All in a month's time...(this is a long one so get your coffee mug and stay awhile...I'll post it in 2 diff. posts)

(Part 1)
Today marks ONE MONTH since our departure date from Virginia!  I can hardly believe it!  The changes and shockers and newness now becoming common-day...and all the lessons in between.  These make me so grateful for the life God has given me, and excited about all the new things ahead.  Here are some things that happened JUST IN THE LAST 4 DAYS that give you a taste of my new life here in PNG.  

 Saturday, we hiked to a mumu at the Roja haus lain.  The closest thing I can describe it as is a PNG cookout for special occasions...except that WE were the special occasion I guess (more typically, they mumu due to weddings or funerals or something).  The citizens of PNG can sometimes be labeled a certain way just because of people who stand out.  It's many times a negative connotation.  BUT Josh and I have been so welcomed on the whole, and blessed so much by the PNG people we've crossed paths with.  Most are eager to help us learn, eager to show us their culture, and eager to hear us talk their "tok".  At the mumu, my new friend Rebeka "storied" with me (as they call it), and taught me some of their cooking methods with bamboo (mambu).  Her 14 year old daughter, Rut (Ruth), knows a lot of English (as they start teaching English in grade 2).  Rut would listen to me say something in English and then immediately say it in Pidgin and be sure I repeated it correctly.  Sarah had a whole audience of pikinini (children) sitting on the ground in front of her as she taught them all about the body and what muscles and bones are in it, etc.  They giggled and also listened intently...and Sarah all the while just going on and on, happy to have  I'll be going to see Rebeka again on Thursday morning to "stori" more and maybe even get to "do life" a bit too...whatever's part of her routine around 8am :)

 

Sunday, we went to a PNG church that was "open air" I call it.  Just a thatched kunai grass roof and bamboo posts with a bit of tarp and other thatched places along some of the sides.  We all took off our shoes before going in to sit on the tarps that covered much of the cement floor.  We sang songs that were in pidgin and even several in English.  We didn't get there until 10:10am...but they had already been singing for a while.  We sang for about 45 minutes or so and then people gave testimonies about things that had happened during the week (of course, I only understood a few things here and there).  Then came the offering and prayers and the message.  All the kids went out onto the dirt and amongst the garden area and played while we listened.  I even had to take Hannah and Morgan to the "bathroom" during the service.  No automatic paper towel dispensers or foaming soap to be found.  No toilet.  No door on the ladies bathroom.  Just a thatched 3-walled structure with a deep hole in the ground.  Let's just say that "Wet Ones" disinfecting wipes and toilet paper get carried everywhere we go.  But back to the service...it was sweet to see the excitement as Nicky, our first language helper, led the music and really worshipped the Lord.  Makes me excited about heaven!