Hewa: Part Three

And now, for the third--and final--part of the story.  And just a heads up--if you aren't one of my parents or grandparents, you might not make it to the end of this post.  Because it is a picture OVERLOAD!  Sorry in advance!

(click here for Part 1, and here for Part 2)

Okay, so there we were, in a remote village in the jungles of Papua New Guinea.  What a crazy feeling. 

So, how did we spend our days?

Well, every morning, this was our view when we looked outside our kitchen window :)  The kids. were. PRECIOUS.

Emily, Stacy and I cooked breakfast for the guys before they headed out to work...

Just a note.  The five of us had our own house to stay in.  There happened to be an empty missionary house in the village, so this was our home for the week!

After breakfast, most days we headed over to Jonathan and Susan's house for the morning radio time (when all the Sepik tribal missionaries check in with each other).  We didn't have any cell or internet service in this tribe, so this was our only way to communicate with our families!  We were only able to connect with them one time the whole week!  The other days, the weather wasn't good enough for us to hear anything but static.

After radio time, we would sit with Susan, drink coffee and just talk.  Susan has been in the tribe for a lot of years, and she is so filled with wisdom!  What a privilege it was to learn from her!  (another note:  We didn't spend too much time with the other missionary couple--John Michael and Jessi--because both of their moms were visiting from America!  So they were soaking in the family time while we were there.)

Susan's sweet daughter, Mikenna, just loved having us ladies there!  We spent lots of time with Mikenna :) 

We spent our days checking out the progress the men were making...

We spent lots and lots of time with the people!  Especially the kids and women.

This is me and a sweet girl named Pesi.  Pray for Pesi. She is marked for murder from an enemy tribe...because her father is marked, so that makes all of his children marked, too.  The gospel has come to this village and there are many believers in it, but Satan still holds many Hewa people and neighboring tribes in DARKNESS.  Only Jesus can change this reality!

We loved, loved, LOVED the babies!  Check out these next few pictures--so many adorable babies in that village!

Any time we got out our cameras to show the kids pictures or videos, it was an instant hit!  This cracks me up--Emily was showing these two kiddos pictures of her family...

...and before long, I could barely see her!  So funny :)

A huge shout out to Stacy.  This trip was her first time being overseas, never had any missionary training...and she totally rocked!  She was out in the middle of the people all the time, just loving them and spending time with them.  She ended up cleaning and covering up sores for many of the kids--just loving them so well.  

Many of the women in Hewa don't speak much Tok Pisin.  But a few of the ladies did, so I was able to talk with some of them!

Susan took us inside some of the tribal houses...Emily and I thought it was really like stepping into another world.  

One of the days, we did a little hike up the mountain to visit a couple of families who live up there.  It wasn't a long hike--maybe 15 minutes--but it was pretty steep in some places!  I love this picture--the kids went along with us, holding our hands the whole way!  Lol.  we aren't too coordinated in the jungles!

The view up there was just amazing.

Another of the days, we did another hike.  A longer and more intense hike.  So...we had to wear some hardcore hiking outfits that day:

Here's a close up...pretty awesome, right?  At the height of fashion!  Haha!

It is NOT easy hiking in a long skirt...

It was totally worth it, though!

Another day, the people planned a mumu.  A mumu is when they dig a hole in the ground, heat up some stones, put food in the hole, cover it up with the hot stones, and it just slow cooks.  It's a traditional sort of feast.  

All the ladies peel, chop and ready the vegetables...

While the men do the fire and get that all ready.  Here they are, putting in the veggies...

And then, a few hours later--it's all done cooking!  Everyone gathered around to eat food, cut meat, and divide it all out to each family in the village. 

Here's our portion :)

The people also surprised us that day by doing a traditional war dance...this is a custom that they used to do, before the Gospel.  I don't know all the details of it, but basically it was a dance that they believed the spirits wanted them to do, and I think it was in times of war with other tribes.  So some of the younger ones dressed up in the traditional way, and they did that dance for us.  Pretty amazing.

Afterward, Faimpat (a very strong believer in the village) got up and gave a message to everyone there.  He made it VERY clear that this was a custom that they did before the Gospel--that they do not do this anymore.  Now, they trust Jesus and they do not fear spirits.  He said the same thing over and over in many ways, to make sure we understood, and also to remind his people over and over.  It was so awesome to watch.

Whew!  As you can see, our days were full.  At the end of each day, we were so tired!  Emily and I loved getting underneath our pink twin-sized mosquito net each night :)

It was cozy in there!  And it made us feel safer from big spiders :) What a fun, bonding experience this week was.  I am so thankful for Emily and the friendship that we share!  What a gift--totally God's grace!

On our last morning, we packed up and said goodbye to the people...

And to the missionaries.  We are so grateful to these guys for investing in us that week!  Jon and Susan, thank you so much!  We love you and we are so thankful we could learn from you!

And then, we were off to Wewak.  Back to real life...it was so good to hug our husbands and our kids at the airport!

Please pray for the Hewa people.  Some of them have the gospel, praise the Lord!  But there are still so many of them who are completely cut off from the Gospel.  Would you please pray for our team, that God will guide us where He wants us to be?