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?

Hewa: Part Two

(Click here for Part One).

So...Emily and I received our hubbies back from their trip to Hewa.  What a joyful reunion!  They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and it is SO true. We loved hearing all of their stories of the sweet Hewans, and LOVED looking at all the pictures!  

Well, about a week and a half later, it was a Monday morning.

I was getting ready to start homeschooling the kids, on my way across our long porch to hang a load of laundry, when I walked past David and Emily's house.  Nathan was in there, talking to them...and David came outside and asked me (with a funny smile on his face)..."Hey, do you and Emily want to go visit Hewa?  In one hour?"

I said, "WHAAT? One hour??  Are you nuts?? I'm not that spontaneous!"  But Emily was right there smiling at me, saying, "I'm down with it!  If you are!"  Lol.  She's so good for me ;) 

So, what happened is:  There are some support missionaries here in Wewak, named Brian and Rachael.  They have two kids, and they were planning to go into Hewa so Brian could build a little medical clinic for Yifki village.  Their whole family was going to go in, and his wife would be there to encourage the Yifki missionaries and help with the cooking, etc.  Oh, and also, they had a woman visiting from a supporting church in the US (Stacy), along with her 19 year old son (Ben).  Those two were going to go in with Brian and Rachael, and Ben would help Brian build the clinic, while Stacy would help with cooking and just being with the people.  Well, anyway, on the morning that they were supposed to fly in to Hewa, Rachael and one of their young boys woke up very sick, with pretty high fevers.  So last minute, Rachael and her two sons weren't able to go...which is so so sad.  Especially since she had her friend Stacy visiting from the States!  Now, Stacy and her son Ben would have to go in with just Brian...and it all happened at the last minute, so they couldn't even let the missionaries in Hewa know any of this.

Lol!  Did you follow all of that?  Again, so many details!

Well.  Nathan and David found out about all of this that Monday morning, and the plane was scheduled to leave in one hour...and they thought of the idea, Hey!  We wanted our wives to be able to visit Hewa!  This could be an answer to prayer!  They could see the village and meet the missionaries, and also be a blessing by helping to cook and encourage!

So they asked us.  And Emily right away was totally on board!  Me...I wanted to go, but yet it was so last minute!  And I wouldn't have a chance to give Nathan any instruction about homeschooling, the house was a mess, I hadn't prepared any food, blah blah blah.  But Emily's enthusiasm wore off on me, and I started warming up to the idea!

We called Brian to see if they would even WANT us to come along, and he said YES!  Especially Stacy-- she was so glad that she would have two more ladies coming along with her!

By the time we heard for sure that they wanted us to go along, we had thirty minutes to pack and be out the door.  Oh. My. Word.  That was a CRAZY thirty minutes!  I (with Nathan's help) just pretty much threw stuff into bags, donned a long skirt (what we need to wear in Hewa), and hurriedly told the kids, "Hey!  I'm going to visit a tribe this week! And we have to be at the airport in a half hour!"  Haha, it was so funny!  They were like, "What?  You mean like right now you are going to a tribe??"  Lol.

We were out the door so fast.  I was praying I didn't forget anything!  I instagrammed this picture on the way to the airport...I think it is an accurate picture of my feelings, but don't let Nathan's sad look fool you.  He was super pumped that I was getting to go into Hewa!  Although I'm sure there was some sadness mixed in ;) 

Right before we boarded the plane...

Our awesome pilot, John; Brian (the one who had to leave his sick family at home last minute...such a bummer for them!); Ben and Stacy (their friend and her son from the States) and Em and me.  It was a fun group!

Us ladies...(Emily and I were super excited to spend some time with Stacy!  She actually spoke earlier that weekend at a ladies' retreat here in Wewak...and we were super encouraged by her.  What a godly woman with an amazing testimony.  It was such a privilege to spend a week with her in Hewa!)

It's just pretty crazy to fly for an hour over straight jungle, and then look down and see a grass airstrip!  Wow.  This is Yifki village.

We all got off the plane (surprised the Yifki missionaries big time when Emily and I stepped off the plane!  They were so happy that we could come visit, after our husbands had just been there!).  Soon after we all hugged and talked a bit, the plane took off again.  I love how tons of the people stood right behind the plane, getting blown like CRAZY by the wind it created!  So funny!

And there we were, just me and Emily without our hubbies or kids for 5 days.  We were so stoked to be there!  And still sort of in disbelief that it happened so quickly!  Lol.  It was just two hours before this that I was planning to go hang my laundry and homeschool my kids and have a normal day!  God is so awesome.

Okay, Hewa Part Three is coming up!  I don't want to burn you out with mile long blogposts!

Hewa: Part One

Thank you all for praying us through our recent tribal experiences!  Whew.  Our life has been a whirlwind lately!  It's time to catch you all up on what we've been up to!

Okay, so a bit of background is needed.  Remember how I have mentioned that we've been having lots of team discussions with our partners (David and Emily)?  And we have been researching different tribes and praying lots about where God might be leading us?  

Well, just here in the Sepik region of PNG alone, there are probably around eight different tribal groups that we could go to.  This means that the tribe has communicated with New Tribes that they want missionaries to come to them, and then they have been surveyed by New Tribes as a strategic place for a missionary team to allocate.  And then, after all of that, they get put on a sort of "list"...and we've spent lots of time pouring over that list!  And praying over it as well.

Okay.  So.  About Hewa.  

Hewa is a people group here in PNG.  It is located in a mountainous area, and it is a pretty big people group.  Sixteen years ago, a team of missionaries moved in to Hewa and began working to learn the language with hopes of planting a church.  (Some of you might remember Sarah's blogpost a couple of months ago, she did a giveaway of a book called Canopy of Darkness.  That book is about Hewa.  Check it out!  It's an amazing book that tells about the early years of the missionaries being in the tribe.)

Okay, stay with me!  So many details to explain.  Anyway, as time passed, the missionaries (Jon and Susan) began to realize that the Hewa language is actually made up of several different dialects--and many of the dialects cannot understand each other at ALL (so they could probably just be considered completely different languages...)  What this means is, the bible translation that Jon has worked on for so many years will only be understood by about a third of the Hewans--not all of them.  To finish this Hewa work, and say that the Hewa people have been reached by the Gospel--there needs to be two more teams of missionaries to work in other dialects.  This is a huge job!  But it needs to be done right--and that means, finishing the work.  Making sure that ALL of the Hewa people have a chance to hear the Gospel and read the Bible in their language!

Now.  Hewa is just one of the tribes that we (us and David and Emily) are looking at.  We need to pray about it a TON, and also our guys will need to go on an extensive survey to check out possible locations, dangers, desires of the Hewa people, etc.  So we don't know yet, but we are praying.

Well, about a month ago, Nathan and David began to think about trying to get in and visit Hewa (the village is called Yifki--where Jon and Susan work among the Hewans.  There is also another missionary family in there now--maybe some of you have read the Tribal Wife blog that's on the sidebar of my blog?  That's Jessi!  In recent years they have joined Jon and Susan to help in this church plant)

Nathan and David checked the flight schedule and figured out a time that they could get a flight into Yifki.  They had SUCH a good trip!  (also, check out my last blog post to see a play by play of how Emily and I coped without our hubbies that week!)

They flew in...to this GORGEOUS area!

Their week was filled with talking to the missionaries about Hewa and talking to the Hewa people (some of the people know some Tok Pisin--not very much, but a little bit).  They spent lots of time with the Hewa men--hiking with them, and just being with them.  They hiked to one man's house in the jungle, and slept in it one night.  This man is a believer, and that night Nathan and David listened to John Michael (the missionary--Jessi's husband) talk with him about the Lord and then he read out loud from his Bible (the translation that Jon has worked on).  So they spent two hours listening to this man talk about God and read the Bible in his own language!  Nathan said he and David kept looking at each other thinking that this was for real just the coolest thing EVER.

Also, they had another awesome experience...

There was one man who hiked with them to see a huge rock in the middle of a big river.  This man told Nathan and David that his dad used to be a witch doctor, and he had grown up in total FEAR of this big rock.  His dad had always told him that spirits lived in it, and that the spirits would eat him if he got close to it.  Well, now, this man is a believer!  He trusts Jesus now, and he doesn't fear spirits any longer.  As if to prove this, he took Nathan and David to see this rock, and then he swam across the raging river to stand triumphantly on the rock!  Just amazing.  The power of the Gospel is so beautiful!

Our hubbies were also in Yifki over a weekend, which meant that they could attend church alongside the believers.  What a privilege!

One last thing.  Right now, there is a man in Yifki who hiked (a five day hike)--from another Hewa village.  This man's name is Pisu, and his village has asked many times for New Tribes to send missionaries to them.  They speak one of those other dialects, so the people in Yifki can't even understand Pisu (there are one or two people there who can understand him just a little bit, though).  Anyway, Nathan and David got to meet him and sit with him.  It's just so crazy, you guys.  Pisu doesn't speak any Tok Pisin, and he doesn't speak the dialect that they speak in Yifki.  He is COMPLETELY cut off from the Gospel.  What an overwhelming thing.  It is very clear that this will be an amazing opportunity for some missionary team--we are just asking God if it will be us.  Here is Pisu, sitting with Nathan:

Well, our guys came back from their Yifki trip super encouraged and also burdened for the Hewa people.  They told us all about it, and they told Emily and I that they would LOVE for us ladies to get in to Yifki at some point, just to meet the people and talk to the missionaries...but we didn't have any idea how we could ever make that work!  At least not anytime soon.  Our whole month of August is completely booked up, and life is just crazy right now!  But we prayed about it...and we all know that God works in crazy ways when His children pray!!  If you follow me on instagram or facebook, then you know how God answered our prayers...But I will pick up this story in the next post :)

While our men were away...

Us wives could FEEL your prayers! 

Last week Friday, I hugged this studly husband of mine goodbye.  He and David (our coworker) were taking a trip into a tribe...kind of a "pre-survey" trip, you might call it.  Just to connect with the missionaries who are in there, and learn lots more about this tribe.  The tribe is big and there are multiple languages within it--so more missionaries are needed to go to those other languages!  

He is so handsome, isn't he? (lol, I can tell we've been apart for a few days...I MISS him!!!) 

A group pic before the guys took off 

Emily and I love our kids to pieces...but we knew that the next 6 days would feel LONG.  Thankful for your prayers and God's grace!  Also...these past few days have really helped me to think about single parents and pray for them more.  It is no small task for sure...thankful for a gracious God!

So, what have we been up to since our men have been gone?  Here are some snapshots of our past 6 days...

Friday:

Nathan and David left in the morning.  Emily and I returned to the base and got our GAME FACE on.  Time to tackle 6 days without our hubbies!

On Friday afternoon, I sent Kaine and Halle on a boat ride with about 20 other kids--and 2 adults (gulp.  I was praying they would be safe!)  Anyway, here is the truck, leaving with all those kids to get on the boat, go out to an island, explore, swim, etc.  Kaine and Halle had a BLAST.  And I was so happy to see them return safe and sound!

I had a tea party with Layla, Daisy and Calvin while the older kids were on the boat...Cuties :)

Saturday: 

I took my kids over to Emily's house (which is about 5 feet away from my front door)--for Saturday morning pancakes and cartoons!  Look at Em...she was flipping those pancakes like a pro!

Honestly, Saturday was kind of depressing.  It was a cloudy, dreary day with no rain or wind...just stagnant, humid, cloudy heat.  Actually, I don't even remember anything that we did that day!  Except I had a movie night with my kids that night...we made it special by putting butter on the popcorn :)  Trying to make traditions for when daddy goes on trips like this (because there will be more trips like this in the future!)

That night, I decided to bring the kids into my bedroom to sleep.  I thought that will be another fun tradition, something to help when daddy isn't home.  It's less scary at night, too, when all my kids are in the room with me!  A big slumber party :)  So I have had mattresses covering my bedroom floor for the past few days...I think it's worth it though!

Waking up beside these cuties is a joy!  But I can't wait to have their dad back ;)  

Sunday:

I walked up to the upper NTM base in the morning, to have a friend help me look in Kaine's ear with an otoscope (Kaine hasn't felt 100% these past few days).  While I was gone, my girls discovered a huge spider in our house!  They went running to Emily, but when she saw it, she told the girls to go and get Uncle Jason ;) So Jason came and saved the day...no more spider!

I did church with my kids...we watched some sermon clips and listened to some songs and talked about missions.  It's good to remind them (and remind myself)--just WHY we are here in PNG.  It's crazy that we could forget, but you know--we can just get into a routine and start focusing on small trivial things--and forget the vision.  It was actually a really amazing morning with my kids, just talking through that stuff!

Oh, plus God gave us a really sunny and beautiful day on Sunday--such an improvement from Saturday!  Thank you, Jesus!

Our good friends took us to the beach!  (Here in PNG, it isn't safe for me to go to town without Nathan...so we are kind of just stuck on the base while our husbands are gone.)  So, we were so thankful that Jay and Krista brought us to the beach along with their family!  Thanks guys!

All of us ladies in our polka dots ;)  

We found a shark head in the water! 

Monday:

The Fourth of July!!

Emily brought my girls and Louise fourth of July dresses from America...and I failed to get a picture :(  But just trust me that our girls looked ADORABLE!!  Thanks, Em!

We had a big wiffle ball game (so fun for Kaine!  He loves baseball and that's one sport they don't do to much here in PNG!)  I was bummed that Nathan wasn't here--he would have LOVED it!

They set up a massive slip n slide for the kids...it was amazing and the kids had such a blast!

Then we all ate a picnic...

At 7:00 that night, we tried to call our guys on the radio.  But sadly, all we could hear was static :(

Louise tried talking to her daddy...she is just adorable!  She says, "Daddy?  leave?  daddy?  leave?"  So sad :(

That night after we got home, I sent the kids up to shower, and Daisy came downstairs with bangs!  Lol!  I thought we were going to get through this stage of life, with no kids cutting their own hair!  But nope.  Daisy cut her hair on Monday night--but I will admit that she did a decent job!

Oh, also...our family was due for our deworming medication.  We will have to take it about every six months--yuck!  And yep, just like they told us--we found out that we need it now ;) We'll just leave it at that!  Kaine got creative and stuffed his into an apple slice (chewable meds are SO gross!!)

Tuesday:

Today!  The last day!!!

Daisy woke up early...and early morning technology isn't something we usually our kids do.  But man, by day six?  I told her, yep, go ahead ;) Mommy needs time with Jesus!

Calvin joined us for breakfast...

And Halle helped him to put an "X" on the countdown!  ONE DAY until daddy comes home!

Okay, I think that pretty much takes us up to the present...and here I am, blogging at 11 pm and cooking chic-hams and getting excited to see Nathan tomorrow!

Cannot wait to get these guys back!  And Emily and I are SO excited to hear all about their trip!