Power- Turn the light On!

Into month three in Papua New Guinea….I love this place and love the people.  Yes, some days are difficult (and what place isn't!) but overall, it is a joy to be here, to be serving God, teaching the students, getting to know new people, working on the language.

 On Wednesday, March 6^th the station was hit with strong winds and rains, and they called it a cyclone.  15-25 trees went down, and the most damage was on a home that Missionaries to Vanuatu were staying in.  It's completely a God thing that Jenny and Bennett, the wife and oldest of the three boys, escaped without harm.  Jenny had been preparing dinner in the kitchen in one side of the house when the storm suddenly blew in, but felt God telling her to go hide in the bathroom on the other side.  She and Bennett got into that room just prior to the huge tree landing on the kitchen side of the house.  The other God thing was that the house had just been remodeled, with a new support beam put up the center and new supports put into the bathroom as the others had started to rot.  The repairs done, helped to save their lives!  So, in the midst of the storm, God provided for them, and he continues to do the same for all of us.  This reminds me of the storm in Matthew 8.  Jesus could have prevented the storm, but He chose to use it to demonstrate His power!  He also could have prevented this storm, but instead He is using it to show how He is a God of protection, reliable in the midst of the storm and a provider of all that is truly needed. 

After the storm I was without power for over 2 days, andsome waited even longer.  Being without power is nothing new to Kudjip station.  Papua New Guinea has the most unreliable power supply of just about all the third world countries.  The station did have a hydro that was washed away about 7 years ago, and a new Hydro power plant is being worked on currently.  The project should be finished within the next year.  Power here goes out just about every day, some times for just a few minutes, sometimes for hours.  Sometimes it will go out numerous times in a span for an hour, really fun when you are trying to shower, wash clothes or do dishes, grade tests, or make copies on the copier!!!   In the week that followed the storm, the power was even more unreliable.  I got to the point where I just would expect it not to work, and planned accordingly for my classes, and all daily activities.  No power to make copies- no problem! Just write out the quiz on butcher block paper, have the students copy the questions and answers onto their notebook paper!  (Only problem was this takes three times longer to do!, so much less time to lecture on the next topic!)  But then a funny thing happens, the power does come back on.  But you are so use to making do without it, that you forget to use it!  You start to light a candle, or use a flashlight to read at night, instead of turning on the overhead light.  You use alcohol gel to clean your hands, when the bathroom sink actually does work!  You decide to go for a walk instead of a run, so you won't need to shower as bad!  You have dinner at 5:00 when you are not really hungry so you don't have to cook/eat in the dark!  Doing all these things was not too much of an issue, life was ok, we made it work.  But when the power is on, it seems really silly to do some of them!

 This got me to thinking about God, and His power.  It is readily available to all of us, all the time. Sometimes we choose not to use it though.   We don’t ask for His help, or we don’t believe totally in His word.  He is right there, just like that light switch, ready to be our ever present help in time of need.  How often do we not let Him turn the power on?  How often do we sit there in the dark of our lives, making do, telling ourselves, "This isn't so bad, I can handle this", when He is right there, ready and waiting for us to turn to Him and His power.    I was very thankful for that reminder this month.  I have a tendency to be very self-sufficient, which is a good thing (at times!)  It also can get in the way of God really using you, or you limiting God.  I have relied on God even more in this past month than I have had to previously, because the nature of things required it.  He would reveal a new area of my life, or a new place for growth, and I just have to give it to Him.  When He shows you a new "light switch" in your life, let Him turn the power on!  Or if you have never experienced His power, the power of belief in Him, the power of forgiveness, don't sit there in the dark any longer.  Life in the light is so much better! 

So my main lesson this month is to be ever thankful for God's power, to never forget that He is right there, at work.  Sometimes His power is visible, sometimes it is not, but unlike the power in PNG, it has never, and will never fail me or you! 

The books, the baby shower, the road bung, and the Bush Lotu

 

 

This past week was the first full week I’ve had in PNG.  Monday started with meeting Liah, the director of the school of nursing.  She is a quiet, reserved woman, with a good sense of humor as well.  I sure it will be a pleasure to work with her.  I spent most of the rest of the week trying to figure out my teaching strategy (Lecture, power points, worksheets and demonstrations, and group activities) and also working on a little Pidgin.  It will defiantly helping working with Nationals to pick up on the Pidgin!  It is quite a simple language to learn, as foreign languages go, figuring out the word structure will be the most difficult, but it is similar to Spanish in how you phrase things the opposite of English (that is about were the similarities end!)

So all in all, a good week.   I also met some of the students when we did their physicals on Wednesday.  Only 9 of them had arrived at this point, but that was enough to start orientation.  My days at the Health Department came in handy as the other tutors and I had to piece together BP cuffs and find stethoscopes and alcohol swabs in order to do the physicals.  It is heartbreaking to see what there is to work with.  But we did find what we needed and it all worked out.  (One of my duties at MCHD was BP cuff maintenance, and yes, they need someone to do that here too!)  On the supplies front, for my A&P class we have 7 text books for the 45 students, 4 of them are the same edition, one is the older version of that edition, and 2 are completely different versions, and most are held together with packing tape, and none were published in the last ten years.  The students do all get a Notebook that has all pertinent info in it, it actually could be seen as the text book for the class.  And Anatomy and physiology really doesn’t change so a current book isn’t as important as other things.  Seeing those books reminded me of college though, and how some students would burn their books at the end of the semester because they were no longer needed, or couldn’t be sold back because the version had changed.  If only!  The tutors here make it work, and it will again I am sure.  I’m looking forward to using the reference books that were donated to be by ISU as well, they will come in handy I am sure!

So, enough about books! The baby shower on Saturday morning!  Oh it was so fun, meeting with all the ladies on station and getting to see new baby Miles.  He was born on 12-30-12 to the Thompson’s, a couple that is here from Eureka, IL.  Such  a small world it really is, that I now live a block over from a couple whose family lives 30 minutes from mine back home!  The shower was great as we played games, and guess the “miles” back to their home town, (its over 8,000 btw).  We then all were given a verse to pray over Miles as we passed him around in his bilum bag (a PNG infant carrier of sorts).  It was so touching and such a special time for all of us.  (We also had great refreshments, most inspired by Pinterest, yes, it’s influence reaches over here too!  That baby carriage made out of a watermelon, to use as a fruit bowl, yes, its great with PNG fruit!)

After the shower, we thought we would try out shopping in the mall here, J the Road Bung, about a quarter mile outside the main gate. Well, it’s the PNG version of a mall.  It’s really second hand clothes from Australia that get sent over in probably a 1,000 kilo crate and then are bought by locals to sell at this thrift store of sorts.  Basically there is a lot of clothes in piles on tarps, you sort through and find what you want.  Some things are on hangers, hanging on basically barbed wire strung out to make dividers of sorts for each merchant.  You can get most anything there, and some clothes are actually new too (must be where those end of season rejects go when they don’t sell on clearance!)  Everything is really quite cheap, from 20 Toea for some shirts (10 cents) to 8-12 Kina (4-6 dollars) for a skirt.   We went shopping with Jenny, a PNGian from Hagan, who actually is a missionary to Vanuatu, (Islands between here and New Zealand) and is back to PNG for 3 months.   Jenny can shop!  And she helped me find three shirts and 2 skirts, and I spent less than $10 US, all on clothes that hadn’t been worn before.  The is also a local market, open air produce stand, similar to the one in Hagan, just not as big or with as much selection, but a great way to get more fresh fruits and veggies. 

Sunday we went to Lotu (church) in the bush!  Gina and I went with Tim and Karla, a couple here from Seattle, and a national couple they are friends with, along with their kids.  Nolly works with Tim around the station, and also is a pastor, so he was the guest preacher at the bush church.  We arrived a little before 10 for the service which is to start at “10”, PNG time.  This means it starts when most everyone has shown up, and as it was raining a little on this morning, it didn’t start for awhile.   The church is a one room building with a raised platform and altar in the front, and has a cement floor.  One each side are linoleum tiled areas with a wide aisle of non-tiled section in between.  Men typically sit on one side and women on the other.  There are a few wood benches up against the woven grass walls, mostly used by some of the older congregation members and some of the men.  Up around the platform are some of the most gorgeous flowers you have ever seen, and I’m sure that no one has had lessons in flower arranging but they have done better than any arrangement I’ve seen in the states.  All the kids (pikinini) have come out to great us and are all so curious and scared at the same time.  Many have never seen a white person more than a couple of times.  Worship starts as a way to draw people in, and it is a wonderful time.  I don’t understand as much as last week as more is in ‘tok ples’ or talk place, the native language but the Spirit is the same.  Karla, Gina and I are sitting on the floor, and I am next to an older women.  She must be a grandma, who has about 4 of the little girls sitting with her.  The girls keep looking at me, smiling, and then turning back to the front.  One little one gets even more bold and starts reaching for my feet as they are the only thing exposed with my skirt draped over my legs.  She has never touched a white person before and wants to know if it feels the same.  Her eyes get all big as she is touching both my feet and hers at the same time and seems to make the connection that they feel the same!  Worship continues and the three of us sing a hymn and also sang a chorus in Pidgin.  Karla even same a song in the tok ples with Nolly’s family and they seem overjoyed that a white skin learned their language.  Testimony time was great, and the three of us also shared a little of our stories with Nolly translating for us and the congregation was so encouraging.  Nolly preached from James 2 and his message was to the point and applicable to all.  Are we doing what we say we will do?  There is no need to “beat around the bush” out here in the bush churches, and there shouldn’t be anywhere.  Then Pastor Daniel, the actual pastor of this church had announcements, and we were encouraged to think of this church as our home church in PNG.  All were so sweet and we got many more hugs from the adults, and little touches from the kids.  We were even asked to come back in two weeks for a wedding of one of the guitar players!  Tim later informed us that that invitation was so pictures would be taken of the wedding!  We had all forgotten to bring cameras this time, so I found that quite humorous.

  But we are up for as many cultural experiences as we can get, and I am loving the interaction with the people.  Learning more pidgin will be helpful as often people in the bush churches don’t speak English like those in town or my students that have completed 12^th grade.  So, that was the completion of my first full week in PNG, and was just some of the highlights! 

Throughout the week I worked on lesson plans, met the other instructors, met some of the students, went to youth group, went to prayer meeting and bible study and got to know the station and fellow workers better.  I’m pretty settled in to my house and we have a routine of sorts.  God continues to provide just what I need, from sleep, and ability to cook meals,(no fast food here!) to fellowship, and patience and strength to face new challenges.  Loving serving Him in PNG! 

Ants, Aunts,and Sister

Ants, Aunts, and Sister

 

 

So, I sent out an email update with some things that have been going on so far in my 10 days away from Illinois.  It seemed to long for a blog post, so please email me if you want to be on the email list.  Ill mainly do blog posts I think, but I will send out a letter about once a month too. 

So, the fun things I’ve noticed about PNG so far:

Bugs, there does seem to be a lot of them, but really they aren’t too bad unless they are in your food (no I’ve not intentionally eaten a bug…yet) The fun part is watching my roommate Gina try to do anything and everything to avoid them!  All our fruit is tucked away in the fridge for the most part now, except for some passion fruit.  We had a fun episode of fruit flies invasion, seems they wanted our awesome fruit as much as us!  The ants keep coming in under our door, with its half inch gap, they have no trouble along with the cockroaches.  Gina found one in the cupboard!  I’ve found them in the bathroom!  I got over any fear of bugs in El Paso, so it’s a blessing to just know the food is protected in Tupperware and its packaging, and just leave the rest alone!  Door gap is fixed by towels, and we are just glad we have some to spare. 

Aunt- Seems I’ve got about 15 new nieces and nephews now as all the Mission Kids (MK) call all those on station who are not their parents Aunt or Uncle.  It’s also a cultural thing here as PNGians call all older relatives, close friends Aunt/Uncle too.  It is wonderful to be called Aunt Staci as only my nephew Logan calls me that, or sometimes my honorary nephews Jon, Jonah, and Joshua Z.  I’m missing all my boys, but the kids around here are great and  so sweat too.  The teens gave us our first tour of the station, and call us to come play ping pong, basketball or watch movies.  We went to youth group on Tuesday and had a blast playing Spoons.  Seems like I might also read to the Elementary kids a few times a week when I’m not teaching to help out the Elementary school teacher.  Should be a great time! 

Sister Staci- is what my title at the College of Nursing is.  Sister means nurse, but kinda makes you feel like a nun!  (Something I really don’t want to be, but occasionally it does feel like it! J) I’m enjoying working one on one with the 8 or so tutors (haha, another English word that PNGians change the meaning of- it means instructor, not helper or one on one coach!)  I share an office with Serah, who is also my next door neighbor.  I live on Stiner Street at the station, and Sister Stiner was one of the first missionary nurses to come to PNG and help with the college it seems.  All the tutors live on this street in flats/duplex’s.  The most of the other Missionaries live on Ramsey street, which is the cross road of my street, so we are all pretty close together here.  There are kids and dogs and people about all the time, part of the charm of this place.  Kids still play outside, not on x-boxes and while you wouldn’t want to pet some of the dogs, it’s nice to see them around anyway!  The other tutors have been very helpful in getting my lessons prepared, but there are some cultural differences for sure.  Eye contact is not maintained for long, and they are all very soft spoken, I’m the loud one!  Something’s do not change though, as today we all got out our Digicel’s (mobile phone company) and shared our numbers!  There are a lot of male nurses here, and I will have a lot of male students it seems.  Nursing is still a more female dominated profession here, but it’s a good paying job and many men become nurses as well.  The other tutors I know so far are Jason, Moses, Grace, Noreen, Kolly, Dare, and Ali.  Jason got me laughing at as he introduced Ali to me, as I had met Jason first.  Jason then walked away, singing “Prince Ali, Ali a babwa…. Strong as ten regular men…’’. The song from Aladdin!  Seems Disney gets just about everywhere too!  I am the only “white-skinned” tutor, which also has its own set of challenges.  I’m learning some Pidgin and everyone speaks English, so it really works out just fine.  I start teaching on Tuesday the 22^nd and will be teaching every 3 hours on Tuesday’s and 7 on Thursdays.  Please pray for me on those day!!!  Serah and others have said, “Don’t worry, they are first year students, they won’t know if you get it right or not!”  My fears exactly!!!  Oh, Help me get it right!  I sooo want the students to have a good experience, and I’ve got many good ideas, just got to get them out!

We did physicals for some of the students on Wednesday and it was nice to meet some of the girls.  They looked even more scared than I did on my first day of nursing school and that was pretty scared!  I was only an hour and a half away from home.  Some of these students are away from home for the first time, and home is many hours of bad roads, or small plane rides away.  Some might not be able to call home frequently like I could, but all have no idea what they are getting into!  Just like me in 2000!  One thing is for sure, God is here, with me and with these students and we have a great year of discovery ahead of us. 

And the Peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:7

 

Clarity- A good thing?

This was a post I was working on before coming to PNG, and wanted to post it now, even though I am already in PNG!! 

 2012 was an interesting journey for me, and I’m sure thisnext year will be even more so!  I’vebeen following Jesus each step of the way. From when He saved me at 5, to when he called me to missions in HighSchool, to when He told me in April 2012 to go to PNG.  He hadn’t made all the steps extremely clear,and I really didn’t know exactly what I’ll be doing other than tutoring in thenursing school.   But God does know exactly how much of thepicture I can handle, and I’m leaving that in His hands. 

The verses God has been using in my life in 2012:

 Habakkuk 1:5 –Look atthe Nations, look and be amazed, For I am doing something in your days,something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.

And then Psalm 32:8- The Lord says I will guide you alongthe best pathway for your life, I will advise you and watch over you. 

I’ve learned a lot of lessons in 2012 year about seeingclearly. 

I have had glasses since 2^nd grade, and wouldwear them on and off, because my eye sight is not horrible, but it’s not 20/20either.   The last pair of glasses I hadprior to this year were prescribed while I was in the Army, and theprescription was very sharp, very clear, the one necessary to see best while shootinga weapon!  Not something I plan to doevery day, or any day for that matter. Wearing these glasses made me see so well it was like I could seepeoples pores, see so clear it would give me a headache pretty quickly. 

So, I really didn’t wear them, but there were times I neededsomething.  My vision would be blurrylooking far away, like when I was doing projection for church.  (a time you really want to see well to avoidmaking mistakes J

So, I finally went to the Eye doctor in October.  When I was talking to the eye doctor about myold glasses, he understood the problem and recommended decreasing myprescription.  So, I can see thingsclearly, but I’m not overwhelmed by them! 

God has been just  like that! He knows what we can handle, what we can’t, what we need to see now, andwhat can wait. 

As Proverbs 5:21 says, “For the Lord sees clearly what a mandoes, examining every path he takes.”

So, we don’t have to see the whole plan, we just have totrust Our God.

In the ESV Psalm 32:8 is stated “I will instruct you andteach you in the way you should go.  Iwill counsel you with my eye upon you.” 

So, the part of the journey that I can see now is to go toPNG, to love his people there, to help in any way I can. 

And this is not any different from what he tells us all todo. 

Like Matthew 28:19 says “therefore go and make disciples, ofall nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the son and the HolySpirit.  Teach these new disciples toobey all the commands I have given you and be sure of this.  I am with you always.” 

And what are the commands he has given us?  Matthew 22:37-39 sums those up!  - to love the Lord your God with all yourheart, all your soul, and all your mind. And the second is equally important, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

So, the main thing that is clear to me is to LOVE. 

And by the way, I am wearing my glasses a little more thesedays!  (But I have to be extra carefulwith them in PNG!)