How to light the oven:

I've grown up with an oven that worked like this:
1.) Turn a knob
2.) Done!

However, the oven that we currently have in our house works a little differently.  It works like this:
1.) Open oven door
2.) Turn knob to 200ish degrees Celsius
3.) Get out your long pincher tool (normally used for laparoscopic surgery...i think?)
4.) Light a match
5.) Grab the match with the pinching tool
6.) Simultaneously hold the match at the back of the oven while pulling a little lever at the bottom right of the oven
7.) Hold the little lever until the flame stays by itself
8.) Done!

I never would have figured this out on my own...thankfully I'm surrounded by very helpful friends!!  :)

Rachel vs the Tortillas (Round 2)

In my battle with the the tortilla...round 2...the victory goes to the tortilla!  :(

Someday, I will master the tortilla...but today was NOT that day.  Still too floury and stiff.  

Maintenance Movie Night

We recently had all the maintenance guys over to our house for a movie night.  Jordan borrowed a projector and speakers and we almost had a "stadium" seating thing going!  It was the closest we've ever come to a movie theater in PNG.  Plus, we had popcorn and cookies!!

Matt and Becky’s Wedding!

Matthew and Rebekah are officially wed!! They had a BEAUTIFUL wedding on top of a mountain that overlooks the town of Hagen.

One of my favorite parts of the wedding was a time of worship, before the official ceremony, when we all faced out towards the valley and sang praises to the LORD!! There is something awesome about singing of the glory of God while standing on top of a mountain looking out over His creation!

I feel like the pictures just don’t do justice to how beautiful it really was.

We are so happy for the lovely bride and the handsome groom!! May the Lord continue to bless their lives together!

Becky's Shower

Allow me to introduce you to our friend Dr. Becky Wallace. Becky is a doctor, here at the hospital, who met and fell in love with Matt, an MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) engineer here in Papua New Guinea. It was lovely to see their relationship bloom!! (guess who is writing this post!! Jordan or Rachel?? haha)

While we were in the States they got engaged! We got back to PNG just in time for Becky’s shower with all the missionary ladies here in Kudjip! It was a great time…we played the classic wedding shower games like “Quiz the bride on how well she knows the grooms” and “Make the best dress out of toilet paper.” Of course, in true missionary fashion, we kept the TP to be used later for its intended purpose!

Rachel vs The Tortillas

I am 100% committed to conquering the tortilla while I’m here in PNG. Last time we were in PNG I attempted making tortillas once and failed miserably!! BUT this time I’m determined to be triumphant. I’ve already had round one with the floury little boogers!! (huh…didn’t know floury was actually a word??)

It started out well…I got a recipe from a family who have been making tortillas here in PNG for 25 years! Then, it went downhill from there. My dough was SO sticky…which I found out later is not how it’s supposed to be. I was able, eventually, to roll a few into submission. However, I found that I have low rolling stamina and soon my tortillas were more like pitas in thickness. I then heated a pan to medium to low heat…which I found out later was supposed to be much hotter. I threw my leathery discs onto the pan and watched them bubble. Yep…that’s right…my tortillas bubbled. I could have made balloon animals with these puppies!! Once they turned light brown I removed my puffy, crunchy little creations. While they tasted kinda like a tortilla they were way too brittle to actually wrap around any type of taco substance. Since then, I’ve sought council on my tortilla method and let me assure you…there WILL be a round two!!

WE'RE BACK!

Things came together in a flurry for us to return to Papua New Guinea. We arrived in the country on Oct 12th and were picked up at the airport by our dear friend Apa, Judy Bennett, all the high school MK's and Stephen Hollenberg.

When we got back to the station we were welcomed by all of our wonderful Kudjip family!!

We are taking a bit of a "leap of faith" here, in that we left without all of our support raised. Crazy! I know! But we are confident that this is where God called us and that He will provide through the continued giving of friends in the States!!

If you are interested..check out our website:

web.nazarene.org/goto/thompson.png

We LOVE the Body of Christ!

As many people who are reading this already know…Jordan and I were back in the States for the past four months and for the last couple of those we were able to travel around and share at several churches. What an amazing experience that was!! We met some of the most wonderful people who love the Lord and are super excited about missions! Jordan and I both knew that God placed many of these people in our path to be the encouragement and affirmation that we needed!!

So many times, I’m blown away by God faithfulness and in the last few months God showed us how He uses His children to deeply influence each other’s lives!

So, if you are reading this and you are one of those people God put in our path these past few months…thank you! You are precious to us!

Joplin, Missouri

Jordan and I had the privilege of speaking at the Joplin Calvary Church of the Nazarene. We met some wonderful people! The city of Joplin, though, is still recovering from the tornado that hit in May.

After the service, we were able to fellowship with several people. We met a lady who had been in the Wal-Mart when the tornado ripped through it. She told us about how her younger daughter clung to her neck while she checked the pulse of the people around her who were killed instantly. Then her husband told us about how their older daughter (who was also in the Wal-Mart) was pinned under a beam that had fallen. The daughter was fine but the people on both sides of her were also killed. We also heard stories of courage and community. Several people said that it was amazing how quickly people came together to start clearing the streets right after the storm. Normal people instantly became rescue workers, maintenance men, and firefighters...doing their best to reach people who were trapped.

While most of us have turned our attention to other things, the people of Joplin are coping with the after effects from that tragic day in May. Please keep them in your prayers!

While we were in Papua New Guinea, God called us to full-time missions in Papua New Guinea. We are SO excited about what God has for us!! (We say that a lot but it's true!) We are currently back in the States in a transition time. We just spent a week in Kansas City (where we stayed at the KCC at the NTS, and visited the GMC...so many acronyms!). We are hoping to travel around and share our call to missions with some churches! AND raise all of our support. So...if you know of any churches that would like to hear from us -OR- if you are interested in supporting our ministry in Papua New Guinea, please let us know! Our email is:

jordan.rachel.thompson@gmail.com

Thanks so much for your love and support! Oh....and the picture above is from our new prayer card...let us know if you want one of those too!

The B'ski Ranch

I just wanted to post some pics of where my parents live. It's so beautiful!

Back in the States

It's been about 2 months since we arrived back in America. We've had some great times with family and friends so far. AND, since internet here in the States, is SO fantastic, we decided to post a few blogs that we meant to post a while ago from our time in PNG. Enjoy!

Apa's Wedding

April 19, 2011

Apa and Hannah

Jordan and I were able to witness our first PNG wedding. Small, simple and beautiful!

Haus Win

On the first Sunday of every other month, missionaries from all over the area come together to have a pot luck in the hauswin (literally "house of wind") in the Myers' backyard.

One of Jordan's last big projects was an addition to this building. Between Jordan, John Gari, and Jeff Myers, they did an AMAZING job seamlessly adding more bench space and shade to the building (pictured below...notice the extra roof on the left). AND he built a grill (picture to the right).

John Gari, below, hard at work!

Game Night

Our lady's bible study had a game night:

This is me playing Telephone Charades...above is how a missionary crosses a log bridge...below is how a Papua New Guinean crosses a log bridge, for serious! haha :)

This is Dr. Steph acting out how to plant kaukau...she did a great job!

We also played Claymania, a game where you sculpt things out a clay while people guess what you are sculpting.

And we played Jenga...classic!

Chocolate!

Did you know...

...cocoa grows in these pod-like things? The cocoa bean are covered in this white mucus-ish stuff that tastes really sweet!

Oops...

It's official...we're the WORST bloggers in the history of the blog! Hopefully these posts will catch you up a little on what we've been up to lately. Should be a few more to come...but we're not going to promise anything! :)

Gumang Church

Jordan recently preached at the Gumang Assembly of God Church. We took a bunch of maintenance guys with us. We practiced singing a song on the way there...they did great! It was fun to step out of our comfort zones a bit and experience a different style of worship! It was a great experience. Jordan had a wonderful message on Christ's redemption and the privilege we are given to share that message with others. Then, after the service, they blessed us with a TON of food!!