LIFE IN PNG - Newsletter1

Due to limited internet, I have not been able to post updates on here as yet, so today I'm posting the 3 news letters we have written so far to get a glimpse into life here.

As I write it has just started raining and I just remembered I have washing on the line. Oh well.  The boys love it when it rains during the day here - often it rains just at night and the days are dry - so when it does rain in day time they love to run about in it, slide in the concrete drains, or make boats to float in the rushing water.  The compound now hosts a total of 9 boys (ages 12, 8, 7, 7, 6, 5, 4, 4, 3) and 6 girls (ages 9, 2, 2,1,1,0) so there is always activity going on, games to play, things to build, whatever it is that boys like to do. Most days a further 3-5 boys from other city mission families come to join in the fun as well.

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UPDATE 1
Wednesday marked a week since we first touched down in Lae. Already, so much has happened. I’m sure that some of you reading this now, have also caught glimpses into our life via Facebook, so not all of what you read will be new to all of you, but here is a tiny piece of our experience so far. When we landed in Brisbane, we had a chance to meet with Bob and Ann Epperson - the General Manager of Lae City Mission and his wife – as they were heading away from PNG for a six week break. We shared a meal, and Bob gave us a quick run down of what was in store for us. It began to sound like we were standing at the foot of a hill, and we had some climbing ahead of us.

Boys enjoyed their own screens on the plane!

Then sleep, wake, rush, catch another plane, and we were en route for Port Moresby. There, we were met by Ron – the CEO of City Mission PNG – and his assistant Dorothy, who also shared some food and tried to fill us in on what we were flying towards. The fog around the hill began to thin out, and we could see that we were at the foot of a mountain, with no way to go but up. Transfer to domestic, rush to catch a plane which was boarding early, and we were on the last leg of our trip. By this stage, our kids were beyond the point of exhaustion, and I had a moment where the adrenaline stopped, and knew that now I would have time to be tired. Now I would crash. But not yet. Touched down in Lae, and we met two of City Mission’s staff – Ricky and Remmie – who helped us cart our luggage, and drove us to the LCM compound, where we were greeted with a decorated gate, hand-written signs, and a shower of flower petals over the van as we drove up to the house. Exit van, and see a sea of faces, all come to welcome us. Calvin was so excited that he was jumping up and down saying, “We’re here! We’re here!” We were presented with a floral necklace (similar to the lays of Hawaii), and ushered into our house. We had arrived! All the waiting, all the frustration, and now a feeling best described as a mixture of thankfulness, relief, and happiness washed over us.

Just one of the beautiful flowers in our yard

As both Cheree and I have said to others, when you spend so long with your heart in another place, when you do get there, it quickly feels like the place you are meant to be. It kinda feels like home (although we are under no illusion about the pangs of homesickness which will likely come to visit). It hasn’t all been smooth sailing though. Apart from Madison’s teething problems (it seems she decided to cut two teeth at once, and suffers terribly from the pain), we’ve already had one of our childen announce that they don’t like PNG. Not all of the tears which fell that morning were his, as we explained that this is our home for now. A recurring theme in our prayers at the moment, is that we all find our place, find our rythym, here quickly. Fast forward to this week, skipping over the details of our inaugural trip into town, and a day spent at the licensing office and bank, and right now, we are mostly in a pretty good headspace. As sleeping in the heat is not always easy, and everyone is up and about by 630AM (as opposed to 730-8AM), some fatigue is taking its toll on the three boys. They do not help their cause, as they play hard and loud, as much as we let them. But some normalcy has settled in. Cheree has begun school work with Nikolas and Isaac, and tells me it is as if they didn’t even have a break. By lunch, they are done and spend the hottest part of the day playing under the house, or inside. Apart from schooling, Cheree is kept quite busy with all of the housework, and for the first few days of the week, I think she did more physical work than I did. There is no wearing clothes for two days in a row here, even for the little ones, so the laundry is a perpetual cycle,and it is now obvious to me why clothes do not last in this climate.

one of the kids bedrooms

dining/kitchen

living area

other side of living area

Meanwhile, I had three mornings spent in trips to the licensing office (one area where they beat Australia is that they print your license as soon as you have your photo taken, and you walk out with a plastic card to put in your wallet), which also served to help me find my bearings a little better (on Saturday we took a trip to the shops, and it took us twenty minutes to find one which should be reached in 5). No GPS in Lae, just experience and sense of direction. After lunch hour (12-1), I started working with the young men on one of the projects here. Thursday was my first full day on the tools, and we spent it marking out a large building for the second project we are working on (there are three main projects on the go at the moment – a fence around the plantation, a dormitory to house 120 young men, and a whole new compound to house the Children’s Crisis Center (Haus Clare). The dorm is nearly completed, with cladding going on the second storey now, but the Children’s Center is only just beginning. Over the last few days, we have made some great progress, with all of the staff and young men pulling together to get things done. The General Manager and Projects Manager (one man, two caps) from POM (Port Moresby) is also here to help us push things along, and we are hoping to get the majority done before he leaves in four weeks’ time. From here, he goes to Madang where City Mission hope to launch another center. Exciting times ahead, but the mountain looms. How do you climb a mountain? Carefully, and one step at a time. We also got to spend a little time with members of the Mission Board, as they were visiting the Reformed Ministries crew, which was nice – it added a few familiar faces to the growing ocean of unfamiliar ones. We are coming to realise how big a barrier the language really is, and it can be a little frustrating not being able to communicate what I need to. The young fellas are under instruction to teach me a few words and sentences, but even this is slow going (we had tried to learn some of the language before we came, but 1] we did not learn as much as we maybe could have, and 2] what we did learn, we learned slightly wrong, so the words we thought we knew, don’t register in our ears and minds). When I led a group in devotions, I tried some Tok Pisin and asked them if I had it right. They all said yes, but their faces told me no. I’m assured (by the nationals) that I will learn it quickly, and likely go through a stage of speaking Pinglish, but this too is a recurring theme in our prayers.

The start of the Childrens Orphanage (Haus Clare)

And now, after one week in this hot, humid, beautiful place they call Lae, we are exhausted, we are sweating, and we are happy to be right where we are meant to be. Again, we thank you for your support, and we thank God for giving us people willing to support us. Dave, Cheree, Nikolas, Isaac, Calvin, and Madison.