Week 3 - Papua New Guinea

Hey Everyone!

After finally getting resettled in being back here in PA, I can finally sit down and continue to unpack all that went on in PNG.  At the end of week 2, we were on the move again.  It was time to officially leave Baimuru Station.  But we had a slight problem - we had neither a dingy, a driver, fuel to get us to all the villages, or a sound system because ours had broken the night before.  It was Saturday morning and we were planning on leaving around noon.  Needless to say, we spent most of the morning praying.  Right next to where we were staying was a church where children were singing hymns, and during our prayer time they started singing "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms".  It was like a breath of fresh air, the perfect reminder that God had us in His hands.  Before we knew it, a dingy driver had agreed to go the whole way with us over the next 2 weeks for free! Praise God! Soon after, our team leader went to the one store in Baimuru Station and found a small radio system that we could plug an iPod into - exactly what we needed to hold us over until our big sound system was fixed.  Praise God! Now, the one outstanding problem became a fuel barrel.  We didn't need it immediately, but we didn't know when the next time was that we'd be in a place that had access to a fuel barrel.  For now, we had to settle without the fuel.  Off to Koravake (core ah VAH kee)!

At this point, we gained four members to our team - 3 dingy drivers and 1 translator.  These 4 men proved to be such an incredible blessing to our team, bringing so much more than just driving the dingy and translating our words during programs.  Dairo (dy ROW), our translator, turned out to be a local missionary who passionately preached God's word all over the Baimuru district.  When he translated, it wasn't just the spitting back of the words we said, but he said them with the same or more conviction that we did.  He was respected and loved in almost every village we went to, and spoke so much truth into all our lives.  He started to teach me the language, and was so gracious as I pronounced things wrong and asked constant questions.  Jimmy, Simon, and Gabby were our dingy drivers.  These three guys became such good friends to us, and we saw so much happen in their lives during our time with them.   You'll definitely hear their names come up.

 (Gabby and Jimmy)

 (Me and Dairo)

(Jacob and Simon)

After a pleasant and beautiful journey through the river system, we arrived in Koravake, one of the biggest villages we’d see.  We were greeted with the whole village on the riverside, clapping with eagerness written all over their faces.  We walked through them, shaking hundreds of hands, receiving freshly weaved hats, fresh flower leis, and even a sprinkling of baby powder.  They sang for us, then had us lead a parade of sorts through the village.  Looking ahead and behind, there were masses of the people all around us.  We were celebrities.  These people know the art of hospitality.

(all the girls in our freshly weaved hats)

That night, we had a program to do.  During our planning time, we gained a great sense of expectation for that evening.  As we left our accommodations to go to the program site, it thundered.  Rain meant no program – but we knew God had something on His heart for this group of people for us to share that night.  We started praying hard for the second time that day.  The storm was obviously coming; we could see the clouds moving toward us, heavy with rain and constant with thunder.  We arrived at the program, and as Dairo lead worship we continued to pray.  In the middle of the worship session, I remember looking up to the sky and seeing something that took my breath away.  Stars.  When a storm was on the doorstep – stars.  I could literally see a line in the sky where the storm clouds halted and the stars began.  Clouds surrounded us, but stars were directly above us like a hole in the sky.  God had stopped the rain, halted a storm in its steps, so that we could speak that night.  It was amazing.  The next day, we saw some of the fruit of what God wanted to accomplish in that village.

Sunday morning meant a church service.  We had yet to do a church service, so us girls were excited to break out our “mary-blouses” that had been given to us in Baimuru Station.  That morning, we gave a message and offered prayer with an emphasis on people recommitting their lives to God.  Up to this point, there had been sparse responses.  It’s not about numbers, but this morning the numbers were a small testament to what God was doing.  About 50 people came forward, ready to make a true commitment to God.  The people who came forward were people who we saw in leadership in the church – people who by coming forward admitted that they didn’t have it all together.  It was so awesome to pray for them and see people find freedom from whatever was holding them back.  It was such an encouraging morning of ministry.

(the congregation)

 (their official welcome to us)

(ready to go to church)

That night we had to move on again.  We were told we were going to stay in Kapuna Hospital for the rest of the week.  None of us knew what to expect at all, but we were happy we’d have a place to stay.  We arrived and they showed us the place we were going to stay, all of our jaws dropped.  We looked into a room with a kitchen, running water, a shower, a flushing toilet, electricity from 7-10 pm every night, and real mattresses and beds with already set mosquito nets.  It was like we walked into a five star hotel compared to the villages in which we had been staying.  By the western world standards, it was worse than a cheap motel – but for us, it was all the comforts that we’d been going without.  That week, I slept like a rock in the comfort of a mattress on the floor. 

The next day, we received a tour of the hospital, and it wasn’t very uplifting.  We soon learned that health was such an overwhelming issue for these people.  The wards were not air-conditioned and had no mattresses or bedding.  We saw patient after patient lying on the floor or on a hard wooden bed.  One of the girls on my team had already graduated university with a biomedical science degree, and she told us in the privacy of our own house that the treatments they had for things like Tuberculosis were incredibly ineffective and behind the times.  The disease could be treated and cured in a facility with the proper equipment, but this facility had neither the money nor the means of receiving, operating, or maintaining such equipment.  People were dying of a disease that is completely curable.  Keep in mind, this was in no way out of neglect by the owners of the hospital, who were missionaries that came over years and years ago to start this facility, but because the hospital was free and the nurses volunteers, it in no way had the money or the personnel to support the equipment and facilities that we would deem acceptable.  It was simply heart-breaking.  Like I mentioned, the nurses were volunteers.  The hospital ran a training school, which was an incredible ministry, and they were taught not only medical procedures but also raised up in their faith.  But, most of the students who came would get the training and then take it to another hospital (though there are few to choose from) where they would be paid for their work.  Just a quick shout-out: If you have a degree in nursing or anything remotely medical and would like to spend some time in missions, check out Kapuna Hospital in Papua New Guinea – www.kapuna.org. 

(A woman and her newborn)

(Inside the ward - sleeping on the floor)

 (outside of one of the wards)

That week we went to the villages of A’arava, Kairimai, Kala Lavi and did several programs at the hospital. We saw some remarkable things happen this week  - and here are a few.

One morning, we did a program at the hospital for the patients and anyone else who wanted to come.  One of the boys while he was talking had Isaiah 49:1-4 laid on his heart to share, but it didn’t seem to tie in very well with the program.  None of us thought much of it, and were sure God was going to use it but never planned on seeing the fruit of it.  That afternoon, we were relaxing in our house when a woman came over.  She looked to be in her mid-twenties and spoke English well.  She began to tell us her story.  She said she had a sickness that gave her a lot of pain whenever she would do any labor at all, and it was something about a hole in her heart.  She had had it for many years and it affected everything she did.  She was staying at the hospital for treatment and check-ups.  A while ago, she felt very strongly that God was calling her into missions, but knew she couldn’t go with this condition so she believed that one day she would be healed.  That morning, she had gone to our program, and when Isaiah 49:1-4 was read, she got awfully excited because that was her life scripture.  She said that as soon as it was read, she knew she would receive her healing that day.  Afterwards, she went to her ward and fell asleep, but was jolted awake and she felt for sure she must come see us.  So, she did.

And that’s where we found ourselves.  Up to this point, we hadn’t seen a healing, though we had prayed for it several times.  Yet, we all gathered around this woman and started praying.  It was probably ten minutes before we stopped praying, and we asked her how she was feeling.  She said “I think I have received my healing.” And we’re like “Wait – say that again.”  She calmly told us how as we were praying, she felt “something like Colgate” (so, a cold fresh sensation like you get in your mouth when you brush your teeth) come over the pain in her heart.  It then chased the pain across her chest, down her back and came out “in a bad smell.”  At that last part she laughed and got a little embarrassed.  Up to this point, she was calm – but then she asked us, “Can I jump?”  We laughed and told her she absolutely could if she wanted.  She then stood up and started jumping and praising God.  We sang some worship songs, and in the meantime she sang along and did some push-ups and continued to jump.  She said that she could never do anything like that before or she would have horrible pain.  She left soon after and we were all so excited, that no one could sit still.  Oh, and just to make the day sweeter, it was my dad’s 52^nd birthday! Happy Birthday Pops!

(All of us with the woman that was healed)

When we went to Kairimai (CARE ih my), we saw something yet again.  Before the program we prayed and asked God what to share, and got some really specific words for the village.  We did our program, and it seemed the people were uninterested and unresponsive, but we were sure of what we shared and knew that if it impacted even one person, then it was worth it.  Soon after the program was done, Dairo came over and told us that he had to explain to several people that we hadn’t talked to the pastor or the elders before our program about what we should share, because it was so spot on to what the village was going through.  He told them that God had spoken to us, and they were amazed.  It was pretty cool to know God had truly spoken so specifically to us, and we weren’t crazy. 

 (The welcome feast)

(A family I met in Kairimai)

(Michael and a precious little boy)

(Notice the bandaged feet - Markus decided to play basketball without shoes on. Not his best idea...)

In Kala Lavi, we found out that we were the first white people this village had seen.  We met a lot of scared children because for all they knew, we were aliens.  The village was very small and had never had international missionaries come before.  They had no church and no rain collection tanks that we saw in other villages.  That meant they had very little knowledge of the God they worshiped, and they had to drink from the very dirty and infected water of the river.  This definitely gave us a new perspective.  We could only imagine how many of these little villages are almost completely unreached. 

(just too cute to leave out)

 

(Bubbles!)

On Friday, it was time to travel again.  We were now going to be spending every night in a new village.  This was a significant shift in the way we had been doing ministry – only taking day trips to different villages.  We found out quickly that it was definitely going to be more tiring, but a real adventure to meet and greet so many people day after day.  Week 4 coming soon…

Praying it all makes sense,

Nikki

Papua New Guinea - Week 2

Hey Everyone!

As you read in Week 1, we had quite the adventure just getting to the place where we were meant to do ministry.  In Week 2, we actually had the privilege of starting to do what we had prepared to do.

On Monday, January 3, we did our first program in a marketplace in Baimuru (by mah rew) Station.  It was a blistering hot day and we chose to stand in the sun during our program.  The topic God laid on our hearts was relationships - and I was the designated speaker.  Might as well come out of the gate sprinting.  We shared our program, including skits, teaching, and testimonies.  One of the testimonies shared was focused on a relationship where there was physical abuse and that person's road to forgiveness.  At the end, one of our guys initiated just walking into the market where the people were sitting and offering prayer.  Before we knew it, all of us were going that way, stepping out of the comfort zone and just sparking conversation with these people. The first woman I walked up to was named Rosie, and her three kids Philip, Debbie, and Sarah.  All the kids were under 5 years old, and she spoke English well and was very open to talk.  I ended up praying for her and hoping very much that I'd see her again.  As soon as we finished praying for the people in the marketplace, we started to head back to the house.  We were quickly interrupted and were shown just how incredibly relevant the message we brought that day was.

(Speaking in front of the Baimuru Station marketplace)

We were told about a woman named Abby.  She was in the "hospital" right next to the marketplace and needed prayer.  We were told her drug-dealer husband had beaten her and had severely injured her.  He took her to the hospital, but when the nurses took too long by his standards to service her, he tried to take her from the hospital.  Upon this action, the men of the village started beating him and chasing him away, to which he laughed and ran into the bush.  Apparently, Abby's husband had a track record of beating her, and everyone knew about it, but no one could do much.  The authorities in PNG are far too corrupt to take action, so it's up to the village men to try to protect Abby, and their only method is physical force due the the tribal tendencies that still remain strong.  We talked with Abby's mother, and she said this was Abby's third clear opportunity to get away from the relationship with her husband.  We could see how burdened her mother was, and she was constantly trying to convince her daughter to leave the relationship.  Upon entering Abby's hospital room, we prayed fervently for her, hoping that God would intercede and bring light to everything going on.  I left the room incredibly burdened, with a sadness that returns to me now as I remember it.  We learned later in the week that Abby returned to her husband.  That whole experience was a strong dose of reality for all of us, and we soon found out Abby's story is not uncommon in PNG.

That evening, we had a program to do in a Christ's Revival Church (CRC).  Rosie, the woman from the marketplace, came specifically to see me and brought two of her children.  After we did our program, she explained that she wanted to share her heart with me, and told me her story.  In her, I saw yet another aspect of the life of the women in PNG that I found to be consistent in so many lives.  She was asked to marry her now husband by her grandfather on his deathbed because of the tribal connections that it held.  Now, her husband has fallen away from the Lord because of the tragic death of his brother, and he works in Port Moresby in order to make money to support the family and one day send the children to school.  Rosie, however, is very faithful to God and it was very evident all her hope was found in her Heavenly Father.  She said how hard it is for the family and we spent time praying for everything.  Her faith was beautiful, and at the end of the night, my face hurt from smiling.

(Rosie, Philip, Debbie, Sarah, and I in the CRC)

(the boys, Jacob, Paula, and Markus in the CRC)

That day, yet another answer to prayer came.  As you read, one of our worries was that we wouldn't have enough money for fuel to get back on the dingy.  Out of nowhere, the governor the the Gulf Province came to see us.  He chatted with us, told some jokes, and then gave us the "small gift" of 1,000 Kina (PNG money)!  How cool is that?  That's like Aarnold Schwarzenegger personally delivering a missionary team $10,000 for serving in California. (Disclaimer: that number is not researched or accurate - but given their economy, it's a significant amount of money...you get the idea.) 

(The governor (left), the team (center), and Pastor Thomson and his wife (right))

On Wednesday, we took a day trip to the village of Karurua (kuh REW rew uh).  We arrived, ran around with the awesome kids, did the program God told us to do, and spent a lot of time discipling specifically the men of the village.  That day, we learned a lot.  We saw first hand how afraid the men were to step out and how the women had such a struggle to speak at all.  I remember very distinctly asking a women to pray out with me, and she said she didn't know how.  Those things came up again and again with so many of the men and women we met - a fear of stepping up and a fear of speaking out.  

(In Karurua)

(During the program - one of the skits)

The next day, we took a day trip to Ipiko (ih PEE koe).  This was one of the smaller villages we went to, but we saw more sickness here than anywhere else.  I spent most of my time there interceding.  At the end of our short trip there to basically do a program, pray, and leave, I felt like there was a fight for the place that needed to happen.  We saw people turning back the the Lord and hearts being healed, and God used us to implant some formally forgotten hope back into their lives, but the work felt very incomplete.  The place was void of joy. It is one of villages I look back at and wish we would have or could have done so much more in, and I find myself having to give it back to God often.  

(some of the crowd from Ipiko)

(one of the skits during the program - notice the chair sinking into the ground)

(the boys playing "What Time Is It Mr. Wolf?" with the kids)

The last village that week was Bekoro (beh KOAR oh).  This was the home village of our translator, Dairo.  Of this week, we definitely had the most fun in this village.  They gave us our first official PNG welcome.  The greeted us with songs, a game, and leis.  They also showed us different things about their lives - like how to make sago (see the "Back to the Western World" blog entry) and even had us get in a huge canoe and try to function.  They gave us a feast of fruit and coconut to eat too.  We felt like celebrities, and the people were just so excited.  We gave our program then prayed for every person in the village.  It was such a great day, and such a contrast from the day before. 

(trying to row the canoe)

(look - we survived!)

On Saturday, it was time to travel again.  The whole week we had been staying in Baimuru Station, so we had built relationships with both adults and kids.  It was so difficult to let go from just a week of getting to know these culture-rich God-filled people.  They gave us a beautiful farewell feast, and surrounded us and prayed for us at the end - talk about raising the roof with voices!  In this village, we heard for the first time the singing, prayer, and laughter of these people - three sounds I won't soon forget.  It was a full-on week, but it only got more and more intense as the weeks went on.  I hope you'll join me for Week 3!

Still amazed,

Nikki

P.S.  If you want to see more pictures, check out Facebook!  You'll have to "be my friend" first, and I haven't personally posted any albums, but there are lots of pictures from other people on my team.  Enjoy!

Papua New Guinea - Week 1

Hey everyone!

I wasn’t sure exactly how to go about communicating all the incredible stories and experiences I had in Papua New Guinea, but then Dad recommended going chronologically...so here we go.  These are the adventures of Week 1 in PNG.  Also, sorry about the lack of pictures...the internet isn't quite up to par.

From the very start, we saw God come through with an answer to prayer.  Our whole school needed to bus up to Cairns airport, about 4 hours north of Townsville.  Days before we left, there were incredible amounts of rain, and the roads up to Cairns were completely flooded in several places.  We were meant to leave on the 28th of December, but on the 27th, it still didn’t seem likely we’d be able to make it by bus up to the airport the next day.  We started praying, and praying hard.  There was no “plan b” if we couldn’t bus up to the airport - we wouldn’t be going to PNG any time soon.  Low and behold, morning came (very early morning, I might add) and we set off for Cairns to make our 12:00 PM flight to Port Moresby, the capital of PNG.  On the way up, we stopped at a gas station for a rest, and when people found out we made it through from Townsville, they were astounded.  No one else had really attempted it yet, but the way was clear for our bus.  The river right along the road was filled to the max, but just that morning the waters had receded enough to let us through.  God is good! We started out our journey to PNG with an answer to prayer, which was the perfect way to start and only a taste of the things we would see to come. 

Upon arrival in Port Moresby, we quickly learned what celebrities we were.  Traveling around the city in a bus, we could wave at anyone, and they would smile and respond so warmly.  It’s not often they saw a bus full of white people, and they were eager to welcome us into their country.  For the next two nights, we were to stay in the Governor’s house, which we were all quite excited about.  We came to a house surrounded by razor wire, which quickly reminded us that we were no longer in Australia, and the girls were swiftly told that there was no going outside without at least 3 men walking with us, and certainly not at night and only when absolutely necessary.  Needless to say, we spent the whole next day inside the house, still blessed with electricity, a shower, and a flushing toilet.  We didn’t realize it at the time, but we were being quite spoiled, and we wouldn’t realize it until we arrived at our first village. 

I know that before I left, I mentioned in a blog our main form of transportation was to be a dingy.  This turned out to be a whole adventure in itself.  When we finally got to the docking station where we loaded the dingies, we were told it was going to be a 6 hour ride to Baimuru Station, the village our team was trying to get to.  When we first set off, it was like being in a movie.  We traveled on the river; smooth sailing, wind in my hair, sunglasses on, beautiful tropical riverside all around us.  I was thinking “Man, if this is the life of a missionary, count me in!”  Well, it wasn’t quite that pleasant the whole time...to say the least.  We came to the end of the river system, and it was time to go out on the open water - meaning the ocean.  The water was a little choppy, but we decided to go anyway; we didn’t have much of a choice.  It quickly became pretty unpleasant for our bums to bounce up and down on the waves, but it wasn’t too awful; just a speed bump here or there.  But as we went, it seemed to get much worse.  The waves were bigger and harder to avoid.  Then we noticed the dark cloud up ahead and the rain in the distance.  We were heading into a storm.  Before we knew it, we were being pelted with heavy rain, and most of the ride was spent in the air between waves rather than on the water.  We started to shout the lyrics of a worship song over the sound of the storm and praying our hearts out -

Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
Every high and every low
Oh No, You never let go
No, You never let go of me
I can see a light that is coming for the hope that holds on
There will be an end to these troubles but until that day comes
Still I will praise You, still I will praise You

As trying as the hour or so we spent in the storm was, it was such a great time of praising God no matter what.  I actually know what the disciples were going through when they were caught in a storm and Jesus was sleeping on the boat (Matthew 8:23-27).  We were reminded so strongly that God was with us, and we had nothing to fear.  As much as we wanted to ask Jesus to wake up and calm the storm, I was reminded how silly it is to fear when He’s right there with us anyway.  It was so awesome to praise Him in that time, just leaning so strongly on his everlasting arms.  

That night we did not quite make it Baimuru Station.  We got about a third of the way there and stopped in Kerema, one of the bigger villages in PNG.  All of our stuff was soaked through and through.  Again, we were blessed with a government house: hot showers, electricity, flushing toilets.  We went to bed content, expectant for more traveling the next day. 

The next day proved to be an adventure too.  It was New Year’s Eve, and we loaded the 2 dingies again, and expected a 4 hour ride to Baimuru Station, thinking we’d finally arrive at our destination.  Well...we were wrong.  About two hours in, our dingies stopped, and told us we were in Baimuru Station.  They unloaded our belongings and drove off.  We soon found out we weren’t in Baimuru Station, but left halfway in a village called Maipenairu.  In other words...they ripped us off.  Big time.  They purposely only brought enough fuel for half of the journey, so they had no way of taking us as far as they promised. 

Maipenairu turned out to be the perfect place to be stranded in a country we had never been to before.  One of the main YWAM contacts lives in that village - she is one of the leading YWAMers of PNG.  The village itself was beautiful and well-kept, and the people were so warm and inviting.  We quickly had a place to stay, but we were still in somewhat of a predicament.  We had no dingy, no fuel, and not enough money to ensure we could get enough fuel to get to Baimuru station, go to all the villages, and get back home.  We stayed the next couple days in this village, doing ministry and getting to know the people. 

Now there was a decision to make - we had two choices: 
1. Stay in Maipenairu and go to the surrounding villages - the safe and comfortable option
2. Take a huge step of faith and go on to Baimuru as planned, trusting that God would work out all the details of dingy, money, and fuel - the risky unknown option. 

After asking God what He wanted, we decided to go on to Baimuru Station, despite that fact that we might not be able to get home if we went that far.  I know, it sounds crazy!  Yet, on Sunday morning, we said goodbye to the people we had already fallen in love with, loaded all of our stuff and all ten of us into one dingy and set out.  We only had enough fuel to get the dingy to Baimuru Station, and were expecting to have to completely refuel the boat so they could return to Maipenairu.  After two pleasant hours in the river system, we arrived, finally, at Baimuru Station.  Praise God!  Here we even saw a miracle - they had enough fuel to get all the way back to Maipenairu without us refueling them at all!  It’s like the fuel doubled in the engine while we were traveling or that it wasn’t used at all or that it multiplied or that it was preserved.  Who knows?!  It was amazing.  It was such a strong confirmation that our stepping out wasn’t foolishness, but just trusting in a God who held it all completely in His hand.  We knew we were in His will, and that’s the safest place we could ever be. 

Week one was over, and we already could look back and see God’s faithfulness written all over our journey.  If we weren’t dependent on God when we started, we certainly were now. 

Reliving the memories,
Nikki

Back in the Western World.

Hey Everybody!

I know this is a very long awaited blog entry.  Since coming back from Papua New Guinea, I’ve been faced with more than one problem – a missing computer chord, a cyclone – you know, just the norm.  Just to clear the air on a few things:

1.       The flooding was in Queensland, my state, but not in my city (Townsville).

2.       Cyclone Yasi, the category 5, did hit Townsville, but everyone is completely safe and a lot of our time is being spent picking up fallen trees.  God’s hand of protection was so strong in light of the size and strength of the storm. 

Now, about Papua New Guinea.

As an overview, it was the most eye-opening experience of my life.  I witnessed a quality of life that is simply appalling when compared to the standard that we have as a western world.  I also witnessed a nation that is at the perfect place to be discipled by God’s word in every area.  The harvest is ripe in PNG, and it was such a privilege to be part of the work God is about to do in that nation. 

I know you’re probably wondering “Nikki, what did you do in PNG?”  Well, let me tell you!

My team of 10 went to the Baimuru district of the Gulf Province.  We went to a total of 18 villages over the month we were there.  In each village, we’d pray, ask God for the message He wanted to share with that specific village, plan a program and then present it.  After the program, we offered prayer and saw people really stepping into God’s call on their lives.  In this time, I saw first time commitments, recommitment, reconciled relationship, and healing.  When we spoke out what God told us to, He anointed it and made it effective for His kingdom.  It was really awesome to go into a village we had never seen before and could barely pronounce the name of, having a message given to us by God and to see how spot on that message was for each village we walked into.  God spoke so clearly and so specifically, and His heart for this nation was made so abundantly clear as each day passed.  Besides that, it was a lot of just building relationship in all our spare time.  The most precious moments I had were always in conversation or quality time spent with the people – hearing their stories, their experiences, and learning about their culture. 

Over the next couple blog entries, I’ll tell you some specific stories – but I thought it would be good for you to get a good handle on what the culture is actually like before I start spouting the dozens of experiences without any context.  So…here we go.

First of all – it’s beautiful.  Think of the paradise you see in the movies and you’ve got PNG.  The nature is breath taking.  Just a few pictures...

The people live off the land in the village areas.  There really aren’t jobs anywhere in the villages and no income.  Inland, they eat a ton of fruit – watermelon, pineapple, guava – you name it.  On the coast, it’s a lot of seafood – crabs, prawns, fish.  All of these things, I definitely enjoyed to say the least.  Nothing like fresh crab for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!  Their staple food, however, is called sago (pronounced SAY-go) .  It literally is tree.  There is a certain palm tree (the sago palm) that they chop down, shred the inside, beat literally to a pulp, and make a variety of foods out of.  Here are some pictures of that process…

 The men's job - chopping the tree down and making it into shavings.

 The women's job - pouring water over it, beating it with a stick, and filtering it until the pulp comes out.

The product of all the work.

They mixed sago with everything – they had coconut sago, shark sago, sago bread. Their creativity with the stuff was incredible.  That being said – it didn’t really taste the greatest.  At first, we were all pretty apprehensive about it, but once we saw the process and the work they took to make it, we became a lot more appreciative.  For the month we were there, we ate a lot of sago, basically eating a tree.  Talk about fiber.  It really showed us how incredibly resourceful these people are.  They are such good stewards of their land and what they’ve been given.  There was no such thing as waste in PNG.

PNG has a tribal mentality, especially in the rural village areas.  Every person and village belongs to a tribe, and all their loyalties lie within that tribe.  Chiefs and leaders are still in place, and they receive the utmost respect.  That sense of loyalty is even stronger when it comes to family.  Very often, whole families live in the same village all right next to each other, and everything is done for the benefit of the family.  If one person is successful, the whole family benefits.   Men definitely are considered superior.  In our culture, it’s often “ladies first” to get food or anything else, but we learned quickly that in their culture, it was always “men first”.  I don’t think the boys on my team minded it too much, but it was definitely a different mindset to step into. 

Education, especially in the Gulf Province, is a rare privilege for many kids.  I met 10 year olds who were only in grade 2, and 20 year olds just going into grade 9.  Families have to save up for years to send their children to high school.  Because there are no jobs in the villages, fathers leave their families and go to a city to get a job, staying away for anything from 6 months to 5 years just to get their kid into school.  To finish grade 12 is quite a task, and most never get there.  It was a heart-breaking thing to see. 

In the villages, we learned quickly what privileges we have in our western world.  Bucket showers, hiking to the toilet, drinking rain water, having only 4 outfits, and hand washing laundry were a reality check for all of us.  A toilet you didn’t have to walk on logs or boards to get to was such a blessing.  We have lots of interesting and rather humorous stories about learning to live this way.  It truly made us realize how much we live in excess and what the bare necessities really are. 

Needless to say, coming back to a western culture gave us more culture shock and going into PNG.  We've already given away so much clothing and losing electricity for a couple days because of the cyclone didn't phase us one bit.  It has completely changed my perspective. Next time I enter a blog, we’ll have some stories!!  Thanks to everyone so much again for all your support and interest – I can’t tell you how much it means to have that from home.  God bless!

Still adjusting back to normal life,
Nikki

Almost there.

Hey Everybody!

Christmas is in a week! How incredible is that?!  I have to keep reminding myself it's the Christmas season because I'm not used to sweating and seeking out air conditioning with Christmas right around the corner.   It's rather ironic how all the Christmas carols about snow are still sung down here in Australia, where if it would snow this time of year, it would be a good indicator the world is coming to an end.  But, when it comes down to it, the season is just as exciting, important, and heart-warming just because we get to celebrate Jesus, despite the difference in temperature and precipitation outside. 

The past two weeks have been the most stressful weeks here on DTS so far.  We realized that our trip to Papua New Guinea is coming much faster than we thought - and still so much to do!  We had barely started preparing any dramas, still needed immunizations, still needed all our individual supplies, and on top of it found out that our outreach location contacts had fallen through.  Let me explain that last bit...

Our outreach team leaders reached our contacts for the planned Kikori outreach - only to be told that they'd love to have us come, but we're coming in the wrong season.  Because it's the holidays, our contacts will be on vacation and the kids won't be in school.  We basically had to start from scratch to find a place to go in PNG for outreach.  Upon receiving this news, I was a little disappointed.  I had spent lots of time praying for Kikori specifically, and had definitely developed a heart for the people there. We spent a couple days praying that God would set some contacts in place somewhere else in PNG.  After a couple days, our leaders came back with the new plan.  We were so excited!  The place we're going to start is a village called Baimuru.  We have some contacts there and they are very welcoming.  When we arrive, we'll work with that village, and then just pray for where to go next.  There are lots of riverside villages, so we may just take the dingy and go up some of the rivers and tributaries.  A dingy looks something like this...

This will be our main form of transport.  It should be interesting, that's for sure!  Some more details - we're leaving on December 28th really early in the morning, and then coming home the 28^th of January.  We’ll be flying out of Cairns airport, arrive in Port Moresby, the capital of PNG, and stay a night there.  Then, we’ll be taking a dingy to Baimuru. 

Just for fun, we went to Billabong this past Saturday.  It was so much fun! It’s a sort of wildlife reserve/zoo type of package.  The kangaroos are like squirrels on a college campus, coming right up to you and eating right out of you hand.  We also had to opportunity to hold a koala, a snake, a lizard, and a wombat.  They also did a display with the crocodiles, and they were huge!  It was quite a lot of fun!  Unfortunately, my camera battery died shortly after arriving, so some of these pictures are borrowed…

So that's all for now.  Have a very Merry Christmas!

Nikki

Renewed.

Hey everyone!

The past two weeks have been packed!  I have so much to share with you about God has moved in our Discipleship Training School.

First of all, here some pictures of the campsite and surrounding area.  It was simply beautiful Australian bush...

 Platypus bridge!

 Kikori Team time :)

what 15 minutes of rain can do...

While we were camping, the weather was a roller-coaster! Though the rain was a hazard to our tents, it was a blessing in keeping it nice and cool - as cool as Australia summer can get, that is.  We saw quite a bit of wildlife - kookaburras, kangaroos, platypuses, paddymelons, free roaming cows, and lots of cicadas.  Kookaburras sound like a mixture between a laughing hyena and a rain forest monkey and really liked to call early in the morning.  The cicadas were at least 3 inches long.  Paddymelons are like mini rodent kangaroos about 2-3 feet tall.  We certainly had some good adventures watching the wildlife around us.  

The first week of camping, the topic of study was "Spiritual Warfare".  The material was so practical, and really equips us for some of the things we're going to face in Papua New Guinea.  During this first week, we spent a lot of time around the camp-fire, worshipping, exploring, and fellowshipping together.  It was a very relaxed time, but God was definitely starting to speak a few things.  One of the leaders of one of the schools described the first week as a sprinkling to prepare the ground right before the big rain.  And it certainly poured the second week, in more ways than one.

In the second week, the topic was “Lordship”.  The focus was on making Jesus the Lord of our lives.  We walked through the Old Testament tabernacle, and saw how all those physical elements are still here, only in the spiritual instead because of what Jesus did.  The whole week, we could feel God on the move, and we knew that the week wouldn’t end without lives being transformed.  In every quiet-time I had with God, His voice became clearer, and I finally learned what friendship with God is and how life-changing an interactive, persistent, committed walk with God can be.  After all the teaching we were given on making Jesus the Lord of our lives, Friday gave us an opportunity to put action behind words.  We spent 8:30 Friday morning all the way to 1:30 Saturday morning giving it all back to God.  The morning was spent in worship and praise, all found in just a real honesty with God, no masks or shows.  The afternoon was spent with each of us one by one giving our lives to God – bringing our offerings to him, and finding the grace He provides for sin.  During this time, I saw such freedom come into people’s lives.  People were carrying around chains of shame, unforgiveness, insecurity, pain and so many more, and many finally decided to leave them behind and claim Jesus as the only source of identity and life.  After this, a number of people were baptized, and the newness I saw in people’s faces in the rededication to God was a true pleasure and something I won’t soon forget.  We continued the night with more praise, communion, and sharing a meal together.  It was a marathon of sorts, but one that left each person filled, not emptied, in the end.  What is even better is that that whole process was in no way just an experience, just another mountain top, just another high that wears off.  The fruit will last.  People are walking around with a different life shining through their eyes, one that was stolen by the past or covered up with a mask of shame.  We’ve each left slavery and entered daughtership and sonship in God.  There is a real sense of commitment to continue to choose God even when we don’t feel like it, every moment of every day.  I cannot wait to see how God’s will is going to be accomplished through each and every individual now that so many of those chains that held us back have been stripped away.  We’re becoming disciples.

Renewed,

Nikki

Miracles.

Money is no object to God.  I can say that for a fact now.  I've witnessed it, and I can't wait to tell you about it!

About two weeks ago, it was announced that as a whole DTS, there was still about 150,000 dollars that needed to come in.  But then the kicker came, it had to be in by "next Friday", which was yesterday.  I personally had been so blessed already and had more than enough for outreach, but some people on the DTS still needed upwards of 5,000 dollars.  Automatically, we were a team.  Every person who had their finances taken care of couldn't celebrate yet - some members of our family of DTS were still in incredible need.  We started emailing, blogging, facebooking, and praying that God would provide the money in whichever way He saw fit.  There were a few stories of 100 dollars coming here, 500 there, which were all lifted right back to God is earnest praise.  Many people started realizing that we needed to start praising God now, not just when the money comes in.  We needed to be so sure that God would provide that we would thank Him in advance.  Yesterday came, and many people were still in so much need.  We got together last night at what we called "Giving Night".  On the white board, they wrote all the people who were still needing finances.  Even in this, there was seen a miracle.  One of the girls was in need of over 5,000 dollars at the start of the day, and her name wasn't even written on the board.  All the money had been donated - in one day.  The same was the case with one of our staff members. She started the day needing over 2,000 dollars, and all of it was donated in one day.  Another one of the staffs needed 2,000 dollars as well, and his debt at the end of the day totaled to about 60 dollars. Anyway, they totaled all the numbers on the board, and it turned out to be about 66,000 dollars.  They then had everyone who had the money but hadn't paid it in yet go up and erase their name from the board.  It was awesome to see so many names erased!  At the end of that, they totaled it and there were still about 35,000 dollars left.  Then, we went on with the giving part.  Throughout the day, people had been praying that God tell them what to give to who, everything from money to a t-shirt.  Everyone who was in need went to the front, and all the other DTSers just walked up to them and either offered them prayer or money.  At the end of that phase, we went on to just giving anything God put on our hearts to give to anyone - the items ranged from toothpaste to boots to hiking backpacks and so forth.  It was such an awesome time of hearing God speak and then just following through with obedience.  Sometimes it seemed ridiculous to give someone a tube of toothpaste or an old piece of jewelry, but there were countless stories of people getting something they needed or that meant so much to them for a specific reason.  It really brought to our attention that God really pays attention to the little things, and if we're willing to obey, he can do some really amazing things.  God is so good, and so faithful!

I'd ask that all of you keep praying for finances to come in, as there are still a few with some loose ends to tie up.

Now for future news! For the next two weeks, the whole DTS is going camping in the bush! It's going to be amazing.  I hear that wild kangaroos run around.  I've also heard that camping is one of the best times on DTS, both individually and as a group.  We are cut off from internet and cell phone service for those two weeks as well.  I know God is going to just stir up our hearts in a big way while we're there.  It's going to be awesome!

Updating you in 2 weeks,
Nikki