Praying for Rain

The day after I got back from America I ran into one of the station “watchmen,” Moses.  Moses works in the station workshop with four other national men, named Elijah, John, Paul and Yandu, alongside our missionary matience men.  They have the secondary job of being our security.  I just love their names!  I don’t know what Yandu means in Tok Ples, but the missionaries here enjoy saying that our watchmen are two prophets and two apostles.  Not bad names for people that watch over you.  Our watchmen have the job of sitting in the station vehicles and keeping security over them and all our "stuff" when we go to town, as well as watching out for us.  99% or more of the time, this is a very uneventful job for them and often involves helping a few missionary women load a month or more of groceries into the back of a Land Cruiser.  To me it seems a very boring job but these men seem to have mastered the task of doing all work with a cheerful heart and have smiles to prove it.  I have enjoyed talking with our watchmen and having them help me with my Tok Pisin. 

I’m still struggling with actually talking in Tok Pisin although I understand about 70-90% of most conversations, depending on who is talking and how fast!  I’ve got the obstetric words down, and can have small conversations on the OB ward, but those words are not used too much in everyday communication (believe it or not).  I only teach in English, so my opportunities are often limited.  The last time I went to town, Moses was our watchman and we talked about gardening in PNG during our journey about town and on the bumpy, hour long ride home.  He also told me his wife enjoys working in the garden and he thought she would be willing to help me in mine.  So when I ran into him on that Friday morning I asked if he though his wife would still like to come help me. 

My neighbor has recently moved away and I had let her use most of my garden area because I didn’t have the time to really work in it.  But now I have a lot of garden space, but still not a ton of time, and thought some help might be useful.  Moses said he thought she would want to come help and he would talk with her and let me know on Monday. 

 I actually asked him all this is in Tok Pisin, so I was pleasantly surprised last Monday after my class was over at noon that I met Moses and Rita on the road to my house.  She was all ready to work!   Rita speaks very little English, but understands a bit.  I speak very little Tok Pisin that is useful for describing garden work but can understand what she says.  Moses did a bit of translation to help us figure out where to begin the work.  We also came to an understanding.  Rita will only let me speak to her in Tok Pisin, so I’m forced to work on words other than medical ones.  It’s great!  I’ve tried this with my neighbor girls but they usually will not correct me when I am wrong, and this has proven to not be very helpful.  So I’m getting a garden helper and a Tok Pisin tutor for the price of one.      

So Rita helped me every day of what was Holy Week here in PNG.  By Wednesday four plots were cleared out and ready for planting.  We decided to plant on Thursday because Rita would have work to do at her church on Good Friday.   The weird thing was it did not rain here that whole week.  Rita informed me it was “dry season” and I guess it finally is.  I planned to figure out how to water all of that garden if it didn’t rain.  I was able to borrow a garden hose from my friends on Friday night, and when it didn’t rain again that night, I watered everything on Saturday morning.  It rained a bit on Saturday night and into Sunday morning, stopping just before the Easter Sunrise.  Then on Easter Monday, as it’s called here, (basically another day off of work!) it rained on and off all day.  It rained so much that the laundry I did that morning never got a chance to dry in between the frequent light showers and I brought it in damp and draped it all over my spare room.  Then it rained heavily most of the night.  I never did have to use the garden hose again. 

I taught my Communications class this morning from 8:00-10:00 and then came home for a bit to see that Rita was here and working on my flower gardens.   She said she had to see how the vegetable garden was looking after being away for four days for the Easter Holiday (or at least I think that’s what she said because it was all in Tok Pisin).  She also told me she had prayed for a big rain to come when on Good Friday it had not rained and she was worried about all the broccoli, carrots, corn, squash, lettuce and spinach she had planted.  I was amazed.  I had not prayed for rain at all. 

My plan was to go out there with the borrowed hose and water it myself.  This Easter weekend I actually didn’t feel well, just wasn’t myself.  I wasn’t even feeling able to water it more than the one time even if it really had needed it.  I didn’t get to go to the sunrise service like I had planned and I didn’t make it to the regular service on station.  I did enjoy my bible reading at home and had time to contemplate all that the day means.  I had prayed for several things throughout the weekend that I am struggling with and praised God for all that this weekend means to me.   I thanked Him that I was back to feeling like my normal self on Monday and I got a lot of school work done on an off day.  But never in my many conversations with Him this weekend did I think about the garden.  But Rita had.

It touched me so much that this woman who I had met just a week ago, cared enough about me and my four garden plots to pray for rain to take care of them.  Her gardens are all planted and growing well and can survive without rain for a week, but she knew mine needed it.   And her prayers were answered in a mighty way; my damp towel in the spare room and my adequately watered garden proves it.  Rita challenged me today to not forget to pray for the things right in front of me, the obvious needs and all the promise that they hold and the faith that they require.  I might not be able to say all of that in Tok Pisin just yet, but I think she understood from my smile today that I learned something from her prayers for rain.   And I think Moses is right; his wife does like to work in the garden. 

Liklik tok save (little information- update)

I haven't posted since Christmas! Sorry all, I've got three blogs in the works, but then my computer died a week and a half ago with them all saved to the desktop. So, here are some pictures and a little up date for the moment, typed on the iPad.
My ankle is doing well, and I've started some physical therapy thanks to a visiting PT.
Classes are going great for the most part. It been a huge blessing to teach the same classes as I did last year. I'm getting to tweak and add to lesson plans and its going better, especially with my OB class.
Graduation went well and it's great to now see some of those graduates working in the hospital. It's fun to call them "Sister" when they have been use to calling me that for the past two years. I've had three get-togethers with my small group that has grown considerably this year! I've got 10 students this time, (long story), mostly first years, and we are having fun getting to know each other at this point.
Wednesday Night Fellowships have been going well and I'm working with my second year class on a "new" song to sing next week.
I'm preparing to come home for a short trip to be in my friend Colleen's wedding. While this requires basically no packing, (I have basically two outfits here that are appropriate for Illinois weather at this time) I've got lots of grading and prep for classes to be done before I go.
So, here are some pictures of our class on Friday, hands on lesson on learning styles. (And basically, I was just ready to have a little fun with them after some boring lectures on APA writing style! I can only make learning rules on when and how to cite sources so interesting,)

The rules here- build as tall a tower as you can with what you are given. (And then I added other rules each time, like no talking but one, only one builder, but all could talk, etc.) Also, the five building sets where not all on the same playing field. (For one, we don't have five games of Jenga on station, and it wouldn't be as challenging that way either!) They got dominos, Jenga extreme, UNO Stacko, Bandu, and regular Jenga. Bandu has odd shapes like eggs, pyramids, and slanted cylinders so its quite a challenge. I think they all had some fun to end a long week, I at least had fun watching them! The last photo is what happens outside my classroom when it downpours for twenty solid minutes, after raining quite a bit this week.