To market, to market, holy cow! Did I just see a fat pig?

Hello from PNG!
Yesterday we ventured into town for the market with one of the other missionary wives and it ended up (like most events here probably will be) something new and worth writing about.
Judy (doctor Bennett's wife) picked us up in the mission van at about 9 and we headed out of the mission....nothing abnormal. We drove up the lane a bit and Judy stopped again, opening the door and inviting in a native man holding a machete. "This is Simon," she said,"he will be our watchman today." Then we drove about 100 more yards and stopped at the gate to say a prayer for our safety. Remember the little fear I mentioned in the previous e-mail? Yeah, this didn't help.
During the 45 minute drive into Mt. Hagen I was still amazed at the number of people just walking or sitting along the roads. (We talked to one of the missionaries about this at dinner last night. Most of the people in this area have 0 annual income and are purely sustinence farmers. The men are in charge of planting and harvesting, but the women are in charge of maintaining, so after the planting, the men don't have much to do.) When we got into town I found it was much the same. There were people EVERYWHERE...and boy did we stick out. People are fascinated by Caleb and would just follow us wherever we went. He handled this very well for the shy boy that he is.
The first couple stores we went to were fairly modern. The main one was similar to a walmart. There were groceries on one side and then clothes, shoes, etc. on the other. Surprisingly, there are alot of the same brands we have in the U.S. However, those things are obviously more expensive than the foreign brands and most of them are old or expired. (I was excited to see that there were Fruit Loops, but upon bringing them home, found out they had expired last month....they kind of tasted like colored cardboard). Everyone was waving us to their isle and I felt bad having to choose.
After lunch, (at a modern hotel where Caleb got naked into the pool) we went to an open air market. The vegetables were beautiful and so inexpensive in comparison to the U.S. ( For example, I paid about $.10 for tomatoes and $.33 for a pile of potatoes) Again, there, everyone loved Caleb. He, of course, wanted to touch everything and the people would just give him whatever he was touching. I felt bad and wanted to pay, but Judy said they are more than happy to give to him and would be offended if I didn't take it. This made for a very heavy market bag for me. Thank goodness he didn't touch any watermelons or pinapples.
After the market, we headed home. The shopping took about 6 hours because of the crowds. Good thing I had some time on my hands. :)
I was amazed at how comfortable I felt by the end of the day. The people are so kind and generous. They are always smiling and wanting to shake hands. Judy said that they wondered at first where the people were that caused the problems, because everyone was so sweet. They found out, though, that it is the same people. They always come home by 4 p.m. because that is about when the drinking starts. Then, from there, it is just so easy for fights to break out when a machete is readily available if tempers flair. On they way back into the compound, Judy was showing us the line it is safe to walk to by ourselves. The women are seen as weak in this culture and easy targets for violence. Judy mentioned that her maid wears about 7 drawstring shorts under her skirt to help protect her from a rape. What police forces there are near the cities are in most cases full of corruption. We ate with a New Guinea native doctor that is doing a rotation at the hospital and he talked about the sad state that the country is in. New Guinea has such amazing resources, but is still an undeveloping nation solely because of corruption and theft among leadership and big issues involved with tribalism. That was another interesting thing about the hospital here. There are some interesting rules involving tribal warfare. Basically, the hospital will only treat one side of a tribal fight. When we asked how they choose, Dr. Bennet said whichever one gets there first. They won't treat the others then because they don't want to bring the violence onto the compound. They also make people pay higher fees if they are coming in for such things as tribal warfare or spousal abuse. There are many things they are able to do here that you would never get away with in the U.S. One last thing I wanted to mention is how the missionaries view Aids here. Evidently Papua New Guinea is in the same place that Africa was ten years ago with aids. They are working very hard on prevention so that it doesn't escalate to the same state. They view it however, as a tragedy, but opportunity. They are finally able to teach monogomy. Before, Judy said, because of their culture, they didn't understand why they had to only be with one person. Now, however, the missionaries can teach that if they have sex with numerous people or prostitutes then come home and be with their wives they could die. It is very effective. :)
I dont' say all of that to worry you, mom, or make it sound that I should be constantly scared, because I'm really not. I actually feel completely comfortable and Sara and Caleb and I took a long walk this morning around the compound. It is just that being here makes you realize how many people are in need of a peace in their lives. We were fortunate to be born in a country where we don't live in fear each day that we may be raped or be involved in tribal or domestic fights involving machetes. People in the US don't understand how much we need a Savior because we have other ways to give our lives meaning and importance- through our careers, our families, our posessions, you name it. There are so many distractions to us and compromises that are made in the church to make everyone feel comfortable and happy. It is such a gut-wrenching experience to see the other side. Just simple people with absolutley nothing who need peace, hope, and joy- and know that it can come from nothing they have. I know this is alot of religious talk, but you can't be here and eat with these missionaries, see the countryside, and talk to the people and not think about God every moment. I really like it.