kaine and halle: thoughts on their newest home :)

In the last post, I told you a bit about Wewak...and now, you can hear some thoughts from Kaine and Halle!  I would say we are all really loving it here!  Praise the Lord for His faithfulness in giving us joy no matter where we live.
*again, my comments will be in red :)

Kaine

Wewak is an awesome place.  There are more than four boys on the base!  Wewak is my favorite place in PNG.  One of my favorite things about it is that we live close to the ocean.  There are two beaches that we have gone to.  Here are some of my friends' names:  Bram, Jack and Jed.  

So thankful for these friendships for Kaine!

Here is Kaine and Halle with just some of the kids, and at one of those two beaches Kaine mentioned.  What a blessing (the kids and the beach!)

Jack has this snowboard thing that is called The Spooner!  But instead of sliding on snow you slide on grass.  

Kinda hard to see in the dark, but they are "snowboarding" down the hill--I guess we can call it grass-boarding??

Bram loves to climb up trees...

This is actually a picture of Bram's younger sis climbing a tree.  She is nine years old...and at almost the very top of this very tall tree.  Yikes!  I know this could be my kids someday soon!

They are all really nice.  I really like Wewak and I am glad we are here--and I cannot wait until the Rimestads come! (more on that later!  David and Emily...get over here!  Our whole family cannot wait!!!)

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Halle

PNG is the awesomest place I have been in so far!  The things I would like more is some cereal and more American candy and stuff like that (this is not a hint!  We aren't hurting for junk food over here :) ).  Also, there is cool stuff here that we don't get there.  Like coconuts and kau kau, which is a PNG food.  

Daisy chugging one of those coconuts :)

And there is an ocean.  And so Wewak is awesome!  It has some USA food (Haha, Halle obviously misses American food).  And a ocean we go almost every day to! (She is SOOO exaggerating!  We don't go even close to every day!  Lol.  Kids :) ) And we have a great view.  

And here we have guard dogs.  Their names are Bear and Thor.  And every time someone suspicious walks by, they bark.  Also, I love going to meet people in villages and so these are all reasons why I love PNG!

Our kids are doing great at jumping right back in to the village life.  So proud of them :)

Thanks for reading about our life in PNG!

Love,

Kaine and Halle

a beautiful place to call "home".

Well, we have arrived here in Wewak!  We've been heading in this direction for quite awhile now--it's sort of surreal that we are finally here!  We are back to the heat and humidity, but that's okay.  Our bodies will adjust :) 

We have been here for one week now. We are adjusting and settling in...trying to get into some sort of routine and figure out how our family will do life here at the NTM base in Wewak!  

When we were in Madang, we were part of a structured orientation program--with classes every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, and other things like that.  Here, it's a bit different.  We still need to finish our Tok Pisin studies, but our schedule is a little more open.  We are starting to feel like "real" missionaries, not newbies anymore! Even though we really still are newbies ;)  I'll try to keep you all updated in the next couple of weeks!  For now, here are some pictures to show you some of our new home...

Excited to be in Wewak!  Our pilots are excited for us, too ;) 

We arrived to a decorated door and friends to welcome us (some new friends, and some old friends!)  

Here are our kids, getting to know some of those new friends--the Greenlaw kids.  What a GREAT family!  

*side note:  right now, we are staying in a temporary house.  Next week we will move to a more permanent one--but for now, we are staying in a really nice and big guesthouse! We are enjoying this house with tons of windows (which means lots of breeze!) and a GORGEOUS view!

Here is my view from our deck.  It's so crazy that we live next the ocean!  It's like a dream for this sun-loving girl ;) 

We arrived to a HUGE package from home!  So much excitement from our kids to receive this package from our sweet friends--thank you guys!  We seriously cannot tell you how much we appreciate the love and support you sent us!

Our kids were overjoyed to find FOUR new Lego sets in the package!  They wasted no time in putting those together :)

The first couple of days we were here, I was feeling just a tad overwhelmed.  Lots of change, less structure, not knowing the area or town at all...just feeling overwhelmed in general.  But Kelley (our orientation leader in Madang)--had once told us that when she was feeling overwhelmed and just wanting to stay in her house (in the tribe)...the best thing she could do is get out with the people.  So we decided to do that--get out and walk around the new neighborhood.  And you know what?  It really worked!  The sooner we start forming relationships with the local people, the better.

We were so thankful that Tanner flew to Wewak with our family!  It was so great to have him stay with us for two days as we settled in...and then he moved on.  Thanks for coming with us, Tanner!  We are glad you got to see our new home!

We quickly learned that the missionaries who live here in Wewak go to the beach a LOT!  Lol.  It's a quick five minute drive to a really nice beach--so people are frequently going to the beach in the late afternoon after work, even for just an hour or so.  So fun!  

Beautiful beach--and I love the barbed wire!  So PNG :)

Daisy and her uncle Tanner :) 

More to come!  Love you all!

let's talk medical (the grandparents will like this one!)

When it comes to us moving into a remote tribe, some people (especially grandparents) might worry wonder, "What happens when one of the kids get sick in the tribe"?

Well, this past week we got to see the medical options that New Tribes has in PNG--and it is super encouraging!  

One thing to know about PNG--there are no suitable medical facilities.  Like, there are "hospitals" throughout PNG, but they are very unsanitary and really not safe to go to.  But...here at Lapilo, New Tribes has an really nice medical clinic, fully staffed with two experienced doctors and a lot of wonderful nurses!  All of these doctors and nurses are here as New Tribes missionaries--serving here in PNG when honestly, they could be making lots of money in their home countries.  Praise the Lord for the amazing support staff that New Tribes has here in PNG!  It takes SO MANY people and roles to plant tribal churches!  

So here's the deal.  Even if we are located deep in the jungles, our NTM doctors will be reachable--either by phone (in some locations), or by radio.  And they want us to call them if needed--24/7!  Then, if one of our kids is very sick, the doctor will order a med-evac.  All other flights will be put on hold to make sure that the med-evac gets first priority, and they could get in to the tribe and bring us out to Lapilo in decent time.  Then, if it is a really big problem?  Like, surgery is needed, or something like that?  They will send us to Australia, and again--we could get there in very decent time.  

So, even though the medical care isn't nearly as fast as it would be in the USA, we still have very good options.  And of course, we all know that God is totally sovereign and so we totally trust Him in the area of sickness and medical needs!

So the first day we got here to Lapilo, we took a tour of the clinic.  It is good for our kids to get to know the doctors and nurses when they aren't sick--just so that when the time comes that they are really sick, they will feel less scared.

We met Dr. Bud that day, and he gave us the tour...we saw the examining rooms, where Dr. Bud let me and Nathan check our kids' ears...

There is an ultrasound room, and Dr. Bud demonstrated on Kaine's stomach :)

They have a lab, where they can do blood tests and things like that.  Dr. Bud asked Nathan if he knows what his blood type is--Nathan couldn't remember, so Dr. Bud said, "You need to know your blood type!  So let's just find out right now!"  Lol! 

Okay, then all last week, our orientation group had some stellar medical training.  The other NTM doctor, Dr. Kevin, taught our class.  Along with different nurses each day.  And it really was phenomenal!  He taught us to do things like CPR/Heimlich/first aid...

And they taught us how to take vital signs (we will have a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, otoscope, and MANY other things with us in the tribe)...

 

photo credit: Brent Ristau

 And then they let us try out all of the skills on each other :)

One of the days was Suturing Day!  I was kind of nervous, but it was actually really fun!  Of course, it helped that we were using chicken wings instead of human flesh ;) 

 Dr. Kevin demonstrating how to inject Lidocaine for numbing--lol, it felt pretty funny to numb a chicken wing :)

 

All stitched up!  Just call him Dr. Mueller :)  

Thank you, NTM PNG medical team.  You blessed us immensely this past week!

another mueller dentist adventure...

Do you all remember the story about how I lost a cavity filling the day after we arrived in PNG (the land of hardly ANY dental care)??  If you don't know that story, please read this blog post because it's a good one!

Well, we are beginning to see that it might be better for our family to just get false teeth (actually, that thought has crossed my mind--for my own mouth that is!  If you could all see inside my mouth, you would see probably 40 or so cavity fillings...it's safe to say I have weak teeth!  Wouldn't it be easier if I didn't have to worry about cavities anymore?  Lol, I'm only sort of kidding...)

Well, poor Kaine has inherited my kind of teeth.  He has had quite a few dental problems in his short life.  And the other day, as he was eating granola...all of the sudden he said, "mom, I feel something in my tooth.  It feels like a HOLE."

Well, this made my heart sink.  Why?  Because we aren't in America anymore.  If we have teeth problems, we can't call a dentist to get it fixed.  Because there ARE NO dentists!  (at least not easily accessible!)  

**side note--if you are a dentist, please check out the end of this blogpost for an opportunity to serve short term here in PNG!!

So yep, I looked in his mouth and saw a hole all right.  Actually, it looked like he lost a filling (like mother, like son!)

Okay, so what are our dental options in this case?

1.  Leave it.  It's a baby tooth, right?  So eventually it will fall out?
2.  Wait a few weeks until it starts giving him problems...then figure something out.
3. There is an SIL (Wycliffe) dentist up here in the highlands--but it usually takes quite a few weeks for New Tribers to get an appt with him...and our family is supposed to fly to Wewak (the NTM base in the Sepik region) on Tuesday!  

Sigh.  There really aren't any great options, huh?  

We had the New Tribes doctor (not a dentist, but still a medical professional!) look at Kaine's tooth.  He strongly suggested we don't go with option #1, because it was a deep hole and could really cause problems.  So we scratched that option. And thankfully, we are already up here in the highlands.  So we are somewhat close to that SIL dentist...so option #3 seemed like the way to go, even though it might delay our flight to Wewak :(

I emailed the SIL dentist ASAP, and explained the situation.  And we started praying!

Well, God is just so good to us.  We absolutely do NOT deserve His amazing grace...

The SIL dentist emailed me back a few hours later, and said he could see Kaine the VERY NEXT DAY.  We found out from quite a few people that this was a miracle in itself!  Amazing!

Now, to figure out how he would get there.  Nathan could take a New Tribes vehicle and drive him there, but it is about a 2 hour drive in some of the worst driving conditions you can imagine.  Really, the potholes in this country are ridiculous!  Not to mention, Nathan does not know this highlands area at all--and really, we are still newbies to PNG!  Still learning about how to live here!

Well, we asked NTMA (New Tribes Mission Aviation) about the possibility of Nathan and Kaine flying to the SIL dentist...this was a long shot though.  But again, we were amazed.  They said that they were already planning to go up there the next day--they would be doing some training flights, and they would be glad to take Nathan and Kaine!  And...it would be CHEAPER than driving!  Ha!  God blows our minds sometimes!

So basically, Kaine got shuttled to his dentist appointment by private plane.  The experiences that this kid is getting...just wow.  

That's the end of Kaine's dentist adventure!  Thank you, Jesus!  Now, we are really hoping there won't be any sequels to the Mueller Family Dentist Adventures!

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Now.  Here is an opportunity I want to share with you all...

In the past, NTM had a dentist here at Lapilo Center.  And we have been told that the dentist was VERY BUSY--just taking care of the missionaries and their dental needs!  

But now, there is no dentist.  However.  There is a fully stocked (pretty much) and ready to go dental clinic here on base!  Just sitting there!  So if there would just happen to be a dentist who would want to serve overseas short term...what a great opportunity!  

That's all I will say.  No pressure!  I just thought it wouldn't hurt to mention it :)

We love you all!  Thanks for your prayers!

the highlands have been good to us...

*disclaimer before you read this...you have probably noticed that we have made a big deal about loving the cooler weather up here, etc (hence my latest hashtag, #chillinginthehighlands)...but I just want to say that we are still very excited to get back down to the lowlands and the much hotter, more tropical climate!  God really allowed our bodies to adjust to the heat while we lived in Madang, and we ended up being totally fine with it!  It is nice to have a week and a half of cooler weather, but we will be ready to start sweating again :)  

Our family is absolutely LOVING our time up here in the highlands!  New Tribes Mission has an amazing support base--it seriously blows our minds.  This base is huge--hundreds of people live here.  And they are all people who are passionate for God's glory going to each people group, all serving the Lord in so many different roles.  Like I said, we are blown away.

First of all, New Tribes Mission Aviation (NTMA).  They are the ones who came to Madang, loaded us and all of our stuff into a Kodiak airplane, and flew us to Goroka.  This flight program is awesome--a well oiled machine, for sure.  They fly missionaries and their supplies ALL over PNG!  What a blessing to have such a great flight program!

One of the first things we did when we got here to Lapilo (the name of this NTM base) was go on a tour of the medical clinic.  But the medical clinic and the medical staff deserve a blogpost of their own--they are THAT amazing.  So stay tuned :) 

We toured the rest of the campus, and met a lot of different staff members...

The campus is just beautiful...I love seeing the mountains every day!

It is so much fun for our kids!

Kaine and Halle have been able to attend the school here, for a whole week. We are so thankful for the teachers and the school staff for being flexible in allowing visiting kids to join their classroom for a week--it has been lots of fun for Kaine and Halle to be at school with lots of friends again!  We are so thankful for the friendships they are making this week.

And Layla and Daisy have been thrilled to inherit their siblings' dish jobs at breakfast time this week!  Haha, I don't think Kaine and Halle have minded handing it over to their little sisters :) 

We've been enjoying this cooler weather...

It has been so nice to get into bed at night and not stick to our sheets!  Lol.  Our kids have loved wearing their cozy pajamas and sweatshirts.

And we've been having a good time with our orientation group!  Next week we will all part ways...which will be kind of sad for all of us :(

Uncle Tanner joins us for our "Special Family Night" every weekend--it's been so fun! 

We had a fun game night with our group!  We love these guys!

Next up will be a blogpost about some medical amazingness.  Also...the Mueller Family Dental Saga continues...stay tuned! ;) 

time for us to move on...

Just like that, we are done with the first part of our PNG journey.  Time flies!  It feels like we blinked and now here we are--we know Tok Pisin (sort of) and life in PNG feels pretty normal!  And it is time for us to leave Madang...

Our last couple of weeks here have been packed!  With good things :) 

Lots of fun with our group...we love these guys!

We are going to miss this sweet family so much!  And their little boy, Russell, is going to miss his four little Mueller friends :)

We chartered a (little) boat to take us out to an island nearby.  It was about 30 minutes away from land--and simply beautiful!  Nothing like spending an afternoon on a deserted island!

While we were on the island, Kaine spent almost the ENTIRE time snorkeling!  He has a homemade spear, and he was wanting to shoot some fish--he succeeded in spearing a couple of small ones--oh, and he accidentally speared Uncle Tanner, too...lol!  It's a good thing Tanner is such a good sport and loves our kids so much!  He was super gracious with Kaine, and now he has a great story to tell his friends back home, that he got speared in the arm by a ten year old in Papua New Guinea :) 

Our group also had something called "Bus Mangi Olympics"--basically just a lot of silly games and fun competition :)  Here, Kaine is bobbing for pineapple.  His competitive nature paid off, and he was our family's MVP! :)

We had to "row" our team across the cement on a "boat" using only these "oars"...haha!  It was pretty hilarious.  Bill and Kelley took Halle with them on their boat... I think she looks a bit concerned in this picture :)

Lots of fun with our friends from Susu Banis...

When we first walked into Susu Banis village, we had no idea that the people would grab ahold of our hearts so tightly.  We love these friends of ours.  It was sad to say goodbye to them yesterday :(  

A couple of weeks ago, we took some of them to a nearby beach (we packed 23 people into a Land Cruiser--which they call a "Ten-Seater"--Haha!)  I couldn't believe all the people we packed in there!

The kids had a blast in the water!

And so did us ladies!

The men sat under a tree and "storied" most of the time--it's funny, in our home culture, it would be us moms who sit and talk the whole time, while the dads play with the kids!  Not so, here.  It's different--not wrong!  Just different :)

After we swam, we all ate together--a PNG picnic!  Rice baskets, banana sak sak, and papaya.  Oh, and I brought coffee cake :)

Our friends from the area have taught us so much--Tok Pisin, PNG culture, and more.  They have given us SO MUCH of their time, so we wanted to tell them a big thank you.  We invited all of our language helpers and their families to the New Tribes base, where we cooked a huge meal for them and stood up and thanked each one of our helpers.  It was SUCH a neat evening!  

Me with some of the other rockstar cooks--Gerdine was amazing at organizing all the food!  And Amelia cooked 20 kilos of pork like a BOSS.

Here is Nathan with some of the men who have taught him so much.

Me and my friend Sophie.  She is a great teacher!  And she has become a sweet friend as well.

Tomorrow morning, we will leave on a New Tribes airplane and head up to Goroka--in the highlands!  Which means, cooler weather!  It should be fun.  I'll update you all when we get there!