the fun...and the not-so-fun (part 1)

We have been blessed with some pretty awesome experiences since coming to PNG, that is for sure!  But it's definitely not all fun and games :)  A new culture, a new climate and a new way of life--all of those things add up to CHANGE.  And change is not always easy!

So this post is about some of the fun experiences we have had!  Those times that cause us to thank the Lord and His amazing grace and love He shows us.  The next post (the sequel to this one)--will be about the "not-so-fun-things" we have here in PNG ;) 

A couple of weeks ago, we drove into town with our shopping "team".  Every other week, we go to town to get supplies.  Which means we are buying for two weeks' worth of meals/supplies--so it's a big shopping trip!  It's always a lot of fun, but a couple of weeks ago when we went to town to shop, it was REALLY neat--we ended up taking a ride in a Cessna!  We had to stop at the airport to pick someone up, and while we were there, the NTM pilot said he could take our family for a ride!  Crazy!  The pilot flew over the mission base where we live right now--it was so neat to see it from the air.  Safe to say it was my kids' most favorite grocery shopping trip EVER!!

Another fun thing.  Valentine's Day--even though we are so far away from the commercialized holiday, our leaders here (Bill and Kelley)--made it so fun for our kids!  Kelley was so sweet to hide candy around their yard for the kids to do a scavenger hunt...and then she made them pink cupcakes, and she gave me a heart cookie cutter WITH sugar cookie dough that she had made, so I could bake cookies with my kids!  Isn't that so thoughtful?  I was so thankful!

some of the candy was hidden way up in trees:)

Oh.  And speaking of Valentine's Day...Nathan and I were able to go on the best Valentine's Day date that we have ever gone on!  We took kayaks out behind out home, out into the bay--and went snorkeling at a little uninhabited island.  It was so cool.  We didn't see too many fish, but we did see some blue starfish!

There are a couple of "resorts" nearby, which our group visited on a couple of the weekends.  Lots of fun with our group!  And a fun thing to do with our kiddos :)

The first one was more calm and quiet...

This one was my favorite--calm, beautiful water that was perfect for swimming! 

And also...REALLY good food!! 

The other one had big crashing waves!  It was also very beautiful--a black sand beach, fun waves...our kids loved it!

We have some other families visiting here at the base right now.  Our kids have loved getting to play with some other missionary kids! 

One last fun thing--a ladies' day out!  We went secondhand shopping and out to lunch.  It was a great time with the ladies.  The only difference from a ladies' day out in America though--we had to have two men go with us!  Kind of like bodyguards, in a sense :)

This is me and the other ladies in our orientation program.  There are four of us ladies, plus our awesome PNG teacher, Amelia :)

We are so thankful for these good things--gifts from a good God, that's for sure!

relationships, part 2

We are seriously LOVING getting to know the local people here!  As I mentioned before, our base is surrounded by several villages.  In our orientation program, we are each expected to get out to the villages and spend lots of time with the people--getting to know them, and learning the culture and language with their help.  And although it is WAY out of our comfort zone (getting more comfortable each time though!), it has been going so well. All praise to God for that!  

The village that our family has been going to the most is called Susu Banis.  Our partners, David and Emily, also spent a lot of time in that village when they went through this same orientation program.  We are so thankful to be able to form friendships with the same people who they were friends with!  We feel so blessed to have those connections!

Our whole family usually goes to the village twice a week (for about 2-3 hours at a time).  The other days, Nathan usually goes by himself (or with another guy in our group) to Susu Banis or another village nearby.  

This is the house we hang out at most of the time in Susu Banis.  This is the house of Gabinus and his wife, Bernadette.  They. are. awesome.  We love this couple, and all of their extended family members who flock to the house when we are there :)  Haha!  When we walk through the village, we can always hear the sounds of kids yelling, "White man!  White man!"

Nathan and Gabinus :) 

Bernadette holding Daisy...as we walked through the village on one of the first days, Daisy wanted me to hold her, but I told her no, she could walk.  So Bernadette scooped her up and I was so proud of Daisy that she let Bernadette carry her through the village!  I guess Daisy was probably thankful that she didn't have to walk :)  But our kids really do love Bernadette!

Our blonde girls are a main attraction :) 

On one of the days of the week that our family goes to Susu Banis, I go to this lady's house.  Sophie was Emily's language helper and good friend--now I am so thankful to get to know her too!  Sophie and her husband have two little girls, which works out great as I usually bring one or two of my girls!

The whole village is so welcoming to our family.  They are so friendly and willing to help us--we are thankful!

Each time we walk to the car to leave the village, we have a crowd of people go with us to see us off!

So many adorable little kiddos!

We are thankful for these relationships.  God is providing for us in so many ways!

relationships, part one...

Our family has moved around a lot in the last 5 years.  And everywhere we have moved, God has been so faithful to provide us with some very sweet and lasting relationships!  We were confident that He would do it when we got to PNG--and we were right!  Once again, God has been so gracious to us!

I want to try to introduce you all to the people who we are living with, building relationships with, and spending lots and lots of time with!  Hopefully all of the names don't confuse you...

So, our family is living on a New Tribes Mission base right now.  We are about a 20 minute drive from town, but the base is surrounded by small villages, some even within a short walking distance. We are also right on the ocean--definitely an added bonus! :)

 Living here on the base with us, we have our New Tribes orientation leaders named Bill and Kelley.  They. Are. Awesome.  Seriously, we thank the Lord for putting them "in charge" of us right now!  Bill and Kelley came to PNG quite a few years ago with their two daughters. They moved into a tribe, learned the language, and planted a church--just like we are hoping to do!  They are still working on the translation for their church plant.  They are a very godly couple and they are filled with wisdom and advice for us as newcomers!

Bill and Kelley are seriously amazing with our kids.  Our kids love their Uncle Bill and Aunt Kelley!  Kelley always is so thoughtful to think of our kids, and do special things for them--we are so thankful for both of them!

There are just a few others on staff here...Lisa is another amazing lady!  Lisa is a missionary who is also working on translation for her tribal work!  Seriously, we have been blessed with such wisdom and experience here in charge of our orientation!

The girls love it when Aunt Lisa lightly runs her long fingernails up and down their arms :)  They are always asking her to do it!

Along with our family, there are some others in orientation with us.  There is a couple from the UK and a family from Mexico...we love our international team :)  I will post pictures of them someday!There are also two college interns (names: Tanner and Becky) from Liberty University.  The two college interns will only be in PNG for these 4 months, then they will return home...we are so glad they are here!  They are AMAZING with our kids!

The kids LOVE their Uncle Tanner!

Tanner loves Daisy and she loves him--but she is SO shy around him!  He was happy one night when she allowed him to play baby dolls with her :)

Nathan and Tanner get along really well too--they have similar senses of humor ;) 

They also love their Aunt Becky!  One night she made homemade chocolate and was so gracious to share it with our girls...they looked like little baby birdies :)

Okay, there is also another couple here on staff.  Their names are Joshua and Amelia, and they are actually from the tribe that Bill and Kelley worked in!  They are believers and they really want to help us newcomers learn the national language--so every time a new group of orientees arrives, Joshua and Amelia travel from the tribe and live on base here.  We are SO blessed to have them here!  Language helpers right here on base with us is hugely helpful!

This is Joshua.  For those of you who follow me on Instagram, he's the one who taught our group how to climb coconut trees!  

Joshua and Amelia have an ADORABLE baby boy named Russell! Our kids are obsessed with him :)

There is a family who lives next to the base, and we have hung out with them a couple of times.  They also go to the church that we go to.  They have kids our kids' ages, and we are so thankful that they live nearby!  Kaine has had lots of fun with their boys already...

Their dad, Eddi, taught Nathan to go fishing with a net one day.  While they fished, our kids all swam and played together.  And I hung out with Kovina (Eddi's wife)--I can't communicate much with her yet, but hopefully that will change soon!

I will continue this blogpost next time...I didn't want to overload you with pictures!  Thanks for your prayers!

Starting NCLA!

Something about New Tribes is they use a lot of acronyms...haha!

NCLA=National Culture and Language Acquisition.  So...you can see why they use acronyms.  We like calling it NCLA better :)

Anyway.  This week, we officially began our NCLA!  What this means is that each person is to go out and be with the people...there are a few nearby villages that we can walk or drive to.  And the goal is to build relationships, observe and participate in culture events (anything from watching them build a fire, or cook food, or fish with nets...just anything!)...and hopefully we will find some people who can be faithful language helpers for us.

So far, NCLA has gone well for our family!  We are WAY out of our comfort zone every day that we are in villages, but we know it will get more and more comfortable.  The people love having us come, and they are all so nice and helpful to show us around and help us with Tok Pisin phrases and words, etc.  So far, we have made a few relationships...an answer to prayer, so thank you all for praying!

Last week, our orientation leaders made things easier for us by taking us to each village and showing us around.  It was much less scary going with our whole group as opposed to just our family by ourselves!

We have done lots and lots of hiking...

Layla likes to wear my bilum on her head, to look like a real PNG meri! (meri=girl)

On this particular day, our kids BEGGED to go barefoot on our hike...to be like the village kids, of course!  We let them and they loved it...but we have since discussed this as responsible parents and decided this might not always be wise ;)

On this day, we hiked to a WW2 airplane in the jungle!

The airplane was located in some thick jungle, so we were led by some great guys who cleared the way for us with their machetes :)

We have also done some driving with our group...sometimes we smash into small vehicles...

But most of the time we take this beast!  It's an awesome ride, if I don't think too deeply about what would happen if we get in a wreck!

One of the villages we visited:

Some of these villages are in some beautiful locations!  Oceanfront property!

Next, I will share some of the relationships we have been building!  Love you all so much, and we so appreciate your prayers!

getting introduced to PNG town life...

Soon after we arrived in Papua New Guinea, we made our first trip into town!  So many different experiences than small town Indiana ;) 

Kelley (one our orientation leaders here) taught us some useful practical expressions to use for our first trip into town.  They included:

• Yu stap orait? (How are you doing?)
• Em wanem? (What is that?)
• Em i hamas? (How much is it?)
• Sori, mi no laik baim. (I don't want to buy it)

Our kids also loved trying them out! 

The first stop was the vegetable market.  Our kids were so brave and willing to try out their new Tok Pisin phrases!  The people at the market LOVED hearing them buy food :)

(side note:  PNG life is having an impact on our kiddos!  Now, when they play legos, they are playing "market"...and making vegetable markets.  So cute!!)

One of the stores has little carts for little girls--we weren't expecting that!

We went to another market, where Kaine bought a cooked whole fish, and ate it all off the bones!  What a great kid!

He also used his own money to buy a bilam (the kind of bag that people make here in PNG--pretty much everyone has one!)

A couple of days after our first town visit, all the guys in our group went to get their PNG driver's licenses!  Nathan was a bit nervous about driving...a stick shift on TERRIBLE roads filled with potholes, plus the steering wheel is on the right side and driving on the left side of the road...that's why he was nervous!  But he has done so great!  I was confident he would be a natural, and I was right ;) 

Okay, so...a sad (and then happy!) story...the very NEXT DAY after we arrived here in PNG (a third world country with very limited health care)--I was flossing my teeth and one of my fillings fell out!  I was so frustrated, asking the Lord--why now?  Why would this happen now, when there are no options for dental care?(or so I thought)   Of course, my mind was kind of racing with anxious thoughts, and worst case scenario was that our whole family of six would have to fly to Australia for my cavity to be refilled!  Haha, I am learning to rest in the Lord, and to trust His goodness and sovereignty!  So I told my fearless leader, Kelley, and she just happened to know that YWAM (Youth With A Mission) had a ship docked at PNG for a couple of weeks, and they were there to do health care! And...dental!  There was a dentist on board, and they were so happy to treat me.  And God taught me such an important lesson that day--the He knows what He is doing, and that He loves me.  Thank you, Jesus!

    

Pretty much the coolest dentist office EVER!

 This woman was my dentist--just an amazing woman of God who is volunteering her time on this YWAM ship.  She did my cavity filling for free, and she also noticed a crack in another one of my teeth and she fixed that one, too!  The guy is a YWAM volunteer, and there were lots of other volunteers who are spending a few months on this ship.  So awesome!  God gets all the glory for this one!

We are continuing to adjust!  This week we will dive into full on language and culture learning--we will need your prayers!