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.

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)”

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.