendance 27 participants from 7 different language groups.  The course was run by a team of Papua New Guineans and facilitated by Wycliffe Members and is the brainchild of the PNG BTA (Bible Translation Association), a sister organisation.  Teams of four were helped to translate six different stories from Genesis into their Heart Language, (tok ples -  'place talk'), and coached on how to tell a good story, engaging people whilst being faithful to the presentation in Scripture.  It is hoped that these men and women will come back to future workshops which will further equip them and ultimately (in two years time), they will be able to deliver the training themselves.  The aim is to try and reach the 103 languages that still have no Scripture in this region of PNG (the Sepik) using methods like this, that are less time and resource heavy than traditional translation programmes.  Teams, supported by a partnership of local churches and denominations, will be able to deliver God's word in a compelling and contextually appropriate way.

For us, telling a story brings with it connotations of fiction, make-believe, and artistic license.  All things that we wouldn't associate with the Bible.  In Papua New Guinea, however, many communities only have an oral history and have never had their language written down.  Literacy is a foreign concept for them, and their most sacred and important chronicles are handed down in the form of memorised 'stories'.  Thus, while 'telling a story', in our culture, might seem a bit naff, or only for children, or the antithesis of 'history'; here it is a very weighty form of communication.  Which is great, because the Old and New Testaments are largely collections of stories, (and by that, I don't mean fictional), that narrate how God has engaged with this world in love through the ages.  The story of, say, Cain and Abel (The First Murder), or the Tower of Babel (The First Mega-City) are actually pretty gripping yarns, and, when told in someone's Heart Language, by a gifted orator, they can arouse all kinds of feelings and questions from the hearer.  The hope is that this can be a tool for evangelism and discipleship and a stepping stone towards portions of Scripture being translated in a written form. 

It was really cool to see the teams grapple with the text, the subtleties of meaning, the fundamental points of the story, working it all through and through and through again, checking it with consultants, translating them back into Tok Pisin to see if the sense and meaning was clear, and finally perfecting their translation, which they then memorised.  On the last day, many of the local church leaders came and listened to an epic story-telling session tour through the first part of Genesis.  We will be helping to facilitate the next workshop in the series this autumn. 

In other news, we also took our first lesson at the local school that caters for 10 of the Missionary Kids in the area.  We are helping out with some history lessons and taught on the demise of Alexander the Great and his empire!  Another part of God's Epic Story that we find ourselves in!

Ordination for Luke and Labour Room trip for Laura

We've had a super fun time since we arrived in Wewak.  After a little unpacking, and meeting our new team, we welcomed Suze for the week!  It was great to be able to explore a bit and relax.  We were able to enjoy some of the treats that are on offer here.  We snorkelled, swam, ate ice-cream, baked pumpkin and sultana scones, visited a Memorial Park (where the Japanese surrender took place), and got acquainted with town.  We had the opportunity to visit the maternity ward in the hospital with some of our new friends who were delivering care packages to the new mothers.  The girls really enjoyed seeing the babies, including some tiny twins
 and Suze was able to talk shop with the midwives there.  We also managed to fit in quite a few games of Dominion and San Juan!  Check out the pictures below!

underwater wonders

Wom Beach - yes, please.

playing in the waves

baking in a real oven!

Wewak Market

I also got chance to go to a special event about an hours drive into the bus (jungle) with another member of the team here who is an Arts Specialist.  He is identifying local cultural custodians and encouraging the integration of those arts into language-based development goals.  So, for example, a translation will not only present the Bible into someone's 'heart' language but also include illustrations that are indigenous, rather Western or Modern in their origin or style.  They may still represent a Palestinian scene, but they will be depicted in a culturally appropriate manner.  Similarly, songs of praise may not be composed on an organ in style of a hymn, or with a guitar and the chords of D, G, and C.  We tried to upload a video, but it used up too many megabytes and ended up not working at all - sorry, guys!


A Catholic priest was being ordained, and the ceremony incorporated a singsing (traditional celebratory festival/dance).  It was great to celebrate with these people as one of their own took solemn vows before God, and to witness the way that their cultural identity was being validated in the proceedings.  It's easy to think that our faith and our culture are two different entities, (or even worse, that our faith can only legitimately be lived out in one shape, size, colour, or culture), but seeing various people and langauge groups from the diocese express themselves to God in such outlandishly different ways, was an exhilarating glimpse of the scene that John witnessed in Revelation 7.  Seeing the candidate in his bright new smock (replete with traditional motifs), walking amongst his family (who were dressed in grass and shell and feathers), and giving out God's blessing through Communion, was a scene I will cherish for a long time.


Laura had the opportunity to attend a Oral Bible Story-telling workshop (which we are joining this week).  There are 26 participants from 7 different language communities and they have all come to learn how to present God's word in this innovative (and yet ancient) approach.  But more on that next week!

Welcome to Wewak

We have landed in Wewak! We made it without much delay to our new base.  As you can see from the picture the airstrip is right on the coastline with rainforest on the other side.  We have been wonderfully welcomed by our lovely new colleagues and also by a huge stack of post from so many of you! We counted over 30 pieces of mail! It was so precious to be reminded of your support, hear your news, see photos, and munch some sweet treats! We are LOVING having a fridge and a sofa and a table and chairs! Enjoying the first shower for over three months was pretty special too! We had a little tour of the town and have started unpacking in earnest in preparation of Laura's sister arriving tomorrow!

We thought you might like to see some pics of our new pad, so here they are!

Complete with flush-toilet, huge fridge and ceiling fans!

Our two-bed flat is upstairs flat by the water tank

Observations - part two

Dancing
Sunday 1st April
10:30
Four Square Church
Laura

During the worship time, several of the older ladies in the congregation began dancing in the aisle in the church.  One old lady had palm branches in her hands that she was waving around (it was Palm Sunday).  Another smaller woman grabbed my arm, tucked it close to her breast and pulled me along while the music continued (drums, bass, keys and guitar!).  She wanted to include me in the energetic expression of joy in the Lord and love for Jesus.  We sang and danced together for some time and then she let me go.

Run for freedom
Monday 2nd April
11:00
Outside wasfemili house
Luke

As I was cleaning my teeth on the edge of the village a huge black pig, (we're talking wild boar Asterix & Obelix stylee), ran towards, then around, and then away from me, along the perimeter of the village.  A short time later a dog appeared sniffing the ground, unsure where to go next, whilst I heard a lady shouting out.  A while later several men carrying bush-knives ran through.  When I returned, waspapa asked if I had seen a pig.  He had seen it too and recognised the shouts of the lady as being a neighbour.  He said the pig must have escaped its kalabus (prison) and was making a 'run for freedom'.  He said it was worth about K1000 (around £350) and the owner would be sori tru!  He said if kids find it, they will kill it and hide the meat.  I couldn't help but wish the brave fellow luck in his rush at liberty.


Laulau
Tuesday 3rd April
13:00
Outside our house
Laura

I noticed waspapa come close to a tree next to our house with a long stick with half a coke bottle at the top.  He lifted it up into the tree and cupped the ripe fruit therein.  We had inquired about this tree before.  It was small laulau fruit.  Pinkish red small fruit that one can eat in its entirety. He gave us some and asked us to try some.  Its taste was almost radish-like, not sweet as all, though nice and refreshing.  I reckon these 'bush-apples' would make a wicked crumble!

CanoesMonday 9th April
14:00
Centre of village
Luke

Lapun Papa (old father, pictured) has been working on a new canoe since we arrived.  There were several other men working with him today.  Lapun Papa's son, Robert, told me that not many people know how to make a canoe and that of the five sons, only he has save (knowledge), and so will inherit his tools.  Whilst the men were fitting the outrigger to the new canoe, one of the men told me that when a man makes a canoe, everyone in the village must bring him food as it is such a huge undertaking.  He also said that a man cannot sleep with a woman during this time as it would ruin the canoe, and that men and women had different types of canoe and it was not permitted for them to use the other kind designed for the opposing gender.  This canoe was the culmination of many weeks of work and it was going to the solwara (sea) for the first time today.  The men wanted me to christen the boat and also check it's balance!  I eagerly agreed and they hefted the craft down to the shore, where I boarded with rather too many pikinini (children).  I paddled over to a nearly white-sand island where we had to look for coconut shells to bail out the canoe which was (I thought) at risk of sinking!  Being out on the crystal clear water with six laughing children and multi-coloured coral below and the sun sparkling on the small waves above, was altogether magical.

Jisas
Sunday 15th April
Local Church
Luke

We showed the Jesus film in the church and were joined by so many locals that not only were all the pews full, so was the floor, and others craned their heads through the windows and doors!  It was so great to hear Jesus talk in Tok Pisin (even though he looked suspiciously North American!), and to witness the reactions of folks as they watched the film.  They applauded his miracles, laughed at the way he dumbfounded the Pharisees, tutted at His betrayal, were visibly moved by His suffering, and shouted out Hallelujah at His resurrection.  Laura led everyone in 'How Great Thou Art" (in Tok Pisin) to close the meeting, and we walked back, carrying the generator, in the darkest night under an extravagant array of stars.

Observations - part one

Giving of food

Saturday 24th March
17:45
Our house
Laura

For the third time today, various people have offered and insisted we take some of their prepared food! This time we were too full, having already made and eaten a meal, and so passed on the food to waspapa, who accepted it gratefully.  Gift-giving seems to be extremely important throughout all the cultures in Papua New Guinea, and re-giving gifts seems to be perfectly acceptable (having witnessed it many times here).  Giving is a way of saying 'I want to be in relationship with you', initiating, strengthening, and maintaining friendship.

Worship time
Sunday 25th March
09:30
Four Square Church
Laura

The music was loud and the worship was expressive.  Everyone was raising their hands, dancing, clapping their hands with energy and singing with all their might! It was so hot and exuberant that most people had brought with them towels, to wipe off their sweat! At one point, the worship leader, asked the congregation to turn ninety degrees to the right and proclaim to the places West of us that "There is power in the name of Jesus, there is power in the name of Jesus and we're on the winning side!".  We turned to the North, East and South; pointed up to the heavens and pointed down to the demons, and did the same.  The songs continued for a total of an hour and a half, which included a stupendous medley of eight songs!

Feel free
Tuesday 27th March
21:00
Our veranda
Laura

Paula and Glenda stayed to chat to us and explained that in this village everyone feels free (just as they want us to feel free!) to call/shout out to each other.  They call out to see if you're there, to ask what you're doing, where you're going, if you've eaten etc.  They also readily and often sing aloud at all times of the day or night.  They stressed that they wanted us to join in the shouting and singing and not to feel shy in doing so.

Water collection
Friday 30th March
09:30
North Coast Road
Laura

We walked down the road to Sarang II (the next village) with wasmama calling out to people that we were going to collect water.  People remarked that we had lots of buckets (three).  We rinsed the buckets, filled them by the tap and then chatted to the people there.  As we left, Deborah (from our village) carried one of the buckets for us.  Luke carried the biggest, and I took the smallest.  Wasmama and Clara (her sister) said that it was a long way (700m) and our arms would hurt.  They gave me a piece of material, rolled it up and put it on my head.  I carefully lifted the bucket onto my head.  They seemed pleased and every person we passed commented on the 'strongpela wait meri' (strong white woman).

Singsing
Saturday 31st March
21:00
Wasfemili kitchen
Laura

Last night I brought my guitar and a couple of Tok Pisin song books round to sing with our wasfemili.  I asked if wasmama knew any of the songs in the book; she either didn't and didn't like to say or didn't really like really like reading in the dark or maybe even singing from a book (they don't have words in a book or on a sheet or screen in church - it's all sung from memory).  She suggested I just start singing and if they know it, they could sing too.  Tania (wassusa, host family sister) joined me in singing a couple of songs in English.  I then sang a number in Tok Pisin and very quickly a crowd gathered! Everyone joined in singing and Luke showed the children some actions.  Wasmama seemed particularly happy through it and her sister-in-law, Paula even let out a 'hallelujah' at one point!

The time of dancing is over...

Wow! That was unforgettable!  We had a wonderful time in Bamaro Village, though we had to wait til we got to Wewak to write this, as a massive lightning storm fried all the electrical equipment at the training camp.  We also have experienced two earthquakes in the last six weeks (one was 6.7 on the Richter scale!); the ground turned to jelly and we felt like we were on a theme park ride!  Just part of life in this part of the world.

The Wasfemili

It's hard to encapsulate all the emotions and experiences of the five weeks we spent living with a small community on the north coast of PNG.  There were just eight houses in the village and all the people were of the same family (five generations!).  They were arranged in a circle around 'The Round Table' (a big tree with benches circumventing it).  Life was very communal and everything was shared.  Food, tools, stories, problems, jobs, children, songs, medicine, toilets, experiences, even pets (you could never tell who exactly owned which dog or cat or duck or chicken - everyone was a wasmama or waspapa to them)!  Our village was extremely protective of us and took such care over us.  We pretty much always had an escort of several children wherever we went or an audience whatever we did, which was at times a little claustrophobic.  Unfortunately, the plentiful and usually far larger than British bugs also wanted to share all elements of our life too, and we were bitten more times than we thought possible :(  Even the frogs (who in plague-like proportions sounded like a crowd of football fans), couldn't resist joining us at waswas (bathing time).  When it came to time for us to leave, everyone was crying and hugging us, not wanting to let go.  This time of dancing (that we adopted whilst washing, cleaning teeth, doing most about anything to try and prevent biting insects landing on and enjoying our no doubt exotic-tasting skin), has come to an end, and we are preparing to learn the new moves God will teach us in the coming months and seasons.  What follows (a couple of blog posts) are some of our journal entries to give you a few snapshots of our life during this time.

Jungle fare

OFF-GRID!

our one-bed house

Today we are going to Bamaro village to live for five weeks! No electricity! No running water! No internet and very limited phone signal! Lots of Papua New Guineans! One bush house! It promises to be a memorable time! Our GPS co-ordinates, for those of you who would like an aerial view via google maps, are: S4 45.834 E145 41.061

our bath

We have been preparing for weeks! Have you ever had to plan a lot of meals? We have had to plan over 100 meals! It seems strange to be taking so much food into the rich and verdant jungle; surely food is in abundance? Well, we have no guarantee of what the local people will grow in their gardens and if they will have any spare for us to buy! We might be able to get pineapples and bananas but nothing else, or we might be able to get sweet potato and nothing else! It means we have even dehydrated some food to help ensure we get some semblance of a balanced diet.

four onions, four carrots, two peppers, and a squash

So, keep us in your prayers if you will, and we look forward to telling you all about it in May! For more prayer items, please see our most recent newsletter.

"This is the worst trip I've ever been on"

tallest roots I've ever seen!

Sitting on rocks next to the river, with my socks and boots soaked through, while Luke went to purify the water, feeling a bit sorry for myself, on the last day of our 3-day hike, I sent my parents the following text:

"Probably the hardest thing I've ever done (even worse than cross-country skiing!).  Sweating tonnes.  Aching everywhere.  Covered in bites, cuts and bruises.  Absolutely stink, even though we washed in the river last night before sleeping on a mat on the floor, above a huge squealing pig, several noisy cockerels, with a two-day old baby in the room adjacent to us.  Totally knackered.  Altogether, pretty grim."

the pool of dreams

Over the three days it felt like we walked a hundred miles, but according to Bear Grylls, one cannot expect to cover ground that quickly in the jungle.  All our 'Man vs. Wild' DVD nights at Wycliffe UK could not have prepared me for what we underwent.  Thoroughly demoralised, after falling down three times (slipping way too many times to count) in the mud on the first day, I trudged on, using a stick in one hand and Luke's arm/ shoulder/ hand/ rucksack for support for the other and picked my way over the slick, steep ground.  At times, I was barefoot (that's how the PNG people do it!), in a skirt, on all-fours, scrambling up slippery squelching earth, with a guide at each side pulling me up, with tears in my eyes and a mixture of suncream, insect repellant and sweat exuding from every inch of skin (except my armpits, thanks to a super cool deodorant!).  Fairly humiliating.  When we finally made it to the village on the first night it was nearly dark.  Two little girls took us women to the place where they bathe.  The location was so far away that any good the river water and soap (fully clothed) had done, was rapidly annulled due to sweating profusely on the long (and treacherous) walk back to the village.  We chatted to some of the locals, did some recordings and transcriptions, after a few hours, we ate and then we attempted to erect mosquito nets in near total darkness.  The ladies in one room, we attempted to sleep on the floor with no position proving comfortable.

"wade in the water..."

The next day consisted mainly of wading through rivers and tackling greasy rocks, but a major highlight was reaching a beautiful pool (just above a rather impassible waterfall) just before lunch.  We jumped in and cooled-off.  Lovely! A bit more slipping and sliding and we reached the next village.  We set our heavy loads down and immediately split off; the guys sitting on wooden planks, talking to the men in the village and the women with the ladies on huge pieces of dried bark.  It was a pleasant evening.  We had a huge meal, told lots of stories and I was even asked to play a few songs on their guitar, which was fun.

waiting for the women to cook the food (!)

a little dejected

Both nights it rained hard, but on the last day it drizzled all morning, and rained a lot more after lunch.  It was a very dangerous route already, but the hazards increased spectacularly with the added moisture underfoot.  We were at times treading 'trails' about 4 inches wide with mossy rock on one side and a sheer drop on the other.  Praise Jesus, we made it back in one piece - the only word we could use to describe our smell is sour.  We knew we had hiked too long when the mosquito spray doubled up as deodorant!  All in all, probably a wee bit different to the trip the Beach Boys referred to in Sloop John B (see post title).


After returning to our campus, Luke set to work making a fire to heat the water so that we could have a 'warm' bucket shower.  After waiting 40 minutes for the water to heat up, he realised his wash bag had been stolen! Mercifully the thief left his sponge! Ah well, Papua New Guinea is known as the "Land of the Unexpected"!  For a great description of what hiking here is like please take a look at the blog of our soon-to-be supervisors - Rocky & Wendy Dede.  We can certainly concur about the lack of bathroom stops!

Unexpected blessings!

This is just a quick one, but we want to say a very public thank you to all of you who have sacrificially given to us over the past two months - you have met a need.  The whole of the amount we were charged for our baggage has been unexpectedly given to us! We are blown away by God's goodness displayed to us through you.  He has provided for us - through YOU.  He has supplied everything, but He has chosen to do it through His Body and we're so grateful and humbled that you chose to respond to His leading!

Something else both beautiful and surprising was a 'night rainbow', or rather an ethereal ring of colour encircling the moon last night! God is glorious in all He does.

Sister moon looking resplendent

Bird Talk...

Tisa Itbam and us

We finished our Tok Pisin classes this week! It was great to hear everyone share their testimonies in Tok Pisin! Our tisa (teacher) also shared some of his story, which was quite moving.  His grandfather met a waitskin for the first time (a missionary) and as a result became the first Christian in his village.  The faith was passed down to his son and then to his grandson, who now helps to instruct Christian workers in Tok Pisin, and who has been working alongside Wycliffe personnel to translate the Bible into his own language for most of his adult life. The New Testament was dedicated just over 10 years ago and the Old Testament is currently being checked! You can see this faithful and gentle man in the picture (right).

We thought we'd include a verse in Tok Pisin (literally 'talk bird') to give you an idea of the language.  It has a vocabulary of only about 2000 words and as such, you have to talk around ideas, clarifying meaning by using different combinations of words to create shades of meaning.  It means that saying something simple can often take a while! This is no problem to a society where 'storying' and sharing words is very important.  What to us might seem like a superficial or repetitive conversation is a way of connecting with people in Papua New Guinea and indicates that a greater value placed is on relationship than information. See if you can guess the following verse from the NT:

"God i gat wanpela Pikinini tasol i stap.  Tasol God i laikim tumas olgeta manmeri bilong graun, olsem na em i givim dispela wanpela Pikinini long ol.  Em i mekim olsem bilong olgeta manmeri bilip long em ol i no ken lus.  Nogat.  Bai ol i kisim laip i stap gut oltaim oltaim."

This is John 3 v 16! Did any of you guess that? Try sounding out the words and see if you guess the meaning of any of the words...

It was beautiful to be able to pray for our wasfemili (host family) last night in Tok Pisin (our wasmama's sister just died).  Even though Tok Pisin is just the main trade language of PNG, and the heart language of very few, it still communicates much more profoundly than English does for the vast majority of people.  One of the things we'll be doing in the village in a few weeks time is showing the Jisas film in Tok Pisin using a generator and projector.  We are looking forward to being able to show our new friends this movie, and talking with them about God.

Tok Pisin pop

Demons in the village

OK, so we've not been online for a little while...  It feels like so much has happened since we last posted!  We have both been baking some bread and spending more time in our hauskuk (outdoor kitchen - you'll notice the improvements we made to our bench!), in preparation for when we will be living and cooking in the village.  This weekend we will be purifying our own water and learning about possible rain collection methods!

Laura's bread!

I (Luke) had the opportunity to go on a bikpela wokabaut long bus (big hike in the bush) with one of the centre workmen, two classmates, and my waspapa (host father, pictured).  It was quite a gruelling trek, where we waded through rivers (and occasionally fell in), hacked down chest-high grass with bush-knives, slid through dank, fetid masses of vegetation, ate wild cucumbers, listened to old folk stories, dived in waterfalls, saw a water snake, and collected sago beetles!  We found a rotten old sago tree and heard what sounded like a dial-up modem being amplified from inside it.  On peeling back the pulp of the tree, there were literally hundreds of the beetles, which were duly stashed in a satchel for cooking later on!  They were about the size of my thumb; you'll be relieved/disappointed to hear I didn't get chance to sample one!

our waspapa

We had a day off in our schedule where we all drove up the coast to visit the reef and do some snorkelling.  It was great to have a break, read a little (Brian McLaren - A New Kind of Christian, which is excellent!), eat some rambutan (like lychee but nicer!) and chocolate cake, and just chill for a few hours.  Unfortunately Laura got a little burned, despite using SPF 50 - I guess we still have some acclimatizing to do!

all packed up!

Last night, we spent our first overnight in a local village.  It was a surreal experience, walking down the road with our bed and basic necessities, to the house of our wasfemili (host family), and entertaining the stares of various locals wondering at our progress.  We spent a lovely evening praying together, communicating as best we could in our Tok Pisin, playing quite a few games and laughing over my various trips and falls on the hike!  Between the mother-of-all thunder storms, rain dripping through the leaf roof, the neighbour's radio, the dogs which periodically came sniffing round our bed (which was on the floor), the sobering sound of what we concluded was a demon-possessed person, and perhaps most bizarrely our waspapa's mobile phone ringing every 2 minutes from 5am onwards, we didn't get much sleep! It did give us a useful idea of what to expect next time round though!

Our wasfemili's home

sapsap!

We've got three different assignments due after the weekend (including writing our testimony in Tok Pisin!), but pray for some real rest too! We're looking forward to tucking into a sapsap and if you'd like to send us a text (as we have no internet access on weekends), you can find our PNG number on the 'how to reach us' page.  We'd love to hear from you and you will help us establish how much our phone is working as we've been having a few difficulties reaching the UK!

Our week, in superlatives!


• Hottest... learning how to make a fire and then cooking pineapple fritters over it, all in the blazing sun!  Almost felt like we were cooking ourselves!  



Deep-fried yum

• Wettest... hiking down the 'mountain' we're living on (1400 ft).  And then Luke hiked back up with some of the other guys!  Like taking a shower in your own sweat.

• Grossest... finding a dead gecko under our desk being eaten by a horde of ants.  Weirdly the tail was over a metre away!

 

The gecko itself was too gross to show!

• Strangest... the fact that we have had so little rain despite the fact that it is rainy season.  Our water tanks are running pretty low (we're showering in river water), so please pray for rain!
• Most humbling... being applauded, as we introduce ourselves at a local church and say we're in PNG to be part of Bible translation in the Sepik region.
• Prettiest... snorkelling in the Pacific and seeing huge blue starfish!
• Most surprising... swimming a mile in the sea and finding it as hot as a bath!



Where we swim (this one's for the nephews!)



• Most painful... being bitten more times than you can count by hungry bugs.
• Tastiest... a fruit called sap sap.  It has a texture that is very hard to describe but it is in between the size of a mango and melon, with thick lime green skin and knobbly sharpish points all over.  The flesh is white and has tons of black seeds (bit bigger than watermelon seeds).  It tastes like super-sour Haribo sweets... the perfect fruit?
• Hardest... building a kitchen, table and chairs, using bamboo and branches, tarpaulin and twine, and a big bush knife.  Then having to rebuild it several times with blistered hands, after the wind and rain knocked it about some.
  
   

  

  the hauskuk materials!



taking shape!


• Loudest... the preacher on Sunday spoke with great passion and gusto.  We're used to straining our ears as most Papua New Guineans are very softly spoken!  This is a challenge for Luke who only has one hearing ear (for the last two weeks) due to an ear infection.
• Most educational... watching some of the local workmen demonstrate some traditional crafts using local materials, such as making rice baskets and bags out of coconut leaves, and walls and roofing out of sago tree leaves and branches.



A PNG wall to-be

• Funnest... playing jungle speed with some of our friends here.  Unfortunately, it wasn't until the third (and final) game that we finally nailed the rules.  Error (although Luke did win twice so wasn't too annoyed!).
• Most emotional... hearing testimonies from our fellow course-mates as to how God has been at work in their lives.
• Most mysterious... the cacophony of sounds we hear in our room as we lie, trying to imagine it is cool and bug-free.  Unfortunately, we end up having to visit the loo most nights.  We are also having some pretty intense Larium-induced dreams which altogether combine to make the nights a surreal experience.
• Shiniest... our new tropical complexions!
• Most awkward… well, it could have been!  Meeting, hosting, and spending an evening with our wasfemili, host family, (a local Papua New Guinean family who are helping us to learn Tok Pisin and adjust to life here), actually turned out to be fairly laid-back experience!  Though we had only had two weeks of language learning to communicate with them, we managed to get by (thanks to their grace and good nature), and are looking forward to visiting them in their village next week.  Although the flying cockroaches were unwelcome participants at the meal!!!
  

  

  our new friends

  We would have put this up earlier, but the internet is intermittent!