Jilinga Church Opening

Jordan and I were recently invited to attend a church opening in Jilinga, PNG.  

The new church has a great story...it was built right in the middle of an area where people were know to fight, do drugs, and make a very strong homemade alcohol.  Now the area is completely different and people have been changed by God's amazing transforming power!

Before the service, everyone was busy preparing a feast!  My favorite part of this picture is the man in the back holding up raw pig parts!  Love it!

Just a few more pieces of pig to throw on there...then this mumu is ready to start cookin!

Jordan the Giant!

This was the tent that was set up for the service.  Since there is no road that goes up to the top of this large hill.  The entire tent had to be carried up my hand.

The girl next to me, in the lime green and black top, was also named Rachel!

My buddy, Lucas Kumi Nolly...or I like to refer to him as LUUUUUUU-KAS!!

All the people standing in white were getting baptized that day!

Isn't this little boy adorable!  Look at that teeny tie!!

We always appreciate a well built bridge!

First Annual Kudjip Auction

This is the first ever auction that took place outside of Maintenance.  There were exciting things like towels, dishes, pots pans, blankets...AND there were boring things like roofing iron, pieces of plywood, and old gutters.  

Grace was in charge of the money.  When the sun got too hot, she sat under this box.  I think we are going to buy her an umbrella for Christmas!  

Jordan, the muscle behind this operation!

Baru (the man in the red hat) was the auctioneer.  He did a great job.  When he got the final bid he would bang the tire hub with a steel hammer and yell SOLD...very exciting!

Rasta Meri!

Ever since I watched the version of Cinderella with Brandi in it, I've wanted to have a million tiny braids in my hair.  I wasn't sure it was even possible with my type of hair, until one day, Flora (my friend I work with in Maintenance) told me it would be easy to add extension to my hair in the form of small braids.  That's when the adventure began...
It took HOURS!!  I'm not sure how many but we had to break it up over several days.  Flora told me about half way through that I had a lot more hair than she thought I did!  I have a lot of hair...who knew?  While there were several times that my bum was screaming "I can't sit on this wood floor any longer!!", we actually had a great time of fellowship.  I learned a lot about what it's like to be a single woman in this country.  Some days, Flora would bring her cousin, who is a teacher at the school down the road.  It was interesting for us to compare notes on our teaching experiences.
Finally, she finished and I wore it proudly for a little over a month, even though I knew it looked ridiculous.  I'm glad I had the opportunity and I love how Flora and my friendship has grown, but I'll never do that to my hair again!  Loved it, but never again!