This is the view from the front porch of the dining hall at the training center we are living at for the next 5 weeks. No photo we have taken really does justice to the beauty here! The rainbow is there all the time. Okay, that's not true, but it is some variety of beautiful all the time.
We get served this pretty much everyday... it's passion fruit (or suga fruit — that's soo-gah). The kids like it, John likes the flavor but not the texture, and Kristi has yet to taste it.
Millie playing in the river.
This was our first trip to the river; we will be going every week. Some Papua New Guineans were washing their dishes on the other side as we were playing. This week coming up we will be learning to how to wash our dishes there too in preparation for our village stay.
This is Matt, our POC director. He is giving us a lesson on food that we can find in the Highlands and how we might prepare it. We have been humbled and so blessed by the work and care He has poured into our training!
This is a photo of sugarcane. The kids ate it up!
These are examples of some fruit here and how everything we know about fruit is a bit different. The raisin is about the size of a prune, and the strawberries (at least the ones that we have had so far) are no bigger than a blackberry.
Kristi and Millie on the way to class... check out the PNG flag.
Nori with her Toc Pisin teachers wearing a meri blaus.
We have had the tremendous opportunity to share the training center with the Translators Training Course participants since we have been here. I can't put into words how encouraging it has been to live and eat beside these Papua New Guinean men (and some women!) that have traveled great distances and given up much (like missing their families!) to study God's word and train to translate Scripture into their own heart languages. What they delve into (like Greek & Hebrew exegesis) is no joke, and every conversation we have with them is a blessing. John has been particularly blessed and encouraged by his new friends here from the Kamano-Kafe group.
Choices, choices... Note to others: the Grass Jelly Drink is REALLY sweet and there's a ton of jelly bits that you will find halfway down that are a bit unsettling.
This is a photo from the hike we went on Saturday around the perimeter of Ukarumpa.
This too we saw on the hike... it's the bridge used everyday by the nationals to go to and from Ukarumpa village.
We love you and miss you... and will write more next week:)