Trip to the "MALL"

There are times when I feel like I wear the same thing everyday.  I felt like this when I lived in the States too, but I'm pretty sure it's almost true here in PNG!
Every once in a while, I need a shopping trip with the other ladies!  SO...we head down to the "rot bung" (literally: the place where the roads meet).  It's fabulous!!

Used clothes get shipped here from Australia in giant bundles.  People buy those bundles and then set up little stations where they lay out all the clothes to sell individually.  The "nice" items get laid out on a tarp or hung on barbed wire while the things that may be a little stained get put in a pile on the ground.  It takes some patience and determination but you can usually find a treasure or two!

First Annual Kudjip 5K Fun Run

I was looking through our old pictures and realized that I never blogged about our Kudjip 5K.  I figured I would go ahead and blog about it now even though it happened a while ago.  

Stephen and Amy Hollenberg (Stephen in the MK high school teacher and Amy is a nurse) organized a 5K Fun Run for everyone in Kudjip who wanted to participate.  Jordan and I chose to participate by being security and a time recorder (which was the clear choice for me since I would have renamed it the Five Kilometers of Pure Torture Run).  All types came out to participate on that sunny Saturday!  They wore numbers and everything...SO official! 

 My favorite participant was Bon (Apa's oldest son), who dreams of running in the Olympics someday.  While he usually runs barefoot, Apa thought it was important, since he was running off station on a road that may contain broken glass and such, that he wore shoes.  Unfortunately, all Bon had was boots...so he ran the whole 5 kilometers in his boots and a sweatshirt.  He did really well too!

Post for Jacob

This post is for my brother, Jacob, who faithfully checks our blog...or so he says...and then gives me grief about not blogging as much as we should!  :)

Just in case you check today Jakie...this one is for you!  Have a wonderful day!  I miss you a ton!  Study hard!

Oh, and this is a picture of a pineapple in our garden.  I'm pretty proud of it because my pictures usually NEVER turn out very well, but I like this one.

and the VICTORY goes to....

...the TORTILLA!

I've always been taught to be a good sport.  I would never want to be called a sore-loser.  This is why I must admit my defeat to my worthy adversary...the tortilla.
After many battles, private lessons, many calls to the Judy-Bennett-Tortilla Hotline, and several different recipe attempts, it is clear that the tortilla came out on top!  Yes, it hurts to admit defeat to this "holder of taco-y goodness,"  but I must admit my weaknesses, wave the white flag, and move on with my life.

Well done, tortilla!  You put up a great fight!  Perhaps, someday I'll request a re-match...but today is not that day!  

Set Me Free!

About a year ago, Jordan and I had the honor of being invited to a bush church that was the home church of one of friend of ours who works in maintenance.  Jordan was asked to preach and decided to go with a sermon about Zacchaeus.  I feel ashamed now, but at the time I thought that it was a silly childish sermon topic...more like a story you would tell in Sunday School, not as a sermon.  The theme of the message was about how Zacchaeus was a tax collector, a sinner, and generally viewed as a very bad person by most people, and yet Jesus was willing to go to his house and offer him salvation.  At the end of the story, Luke 19: 10 says "For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost." 

After the message, the pastor offered a time for people to come to the front and share.  Several people stood up and talked about how they felt God convicting them to go out and share with those people they may have avoided before, the "Zacchaeuses" of their village.  

THEN a much older lady stood up and walked to the front.  She spoke in her tribal language so the lady next to me had to translate...and immediately what she was saying caught my attention.  Apparently, this lady had been involved in "witchcraft" in her village for many many years.  Her specialty was performing abortions for girls in the village.  

In the last few years, she realized how wrong the things she had been involved in really were.  She had spent so many years in bondage and darkness and now all she wanted was to be set free!!  When we got there that Sunday, she had been going to church for a few months, searching for the answer.  She heard about Jesus, how much He loved her, and the forgiveness that He offered her BUT she also assumed that the things she had done and the places she had been were just too horrible.  Jesus could never love someone as wretched as her...UNTIL the day the Lord gave Jordan His message about Zacchaeus to share with this little bush church.  Somehow, while Jordan was sharing about Jesus coming to SEEK and SAVE the LOST, God wrapped His arms around this lady and convinced her that His SON had come to die for HER sins!  That He alone was enough to set her free!  On that day, she gave her life to the Lord!

and THAT is why we're here!  Because of God's amazing saving grace!  

"Do you want to be free?

Lift your chains,

I hold the key!

All power in Heaven and Earth belong to Me!"

-Casting Crowns

Recently, we went back to this church and were blessed to see this lady again and to witness the joy that shines from her now! 

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!