Serving an Awesome God... in Lae, PNG

a new blog...

2011-02-17T21:32:00.002+10:00

For those of you who are interested - I have begun a new blog...at least I am going to give it a go and see how long it lasts. Click here for the link. Hope it works....

A chapter really closed...

2011-01-02T07:04:00.011+10:00

It's hard to imagine it still. It's hard to think that we are not going back. It seems so unreal. As we flew out of PNG, it was hard to believe that we would not be returning any time in the near future.

It was a busy and emotional few weeks. It was difficult, but it was good. It started with the mad, mad packing of our things, which involved lots of very frustrating moments (tiresome!!!), but the Lord saw us through. On our last day in PNG we managed to finally get our last piece of paperwork for the transportation of our things - just in the nick of time!

Here are our boxes packed and ready to be picked up (except they weren't picked up - we dropped them off!!!):

And below you can see that our room of boxes was also the sick room - packing and sick kids wasn't the best combination, but it all got done!

The hardest part of our time in Lae, was the goodbyes. Thankfully, our good friends from Tasmania (Gerald and Rosita VanAsperen) could join us for our farewell Sunday, and that was wonderful.

There were goodbyes to this beautiful little girl - dear Louisa - how we all will miss her special, smiling face:

I lead my last Women's Bible Study in PNG, which was followed with a farewell feast for lunch. Here are the ladies (and some kids) who attended the Bible Study:

Ashlyn and Karlyn did their share of hugging and playing. Yes, goodbyes to our colleagues were pretty difficult too, though thankfully we are now seeing them in Cairns and will, DV, see them in WA too!

Our farewell Sunday was a very emotional day. Andrew preached for the last time - a beautiful, emotive message from Matthew 13:44-46.

After the church service there was a special program to farewell us. First we were called to stand up at the front of church. Then member, by member, our brothers and sisters in Christ came to the front to give us gifts and to say their farewells.

The tears and the hugs were very difficult to go through, but also very necessary....Here are just a few pictures to let you get the feeling:

Then different groups performed various items. The women's fellowship group sang psalm 23 which was one of the psalms I translated, and the "whole" congregation below sang psalm 134 beautifully (this was one of the translations I did just before we went on furlough). It was beautiful to hear them sung, and sung so well!

Below is the group that attended on our farewell Sunday - a big day like that always draws some extra people!

After our emotional farewells we were blessed to be able to take a few days in Madang and Ukarumpa with Gerald and Rosita. It was a special time we could have with them (even though we squished both our families - 12 people in total - and our luggage into our 10 seater Nissan Patrol, and travelled across some pretty rough and bumpy roads!!), and also allowed us to farewell some other people and places which are dear to us.

Don't you just love the way that Andrew and Gerald stand so much taller than all the locals?:

We got to go back to "our" village in Madang where we did our training and see our loving Papa and Mama there:

And we were blessed to be able to share good times of fellowship, also over some great meals with our friends:

We also got to go to Ukarumpa where a dessert evening was organised by one of our friends there, for us to farewell some fellow missionaries who we knew especially from our time of training as we entered PNG some 4 years ago. And now we are still enjoying a few days of relaxation in beautiful Cairns.

Here we are on the church property on our last Sunday in PNG:

The chapter is closed. Really closed. Hard to believe, but how good it is to know that the Lord will be there as the next chapter begins. He is the Rock, the Fortress, the Stronghold who sustains all his people throughout the world. May He continue to bless His Church and our dear brothers and sisters in Lae, PNG. May He sustain and bless our dear colleagues (I think I can still call them that...) and friends (that they will remain), the Wildeboers, and also guide and bless the Sikkemas as they prepare to work in Lae. What a comfort to know that God is Faithful. Always faithful and that never changes.

As for us...I am not sure what will become of this blog. At least it will undergo a name change...We will still be serving an Awesome God, just not in Lae, PNG! I am not sure if I will continue to blog, and if I do how it will go.... However, we do want to take this opportunity to thank you for following with us the work that God has been pleased to do in Lae, PNG. We thank you especially for your prayers and also for which ever other way you may have supported the work and us personally. God bless you all and please continue to support and pray unceasingly for God's work in Lae, PNG, for your missionaries there, and for His Kingdom building work all over the world.

We are really, truly in Lae...

2010-12-19T15:55:00.012+10:00

It's been one of those weeks where it has been made abundantly clear that we are really and truly back in Lae. Lest we forget. Lest we begin to think (as some may do when they come here for a short time) that life in Lae is actually pretty "easy" and not really that hard and difficult.

Yes, we got our packing done in two days (all excited to have it done!!!), only to have them not come and get our stuff that day or the next. After countless phonecalls, we discovered that their truck had broken down....so we brought our own stuff to the transport company (all 55 boxes/items). Only to find them "dumping" our boxes in some strange dusty place, open to all the elements (including rain, if it would rain - thankfully it didn't). When we "demanded" that all our things be put somewhere else, they found some empty container to lock them up in. Andrew spent (and is still spending) many hours trying to track down what is going on, meanwhile watching our boxes being wrapped with not much care. And then the proper packing staff were all off drunk, and, well, let's just say we were/are very frustrated.

But that is just our stuff.... material things. Friday night, as we were thinking of getting the girls ready for bed we just stopped suddenly as about 6 loud gunshots went off right near our house. We told the kids to get away from the windows and Andrew ran upstairs to look out of our window which has a great view to all the dramas on the street (and we sure have seen some in our time!). Apparently some criminals had hi-jacked a car and the police were busy "shooting" them off the road. Just another day in Lae.

Saturday was another day of dealing with "hevis" (burdens). As Andrew went for a walk at about midday he went past a small group of men on the corner of the entrance to the Biwat settlement. He waved and said "hi" to them as he always does when he passes people, but they looked a little sheepish and only acknowledged him briefly. He soon found out why. No sooner had he passed them (about 10-20m past them) when he turned to see them holding up a passing car. A group of men, armed with guns surrounded the car, and when the man wouldn't get out they pulled him out and proceeded to bash him. He staggered off, bleeding, as the criminals raided his car after emptying his pockets. Andrew followed the man who made it to a nearby police station.

Then, as I was preparing dinner in the afternoon I suddenly saw the face of Julie (our house help) at the window. She was shaking and disheveled. I rushed outside to her, only to have her tell me that her daughter, Katherine, was dying, after being attacked by her husband in a jealous rage. She kept saying (but she wasn't particularly cohesive) that Katherine "died" (but that also means to be unconcious in this language), but she wanted Andrew to come and get her (she has no access to a car for transportation). I first asked if she needed us to bring her to the morgue, only to have her tell me that Katherine was still breathing (but "just a little bit"). She rambled on and on about Katherine's husband attacking her straight in her heart and Andrew and I were both just picturing him stabbing her. Anyway, of course Andrew went straight out there with her. He arrived to find Katherine okay. She had been beaten and one of her husband's blows hit her straight in the chest and knocked her unconscious and also taking the wind out of her which was why Julie reported her only "breathing a little bit." When Katherine was knocked unconscious, Julie had run to our house (not just up the road - it's a least 5km) in panic and fear to get help. Julie also had a huge bump on her head where she had been hit. Well, we were so thankful to hear that Katherine was alright, but Andrew spent over an hour there opening God's word to both Katherine and her husband (yes, he had calmed down by then), as well as many others around them. However, Satan still has a strong-hold in this family, and this morning Katherine has been "rescued" by her father and brought back to her village, as her husband continued to abuse her the following day.

Then, after church yesterday, as we were cooling off in our pool after a long and very hot service, enjoying the company of our colleagues, a phonecall came through to Nadia from a member of our church who was being attacked by her husband. Ian and Andrew decided to walk into Biwat together. They arrived to find her husband heading up the ladder into their house with a big knife. What ensued was a crazy confusion of Ian grabbing the man and pulling him away from his wife and Andrew getting the knife from him. After the man went down the stairs again, Andrew "stood gaurd" at the base of the steps, and Ian at the door, hoping to keep the man, now armed with an iron bar and rocks, away from his wife. Eventually they managed to escort the woman away to safety. What baffled Ian and Andrew was the way others around them just ran off and kept away. They must have looked quite the sight - two white men standing up to this enraged and dangerous Papua New Guinean, to protect his wife. This goes on all the time in the settlements. Women are bashed, even to death, and no-one does anything. No-one wants to get involved, lest the abusive man turn his anger on them, and continue to harrass them in the future (this is a real fear). But meanwhile the abuse just continues and continues unabated. Even many pastors accross this country seem to feel that it is okay to hit your wife if she does something wrong. How desperate is the need for Christ's love to penetrate deep into the heart of this country, for His Word to be expounded in all its truth!

This is PNG. This is the life that missionaries here deal with on a day-to-day basis, and this doen't even touch many other stressful elements of the work. Pray, pray and do not stop praying. Although we know that it is our time to leave the work here, there is a sense of grief in this area too, not because we enjoy this kind of pain and heartache, but because we see how much work there is to do, and how great a need there is to support eachother in this work. We know the hardship of "being on your own" on the mission field, as the Wildeboers soon will be (for some time, thankfully God is preparing the way for the Sikkemas to come!) It pains us, and yet we know that God Almighty is in control and He will do as He sees fit. He will sustain, and comfort and provide.

Back in the Land of the Unexpected and the Land of wonderful people

2010-12-15T12:56:00.010+10:00

We are back in Lae, back in the land of the unexpected! How is it unexpected, you ask? Well, take hopping onto an Air Niugini flight and watching a man board holding a Coleman lantern (you know those kerosene ones? We presume it still had kerosene in it because the air hostess took it off him after looking into it - thankfully someone was alert!)...and he got through security??? Or take getting from the airport in Lae to our house in a Guard Dog Bus, and then just when we are almost home (after an hour and a half - it was airconditioned, so not too tedious) the driver decides to ignore a "road closed" sign down a steep and stoney hill, only to find it was really, truly inaccessible this time, meaning a 3 point turn, in a bus, on a hill, with steep sides, and only loose stones for tread! Then there's a newly erected stop sign at the entrance to a roundabout (circle, for you Canadians) - A stop sign, at a roundabout?? Then there's Andrew going into some companies early Monday morning to arrange the transport of our earthly goods to Australia, only to call me a bit later telling me that "the packing needs to be done by tomorrow afternoon, as the ship is going soon, and else we'll miss out if we don't do it now as a ship is going soon"!!!

So a mad pack it was - 2 crazy days, also crazier as a stomach bug hit our family. Shiana threw up in Cairns airport, in Port Moresby airport, and twice back here in Lae. Kirilee fainted in church on our first Sunday back whilst standing for the first songs - she had succumbed to the bug too. And Monday night Ashlyn spent the night vomiting, keeping our already tired bodies up when they so wanted to sleep, and she still is struggling to get rid of it, with a fever lingering on.

But, the packing is now done, and that is great, and such a blessing (though we are still waiting for our boxes to be picked up - um, they didn't get around to it today even though we were told it had to be done by today to make the ship!!!)

And this Land of the Unexpected just has such a beautiful side to it that it just pulls at your heart strings. Sunday was a beautiful day. Hugs of joy at seeing eachother again and some tears, knowing that our time together will be short. A beautiful Profession of Faith service. What a blessing. Shiana was super excited that dear Louisa ("her" little girl here in church- she's a bit over a year and half old) still remembered her. She actually came walking straight up to her and put her arms out for Shiana to pick her up!! It was so nice to be back in the Church Family here. How we have missed these services! There's something about them that we just miss when we are in Australia! Of course, I forgot my Camera (hello, Natalie, you have 3 Sundays here and you forget your camera!!???) So if you want to see some photos of our Sunday, you'll have to check out our colleagues' blog here .

The girls have been enjoying the Wildeboer children so much again. I think Ashlyn and Karlyn spent most of the Sunday Service hugging eachother (in the sweltering heat!!). And we have been enjoying the company of our colleagues again too, though it is hard to imagine that the special bond we have is coming to an end (well undergoing a great change, anyway!!)

So it is good to be back, albeit for such a short time. Andrew and I commented to eachother that we are glad that we did not have make the decision to leave the work here, whilst we were living here. The decision would have been the same, but it would have been so much harder to come to the decision whilst we were here. But God knows all of that too, and He has given us everything we have needed, and we know He will continue to do so!!

presentations and parties

2010-11-05T08:19:00.011+10:00

Our dear second daughter asked me quietly a couple of days ago, after scanning over our blog (the girls often do that, and it is a great way for them to remember our life in PNG), "Mum, how come you blogged about Ashlyn's birthday and not mine?" OOPS! And now she will probably read this one day soon and say, "Mum, you shouldn't have said that". But, hey, you didn't hear it from me, okay!?

But I'll start before her birthday, actually even before the last post, when we headed to Tassie to present the mission work in Lae to the churches and school there, and where, incidently, I also celebrated my birthday in Hobart.

At a park in Hobart where we could "celebrate" my birthday with Andrew's Uncle and Aunt and cousins and their children.

In Hobart we could also catch up with good friends, DongWoo and Joy and their gorgeous children:

We also managed to head up Mount Wellington and see some snow. I, for one, had no interest in the white stuff, having had my fair share in Canada, and not particularly fond of the cold and messy stuff! Ashlyn, however, was insistent. She has always thought it rather unfair that even though she was born in Canada, she has no recollection of snow like the rest of the family does. So this little Canadian finally got to see some snow and remember it:

We also were blessed to visit with Andrew's Grandma. She is 95 and is still living on her own. It was good to see her again and we are thankful for that opportunity.

We did a mission presentation in Hobart, and also in Launceston. Turnouts were great and people responded really well. A blessing indeed! A few days after our return to WA we were able to do a presentation in the Albany churches and the school, with great turnouts and lots of enthusiasm again.

A week after we left Tasmania, Andrew's parents could visit us in Albany. Dad had to come for a classis meeting anyhow, so Mum decided to join him. They stayed with us for a short 6 days, but we had a good time nevertheless. While they were here we decided to celebrate Shiana's 10th birthday a few days early with a party in the park with her class mates and cousins:

And here's a couple of photos we took while Andrew's parents were here:

Kirilee and her grandpa

Our family!

A few days after Dad and Mum VDH left we (Andrew and Ashlyn and I) headed to Perth for more presenations and meetings. From Monday to Friday we did 3 presentations in various churches, 3 school presentations, had a board meeting and a homevisit, as well as another more informal meeting. My parents came along as a babysitter for Ashlyn. As Ashlyn is still working on adjusting to the changes in her little life, we thought this was the best arrangement for her (she wasn't ready for us to desert her for a few days just yet), and it did work out well. It was a full but wonderful week! Doing the presentations was in some way hard, as we know that the Lord has closed the chapter on our work there, and that was really brought home to us. However, at the same time the presentations worked to help us "debrief" somewhat and it was beautiful and rewarding to see that people have a real and genuine interest for God's work in PNG!

Closing a chapter

2010-10-12T22:21:00.002+10:00

As most of you probably already know, we as family have come to a decision that we are no longer able to work in Lae, PNG. This decision was not an easy one for us to make, and it is one we made with great sadness, however, it was the decision we felt the Lord was leading us to make. Due to our recurrent miscarriages, it is not feasible for our family to be in Lae. For this reason we will not be returning to PNG to work (though we do plan to go back for a very short time to say our goodbyes and pack our things). In many ways it just seems so final. True, we would have had to say our goodbyes one day, we just had hoped it would not be so soon, and we know that one day we will share eternity with all of our brothers and sisters in Christ from all over the world. And yet it is difficult.

Yet God has taught us once again that His ways are higher and our plans are just that - Our plans. And if His plans are different from ours, then who are we to try and resist? And so we trust that He will provide, not only for us but for our dear colleagues and friends, the Wildeboers, for our beloved brothers and sisters in Lae, PNG, and we know He will continue to work. After all, God doesn't need us (His work will continue, regardless!), He is just sometimes pleased to use sinful human beings. And we are so thankful for the privelege of working in PNG, we are so thankful for the friends we have made along the way (both in Canada and PNG, both "white skins" and "black skins"), we are so thankful for all the experiences we could have (both the good and bad), for the support from the home front we felt, and especially for the abiding faithfulness of a Loving God!

We are alive and Ashlyn is Five!!

2010-09-03T20:36:00.007+10:00

A title that rhymes! So, so dull and tacky, but sometimes a title is the most difficult thing of writing a blog - and then dull and tacky has to do!!

We are still here, albeit in Australia. Sometimes I want to get back on this blog and write more often, but then I just wonder what I will write about... Sure we check in with the PNG news via their online newspapers....but that's just it. When you read about the fire and looting near the girl's school (which caused the school to close....and Shiana thought she was ripped off as she still had to go to school in Australia, and "if I had been in Lae I would have had a day off!!); or you read about the major fighting going on at uni-tech leaving a couple of students dead; then life seems pretty "normal" over here.

But "normal" is good too, so let me share our "normal" at the moment:

The girls are at school (Grade 6, 4 and pre-school) and here they are dressed for school on their first day way back in early July:

Andrew has been doing lots of gardening and met a few friends like this one below...as I think large lizards are quite cute (yeah, I know, kind of strange!!) I kindly volunteered to relocate it for him so it would stop hissing at him every time he tried to dig near it. Poor Lizzy, he was just trying to catch a little winter sun...

yeah, i know, I like lizards, but I wasn't sure he liked me as much so I decided protect myself with a garden glove, just in case (though it was pretty thin, so I am not sure it would have helped if he decided to bite me...)

I have spent many hours behind the computer working on a DVD for our presentation. And it is done!! Well, I still need to make a few more copies and make some labels, but I am so glad it is done as it is always a big job (but it is fun too!). I also just finished making some photos posters to bring along to presentations, too!

And then, our dear youngest daughter turned 5! We are so thankful for this little girl, who is such a blessing in our lives. She was so excited to have a birthday in Australia, and I tell you, it is much easier finding birthday presents here!! Actually, I had to really reign myself in on the birthday present buying....it is so much fun, and there are so many great toys to choose from, and Ashlyn is our youngest, and she has very few toys here in Albany (they are all in Lae)...and, well, lots of reasons and excuses when you are walking through a Target or a Kmart!!!!

Ashlyn had a party last Saturday with her school friends....It was a gorgeous day - beautiful sunshine all day.

....waiting for her friends to arrive...

...lots of smiles...

...blowing out her candle...

...some of her friends getting ready to play a game...

And below are some shots of the group of party kids - the one boy is my nephew, Nathan (he was more than happy to be there with all the girls!!)

So we are alive and Ahslyn is Five!! Blessings all round!!

God is God

2010-08-11T08:19:00.006+10:00

Once again things have been quiet here on this blog, partly because we are not in PNG at the moment and hence I feel there is less to write about, but also because the Lord has chosen to give us another burden to deal with. Again we have experienced another miscarriage. I was still early on in my pregnancy, but it is hard (as those who have experienced this - and many have- would know) to go through another miscarriage, and to have our hopes dashed again. But we know that God is in control and we Trust in Him. And we are so thankful to be in Australia where the medical care is amazing. It has made things a lot less stressful.

Just thinking and meditating on these past few days made me write another short poem. Thinking tends to do that to me, and I find it a great way to put some feelings onto paper (computer). I thought I would share it with you (it is really just some "rambling" thoughts and has not been edited, etc), as it is not specifically about miscarriage, but really about any burdens we face (and I know that we all have burdens to face and some much heavier than ours!) and God's place in them.

Lord your ways are high, above me altogether
Your ways are perfect, your plans in place forever

Who am I, Lord
Who am I, Lord
To question what you do?
What makes me think I can begin
To understand you?

You are Almighty
You are God
You are All-knowing
You are the Lord.

Each day of our lives you have prepared
and numbered every hair.
You've promised you'll do good to us,
despite each pain and care.

If you have told me all these things in your Enduring Word,
If you have showed me many times that you're a Faithful God,

Then now, too, Lord I can have peace
and I can be at rest
Knowing, Lord, that you are God
And you have done what's best!

settling in...how blessed we are!

2010-07-17T19:39:00.008+10:00

Okay, so we've traded sweat and dehydration for this....

...not so charming to look at, but oh so warm!

And for now we are enjoying this:

....and this...

...instead of our usual abode surrounded by lots of other houses only a few metres away from ours, with barbed/razor wire fences surrounding us!

...And for now Andrew has traded his office and doing errands and pastoral visits for this...

...he has done such a great job already in cleaning up our gardens!

....And we are all trying out some new toys...

...that rip stick is much harder to ride than it looks I found out...

... though the girls mastered it easily:

...as Shiana shows...

...and Ashlyn enjoys a bargain bike that her Dad found for her...

And how the girls have been enjoying their cousins to play with....

Ashlyn and her cousin Kayla

...talking to the horse (not ours) on our property (thanks to my niece Jessica for those two photos!)

...Kirilee and her dear cousin Sharelle...

...they just can't stop giggling...

Can you tell how blessed we feel? I remember walking into our own home again (it has been 6 years since we have lived in it!) and just feeling overwhelmed. My family had gone all out in preparing it for us. Everything was just perfect. My nephew, Jonathan, had spent hours making some changes to our house (which we are now working on painting) and had done such a great job. The fridge and cupboards were filled with food, we had furniture much of which others had donated for our use, and it really felt like a home! I was just feeling so overwhelmed with the space around us too, the quiet peacefulness, the sounds of birds and the beautiful rainbows (rainbows are a very, very rare occurrence in Lae, so Ashlyn has been pointing them out continually).

We are so thankful that God has provided for us so well, also through so many wonderful family and friends. We are enjoying catching up again. There are some things which are still in many ways so unreal for us, but over all we are adjusting well and we are thankful for that. The girls will begin school next week (I have lost track of how many times they have changed schools in their young lives!), and we pray that they will fit in well and make the transition smoothly.

God is so amazing. Amazing that wherever we all go, in whatever circumstance, He is there blessing us and giving us joy and contentment. We continue to remember our brothers and sisters in Lae. May they too continue to feel His joy and contentment in their often difficult circumstances. How blessed we are!

P.S. I meant to do this in our last post while in Lae, but I will do it now as I forgot back then. As I went through some old mail as I "spring-cleaned" the house before our furlough, I was reminded of how may people have sent us cards throughout our time of serving in PNG. Then there are those of you who leave comments on this blog or on Facebook. Then there are others who send emails (which I usually reply to...I think), and still other who read this blog (and I never even know!) and live with us in thought and prayer. To you all we say: thank you! We are often strengthened and encouraged through you all! Please continue praying for God's Church-Gathering work in PNG, and also for those on the field labouring in His Mission field!

Our trip in photos...

2010-07-15T08:59:00.015+10:00

Warning: Photo overload!! Using some photos is the easiest way to share our amazing trip back to Albany so please scroll down if you like and share some highlights of our holiday with us...

...early Saturday morning wait at the Lae airport. Thankfully we had no delays!

...more waiting!

...we spent our first weekend in Cairns with our amazing hosts Matt and Claire Byl and their great kids! We all had a great time together and the children just had so much fun playing together. Was a relaxing way to start off our holiday!

...early Tuesday morning we flew to the Gold Coast, where the first thing we noticed was the drop in temperature! Little did we realize how warm it still was compared to where we were headed (well our minds knew it in theory, but our bodies just couldn't imagine it getting colder). On these picture we are standing in front of Main Beach where we were staying.

....trying to soak up the early morning sunshine!

...on one of the main streets in Surfer's Paradise.

....whilst in the Gold Coast we treated ourselves to visiting some of the main attractions like SeaWorld. What an amazing experience...to see these creatures do these things was just priceless. I really missed that there was no acknowledgment of the awesomeness of our Creator God - not that we expected that acknowledgment, but there is so much glorying in the animals themselves, while as a Christian when you see these amazing things, your mind cries out: "What an awesome God we serve!"

...and we could enjoy some fun rides as well. Ashlyn was very smitten with these little cars and the bumper cars!

....a miniature train ride

...okay...can you guess where we headed next??? Sydney! We took a train ride from the Gold Coast to Sydney (took the whole day - early morning till 10pm or so), and then began to realise that the temperatures were getting even colder as we toured around on a local bus.

We spent the whole weekend in Sydney and worshiped at the PCEA on Sunday, where we also enjoyed lunch at the home of the Pastor and his family.

...On Tuesday morning we took the train again, this time to Canberra. On this picture we are enjoying Parliament house. This is a view from its roof toward the Old Parliament.

Ashlyn and Shiana - with the Old Parliament in the background.

...we also visited the National War Memorial which was a wonderful experience, not to be missed. This is a view from the Memorial toward Parliament house.

We all really enjoyed the displays...

...which were so realistic! The whole Memorial was fascinating and also a wonderful remembrance of those who have lost their lives fighting for our National freedom!

Our girls on some lookout in Canberra.

Kirilee and Ashlyn warming each other up!

Ashlyn and Shiana

In Canberra we also visited Cockington Greens a miniature style village with a section based on England and also an international section. We were all duly fascinated.

On Friday morning we flew to Perth where we were warmly greeted by my brother and his family as well as another nephew and a member of the mission board and his family who delivered "our" car (for the next 6 months) to the airport. Then we drove to Albany and arrived there at about 7:30pm and were greeted by lots of family members and a pot of Mum's delicious
chicken soup....on that note this post will end and I'll leave the rest for an upcoming, "settling in" post....stay tuned (or not!)

preparations....

2010-06-18T12:51:00.003+10:00

Tomorrow will mark the beginning of our last week in Lae for approximately 6 months - seems kind of unreal... There is a part of us wanting to leave and another part wanting to stay - but then that is not unusual.

When thinking about going to Australia we look forward to meeting with family and friends again, the freedom to walk around (especially for me, Natalie), the cleanness, the good infrastructure, the parks, the beach, the choices in the supermarkets, etc, etc. I think we also look forward to the change in pace and especially a break from the constant feeling of people depending on us (missionaries as a whole) over here (because of the great poverty here) and the feeling of responsibility that goes with it.

But then there are the goodbyes. We love the people we work with and it is hard to part even if "only" for 6 months. And I am not sure I am looking forward to the climate in Albany (their winter) after leaving our pretty constant heat over here....though, perhaps it will be nice not to smell like sweat all the time!

So what has been happening over the last week or so?.... well, though Andrew still has two services to lead this Sunday as well as a fellowship next week, my scheduled church "work" ended this week (giving me the last week to pack up and prepare for our "move"). On Tuesday we had a beautiful last Bible Study (well the last for me - the Bible study will resume again next month....) with the women. They, unbeknown to me, prepared a delicious lunch (Rice, coconuts, cooking bananas, sweet potato, sago and chicken). What a beautiful surprise! Actually, silly me, I kind of spoiled the surprise a bit because I was waiting at the gate when they came. They were supposed to sneak the food into Nadia's car (before we drove to Kamkumung), but because they were running later than usual (due to preparing food) I was just wondering where they were and went to the gate to see if I could see them! Ah, well, the surprise was still wonderful!

Then on Thursday I had my last literacy class. It was a graduation of sorts and also a special time. This time I surprised them by bringing some cake and also bringing a Bible or a devotional book (if they already had a bible) for each student (thanks still to donations from Australia for the literacy course). We pray that they may continue to work hard, even in our absence and that especially they will commit themselves more and more to Jesus Christ.

Here are some photos of the students holding their gifts:

....and trying a thumbs up!

And here are some photos of last week Saturday when we were officially able to open the water tank in the Biwat settlement, donated by members of our churches in Australia, and erected under the guidance of Ian's father when he was here recently:

... singing and worshiping before the official program started.... The man on the chair is the owner of the house which the tank is connected too and he was very instrumental in erecting the tank. He is the father of one of our members.

....Ian gave a short address to encourage all to seek the living water that can only be found in Jesus Christ. Andrew finished off the gathering with some more encouragement and prayer. After this we enjoyed a small meal together.

...and Kirilee holding little Louisa at the gathering.

And to finish off here is a picture of the kids with Ian and Nadia's two oldest. Boy these guys are all going to miss each other....

And lastly, we ask for your prayers for Tim and Francine Sikkema who have recently been called by Armadale to join us all in working here in Lae, PNG. May God bless them and direct them!

Second-last literacy class....

2010-06-10T21:29:00.004+10:00

Today we had our second-last literacy class - one to go next week Thursday. What a journey it has been. I embarked on teaching reading and writing (in Tok Pisin) a couple of years ago. I began with one group of ladies and then this year began a new course with a new bunch of ladies/girls. Two of the ladies from the last course, who did not really get all the way there with the last course, did the new course with me too. We only had 25 or so mornings this year for the new course, so it was a very intense! Thankfully, this time I was working with mostly younger girls (rather than middle-aged ladies). They were just as illiterate as the older ladies to start with, but what a difference age makes! The young girls are just so much quicker to catch on and learn new concepts. Most of them have done really well.

Well, in 25 mornings you can't teach someone to read and write fluently, but you can give them all the ground work. And I am pleased to say that a number of them are reading really well (all things considered) - there was a couple of really bright girls in this bunch. This fact just makes me realise how far they could have gone had they had the opportunity to go to school. What a privilege a good education is, what a blessing to be able to go to school. A couple of times Kirilee, Shiana and Ashlyn have come along with me to literacy class, and this was a good lesson for them, especially the older two. Although Tok Pisin is not their first language, they realised how much easier it was for them to read than the girls I was teaching. This really brought home to them how blessed they have been to go to school right from when they were very young!

These girls/ladies really need another 6 months or so to consolidate what we have learned so far and to really continue on reading and especially writing (which takes a lot longer than reading to do well). Given that we hope to be leaving, however, for our 6 months furlough in Australia in a couple weeks, this will not be possible. However, next week, in our last class, I hope to spend time encouraging them to continue on with their reading and writing, and to give them some tips to continue to learn at home. I also plan to present them with their own Tok Pisin Bibles, so that they may be able to be blessed through reading God's Word (they can use it to practice their reading skills, and at the same time be encouraged through reading it).

I thought I would include some photos from this morning:

Everyone working hard on their writing!

...and again

It was just too much for poor Louisa (her mum, Alosinda, is doing the course with me)

Louisa is still struggling with some terrible sores on her head, especially because she continually scratches them open.

And there's Louisa's Mum - A smiling Alosinda!

Please pray that they all will continue to learn on their own, as motivation is sometimes hard when you are working on your own!

Please also continue to pray for Agnes. Praise God for a slow improvement in her health. However, please also continue to earnestly pray for her to regain full health. Just yesterday when we as family went to Kamkumung for Andrew's mid-week fellowship class, she was doing pretty poorly again. She was up and about, but had a very bad night and also a bad morning. It seems as if she has picked up some cold/flu on top of the Typhoid. She was really tired last night, in more ways than one. In actual fact she was just saying that she would rather die, as it was too much to just deal with the pain and tiredness all the time! So please also pray that she will also be spiritual encouraged and strengthened and so enabled to bear what God has placed on her path. This morning she was thankfully doing a bit better again, and thus was also in a happier mood. Her condition seems to go up and down.

Please also thank God for the safe return of Augustina, who had been trapped in Bulolo due to the terrible violence going on there. Thank God for protecting her life, also as she and her son had to run for their lives as the house they were staying in, along with hundreds of others, were deliberately burned to the ground.

death, sickness, and fighting

2010-05-28T07:33:00.004+10:00

Yesterday (and the end of the day before) was just one of those days that I felt like the frailty of life (not just human life) and the prevalence of death and decay was just so in our face.

It actually began on Wednesday afternoon when one of our own dear children accidentally stepped outside and directly onto one of our kittens. At the time we had Ian and Nadia's kids over as well and between them and our children what a frenzy of screaming and wailing, as they had all witnessed it and it was not a pretty sight. The kittens have been stepped on before (they are forever under our feet), but it just must have been the way she stepped on it, and also the fact that she stepped outside which is actually a drop of the height of a normal step, which meant this poor kitten was hurt terribly and was bleeding profusely and obviously going to die. I took the kitten away from their sight, hoping against hope that it would die quickly, but it didn't. Andrew wasn't home at the time, and I knew we were going to have to but the poor thing out of its misery, but how do you do that yourself? Eventually, thankfully, one of the guards came and took it away and killed it and buried it for us. It took a much longer time to work through the emotions with the kids though, especially the poor child (I won't say her name as she is distraught enough already) who stepped on it. "Mum," she sobbed, "if only I hadn't taken that step, if only...." So we had a good lesson on God's providence in every incident, and even in accidents. Helped with the healing process, but we still had lots more tears that night. Even I had trouble falling asleep with images of that poor kitten going through my brain. I think all the guards in our compound thought we were all a bit crazy. Their children are just so used to seeing pretty awful stuff that they sometimes seem to hardly react, and our poor kids, well, their reaction is huge!

Then to top it off we woke up the next morning to find two more kittens dead outside, killed by what looked like a hard bite to the neck. What a sight to be greeted with when you get out of bed. Thankfully we were up before the kids! We are not sure if the mother cat killed them in a "confused" sense of protecting them from the perceived "enemy" who killed her other kitten, or if a Tom Cat came around (there has been one hanging around). From my internet research both are plausible - the Tom Cat may kill to get the mother cat on heat more quickly. Either way I will not let the mother cat near the 2 remaining kittens unless I am there watching her. She seems to be loving toward them so who knows???

Soon after all this, as the children went to school my mobile rang and I received a call from Agnes' (the lady who has been sick) husband. He started off by telling me that "last night Agnes died" (pure translation of his Tok Pisin). My heart just did a huge flip, and then I heard him say that "she came back, after I threw cold water on her", and I was relieved, but just then Andrew walked in the door and I handed the phone to him, so I could calm down from the shock. Poor Agnes is still so sick. Before starting literacy class this morning I went to see her. She was just so weak. I had spoken to an ex-pat nurse I know and she suggested that she was probably dehydrated. So I showed the family how to make us some re-hydrating solution with water, sugar and salt, and she started drinking that. After the literacy class she was doing a wee bit better, and by the afternoon when Andrew and Ian went to see her she was doing a bit better yet. However, she is still so sick. Typhoid is an awful illness to contend with. She needs her strength to fight the disease. Coupled with this all is a mistrust of the medical system here. I felt so helpless when with her in the morning. We can't afford (and we can't set up the precedent) to take her and all our members to the International hospital all the time, as this costs an arm and a leg, especially for extended treatment. And then even that hospital is still very Papua New Guinean meaning it is not like being in a Western Hospital. But it just makes it so hard to watch someone be sick and suffer. We know we have done what we can - she has been taken to a good doctor, she has received much extra help from us as missionaries, but you always feel like you need/want to do more.

So I drove away from Literacy, after sitting with Agnes and her extended family for a few more minutes, just having that awful feeling in my stomach. And then to top it all off as we (I was dropping the Ladies back off near Biwat) drove home and neared our compound I watched in horror as a woman was being attacked by her husband on the side of the road. She was kneeling helplessly on the ground as he grabbed rocks and threw them at her. And what does everyone else do? Nothing. Just walked by. They can't get involved. Yes, they could stop the man, but after all the woman is his wife, so he can do what he wants with her. And if they interfere, well it will probably come back to haunt them with retaliation from the man and his family. So everyone just turns a blind eye and the violence continues.

When I got home I was just feeling so deflated. Although we see so much of that kind of thing, we never seemed to get used to it (nor should we). But then I had to refocus. Refocus on the fact that I was just witnessing/sharing in these events. How much worse for those who were actually suffering and for the many, many like them suffering here in PNG and in this world. Then I had to refocus on God, on Him and His enduring Faithfulness, on Him as the only Constant in this world of change and death and decay, on His Word and His promises. And that is always a good thing to do.

Humbled again.

2010-05-24T17:31:00.007+10:00

Over the past week it has become more and more evident that Agnes (one of our members) who was suffering from Malaria, was not getting better. She was facing debilitating headaches, fevers and other symptoms. So this morning I took Agnes to hospital, to the Lae International Hospital, the same hospital that I brought Andrew to a few weeks back. The local hospital (government hospital) or the clinics the people here can attend for free (or a minimal fee), but a place like the International Hospital is just way out of the reach of the average person because of the price.

And so it was that I was humbled again today! (Given the amount of times I am humbled in this place one would think I should be the most humble person on earth, but it seems that pride is still a pretty fierce and persistent opponent of my humbleness - perhaps the reason why God keeps working on humbling me, hey??!!) I was humbled when sitting in the International Hospital. You see, when I usually sit there I am still always seeing so many things which do not match up to Western Standards. I see the time the nurse didn't wash her hands with soap, or the way the pathologist doesn't wear gloves when he takes my child's blood. I see this through my Western eyes and I swallow and shudder a little too sometimes.

Today, however, as I sat there with Agnes (and her husband, Andrew) I was suddenly putting myself in their shoes (as much as I could fit into them), and seeing things through their eyes. There they were. Instead of waiting for hours and hours in a local clinic or the government hospital (Angau) just to be seen, we were all done in a few hours. Instead of standing up (for lack of chairs and over crowding), feeling sick and weak, in a hot and stuffy room (or in the heat outside) at a clinic or Angau, we were sitting on comfortable chairs in air conditioning. Instead of seeing a nurse or doctor who may perhaps offer a quick finger prick to test for malaria (on a good day - on a bad day, malaria is just presumed to be the origin of every fever and headache in this country) and then give you quinine which has been laying around in the open air, touched by who-knows-who, and there for who-knows-how-long, and sending you home....instead of this we were seen by a good doctor who took the time to listen to her symptoms and who decided to do a full blood test.

Agnes was diagnosed with Typhoid. The malaria had gone completely for which we are thankful, but when your body is weak then you are also more vulnerable to other illnesses. Typhoid is still very prevalent in PNG, and is caused by contaminated food and or water. Thankfully Agnes is now on medication and we pray that she may soon recover from this awful illness too. She has 6 children to care for (another is married - and is at the Bible College in Port Moresby), as well as a grand-child under her care. It is a big burden for a family like that to have much illness to deal with!

It seems that contaminated food and water still causes many problems for people in PNG. Dysentery is a big problem, Cholera is still a big issue, and is still present in Lae and surrounds and is now also affecting Port Moresby. Both are killers. Then there are diseases like malaria which still kills many people each year. Then there is Tuberculosis (which is highly contagious) which is also still a big killer. Just today we received word that the father of one of our members died from Tuberculosis. I had recently spoken to him briefly in the local hospital (Angau) when I went with some ladies from our church on a hospital visit. He was an elderly man by PNG standards (PNG has a very low life expectancy), so he had little "hope" in a fight against a killer disease like TB. Thankfully just now Ian and Andrew could return from visiting with the wider family and sharing the Gospel with them.

Just dealing with all these things in a day forces you to re-evaluate your own situation and blessings. And it is humbling to sometimes look through the "eyes" of others and to see things from a different perspective!

Update 1: The situation in Bulolo continues to cause much grief. Sepik people continue to try and flee to Lae for safety. The town of Bulolo is still in shut-down mode. Just today the paper had a story of some young teenage boys who fled through heavy bush and rough terrain and walked all the way to Lae, all the while scouting for the enemy, fearing for their lives.

Update 2: It seems that the family of the beheaded woman and terrorized girl has received their wish so far in that no major retaliation seems to be happening (as far as we know). This may also be helped by the fact that some of the perpetrators of these crimes have thankfully been caught by the police.

And lastly....Funny story: Ashlyn came out with a statement the other day which we thought pretty well encapsulated the state of the roads in Lae. As we drove to some friend's house on Saturday afternoon we had to drive on ~~some~~ all roads which were very bumpy due to ~~potholes~~ craters. On one particularly bad road Ashlyn asked with a sigh, "Daddy, do we have to go back over all these hills on the way home?" And that on a road that was perfectly flat (except for the potholes)!

More need for much prayer

2010-05-18T12:40:00.008+10:00

I need to write. I need to share. I just am not sure exactly how to do it. My head is filled with hearing and reading so many stories of terror and fear, and also an amazing story of God's care that I feel like I don't know where to start... So I'll just type as it comes and hopefully it will make some sort of sense as it appears on your computer screen.

Firstly, on Sunday as we went to drop of the Biwat people in their settlement after church, we noticed that an unusually large group of people was leaving the settlement and soon after a Task Force (the heavy handed police of PNG) vehicle too. We knew that something must be going on but it was only the next day that we found out why, after reading this (open to see link to newspaper then click on "see report" for the first story - "Mother beheaded, Daughter raped"....it is gruesome so be warned) and now this morning after talking to the ladies as we met for Bible Study it all became clearer too.

Basically a Biwat lady (Biwat is actually an area in the Sepik, but the Bumbu Settlement -slum area - has a section in it called "Biwat", so called because a lot of people from the Biwat area of PNG live there) was beheaded (actually we found out this morning that she was actually scalped) and cut beyond recognition, and her teenage daughter was gang-raped and had her arm cut off. Why? I found out this morning that it was actually a "misunderstanding". Some misunderstanding! Although the newspaper article (link above) actually only speaks about a radio being stolen, apparently there was more to it than that (there always is). As I understood the story this morning, the son of the woman that was killed was suspected of killing someone from the Pepsi Compound. He did apparently take off with this dead boy's radio and thus was seen as the prime suspect for the killing. And so in retaliation his mother was killed and his sister raped and her arm cut off!! Life is so cheap here in PNG. It just makes you shudder in disbelief. One thing that was beautiful to hear in all of this was that the woman was a Believer and apparently she ended up being killed trying to protect her daughter. Further, another son of this woman as well as her husband are Christians and although many of the relatives wish to retaliate (Payback is a way of life in PNG), they are pleading with people to leave it in the hands of the police. When you understand a little of the PNG way of life, you understand that this response of the Husband and son of the dead woman is a big, big deal. It is not the norm here. The norm is to retaliate in anger, to payback in a big way (that's how the woman died) and then ask questions later. What grief upon untold grief this way of life causes the people of PNG! God help them!

It is this same system which is causing more grief to many of our members and their families. Although the story above affects them in that it happened to their tribesmen, and to a lady they know, most of them are distancing themselves from the situation and are able to do so because she was not direct family. However, in some ways this story (press for link to the newspaper, then click "news" on the left and then select the 4th story on the right under "news" -Bulolo at standstill as tribes rampage) affects many of our members even more. To summarise the story: Basically, yesterday a few villages got together to forcibly get rid of the Sepik settlers (settlement dwellers) in Bulolo (a town about 2 hours from Lae). They burnt hundreds of houses forcing the settlers to flee for the lives. One man was also shot dead. Why?? Although for a long time the village people have wanted to get rid of the Sepik people from the area because of the criminal activity that settlements usually bring, an event happened which was the tip of the iceberg. A man (actually the nephew of one of our church members we found out today), killed the son of one the village people in an armed hold-up of the son's father's store. And the payback? Burning to the ground hundreds of homes, killing a man, and blocking all roads back to Lae threatening to kill any Sepik person who tries to get through. As it so happens our church member is actually in Bulolo at the moment, she was staying in that very settlement which was burnt down, and it was actually her nephew that sparked it all. As it stands now she will be forced to hide out there for the moment. She had actually gone there a couple of weeks ago to try and sort out some problems in her family there. Many, many of our church members are from the Sepik and many have close family members in Bulolo. At present they do not know what is happening to them, only that their houses have been burnt to the ground. Some of our church members are also from the tribes who are trying to get rid of the Sepik people (thankfully, however, this is not causing any tension between the women - in fact a few lighthearted jokes were bandied about this morning playing on which areas of PNG the women came from). It gets oh so complicated. However, an amazing story came out of all of this, and I heard it this morning at Bible Study. Let me share it with you:

Agnes, who is a faithful member of our church along with her husband and children, has been very ill with cerebral malaria. However, she is slowly improving and was sick and tired of staying home all day in bed or just sitting around. Her husband, Andrew, is a mechanic and actually, yesterday morning I met him in a second-hand store in Lae. He told me he was heading to Bulolo (with the company truck) to pick up a broken-down car and that he was going to take Agnes and the whole family with him especially because he thought a day out might be good for Agnes. Little did he know!

They headed out to Bulolo and the police told them nothing about the problems although they knew about them (they were picking up a broken-down police car so they could have been told). Also, apparently they were supposed to have a police escort from Lae as Lae had some idea that something was going on, although not the extent of it. Apparently the police escort told them to go ahead that they would be coming right behind them! But they didn't, and Andrew and Agnes and family headed right into the den of fighting. And Andrew is a Sepik man, and apparently (though I can't tell) his face shows obviously that he is Sepik, so they were the enemy! As they came into Bulolo down a steep mountain they suddenly saw hundreds of men wielding bush knives, stones and guns in the valley in front of them. The hill was too steep for them to reverse back up in the truck, so they were forced to continue on. Strangely, as they reached the bottom of the hill, the men on the other side of the "river" they had to cross beckoned them to come in a "friendly" manner. They thought that was a bit strange and soon figured out why it was so strange. Apparently they had dug out a section of the road/river (not exactly sure....I was listening to this story in fast Tok Pisin, so I may be confused a little) so that if they had driven through they would have been stuck fast. Realising this trap, they turned around and tried heading back up the mountain, but as they did so they realised that another huge group of men was blocking their return from behind, armed with stones and bush knives and guns. Agnes said that the children were all sitting quietly in fear and her and Andrew were praying as they slowly approached the men. Andrew told Agnes and the children to stap isi (be still) because if God decided it was their time to die, then that was okay. God was in control. And they continued to pray. Then just as it looked as though they were ready to attack them, raising their hands to throw the rocks and wielding the other weapons, they suddenly put down their weapons and moved out of the way so they could pass. What a testimony to the power of prayer! What a testimony to the overarching Power and Providence of God! How thankful we are that God protected their lives. Agnes recounted to me this morning how so many things were going through her mind as they went through this experience. As a mother she was so worried for her children, especially her teenage daughter who could well have been raped. She was worried for her husband, as he was a Sepik man, and was imagining watching them kill him. She also shared how thankful she was to see God's power and protection over them!

It was good to share these stories in Bible Study this morning. It was good to speak together about these problems and fights, it was good to share and to pray together, it was good to remind each other that God is in control and that He will be our strength and shield. Please pray for all the families affected by these troubles. Please pray that no more blood may be shed and that these senseless killings and destruction may stop, and that the road blocks may be lifted and that peace may be restored. Please pray especially that the Peace of Christ may descend more and more upon this country.

Turn your Eyes Upon Jesus

2010-05-15T20:51:00.006+10:00

I (and I took Kirilee along too) was blessed today, to make a hospital visit with some ladies from our church to the local hospital, to share God's Word, to sing and to pray with the sick. I haven't been there for a while (since last year) and what a reminder of the poverty and helplessness that is raw are real in this country. I say I (as was Kirilee, it was a real eye-opener for her) was blessed, because when you see such sadness, and are able to share such hope and love with these people then it is a blessing.

By far the hardest ward to visit was the Kid's ward. As a mother, to see so many babies/children sick and even dieing was just heart-wrenching. The mothers all had their stories to tell. Many of the children and babies had malaria. One very sickly and skinny baby (just all bone and no fat) had apparently been adopted out by his birth mother (very, very common here). Except the "adoptive" parents decided to feed this 3 week old baby cow's milk (from milk powder) and the baby developed severe diarrhea and was starving to death. Now the real mother was looking after her in hospital and was trying to feed the baby breast milk again, though it really didn't look like the baby was getting anything. And the baby was not on tube feeding, a drip or anything! I am not a nurse, but it sure looked like this baby needed some more help! Then there were those who had been in hospital for a long time and really had no idea what their baby's problem was. A couple of the babies were doing well and were expecting to soon be released from hospital. There was a set of twins there who had been in hospital for a week but were doing really well now, which was wonderful to see!

I put together a short photo slide show of the photos I took today, with the song "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus", playing in the background. In this broken world, what more can we do than turn our eyes upon Him? Please pray for all these children and their families, that they may be healed, but especially that they may Turn their Eyes Upon Jesus!

A prayer

2010-05-12T19:40:00.006+10:00

Sometimes when I look around at all You’ve blessed me with…

When I see…

My tap running clean water into my sink

The counter lined with cups of juice to drink

When I feel…

The coolness of the turning fan on my skin

The cold water refreshing me as I drink it in

When I smell…

The savory warmth of the casserole as it cooks

And the freshness of clean towels as they’re hung on their hooks

When I taste…

The sweetness of pineapple, pawpaw and more

Or the lingering of sweet chocolate which I so adore

When I hear…

Soft music as it plays in the background

Or the sounds of our children as they play around

Then, O Lord,

I stop.

And I pause.

And my heart give thanks

I am humbled

That you would bless me in so many “small” ways

While so many around me…

Suffer...

As they see…

Their water polluted with flies and laden with dirt

To drink and to wash with, to clean the sores that hurt

And feel …

The burning hot sun in stagnant, stale places

With no coolness to ease the sweat on their faces

And smell...

The sickness and death that’s all around

The toilets that with flies and mosquitoes abound

And taste...

The same foods day in and day out

Lacking in nutrients – they make do without.

And hear...

The anguished cries of a sick, loved one's pain

Or the screams of a woman as she’s beaten again

And, oh Lord

I stop

And I pray.

And I pray -

Help me to trust

Help them to trust…

That You are who You say You are.

That from Your loved ones you’ll never be far.

That one day they and we in glory will be…

At rest…

at peace…

eternally!

Just a prayer/poem I wrote yesterday when I was having one of those moments of thankfulness as I smelt our supper/dinner cooking in the oven (which I should really have far more often!) It was written using extreme opposites. Of course, we ourselves have times when things are not so easy and pleasant, just as the people here sometimes experience situations that are better than those described in this poem. However, generalizations aside, the poem is what it is: a prayer expressing how I was feeling at the time!

Thankfulness

2010-05-07T14:17:00.006+10:00

Well my cheerful Saturday (which I posted about last week) was followed by a much less cheerful Sunday. As I wrote the blog post on Saturday, Andrew was beginning to feel more and more ill. Overnight his conditioned worsened and he had a terrible night (had we been in Australia I think I would have taken him into ER!) culminating in a even more awful morning where he was so weak that he fainted as I was about to bring him to hospital, where when I arrived no one was around to help and where I had to bang on the locked hospital doors and yell loudly to finally get let in (after waiting and waiting!!), and where finally he was put on a drip and slowly re-hydrated. After a morning on the drip (and his colour slowly returning) and a battery of tests, I could bring him back home (they wanted to keep him in overnight, but we knew he would be more comfortable at home) where he could recuperate.

What was his problem? Well from reading the test results ourselves and from listening to the doctor talking (and continually mentioning the word amoebic "something", as well as parasites, cysts, etc) and from doing our own research at home we concluded that he was suffering from amoebic dysentery. Anyhow, whatever it was, he was thankfully re-hydrated firstly by the drip and later by Oral Re-hydration Solution at home, and also was given medication to get rid of the nasty parasites. Wow! What a day! Amazing and humbling how one can go so quickly from being fit and healthy to so very sick. Truly a reminder that we all desperately need God's grace for our daily sustenance.

Thankfully, throughout the week he has really improved and today he told me that for the first time this week he feels "pretty much back to normal". What a blessing good health is....what a blessing that we were able to get medical help. Reminds us to remember those who are much less fortunate than us, also in this country. No wonder so many people die of Dysentery, Cholera and the like. If a fit and healthy man like Andrew can get so sick, so quickly, no wonder so many people die here in this country, when they are often not so healthy to start with and then often reach medical help too late. Many people need our prayers!

Why I love Saturdays....

2010-05-01T21:39:00.004+10:00

... well, actually, I love almost every day... but here's why I love Saturdays - because most Saturdays I spend most of the day at home, do very little "outside of the house,i.e., church" work (not that I don't love that too - I do, but Saturday is a "different" day), have the girls home all day, and I think I basically feel like a housewife and mother all day (sounds strange, I know....but that's the only way I can explain it).

It's the day I try out new baking projects like...

....donuts! Yesterday Ashlyn was eating a store- bought donut and didn't finish it, so I did. It made me realise, however, that for some reason here in Lae the donuts are always chewy and just not light and airy like they are back in Australia. So I said to Ashlyn that we would have to make some of our own. And so, using trusty old Google, we found this great recipe and they were delicious (and so easy to make!!), complete with cinnamon sugar and all, and just like the ones back in Australia!

Or a new dessert like the one above....Lemon Creme Freeze....given to me by an American friend! Can't tell you how it tastes yet, as it was made for a get-together tomorrow night!

And there is good reason for this photo in my Why I love Saturdays post. Kirilee was home and hung up the washing for me this morning. Didn't she do a great job? She didn't appreciate the sweat dripping off her face though by the time she came inside after standing in the full Lae sunshine to hang it (shhh...don't tell her that's why I conned her into the job! I was hot enough from all the baking.)

And I love Saturdays because it's a time the girls can have friends over for a play. Here Shiana is swimming in our compound with her friend Irish from her class at school.

And I love Saturdays because they often involve craft projects for the kids (well, actually, I love the idea of that more than the actual process, as craft usually means a lot of mess, and well me and lots of mess sometimes don't get on so well together!!) But this one was mostly done outside by Shiana and her friend and though the house stayed clean, dear Shiana still managed to get paint all over her shirt and shorts despite the long old paint shirt she was wearing. She actually got so much paint on the shirt that it soaked through the paint shirt and onto her good shirt underneath!!

And I love Saturdays because the girls always invent some great games to play together (okay, albeit with a bunch of argumentative outbursts from time to time). Here they are playing house.

And I love Saturdays because we always have a homemade German grain bread.. (well, helped along by a delicious store bought bread mix, and a bread maker...but I do only use the dough setting on the bread maker, preferring to do the final rise in a pan and to bake it in the oven - so that's kind of homemade, right?) And it is just so delicious! So hearty and tasty! I took a photo of it too but somehow it got deleted before it ended up on my computer.... So you will have to use your imagination for that one.

And, well, this last picture has nothing to do specifically with Why I love Saturdays, but I thought I would share it with you anyway. Here are our recent additions:

...3 days old and oh so adorable!

Hope your Saturday was a blessed one!

a great week

2010-04-22T20:12:00.010+10:00

We have had a wonderful week with the Alkemas. It was great to share the work here with them. Here's a rundown of our past few days with some photos and a short video....(some of which I stole from Kristen....Thanks, Kristen!)

On Saturday afternoon we took them out to nearby Situm village so they could get a small taste of village life. We have a connection with this village as the family of a couple of workers at the girl's school live there. The great thing was that they are very proficient in English, so the Alkemas could really converse well with them and ask them lots of questions!

Here Shiana is posing as a parrot, wearing a flower on her nose (I don't know what the flower is called, I just know that it is used like this to make a parrot nose!)

After walking around the village we drove a little further to check out the local school. We had to cross this "river"....
...Ashlyn was not too impressed about the whole idea, as her face tells. I think she was having visions of being swallowed up by the river...
The river from a different angle....
Here's a short video (courtesy of Kristen) which shows us crossing. We had watched some women crossing by foot so we knew it was not too deep. They said it was okay for us to cross, and they crossed ahead of us as you can see in the video. However, the poor ladies got quite the fright when Andrew decided to put his foot down and go pretty fast so we would make it to the other side, and started running. They must have been worried that he was going to run them over. You can see them running on this video....

And here the ladies are afterward. The one hitching up her clothes is the one that fell over! After that ordeal they were hoping to hitch a ride with us way further up the road (the direction the lady is pointing in). However, we had to tell them that we were only going about 100m further to
the school. Sorry ladies!

On Sunday we had quite the fright as we sat in church, before church had started. We were sitting on the benches enjoying singing together when the ground began to shake. First quietly and then a little, before building up to a big rumble and a larger shake as the building began to shake too in an earthquake. We just got up and began moving out of the building for fear the earthquake would get bigger, when it thankfully stopped. The internet informed us later that day that it was a 6.3 magnitude earthquake which occurred about 29kms East of Lae. No wonder we felt it! Always gives a scare, but is a powerful reminder of God's awesome power! This poor baby bat on the photo below fell from the beams up high near the rooftop, as the building shook! He was kind of cute, actually. Last night we felt another earthquake here in Lae, though not as big as the one on Sunday....

A photo of Andrew....

And wherever Louisa is, one of our girls will be nearby:

Sharing their story after church on Sunday:

On Monday afternoon/evening we organised a meeting with the LCC (church leaders/trainee consistory) and their families over a PNG meal! We spent some time there earlier during the food preparation so that the Alkemas could experience how the nationals prepare their food. Here we are relaxing before our meal:

As were the men....

Sharing a local food called pitpit, which we cooked straight in the fire. I was trying to remove the husk so we could eat the inside, but it was a bit hot still....
Shiana practicing her coconut scraping skills...

Louisa as gorgeous as ever....I think she was eating some of the pitpit here....
As I write this, the Alkemas should be on their way back to Housten, BC, flying somewhere in this big, wide world. We pray they may have a safe journey, a joyful reunion with their children, and also that the Lord will give them much strength and wisdom as they continue to deliberate this call sent out to them. Needless to say, we would love to have them here, but we know that God is in control and He knows what is truly best. May He direct their steps!

another week to blog about...

2010-04-16T10:00:00.003+10:00

Last weekend, while the girls were still enjoying school holidays, we could thankfully spend a few days in the highlands, at the SIL mission base at Ukarumpa. Being in the highlands means the temperature is much cooler than in Lae, which is so nice for a few days! So nice not to constantly sweat! We have friends in Ukarumpa, too, who we were able to visit and we always enjoy the peaceful surroundings, the lovely people, and the time to just relax for a few days. It seems that every time you travel in this country you see something out of the ordinary. This time this sight greeted us as we traveled. We are not sure what happened as it is a straight stretch of road with not obvious potholes nearby, but the fire was still flaming (not just smoking)...and as we had the camera handy we took some quick photos:

And the cooler temperatures in Ukarumpa mean that we spend more time outside. And Ashlyn is always happy to be the subject of my photos:

After returning to Lae I received a phone call from a friend who told me she was going to start teaching swimming lessons in the compound where she lives, and she wanted to know if we were interested! Well, offers for swimming lessons by a trained swimming instructor are not exactly something to pass by in Lae, as they just don't usually happen, so swimming lessons it is. 2 afternoons per week for the next three or so weeks. Ashlyn is in one class and Kirilee and Shiana directly after in another class. Here's Ashlyn doing her thing:

And here's a photo of Shiana. For some reason I didn't get one of Kirilee. Maybe another time. Our girls all are very confident in the water but they just have never really had the opportunity to refine their strokes and learn them properly (which would mean they would be far behind their age group in Australia in terms of stages). It looks like they are getting their strokes sorted out now, and we are very thankful for this opportunity!
And then....late this afternoon Andrew hopes to head to the airport to pick up Ian (who has been in Moresby for a few days), as well as Hendrik and Kristen Alkema! It has been about four years since we saw them last (at our farewell in Canada back in 2006!!!!), and we are looking forward to getting reacquainted with them. More than that, we, along with our co-workers, are keen to share the work here in Lae with them, to help them determine if this is the place that God would have them serve. Please pray that their time here may be a blessing, and that God will use this time to help them come to a decision which pleases Him. His Will be done!

Kirilee's birthday

2010-04-03T21:20:00.005+10:00

How's this? Two posts in one day....not bad for someone who struggles to get two posts in a week usually! Well I thought that I would do better separating the two posts today. This one is dedicated to our eldest daughter who turned 11 today. Where have those years gone?

Kirilee is our thinker, our reader, who never tires of talking (now where would she get that from?). She loves school and loves homework (doesn't get that from me!!). She loves babies and does a great job looking after them, never tiring of holding and cuddling them. Mostly she loves to be "grown up", but sometimes she loves just being a kid. She is very stubborn and sticks to her guns (which, well, sometimes poses problems when her will is not in line with her parent's will), but at the same time it means she is not a pushover and will stand up for what she believes in. She loves doing research, loves learning new things, loves looking through books which teach about Bible History and places. She loves writing little snippets in her diary and she loves hearing "Bible Stories" (for older children). She learns songs and Bible Texts very quickly. She loves vegetables, and dislikes many fruits (though she loves apples and watermelon). Well that about sums up our daughter...Thank you Lord for blessing us with this child and help us to be a blessing to her! Forgive us when we fail, and despite our faults and flaws, be her Perfect, Loving and Almighty Father always!

Kirilee received a desk for her birthday and was so pleased with it....she even got her Dad's old, old laptop to tinker with, though when we turned it on this morning we found that a few keys don't work....guess we'll have to hunt for a USB keyboard some time soon! Here she is showing off some books she received from Oma. Both Opa and Oma and Grandpa and Grandma gave her books...they sure know what makes her happy!

We had a little party this afternoon with Uncle Ian and Aunt Nadia and family...

Okay, now when you look at this cake I made, you have to understand that we live in PNG and I couldn't find the candies I needed, and then the piping bag which I bought (and I didn't even buy the cheapest) to pipe the melted chocolate ripped the second I used it, and then the gel stuff that I found in one store to make gel flowers came out all runny (perhaps from the heat??). Well it still looks like a castle, right? Shiana reassured me by telling me that it was just one of those old, old castles, which looks a bit rough. And I thanked her sweetly, reminding her that even though that might excuse the castle itself, actually the flowers should still not look old and dilapidated....

But Kirilee was happy....and we had a blessed day!!

Our Good Friday in photos...

2010-04-03T20:42:00.004+10:00

We had a wonderfully blessed Good Friday. It was a beautiful day with our church community. What a blessing to celebrate that Christ Jesus our Lord died for us...for poor, miserable sinners. We tried to use this event to encourage our members to invite their family and friends to join us for this service. And some did which was wonderful to see. May God use his Word to change unrepentant hearts!

Here's a run down of our day in photos -

First we arrive at church after filling our cars to the max with people who live near us. Shiana makes a mad dash to find Louisa (she does every time we are at church, and then her and Kirilee spend the rest of the day arguing about who's turn it is to hold her and who's held her for the longest!). Here she is carting her around church...

Before church official starts we spend lots of time singing. Here are two of our very capable guitarists, Jason and Monica....

Among the singing I use the opportunity to shake hands and every now and then snap a few pics. And this gorgeous Louisa is just such a good candidate for gorgeous photos...

Then follows the beautiful service. Ian preached a powerful sermon on our need to truly repent and confess Jesus as Lord of our lives, and to live our lives in His grace. After church we had a special program where different groups performed various items. The Sunday school children performed two songs with actions....
And if you look carefully on the photo below you will see little Ashlyn hiding at the back with her big sister (who you can't actually see, but she is there), working hard on the actions...
Even our Women's Bible Study group sung a song.... You are my All in All....

Ashlyn sat on the floor with her friends "enjoying" the entertainment....

Some were just overwhelmed with boredom and decided to find their own fun on the grass...

This young boy, Hansley, was just content hanging on someone's arm....
And after every good program comes a very important element - food! We had donuts, flour balls and cakes and cordial. Here is Augustina enjoying every moment of her flour ball....

And this sweet lady, Marta, was only to happy to let me get a close up of what she was enjoying...

That was our blessed Good Friday in photos (and a few words....). We pray yours was blessed too!

just have to share...

2010-03-23T12:48:00.004+10:00

....after coming home from a beautiful morning of Bible Study.

After praying before going to Bible Study this morning and asking God to bless it, I am just in awe at His Power again. He is so Mighty, and He can do whatever He wishes with His Word. Sometimes I think that before I go to Bible Study, I worry too much about what I am going to say, how I will say it, will my Tok Pisin (the local "trade" language) be good enough, etc, etc. What am I thinking? God can do anything. He can use my mumblings and bumblings in whichever way He wants, because it is His Word and His Spirit doing the work...and I/we are just weak human instruments.

Can you tell it was a good morning?? It was. A beautiful morning. We were speaking about the work of the Holy Spirit. We were speaking about the fruits of the Spirit. What a lesson for all of us. Do we walk in the Spirit? A life with the Spirit is characterized by love; a humble, loving walk with the Lord which seeks His Kingdom and the good of others! The Spirit is not some tool for us to use as we please...the Spirit is God and He will work!

God uses His Word to let His Spirit work. And He did that this morning too. We had such wonderful and open discussions, and one woman was moved to tearfully apologize to everyone else for having wronged them in the times she has gossiped about them and not showed them love. What a blessing! What a lesson for me personally! And what made it an even greater blessing is that over the last weeks we have spent time praying for this member who's tongue is sometimes sharp and has caused pain among our women. God does do amazing things.

We pray He may help her to change and to learn to always speak the truth in Love. And as I shared with all the women, may we all search our own hearts and examine our own lives and where there is sin and a need for change, may we confess our sins and seek to walk our lives under the guidance of the Holy Spirit!

literacy photos

2010-03-16T21:20:00.003+10:00

Had another literacy class last Thursday and again today. Last Thursday I actually remembered my camera and took some photos so here they are:

The girls and ladies hard at work...

Lending a helping hand to one another....

And here they all - with all their smiling faces! Eleven of them are taking the new course with me (two continuing on from last year), two come along just to learn some more things and to help out a bit, and one comes a long as a helper.

The new students, as well as the two continuing on, are doing so well. I think that my two students continuing on from last year are getting a real boost because they watch the speed at which the younger ones learn and this encourages them to keep at it. And today I saw such progress in these two students - what a blessing. And, well, what a difference it makes teaching predominantly younger students. Their minds are so much sharper - today I was again amazed at how quickly some of them are catching on and at how good their memories are! Praise God...and we pray it will continue. It actually is great for my enthusiasm as well. Good thing, too, because on Thursday we will go back to "school" for another literacy class and I am looking forward to it!

Just trying to see if I can upload video

2010-03-07T18:57:00.006+10:00

Okay, so this is something new for me....just trying to upload some short video clips. I took them on Kirilee's cheepo camera this morning so they are not of particularly good quality, and then I made them smaller so they wouldn't take too long to upload. I hope they work!

On this first one you will have to excuse my singing....I had no idea it would be quite that loud and overbearing... and, no, I didn't get blessed with one of those beautiful singing voices! This is singing before the service has started. Kirilee is holding Louisa...she is adorable!

The second is just a short clip of Andrew leading the service. Both clips were taken this morning at church.

Then while I am at it I may as well post some photos:

Kirilee and Louisa at church this morning.

And below are some photos of Pewee fishing....a fun fishing time for kids at the yacht club - held on last Saturday morning from 8-10am (and it was already sweltering and hot in the sun, especially with the water reflecting the heat.) All fishing gear, as well as some refreshments are supplied and you just have to turn up and fish.... Shiana, as per usual, was the only one in our family who caught a fish (though I didn't have the camera when she caught it....Andrew brought that down later when he popped in for a few minutes).

Shiana doing her thing!

Kirilee didn't want to fish until Shiana caught one, but then she did!

Shiana along with the other kids who caught fish. Those who actually caught a fish got a prize bag with goodies in it from Coca Cola, and all the kids got a small gift for participating.

a good morning

2010-03-05T09:40:00.003+10:00

It's been hard for me this time round (after this second miscarriage) to get motivated and back into church work again. I just wanted to drag my feet and stay at home and just do "my own" thing. I had to keep reminding myself that "my time" is not really "my time", but actually "God's time", given to me to use for His Glory. Our little girl, Ashlyn (don't let her know I called her little!!), is at preschool 3 days a week, so I do have the time to continue with Bible Study and Literacy, it was just the motivation element that was on the back-burner. However, I knew I had to start, I knew I should start, and that sense of duty brought me back into my Thursday morning literacy class.

And what a joy!! Maybe it was a sense of duty that brought me into the literacy class, but how God used that to motivate me again! Isn't it wonderful to reflect on how He does amazing things like that? He gave me such a great morning! There's a bunch of 8 or so new young women (girls?teenagers? most of them don't know their ages, so that's my guess) along with two others continuing on (as they just haven't got there in the last course). Then there's a couple of helpers from the last course, who come along to help out, and to do some extra, harder work that I give them!

And...I am using a new course, and I am making it my own as I go, drawing on my experiences from the last year or so. The students did so well. We played phonics games and had fun while learning. They were smiling and I was smiling...all in all a great morning. Just what I needed to be motivated to start Bible Study again next week and to continue on with literacy!

And I meant to take some photos of the new group, but I forgot my camera. Maybe next time??

Back home again

2010-02-26T12:49:00.012+10:00

After almost a week in Cairns we have been able to return home to Lae. It was great to be reunited with Kirilee and Shiana again. They did really well without us, but it is always good to be back together again.

We are so thankful for the wonderful medical care we received in Cairns. Coming into the hospitals back in Australia is such a reminder of how much we have to be thankful for in the Western world. We are also so thankful for all the support we received, both prayerfully and also with lots of emails, comments on this blog, or comments on Facebook. Thank you all for your care.

While in Cairns we are also thankful for the love and support we received from the Free Reformed Church group there. We enjoyed their friendship and there hospitality. Ashlyn had a great time catching up with old friends....

....Shakira and Aliesha Byl....

...and she had a great time making new ones....

....Janaya Byl.

We also received a bunch of flowers which was thoughtfully given to us by our Mission Board in Australia....

...we had to take a photo as we didn't have a long enough time to enjoy them fully.

We also had one of those funny cultural incidents with our darling Ashlyn. We were in a supermarket buying some groceries when we suddenly heard Ashlyn calling in amazement, "LOOK!!" We both turned to her, wondering what she had seen, and saw she was pointing at a lady nearby. "Look," she said in amazement, "that lady's a white skin up the top and a black skin down the bottom." We turned to each other and tried not to laugh too loudly. The "white skin" lady was wearing black stockings, which made her legs look kind of black like a Papua New Guinean. Guess Ashlyn has never really seen stockings too much in her life, let alone black ones!

In Him we trust

2010-02-19T16:15:00.002+10:00

Well, I am writing this blog from a place we had not hoped to be in so soon again. We are in Cairns again, and this time not for a holiday. Let me explain. A few weeks back we were overjoyed to find out that I was pregnant again, and so soon after our last miscarriage. However, once again the Lord decided His plans were different from ours. About a week ago I experienced some complications with my pregnancy and last Wednesday a second scan confirmed that our baby had died and that a D&C would be needed again. Unfortunately, living in a country like PNG, this is no simple thing, so yesterday morning Andrew and Ashlyn and I took the first flight out of PNG and by lunch time were in the wonderful hospital care in Cairns, Australia. I spent the afternoon being truly and thoroughly examined (which was very reassuring), and this morning returned to the hospital where they performed a D&C. I am now doing quite well and recovering. We hope to spend a few more days here (to allow time to heal, and to ensure there are no immediate complications from the surgery), before heading back to Lae next Wednesday, if all goes well.

It was hard to leave Kirilee and Shiana behind, even though they are in the excellent care of Ian and Nadia. Also hard to leave especially under less-than-pleasant circumstances. But we know the Lord cares for us wherever we are. Once again we have been reminded of His overarching power, control and providence. So often we want to control our own lives, but once again He reminds us that that is not our place. He is in control, He knows what He is doing (even when we can't fathom His ways), and in Him we trust.

Night-time adventures and some catch-up

2010-01-29T07:58:00.011+10:00

Although this is not such an unusual night-time adventure for us...we thought we would share it with you this time. The first picture below is of our Cat and kitten (the kitten was born while we were in Cairns). They were the first element in our night-time adventure story. Let me explain. You see, when it rains in Lae, it rains. It does not drip, it pours and pours. Last night was one of those nights. And unfortunately for us, our house is downstream from a 1 1/2m deep drain which allows the torrential rain waters to go through our compound and out toward the ocean. However, because the drain needs a metal gate on the fenceline to prevent intruders coming into the compound, and because when it rains everyone uphill from our compound thinks it's a great time to get rid of all sorts of waste, from rubbish to banana branches, to big logs, the drain often blocks right outside our house, and then you can imagine the result. At about 11pm last night the rains started and our sleep ended. When it rains heavily it is hard to sleep as we are constantly looking out our bedroom window and down onto the drain to see if it about to block. The poor compound's gardener spends rainy evenings in the drain trying to keep it unblocked, but often the sheer force of the water and amount of rubbish is just too much for him to handle. As it was last night. At about midnight as we were trying to dose off between worrying about the rain, I suddenly looked out the window and saw that the moment had happened. The drain had blocked and the waters were beginning their descent upon our house. Suddenly I remembered the kitten. I knew the Mother cat would be able to climb to safety on a chair in our car-port, but not so the kitten. I flew down the stairs with Andrew in hot pursuit (he was coming to help block up the front door to try and prevent the dirty waters from coming into the house), fumbled for the keys (you have to get through security doors as well in this place), scrambled outside madly calling for the kitten. I found her cowered behind a plant, dragged her inside, turned to go back for the Mother cat who was wailing loudly. But it was too late. The waters had hit our car-port and we had to block up the door before the water rose to the height of our house. So poor old Rainbow was left wailing on a chair. Thankfully, soon after, the rains slowed right down, and though the flood waters remained for another half an hour they came only to about an inch under our front door. So Andrew could go outside and rescue Rainbow. Here she is cleaning her wet fur, as the kitten looks on:

While he was outside Andrew decided to walk through the waters and get some pictures! Below is our front car-port/veranda area..

The picture below shows how the grassed area next to our house is looking more like a river!

After a big clean-up we were thankful to be back in our comfortable bed. It pays to count your blessings through life's frustrations. We have done that a number of times the last week. We arrived back in Lae to no phone line, no Internet, the banks were closed and only one eftpos machine in one supermarket was working - thankfully so or we would have had trouble getting food and cash. PNG's telecommunication's supplier had a major problem in one of its major towers, which meant that banks were closed for 4 days, and that Internet services, and some telephone services, were down for a week! Our Internet connection was restored yesterday....thankfully!

SO we have been counting our blessings: A safe trip back to Lae with no delays, joy in meeting our brothers and sisters in Christ here again, food, shelter, clothes and also a 40th birthday celebration for Andrew. Here are some pictures from that day:

The kids always have the most fun!

...and of course insisted we had to sing Happy Birthday...

...and our girls decided we should make Dad a number 40 cake!

The girls began school again on Wednesday and Ashlyn had her first day of preschool yesterday. She will be going 3 days a week. We are getting back in routines and are thankful, happy and well - God is good!

some photos to share

2010-01-15T08:17:00.008+10:00

Just some photos today...nothing profound, nothing extraordinary or the like....just us being blessed with a wonderful holiday, relaxing and enjoying the company of family (yes, my parents have joined us here in Cairns for a bit over a week!) and friends and the wonders of God's amazing handiwork here in Cairns (the latter which is extraordinary, profound and a whole lot more yet!). Now for the photos:

Just a family shot somewhere in Port Douglas, where we spent a few nights before the New Year.

Kirilee and Shiana enjoying the beautiful surroundings on one of our short hikes

New Year's Eve at Matt and Claire's place. Kirilee and Shiana enjoyed the company of Tanya and Melissa Terpstra.

Shiana and Ashlyn enjoying a park in Karunda - we spent a few hours there with Dad and Mum

Ashlyn and me - taking a walk to the Barron Falls

The other night we headed down to the forshore in Cairns with Dad and Mum - Dad and Shiana tried out these Bungee trampolines - Shiana had a ball!

We headed out for some fishing with Matt Plug, Matt Byl and Shakira, some of the Terpstras and Gilbert, Lucinda and their kids...didn't catch fish, but enjoyed the surroundings at Palm Cove.

Ashlyn complied by posing for me!

Shiana caught the only fish of the night - this tiny cat fish

Yesterday we headed to the Crystal Cascades for a look - Ashlyn was much happier on Dad's shoulders!

And last night we got to share a BBQ at the lagoon with the church community here. It was held partly in honour of Andrew and Ian's birthdays (which are both coming up soon!) Ian and Nadia are in Cairns at the moment as well for a week. We travel back together to Lae next Tuesday, DV.

Playing with friends at the lagoon!

And finishing off with a couple of photos of the bats which fly about in large numbers each evening at about 7pm at the Cairns foreshore.

That's all from us today....till next time!

a smok'n good time

2009-12-26T21:26:00.007+10:00

Firstly, to all our readers: We hope your Christmas was a blessed one and we wish you God’s blessings for the New Year!

We have been having a wonderful time and we are so thankful for the opportunity to take this holiday. Last week we spent a few days in Mission Beach, and as always....a story was generated that we thought we would share with you all.

One evening Ashlyn caught sight of a lady smoking in a cabin just up from ours. She was very distressed and wanted us to lock the door when she went to bed. She couldn’t get to sleep and kept on crying about the lady smoking. She was scared of her. Anyway, Andrew ended up having a deep and meaningful conversation with her and it came out that she thought that only “bad” people smoke. Somehow in her little mind she equated smoking with the raskols (criminals) in Lae, and therefore was terrified, ensuring that we locked the door to keep the bad lady out. When we thought/spoke about it further, we realised that it is only Papua New Guinean people that she has ever seen smoking, and when she has questioned us about it, we have told her that smoking is bad (and thus in her logic, only “bad” (criminal) people smoke). Also, she has never seen any of our “white” friends smoke. She also picks up on the fact that in Lae we are more wary of our surroundings and of what people are doing, that we lock car doors while we are driving, watch our bags more, etc,etc. She picks up that here in Australia we are more relaxed about these things. So putting all of the above together she somehow became terrified of this smoking lady. We managed to reassure her, and eventually she went to sleep, but in the morning it was the first thing she talked about as she woke up. Thankfully the lady left that morning!

Here are some pics of the holiday we are enjoying:

Swimming in Matt and Claire's pool

...and again!

Ashlyn admiring Aleisha's birthday cake (we were there for her 3rd birthday party)

Shakira, Shiana and Ashlyn with a sick bird (which died soon after)

Kirilee and Shiana having fun with some new found friends in the Church group!

The lovely pool at our Caravan park in Mission Beach (where we spent 3 nights this past week)

We enjoyed a few walk trails

...and again. Even Ashlyn does pretty well hiking a little. Thankfully we are used to heat and humidity!

every now and then Ashlyn needed a little extra help up the hill

A children's trail....following the cassowary footprints...

...to find the treasure (fake Cassowary eggs)

Back at Matt and Claire's house for Christmas

Ashlyn just loves the water and swims away

Shiana taking a big breath as she comes up for air!

Enjoying a great Christmas dinner with good company.

Ashlyn with Shakira and Aleisha (they are now best friends!)

Cheeky, or what!

And there is always room for dessert, especially this delicious trifle that Claire made!

In Cairns!!

2009-12-17T21:14:00.005+10:00

First day in Australia and up at 6am to walk for an hour!! That’s right...this lady who is definitely not a morning person, and who usually would take any opportunity to sleep in, actually was up at 6am and out for a walk, on holidays! We are in Cairns for a few weeks of R and R, and are so thankful for this opportunity. And if there is one thing that I especially miss while living in Lae, it is the freedom to walk and go out and about freely. So it feels so good to have that freedom for a few weeks.

Yesterday, we left Lae....our plane was delayed by an hour and a half which was stressful for us as we had a connecting flight to catch in Port Moresby for Cairns. So we rushed and stood in long lines stressing about missing the flight, only to find that it too was delayed by a bit over an hour. Phew! Thankfully we could arrive safely in Cairns and we were in Treetops Lodge at 9:30pm relieved and happy to be here.

It’s always fun watching the girl’s faces as we come back into Australia. Their eyes are just expressing, “Wow”, as they look at the nice roads and cars and buildings. As I walked this morning I so enjoyed seeing houses not hidden behind razor wired fences. The other thing I loved about walking and going out and about today was just the fact that no one was interested in the slightest thing we did. It is such a cultural difference between here and PNG. In PNG your business is everyone else’s business, and there’s never much privacy. That’s just the way they are, and there is positives to this way of living! However, when you come from the “private” western culture, sometimes it is hard to deal with this. Coming back into Australia always gives us a chance to just do things with no one watching!

I still have some pictures to share of our last week or so in PNG, which (as it is in many parts of the world) was filled with school/Christmas activities:

Cuddles for baby Caleb

...and more cuddles

Sinta Klaas (how do you spell that anyway??)

Waiting for Carols by Candlelight to begin at the girl's school

Shiana singing "Silent Night" with her class

...and again

Class party - held at the house of one of the students in Shiana's class

...Shiana's class at the class party

...receiving awards

...and Kirilee too!

That's all for today!

why do i even need a title anyway?

2009-12-05T15:11:00.002+10:00

How do you tell when your 4 year old has spent most of her life living in the tropics, away from the Western World? When you take her into a second-hand store, and she sees a pair of long trousers and excitedly says… “Look, Mum, a jumper (or sweater for the Canadians) for legs!” I so had to laugh out loud at that one. So then we went and found her a jumper that would fit her legs and she spent all afternoon in a pair of long pants…never mind that it was very hot and humid! Well, I guess she does not see long trousers that often, especially not girl ones and she never wears them herself. I think she knows what jeans are, as Kirilee often wears jeans, but these ones were not jeans…and I guess she had to think of something to call them!

While I am sharing that story I may as well share a few more: The other day we had to get our PNG licenses renewed (drivers), so we set aside a morning to tackle that. We headed to the office, and did pretty well first of all, with only a short wait to get the form, fill it out and then pay….but then the wait started. You have to wait to get your photo taken… but no one was going in to get that done and the office was just getting more and more packed….lots of sweaty bodies in a small room…mmmm…

Well, eventually we were told that the photo-taking man had gone home sick, and that some other man was trying to figure it out, so that we could still be processed. Andrew figured that this meant it would be ages still so he went across the road to pay our garbage collection bill….except when he got there he was told that the machine which printed the garbage stickers (every three months you need to buy a sticker to put on your bin, so that it will be collected. Andrew had tried a few weeks back but was unable to get a new sticker, and was told to come back which is what he was doing) was still broken! So I guess we are getting free garbage collection at the moment…

And, then, he walked back into the office where I was and we were called up immediately. Us and two others (actually we were all the ones who had paid last, but we weren’t complaining ) went in, had our photo taken and our cards printed on the spot. So after all that it went quickly. We were thankful for that. Only thing is that according to our new license I was born in Albani (supposed to be Albany) while Andrew was born in Australia, Andrew’s license number changed by one number accidentally, and Andrew’s class of license was different on this one than on the last one. But who cares? If they don’t, we don’t. Important thing is that we’re official again now, and we have something to show when we get stopped for a license check!

2009-11-26T20:42:00.004+10:00

It's already nearing the end of November....and that means that over here in Lae, too, things begin to wind down... This past Tuesday we had our last Woman's Bible Study for the year, and today was our last literacy class for the year. At the end of the year there are school meetings and graduations, etc, also for our church members...and often they do not know the dates that these meetings will be held until about when they are to be held. So last week we decided to finish up this week, and although I do enjoy both leading Bible Study and literacy, I can say that I am truly looking forward to a break!

I had meant to take my camera to the last Bible Study.... as we were having (at the suggestion of the ladies) a bung kaikai (kind of a pot luck lunch PNG style....I always do some baking, as they just love cake!)....but alas my camera refused to come with me (actually I forgot it, of course!). But it was a lovely morning. I had planned to do a new lesson for Bible Study, but because all the ladies were late (had to go to market first thing in the morning, then prepare their food, then cook over an open fire, then bring it along.....unlike my premade cakes, pulled out the freezer and pre-prepared rice, reheated in the microwave!), suddenly decided on the spot to change my plans and do a general review of the past few weeks...it was either that or I would not have even been ready to come home before the girl's finished school!!!

We had a great morning, and it was a wonderful and blessed way to finish off the year!

Had our last literacy class for the year today. Usually I would have pushed on a bit longer, as I don't like the idea of them going for so long without "school" for fear they will forget!! However, for a while now I have struggled with the course I am using. I really don't feel that it focusses enough on phonetics, so throughout the past year I have been changing it so much that at times I feel as though I may as well throw the course out! I have often thought how much a new course needs to be written, but I have not been feeling up to trying! Then this past year I was thankful to learn of another course. I met with its creator recently, and I am so pleased with what it looks like. So next year I intend to use it instead, and to let some other students come in (a few new church comers have sometimes asked to join our class, but have been unable to do so because we were half way a course....but now I hope it will be possible). I feel very excited and am looking forward to continue with Literacy next year with renewed enthusiasm...why is it that enthusiasm is always higher at the start of the year than at the end anyway???

2009-11-12T18:58:00.005+10:00

As an answer to prayers our Heavenly Father gave rain...so much so that the newly installed rainwater tanks at school could be filled, and the girls could return to school the very next day after I wrote the last post! And they haven't had to miss a day since....what a blessing! The town water, on the other hand, did not do so well, but appears to be up and running again now.

Today at Literacy class, we only had a very small group (some of the ladies had other commitments and a couple of other just did not show....guess I'll hear the reasons later, or maybe not!). At first I was disappointed at the small group, but as the morning wore on I was reminded again that things that at first seem disappointing God can turn into a blessing. So, amidst some schooling we also had such a great time chatting. I just love times like this. Times to sit and talk and to find out more about these people we serve, what lives in their hearts and also more about the culture, which even though we have lived in for over 3 years, we still find so hard to fathom, and have only just begun scratching at the surface of some form of understanding it.

Today, among other things, the discussion turned to marriage and even giving birth. This discussion came up as in their settlement a "battle" of sorts has been raging between two families (also involving some church member families). The daughter of one family became pregnant by the son of the other family. The son and daughter wish to marry, the family of the daughter want the marriage to take place, but the family of the son do not (due to various reasons, but that's another story). And so it has continued for the last months. Well the day before yesterday the daughter went into labour but as the baby did not come after a full day of labour the family quickly went to visit the family of the baby's father and told them to hurry up and give their "blessing" or really to hurry up and stop being angry with the girl's family. And the reason? So that the baby could be born. Their anger was apparently stopping the arrival of the baby. And sure enough, their blessing was given and very soon after the baby son was born healthy and well.

From our western viewpoint we just scratch our heads. We find it so hard to understand how it is believed that someone's anger could hinder a baby's arrival. And yet it is so real, so normal to the people here. And this does not mean that they do not believe that God is in control. They would absolutely and readily confess that. Their beliefs and traditions just run so deep....

Anyhow, that's how the conversation moved on to marriage. Apparently, now that the anger has supposedly passed, a marriage between the daughter and son will be taking place this weekend...so I took the opportunity to get the ladies to elaborate a bit more. I spoke about our western traditions of marriage first, and then they spoke about theirs. Basically when the time is agreed upon, on that day, the women's family and the man's family will get together. A community leader will be there as mediator. The women's family will name the bride price and if the man's family agrees, and if everyone is happy then they will thus be married. Now we will just have to see if all goes ahead this weekend. We pray that yet a happy marriage may result, also with God as the centre of it!

We also spoke about the problems that exist across PNG, where it seems that many a marriage happens in this way - when a woman falls pregnant, a marriage happens. We also talked about the Biblical way of marriage first! Then one of the ladies shared a great story of how her oldest daughter married her son (they are both church members now as well), and it was wonderful to hear how their marriage was not the result of a pregnancy!

So a morning of literacy turned into a morning of literacy and sharing. What a wonderful way to spend a morning!

2009-11-02T19:55:00.008+10:00

Another long while between posts! Where does the time go anyway? Seems like before you know it another day has passed and another….and then well…you all know how it is!

Water problems continue in Lae. The girls have had to miss four days of school so far and we expect this to continue as a couple of pumps have broken down, thus town water is basically off (and is expected to be off at least till Friday). Without toilets and hand washing available, the school has been forced to close. At the moment they are desperately trying to install rain water tanks to service at least a couple of the toilet blocks, but then of course we need rain to fill them, and although we had some rain last night, rain has been pretty scarce of late. So, most of Lae (that is in the city housing) is without water. Many of our friends/acquaintances are taking bucket showers sometimes with store bought water. Washing/laundry is piling up and dishes hardly get done. We are so, so thankful to live where we do right now. Because we are down from the mountain where the water is stored, we still receive water, albeit with low pressure. It’s the people who need to have water pumped to them who are suffering - and that's most of Lae city! And because of lack of rain, the settlement dwellers have also been struggling to find suitable water. Because they never have town water anyway, that does not affect them so much, but the lack of rain does. Because they have no large capacity water storage facilities, they rely on regular rain to get clean water for washing, etc! So we pray for rain, we pray for the restoration of the pumping system, and we pray especially for patience for all affected.

It feels rather frustrating that school has to be closed! It seems like such a waste that due to water problems the schooling is affected. I have been trying to do extra work with the girls (printing work off the internet)…hopefully tomorrow we can go into school and get some work for them….but I might have to cancel Bible Study and/or Literacy this week if they don’t go back to school soon!

Thankfully, last Friday we could head up to Ukarumpa for a cool change! Actually the reason we had to be there was mainly due to me needing work finished on one of my teeth. It had been started over a month ago and was meant to be completed during the week of our conference, but because I didn’t go to the conference (due my unexpected trip to Cairns), Andrew rescheduled the appointment for me! So we headed up on Friday, and that same afternoon I had my tooth fixed….and then we were able to enjoy an extra night there too. We actually happened to be there on the day of their annual carnival (we didn’t know that until a few days before we went there), so that was fun for the kids (and we enjoyed it too!). The carnival was mainly organized by the high school students and they did a great job! Funds were raised for homeless children in Port Moresby, this year. Here are some photos of our weekend:

face painting at the carnival - Ashlyn couldn't help giggling - she was so ticklish

Kirilee got this cute fish!

Kirilee enjoying a horse ride!

...as did Ashlyn

...and Shiana

The "homemade, manual" ferris wheel was a hit with Shiana!

hanging on!

fun with Daddy

Kirilee posing!

Ashlyn posing in her own way.....

Shiana doing her cartwheels!! Great fun in the cool air!

Our three girls....growing up so fast!

getting back into routine

2009-10-24T21:14:00.007+10:00

It’s been a week and a half of getting back into routine. I took the rest of the week after returning from Cairns “off”. When I say “off”, I mean off from church work. Of course it was not a week off wifely and motherly duties, and neither did I want it to be. It was so good to be back together again, and good for us to slowly get back into normal routines again.

This past week has been a week of really getting back to normal, with me taking up women’s fellowship and the literacy class again. We also had Shiana’s birthday on Wednesday and her party today (Saturday). Last weekend was a weekend of major problems in Lae re water and power. The power was out for about 3 days straight and the water as well. Thankfully, for some reason, our area of town still had water (though I had commented a few times to Andrew that the water pressure was down). On Monday the girl’s school was cancelled as without water, washing of hands and toilets are a problem. Thankfully, by the next morning the water was back on so they could go back to school!

The cholera outbreak seems to have begun a second wave. An increase of cases has been reported over the last week. Apparently this is quite common with these kinds of diseases. After the first outbreak there is often a lull as more people become aware of the disease and follow precautions. However, after a while this lull causes complacency after which a second wave of the disease passes through. We pray that people will continue to follow the precautions!

On Friday the girls had a Variety Show at school. It came about because their Independence Day celebrations were cancelled about a month ago due to the cholera outbreak. However, as they had spent a lot of time practicing their pieces, the school decided to put on this Variety Show instead. Here are some pics:

Shiana all dressed up and waiting for her turn to perform

Shiana performing with her friends - they performed a few songs!

Kirilee performing some traditional dance

Kirilee shared the role of "mistress of ceremonies" along with some other girls. Here she is announcing some part of the program...

Shiana performing with her whole classed - she is dressed in Madang Province style traditional dress.

On Friday evening we had one of those real PNG experiences - no not the rural, village, kind of experience, but instead the urban experience. As it had recently been my birthday, and also Shiana’s birthday so we decided to go to a restaurant in a local hotel for dinner (or supper or whatever you want to call it!). Well I called nice and early to book a table. The restaurant was not open yet but the lady at the hotel desk assured me that they take bookings and pass them onto the restaurant when they opened, and she seemed like she knew what she was doing. So at 6:15 we headed out and were ready to take our place at the restaurant at 6:30….except…you guessed it – they did not have our name down and they were booked out. With lots of apologies they madly tried to figure a way for us to eat. They told us they could have a table but had to be done by 7:15….not a great deal of time when by now it was already 6:40!! So in the end, we had to decide, much to the disappointment of our girls, that we would have to do it some other time! However, we consoled them, telling them that instead we would go to a local takeaway shop and get something and go home with it. So we went to the drive through, but because the speaker/microphone thing was not working a worker was coming and taking our orders. Well, that was fine, so we ordered our meal, paid, waited about 20 minutes or so, then got to the window to pick up our order. Guess what? They were out of the things we had ordered, so they kindly asked if we wanted to order something else, or would we perhaps mind to take a signed receipt and get our order from another one of this take out shops. Well, no, we decided. A trip to another shop meant another heap of Lae potholes, with no guarantee of getting the food at the end, and…… ordering something else? Well that was just not worth another 20 minute wait! So we got our money back….and about an hour and a half after we left home we had tinned spaghetti on toast at home! It was a good time to remind our disappointed girls (and ourselves) that at least we could be grateful that our bellies could be filled and that we lacked nothing! We can all do with that reminder every now and then! … and we had a good laugh about it too!!!

Shiana’s party was today…

On her actual birthday (Wednesday) Shiana received this bike - and was she ever excited!

Shiana actually chose an easy birthday cake - a number 9 and I was so thankful!

Ashlyn enjoying the party - this is her new "fake" posing smile!

Playing a game with party friends

Opening presents - always fun!

What an awesome God!

2009-10-14T07:52:00.006+10:00

…how awesome He is. If there is one thing that has been brought home to us over and over again during the last week is that God has got everything in His control. Let me explain.

A week ago today I visited a doctor in Lae and had a scan done. Sadly the scan confirmed what we expected, that our baby had died and also that it was necessary for me to undergo a D&C immediately. Given the condition of the medical system in PNG it is not advisable (if given a choice) to undergo any surgical procedure here. Andrew and I arrived home from the hospital and after frantic organization, within a bit over an hour we had my tickets booked to Australia, and Ashlyn and I were on our way to the airport (with Andrew dropping us off).

When I think back to that day….wow, what a stressful, terrible day. It was crazy. And yet, through all the emotions, through all the craziness, through all the worry, we felt the ever-present hand of our Heavenly Father. Soon Ashlyn and I were on the plane (Andrew even managed to get us on to an earlier plane at the Lae airport) and we were on our way. As we took off Ashlyn burst into tears – she finally realized that we were leaving Daddy and Kirilee and Shiana behind, and of course she sensed our anxiety and stress. As the flight continued on she calmed down and after a 2 hour wait in Moresby we flew on to Cairns where we were greeted at the airport by Matt and Claire Byl and children (yes, in all the craziness, I had managed to get hold of my sister, who got hold of their phone number, and I called Claire to tell her what was going on).

I wanted to go straight into emergency the next morning (Wednesday), but Andrew’s Mum was flying in on Wednesday afternoon (to be there with me and Ashlyn). Thankfully Claire offered to take me in. She was so wonderful and kind. They did so much for us! She first took me in and then took Ashlyn and her children to a nearby playground (“Muddy’s”) while I waited to be seen. The wait was not long and what a sense of peace overcame me as I was put under the wonderful medical care in Australia. What a blessing to have such good care. Immediately I was given a host of tests and the like. They were so thorough; they were so caring and kind – nurses, doctors and specialists alike! And while I was there I began bleeding heavily (the fear of this happening was the reason I left PNG in a hurry). As the day wore on and I was admitted into surgery for a D&C, I continued to feel such peace and thankfulness. Claire was there looking after Ashlyn, and she went to pick up Andrew’s Mum from the airport in the afternoon and took her and Ashlyn back to our unit at Treetops Lodge. Initially it appeared as if I would have to overnight in hospital because I could not get into theatre till later on, but suddenly a spot opened up and I was hurriedly made ready for theatre. God blessed the doctors, and soon I was recovering. My blood pressure was a bit too low, but after an extra bag of fluids I was doing much better.

As I laid there in the hospital, I had such a wonderful time to reflect on the Lord’s goodness. I felt such relief that all had gone so well. After the mad, stressful and emotional day before, it was so good to have time to be still and reflect. God is good! I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by how clearly His guiding Hand was made evident to us! He had everything so perfectly timed, He controlled everything so amazingly, He got me where I needed to be at the right time. Amazing! And as I reflected on this I could not help but feel peace with everything that had happened over the past couple of weeks. It made me realize that if God could orchestrate all events so amazingly well that everything just fell into place, then surely He knew what He was doing in taking our baby to Himself in Heaven. And that gave me such comfort and peace. At the same time it made me realize what a blessing the medical care is in Australia. When I had a previous miscarriage while we were still living in Australia, it was a very sad time, however, I never had the same stress regarding the medical side of the miscarriage. However, in PNG it is so different. When things happen, even something like a miscarriage, there is always the added stress of: what will we do if…??? However, although we hope to never have to go through this kind of thing again, I can honestly say that the experience has truly and profoundly reminded me again of the supreme providence of God! And that is a blessing!

Later that evening Matt and Claire came to pick me up again from hospital and brought me to Andrew’s Mum and Ashlyn at Treetops. Matt and Claire were so good and kind to us, truly a blessing from God! We stayed on in Cairns for a few more days (on doctor’s advice) and returned home yesterday. While still in Cairns we spent another day in the hospital (A&E) as I developed a fever and was feeling unwell and was told that if anything liked that happened we were to return to check for a secondary infection. This time Andrew’s Mum was there so she just entertained Ashlyn the whole time (hours!!). However, after a long day and a battery of tests, we were thankful to find out that it looked as if I just had a viral infection (picked up when my immunity was low!) Thankfully, though, by the next morning I was feeling a lot better and we even managed to do some shopping and go to church on Sunday with the new “Free Reformed” group gathering in Cairns. Also, we had a BBQ on our last night with Matt and Claire Byl and children as well as Matt Plug. Yesterday morning Mum and Ashlyn and I went off to the airport where we first spent a bit of time together, before I went through customs and Mum headed over to the domestic terminal. All our flights were on time and everything once again went so smoothly!

While we were in Cairns, Andrew and Kirilee and Shiana were up in Ukarumpa for our annual Reformed Ministries conference. Although it was hard for him being there with all the “complete” families, and me so far away, at the same time it meant that he did not have to do any cooking, etc, or get the girls ready for school on his own. So God had that all worked out too!

Sorry this is so long…..felt like I had a lot of catching up to do!

dealing with some sadness

2009-10-01T19:26:00.008+10:00

This blog has been quiet for a long time, I know. It's just that things have been going on and I haven't felt like sharing for a little while. Overall, we have many reasons to be thankful - Church work is going well, and on Friday Ian and Nadia and children could arrive back. It was wonderful to see the children playing happily again together as if they had never been apart.

However, as family we are dealing with some anxiety and worry at the moment. A few weeks back we were overjoyed to find out that we were expecting another baby. However a week or so ago it became clear that all was not well. On Monday we went to Ukarumpa (for work and dentist treatment) and while I was there I also visited the medical clinic and they did a scan. Unfortunately the scan showed that it appears that the baby has died already. However, it is a just being called a threatened miscarriage at this stage, called so because the machine is old and not very accurate so it is just slightly possible (and it has happened before) that the machine made a mistake... But as the days wear on the small glimmer of hope is fading as the miscarriage symptoms continue.

We rest assured, however, that God knows what He is doing, and, yes, we are still praying for a miracle, however unlikely that seems to be. But we are praying especially that we may find peace and accept this too from His hand.

a few more days...

2009-09-14T18:35:00.010+10:00

We are still here - healthy! What a blessing good health is. The cholera continues in Lae, though we do not have any updated information re cases or deaths (though we are sure the numbers continue to go up). Thankfully, as far as we know none of our church members/families have yet been affected...well not directly by cholera, anyway. However, some have had their livelihood affected, as sale of road-side cooked foods is banned, which is a big thing when it is a major source of income, however meager that income may be. Children are still staying away from school, as schools remain closed. There is a lot of fear around. As we dropped some members off in the Biwat Settlement after church on Sunday, I commented that the place looked like a ghost-town. The track going into the settlement which is usually swarming with people walking, sitting, talking, and marketing, was bare. Not a single person in sight. A strange, strange feeling. Others at church are asking all sorts of questions, after having heard things which are not true relating to the disease. At the university here in Lae, a bit of a panic situation broke out as 4 students were sick, and all other students refused to sleep near them, or to use the same toilets as they were using, also demanding that the university be shut down. It turned out not to be cholera, but the fear is there and very real.
Julie (my house help) was at church yesterday, telling how they were told by health workers not to wash or do laundry in the river (as many people/animals contaminate the river). But where else will they wash? With no rainwater tanks, no town water, what option is there? Julie already collects bottles of water from our place to drink and cook with, but not enough to wash with. I encouraged them to get together and at least buy a big drum (pretty cheap) so they can collect rain water off the roof. Even if it still needs to be boiled for drinking, it will work for washing water and themselves. She took some money today to try and figure out what they can do. She is being very vigilant, however, with hand washing and boiling water....so we pray that she and her family may remain cholera free!

Then to some more light-hearted news....this Wednesday is Independence day here in PNG. The older two girls were supposed to be having a special celebratory day tomorrow, but it has been postponed due to the cholera out-break (brings extra people into the school). However, last week Friday at Ashlyn's "school" (which she attends 2 mornings a week, while I run Bible Study and the literacy course), they had a special celebration where the children sang a few songs. It was really cute. Here are some pics:

getting ready to sing...

...and again

Ashlyn and her friend Emily...

....and again!

Then.....I've been meaning to share some funny stories for a few days but keep forgetting....Andrew had to spend a couple of nights in Moresby last week...and came back with some interesting incidents. First, since his meeting finished early, he thought he might try and come back to Lae early so he called the airline and they told him it was too late. When Andrew asked them how early you need to call to change a ticket, he was told at least 1 hour and 30 minutes before the flight you want to go on leaves. He looked at his watch and realised it was still 2 hours before the flight....how is that too late???? What's half an hour here or there in PNG? And then when he was trying to get to sleep that night, he couldn't because of loud construction noise outside of his window (they are extended the hotel). He eventually called the front desk to see when the noise would end, and he was told at 8pm (this was already 10pm). When he told the lady that it was already 10pm she said she would check what they were doing and would call back. She called back a short while later to say that they usually finish at 8pm but were working till 9pm that night!!!! (repeat: It was already 10pm!)

Also, when Andrew tried to book a bus from the motel to the airport for 8:30am the next day, and was told that he couldn't go on at 8:30 as someone had already booked for 8am (and it takes at least an hour for a round trip!). So he told them he would hop on at 8am. He was there waiting at 8am and hopped on the bus. They put someone else's suitcase on the bus, too, and Andrew presumed that it belonged to the man who had booked the bus for 8, thus preventing him from going at 8:30. But as they drove off, and no one else hopped on the bus, Andrew quickly asked the driver whose suitcase it was. They stopped quickly after realising it was not Andrew's and put the suitcase back where they found it. As they drove along to the airport, at about 8:30 the driver suddenly answered a radio call, telling him that the other man was ready now to go to the airport (you know that man who prevented Andrew from going at 8:30, but now was actually waiting to go at 8:30....what's half an hour here or there in PNG???). So the driver told him he would have to wait till he had dropped Andrew off....hopefully he did not end up late for his flight (because then half an hour here or there can matter, not if you are the airline, but if you are a passenger!!)

Oh..and please bear with me for one more story from Andrew's trip to Moresby. The hotel room he was in was rather noisy, so he had a hard time getting to sleep, and so when he was awoken at some unearthly hour (3am???) by the sound of a shower running and someone banging in the room next door, you could say he was a little annoyed. But he tried not to be too annoyed and just lay there patiently waiting for it all to end. But the banging got louder and louder, and the shower just didn't stop. Finally, he could contain himself no longer and politely got up and shut his bathroom door rather loudly (not enough to damage the door, of course), simply trying to remind the man next door that now was not the time to shower and bang away! Much to his surprise he opened his bathroom door and in the sudden quiet noticed that it was his shower that was running. Somehow, (strange things happen in this country!!) his shower had begun running (it was a little broken....), and the poor man next door had been madly banging all along to try and tell Andrew to turn his shower off. Needless to say, Andrew slipped by the poor man's door very quietly in the morning!

See, PNG is fun (some of the time!)....you need to keep laughing anyway!

some links on cholera

2009-09-09T06:35:00.003+10:00

For those interested....here are a couple of links to keep up-to-date with the cholera (and other flu) outbreak in Lae and surrounding regions. For our part we are bleaching all our fruit and vegetables (to kill the germ) before we eat them (unless they are being well cooked) and we are also crazily washing our hands. We always was our hands a lot, but I guess we are now washing them all the time, and really well! At school, the girls are being told to wash their hands often, they are also not allowed to share/swap food with other students. Yesterday we witnessed information pamphlets being handed out on street corners, people stopping every car and person to inform them. I spent half an hour yesterday in Bible Study going over cholera (prevention and treatment) with the ladies - hope it sunk in. As I dropped them off back to the settlement they were all talking about going off and boiling their water (water collected from the rain in old drums, which sits for lots of days in the open air- flies/sun always attacking it, as well as all sorts of people dipping their cup in). We pray they will heed the warnings.

Here are the links:

national

Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without borders)

cholera in Lae

2009-09-08T06:37:00.003+10:00

Lae (and surrounding areas) is now dealing with an outbreak of cholera on top of a dysentery type outbreak in the Menyamya area. A lot of foreign organisations are madly working around the clock especially to contain the cholera outbreak. A number of people have already died. Even our school is on high alert with the canteen already being downgraded to only selling prepackaged foods. Cholera is spread mainly by infected water, food and flies. When contracted it can kill very quickly through rapid dehydration. It can also be treated quickly...if only the people go and seek immedidate help. The settlements and villages where hygiene is so poor (no running water, etc) is a perfect breeding ground for cholera to spread. Medical organisations (and we all are in our own small ways) are trying to spread the word to get people to boil water, wash their hands, cook food well and keep flies off food. An army complex has been set up at the hospital and MSF (doctors without borders) is running the treatment of the cholera there. Cholera has been diagnosed also in the Bumbu settlement which we are working in. Please join us in praying that this Cholera outbreak may be contained, as well as the other mystery illness in the highlands, and that God will bless the hands of those who seek to help in small ways and big to treat these illnesses!

farewell to Moonbeam

2009-09-05T20:31:00.002+10:00

WARNING....this post may upset the especially sensitive, especially where cats are concerned!

I was about to begin the youth gathering in Kamkumung this morning when a very distraught Shiana called me on my mobile. She and Ashlyn had stayed home with Andrew (they sometimes stay home and just play together while Andrew works - admittedly sometimes with a few interruptions!), and Kirilee was playing at a friend's house (friend from school).

And the problem....our cat, Moonbeam, had been run over and killed outright by a car. First I spoke to a crying Shiana and then a crying Ashlyn. Apparently the guards in our compound saw the cat crossing the road, when it was hit by a car and was killed instantly. They quickly grabbed the cat for us (before someone else took it away to eat it....they call that kind of thing chance meat!!) and knocked on our door. Julie (who came to help out for the morning) spoke to the guard and hurried off to get the cat. Shiana and Ashlyn followed her and watched as she picked the cat up and brought it to our house.

Then they went running upstairs to bring the sad news to their Dad, who duly comforted them, and then they called me. When I arrived home a couple of hours later our poor dead cat was laying in a plastic bag in the laundry. Andrew told me (I already suspected from the cat in the bag picture that greeted me in the laundry) that Julie asked if she could bring it home to eat it (she tells me cat meat is sweeter than chicken!). I spoke about it with the girls and we all decided that sure she could take it home. At least that way she would have a good meal from it (it was hardly hurt at all - just hit fair and square on the head), and besides Moonbeam was dead and nothing would change that.

Anyway, that was something different for us....having our domestic pet eaten by someone else....but when you think about it, it would have been kind of selfish for us, in the situation, to simply bury it. Here is a lady who rarely eats meat, who needs all the protein she can get, and then for sentimental reasons we want to "waste" a really good meal for her. Kind of sounds harsh, but then life is harsh over here, and much harsher for her than for us!

The girl's are still sad, especially Shiana. She has been on the verge of tears all day - just managing to hold them back most of the time, but her eyes were welling up all day when she thought about him. She just loved that cat (we all did...he was a nice cat!) and often would have him snuggle in bed with her for a few hours! Just a few nights ago, I took this really cute picture, below, of them together. Andrew and I just loved the way we found them as we got ready for bed. Shiana's arm was around Moonbeam, and then he was "holding her hand". Oh, and BTW - if you are wondering what that pink thing is around Shiana's head....that is a contraption I sewed up. You see, she is wearing this mouth thing (T4K - research it on the internet if you want to know more about it) which is supposed to prevent braces (her teeth were really badly buck teeth, but they are slowly moving backward!). Anyway, the thing is supposed to stay in all night, but she always spits it out, until I sewed this silly thing, which does the trick. Now the T4K stays in all night! When Shiana saw the picture I was posting she was pleased when I hurriedly reassured her that I would explain why she was all "tied up."

So that was our day. Shiana declared it the "saddest day of my life!" and Ashlyn prayed, "I'm sad that Moonbeam died", when she prayed this evening. But then, tomorrow is another day and the morning always looks brighter, even for little kids!