Worship at Warakar Church

We recently had the privilege of taking some volunteers to a local church about 30 mins away.  It was the home church of a young lady, Flora (pictured at the bottom with Rachel), that we both work with in maintenance.
We had a great time worshiping with this congregation.  One of my favorite parts was sitting behind a whole row of little boys who were clapping and worshiping their little hearts out.

This particular Sunday was "Missions Sunday," so we had a special message about some missionaries in a  "creative access country."  The pastor's wife had a wonderful presentation that included maps, pictures, and prayer points all pinned to an old table cloth that was hung from a wire.  Honestly, it made me feel ashamed of all the times this summer we got in such a panic if our power point wasn't working or the sound system had a few glitches.  Apparently, God can use an old table cloth and some crumpled papers to get His message across just as effectively.

Movie Night at the Thompsons!

We recently had a movie night...hosted by Stephen and Amy Hollenberg...at our house!  It was a great time of food and fellowship!  We watched Soul Surfer and ate homemade pizza!

Our PUPPY!!

Jordan and I recently got a new puppy!  His name is Hurley and he's the cutest little PNG bush dog EVER!  We pretty much got him for several reasons...two of them being: he'll be nice security for us, and we figure it'll be good practice taking care of something in case there are ever future children!

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!