Shopping Trip and Survey Trip Update - by Nancy

My last day in Ukarumpa, Sara and I made a trip to the store. She needed some groceries, and I wanted to get a few more gifts to take home, like some PNG coffee. It was a rainy day and in the photo below, you can see Sara entering the store with her PNG umbrella. The windows to her left are the Ukarumpa Kai Bar (Snack Bar).The store is not large, but it has a pretty good selection of groceries. However, the inventory can change from week to week, so you never know if they will have the particular item you are looking for. Here is Sara in one of the aisles...

and in front of the cooler case.

Most of the foods are familiar, yet many are a little different than I am used to in the United States. Some are produced in PNG, or come from Indonesia or Australia. Another thing that was different for me was buying milk in boxes, as seen in the following photo.


The next photo shows lap laps for sale, which in PNG are worn as wrap-around dresses.


Of course, yarn for bilums is a popular item. As you can see, shopping at the Ukarumpa store is a colorful experience!


Also, we had an update from the survey team (an email from a contact person in Ukarumpa who had talked to them on the radio!) The message was from October 29th. It said they are all healthy and doing well! A few times they've had to wait an extra day but are mostly
on schedule and making good progress. They say... thanks for the prayers and please keep praying!

New Britain Survey: Week 2

Here's the second week's worth of prayer requests... thanks for your prayers and keep on praying!

October 28-29 (Wednesday-Thursday)
The Plan: Visit two villages in the Lesing-Gelimi language area.
The Prayer Requests: Pray that we will meet the right people, have good conversations, and collect accurate data about the language situation.

October 30-31 (Friday-Saturday)
The Plan: Visit two villages.
The Prayer Requests: This is where it gets tricky, because no one is really sure whether these two villages are part of the Lesing-Gelimi language or the neighboring Avau language. So please pray for accurate data collection, especially as we’re collecting word lists, one of the main tools we use to decide which language a particular village is part of. Also pray that people will give us accurate information.

November 1 (Sunday)
The Plan: Visit an Avau village and attend a church service.
The Prayer Request: Again, pray that God will bless both our time at the church service and our data collection.

November 2 (Monday)
The Plan: Visit another Avau village.
The Prayer Request: Pray for safe travel, good relationships and accurate data collection. Pray for stamina as we’ve been on survey for almost two weeks now!

November 3 (Tuesday)
The Plan: REST DAY! No traveling or working today. We’re going to stay in the same Avau village as yesterday, but rest rather than work.
The Prayer Request: Pray that we will be able to relax and recover from the previous week’s work!

Signs in PNG - guest post by Nancy

This is Nancy again. Sara is on a survey trip off the coast of New Britain Island. If you missed her last post, be sure to read it and please pray for her and the rest of the team (Juliann, Bonnie, and Jacob). It sounds like they will have some interesting stories to tell us when they get back.

Look for another automatic post from Sara on Tuesday, but meanwhile, she said I could keep you entertained with more photos from my trip to visit her. I only have a few more posts planned, and then it will be back to Sara full-time.

This time, I thought I’d share some “signs” from Papua New Guinea.

Here is a sign of the National Emblem of PNG. It was on the door of the Mapang Missionary Guest House, where I stayed my first night in Port Moresby. The emblem shows a Bird of Paradise sitting on a kundu drum, with a traditional spear going thru the drum.
Next we have a sign on the building where Sara works. The language survey office is a part of LCORE. This sign also has a kundu drum on it.


The next photo is of a speed limit sign along one of the roads in Ukarumpa. I’m not sure what the numbers were changed from… but 30 kmph is approximately 18 mph, I think!


Be careful how fast you drive, because this next sign is nearby. Of course, Sara and I walked everywhere we went, so we didn’t have to worry about the speed limit!
The next sign is at POC (Pacific Orientation Course). Families (many with small children) go there to learn the culture of PNG and how to speak Tok Pisin.

(It says "Sink for washing children".)

This next sign is at the airport in Madang. It warns that chewing Buai is not allowed here. Buai (or Beetlenut) is the nut from a type of palm tree. It is chewed with lime (kambang) and mustard (daka), which creates a red juice in the mouth. This stains many Papua New Guineans’ mouths and teeth red. They spit the juice out, so it is very common to see red stains on the ground. Unfortunately, it is also addictive and can be cancer-causing.


Here's another sign at the airport (this time at Aiyura, near Ukarumpa). Are you familiar with going through security at an airport? This is the “security gate” at Aiyura! Your pilot walks over, says “Going to Madang?” (or wherever) and you walk through the gate!


Next is a photo of Sara standing by a sign along the road in Ukarumpa. We tried to figure out what it said, but we really couldn’t tell!


And finally, here’s a sign at the store in Ukarumpa. It’s in Tok Pisin… but I think you can figure out what it says. The word “Digicel” should give you a clue! I’ll post the answer in the “comments” after you have some time to try to figure it out.

New Britain Survey: Week 1

I'm leaving today for three weeks of survey work on the island of New Britain. This post is the first in a series of three - one for each week - of specific prayer requests for each day. Feel free to print them and out and hang them on your fridge or put them somewhere else you'll see then and remember to pray, or just check back here every day to see what the team and I are doing.

We really need your prayers for this survey - it will be long and have many challenges, including hot, humid weather, difficulty in finding transportation and biting sandflies! I look forward to sharing with you how God answered your prayers when we return.

(These posts are posting automatically; I'm a LONG way from any computer! So if you email me, understand that I won't be able to reply until after November 10).

October 21 (Wednesday)

The Plan: Fly out of Ukarumpa early in the morning to the south coast of New Britain island.
The Prayer Request: Pray for good weather so we can get there safely!

October 22 (Thursday)

The Plan: Travel by boat to the Apalik language area.
The Prayer Requests: This will be a very long boat trip. Pray that we will be able to find a boat to hire, and pray especially that we will be able to find fuel for the boat. We will be in a very remote area and it can be very difficult to find fuel. Also pray for safety as we travel across the ocean!

October 23-24 (Friday and Saturday)

The Plan: Visit two more Apalik villages.
The Prayer Requests: Pray that we will be able to find a boat to hire (along with fuel!) each day. The Apalik language is spoken on four small islands, so we will need to travel to the next island by boat every day. Pray for good weather as well, because rainy season is just ending here on the south coast. Continue to pray for safety as we travel in boats.

October 25 (Sunday)

The Plan: Visit the fourth Apalik island and attend and observe a church service.
The Prayer Requests: Pray that God will lead us to a church where we can gain helpful insights about the language area, as well as encourage people and grow ourselves.

October 26 (Monday)

The Plan: Travel by boat from the Apalik language area to the Lesing-Gelimi language area.
The Prayer Requests: This is our longest boat trip. Pray for a boat, fuel, good weather, and safety!

October 27 (Tuesday)

The Plan: REST DAY! We’re not going to travel or work today, but read, nap, and hang out.
The Prayer Request: Pray that we will be able to relax and recover.

(Thanks to my teammate Juliann for writing this schedule and the prayer requests. Check out her survey blog at http://pngsurvey.blogspot.com.)

Going on survey again

Tomorrow morning I'm going on my fourth survey trip...

This time Bonnie, Juliann and I, along with Jacob (a short-term volunteer) are going out to New Britain to survey four languages that don't have any written form or translated Scriptures. We'll be gone for three weeks, hiking some and traveling by boat to the many small islands that make up these language groups.

Look for posts each week with an itinerary and specific prayer requests. Along with the specific requests, you can pray for good health for me and my teammates, safe travel and good team dynamics.

Thanks!

Bilums and babies - by Nancy

Bilums (pronounced "BEE-lum") are Papua New Guinean "string bags". They are everywhere in PNG and are used by men, women, and children. If you've been following this blog, you've already seen them in some of the photos. They have many uses... from carrying produce home from the garden or to market, to being a hanging cradle for a sleeping baby.

In the photo below, you can see several bilums being used at the market at Mus village. Notice they are carried on the forehead or over the shoulder.

Here is a photo at the market in Madang showing many colorful bilums for sale.

(Thanks to Jacob for this photo.)

Next are a few close-up photos of bilums that were given to me on my visit to Sara.

This one was made by Rose and given to me for Laura. It's a "yangpela meri" bilum (for a young lady). It's a little smaller size than most, and is made out of yarn.And this one was made by Maggie.


This one is made of natural materials.


Now to the "fun" part - Babies and bilums!

If you look closely, you can see the baby's feet in the bilum this lady is carrying at the market.

I like the silhouette of the baby in this bilum, while her Mama stands nearby.


Here is baby Maureen taking a nap at our house in the village.


And a close up photo...


Ireme is only 10 or 11 years old but she is a good babysitter... carrying this baby in the bilum on her forehead!
Here is baby Ryan sleeping in his bilum on a hook in Sara's basement (the only place there was a strong enough hook!)


And I thought you might like to see a picture of him after he woke up. As you can tell by his expression, he was not too sure of who I was and what I was doing with my camera!

Evidence - by Nancy

I saw the evidence in Papua New Guinea. Evidence of a great deal of work having been done and sacrifices made. Hours and hours of work. Actually years and years of work. By many people... both individuals and families.

Here's some of the evidence.These are New Testaments in Papua New Guinean languages.

The country of Papua New Guinea is a little larger in size than the state of California. PNG has 178,704 square miles compared to California's 163,707 square miles. PNG has just under 6 million people, compared to California's over 36 million. That gives you an idea how rural PNG is. And, the most incredible fact about PNG is there are over 800 languages in that small, rural country!

So, missionaries have come from all over the world to PNG. They come to give the people the Bible in their "Tok Ples" - the "talk of their place". They came, and still come, to places where the people have no alphabet in their language. They spend years learning that language and the culture of those people so they can give them God's word in the language they understand best.

And the evidence is here on these walls... photos of translators and the people who helped them.


Can you imagine not having a way to write your language? There is much that goes into a completed New Testament translation, but having an alphabet for a language is a basic need. And then, after you have an alphabet... how about teaching the people to read their new written word? Then the Literacy work begins.

Here is Sara in the Literacy Office at Ukarumpa. All these books are single copies of alphabet books, primers, and other literacy books, in many different PNG languages.


And there are more!


Here is more evidence of the work being done in PNG. This building is the "Tok Ples Buk Distribution Center".


Inside are boxes containing all kinds of books in many PNG languages... New Testaments, health education books, alphabet books, reading primers, etc.


I was privileged to spend some time in PNG with people who work together to give the Bible to people who previously didn't even have an alphabet... and I know they are "regular, ordinary people" (who with God's help have accomplished what seems to me like an almost impossible task). To me, they are heroes.

Lucky Chickens and One Unlucky Chicken - by Nancy

Chickens in the village lead a pretty nice life. There seems to be plenty of natural food for them to eat. They all look fat and healthy.

They run around anywhere they want.

Roosters crow - like roosters anywhere, I guess, at any hour of the day or night. In the middle of the night (well, maybe technically morning if you consider 4:00 a.m. morning) I would hear roosters from our village crowing, and then roosters from the nearby village crowing back. To my mind, they weren't saying "Cock-a-doodle-do." It sounded as if they were saying... "It's all okay here". Like they were night watchmen giving a report.

Now to the unlucky chicken part of the story. One afternoon, a man came walking through our village on his way to the next village. He was carrying a chicken.
No, it is NOT the same chicken as on the porch in the photo above! (As far as I know, that chicken is still happily running around the village).

I thought this chicken was dead. Sara informed me that it was not. She said because they have no refrigeration and it's 95 degrees out, they don't kill it until they want to cook it. Okay! I said, "I wish I had gotten a photo of that".

Sara told me to grab my camera and go after him, because she was sure he'd love to have his picture taken. So I did. And as soon as some of the family saw what I wanted, they started hollering to him to come back.

He was quite please to have his photo taken with his dangling live chicken.

He wanted to look at it on my camera screen. Everyone in the village likes to have their picture taken and then look at it on your camera screen. In fact, the very best time to take photos of the kids would be while they are looking at their pictures on the back of your camera, because they get huge smiles on their faces when they see themselves. Since most of them don't have mirrors, I guess that is a pretty special thing. (I didn't see myself in a mirror the whole five days we were in the village) I didn't miss it, but it is certainly different than at home!

Banana leaf answer - by Nancy

Thanks to everyone who guessed what Mama Agnes was doing in the photo in the last post. It was fun to read your comments! I will admit at the time I didn’t know what she was doing. So, if you got it correct or were on the right track – good job!

Here’s the answer…


She was using the heat from the fire to soften the banana leaf so she could wrap food for us to take along on our trip. A banana leaf - treated this way - is the Papua New Guinea village version of plastic wrap!

The night before, Sara had told Mama we planned to get up and head right out to the road the next morning to wait for a PMV (Public Motor Vehicle) for our trip back to Madang. Sara said we wouldn’t take time for breakfast. Like any concerned Mama, Agnes didn’t want us to go hungry!

We were thankful she did this for us, because the first PMV came… and was too full to pick us up. We waited… and waited… and waited. More PMVs went by. No room!

Grandma Maggie got out the bubbles I had brought to help keep the kids happy while everyone waited.

Mama Agnes sat along the side of the road and worked on making a bilum.

Papa Karis sat patiently while ten-year old Ireme carried baby Maureen in a bilum and watched the other kids play.

Every PMV that came by was too full to stop for us.


Most of the family had come out to the road with us to say good-bye, but as time went on, the crowd got smaller and smaller. Here's Sara with most of the family when we first started waiting.


Finally, they said every PMV that was going to go by had!

But someone called someone on their cell phone. They said there were more people from the clinic nearby who also wanted to go to Madang and they had arranged for one to come back and pick us all up. They would be there at 11:30. We had been waiting since 7:00!

So, we got out Mama’s banana-leaf-wrapped Sago Cake. It tasted really good! (This one was flavored with onions). We had some and shared it with the family who were still waiting. And, the promised PMV arrived at 11:30 – pretty amazing in PNG. (It happened when we were told it would). We said more quick good-byes to the family, hopped in the truck, and off we went.

What's Mama doing? - by Nancy

On our last morning in the village, I noticed Mama Agnes doing something with a banana leaf. I wondered what she was doing and I took her photo. What do YOU think she was doing? Post your guesses in the comments and on Tuesday I'll post the follow-up photo to show you.

Let's go to market - by Nancy

On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, local people come to Ukarumpa to sell their garden produce and homemade crafts at the market. They come early in the morning and stay only a couple of hours - so we'd better head out promptly.

From Sara's house, we'll head down the hill. You can see the market through the fog in the distance - in the center of this photo (which was taken from in front of her house).
Here is the produce section of the market.
First, let's buy some carrots, potatoes, and a pineapple. A nice bunch of carrots will cost us 1 kina (37 cents US). The vegetables are fresh, beautiful, and very reasonably priced.The root vegetables such as sweet potatoes are displayed in another row.Now let's go over to the craft section and buy some gifts to take home! There are lots of bilums or "string bags" and also interesting carved wooden items (pigs are very popular!).Children in Papua New Guinea can get pouty while their parents shop or sell, just like in the United States. This little girl doesn't look too happy! Maybe on our way out of the market, we'll buy some of these flowers to cheer her up. You can see the plant nursery in the background, too, in case you want some plants for your garden.
It's only 7:30. Let's take our purchases home. We'll put the vegetables to soak in some water with a little bleach added. Then it's time to go to work at the Language Survey office at 8:00!