Passion for Papua New Guinea: The Right Foundation

The Right Foundation

So, I'm back in PNG for a second year! And while it's been a long time since I blogged, I hope most of you have gotten my update letters over the past year. I've been back for just over a week and it's been a busy one. I am teaching different classes- Communication and Information Technology, along with co-teaching Obstetrics. Should be interesting! The other tutors felt that the English as a first language speaker should teach the communication class, so we will see how it goes. Basically, I'll be teaching medical terminology, college paper writing in APA format and computer usage. For the computer part it's how to use Word and PowerPoint. (Glad that's about it, because I don't know much more than that!) The whole task is to lay the right foundation for the 34 new first year students to succeed at college and in their nursing careers. I also am co-teaching Obstetrics with Sr. Grace to the second year students. She is still on Holiday, so I've had the intro and first lectures to prepare for both classes this week. I ended up editing the whole curriculum for the communication class! I see why they wanted the English speaker to teach it! I had to correct the grammar in the instructions on how to have correct grammar. I am not the greatest at this, but God is faithful and spell and grammar check are wonderful tools.

I also did my shopping trip to town for the month and I am getting back into the swing of my schedule here on station. This task was a little harder this week because of the construction/redo project at my house. The bathroom has a shower stall with a tile floor. It was very pretty when I moved in last year, but the small tiles started coming up after the first week and by one month, I was using shower shoes all the time to avoid cutting my feet. A work order was put in and the tile got replaced and the correct grout was used this time. But because the shower isn't completely square the tiles that come attached on those mesh mats didn't work very well and the tile was once again laid out wrong. It began to come up again a few months ago and also caused the bathroom to flood because it wouldn't drain properly. Our national construction crew wants to do a good job, but doesn't yet have the experience and first-hand knowledge that would make this task easier to do. My tile counter top in the kitchen has had similar issues, so the plan was to redo them both while I was away. PNG time came into the mix and the project wasn't completed before I got back.

The house that had had a good cleaning right before I left was covered in tile dust, basically everywhere but the bedrooms. It had a kitchen counter that couldn't get wet, and a bathroom shower that couldn't be used for the same reason. I am so thankful for a crew of three workers that came that first morning I was back at Kudjip to help clean up the house. I had started unpacking things in the bedroom because I was too overwhelmed to know where else to start, and looked out the window and saw Tim, Karla and Judy Kay coming with cleaning supplies!! (I don’t have a vacuum because I only have tile and few rugs I usually just shake out.) We had the tile dust vacuumed up and things starting to get back in order in a short time. But still no shower all week. (I did shower this week, just not at my house!)

The tile projects are now completed and look great and I got to use them both for the first time on Sunday. This time the tile was laid by one of our resident handymen Missionaries, my friend Tim. He supervised the crew that completed the work and did the shower tile himself. To make the square tiles work in my non-square shower he added a border row of irregular river stones that he collected. When Nolly, our national friend, saw the work he called the border a beautiful necklace!! It really is quite fun that the tile has this special added touch. It also was truly a blessing to stand on some rocks (and tile) that didn't shift and break under my feet. (I had some hymns running through my mind after that experience; gotta love a good foundation!) The proper supplies and equipment were used. I am seeing that that really is the key. I hope to be laying the same kind of foundation for my students this year. I'm looking forward to both classes and can't wait to see where God leads. I'm also enjoying my new kitchen countertops and having some fun cooking and baking again.

I'm reading in Isaiah currently and this verse sums up my first week back- "He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure." Isaiah 33:6 Here's to a new year unlocking this treasure and building on a sure foundation.

The necklace boarder!