Jill's Travel Journal

Refined by Fire

2012-01-24T00:28:00.000-06:00

From Jill's Journal Summer 2010:

Refined by Fire In Samban, men will spend months carving out a canoe. First, they must get the right kind of tree for the canoe and then they begin the hard work of carving the canoe so that it can travel through the water carrying them and their cargo. I was surprised to learn that at the end of this process they burn the canoe inside and out with fire. The fire causes the wood to create a tough skin which prevents the wood from going rotten from the constant exposure to water. If a canoe is not cooked in the fire, it would rot and fall apart quickly. A canoe made from good wood and cooked well will last for many years. In the same way, when we are exposed to various trails we develop a stronger faith. Isaiah 48:10 says, “See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” In Romans 5:3-5, we find that “we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

Village Checking and Back Translation Course

2012-01-23T21:48:00.000-06:00

The day for everyone to travel to Nob Nob for the village checking and back translation course was rainy and cloudy. I was already in Madang, but as I loaded my car to go the office, I prayed that it wouldn’t last, because it would make traveling difficult, if not impossible. Most of the planes that we use to travel from the village to Madang cannot fly through clouds and so would not be able to pick up people for the course if the rain continued. After I got my car loaded up, I discovered that the battery was dead. I was able to get a ride into town and start the day of waiting and rescheduling everything due to the rain. Getting up to Nob Nob was a challenge, because it is on top of a mountain and the road is a one-lane gravel road. Some of the interns and I did make it to get set up, but the rain did not stop. The next day, I was in charge of the entire course because Martha Wade, my co-teacher, was still in Pasinkap waiting for a plane to pick her up. Those who had made it up to Nob Nob with me, began working on translating the shellbooks, How the Jews Lived. This series of books provides cultural information that will assist nationals in understanding foreign concepts found in the Bible. Fortunately, the rain cleared off the next day and all the planes were able to fly out to pick up everyone and we were able to start just a day later than scheduled on the village checking and back translation course. On the village checking side, Martha taught how to check the translation against the Tok Pisin Bible. This will improve the accuracy of the translations that they produce. On the back translation side, I taught how to write a back translation and gloss of the translation. The back translation and gloss will help the advisor who does not know the language to understand what the text is saying to evaluate its accuracy. Throughout the course, we did several dramas to stimulate conversations about issues in translation like how to work with co-workers, protect data, and deal with criticism. It was a productive time of working through drafts and learning. Please pray that the language groups who went through this course will put these skills to use.

Intern's Come for a Visit

2012-01-23T21:43:00.000-06:00

From Jill's Journal Summer 2010:

The interns had an interesting time out in Samban. Initially, I was not sure if they would be able to come because of lack of rain. We did not receive any significant rain, but the missionary family in the neighboring village offered to let us use their rain water. We used the rain water for drinking and cooking and we used the well water for washing. My waspapa has a well that does not go dry even during very dry periods. The interns were welcomed off the plane by a singsing group comprised of adults and children. The children were studying traditional singsings in school and decided to show off to their new guests. The interns were impressed and honored. The interns then spent the next two weeks learning Tok Pisin, making friends, and learning what life is like in the village. They learned how to make sago, how to work in the garden, and how to make toys and decorations out of coconut fronds. The guys had the opportunity to go spear fishing and went on a canoe trip to Angoram. The ladies went with me by canoe to Latten for a Bible study of James. We all hiked to Simbri for a visit. They also had the opportunity to observe me working with my new translation team in drafting texts and checking materials. It was a very full and busy time. Please be in prayer for these individuals as they pray for God’s guidance regarding their role in the ministry of Bible translation.

Checking of James

2012-01-23T20:51:00.000-06:00

From Jill's Journal Winter 2009: Since my last newsletter, I’ve participated in two checking sessions for the book of James. The first one was in August when Martha Wade, the Director of Language Affairs, came to Samban to do the exegetical check of James. I was able to assist with a little of this checking, but for the most part I was listening and observing. Martha and Maso Leko, the national translator, worked through the text to make sure that it was clearly translating the concepts that James’ wrote in his epistle. It took the entire week to work through the five chapters. Next, Maso had to go through and make corrections based on this checking session. He then printed out several copies and gave them to men in the village to read through. These men, Maso, and I met in early October to do a village checking. The main focus on this checking session was to make sure that it made sense to everyone and that the text was clear and understandable. Through this checking session, we found some things that did not make sense to the men. For example in James 4:7, it says to resist (or push away) the devil and he will flee from you. Well, to the men, the devil is not a man that you can push away so they had to find another way to translate this section. Maso quickly made the revisions based on this checking session. While I’m in town, I will be sending it to the consultant who is scheduled to come and do the consultant checking next year.

Dog and Cat Dynamics

2012-01-23T20:48:00.001-06:00

Dori, my cat, is used to being a one cat family. Now she has to share my attention with the new puppy, Honey, and she is not happy about this new development. Just the sight of Honey will cause her to arch her back and hiss. It doesn’t matter that the dog is asleep, she will hiss and go into attack mode. This is usually detrimental for her sake. If she hisses at the sleeping dog, the dog will awake and want to “play” with her. Dori is not interested in playing. The only thing that would make her happy is a Honey-free environment. This is not going to happen so hopefully Dori will learn to tolerate her new sibling. It appears unlikely that Dori will change her attitude about the dog. As Christians, we should consider how we interact with people. Is there anyone in your life that you have a similar reaction to? As soon as you see them or hear about them, you start remembering some hurtful thing that they did to you or someone you love. You tense up when they are around. Just like Dori’s reaction is not beneficial to her, this reaction is very hurtful to us. It seriously damages our Christian walk. This is bitterness that will eat away at your soul like a cancer. If you find this in your life, please pray that God will help you let go of this bitterness.

Looking for Legs

2012-01-23T20:14:00.000-06:00

From Jill's Journal Winter 2009:

During my last village visit, I translated and revised several shell books. These books are set up to be very simple to translate. The pictures are already there and all you have to do is insert the text. One of the books that I set out to revise was called Looking for Legs or Sipag Ladup. I already had a translated version, but I needed to check to make sure that it was written in good Ap Ma. I gave it to one of my language helpers to look over. She made some significant changes which gave me insight into the Ap Ma culture. In this book, a boy goes on a walk and counts legs for each of the creatures that he encounters. The first creature that he encountered was a snake (kobe). The snake had no legs. Then, the boy sees a bird (awon). The bird has two legs. The boy finds a rat (lebon) which has two arms and two legs. Wait a minute! Doesn’t a rat have four legs? Not in Ap Ma. They view rats as having two arms and two legs. Ants (yilii) have two arms and four legs. Spiders (pebçla) have four arms and four legs. Whoever first translated this shell book had just followed the Tok Pisin. But in order for this book to be really translated into Ap Ma, it needed to reflect the Ap Ma’s view of how many legs and arms creatures have.

Teaching at Gandep Bible College

2012-01-23T20:10:00.000-06:00

From Jill's Journal Winter 2009Teaching at Gandep is nothing like teaching at the university. For the last two weeks, I worked with a couple of other PBT missionaries to teach a class consisting of 6 different language groups. In order to communicate effectively, we used the trade language, Melanesian Pidgin. I was a little concerned about teaching in Pidgin, but I think it worked out ok despite my fumbling efforts. The students were all very enthusiastic in their work. Each day, we began the class with prayer, devotions, and singing worship songs. Prayer and the worship songs were done in the various languages. When it was the Ap Ma group’s turn to lead the morning worship, I stood in the front and sang with them. I was encouraged that I could actually understand most of what they were singing and saying when they lead.

The main purpose of this two week class was to teach the students how to teach a Scripture in Use (SIU) course in their own language. For the first week, we translated materials for them to use as a guide when they go back to their villages and run a course. We created a teacher’s book with an outline of the course and directions for each portion of the text. We also created study guide books based on which books they already have translated into their language. Some of the language groups only had Luke, some only had Mark, and there were a couple with the entire New Testament. Each teacher’s guide and study guide had to reflect what the language group actually had translated. It would be too confusing to just leave everything in the book. The students would work on the translation of the material all day during the class. Then they would go home and continue to translate, edit and revise. It was amazing to see their willingness and excitement.

The second week, we began to demonstrate the course and ask the students to practice teaching the course. We would show what should happen during day 1 of the course. Each day followed a basic pattern with lots of Scripture reading, information about their alphabet, answering basic comprehension questions, and lessons on how to use the basic tools in the Bible (like footnotes, maps, and parallel references). To help them find Scripture verses with more ease, we taught them how to do “Sword Drills” (I remember playing this in Jr. church). If you’ve never done a Sword Drill, here is what happens: you make sure all the students have their Bibles closed and then you call out a verse. The first person to find it stands up and reads it. It was a little more complicated since we had different Scripture portions for different language groups. We had to give verses from both Mark and Luke and then have one from each read. We also taught games to help with Scripture memorization. In one game, we would write the memory verse on the board and then slowly erase words as we continued to read it over and over until all the words were gone. In another game, we used a ball made out of a coconut leaf. We passed the ball around and said the memory verse. By the end of the second week, the students had demonstrated all five days of the course. Many indicated a desire to do this course in their village. Please pray that they will be able to remember all that they have learned and that God will provide them wisdom and skills to help their people read and study God’s word in their own language.

Family Relationships in Ap Ma

2009-11-04T21:49:00.001-06:00

Family relationships in my language group are a little different from the way we see things in the States. I’m slowly learning how things work in this system. When I moved to Painington, I was adopted into Maso Leko’s family as his daughter. This served to help everyone understand how to relate to me. Suddenly, I have more brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, moms, and dads than I ever thought possible. In some ways, I see this as a partial fulfillment of Jesus’ promise in Matthew 19:29: “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, shall receive many times as much, and shall inherit eternal life.”
Maso and his wife, Dani, are my mom (ñam) and dad (ape), but also Maso’s younger brother and his wife are considered my parents as well. Dani’s siblings are my aunts (moge) and uncles (yom). In this culture, your uncles have the special right to tease and joke with you and so I’ve got a few uncles who enjoy teasing me. There are some relationships that are so special that you do not even think about teasing them. You cannot even say their village names. You refer to these relations by their relationship name (ga or mo). These are usually in-laws. Maso and Dani’s children are my brothers (agog) and sisters (abue). The children of Maso’s siblings are also my brothers and sisters. The children of Dani’s siblings are my cousins.

Frequently, I have people who can relate to me on more than one relationship level. For example, there is one person that is my older sister (ma) is also my mother (ñam). One of my language teachers is my mother (ñam) and my aunt (moge), because she is Maso’s sister and married Dani’s brother. This marriage arrangement is called a senis marriage. This is considered one of the best kinds of marriage, because both sides of the family receive compensation through the children of both marriages. Otherwise, there is the need to do a ceremony to pay for the privilege of having children through the marriage. There are still many things for me to learn and understand about how the Ap Ma people view family.

Stovetop Meltdown

2009-11-04T21:48:00.002-06:00

One night, I ran out of gas to run the stove top right in time to make dinner. I asked Maso, the national translator, to come and help me to switch the gas bottles. He did and in the process fiddled with the burners adjusting the strength. After he left, I started to cook the soup that my roommate and I would eat for dinner. It was while I was waiting for the soup to boil that I noticed a strange smell. I went over to the burner and notice that there were heat waves coming up from the front of the stove top. As I started to investigate more, the front of the stove top where the dials to adjust the temperature are started to melt. I, quickly, switched the stovetop off and decided that the soup was done enough for dinner. My roommate and I decided that we would switch to over-the-fire cooking. I was grateful that I had ordered an oven from town and it was scheduled to arrive in the village in a little over a week. This is just another example of God taking care of me. He prompted me to check on the soup so that stovetop meltdown did not become a serious fire. He also prompted me to order the stove before I was even aware of how much I needed it.

Finding the “H” message

2009-11-04T21:46:00.001-06:00

Many of you have already read my prayer update about how I check email in the village through the radio. It’s not as instantaneous as the States. Unfortunately, I’ve also had a bit of difficulty with downloading my email messages. When all your messages are sent, the email program sends an ‘H’ message. This ‘H’ message should also appear when you have finished receiving all your messages. I usually get the ‘H’ message for sending my emails, but I rarely receive the ‘H’ message for receiving. This makes me wonder if there are emails for me floating out in the server. I hope not. If you haven’t heard from me and you sent me an email awhile back, please resend. Meanwhile, I’m trying to find the elusive ‘H’ message.

Getting out of Gandep

2009-11-04T21:32:00.002-06:00

As our stay drew to an end, we began thinking about how we were going to get back to Madang. We would be taking the same road that took us to Gandep in the first place. The only complication was that the tractor was officially broken. This meant that we were going to have to walk to the river. Fortunately, the students carried all of our stuff so we just had to carry ourselves. We started out at first light around 6am. I had been praying since Thursday for no rain. Praise God, He answered. We had not had rain since Thursday. The path was relatively dry. We were able to complete our hike in a little under 3 hours. At the river, we said good-bye to the students, loaded up the canoe and set off toward Bunapast. The canoe ride went by slowly, but with no problems. When we arrived, the car we had arranged was there to pick us up. As we were loading, the driver informed us that he had had a flat tire on the way out so there was no spare tire. I began praying that we would not have a flat tire on the way home.

Everything was going fine. We loaded into the car and enjoyed the scenery as we drove along. We had just past Bogia when the driver stopped to make a phone call. He started up again and there was an odd noise. He stopped. The front passenger side tire was very, very flat. The driver began to inquire about how to get a replacement tire and we prayed. I specifically prayed that God would provide us a tire. We were in front of the Holy Spirit High School so we asked if they had a tire we could borrow. They did not. Our driver already knew that there were no places open to fix tires. It was Saturday afternoon and everything was closed. Another car pulled over and asked what was wrong. When they heard our problem, they offered their spare tire. They were driving a similar vehicle, but sadly, the tire did not fit. They then took our very flat tire and tried to find a place to fix it. First, they went to Bogia, but the person who normally fixes tires wasn’t there. Then, they went to a village somewhere in the other direction. Meanwhile, we used a cell phone that we had brought along in case something like this happened. We called the Director of Logistics for PBT and she and her husband began the long journey from Madang to come and get us.

Meanwhile, we spoke with the science teacher at the high school. She just happened to be the sister-in-law to our driver. She was concerned about our situation and stayed with us the whole afternoon until the evening just to make sure that we were taken care of. Just as it was getting dark, another car pulled up. The man driving was obviously drunk. When he found out that we needed a tire, he offered us his spare one. He just said to bring it back the next time we came through. Then he drove off. His spare wasn’t in the greatest shape. It was bald, but it wasn’t flat and it fit. The guys put it on the car, but they were not willing to leave until the other tire returned from trying to be fixed. Just as they finished putting the tire on, the first car that pulled over to help us arrived. He had found someone to fix the tire and they had worked all afternoon on it with no success. We loaded up the flat tire in the back and started the car again in hopes of meeting the couple coming to get us a little closer to Madang. We didn’t drive very far before we found them. They followed us all the way back to Madang. It was a very long day, but we arrived back in Madang safe and sound. It was amazing to see all of the generosity, hospitality, and kindness that God lavished on us through the Papua New Guineas we encountered during the day.

Getting to Gandep

2009-11-04T19:07:00.002-06:00

Gandep is a nice place… Once you get there. Many of asked where Gandep is and I’ll have to confess that I’m still not completely sure where it is on the map. To get to Gandep, we – myself and two other PBT ladies, started our journey at 5am on Saturday, October 17, 2009. We drove along the North Coast Highway for many hours. (Just a quick disclaimer, the North Coast Highway is not anything like highways in the States. It is mostly paved, but there are several large pot holes that make going fast nearly impossible. Of course, the large number of children, animals, and adults walking along the highway would encourage cautious driving too.)

We stopped at the Malala Market for one of our drivers to pick up a snack and to stretch our legs. When we got in the truck to resume our journey, it wouldn’t start. Some young men hanging around the market gave us a running start and we were on our way again. We decided not to stop the truck again, so later when we decided to stop for a potty break we left the truck running while we all went to the bush.

Around 9:30am, we arrived at Bunapast and got in a canoe with all of our baggage. The canoe ride was 5 hours. Fortunately, the sky was overcast so we didn’t get too hot, but unfortunately, it rained so we all were completely wet and cold by the end of that leg of the trip. It was around 2pm when we arrived at our next destination to meet the tractor that would carry us and all our stuff to Gandep. The tractor wasn’t there.

Our canoe driver, Joe, said, “Wait in the canoe, I’ll go put my ear to the road for the tractor.” He climbed up the river bank and disappeared from view. An hour or so later, another canoe came carrying a family. The parents were teachers at a local school and they had their two young children with them. They had heard that that tractor would be coming and they were there to pick up some children to go back to school. We visited with them and shared our crackers.

At about 4pm, we traveled over to the other side of the river so we could come up on the radio to get information about the tractor. We found out that because of the rain, the tractor had slid in a muddy area near a “bridge.” The driver was afraid of falling in the river so he had returned to Gandep. They promised that the tractor would come tomorrow. So we unpacked the canoe into the transit house and set up our mosquito nets. We shared the two-room transit house with the family waiting for the children. There wasn’t really a place to change or wash so we all went to bed in our wet clothes. I was very glad that I packed a blanket.

The next morning, after a quick visit to the bush, I asked some people standing around about a pot for boiling water. The one of the ladies lent me her pot, also got me water, and started the fire for me. We had a breakfast of coffee and crackers. Then we inquired as to where church was held. Joe explained that it was back across the river. We asked if there were any canoes that we could use to row across the river and not use up our fuel. He said he would ask around. A little later, he came to collect us and we all climbed into a motor canoe. As it turned out, one of the families on that side of the river heard about our plight and lent us their canoe and fuel to get to church. We were able to worship with a church in Tok Pisin and also share our reason for coming to Gandep. They seemed very interested.

Right as church was ending, the tractor appeared. We made the journey back to the other side of the river to collect all of our baggage and reload the canoe. Then we returned to wait for the tractor some more. It arrived only a few minutes after we had unloaded all of our baggage. However, it was missing the trailer. The trailer had broken sometime in the last few months and it hadn’t been fixed yet. The driver’s eyes got really big when he saw how much baggage we had, but he was able to creatively get all of it and us on the tractor.

Then we began our final leg of our journey to Gandep. The tractor was going pretty good and then all of a sudden it would stop moving, but the engine was still running. Initially, I thought that he was trying to navigate a particularly challenging area of the path, but as we moved on I didn’t see any mud holes. It stopped again, but this time the engine quit too. After the driver had tinkered with the tractor for a bit, we decided to start walking. We would send the students back to get all of the baggage once we arrived at Gandep. We only walked for a little bit before we heard the tractor coming behind us. When it caught up with us, we loaded on again. We hadn’t gotten very far before it stopped again. This time, we didn’t wait for any tinkering, we just started walking. As we walked, we would occasionally hear the tractor start up, but soon after it would always stop. Eventually, it caught up and picked us up again. This time, we were able to make it all the way to Gandep. We had enough daylight left to unpack before it was time for the evening service.

Angoram Trip

2009-08-15T00:44:00.004-05:00

The national translator, Maso, was taking his two oldest children back to school in Wewak. He was going as far as Angoram and he wondered if I might want to go too. I asked the PBT directors and was granted permission. We were supposed to head out on Friday. Then that changed to Saturday. Finally, Sunday rolled around and that is when we were going to go, but then it rained. We left for Angoram at 3 am on Monday.

Maso has a motor canoe and we all piled into it with our bags. He was also carrying coconuts and bettlenut. As we traveled down the river to Angoram, we stopped at every village along the way to trade the coconuts and bettlenut for dried fish. The dried fish was for the Ap Ma Acts Dedication that was in a few weeks. I was told that it would only take a few hours to get to Angoram. Perhaps if we hadn't stopped at every village it would have, but it was definitely after 1 pm when we finally arrived. Even then, we didn't actually arrive at the house where we would be staying. We went to visit a family across the river. At this point, we were on the Sepik River which is huge and well known for its crocodile population.

As I exited the canoe to visit this family's outhouse, I misjudged the stability of the log I was stepping on and found myself in the water. My two was-sisters had quickly grabbed my arms so I didn't go all the way under, but I was wet from the waist down. It took a little while to get out of the water, because they were still holding my arms so I couldn't grab on to anything. After I got out, one of my sisters took me to the outhouse (hole in the ground with one blind). She apologized for letting me fall into the water. I laughed and said I just needed to wash.

I went back to the canoe. Then they explained that normally, if someone fell in that they would have to fall in the water too. If they had done that though, I would have had to buy a chicken to give to each person who fell in. Needless to say, I accepted the help of two men to get back in the canoe without falling. I wouldn't have been able to afford a chicken for every person. ;)

Then we went to Maso's house in Angoram. They had kept saying that they had a very good house in Angoram and for some reason, I had pictured in my mind a more western style house. After all, Angoram is a "town" with "stores" and "schools" and a clinic. The house was a very large bush house. The ladder up to the house has stairs that were a little tall, but I managed to navigate them ok. Once you got up the stairs, there was a medium sized porch area for people to sit and visit. The inside of the house had no divisions. There were a couple mosquito nets already set up and in one corner a place to cook. This very large room had no windows. The floor was made of bamboo. Some of the floor was a little weak so I quickly learned to avoid those areas.

They decided that I needed to wash after my fall in the river so I grabbed my washing stuff and my sister brought me over to the "washing" area. It was outside. There was a large barrel on one side with a wooden blind making up a second side, but the third and final side was open. They brought me a bucket of water to wash with and one of the ladies noticed my dilemma regarding privacy and lent me a laplap (a skirt). I put the laplap on and put up a towel and another laplap on the third side and proceed to wash off the best I could with the bucket. When I had finished, I returned the laplaps and went up into the house.

My was-sister decided that I must be hungry so she went into my bag and got my rice. She had already started cooking the whole kilo bag. I had brought the rice to last me for the whole trip. I ate a bowlful with tuna for my lunch and left the remainder in the pot for later.

I went to visit some of the national translator's relatives and to speak Ap Ma. We talked about family. They explained the different words for brother, sister, aunt, uncle, etc. They told me about their family and I told them about mine. Afterward, my was-sisters took me around "town" to show me the "stores." We went to three different stores. Each store consisted of a single room with various assorted goods. I bought some crackers, because they are easier to prepare than rice. That night for dinner, I had another bowlful of rice with more tuna.

After dinner, I worked on my bilum, string bag. My was-sister taught me how to do the net pattern bilum. It is a very simple bilum so I was able to finish it over the course of this trip.

I went to bed on a borrowed mattress. My was-family let me know that they would be taking their children to the PMV (Public Motor Vehicle) at 1 am. That is when you catch the PMV to Wewak. I was surprised the next morning to find the children still with us. The PMVs were all full because all the school children were returning to school that night. The next plan was to send them off at 1 pm. There would be another PMV pick up for Wewak at this time. Then we would leave for Samban that afternoon.

I was surprised to find that the rest of my rice had been eaten in the night. I let them know that this was what I had planned on eating throughout the trip. I ate one of the crackers that I had bought the day before for breakfast so I could take my malaria prophylaxis.

Tuesday, we toured more of Angoram. I went to visit the market, the clinic, and the high school where my sisters had previously gone. When it came time to wash, I decided that I would go with the rest of the ladies and bath in the Sepik River. It was a much better experience than the first washing experience. The children were advised not to go on the 1 pm PMV ride, because the roads were bad so their trip was delayed until the next pick up time of 1 am.

We went to sleep again planning on leaving early Wednesday morning. When I awoke on Wednesday, the children had left for Wewak, but it was now raining. We sat and waited for the rain to stop so we could leave. We were finally able to leave by 2 pm. As we were leaving, the medical boat arrived from our village. There had been a sick baby and they were bringing her to the clinic in Angoram. We left before they did, but they soon caught up with us, because they would travel faster.

We decided that I should switch boats so I would be able to check in with work to let them know that I was ok. We hurriedly traveled to the village of Wom where we were able to buy a phone card to call my office. I climbed up into the house and had to stand in a certain place holding the phone up above my head, but I was able to call and let my director know that I was heading back home. We made it back home around 6 pm that evening. I was exhausted.

Dori, the guard cat

2009-08-14T21:49:00.004-05:00

Dori, the guard cat, came into my life last June. She has already made one trip to the village with me. She's known as tripela pusi in the village which just means that she's a really big cat. Dori came from America on a boat with my director and his wife a few years ago. When they were heading back to the States, the director asked if I would take Dori.

Now Dori has begun adjusting to my transient life style and life on the land. Even when they got to Papua New Guinea, Dori lived on the boat. Dori does not like travel days or any changes period. When I move furniture around, it makes her upset. Dori also does not like it when I leave her alone in the village. She will sit in the window and cry for me to come back. The nationals usually tell me that she is worried about me when I leave her alone. Dori is not happy about Honey coming into our lives, but, hopefully, she will grow to tolerate her.

Dori has very expensive tastes. She likes Science Diet cat food (not available in PNG). She says if you would like to send her a care package, she would like Science Diet cat food, cat nip, or string toys.

Honey, my new puppy

2009-08-13T21:17:00.005-05:00

Here is my new puppy, Honey. I'm training her to be my guard dog in the village. Right now, I'm teaching her to come when I call and to walk on the leash. We will slowly work our way up to other tricks and basic obedience.

I was really blessed to get Honey. I let my coworkers at PBT know that I was looking for a guard dog. One of them noticed that the guard dog of a national friend had had puppies. She asked if one was available. Initially, there wasn't one. Then one day while I was still in the village, I received a message that there was a puppy available. The owners were willing to hold on to her until I got back to town and now I have a guard dog to protect me.

I certainly miss PetSmart or other related stores. If you notice in the picture that her collar is big on her, it's because that was the smallest collar available at the store. Hopefully, she will grow into it. Honey would love for you to send her a care package. Her wishlist includes chew toys, doggie treats, and tug of war toys.

Papua New Guinea Recipes

2009-06-11T03:50:00.004-05:00

A comment was made about how Western my previous posted recipes were. Here are a few recipes of things that I would make if I was having a Papua New Guinean over for dinner or if I were to eat with them, I would most likely be served these dishes. Rice must be served or it is not a meal. I have cooked and eaten all of these recipes.

GRUBS

A traditional Papua New Guinea recipe

Gather several dozen grubs. The best place to find them is in the rotting stump of a sago palm tree. Clean them in the stream. Bring a pot of coconut cream (recipe below) to a full boil. Drop in the grubs and cook until tender. Do not overcook. Alternate cooking method: Heat 1" of oil in a skillet. Drop in the grubs and cook until lightly browned.

PAPUA NEW GUINEAN COCONUT CREAM - A traditional Papua New Guinea recipe

Cut a ripe coconut in half, discarding the liquid. Remove coconut from shell. If you are in a place with electricity, cut into small chunks. Process in blender or food processor, adding enough water so that the coconut can be nearly liquified. If you don't have electricity, scrap the coconut to grate the meat out with a scraper. Strain the meat into a cooking pot, using a cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer. Squeeze all the liquid out of the gratings. Put the gratings into a bowl and add about 2 cups of water. Stir to work the water through the gratings. Strain as above; squeeze out all the liquid. Discard the gratings. Add water to the liquid in the cooking pot to make about four to six cups.

(Note: Fresh coconuts are often either very expensive or of questionable quality. You can substitute grated coconut if needed. The result will be sweet and thus not authentic but nevertheless it will work. To use grated coconut: Empty one 10-14 ounce bag coconut into a saucepan and cover with water at least 1" above the level of the coconut. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for at least 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and save the liquid. Put coconut into large bowl and cover with warm tap water. With your hands squeeze the coconut to work the water through it to extract all the flavor. Strain; discard what remains of the coconut--by now it should be tasteless fiber.) According to my Korak watch family, eating this tasteless fiber will turn your stomach.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA STYLE RICE

Prepare coconut cream as described above. Place desired amount of rice in the bottom of a cooking pot. Add enough coconut cream to fill the pan 1-½ inches above the level of the rice. (If you don't have enough coconut cream, add water so that you have enough liquid.) Once the water begins boiling, add salt to taste, about ½ t. per cup of rice.

Bring the rice to a boil. Boil about 5 minutes on high, uncovered. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes. Turn off heat. Leave covered; let stand for 5 to 10 minutes, until all liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA STYLE VEGGIES

(This is the main food eaten each day by most of of PNG--except in swampy areas, where grubs and sago are the mainstay. Papua New Guineans eat only one full meal each day, in the evening after dark. Those who can afford it will open a can of mackeral to serve with the soup. On special occasions chicken will be boiled with the veggies.)

Prepare coconut cream as described above. Bring to a boil. Add salt to taste. Add vegetables (suggestions below) and cook to desired doneness.

Coconut cream makes a delicious cooking liquid for spinach, potatoes, sweet potatoes, fresh pumpkin, winter squash, cooking bananas, green beans, etc.

(Some grocery stores with extensive produce sections occasionally carry taro and manioc/tapioc/casaba. If available, a small amount of either or both would be a nice authentic addition to a pot of PNG vegetables.)

PAPUA NEW GUINEA DRIED FISH

Frequently, I would receive more fish than I could eat in a day. The normal procedure would be then to dry the fish over the fire. First, you wash the fish in water. Then you start a very low and smokey fire. Place the fish directly on the grill above the fire. Cover the fish with broad leaves to trap the smoke around the fish. Maintain the fire while the fish dries. When the first side dries completely, turn the fish to dry the other side. Once the fish is fully dried, put up in a place where dogs and cats cannot get it. If you don't use the dried fish the first day, you must re-dry it over the fire every morning and evening until you do use it. The standard use was to flavor PNG veggies. To do this, first place the fish head directly in the fire. Then add the dried fish to the pot of boiling veggies. Allow to boil for a few minutes and then serve as a soup.

PMVs

2009-06-10T15:53:00.004-05:00

PMVs or public motor vehicles are a form of transportation in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Most people in PNG do not know how to drive much less own a car. Wherever you go, you can always see people walking. That is the most common form of transportation. The people of PNG are great walkers, but when the distance is too far to walk and there is a road, they will take a PMV. I have ridden on three types of PMVs.

The first type is called a dyna. It is a huge truck. If you are lucky, they have benches in the back for you to sit on. There are sides to attach the benches to and the back usually has some type of ladder to climb in to the back of the dyna. When going downhill, the best seat is in the back, because otherwise everyone will slide down on you and smash you. The Pacific Orientation Course that I attended had a couple of these to transport all of us around.

The nicest kind of PMV looks like a van. It has seats and windows and, if you are really lucky, air conditioning. I rode one of these to Madang from Nobnob for 1.50 Kina.

The last kind of PMV is just the back of a truck. It is customary when riding this type of PMV to sit on your shoes, because there is no seat or bench. The best place to sit is along the side so you can hold on to the edge of the truck bed. Frequently, you have other cargo in the truck bed with you. You hope that it doesn't rain while riding this type of PMV. In the village Korak, they had a truck PMV that took the children to school, the women to market, and sick people to the house sick. This PMV was called "Whiskey." In the language of Korak, Amako, this meant "Did you hear?" I rode in Whiskey many times. The picture below is going to market.All PMVs have one thing in common, they get crammed tight with people and things. We might think that there is not room for one more thing or one more person, but they know how to get it in.

Thanks Maggie for suggesting this topic.

Village Recipes

2009-06-08T20:07:00.007-05:00

Some people have asked about what types of food did I make during village living. Here are a few recipes. Keep in mind that I am cooking over a fire and for baked goods, I am using a drum oven.

Bread

Place in a bowl . . . 2 o 1 c warm water

2 o 1 tbsp yeast

2 o 1 tbsp sugar

1 o ½ tsp salt

Mix well until bubbles form.

Add to mixture . . . . 2 o 1 c flour

1 egg

1/3 o 1/6 c margarine o oil

Beat well.

Add 3 o 1 ½ c flour, then if mixture is not too dry add another cup o ½ of flour gradually. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes. Form into a ball. Let rise until double in size. Punch down. Shape as desired. Let rise again. Bake at #4 heat (200 C) for 40 minutes for a loaf and 15-20 for rolls. When cooked brush with margarine for a softer crust.

Makes 24 rolls or 1 ½ loaves.

Granola

6 c. rolled oats

½ c milk powder

1 c. oil

¼ c honey

½ c sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix it all together and place in a Bake N Fry. Stir over the fire until toasty, or bake in the drum oven for about an hour, stirring every 10-15 minutes.

Banana Bread

½ c butter

1 ¼ c sugar ( I usually use just 1 c)

2 eggs

1 ½ c bananas mashed

½ c buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

2 ½ c. flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 c. Walnuts chopped if available.

Mix it all together and bake until brown.

Easy Fudge

Boil in a saucepan until soft ball stage (a bit of fudge dropped into a cup of cold water will make a soft ball. About 5 minutes):

1 c sugar

¼ c cocoa

2 tbsp butter, margarine, oil, or peanut butter

¼ c milk or water

1/8 tsp salt

Remove from heat and add 1 tsp vanilla.

Beat until it loses its gloss. Spread in a greased pan. When cool, cut into squares.

Peanut butter fudge: omit butter and cocoa. Add ¼ c peanut butter.

Tuna Mornay

Onion

2 canned tuna

Canned corn

Jar of cheese

Saute 1 chopped onion. Add 2 tbsp flour and stir until cooked. Then add 1 c milk and stir until it thickens. Add 1 jar of cheese and mix well. Then add 2 small cans tuna and 1 can of corn and mix together. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve on rice or noodles.

Beef Stroganoff

Onion

Can of braised steak and onion

Cream of mushroom soup pack

Canned mushrooms

Worcestershire sauce

Yogurt or sour cream (optional)

Saute 1chopped onion. Add can of braised steak and onion. Mix cream of mushroom soup with water and add to mixture. Add Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Add the sour cream or yogurt at the end for a tangy favor.

Kumu with tin meat

Kumu (greens)

Oil

Onion

Chicken stock cube

Salt

Tin meat

Fry kumu with onion in oil. Add salt, stock cube, and tin meat of your choice.

Here are a few of the recipes that I used during village living:

Yogurt

Mix together:

3 c. powdered milk

4 c. cold water

Add:

2 c. hot water

½ to ¾ c plain yogurt

Place in warm, sterile jars in a hot water bath for several hours, until thick.

Scones

Sift together:

2 c flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Add to flour and stir well:

1 tbsp sugar

4 tbsp milk powder

Place in measuring cup:

1-4 tbsp oil

Fill:

with water to make 1 c of liquid

Pour into dry ingredients and mix well. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 20-30 times. Press out to 3 cm/ ¾ in thickness. Cut into rounds or squares. Bake 15-20 minutes.

The Final Mourning

2009-05-27T15:00:00.006-05:00

At the end of my first week in the village of Korak, I participated in a cri pinis 'a final mourning.' Exactly a year ago, a woman from the village had died from overdosing on medication. For the entire year, the family had been in mourning. Many had fasted from certain foods. Today was the day that they would mark the end of this mourning. The day began with lots of preparation. My waspapa 'watch papa' had been busy the whole week before helping with the planning of this event. First the women made a meal while the men slaughtered and cooked a pig.

Then we ate that meal. The event had not even began yet. This was just in preparation. Then we gathered all the gifts that were to be presented to the family. In the picture, I am holding a live chicken. When it came time to present gifts to the family, I carried two angry live chickens to their home.

Before that though, everyone went to the beach to cut their hair. The men went to one area and the women went to another. My wasmama was one of the most sought after haircutter. A few cut all their hair off and others just cut a little. After they cut their hair, they washed in the ocean in the midst the coral rocks.

They had a ceremony for those who had been fasting at the end of the hair cutting. We went back to the village. Those who had been fasting lined up facing the ocean. A man went down the line with the foods they had been fasting from. Each person took a mouthful of that particular food. At the end of a count 1, 2, 3, they all spit toward the ocean and then turned and spit the opposite direction.

Next came the presentation of gifts to the family. They received many things; although, most of it was food items. In the picture above, the men are carrying a pig down to the family. They received the first food of all the food that had been prepared that day. This food included roast pork, coconut rice, taro, kawkaw, greens, fish, and chicken. Every thing was delivered in a procession with a big man giving a speech. After the mourning family received all their gifts and food, then it was time to deliver the food to the rest of the village. Korak does not have an open spot large enough for everyone to sit down and eat so everyone returned to their homes and the food was delivered to them. I helped with the food delivery. That's when I discovered that the village of Korak is a very long village. It is situated along the north coast highway. The boundary of the ocean on one side and the mountain on the other helped create this long village.

I even received food that day. I received a banana leaf full of coconut rice and chicken. It was a lot of food so I ate what I could and passed it on to my waskandri 'watch uncle' and wasbratas 'watch brothers.' That night, I was exhausted.

The Amamas

2009-05-24T19:45:00.005-05:00

At the end of our 5 weeks in the village, the nationals threw a huge party called an Amamas 'a party to show how proud/happy we are with you.' Its a broad term. Since James and Natalie Nelson were in the same village as I was (just across the river), they decided to do a joint amamas. Both our wasfamilies worked together to plan the big party. We were asked to prepare to sing a few songs and share some words of thank you during the party. We were told that the party would begin at 10 am and go to about 6 pm.
Since this is PNG, of course, we didn't start at 10 am. Around 1 pm, my wassusa, Grace, bilasim 'decorated' my face with red dye from a local plant. Then James, Natalie, and I were told to sit in a certain place to watch the festivities. Both sides of the village had been working hard to prepare for this day. There were several different performances. There were dances, dramas, speeches, and choral presentations. One of my many waskandri 'watch uncle' announced the presentations and occassionally provided commentary.

In the middle of all this excitement, our wasfamilies presented gifts to us. James, Natalie, and I all received far more than we ever expected. I received about 12 bilums 'handmade bags' and various necklaces, and a laplap 'skirt.' They didn't provide a time for us to give gifts, but I went to my waskandri and let him know I had something for my waspapa. I gave him a camp chair for him to sit in. He was very happy to receive this gift. I had other gifts for my wasfamili, but I saved those for later. In PNG society, it can be best if everyone doesn't know what you own. If they know about it, they might ask for it. Depending on your relationship to this person, you might have to give it to them. Because of this, I left many gifts for my wasfamili hiding in my bush house for them to discover after I left.

After all the presentations, James, Natalie, and I were served dinner of fish, chicken, taro, and greens. It was very good. We received huge portions, but fortunately, you don't have to eat everything given to you. Your leftovers just go to the next hungry person.

It was amazing to see how our wasfamilies loved us and were going to miss us when we left. There were many hugs and tears. I hope to go back and visit them someday.

Three Day Hike

2009-05-23T21:49:00.003-05:00

On our three day hike, we were dropped off down the highway a good distance from Nobnob. We had our guides, Hensen and Hilda, a map, and our packs. My pack weighed about 11 kilos which is about 24 pounds. We started down the trail that was supposed to lead us to our first village to spend the night. We came to a fork in the road and headed to the right. About that time, a truck came down the trail. We stood off the road to let it pass. The driver rolled down his window to find out why a group of white people were walking through the bush. When we told him where we were going, he told us we were on the wrong trail and offered us a ride to the right one. We all piled into his truck and he drove us back to the highway and down the road to another trail. He dropped us off and wished us well as we walked down the trail. The rest of the time, we stayed on the right trail. I'm thankful that God sent this man to assist us before we got too far off track.

The hiking was fairly easy. The main difficulties were crossing rivers and going up and down slick inclines. We helped each other out by holding on to a person as they attempted to go down a hill. I know that I didn't fall during the three days we were hiking. I don't think anyone else did either. Most of the rivers were shallow enough we were able to just walk through them.

At night, we stayed in villages that POC had arranged for us to stay in ahead of time. We carried our rice and tin fish to eat for dinner, but we needed their fire and pots and pans to cook them. Hilda helped with the organization of the food. She collected the food items and found out who in the village would cook them.

In our first village, the people showed us their custumes for singsings and even let us try them on. They showed us how they would dance and explained when they would normally have a singsing. POC had given us assignments to discuss this type of thing with the people. Later, we wrote up what we had discovered.

In the evening, we tried to tell stories in Melanesian Pidgin. We were all successful to varying degrees. My most successful story was about a frog or rocroc.

This is the story, but in English and with some more explanations: Whenever it rained at Nobnob, the frogs would come out in droves. They were everywhere and this was especially true at night. One night, I got up to use the restroom. To get to the restroom, you had to go outside. You didn't have to leave a covered sidewalk, but it was still outside. This particular night, there was a frog sitting on the sidewalk. When the frog saw me, he started jumping the opposite direction. I don't think he was looking where he was going, because he jumped right into the wall. So he turned to the left, right where I was heading. I followed him all the way to the restroom. He stopped outside the women's restroom and I thought that I would be able to edge past him, but then he saw me again and hopped right into the restroom and all the way to the wall again. As I was leaving the restroom, he was still there and when he saw me again, he hopped out of the restroom and into the wall outside the women's restroom. I felt sorry for this frog as I went back to my room and to bed.

After storying and sometimes singing, we would get ready for bed. Each village was prepared with a house for us to stay in. Our first village, the house had two stories and two rooms. We were able have the women stay in one room and the men stay in the other. We had set up our mosquito nets and beds before it got too dark to see. We were exhausted after a day of walking and carrying our packs. I was able to fall asleep quickly. In the morning, I found out that many of my group had difficulty sleeping because of the village noises: chickens, pigs, and dogs made noises throughout the night. In the second village, we all had to stay in one small room. The women on one side and the men on the other.

The three day hike was an adventure. At the end, we were all glad to be back at POC to enjoy the luxeries of showers, electricity, beds, and bathrooms.

Madang Market during Haus Kuk Weekend

2009-05-18T20:28:00.003-05:00

Going to the Madang market can be an adventure in Papua New Guinea especially if you are living on top of Nobnob mountain. Several of my friends and I decided to go to the market on Saturday. It was our second haus kuk weekend. In other words, we were in charge of cooking our own meals usually over an open fire. We could get fruits from the ladies on top of the mountain, but vegetables were just not available. So I checked with my other friends to see what they might like from the market. I made a list and collected a little money.

My friends and I had heard that a car would be heading toward Madang on Saturday morning. We could not just get in the car on top of the mountain. We had to walk a little down the mountain or they would not pick us up. Around 8:30 am, we began walking. It was a nice day. As we walked, a pick up truck passed us. We didn't ask for a ride because we knew there would be a car from POC coming along soon. It wasn't long after that that the POC car came zooming down the mountain. We quickly realized from their hand gestures that they were not going to be able to stop. There had been some sort of medical emergency and they were heading for the hospital. We said a quick prayer for the person in the car and kept walking. We started to get a little worried, because its a 4 kilometer hike down the mountain.

Fortunately, the pick up that had passed us had stopped around the next corner. We were able to catch a ride from them down the mountain. At the bottom of the mountain, we arrived just in time to catch a very full PMV into town. We were dropped off right outside the market fence.

We entered the market and began our selection of various fruits and vegetables, but mostly vegetables. Saturday market is the biggest day for the Madang market. It seems that everyone that can comes to the market to either sell or buy produce, artifacts, and even fish. The three of us had to work hard to stay together as we ventured up and down the various "aisles" of the market. I had to be careful that my skirt did not accidentally sweep over food that was on the ground. Papua New Guineans believe that if a woman's skirt goes over food than it is contaminated and not fit to eat.

After we bought all the food that we wanted, we walked to the PBT office in Madang. We had brought our laptops with us to check email and I had heard that I had a package waiting for me there. The internet connection was extremely slow at POC and I had not been able to check email for a couple weeks. We spent the rest of the morning in the air conditioned office. We left our vegetables, laptops, and my package in the office to get our lunch.

For lunch, we walked to the Kranket Fish Market. There we were able to buy fresh tuna and have it fried for only 2 kina. It was served on a banana leaf and it was delicious. Then we walked to Papindos and purchased ice cream cones for a kina each. We went back to the office to collect our stuff and then walked back to the market to catch a PMV back to the bottom of the mountain.

We, quickly, found a PMV to the bottom of the mountain, but there was no car going up. We began our journey up the mountain on foot. We prayed that a vehicle would come along soon. We traveled about an eighth of the way up when a van appeared. We signaled that we wanted a ride. The driver said that he didn't have any seats, but we were welcome to ride in the back. It was a cargo van. We all bounced around in the back of the hot and stuff van for the rest of the way up the mountain, but at least we didn't have to walk and carry our heavy bags of vegetables. We arrived at POC tired, but successful in our trip to the Madang market.

Haus Kuk Weekends

2009-05-17T20:16:00.004-05:00

As a part of the Pacific Orientation Course, we had haus kuk weekends. During these weekends, we cooked all our meals in a haus kuk that we made. Haus kuks are the Papua New Guinea equivalent of a kitchen. They are generally separate from the house where people sleep; although, I have seen some that are attached. We used a tarp, rough logs, and bamboo to make our shelter, table, and counter and we tied it all together with string. Amazingly, my haus kuk remained standing for all five weeks despite the heavy rains and winds. It was the rainy season. Some did fall down and the workmen were usually quick enough and kind enough to fix them before the next weekend.

The purpose of haus kuk weekends was to prepare us for village living where we would cook all our meals in haus kuks. There were two options for cooking. You could cook over an open fire or on a portable kerosene stove. Since it was rainy season, it was hard to find dry wood. One morning, my roommate and I just could not get the fire started. It was rainy and windy. We opted to try the kerosene stove. To start the stove, you have to pump it to build up the pressure. But first, you have to warm up the stove with methylated spirits so that the keresene will vaporize and light correctly. We got the stove going. We were trying to make oatmeal for breakfast. It took forever to get the pot boiling, but eventually it did. Then we were waiting for it to be done. Just then there was a huge gust of wind and it blew out the flame. We decided that the oatmeal was done enough and ate it. We didn't use the kerosene stove very much after that.

As I mentioned previously, we were in the middle of rainy season so it was difficult to find dry wood. Sometimes it seemed that our previously dry wood would suddenly become wet depending on the weather. Once we got a fire started, we were able to dry our wood over the fire on the grill. You just had to be careful. These drying firewood pieces would sometimes catch on fire and then you had the challenge of moving them from the grill to the fire below without burning yourself. Haus kuk weekends were an adventure. I made tuna mornay, lentil curry, spaghetti, bread, granola, banana bread, and pumpkin scones. The most difficult thing was the fire. You had to get the fire going and then maintain it as you got the food ready to go on the fire. I discovered that when you had smoke, you usually did not have a good fire for cooking something. I also discovered that it is very hard to cook over a fire and make just enough for two people. I was very glad for neighbors willing to try our newest creations.

Love ya,

Jill

Pacific Orientation Course

2009-05-16T15:34:00.003-05:00

After Pioneer Bible Translator's Annual General Meeting, I began the Pacific Orientation Course. This is a fourteen week training program designed to enable missionaries to work in the Pacific area. We had a very diverse group. Most of us had come to work in Papua New Guinea and a couple families had come to work in Vanuatu.

This course taught us Melanesian Pidgin which is the trade language of Papua New Guinea. We had lectures on Pidgin, Melanesian Pidgin teachers, and numerous opportunities to practice our language skills. I was grateful for my previous experiences in Papua New Guinea. Since I was able to communicate a little bit in the language, I was placed in a more advanced group and able to further develop my skills. The biggest challenge for me was the written part of the course. My previous experiences had all been oral so I had never learned to spell. Melanesian Pidgin is written phonetically unlike English. I had English spellings in my head for the Melanesian Pidgin words. For example, Melanesian Pidgin has a word that sounds like the English word "like," but is spelled "laik." When I was reading a text, I would come across a word that did not look right. I would have to sound it out to find out what it was. I believe that my Pidgin has improved. I still have some more to learn, but I have the resources to continue to learn more and more.

We also learned about Papua New Guinea culture. We had lectures and readings on this as well as was-families. "Was" means watch or watch over. While we were at Nob Nob, where POC is located, we had a was-family that we would meet for meals and we would story or play games. This helped our language skills. It also gave us an opportunity to see how Papua New Guinea families interact and how we can interact with them. We would get together on Thursday nights. The first time, we met at POC and we sat around and got to know each other. My was-family's names were Mark and Kwantas. Mark was from the Sepik, but Kwantas was from the Nob Nob area. They have four children and as I found out later they frequently take care of nephews and neices.

I'll write more later about POC.

Love ya,

Jill

Madang, PNG

2009-01-19T01:11:00.003-06:00

I'm in Madang, PNG. This is the first opportunity that I've had to blog. The final flight went very well. I enjoyed Jenny's company. She was very helpful getting through the airport and onto the plane. We were blessed to have our seats together. When we arrived, most of the branch was there to welcome us. We had a few minutes to drop off our bags and then everyone went out for pizza at the Madang Lodge. It's not quite like American pizza, but sometimes its pretty close.

Sunday, we worshiped at the International Christian Fellowship Church, I think. There was some Melanesian Pidgin spoken, but for the most part the service was in English. I was able to follow most of it and even was able to participate in the singing. In the afternoon, we went out to Kronket island for a lunch and snorkeling. It was a lot of fun and very relaxing. When I woke up last night at 2 am, I was able to fall back asleep. Hopefully, I will be able to sleep through the night by the end of the week.

Today began the annual general meeting. It is going really well. We are actually ahead of schedule. Please continue to pray. Love ya.

Port Moresby

2009-01-16T00:46:00.002-06:00

I'm in PNG. I made it through customs and immigration without an incident. When I went to look for a taxi, I was told that it was too early in the day for there to be taxis. God provided. I saw a couple of ladies who looked like missionaries and asked them for help in finding a taxi. They led me to a security guard who then started looking for a taxi for me. Then they went and checked with their ride. They had a enough room for me so they just took me to the Mapang Missionary Home. I was happily surprised to find out that my roommate is Jenny Hudson a fellow PBTer. She is returning from a vacation in Australia for the Annual General Meeting next week. We housemates next week too. We are on the same flight tomorrow so we will share a ride to the airport. God has provided and continues to provide. Love ya. Jill

brisbane airpoort

2009-01-15T17:30:00.001-06:00

I've made it to Brisbane. They checked one of my carry-on bags at the gate in LA so I hope to catch up with it in Port Moresby. Please pray that everything arrives. I've found a couple fellow missionaries and we are traveling together. Love ya.

Los Angelos Airport

2009-01-15T00:23:00.002-06:00

Thank you for your prayers. Despite a delay, I have arrived. The flight attendants are not even here to check me in. The delay was that my original airplane had a broken brake so everyone had to deplane and go to a completely different terminal and reboard. It was hectic, but now the attendants are here and I must go. Love ya.

DFW Airport

2009-01-14T17:52:00.003-06:00

I've made it to the DFW airport and I'm waiting for my 7:40 pm flight. It is currently 5:52 pm. They did not weigh my carry-on bags, but they did search them. The lady working in security asked me, "Do you have a cast iron pot in here?" To which I said, "Yes." She laughed and I was able to share how I was moving to Papua New Guinea to work as a Bible translator. Both she and the lady that she was training were very encouraging as they searched my bag. I'm not sure where everything is now, but I just pray that I will be able to find it when I need it. Love ya. Jill

All packed

2009-01-14T11:38:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, a good friend came over and helped me pack and weigh all my bags. It took about 2 hours. Amazingly, I am under the 70 Ib limit for Qantas airlines for checked bags. My carry-on bags both weigh in around 30 Ibs. Usually, they don't check those for weight, but please pray that the airline doesn't feel that my bags are too big for carry-ons or feel the need to weigh them. Qantas limits carry-on baggage to 15 Ibs each.

Today, I'm at Amy's house with all my stuff just hanging out until it is time to go to the airport this afternoon. So I'm taking time to set up this blog and just relax a little bit. I will check in again when I have something new to report. Love ya'll.