Spaghetti Bridges

This blog is really really late BUT it’s about one of my favorite things I’ve done with the kids since I’ve been here so I thought I’d share anyway. At the end of last school year we had a “Math and Science Celebration.” The high schoolers (plus, Allie and Lydia) had to construct bridges out of a package of spaghetti noodles and a bottle of glue. At the party we had a contest to see whose bridge could hold the most weight. In the end, Quinton and Cilla were victorious with their “Chinese foot-bridge.”

Harvest Party

Every year around Halloween, the missionaries have a Harvest Party. We have all sorts of fall treats and hobo-dinners on the fire. It’s great fun! Especially when people dress up!! In the pics we have Becky Wallace dressed up as a clown…Jordan came as a security guard (notice their unfortunate acronym!)…I came in some 80’s gear…my favorite was Judy, who came as a bride late to her own wedding…and Bill came as himself! J

School so far...

School has officially started…well, actually we’ve been going for about the past 4 weeks. I thought it’s about time that I introduce you to my students this year (as of now…we’ll be having a few more join us later on in the year).

On the far left, we have Jessica Myers. She is a 10^th grader this year and is a wonderful student! Her hobbies include reading, emailing friends, working out in the fitness center, and making tortillas!

To the right of me, we have Ethan Myers, younger brother of Jessica. Ethan is a 7^th grader this year and is great at making us laugh! He enjoys hanging out in the maintenance workshop, playing basketball, tubing down the river, and reading Frank Peretti books!

On the far left, we have Allison Dooley. Allison is also a 7^th grader this year and is probably the sweetest person I’ve ever met. In her free time she likes to read, go tubing, play Settlers, and eat Chinese food!

So far, we’ve had a fabulous time together! How blessed am I that I get to teach such great kids!?!

They made it!!

Jim and Jane/Dad and Mom Thompson have finally arrived in Papua New Guinea! After some very long plane flights and a week in New Zealand they made it to our little corner of the world which we have called home for the past year. So far, they have gotten a tour of the station, met TONS of people, visited the local market, played basketball with the Nationals, grilled out on Jordan’s homemade grill, and eatin Rachel’s home cooking (and they haven’t even gotten sick yet!). :)

We can't praise God enough for allowing us to come and learn from the people in this beautiful place AND then get the opportunity to share all of this with our parents! God is amazing!

l

The Saw Cake

The head of maintenance recently resigned, so on his last day of work we had a little get-together for him and his family. I was asked to make a cake and since Ruben started as a carpenter, I decided to make my first AND last “saw” cake (hopefully you could already tell what it was!). I was told that it tasted pretty good, which was such a relief since it was the first cake I’ve ever made from scratch and the last cake that I’ll ever decorate with so many little jagged edges! :)

The Gari Family

John Gari is a national friend of ours. Jordan met John while he was working on a construction project and John was hired as a day laborer. John, and his wife Acada have, four boys…the youngest boy (who is about 1 month old) is one of Jordan’s many namesakes (ok, he only has two, but sure seems like a lot when you only have a half of a namesake!). I, however, find comfort in the fact that had baby Jordan been a girl, her name would have been Rachel…*sigh* so close!!

We recently had the whole family over for pizza (which they either loved OR did a great job pretending like they loved it!) and then visited them at their place just across the river. They are such a sweet family. They live in a bush house and eat whatever they can grow in their garden…like most Papua New Guineans. John often comes to visit, and frequently tells me that he is so sorry he can’t bring me any food from the garden because it’s dry season and things aren’t growing well. It’s so humbling to be told they feel bad that they (who have so little!) don’t have more to give us (who have so much!!).

Enduwa Kombuglu / Mt. Wilhelm

At 14,793 ft Mt. Wilhelm or Enduwa Kombuglu is the tallest peak in Papua New Guinea. Myself with a group of 12 missionaries made the 4 hour drive to the base of the mountain on a Friday morning. When we drove as far as the roads would take us we had some lunch and began the 3 hour hike to base camp. Upon arrival at base camp we relaxed for a bit in the small cabin there at the edge of a lake and had some dinner. Most people went to sleep but I just couldn't sleep so I stayed awake with the guides, PNG nationals, and talked. The women wanted to sing me a song in their tribal language. Their tribal language is far beyond me so I didn't understand the song, exept for one word. The song included my name, but they didn't remember my name so they all sung "Rambo." I laughed and shook my head, most of the time the Rambo stuff is just silly, but this was actually pretty funny. Since they had sung me a traditional song of theirs they wanted me to sing some traditional songs from America. So I thought for a while, and sang "She'll be comin' round the mountain," and they wanted another so I sang "Take me out to the ball game" (root for the Cubies version), and they wanted another but 2 was enough. Sorry, back to the whole Wilhelm thing. So I eventual got to bed and we all got up around 4am the next morning. We got some breakfast and split up into 3 groups with a guide in each group and headed out in the dark to conquer PNG, so to speak. As we hiked the groups began to separate. My group consisted of Scott Riggins, a missionary at Kudjip who is very fit, Apa, a good national friend of mine, myself, and our guide.

Before we left Kudjip I told Rachel that I wanted to be in a group where I was not the slowest, and I certainly failed. Of course the guide was in good shape, Scott was doing just fine, and when I was sucking wind and my legs were burning I looked over at Apa and he wasn't even breathing hard. "I asked him "Apa are you tired at all?" Apa replied, "Oh no bro I'm not tired, but I can see that you are getting tired so I will pray for you." I appreciated the prayer, but I told Apa "If I ask you again if your tired, tell me that you are, even if you are doing fine, OK?" So in ten minutes or so I asked Apa "so are you tired yet?" and of course he replied, "no bro I am doing fine." Can't get upset with a guy for being honest.

So we were the first group to make it to the top, and eventually every group made it up. When we reached the summit we were in a cloud and couldn't see very far. But the wind was moving those clouds around so fast that there would be breaks in the sea of white for a few minutes at a time. During those breaks we enjoyed some breathtaking views that the camera just fails to relay.

We all made it down the mountain safely and made it back to our vehicles. That night we stayed in the cook house of one of our guides and the following morning headed back home.

All together it was a great trip that will be remembered as a highlight of my time here in PNG. It was great fun to be able share the experience with Apa, who makes everything a little more fun. It took a good deal of effort to get my big self up the mountain but it was well worth it.



















Pic labels; Top left(Apa and I, Rachel knitted Apa a bright green hat so couldn't loose him) Top Right(Me on top of Wilhelm, Glad its all downhill from here) Mid Left (Apa about halfway to summit, Apa didn't have long pants so he borrowed some of mine, he rolled them up 8 times and needed a belt) Mid Right (the whole group at base camp) Bottom Left (The guides, Willie the guy with his hands up, has been to the top around 50 times) Bottom Right (The Bridge with 2 boards, we crossed a lot of bridges but this one only had two boards so we went slowly)