Wow.
Well, we've back in Dallas for a week now. I got our house back to passably clean and now that my work environment isn't abhorrent, I can turn my attention to other things. Like keeping everyone informed and up to date.
2 months in PNG is no easy thing to put in a nut shell.
Officially:
I spent two weeks in Madang observing on the Somau Garia Advisor check
Three weeks in the village of Anguna, working the medical course, cleaning the literacy building, and sewing curtains.
And three more weeks in Madang, working on the adaption process from Aruamu to Akukem, with the Akukem National Translators.
Unofficially:
I was told to be careful, as the house I was staying in had recently been broken into. Which made every leaf, fruit, and stick that fell from the trees looming over our house onto our tin roof in the middle of the night an intruder with ill intent. Which made most nights patchy on the sleep....
While I had officially things to do, those things weren't really all day consuming. So I spent my days looking for work, and when none was to be found, I found free ebooks online. (My library is at 500 now. Although really, it's less impressive than it sounds. Like 20 books in 5 minutes.)
Then I went to the village:
I was "attacked" by an adorable pig.
I got to pet an owlet. Soft down all over!
I got to go fishing (after sitting 5 hours on the shore doing nothing. It's really not good for my task oriented nature....)
I got to hike in the jungles of Papua New Guinea.
I can walk across a log without holding on to anything for balance!
I helped teach 6 men how to tell whats wrong with a child and what medicine to give to make it better.
I gave medicine to the sick who came.
I watched as kids came every week to a bible study to learn how to read and learn to understand and apply God's Word.
I washed clothes in the river.
I sewed 18 curtains on a hand-crank sewing machine.
We went back to Madang and I taught the Akukem team how to use Paratext, a computer program, to turn a related languages completed scripture into their language. And Jacob and I printed off 25 copies of 17 books of the Mborena Kam New Testament.
And that was our exploratory trip to Papua New Guinea. If there's anything you'd like to hear more about or anything you'd like to know, let me know. I could use some prompts for blog posts!!
(Perhaps you noticed the large numbers of 'I's in the post. It probably has something to do with the belief I have that Short-Term trips isn't about the nationals but about the person going on them. The purpose of our trip was so Jacob could see Papua New Guinea before we headed out without a return ticket. I highly doubt that either of us changed someone's life in the three weeks we were in the village. We hardly can speak the language! I mean, let's face it, weeks, or even two months, isn't enough time to develop rapport, let alone have our actions or even words carry enough weight to impact lives. I suppose it could happen. I just don't think that it does very often.
But as much as this trip was about us, exploring our future home, we strove to serve the missionaries there. To make their jobs easier, to alleviate some stress, to do things that can be delegated so they can focus on their job. Because it's their job to make relationships, it's their job to present the Gospel so it can change lives, because they have the time to do it. And I cannot wait! to be among them. Living with the people of Papua New Guinea for years, residing in their village, laboring beside them, knowing their struggles and fears, and trying to emulate Christ, not for weeks, but for years, so that He might change lives.)
So what about you? What was something awesome you did on a short term trip? something you did to serve a missionary? Or have you ever heard back that your short term trip really did change someone's life?
