we started off at dawn. piled into a hilux, me in the middle with a broken seat spring wedged uncomfortably under my right shoulder blade. all of us were pumped; prepared for the exhilaration and certain pain that would be made known to us over the next couple of days. we were going to climb new guinea's tallest mountain...Wilhelm.  The small paved road was at first in decent condition, but by the end of our ride we were on a true bush road, complete with mud and potholes and village kids yelling "hey, white man!" into our open windows. At 2pm, we had reached the end of the road and were at 8,000 ft elevation. We had another 3,000 ft to climb to get to base camp that night.

 

After reviving our already-cramped muscles, and hiring a guide and someone to watch the car, we threw on our packs and headed up the trail. and up...... and up. for three hours...up. It was amazing to see the change in scenery as we quickly changed elevation. lush jungle quickly became more sparse and we entered this beautiful valley that looked like something out of the lost world. waterfalls, a bird of paradise, and trees that reminded me of something dr. seuss would have drawn. and then there was the moment where we could look down and see where we had started, at about 2,000 ft before, and i think all of us got our second wind.

 

we reached base camp at dark. completely exhausted. i'm glad chris had planned a day to rest. the best time to climb to the summit is at night, so that as the sun comes up you have a chance to see out all the way to the ocean (on both sides when it is clear) before the fog hits. but I couldn't have imagined climbing that night. our accomodations were a woven bush house and ajoining tin-roofed "kitchen" that we shared with a sweet german couple. after a dinner of something warm and starchy, we put on every item of clothing we owned and gladly hit the sack. but woven walls don't really keep in the heat, and neither does a floor that is elevated on stilts. i had a miserable night.

 

the view in the morning made up for it. we couldn't tell as we hiked in that night, but our camp overlooked a beautiful lake. and even better yet, after a 30-minute climb was a second lake. it was even more beautiful than the first, with the mountains dropping right into the water and tiny waterfalls cascading down some of the exposed rock. the german couple came back from the summit at around noon, and they both were disappointed. they had climbed up despite the heavy rain, sloshing through mud, slipping on rocks; and then when they got only 100 or so ft away from the top, it completely fogged over and the guide couldn't see the way, so they had to turn around. To make it worse, they both had gotten altitude sickness and suffered through headaches and nausea. We all asked ourselves what in the heck we were doing.

 

but that night when we got up at midnight, there was a breathtaking clear sky, no wind, with a bright full moon. we were encouraged, and we thanked God. But ahead of us we had almost six hours of nothing but up. and it was steeper, colder, darker, and more rocky than the kick-butt hike the day before. we had resolved that we would only take 2 minute breaks to get food and water, and to put on layers if necessary. we would not sit down and give our blood an excuse to cool, and feel how weak and shaky our legs really were. Willy, our New Guinean guide, agreed with us. but his opinion might not count because i'm confident he could probably have climbed the whole thing without stopping once. He led the way in gumboots and hot pink pants. God love him. He practically pulled me up some of the steepest places and kept my will to climb strong.

 

Along the way, Willy showed us places men and women had died: a fat white woman had fallen off this rock here, an asthmatic had had an attack and fallen off there, a plane had crashed into the side of the mountain here, a new guinean man tried to climb up in a t-shirt and died over there... oh, look, a cell phone tower. (yes...even in papua new guinea)

 

and then we saw it. the top. with a little sign sticking up from it. it was about a quarter after 6 and the sky was going pink. the wind was brutal and clouds were getting in my eyes. after doing a little rock climbing for the last 50 meters, we were there! We all grabbed the sign as if it were a mast on a great ship that was about to go down. it was covered in ice. the sunrise was beautiful; it should have been set to music. and in between the wisps and clusters of clouds that floated by below our eye-level, we could see the ocean.

 

we hiked back to our car that day. seven hours of torture for my knees. but we were so happy.

 

 

Last week I spent school break down in Madang with a co-worker Laura Roberts. We were there to help out in the short-staffed PBT office, doing whatever odd jobs they needed. My task was to take a few picture books that had been made into the La'e language and scan them into the computer so they would be available as shell books for other languages. I enjoyed the work and the time spent with the friendly Madang staff that i'm unfortunately able to see only twice a year.

 

To make the week even more memorable, Kyle and Kathy Harris (the former being the "hedman" or director of this PBT branch) invited Laura and I to go sailing on July 5th. It was a perfect day for sailing- warm, sunny, and a nice breeze. They own the only sailboat in Madang, and I've never been sailing, so we readily agreed.  I must admit, I felt quite posh lounging on the deck, sailing along the coast of an relatively untouristed tropical island. Kyle told us how he and his wife had actually traversed the entire Pacific Ocean with their boat just last year; sailing from the eastern side of America, through the Panama Canal, and on to PNG. Only with a weeks worth of sailing instruction and having to deal with only one bad storm, and fresh tuna and mahi mahi on any night they wanted....I'd say they fared pretty well. Unfortunately, things did not fare too well for me towards the end of our afternoon. That nice breeze I mentioned previously meant nice big waves, which also meant I lost the papaya I had eaten for lunch.

this tuesday was the last day of school before our five week break! We spent the last part of our day making fortune cookies. The kids wrote fortunes or blessings on strips of paper to stick in the cookies, and they did an excellent job delegating responsibility to each other in order to get the cookies off the pan, the fortunes in, and then folded before they started to harden. I never knew how fortune cookies were made, so it was a learning experience for me as well. In all honesty, i am sure that i've learned 10 times what these kids have learned this year. What a wonderfully difficult year it has been. The next to last day of school, it was grade 5's turn to present something for chapel (every monday morning). My kids worked really hard on a skit about the Body of Christ (His church). They cut and painted body parts out of cardboard, and it wound up looking really excellent for only the 4 days that we practiced! We also worked on choreography to the song "We Are Family!", and I was very pleased to observe that even the boys seemed to be enjoying themselves up there on stage:)

This past Friday was "Banquet", a prom-like event for all 11th and 12th graders here at Ukarumpa. THe community worked the entire week to transform the teen center into the year's theme, New York City. The decorations simply blew me away, especially considering there was no Home Depot around the corner. There are some astoundingly talented people here! Some of the most amazing decorations were: a central park area (complete with park benches, bridges, a fountain and a fish pond), a lit skyline, a walk through a subway car (there was a place to paint grafitti on the subway walls under a blacklight), Lady Liberty, Times Square (which featured photos of the graduating seniors on the main screen), and a Broadway theatres ticket booth (i contributed by painting the Les Mis and Phantom posters).

 

The kids had no idea about the theme until they drove up to the front of the teen center. The community came out to show support, so the kids paraded through the  crowd as if they were attending some red carpet event. While they walked to the door, an announcer called out their name and a few facts about their life in PNG, or where they bought (or how they made) their clothes. After a delicious meal, the students watched a play put on by their parents and teachers, in their honor. There is a traditional encore performance the day after banquet for the community to be able to appreciate and take part in all the festivities. I was one in attendance last night and I thought the play was such a special way for the parents to express love to their kids. It included many inside jokes, but I still was laughing through most of the hour. It is a wonderful experience to be a part of such a close-knit and caring community.

 

 

Wednesday marks the start of the last term of this school year. In my heart I was feeling apprehensive about the beginning of term. A team of three school officials will be flying in today from all over the globe to reaccredit this school. This will mean interviews, observations, and overall scrutiny. My joy was being sapped because often the pressure to please people hangs like a weight around my neck.  Yesterday, I received a package in the mail full of fun school things; brightly colored pencils, stickers, and candy.  Guilt brought tears to my eyes because these lovingly packaged items should have mirrored my attitude, but instead I almost felt mocked by them.  I prayed, "Father, help me! Renew my joy".          And HE IS.

 

Today, the preacher (visiting from Australia), asked if any of us felt like we were "going through the motions", even in our ministry. He mentioned a quote by John Piper which says that we glorify God the most when we are most satisfied with him. In effect, when we see God as he truly is...in all of his holines and glory, our attitude switches from one of dissillusionment, depression, and apathy, to holy fear and joyful worship. To illustrate, he spoke of God's call to Isaiah (Isaiah 6), not your average commission. Isaiah sees the LORD high and exalted on his throne; above him, seraphs (which means "burning and dazzling") call " Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory", and their voices make the foundations shake and the temple fill with smoke. The first thing Isaiah becomes aware of is not his smallness,or limited knowledge or perspective, but rather his sin. In fear, he proclaims woe on himself and confesses his uncleanliness. A seraph touches Isaiah's lips with a live coal from the altar of sacrifice, and his sin is atoned for. When the LORD asks, "Who will go?", Isaiah says, "Here I am, send me!" The message God gives is difficult. Israel is to be told that they are hard-hearted, that they don't really listen or see or understand what is true. Isaiah asks how long he must proclaim this message, and God answers until the people have utterly destroyed themselves and have been taken captive, and all that remains is a seed with which He will continue to work his purposes.

 

As I read this, I became aware of how difficult Isaiah's task was. His work was to chastise his stubborn and sinful countrymen as he saw them working to their own destruction, with the glimmer of hope that they would turn back to God. But Isaiah did not hestate or show reluctance when God asked who would go. Seeing God in his glory and knowing that God was in control of all things and would see everything through to perfect fulfillment was enough. 

 

And again, I realize with joy that the same awesome God has given me this task and will stay faithful, even when my task seems too hard.

This week marks the midpoint of term three! Teaching is that wonderful challenging adventure that it has always been. I am definitely growing and learning much about being a teacher and leader of children. I am also learning much about trusting God more than myself. These kids need the wisdom and strength of their Creator, not of a girl who is too prone to weakness of mind and body. 

One thing that is so unusual about this place is the sameness of everything. It is always the same pleasant temperature every day, with varying degrees of rain in the late afternoon and night. I see the same people on center as I go from home, to school, to post office, to finance office, to store, to home again. Time seems to have retreated like a buzzing fly into the background while the small tasks within each day grind away loudly in my mind.  I feel sure I am meant to be here, but the first year is not  easy.

The center is having a few minor crises. We receive water from two different sources- we collect the rain in tanks for activities such as washing dishes and taking showers, and we pump stream water for flushing toilets and washing clothes. The man who owns the land the pump is on is demanding more money, or else he will systematically take apart the pump. I'm not sure of the details but I know the situation is going before a judge, so pray that the judge will be wise and a fair decision will be made. During rainy season, I'm fairly sure we all could exist soley on tank water, but during the drier season it would pose a problem. Also, a bridge close to center is falling down. Over the weekend, the bridge dropped one meter. So, all the shipments and supplies that are needed on center are finding creative ways (ie by hand) to get here. 

Praise God for his provision in all circumstances and the knowledge that he turns everything that happens around for His good purposes. 

Hey everyone!

 

It's been busy around here! Teaching has proven to be a full time job, both at work and at home. Preparing lessons and grading papers has been quite a chore! I knew it would be tough as a first year teacher, and I appreciate all your continued thoughts, prayers and support! I know God is going to do amazing things here in PNG, sometimes the negative things are proof that satan is trying to undo God's work as we do it here on Earth.

 

Yesterday we had an unexpected surprise! As you all slept before eating turkey and watching football, there was a magnitude 6.7 earthquake! Buildings start to crumble at about 7.2, so that thing was BIG! We are all safe, praise God, but it was a very scary reminder of one of the many dangers of this region! 

 

(http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2007kaaq.php)

 

Please continue to pray for my classroom, and the work I am doing. Also, please please pray for the physical, spiritual health and saftey of myself and the rest of the PBT staff as we continue to try and further God's kingdom in an area where so many people have never had the chance to hear about Jesus.

 

Your letters and e-mails are always welcome, and I thank you all so much for staying connected and keeping me posted about what's happening back home. I'll try my best to keep up with everone, look for a newsletter soon with more updates and specific prayer requests!

this coming week will mark my fifth week in the classroom!  It is a ton of work, but I'm having so much fun. Last week i was busy preparing materials for one of my students going out to  the village. Teachers here are responsible for the education of their students, even when they venture out to the village for weeks on end with their translator parents. I scaled that mountain though, with the help of very gracious co-workers. This past week, my laptop has been down, which has crippled communication as well as many other things related to work. However, it was fixed yesterday and is back to it's semi-dependable self.  Yesterday, I was given an amazing opportunity. I ventured out to a nearby village with a team of five others and we showed three videos on AIDS to a packed church of about 200 people. AIDS is an increasing problem in New Guinea, and often teams from Ukarumpa will show the Jesus Video or AIDS videos to villages all over the eastern highlands. THe people respond with awe to the 12 by 9 ft screen, and even little children will sit captivated for hours as they hear the life-changing messages.  During a question and answer session after the videos, one man stood up and said "If you could show all of the villages in PNG these videos, no one would be spending their time with two-kina meris (prostitutes) like they are now".  If only there was enough manpower to make that wish a reality! A woman who had been recently widowed invited to her hut for the night, and were welcomed and thanked warmly by the village as a whole. I hope to be able to go on my trips like this in the near future.

I request your thoughts and prayers for this week as I begin my first classroom! I have 20 students from the US, Canada, Australia, Finland, New Guinea, and Britain. I have been able to meet some of them and they are going to be a very enjoyable group. The parents are also very supportive, which is a huge relief. Three families have already invited me over for dinner!  I will post pictures of my class in the very near future.

So, what is this Ukarumpa place anyway? Ukarumpa is the headquarters for SIL, the Summer Institute of Linguistics, an organization which really has grown out of it's acronymn because it operates year-round, not just summer. SIL is a Christian organization, headquartered in Orlando, but based in countries like Germany, Finland, Korea, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, England, etc.  SIL has several main objectives, including gathering linguistical research in vernacular languages, establishing mother-tongue literacy programs, contribution to community development projects, and Bible translation.  The Ukarumpa center was built in the 1950's right on a battleground between two warring tribes in the highlands, as a government attempt to appease the fighting.

 

To me, Ukarumpa is like living in a subdivision similar to some in the States. We have electricity, indoor plumbing, a store with such luxuries as Craisins and Cadbury chocolate, a clinic, schools P-12, a hardware store, technology help center, mechanic, and even a masseuse who offers her services. THere are a few differences, however. If you walk ten minutes in either direction you will visit the neighboring villages, which are still very Papua New Guinean: huts, mud floors, outhouses, subsistence agriculture. If you get "take-out" that means that the korean family next door fixed extra that night. When the store runs out of something, it doesn't get a new shipment of that item until four months later. There are two seasons: wet and more wet, but the climate is actually very pleasant because of the high altitude. There is an excellent fresh market every monday, wednesday, and friday, where locals bring in their produce: cucumber, broccoli, strawberries, rhubarb, peanuts, tomato, pineapple, and carrots for example. Although everyone here are volunteers, so no one is rolling in the dough, we all employ cleaning ladies and yard workers from around the area as a way of helping them recieve some sort of income. Side note: the national wage is about 1 kina per hour, which is 30 cents (the workers here do pretty well in comparison). And, there is a burglary problem here, but from what I heard the robbers are on average very polite and will wish you to "have a good day and stay safe" as they leave.

 

 

 

Well everyone, the time has come. Tomorrow I will leave POC, and go into the village! I will be spending 5 days with a family there, and I'll get to test what I've learned (and learn alot more) linguistically. After that, I will fly to Ukarumpa and find where I'll be living for the next two years! This is what God has been preparing me for, and I'll need all your prayers and support as I begin this next leg of the journey.  

This Sunday I was able to be a part of one of the largest church services in Madang. The name of the church was Gospel Lighthouse.  I was so excited to be a part of a body of believers from a different side of the globe, yet be able to feel like I shared so much with these people in terms of purpose and focus. I really enjoyed worshipping together. Even though the songs were in tok pisin, I could catch the gist of what they were saying and was able to join in.  Everyone was singing their hearts out with such joy! The preacher was a kind, pleasant man who spoke with passion, yet would make jokes which were always followed by this hilarious belly laugh. His message centered around Ephesians 4, focusing on verses 15 and 16 which talk about the global church as a body, each member a necessary joint and ligament which grows together in love, under command of the head, which is our Savior. How wonderful for me, a toenail from Kentucky, to get to meet and worship with an eyelash from Madang!! 

 

Today we went to market in Madang to buy food for our haus-kuk.  A “haus-kuk” is an outdoor shelter in which to sit, cook food, and eat. Over the weekend, my aussie partner, Liz, and I had the task of erecting this structure from a few pieces of wood and bamboo, rope, and a bush knife. In the end, we did it…complete with a table and benches, and I am happy to say I didn’t whack off a finger. At the market, as always, we were the circus come to town. However, I am finding that I enjoy coming to market more and more as I begin to have a better handle on the language and can interact more skillfully. We purchased a green pepper, carrots, and some green beans.  These are all vegetables that grow in the highlands, and all highlands produce is sold in the covered market center, while the locals sell their food on the ground around the periphery. The reason for this, which I learned during a “History of PNG” lecture, is that highlanders have an upper-hand with those from the lowlands. The highlands have a denser population, and the people are feared as being harsher and more prone to fight. To me, everyone seems absolutely lovely and I hadn’t even noticed the division at first. Which just goes to prove how utterly new I am to this culture, and how much there is to learn which I am blind to! 

Hey everyone. Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Sorry for slacking a bit on the updates, I have been quite busy with training here at POC.

 

I just wanted to get a quick prayer request out, and I promise a more update-full blog in the next few days!

 

Please pray for my health, I haven't been feeling the best the past day or two. I don't know if it's just my body catching up to all the stress I've put it under, or a reaction to some of the medicine I've been taking, but I've felt naucious the past day or two. Don't worry, it's not malaria, and I don't think it's anything serious, but anything short of normal or good feeling can raise alerts when you are away from home. I am confident that your continued prayer support is helpful and will continue to be as I prepare for my work here in just a couple weeks!

 

Today we met our national tok pisin teachers, a cheerful outgoing father and his soft-spoken son.  They gave us commands in pidgin and we had to do them.  For example, “Yupela go wokabaut na kombak na sindaun long sia” (You all walk around and come back and sit down in your seat).  For the most part, there is enough English in their commands to understand easily what they are saying.  I love some of their names for things, like “maus gras” (mouth grass) would be facial hair, “pinga bilong lek” (fingers of the leg) would be toes, and “pikinini belong diwai” (children of the tree) would be seed.

It’s been a blustery and rainy day, which is most unfortunate because of the fact that everyone chose to hang their laundry today.  We had compiled a lot of sandy, wet clothes from yesterday when we went down to the ocean to swim 1600 meters (one mile) in the ocean as part of our conditioning.  We swam laps around a buoyed 100 meter rope parallel to shore, just off the coast in a calm inlet.  I thought I would be able to swim the mile in the hour and a half we had allotted to be in the water…piece of cake right!?! Well, between the salt water burning my eyes and gagging me each time I took a breath, the swim suit straps that kept falling down as I did my strokes, the weight of the sandals on my feet (as protection against the coral), avoiding water in my ears because of my predisposition to ear infections, foot cramps, and the mere fact that I’m an out-of-shape weakling, I couldn’t reach my goal. But I was only one lap (200m) away, so I’m confident that by the end of the course I will do it! 

This evening I moved into the dorm at POC, with only enough time in the day to eat dinner, take a quick tour of the grounds, and eat cake a la mode in honor of someone’s birthday. I will be living very simply here, but that’s ok.  I have two roommates, Hannah and Juliann. They will arrive tomorrow, and the course will officially begin on Wednesday.  There is such a spectacular view from the POC campus, which is located on top of a hill overlooking Madang and the ocean.  This morning I was busy with preparation for the next six weeks I would spend in orientation.  I walked around Madang with Celeste Wilt, running various errands at the market, the chemist, and a couple of clothing shops.  Everything I remember from four years ago is being reaffirmed in my mind.  Nothing seems to have changed!  The roads are still as potholed as ever.  There is still that familiar burning smell as people make fires for food, trash, or just because. There are those beautiful banyon trees that line one of the main streets in Madang, Coronation Drive. The trees were planted back in the fifties or sixties, but they look hundreds of years old. The people smile and their teeth are still red from chewing beetlenut. And of course there are the palms framed by the ocean, the very picture of paradise on Earth.  Today has been a great day. 

The plane was delayed Sat.  morning, and I left at 9:30am.  I am thankful for the extra time in Port Moresby, because through this I have gotten to know the Wild family from Germany, who lived in PNG a decade ago and are coming back for a visit. The two sisters Vera and Miriam were so friendly and encouraging, I hope we will be able to meet up in Madang sometime. We began to land in Madang and the pilot abruptly pulled the plane back up.  After a frightened moment of confusion, the pilot explained that there had ben a dog on the runway!! I was greeted warmly at the lean-to (aka airport) and was able to able to make it out of there with one of my two bags. The other I will supposedly be able to pick up today.  All afternoon we had a mini holiday at Jais Aben, a resort just out of Madang.  We relaxed and ate burgers, and then snorkeled along the coast.  I saw many different types of beautiful coral and fish, it was absolutely breathtaking! I had dinner with the Wilt family, Pioneer Bible Translator missionaries living in Madang.  At dinner were two other families that will be going to the orientation course with me.  The Calio family is from Finland, and their boy is going to be in my class at Ukarumpa! The Lee family is from South Korea. They left just now for Nobnob, the hilll on which the orientation takes place, but I will follow tomorrow afternoon so I can participate in the PBT worship service tonight!

 

My flights went incredibly smoothly up until I arrived in New Guinea, which is a land of beauty...and unpredictability.  Leaving Lexington was hardest, as I flew off above above the beautiful bluegrass that holds my loved ones and a lifetime of memories.  Suprisingly, the flight over the Pacific was amazingly easy! I had a fitful sleep of eight hours, and saw three movies.  In Port Moresby, I was relieved to see all my bags made it wih me and I got through customs without a search! Several hours ques later, and I discovered my flight to Madang was cancelled.  After the initial disappointment, I realized that Air Niugini was going to put me up in a very nice hotel for the night, called the Crowne Plaza. Last night I got a great meal, and had a big comfy room to myself, with a balcony view overlooking downtown Port Moresby!! Probably the last swanky night in a very long while! As I write you now it is approaching 4 in the morning, I'm takin a shuttle to the airport and my plane is supposed to leave at 5:30. Thank you so much for your prayers, I have felt God's protection.