Food and Fun

Another week that has just flown by here in PNG. It seems like we have been here forever, yet the time is just slipping away so fast. This weekend, we had a missionary potluck as missionaries came from all over the area. It was so yummy! (You know how at church pot-lucks, there is always that unidentifiable dish that you are afraid to touch? Well, they don't have those at these. Everything is made from scratch and tastes delicious!) We met some nice people from Wales that were translators for a community about 45 minutes away. These are the missionaries that just come to a tribe, learn the language, form relationships, and start teaching about the bible. Rachel, one of the wives was telling me about this process. (There are two couples there with their children.) She said they start with creation and go all of the way through the old testament before they even talk about Jesus and the resurrection. She said that if this is not all done systematically then the people have a tendency to just add what they learn into their own beliefs. The way they approach it, the people have a complete understanding before they get to the good news Jesus brought. She said that they know this is a 10-15 year commitment, but God has called them and they are ready to see it through. (They have been there 1 year.) I'm realizing more and more the amazing commitment that all of these families here have made. It's truly a God thing!



Caleb had a great time at the potluck- of course his favorite person was there- Priscilla. I don't know how we are going to leave her. Ben mentioned this in his blog, but Caleb is really coming out of his shell and learning to play with the other kids and trust other people. Prodded by the other missionary kids, he even asked Priscilla to marry him. (He asked Olivia too, who is more his age at 2 vs. 17, but she said no. I was talking to her mom this morning and we agreed it was a good thing, because we don't want to have to start worrying about bride price and planning a big mumu.) I also want to mention that Caleb is finally completely potty trained. I'm so proud of him, and he is so proud of his "productions"- if ya know what I mean. :) My little boy is growing up!





After the potluck, we had a joint missionary service (I will touch on that again in a minute) and then a group of us headed to a rock slide. (It is exactly that: a series of waterfalls where the rocks have been smoothed out and are used as waterslides.) I didn't think it would be that dangerous since the missionary children were going- including Olivia- the other two year old. Anyway, I am learning that everywhere you travel to around here is life-threatening! There are these silly little "bridges" you have to cross, things you have to jump over, crawl around, climb, etc. After about an hour walk covering about 4-5 miles, we made it there alive, and ended up having a pretty good time. Ben fell a couple times- each time taking a child with him- but I managed to stay on my feet. (See mom, I am being very careful!) I have started to feel the new little Kumor moving around which is pretty exciting, but also a reminder that I need to slow down a little bit...that and the fact that I was more worn out than the seven year old missionary kid on our walk home!






At the joint missionary service on Sunday, Ben and I were asked to share a bible scripture. We talked about what each others favorite verses were, and were surprised to find out that both of them centered around hope. Mine is Psalm 71:14 "But as for me I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more." In verse 20 it goes on to say "Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once again." I think the first few weeks I was here, I was discouraged for the people. I didn't think it was fair that we were able to call ourselves Christians, just the same as them. I thought that for some reason because of the hardships they endure they should have a stronger name. When I was reading through this passage though, I got to thinking about it more in depth. The issues that they face here are very much the same as we face in the States. They worry about rape, poverty, violence, disease, and infidelity. Sounds alot like things that have touched my life and the lives of friends in the U.S. Sure, we have alot more comforts and material things- but I am beginning to think those are more of a distraction than an advantage. The basic gist is that we are all living with the realities of a fallen world- and whether we are in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, or in the Suburbs in the United States- we have nothing if we don't have the hope that is offered to us through Jesus Christ....yet we have everything if we do have that hope!

We have two more weeks to go, and plan to just soak in as much as possible. It has been such a wonderful experience and we can't wait to come home and share more about it with you all!

I'll leave you with a Caleb quote- and yes, he came up with this all by himself- he starts kicking around rocks on the road and says "look mom, I'm rockin".