A Sivauna Vacation

I love taking a break from my normal routine and meeting new people. The kids in the Mamusi language area are some of the most joyful that you will find anywhere :)

I recently got back from another work trip to Sivauna. The last one (if you scroll back through the blog…) was two years ago. We are the Wade family’s support team for their Bible translation work in the Mamusi language, and it’s been such a privilege to come out and see their work first-hand and at the same time help them with my own hands multiple times over these years. I titled this post “vacation” because even though it was a ton of work, it was just what I needed to recharge. Here are all the vacation boxes that it ticked for me:

• A task list full of projects…Yes!

• Having the freedom to work on those projects from sunup to sundown…Yes!

• Managing nobody but myself (and maybe a couple eager kids)…Yes!

• Waking up early (5:30 - 6am) and going to bed early (8:30 - 9pm)…Yes!

• Seeing old friends and meeting lots of new ones…Yes!

• Seeing new exotic plants, trees, and bugs…For sure!

• Rain…Tons!

• Coffee…Didn’t run out!

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So the plain truth is that I take a ton of pictures and I always want you to see all of them. I’m breaking the sections up so that you can go to the section that you are interested in (don’t care about flowers? skip that one!). I first tried putting captions with the pictures, but I couldn’t find where the words went, so I hope that you can follow the paragraphs that go with the pictures.

This first section I might call…

Getting There

Aaron Wade and I left with his (second to last) son, Silas from our airport in the Aiyura Valley. The views from the airplane are always breathtaking in Papua New Guinea. The Lord never ceases to amaze me with all the He has created in this place. We were thankful for our pilot Brian who steered us safely to the Rano airstrip where Willie met us with the Wades’ 4x4. I still remember the days of getting to and from Sivauna before they were blessed with this vehicle—they were not great. I surely don’t miss riding in the back of a dump truck; that is, if you were lucky enough to catch one. Everyone in Sivauna was happy to see Aaron and me when we arrived, but they were really excited to see Silas!

Get to work!

On the way to Sivauna from the airstrip in Rano, Willie took us by the sawmill to check on the wood that he had ordered weeks before. I had already designed some benches that I intended to build for Aaron, and Willie had given the sawmill my cut list. Well, the wood wasn’t ready and my sizes wouldn’t be available in our timeframe, so I had to replan everything using the wood dimensions and lengths that they had available. Not exactly Home Depot… Praise the Lord, all the sizes and quantities worked out though! It was great to have some of my little helpers back that I knew from previous trips like Guyas and Torot. They love wearing my PPE and eating my sunflower seeds! It was also great to see people using the benches and fellowshipping on and around them even before they were done. Aaron had hoped that they would be a blessing in this space right outside their translation office/classroom, and he was right!

Another fun project was designing and building a hatch in the roof. That will allow Aaron to be able to access all of the roof utilities using an 8’ stepladder from inside their house. The previous system was as scary as it was comical: There were two 12’ ladder sections that were kept at two different bush houses in the village and used to bless whomever needed them when the Wades weren’t there. One (or both?) of them had been reportedly run over with a vehicle by accident at one point (or many points?). Miraculously, they still fit together to extend to 20’ when necessary, but with an obvious curve that was scary to look at and more scary to navigate. Needless to say, every trip up and down that ladder was a time of prayer and decisive trust in the Lord.

One unplanned project was replacing a three meter long joist under the corner of the house that had been destroyed by termites. I must have killed those termites on a previous trip, because they had vacated devastated wood. Grrrrr, that’s a big piece of wood that I didn’t plan on needing! Fortunately, Aaron had a couple of benches that became wood donors for that repair. When you are in the middle of the jungle, you have to figure it out and fabricate things with whatever you can find. No worries, I built new benches to replace those as well :)

I loved that Aaron just gave me a todo list and let me at it. Besides the tasks above, I got to spray for termites (again!), replace broken/holey screens around the house and office, do a sewing repair on the only comfortable chair for miles, fix leaks in the roof, fix broken window louvers/hardware, lacquer the veranda and stairs, install Masonite walls inside that were still in want of being finished, and other stuff I’m sure. When I was repairing all of the windows, I gathered quite a collection of gecko eggs. They are somewhat fragile, otherwise I would have brought them home to Millie who likes to incubate and hatch them.

Randomly, there were a couple of afternoons when kids showed up with hand injuries that they wanted me to look at. They were the kind of cuts and scrapes that wouldn’t be bad if tended properly, but you might lose your finger if it gets infected. The bush medicine I encountered varied from wounds packed out with a specific sap, to wounds wrapped in kerosene soaked fabric. Who knows, that all might have worked, but I did a lot of soaking, cleaning, and fresh bandages on those afternoons.

I threw in a great picture of Aaron working on Bible translation with his team. They were kind enough to ignore my many interruptions as I cut through their workspace to get tools and materials out of the storage room.

Oh, last thing, I took the picture of the wood glue that had been stored out in the village because it was bright translucent orange. Usually it’s a creamy opaque light yellow. No, it didn’t work :-\

Rain!!!

Did I mention that it rained 99% of the time?! The pool on the left is the entrance to the church. The Pepsi patio umbrella made me chuckle. I also saw someone with a Sprite patio umbrella. Where did they come from??? I love the resourcefulness of using a giant banana leaf for an umbrella!

Sunday in Aona

On our first Sunday, Aaron, Willie, and I trekked up the mountain in the 4x4 to Aona. The guys stopped along the way to show me some of the breathtaking views as we went higher up into the mountains. I love looking down at the clouds!

Our trip was three-fold (I think). Besides getting to go to church in Aona, Aaron and Willie were getting the word out about the leadership course that was about to start in Sivauna, and Aaron was getting some checks/approvals from some key people for stories that were recently translated.

It was raining (of course) so after church we ducked under cover by the clinic building and I looked around while Aaron was talking to people and getting his tasks done. I love the board of fees for medical services—especially the fact that having a baby (“Delivery”) is half the cost of actual delivery (“Karim Lo Ples”, literally “Carry you to your place”). Also K10.00 is less than $3 USD people! To deliver a baby! Amazing!

It just so happened to be Ascension Sunday and this group of girls had prepared something special. They also went to all this trouble because a special priest was supposed to come. He wasn’t able to make it, but we were the thankful beneficiaries of all the work that they put into it, and now you are too! What a treat! Their outfits are meant to look like birds.

After church we went to Wangpupuna and Lekempuna to see more people and pick some people up for the upcoming leadership course. The highlight of this time was when some of the local kids got a hold of one of Aaron’s recent Mamusi translations and instantly started reading the stories out loud! A grand success! Even though the kids might be able to read in Tok Pisin, or possibly English (which they learn reading skills in, but probably never use otherwise), that was probably the first time they had ever read anything in their own mother tongue!

I ducked into the little Catholic prayer hut in Lekempuna. It was quite elaborate!

It’s fun to see Aaron at work with the people that love him.

Flowers!

You all know that I love flowers and plants. Here are a few…

I took the picture of Ishmael looking all cool because that was maybe the biggest pineapple plant I had ever seen.

Sivauna has more different hibiscus types than any place I’ve been. The weird nut I was able to identify as a Polynesian Chestnut. In Mamusi (and/or other local languages) they have words for most everything, but good luck trying to Google those words!

Celebrations!

I had the joy of celebrating two major events while I was in Sivauna. One was my 45th birthday. Kristi and the kids were super sweet to send me with a box of goodies to open on my special day—mostly yummy treats (beef jerky, Oreo’s, peanut butter pouch…even a balloon which Silas and I played with until it popped!) to add fun to my regular installments of taro and greens. Aaron and Silas made me a gluten-free (so everyone could eat it) birthday cake that didn’t come out of the pan so great, but stirred up nicely with icing to make something of a birthday pudding. Our housemate, Jeremy, acquired a rooster from somewhere that was roasted and then boiled. Apparently we don’t eat roosters often because they are so tough…

It was fun to sit down to this eclectic meal that they put together for me and then remind Aaron that my birthday was not the only thing that we were celebrating. It also marked 9 years since the Craigs and the Wades first stepped onto Papua New Guinea soil! That’s right, 9 years, can you believe it?!

Many of you have been with us that whole time and I can’t put into words how thankful and humbled we are to have been able to serve here and love on the people of Papua New Guinea all this time. There have been great times and there have been hard times, and through it all, God has been faithful!

Food!

Almost every meal consisted of some combination of the following: taro - greens - sweet(ish) potatoes - ramen noodles - canned fish (sometimes). The real blessings were when we got watermelon or pineapple. Have you ever had yellow watermelon with red seeds? What about red watermelon with red seeds? Well I have! It tastes like normal watermelon :-\

The small roasted thing in my hand is the Polynesian Chestnut. It was described to me as “really sweet”, but it just tasted like a nut.

The last picture is when I was waiting for the verdict as all my little compadres tried dill pickle flavored sunflower seeds for the first time. Hmmmm. I had to go through a couple tutorials for them first so that they didn’t try and eat the sunflower seed shells. I think that they were a hit though, because I had many a boy that wanted to come and “work for sunflower seeds”.

Food?

Aaron told us a story one night about being out on this survey trip and eating giant grasshoppers. Jeremy and I were both skeptical and intrigued, so Jeremy went out the next day making inquiries. It turns out that it was a Giant Spiny Stick Insect (aptly named!), and as soon as the kids heard that we wanted to see one, then they just started showing up at the house with handfuls of them. Apparently the locals will eat the “Kalempa” for extra protein when they are out working in the garden. Well, they certainly don’t eat them for extra flavor… We had to find out for ourselves though!

Bugs!

Oh, and one dog.

That was the largest praying mantis I have ever seen. And yes, the Kalempa are that big!

People

If I could finish up the work day before the sun went down, I would get out and walk around the community. I love meeting new people and hearing their stories. And of course, the kids are always happy to see you, follow you around, and take pictures. So many smiling faces!

I’ve said for years now that I want to make a big coffee table book called “Stuff on Head”. All across Papua New Guinea, you will see people walking around with random things on their heads either for transport or protection from the elements. I regret that some of the best scenes have walked by me when I’m working and can’t get my phone out fast enough. I asked the two ladies below if I could get their pictures and as soon as they complied they went from their amazing “hands free” walk to steadying their load for my picture. Oh well, I’ll keep trying.

Saying Good-Bye

It’s never easy, but it’s always encouraging when you don’t want to leave and they don’t want to lose you. All those kids will certainly miss their soccer buddy, Silas.

Aaron, Silas, and I took a couple pictures as we waited at the airstrip by the coast for our plane.

It’s great to have other missions in the country that can help you out. This was my first time flying with New Tribes Mission.

It never fails that I come home to an awesome Welcome Home Dad poster in the window that everyone has pitched in on. I love my family! Thank you Lord!

Be ready to preach

I considered also titling this post “Papa Luke”, but then as I thought more about it, I came to the conclusion that Papa Luke would have picked this title over his own name…

I got word recently from a family member in Tararan that our waspapa (in Tok Pisin, essentially an honorary father who watches over you), Luke Bair, had died and that his funeral was days away. To jog your memory, we stayed with Luke and his wife and all their wonderful extended family in Tararan in 2015 at the culmination of our initial training course here in PNG. They patiently corrected our newly acquired Tok Pisin and taught us all manner of cultural dos and don’ts along with many other things that I’ll never forget. I still have the kundu drum that we carved together after hiking out into the bush and chopping down the perfect susu tree. Papa Luke and I spent a good part of a week carving the drum and fitting a giant lizard skin for the drum head. As far as gracious host families go, we felt like we won the lottery. Fortunately too, Tararan is accessible enough for us that we have been able to see them multiple times over the years—something that is rare in a country where nothing is accessible.

With Kristi teaching and the kids in school (and some even sick), they weren’t able to get away and join me for this venture. I was blessed that my good friend Dan (who serves as an aviation mechanic) had the day off and was willing to take the 3 hour drive with me to go to a funeral for a man that he had never met.

I’ve learned over our almost 9 years in Papua New Guinea (9 years next week! Can you believe it?!) to always be ready to speak or preach. I’ve even shown up (what I think is unexpectedly) at events only to discover that my name is printed on the program, and it’s not an easy feat to have things printed around here! It was just a couple of months ago that I was given 5 minutes notice at a funeral to do the main sermon. What I love about those moments is that it has to be God. You have to rely fully on Him in every way; there’s no getting around it. I usually lead with “I’m not a pastor, I’m a workman just like you. Whatever the Lord gives me, I’m happy to share freely with you.”

All that to say, it was in the back of my mind that I might have to speak as I drove to Tararan, but once we arrived I was a little relieved to see the level of ceremony that was put into place for a Lutheran pastor of over 30 years. They were waiting for the archbishop to arrive, and when he did, there were so many other pastors with him that I was surely off the hook for this one. I looked forward to just seeing our village family and passing out hugs.

Of course, when Dan and I arrived, my family first wanted to introduce us to everyone. I got to stand next to Papa Luke’s casket and talk about when we first met, stories that I remembered of him, and then I talked some about how Dan and I work to serve Bible translation in PNG. They were eager to hear Dan speak too, but I did my best to speak on his behalf and bless my friend who was gracious enough to meet hundreds of people that he didn’t know. Everyone was super kind to receive us and add us in to the many people that were being hosted for the hauskrai (“house cry” or funeral).

Once the archbishop arrived, things started moving rapidly, and before I knew it we were following the whole procession into the church—Papa Luke’s church, where he had served faithfully for so many years. After being seated, the funeral director got up and announced the order of ceremony. Of course, it was all in Tok Pisin and it sounded like he said, “…representative of SIL, and family friend John Craig…” in the long list of others who were going to speak. I’m sure that my heart started pounding at that point, but I knew that I had a little bit of time to come up with something. When I say “come up with something” I mean think 10% and pray 90%. Come now Lord Jesus!

I should really jump into what the Lord did at this point, but here’s something to make you laugh. When Dan and I first got there, my family brought each of us a kulau (fresh/green coconut to drink). They are a wonderful treat because coconuts don’t grow in the highlands where we live. I was really excited to get the kulau after our long drive and I quickly drank the whole thing. The down side of this is that a good size coconut can hold more than a liter (quart-ish) of liquid and it’s also a known diuretic. Well, I threw caution to the wind there. I also sat at the end of a row up against the outside wall. The pressure on my bladder the whole service was so bad, but I couldn’t get out of my seat past all the people without making a major scene. This was only made worse when at least two of the pastors that were sitting right next to the casket in front of everyone got up and left mid service for the same problem that I had. And yet I was stuck. Just one more thing to rely on the Lord for…

So after many songs and speeches, I finally heard the words “…representative of SIL…” and the director looked straight in my direction. I got up and walked to the front and a story from earlier that day became clear in my head. One of my sisters was telling me about Papa Luke’s last days. He had fallen and most likely broken his hip. From her story, it sounded like he knew that he was going to die. So what was his response? With the energy and life that he had left, he wanted to clean up the area and church and make preparations because he knew that many people were going to come. His concern wasn’t for himself and his pain, he wanted to prepare for the many people that he knew would come and hear the gospel at his funeral. Even in his last moments, his life was given to serve others and share God’s good news with them. So as I spoke, I pleaded with the congregation to hear the gospel message because it was Papa Luke’s last desire.

Much of what I said is a blur in my memory at this point. I know that I read some Scripture, although I couldn’t tell you which ones, and I know that I shared about my mother who died when I was seven. I talk about her often here, where death seems more frequent that in the States. She loved the Lord and her greatest desire at the end of her life was for my sister and I to love Him too. I don’t know how you can redeem a situation as hard as the death of a mother or father, but I can tell you that God has used that story in my life to bless a lot of people here that I wouldn’t have known how to talk to otherwise. Some how God knew all along, so I keep on trusting Him.

After I sat down, the director got back up and continued to the next thing: “…now we will hear from family friend, John Craig.” I waved to him as if to say “That’s me. Same person”. Although, I thought in my head “Dan, you owe me another one!”

Burial sites in PNG are often filled or capped with concrete. Papa Luke’s was the first one that I ever saw with a tiled interior. Very nice!

Here’s some of my Tararan family, including mama (Papa Luke’s wife) on the right of me, and my sister Susan on the far left.

Vacation Bible School: PNG Style

We recently had the opportunity to be a part of our Vacation Bible School here in Ukarumpa. It typically happens annually when we have the right people here to make it happen. I’ve posted about it in past years when Nori and I volunteered together. I drove again this year to pick up pastors, teachers, and, of course, kids across the valley that lived out a little farther than most. Really though, my part was very small compared to the many other adults and students that contributed countless hours to make this happen, including Banner and Millie. They were there everyday for training, prep, music, skits, sports, snacks, and loving on all these kids that God led to our doorstep at the Teen Center.

Praise the Lord! Here is the report from the week:

"Thank you, community, for your support of last week’s Holide Baibel Skul through practical and spiritual helps.  On Thursday and Friday we averaged about 500 students (the whole VBS ran Tues-Friday).  We had around 90 helpers / leaders each day, ALL of whom were a joy to work with.  Wow – thank you, each one, who contributed through your presence and hard work!  Over 1600 slices of banana bread were consumed during the week. The Gospel was taught again and again throughout the week along with the importance of a changed, repentant lifestyle post-salvation. About 80 children were counseled for salvation and given a Bible of their own.  Only 3 minor security incidents were reported (theft of personal belongings, children being mean to each other). We’re very grateful for our three effective “bouncers.”  A pastor from Kainantu was one of the trained teachers. It was his first time to do children’s ministry. He asked us to please let him know when the next event happened as he wanted to be involved.  We encourage you to ask someone who was involved in VBS to share their favorite story or memory from the week.  May God be glorified continuously from the work that was begun or strengthened last week."

Banner is stuck in his sin and needs God’s help. Yay for good friends like Judah :)

Thanks to Mary B. for making this video!

Here are some real needs lately that we would be so thankful if you prayed for:

• Pray for all the kids that made decisions for the Lord during VBS. They are all entering into a variety of village, church, and family settings with their new faith in Christ.

• We have a serious need for teachers at our international school. Are you a teacher? Do you know a teacher? Interested in seeing Papua New Guinea??? All grades (K-12) are helpful, short (5-6 months) or long term. Teachers are super critical roles here that allow Bible translators with families to be here and do their work. The future is looking bleak in this area, but we believe that God can do it anyway!

• We have had something of a fuel crisis in PNG lately. It’s complicated, so I won’t elaborate, but you can google it. So far, the tangible impact has been related to jet fuel, so there is essentially rationing going on for flights. Everything in PNG is quite difficult to get to if you can’t fly, so this is significantly impacting our work on a national level. We expect to see difficult situations with diesel and petrol soon too, whether that means no supply or limited and expensive, we’re not sure yet.

• Please keep praying for our growing kids. They are all at various crossroads where they are weighing out the truths of the Lord for themselves. Please pray for their growth in wisdom and discernment and openness to the Lord. Please also pray for their protection from the schemes of the deceiver. May the Lord bless your families and keep you close.

Much love and thanks from all the Craigs,

John

Thankful for the Lord's provision!

Thanksgiving here in Papua New Guinea looks a lot different from home in the States. We live in a very multicultural community, so some of us celebrate “American Thanksgiving” but many do not. We don’t have access to many of the foods that we love this time of year (there are ZERO turkeys here. If they ever show up, you’ll have to sell a kidney to afford one), but we can always praise the Lord for so many things. We are so thankful for the opportunity to serve in this beautiful place with such beautiful and diverse people. Thanks to the many of you that make that possible through your partnership and prayers. This week I have been so thankful to be a part of what God is doing in the Amomonta community, and that’s really what I wanted to share with you.

Some of you may remember us talking about the devastation in Amomonta that happened a little over a year ago now. If you need a refresher on that story, click back a couple of posts. This week I had two great opportunities come up. The first was that a few of us Craigs had the chance to go to Amomonta on Sunday with another friend and his family. He was preaching the sermon and I really wanted to see how the community was rebuilding in the wake of all they have been through. Here are some pics from that…

Steven speaking before the service. If you have really keen eyes, maybe you will be able to find Banner (in an orange jacket) and Millie (in a pink hat).

I was excited to see new houses and still more being built.

There are always so many curious faces!

The community was super kind to feed us while we were there. We are sitting inside the PNG Bible Church building. Miraculously, it was one of the few buildings that wasn’t burned down. The Lord preserved it!

You know I love taking pictures of flowers… So beautiful!

The other great opportunity that came up came in the form of a really long trench. One of my roles here is to connect church groups with work that we may have at our mission center. It’s great when our need can meet someone else’s. In this case, we needed a trench dug for a waterline that was over 600 meters long. Amomonta showed up with 179 men and women (and quite a few kids, including super cute twin baby girls) representing 4 different churches working together. I estimated that they dug over 200 meters in the first 2 hours. That was a trench that was approximately 1 meter deep by 1/2 a meter wide! It was incredible to behold. There was nothing straight about it either; they were excavating around roots, roads, and other age old utility lines and pipes. It was no easy task.

We praise the Lord for His provision. Now we will be able to connect our first well to our existing water system—something that will help us greatly. I asked a couple of the pastors what they were going to do with such a large blessing for their community and they said that they were going to set up a fund to provide nails and other practical building resources for those in Amomonta that don’t have them. Most of their house materials grow in the jungle, but nails don’t :)

I told them about how so many Christian brothers and sisters in America have been praying for them and have been encouraged by their faithfulness through the hardest of trials. They took great encouragement that their struggles weren’t for nothing and that the Lord has used them to strengthen His Church around the globe. Praise the Lord for His perfect economy in so many things! Thanks so much for all your prayers!

Blessings to your family from all the Craigs!

Special thanks and all credit to Susan Frey and the DO Media dept. for this awesome video!

You’ve never seen so many people working so hard with such joy

It was fun for me to provide water for them from the very well that we were all working to connect.

At times, unrolling the pipe was like wrestling a 50 m long anaconda.

Inspecting things after day 1.

Gathering to pray as we wrap up!

Beauty From Ashes

It was shortly after 3:30am and my fire phone rang, startling Kristi and I awake. What’s a “fire phone” you ask? Well, we have a volunteer fire department here on our mission center, and those on the squad have a dedicated phone installed that is painted red and is reminiscent of the Bat Phone. Usually it only rings when there are grass fires or wrong numbers. It rang again and I answered it in a fog. The voice on the other end wasn’t super clear, but was clear enough to hear the location and that there was a house on fire.

I pulled on what clothes I could reach in an instant and ran out the door as soon as I could with my radio and phone. Jumping into our old postal jeep to rush to the firehouse, I quickly found that I couldn’t see as well as I had hoped as I backed out sideways and lodged the jeep in a ditch next to our house. Unfortunately, there was no time to correct that error, so I abandoned our car and started running toward the firehouse with my adrenaline firing on all cylinders. As I crested the top of the hill about halfway there, our Clinic’s ambulance pulled up between me and the house of the nurse that was on-call that night. The ambulance driver, who lived adjacent to the house fire, didn’t have many details except that it was really bad and that the family made it out of the house. I felt “Thank you Lord!” and “Help us Lord!” at the same time.

In my time here, it seems like our fire crew has never been more than six people at one time, so not big by any means. On this particular night though it just so happened that three of our six in country members were in other parts of PNG, and one of the three of us that was here was a new recruit that hadn’t been to a training yet. The weight of this emergency felt like it was on the fire chief and myself. When the ambulance graciously took me the rest of the way to the firehouse, I rushed in, grabbed my gear, and jumped back in the ambulance to head to the fire. At that moment, I was glad that the chief left the doors wide open as he bolted out with the fire truck just moments before.

My view just after I arrived. You can see the potential of the fire to spread to the surrounding trees (and then on to other houses…), but God was faithful!

It was almost 4am when I finally rolled up to see our friends’ house completely engulfed in flames. It was a sickening fearful feeling that I’ve never experienced before. I remember feeling like I didn’t have time to think, just act, mixed with fearful thoughts of my own family being trapped and all the what ifs that can roll around in your head and torment you in a crisis. Praise the Lord that they made it out! Praise the Lord on high for his mercy in this calamity!

We spent the next three hours working to contain the fire and keep it from spreading to surrounding trees and houses. Unfortunately, it was too fast and too big for our team to save anything from the house. From all reports, it was completely engulfed when the first fire call went out. Even two vehicles parked next to the house were completely lost to the flames. When we first arrived, there were so many frantic moments where you had to rely on muscle memory and training, but then things slowed down as the dawn came. We just had to keep the perimeter cool until the fire calmed down. It was in those moments of waiting that I had so much time to pray for the uncertainty for my friends, and praise the Lord for so many blessings in the midst of this terror.

Praise the Lord that the family made it out, not just alive, but uninjured. Praise the Lord that there had been rain in the days preceding the fire—the surrounding trees and vegetation weren’t catching fire like they could have. Praise the Lord for the people that showed up to help in the early morning hours. I was so thankful for our newest fire team member, who jumped right in with gusto. I was so thankful for the Security guys that were eager to haul pumps and pull hoses. I was so thankful for the people that came out to be with this family in distress and pray for them. I was so thankful for the friends and neighbors who were still there—packing up dirty hoses and other equipment—once everyone else had left. Praise the Lord that our fire crew didn’t sustain any injuries or even have to make a decision that had that potential.

Tired, we rode back to the firehouse, put our gear away, and then I started walking home. I was praying over so many mixed emotions and worries for my friends when I looked down and saw this vibrant moth in the stark contrast of the gravel road. It was a type that I had seen many times before, but this time God flew it strategically into my path as if to say “Don’t worry, I will bring beauty from these ashes.” As I recalled Isaiah 61:3, I trusted that He had a plan.

There are plenty more amazing parts of this story where God worked in miraculous ways, but I’ve tried to just stick to my story here. However, I can tell you that fire and total loss of their belongings couldn’t stop this family from staying here and translating God’s Word for the people that don’t have Scripture in their language. The Lord wins the final victory!

That reminds me of a conversation that I recently had with my friend, Steven, regarding the loss they endured in Amomonta. He said “They burned our houses down and they destroyed our gardens, but they couldn’t steal the Holy Spirit from our hearts.” Friends, God is moving in this place.

I’ll wrap up this post with one of my favorite passages since I was a teenager, Lamentations 3:21-26. However, I don’t think I’ve ever read it in The New Living Translation before (which I use fairly often these days) which has a unique take on vs. 19-20...

19 The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words.

20 I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss.

21 Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:

22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.

23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”

25 The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.

26 So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.

Back to work!

As a family we collectively exhale. Home. After half a year away, we made it back, and are more in love than ever with this land God has chosen for our family to be planted in for this season.

This furlough was a whirlwind for us, full of wonderful things and lovely people, but so fast it took our breath away! As our time in the states whizzed by, if we didn’t communicate it well with you while we were there, let us say this now... Thank you so much for loving us and supporting us! Thank you for letting us jump back into your lives, your homes, your family time, even your pools! Thank you for laughing with us, listening to us, and enjoying our children! It was fast but wonderful. Thank you for giving us something to miss, and for being people we can trust to help us as we start bringing our kids back to you to stay in these years to come.  We miss you all already!

We are thankful for all of the memories we made with you that will now fill up our digital photo frame in our living room. We are also thankful that all our travels went smoothly… no one was sick, we made all of our connections, and all of our bags made it safe and sound with us. God was gracious and faithful! We had the added blessing of a layover in New Zealand on the way. We are also thankful to have had someone living in our home in PNG while we were gone. They not only looked out for the house but loved on our sweet pets in our absence!

I am so thankful to say we have finally unpacked all of the bags and bins, finished scrubbing the (moldy) walls and cupboards, tackled all the sorting ,and started restocking supplies too. The kids are also enjoying a much needed school break till the end of July. Most days are spent outside with their friends. John has joyfully jumped back into work with both feet. He said for every thing he marks of his to-do list he adds three more tasks. I’ve started setting up my room and lesson plan for the new year to come and it feels good to get everything sorted for my new students. Having a rhythm and flow to your day and to your week is a blessing! We are happily settling into our new normal here and its been good. We will transition again when school starts, but for these next couple of weeks we are just going to rest in this rhythm.

We also have a few updates we want to share with you over prayer requests we had over furlough. The first praises are in reference to the Amomonta community and ways that God was gracious in the midst of great hardship. If you missed us talking about this, you can check out our service at Trinity Evangelical here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRTjt5OAQFo#t=27m50s

I’ve had a few opportunities to catch up with my good friend Steven since coming back and he shared the pictures above and below with me. The two pictures are from a “Releasing Program” that the Amomonta community blessed their neighbors in Akuna with. The redeeming part of this story is that while Amomonta was being attacked on one side, their Christian brothers and sisters in Akuna on the other side, took them in. Akuna housed and fed them for months without knowing when the conflict would end. These pictures are from a ceremony that Amomonta hosted to say thank you and good-bye to Akuna. The people of Akuna were amazed by the generosity of Amomonta because they knew that their gardens were destroyed in the conflict. That leads to another miracle from the Lord that I want to share. Despite having their gardens destroyed months before, they returned to gardens that were full and prosperous despite what had happened!

The other miracle that I wanted to share is that God preserved their church buildings! Nearly everything in their village was burnt to the ground, but the House of the Lord prevailed! On top of that, as a result of all these obstacles, the three denominations in Amomonta have joined to worship as one many times and God has brought a new sense of unity that wasn’t there before. There isn’t a final assurance of peace in this conflict, but both sides are moving that direction and Amomonta is starting to rebuild their lives again. Thanks for your past and future prayers for our brothers and sisters here.

My last big praise is that I left a weekly Bible study in the hands of a couple of my CAM guys and they kept it going! When I left for furlough we were 10 chapters into Romans. When I returned I was incredibly delighted when Nonte, my team foreman, told me that they finished Romans and were 16 chapters into Luke—something that they picked and started all on their own!

I had the fun opportunity this week to introduce Nonte to the joyous wonder that is a Coke float. I had no idea that he had never used a straw before! I’ve worked (and eaten MANY times) with him for 8 years!

He ripped the tip of the paper off on one side, looked at it, flipped it over, ripped the tip of the paper off on the other side, then proceeded to put the still mostly wrapped straw into his drink. I quickly stopped him and unwrapped the rest for him. Good times!

Mid-furlough mayhem

We thought that it might be a good time to check in and say hello. The last time that we were on furlough in 2018-2019 was for 10 months. That was a great time of reconnecting, but at times it felt like a really long pause from our plentiful work back in PNG. This time around we planned 6 months for furlough and I’ve mentioned to many people that it feels like we’ve been blasted out of a canon. It’s been great, but fast—whew!

We recently got finished with a road trip circuit that took us to many people and churches including (but not limited to) Virginia, Ohio, Texas, and Georgia (and, of course, North Carolina!). The Lord blessed us with good weather, safe driving, and good health along the way for which we feel very grateful. It’s been great to see people get excited about what God is doing in Papua New Guinea and how He has been faithful during these last few years of COVID uncertainty.

We also visited quite a few colleges along the way. It seems crazy to talk about, but our next furlough will be right after Nori graduates from high school in PNG. How are they growing up so fast?! I think we are up to six schools that we have seen so far! It’s been fun to hear what all the kids think about each one—even Millie (class of 2030).

Now we have fully shifted gears and I’m sitting on a couch in Waxhaw, NC with my foot elevated above my heart for the next week. I rolled my ankle over a year ago now and it healed with an inflamed nerve that would zap me every time that I stepped on it. You learn to live with things, but it certainly wasn’t ideal for life in the jungle. Now when people tell me “You’ve got some nerve!” I can say, “No, I had that removed.” :)

I guess that’s a good lead in to some prayer requests:

• Please pray that my foot heals up well, quickly, and without any residual nerve issues.

• Please pray for the van that we are using while we are on furlough. We just found out yesterday that it had transmission failure. It’s fixable, but puts a damper on getting around for now. Truly though, we feel blessed that this happened now (with my foot up) and not while we were traveling so much.

• Please pray for our ministry budget. It hadn’t seen a budget increase in over 4 years and now we are playing catch up while we are here. Please pray for new partners that are excited about what God is doing in PNG. The financial gap is small, but we are planning to return at the end of May, which is soon!

• Please pray for our time here and that we use it well to see all of the friends and family that we can before our return to PNG for another 3 year term.

• A big big request that is heavy on our hearts right now is for my uncle who just found out that he has a pretty aggressive cancer. We are praying for comfort, courage, wisdom, grace, and so many other things for my uncle and aunt right now. We are also asking the Lord to work a miracle and cleanse his body. Please join us in prayer for them.

Here are some pics from the morning that we did all three services at Trinity Evangelical in Upper Sandusky, OH. We were so thankful to get to share!

One of our favorite stops along our road trip was unintended. We saw a sign off the interstate for the World’s Largest Mailbox in Casey, Illinois. It turned out to be a town FULL of giant things!

One of our many college tours. This was at Lee University in Cleveland, TN.

I was very thankful to help with a construction project before I went under the knife. Sitting around and waiting to heal isn’t my favorite, but Kristi has been wonderful to care for me and all the kids have been super helpful.

Happy Thanksgiving AND see you soon!

The next time that you see our faces may very well be in person!

A little relief

I cannot start this letter to you all without first expressing our gratitude for your prayers. We have been so blessed by your coverings over us, and the Father has been so gentle and even in the midst of so much work to do we have been able to rest in his provision and care. 

 These past few days have reminded me of when COVID first came here and we had our first center-wide quarantine. John was so busy during those days—working, fixing things, and maintaining the center. He would come home each day fully poured out and spent, but God provided him with a contentedness as he was doing exactly what God sent him here to do. After the earthquake hit on Sunday, John made sure we were ok and immediately left to care for the community. He has been working nonstop since, but comes home each night content in his work.

 The kids and I have been doing all we can to help clean up the rubble and care for people here as well. Nori spent the whole day sifting through glass and exploded food containers, Banner ran errands and helped some of the single ladies living near us, and Millie spent the day in the library organizing and shelving books that fell out everywhere. My tasks have been a bit more varied as I am just trying to stop and help those God puts in my path, but the kids willingness to help has freed me up to care for the people around us better.

 We are so thankful that the loss of life was so low and even with the piles of repairs and work that surround us we are thankful for the evidence of God at work. Your prayers are felt and are sustaining us in this time.

 We are also thankful for the ways that God uses calamities like this to bring people together and bring people to their knees. Much like when COVID first hit our center with global confusion in the Spring of 2020, people have laid down the constraints of their job descriptions and skill sets to show up ready for whatever needs to be done. That has been so encouraging!

 SO How can you help? Many of you have reached out to ask how you can actively help and send relief to PNG. Yes! We would love for you to join us in our efforts here to rebuild, repair, and just being present for those who God puts in our path each day. I thought the simplest way is to just list it out here once, especially since our internet is so bad right now. In fact, you may be getting this by email because we can’t get websites to load at the moment. We have been told that our fiber connection broke somewhere in the ocean between Madang and Sydney (that’s over 2,000 miles by the way), so our connection issues may go on for a while.

 Because of COVID, shipping things here has become increasingly difficult and expensive. As much as I would love to just send out a list of things lost that need replacing shipping just isn’t a viable option at this point. So the best way to tangibly help is to send financial support to our Wycliffe ministry Account. https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/thefamilycraig.

 Please keep praying. We cannot stress enough how big this is. Pray, and ask your friends to pray with us too!

 Running out of our house, watching it shake violently with everything else, hearing things breaking, and waiting to see if it was going to slide down the hill, was a pretty traumatic thing to witness. There have been almost daily tremors that have followed, usually during the night, and that makes for some stressful nights. Please continue to pray for the kids especially.

 As bad as this was, God was truly gracious to us. We are all still very thankful that it happened early on a Sunday. The sky was beautiful and clear and we had a wonderful dry day to attack the cleanup. In addition, it has been clear and dry all week for the many repairs that have been happening all over our center (we are still in a drought after all…). The dry weather has been nice, but it has also been quite a challenge to recover our bleeding water systems without any rain, however God sent us a wonderful shower last night (nearly 1.5” of rain!). The truth is, we probably wouldn’t have been ready for this rain if it came earlier—with all of the roof patching and reconnecting of water tanks that we’ve been doing this week. In fact, just yesterday, John repaired a section of our own gutter that fell off and we were able to collect all of last night’s rain. Thank you Lord!

 I’d like to say that this is the only issue that we’ve had lately, but it’s not. We’ve had many PNG friends that have lost their homes and belongings due to tribal fighting before the earthquake hit and we have been helping them. Any one-time or monthly gifts we will work to put through to where they are needed.

 Also, advocate for us! We are here in PNG and now if feels we are even more cut off from communicating well. But you are there back in the states :) Please spread the word about what is going on here in PNG and what our family is doing to help. If there are people that you know that have a heart for world missions, please send them our link. We would love to share about what God is doing here. We also long to stay here and work. In the wake of COVID, the work is greater and the workers are fewer than ever.

 Thank you again for all your prayer and support… and thank you to so many of you who have reached out to us. We are trying to respond to all of you the best we can, but the internet isn’t always working with us :) SO please know we are so thankful for your contact and care.

 We are so looking forward to catching up with you and seeing your faces in less than three months!!! It seems somewhat surreal to be writing that our second term serving here is almost complete.

 Much love and Blessings to you all,

 All the Craigs

Earthquake Update

Situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, those who live and work in Papua New Guinea are familiar with earthquakes. But earthquakes of 7.6 magnitude don’t come along every year! When they do, everyone reaches out to family, friends, and colleagues to see if they are ok. Because SIL-PNG staff work in remote village locations where communication options are limited and transport may only be on foot or by air, it takes a concerted effort to get reports in after an event like this.

It is with gratitude that we report that no SIL-PNG staff were injured during the 11 September earthquake. There are reports of damage to villages near the epicentre and a few reports of death and injury. The PNG Disaster Management Team continues to assess damage and discern appropriate responses. SIL-PNG is in contact with this team as well as a Member of Parliament for part of the affected area and has extended the offer of assistance in transporting the injured or flying in relief supplies. Language development work in the area represents SIL-PNG’s longer-term contribution to the region.

News from specific locations near the epicentre: 

• Several SIL-PNG staff from villages near the epicentre shared stories from their areas. We’ve received reports of 1-2 people dead and small numbers of injured as well as houses damaged.

• An SIL-PNG team is facilitating a Culture Meets Scripture workshop near the epicentre. This team includes the translation advisor, who has worked in the community since 2004, and Scripture Access staff. They were confirmed safe yesterday.

• Two houses belonging to a partner organization collapsed. Only one family was there at the time, and they were able to get out, no one was injured. SIL-PNG evacuated the wife and children, while the husband stayed to work with the community on next steps.

In the Aiyura Valley, where SIL’s Ukarumpa Centre is located, a number of schools and institutions report damage to power and water systems, as well as to buildings. Cables providing internet to a significant portion of the country remain dysfunctional. Trucks were unable to transit the Kassam Pass for a time, but are now able to do so.

The infrastructure of SIL-PNG’s Ukarumpa centre suffered widespread-but-limited damage. Most offices and homes had items fall off shelves and break; older metal water tanks broke or developed leaks; many plumbing issues have been reported; a few roofs were damaged; and there were a few cases of more significant structural damage. A great deal of work has been underway since shortly after the earthquake, with our Construction and Maintenance staff coordinating the response and undertaking the technical tasks. Many in the community are volunteering to assist with recovery efforts.

There are several specific things we are grateful for:

• A church service was in progress at the Ukarumpa Centre when the earthquake hit, meeting at an outdoor location. No one was injured.

• The Ukarumpa Centre’s water system incorporates large metal tanks for storage and distribution. Only one tank was ruined, the rest held.

• A building that had been undergoing construction had been sufficiently braced that it suffered no damage.

• SIL Aviation reports that aircraft are undamaged, making scheduled and relief flights possible.

• The earthquake happened during daylight hours on a sunny day, enabling a lot of response work to occur on the day of the earthquake.

We are especially thankful to have heard of so little loss of life, despite the magnitude of the earthquake.

SIL-PNG will continue its recovery efforts, will remain poised to assist others as needs can be met, and will return as soon as possible to the work of language development, translation, literacy, and training in PNG.

This was the first thing that we encountered when we came back into our home. We got the mixer for our wedding over 18 years ago and it almost danced off the counter. Our house still smells like balsamic vinegar. Yum!

I’m also helping to manage our mission center’s store right now. We had three aisles that were this bad or worse. Thankfully, the whole store wasn’t this bad. So many people, including high school students, came out on their Sunday afternoon to help clean all this up. I know that they had their own messes at home, so we felt really blessed. What a great Kingdom building activity!

I went to check on the chemical spills at the high school (yes, you read that right) and encountered this mayhem in the school office. Wow.

This was a stone fireplace that was probably built over 40 years ago. Not our house…

There have been so many electrical connections to repair.

Here’s a water tank that got ravaged next to our Clinic

So many metal water tanks did not survive. We had to replace this one with a much smaller plastic tank to restore some services quickly.

Sadly, this one had just been repaired and has a brand new liner :(

The last four pictures were taken in my office at the Construction and Maintenance dept. I’m showing this coffee pot because it took a dive but survived. We all rejoiced! Of course, its hat look more like a French beret than it used to.

Our office has a distinct crack down the middle of the building now.

The Lord saved this guitar! So close! CAM devotions would not have been the same :)

I’ll end with this one that made me laugh. My manager, Brian, lost both of his monitors that faceplanted on his desk. When the technical services guys came to replace them, my coworker, Ellison, was ready to qualify for his replacements too. The guys didn’t fall for his computer background images!

Amamonta Dedications

We recently had the honor of being invited to a dedication in Amamonta, a village that’s approximately two hours away if you are on foot—a walk that some of the residents make two times a day, five days a week! My good friend, Steven, who many of you may be familiar with from other posts and stories over the years, invited us to be a part of this celebration. Steven invited us for a couple reasons: for one thing, it’s his village and his church; but also he invited us and the Schlote family (in the pictures with us) because of the part that we got to play in helping them.

We felt like welcome giants when we first arrived. All of the kids swarmed us with joy, but none of their parents had come out to see us yet, so there were just laughing kids everywhere!

Prior to this event, the only dedications that I had ever been a part of were for babies and buildings. Well, this dedication was specifically for this sound system (see if you can find Steven) and for all the school aged kids in the village. There was a worship band, lots of speeches and prayer, and even food at the end. There were even printed programs that were handed out! That’s not an easy feat in a place were printers are even more rare than electricity. This sound system will most likely be run off of a generator whenever it is used.

One of the areas of work here that I get to help with is connecting local churches with available work that we have at our missions center. Usually I don’t ever know how a church uses the money that they receive for work done. In this case I knew that Steven was working with multiple churches in Amamonta to fund a sound system that they could all use and share (Side note: just a few short years ago the different denominations in Amamonta did not get together or work together. God is moving in this place!). The Schlote family had a hand in the logistics of actually purchasing the sound system and getting it here. It was so great to see this plan dreamed and realized! Please pray that God will use it as a great tool to extend his church in Amamonta and the surrounding villages—in unity!

Before coming, I thought that the dedication was just for the sound system. I’m so glad that it wasn’t! It was so wonderful to see their community circle around these kids in prayer. This was truly my favorite part. You could clearly see how much they valued these kids and how much they valued praying over them corporately—believing that the Lord’s blessing was critical to their success, growth, and safety. Needless to say, we all have a lot that we can learn from each other. What a blessing!

It was sweet enough that they brought us all chairs to sit in (something that they typically don’t use themselves), so we were very humbled and grateful to receive bilums (the string bags around our necks) and food afterwards. Thanks to all of you who continue to partner with us and pray for us and make ministry like this possible.

More Conversations? How about more Sivauna?!

I would like to begin this blog post with a thank you and then an offer!

First of all, thanks to New City Church for hosting Global Conversations: Papua New Guinea with us this month (hopefully the first of many—connecting with missions across the globe!). It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces via Zoom and tell you all about some of the wild things that God is doing over here, AND answer some of your questions. What a blessing!

Second, we loved it! It was so much fun. We are certainly on the outskirts over here, and that was admittedly only the second time that either Kristi or I had used Zoom. Now we just want to do it again! So here is my offer: Would your church, Sunday School class, small group Bible study, family reunion, carpool, etc. like to host us virtually? We won’t be back in America until the end of this year, but we could be on a screen near you as soon as you ask! I’m just sure that some of you have questions about our anti-normal life. Did I mention that we haven’t been to the first world since 2019? Were we even aware of a global pandemic? These questions must haunt you, and we would love to satisfy your curiosity.

Note: we are 14 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, so the only great time window is generally 6-9pm EST.

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And as a bonus… Sivauna pictures!

I just got back from East New Britain again where I had the honor of working alongside some great people for the Mamusi Bible translation project where the Wade family serves. For the full story, I would check this post out from Aaron Wade first, and then come back for more of my pics:

https://goteamwade.com/2022/05/29/may-2022-update/

And maybe this glossary of terms will help you out:

• New Britain: The largest island to the right of mainland PNG

• East New Britain: The eastern province on the above mentioned island

• Rano: a coastal town on the bottom side of New Britain, approx. in the middle

• Mamusi: the name of the language spoken in the area where we were working

• Sivauna: the name of the village where the Wades live and work—a hub for the Mamusi translation project.

• Rice: the name of mama’s pig, because he likes eating leftover rice.

Anything having to do with wood fascinates me, but I love this sign that the Mamusi people made because I know how hard it was to make. This was hand carved out of kwila which is well known around here for eating up drill bits and saw blades. I honestly can’t fathom how they did it. It just shows their dedication to get God’s Word in their language.

From the left: me, Andy, Dudley, Aaron, and our pilot, Jason.

We get to fly with our fancy neck pillows because we are heading out over the ocean.

Pago Volcano

I had to include this photo that I got from the plane because it was mesmerizing. I can’t really quote anything that I found on the web; the info was all over the place, but its last activity was recorded in 2012.

Rano at last

About to approach the Rano Metropolitan International Airport. Yes, that was a joke.

Willie arrives with our limousine. I’m even more excited to see him because the last time that Aaron and I did this, we walked (well, not the whole way…).

Willie and I get cozy for the hour drive to Sivauna. It looks like I’ve got a nice glass of milk for the drive in my hand, but nope that’s the satellite dish mount that I’m sitting on. Good times.

The next few pictures should give you some context. The local church is behind the house. Most of the village (that I’ve seen) trails off in front of the house.

I loved the creativity of this house!

The Wades’ house from the back. It’s even taller than it looks when you are on that ladder. It’s essentially living quarters upstairs and working space downstairs.

I didn’t spend as much of my time doing the technical things like Andy and Aaron, but I did get to play my part on the perilous roof.

I was blessed to get to team up with Dudley. We installed all kinds of wall board, trim, tile, and other repairs as needed.

What do I love most about coming to Sivauna? All of my junior carpenters of course!

Too cute!

Gaius thought that he was so cool when I gave him ear plugs to use while I was sawing. I apparently wore him out though, because he took a nap in the middle of the translation office for a good hour one day. We just walked around him :)

TERMITES! I’m always correcting my kids, “Hate is a really strong word, please pick a different one.”

I hate termites. This is what they can do to Masonite wall board. It was floppy like craft paper when they were done with it.

Sunday...

I mainly took this photo because it was the only time that my junior carpenters wore clothes the whole week.

Unbelievably cute!

Willie’s sister, Martina, brings us some vegetables and shows us the craziest looking beans I’ve ever seen. She said that around Sivauna is the only place (in the world?) that has these beans. We dubbed them Mamusi beans. They were okay… but I probably cooked them the wrong way.

You have to love a good Sunday afternoon!

I knew that you all would be disappointed if I didn’t include a cool spider photo.

Here’s a little Mamusi for you and a little Tok Pisin…

“Car that belongs to the work of turning talk (Bible translation)”

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Okay, last thing…

My family likes to give me a hard time because I always come back from anywhere with tons of pictures of flowers, trees, bugs, moths, rainbows… you get the idea. Well, enjoy these!

Maybe one of the most common foods in the world that comes from the most bizarre of trees. Can you identify it?

I have no idea. Some kind of tropical fig variety maybe?

So many stunning hibiscus flowers!

The only thing stranger than this tree is the fact that the picture below is the same tree.

Come Celebrate with Us

Hey everyone! We have some exciting news to share with you. New City Church will be hosting a virtual (via Zoom) gathering this coming Thursday night where we will be the guest speakers! Not only are we the speakers, but that night is our 7 year anniversary of the day we first stepped foot in PNG! God has done so much in those seven years—they have been the hardest and most wonderful years of our lives! Thursday night we will be talking about our mission work here and our life in Papua New Guinea and also what this term has been like serving alongside COVID. If you or someone you know might be interested, please join us!

Where: Wherever you and your computer are

When: Thursday, May 12th

Time: 7:30- 9pm EST

Click here to register https://newcitycenter.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/1342/responses/new

Serving in Mamusi

So I had the honor of helping a brother out recently. I started writing all about my trip with Aaron Wade to Sivauna, where the Wades are based to translate God’s Word into the Mamusi language. However, Aaron beat me to the blog, used all of our best pictures, and said everything better than I could have. So, I highly encourage you to check out Aaron’s post about our time there:

goteamwade.com/2020/02/04/aarons-village-visit/

Aaron’s friend Robert and all his family were elated to see Aaron again.

It wasn’t long after we arrived that food started showing up on our porch.

Deluxe Dinner

Taro was assuredly at every meal. This night we ate like kings with a little bit of everything. Clockwise from the “cooking banana”: kaukau (ambiguous sweet potato), kumu (ambiguous edible leaf) with mystery meat and quinoa (imported, thanks Aaron), and taro (the most dense of all foods created by God).

Everyone is interested in all our tasks

Meet Loretta—too cute!

Aaron was doing our laundry and drew quite a crowd

My constant companions

Our porch was surely the hottest hangout for the 10 and under crowd.

If there is any picture that exemplifies what my time looked like, it’s this one. These cuties would show up after breakfast and watch me work until dark.

...and they were eager helpers!

The kids were elated when I let them rip off the old screens. Jonathan even helped put the new ones back on.

Roof Day

Aaron and I spent the morning cleaning gutters, solar panels, and adding screws to the roof. After hauling numerous containers of water up the 20' foot ladder, we ended our time by installing a hose on the header tank for future cleaning. Yeah, we should have done that first… Here’s some fuzzy math for you: cleaning dirt off of half the solar panels yielded 4-5 times the power output!

Sunday School

I love this building. It’s where the kids had Sunday School among other things.

During church, I noticed that the kids were suddenly interested in the ceiling. If you look closely, you can see where a 4+ foot long snake decided to shed its skin and leave it hanging in some acrobatic feat. Also, the church banner has been constructed of local leaves combined with some student’s math homework.

Bugs, lots of bugs

Much of my time was spent combating the creepy crawlies. These mysterious formations were left on wood shelving from the inhabitants that lived within.

Two doors completely lost their lives. One of those fell right off the hinges. Thank you termites.

The Mother Ship

God blessed us to find this termite condominium the day before we left. I’ve never seen anything like it.

God’s majesty in the smallest of things. I can take pictures of bugs and flowers all day long—really. The Lord’s attention to detail is just captivating.

Not for the faint of heart

Aaron was greeted one evening by what I would have called a giant spider in the shower. We caught it and showed it to our village family and they described it as “a little kid of another spider.”

Then all my kids saw it as a challenge to bring me the biggest bugs they could find. Especially spiders.

Yeah, unfortunately this tarantula was found inside the house :-O

On the way out

I had to take a picture of this bridge. It did hold our car, and it did have much water flowing beneath it. I can’t explain how either statement is true.

Reunited

Back with the Wade family in Kokopo, the boys and I go for a swim. Simmering volcanoes ominous across the bay.

Thanks for your prayers!

First of all, thanks for the overwhelming outpouring of love, prayers, and encouragement that we have received from so many of you—some people that we haven’t even met before, or yet! Since so many of you have been asking me for an update on my jaw, I’m going to blast it here on the blog.

I just got the results today for the biopsy that I had 2 weeks ago. I have a keratocyst that stretches about three teeth wide starting in the back where my wisdom tooth used to be.   It’s currently surrounding a nerve that runs the length of my jaw, so they advised that I shouldn’t have it removed yet given its current size. The first step will be to have a tube installed in the next couple of weeks that will allow the cyst to drain (eww, sorry!) and shrink in size over the next 6-8 months. Once it is smaller and hopefully recedes from around the nerve, they will remove the cyst. Hopefully all that was informative without being too gross :) We are praising God that this wasn’t cancerous or too complicated!

So what does that mean for our furlough? By God’s grace we will be here in the US for a mere nine months, see you all for visits and stories very soon, and be back to work in Papua New Guinea in the Summer of 2019 without delay. We would really like to see you all while we are here, please let us know if you would like to plan a time to get together. 

And of course, here are some pics from the last month… 

High School Mission Trip

So here is a quick rundown for you: 30 students from Ukarumpa International School (UIS) and 6 adult leaders flew to Enga Province to work and serve for close to a week. Half of that total group worked at a medical outpost at Lapalama, and the half that I (John) served with worked in and around the hospital at Kompiam. We went on this trip to be a blessing to those in Enga Province, and we went so that that the high school students could serve and learn about the work that's going on in these areas firsthand. 

This was one of two houses that my students in Kompiam worked on and this is what it looked like when we first arrived. This house will be used for hospital staff.

The crew in the truck are also working to clean up around the house and bring in dirt to strengthen the eroded foundation.

Progress being made!

Dr. and Mrs. Mills hosted us in their house daily for meals and times of fellowship.

Typically, half of the students were working at the Kompiam school, while the other half were doing construction with me. In these pics, some of the girls and school kids got to know each other better by decorating each other with banana leaves.

Meet Kairu

He graduated from UIS a couple of years ago and now lives and works in Kompiam. Kairu’s main role is running the radio station, but all that he does probably can’t be listed. Our second project entailed the demo and installation of new siding for his house.

Bees!

Yes, we found live bees and dead bees. If you look closely where we opened up the wall, there’s about 3 inches of dead bees in the wall cavity that we had fun cleaning out.

Sisalation goes behind all the walls and under the roof as a radiant barrier.

Everybody LOVES working!

Marty, the Youth Director, was my construction partner on the Kompiam team. He doubled the work that I would have been able to do and was a great friend to work alongside.

I’ve bragged on the girls many times since the trip. This was the second high school mission trip that I had the privilege to work on. My first trip yielded only one girl that was interested in construction, but this time all the girls jumped in and did great!

This side looks great! (don’t look at the back side…)

"Garbage Cajon"

Sadly, the sound quality lived up to the name, but I was so proud of my guys that built this cajon out of construction scraps that they salvaged!

Going to church in Kompiam is always a blessing. They let us do the whole service from worship to student testimonies to Marty preaching.

So cute!

Loading up in the truck to drive to some waterfalls for some Sunday afternoon fun.

Every trip is an adventure!

Ready for some fun! The lower falls are in the foreground and the upper falls can be seen toward the back.

God’s work here was just stunning!

In case you forgot what I looked like…

Everyone makes fun of me for always stopping to take pictures of flowers and butterflies, but look, you get to enjoy this :)

Reunited and it feels so good… to not be hiking anymore. The Tapps and Tony Romito hike their group from Lapalama to join us in Kompiam the day before we are to fly home.

The seniors photo bombed this selfie that Tony and I were trying to take.

Heading home!

Billy Graham talks about Bible translation

This was such an encouragement to us, I hope that you enjoy it!

Vacation Bible School

I just wanted to take a moment to praise the Lord for another great year of Vacation Bible School and to ask you to be praying for the numerous kids that put their faith in Jesus Christ this week. On average, there were more than 300 kids per day that came to play games, sing songs, see puppets and dramas, and hear the Word of the Lord in the midst of it all. I had the pleasure of shuttling the kids and teachers out to the VBS site via truck again this year, and Nori helped the teachers out and made new friends. Thanks to the many families that gave untold time to see the Lord change young hearts across this region!

Happy New Year!

Amos (left) and Lemech (arms crossed) make it in the photo later...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from my guys at CAM (Construction and Maintenance)! Thanks for all your prayers and partnership this last year that allowed us to serve in the many areas that we do!

For those of you that are trying to keep up with what I, John, am currently doing here, here's a breakdown:

We live in Ukarumpa in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Ukarumpa serves as a central hub for the numerous Bible translation projects across PNG—a unique land of over 800 languages. Do the languages sound similar? Well, I'm sure that some of them might, but here's an example of my regular morning greetings: Banram (in Gadsup, which a majority of my CAM guys speak). Wanram (still Gadsup, back side of the mountain). Doa'i (for all of the Tairora guys). Rondai (for Joseph and Mavis). Yangam (in Engan for Angie). Avi'ai (in Fore', I think, for Nonte and Aaron). And of course, Moning Nau for everybody else in Tok Pisin. Whew!

I work at CAM where we look after Ukarumpa in all its many facets so that the Bible translators can do their work to the fullest. Within the CAM department, there are multiple sections including Housing, Maintenance, Industrial, Building, Utilities (Electrical and Plumbing), Agriculture (cows and trees), and Sales (Hardware, Joinery, and Sawmill). Why so much? Well, we are in the middle of the jungle really, so we either have to make stuff ourselves or order it and wait months. I've worn many hats since arriving here, but for the last year-and-a-half I've been looking after the Maintenance and Industrial sections, and working as a community liaison for contract work under my Assistant Manager title. The Maintenance section is responsible for everything that's NOT a building. That includes roads, grounds, fencing, and drainage (keep in mind that our annual rainfall can be over 100 inches per year!) among other things. I've been pushing to change our section name to Terrestrial Section, but it hasn't caught on. My Industrial guys (Amos & Lemech) take care of our all our CAT equipment down to our lawnmowers and weld everything in between. As Assistant Manager, I work with all of our neighboring villages and leaders to distribute help via contract work (extra jobs that our employees don't have the time or capacity to do), and do it in the most amiable and equitable manner. 

I wanted you all to see these guys because even though we are here to support Bible translation, I see them as my greatest ministry. The discipleship work that we do here reaches out into their villages and and is affecting change in their families, churches, and communities across PNG to the glory of Jesus Christ. In this new year, please remember to pray for Ete, Poi, James, Lloyd, David, Marcus, Michael, Andison, Willie, Tama, Nonte, Amos, Lemech, Joseph, their wives, and 39 children. Your prayers and partnership are going to great lengths here in Papua New Guinea and we want you to know it.

May the Lord bless your families and ministries in 2018 in incredible ways!

John, Kristi, Nori, Banner, and Millie

Meeting Enga

So I (John) just got back from a trip to Enga Province this last week. It was about an hour west (by plane) from where we are in the Eastern Highlands Province. Marty Driggers (Youth Director), Tony Romito (Bible teacher), and I (Builder) went to do some reconnaissance for the high school mission trip that will happen early next year. Our first stop was Wabag where we stayed with the Boyd family who are a translation team. Our second stop was Kompiam where the Mills family operates a hospital and school. I thought you might enjoy some pictures and stories from the trip and these should also give you some ideas as to how to pray for what God's doing here in PNG. Enjoy!

Enga Province is home to the Enga language group which is reportedly the largest in PNG. We regularly heard people speaking Enga and nothing else, which is rare in this land of 800+ languages.

This was conveniently placed outside of the entrance to the airport. I'm still not clear as to whether you are supposed to fire one shot or empty your whole magazine before entering the airport.

This is Adam Boyd next to Manius, his lead co-translator, and the rest of their translation team. Our first stop was at the Boyds' village near Wabag, a relatively large city for PNG. If my memory serves true, they were working through a passage in 1 Corinthians when we stopped by to see Adam's team and work space.

We hiked around looking for possible projects that the high school kids could tackle inside a week.

Wolfpack Fans are Everywhere!

No, I did not stage this photo. Yes, Essi just happened to be wearing this sweatshirt on the other side of the world.

Everyone that we met was eager to meet us and sit down with us to talk for a bit. I tried to learn as much of the Enga language as I could in a few days, and people always seemed pleasantly surprised and happy to teach me as much as I could handle.

Adam's son explores inside a house that their pastor is building; Tony peeks in.

Looking for work at church... There are plenty of options!

Possibly the world's deepest pothole.

Same pothole, different perspective—this is why you should watch your step!

This may look like a creek to you, but it looks like a possible bathtub to us! Yes, we have to consider ALL the details.

Fish flour: one of the local delicacies that I was told I had to try in Wabag. You can't tell this from the photo, but it was about the size of my forearm, and yes, I ate the whole thing :)

Individual graves like this one are common sights along the roadside. Some traditional beliefs include ancestors' spirits coming back and causing trouble if they aren't happy, so building them a nice home makes good sense.

This is a great example of an Enga style house. I haven't seen this shape anywhere else in Papua New Guinea, but they are quite common here.

The road to Kompiam: just another opportunity to trust the Lord.

Maternity wing and new construction

The master plan and designs for the hospital buildings were all donated by architects that spent untold hours. The non-traditional building shapes were made to create natural light and ventilation without power. Solar panels and generators make the only power and it is precious.

Inside the new maternity wing

The next building, waiting for God's provision

This next wing of the hospital will house an operating room(s?), morgue, and solar batteries to mention a few.

Pediatrics

Dr. David Mills checks on some of his patients as he shows us around.

Dr. Mills tries to teach our untrained eyes about what he is seeing in this x-ray. I still don't see it.

Kompiam Hospital and surrounding clinics in the bush

This map shows where the Kompiam Hospital resides in Enga Province. The roads and networks at the bottom of the map indicate the development there. The mostly green area above and around Kompiam tell a story of no roads, just jungle: People isolated by jungle that need medical service and need to hear God's Word.

It's hard to put into words all that we saw at Kompiam. Dr. David Mills and his family have worked among the Papua New Guineans there for more than 18 years. They run the hospital, school, and radio station among many other things, and support numerous clinics scattered throughout the nearby jungle. Many of those clinics are only accessible by foot.

We hiked about an hour out from the hospital to have this beautiful view looking back at the airstrip. You can't really see the hospital from here, but it's around the backside of the airstrip. 

What tropical rains can do to a road

Apparently, I stop and "smell the roses" too much. I was always the straggler on hikes because I was taking pictures, and Kristi made fun of me (in a nice way, of course!) for all the valleys, mountains, trees, flowers, moths, etc. that were included in my slide show night when I got back. This small sampling has been seriously edited down for your enjoyment.

Not only do I smell roses, but I'm always on the lookout for new orchids (which grow like weeds here).

Talking to kids at the swimming hole

Marty and I are just glad that we caught a ride in the back of the truck and didn't have to walk.

We were continually blessed by the many times of fellowship and worship.

Leading worship

I was pleasantly surprised that they had a cajon to play

Dr. Mills leads the Sunday school class and is helped out by his son and daughter.

I'm easily distracted by all the little cuties.

All the kids wanted to see pictures of my kids, and then of course they wanted to see pictures of themselves.

These pictures are from the Sunday that we went to the Baptist church at Kompiam

I took this picture as a reminder for myself to pray for Kompiam and all that God is doing there. This building struck a particular chord with me because it's their construction and maintenance department and there is nobody to run it; Dr. Mills has somehow managed to do most of the work himself! I hope that God can use me to help them out to some extent as time and circumstances allow. And yes, those are four shipping containers that have been turned into a building. You have to get creative with what you have available around here! The upstairs containers and common space between them are being renovated to house single nurses.

The kindergarten classroom

The school building

I was particularly interested to here the stories around the construction of this school building. The all metal building is essentially a "kit house" that was trucked up from Lae and screwed together here. Even though timber abounds here, steel construction can be lighter (and more compact) to transport, can last much longer in this tropical climate, and may need less power to construct (no cutting or planing wood).

Some things are universal

Like smiles and jump ropes.

From the school stairway, looking back toward the hospital, with the PNG flag blowing.

The school at Kompiam serves the children of hospital staff including the Mills' own children. It's currently grades K-10, but could go up to grade 12. Please pray for Mrs. Mills and her leadership of the school, for teachers for the school, and for the students who hear God's Word every day.

The morning that we were leaving, we had the privilege of being interviewed on the radio by Kairu. He graduated from the Ukarumpa International School (that's our school, y'all) back in 2016, and is now the station manager (and artist extraordinaire! yeah, that's his work) at the radio station in Kompiam. The station broadcasts throughout the area and offers Christian music and programs as well as health information and news.

Please continue to pray for this upcoming mission trip (probably March 2018). Pray for wisdom and strength for Marty and Sara Driggers as they bear the bulk of the preparations. Pray that God will direct the students and provide for them to go. Pray for safety as we will travel and do many construction related tasks. Pray for peace in these areas to which we will travel. Pray for the Boyd family and the Mills family and their ministries in these areas in Enga Province. Thanks for praying for all this and more!