As seen on my way home from school today. Women do much physical labor here.

 

"My mom told me to buy a chicken."

 

Would you believe this is tree bark?? Jim thinks it will make a cool screen saver.

 

What could be more fun than this after a torrential rain!

 

And, it is raining again now as I put these pics on the blog. It is Friday night here.

 

Yes, those are logs floating on the basketball court. The rushing water carried them off.

 

Pictures of the heavy, heavy rainstorm we had this afternoon. This is our sidewalk/playground area. We had several instant waterfalls right at dismissal time. Of course, the kids loved it! We've had 3" of rain total in the last 3 days. 

                                                     Making a market purchase.

 

Friday morning market. A busy place.

 Guests for dinner; the Larsens (R) and the Freezes. Marty and Susan Larsen are here with "Pastors Beyond". They are on Centre to do counseling and preaching. Marty preached a series on Esther while here. Tim and Wendy Freeze are here wearing many different hats. Tim's main job is working in construction, especially lining up projects for visiting teams. He helped the team from Bethel that came over to build Brad and Deb's house in the village several years ago. Tim has also been Director of Security this month, and  . . . it has been a busy month, including a fire off center that burned down the home of a coffee plantation owner. The Ukarumpa Fire Dept. answered the call.

 

A special "Hello" to our grandchildren.

 

Miss Jen interviewing Super Star of the week, Caleb, before he and his family leave for a year's furlough to the States. 

 

Promoting reading for Book Fest.

 

Primary school assembly for Book Festival Week. There are reading contests, a diorama contest, a book character parade, a book exchange where students can bring used books and trade for different books and a hot dog picnic on Friday. And, Monday is Beach Day!

 

Twelfth grade youth group at the neighbor's last Sunday night. Jim spoke, using the clothespin activity. That's where the kids take apart a clothespin and put it back together. In the meantime, he shakes the pieces of a clothespin (3) in a paper bag, showing the probability of evolution. Chance or information and a designer? So far, no matter how much he shakes the bag, those pieces have never fallen into place! 

 

Here are Deb and Liz  having lunch at the primary school. On Fridays, parents come to have lunch with their kids. Of course, it is always outside. Beautiful climate here, when it's not raining.

Here the kids in my classroom are checking their seeds. We planted 4 kinds in ziplock bags to watch them take root and sprout.

 

This side of the market in Kainantu is where the men gamble and buy/sell/chew buyi, the bean that is chewed along with a bit of lime. It's a mild narcotic.

Driving through Kainantu on the way back from Lae. This is a very typical PNG town. Lots of people hanging around all the time.

 

This is the site of a terrible PMV (Public Motor Vehicle) accident that happened right around the time we arrived. You may have heard of this accident. Two PMV's collided, killing 40 people. It happened on a straight stretch of road near Lae. The road was filled with pot holes that each was trying to avoid, thus not watching the oncoming traffic.The wreckage has been pushed to the side of the road and will stay there.

 

Just a small, local market along the road.

 

These are palm trees with coffee growing underneath. Coffee requires shade. 

 

Up ahead is what is called a "six to six". It is a place that opens for the night for all kinds of nefarious activity. At night the parking lot is full of trucks. Everything is available; alcohol, drugs, sex. HIV/AIDS is on the rise in PNG. 

 

One of the food stores we shopped. I guess I should have taken pictures inside. But, I didn't. It looks very similar to our stores, except fewer choices and less modern looking.

 

Jim was interested in the kinds of fish found here.

 

Our group having lunch at the Yacht Club in Lae. Safe/good place to eat. Following pics are of the harbor.

 The SIL Guest House in Lae. We didn't stay there as we were not in Lae overnight. We did get purchase orders here for use at most of the stores we were shopping at. Very handy. No need for much cash. Notice pool to the left. Very hot and humid in Lae.

 

 

 

More photos on the way to Lae.

 

This is on our way to Lae, a city on the coast. We are going over the Kassam Pass overlooking the Markham Valley.

This is a picture taken by someone else here. We really like it. Also, I'm testing the blogging from Picasa. My Picasa crashed earlier this week. In additions, CTS had to do a "restore" of our system. YIKES! We haven't lost anything that we can tell. Thank you, Lord! Love those guys at CTS! For those reading our prayer requests, last night was a quiet night. That makes 3 nights in a row with no break-ins. Our men are doing 2 hours shifts most nights. This is in addition to the hired security we have here. Isaiah 26: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee because he trusts in Thee."

We've been asked for current prayer requests: Security is an ongoing issue. In fact, tonight we are on a heightened alert as it is rumored that there is a planned increase in "raskol" activity. Please continue to pray for safety and for God's peace for us and the many families here. Many New Testaments are being dedicated this year and next. Praise God with us and pray for the translators who are going back and forth to the villages to accomplish this vital work. Pray for their high school age kids who stay in the youth hostels while their parents are away. Pray for the hostel parents, some who are doing this work along with raising a young family. We know that God's word does not return void, but that it accomplishes His purposes. We are all praying that the people of this country would know the peace that surpasses all understanding. Pray for high school students who are struggling, some in many ways--academically and spiritually. We continue to be thankful to be here. It is a blessing for us to teach in Christian schools and in a Christian community. But, there is a battle going on here for the hearts and souls of the Papua New Guineans as well as for the children of those in ministry here. Thanks for praying.

 

Many of you know who this is. It's Liz, the Voltmer's daughter, holding baby Hannah at a neighborhood get-together. We are in a Bible study on Tues. nights with Brad and Deb and I see them when they come to school to pick up their kids. They are recently returned from 3 weeks in the village. 

 

Neighborhood gathering at Dr. Helen's. The fellow to the far right is Pastor Marty Larsen, the current preacher. He is doing 4 weeks on the book of Esther while he and his wife, Susan, are here. Susan is also the speaker for our Women's retreat coming up this weekend. It'll be on Centre. 

 

And off they go . . . . .

 

Our front walk has become a horse trail. Tim works with Wycliffe Assoc. and is the construction manager for groups coming to Ukarumpa to work on projects. He and Jim met while working on Voltmers' house in the village eight years ago. Some friends are for life right from the first moment!

 

Our friend, Tim, rode his horse right up to our living room window. Were we surprised to look out and see Tim looking in!

 

Valentine's Dinner with Pat and Sammee Pearson. The 11th graders and their parents do this event. Chicken cordon bleu, potatoes, vegetable and chocolate cake or date torte with custard sauce. It was all very good and much appreciated by a crowd that seldom goes "out to eat." 

 

Strawberries every day!

 

Flowers for sale at the market.

 

The entrance to the secondary campus. 

 

High School library.

 

The Seniors get to paint their lockers.

 

Here is Jim's Science classroom. Kinda takes us back a few years, but the learning material is current and the lab facilities very usable. 

 

Cool!! These are stag horn beetles. In my first grade science unit in the states, I had to order these and they sure weren't this big!