Monday, September 7, 2015

Pacific Orientation Course

After a harrowing journey up the mountain with steep cliffs inches from the edge of the road and turns that make your stomach drop, we arrived at the Pacific Orientation Course. We live in a dorm setting. Our room has a queen size bed and a pack and play draped with mosquito nets and a twin size mattress perched on wood not as wide as the mattress. James has a nice scrap on his head as he found the edge of the mattress has no underlying support. Luckily Jacob grabbed him before he hit the cement floor.
We unpacked our luggage immediately. When you live in a place for only a few months, it’s nice to rush through unpacking so we can feel settled for as long as possible. A small open wardrobe was provided in addition to a desk and four rat boxes. Two of them will be brought out to the village with us during village living when protecting from rats is more relevant than it is here. Adding a hanging closet organizer and a hanging shoe organizer gave us all the space we need so that everything has a home.
The course hasn’t started yet, though we have had a nursery orientation and a meeting with the nurse. On Wednesday, we’ll start the course in force. In the meantime, we’ve been working at our assigned readings so we don’t have to worry about them on our fully scheduled days.
The nursery has been open allowing us to allow James some time to grow accustom to it while we can still give him a break. When the course starts, he’ll be there from 8-12 and 2-4. There are four national women who take care of the children under the leadership of a woman who works for Wycliffe Bible Translators. When we first left him, we called out good-bye (because we don’t want James to be afraid that he’ll look up and we’ll be gone without warning). He looked at us, gave us a dead pan look, and then returned to his newfound toys. How dare we disturb him from the important things!
There’s a lunchroom where we eat all of our meals. We sit at long tables with benches. High chairs sit at the end of each table. There are 5 babies currently. I don’t know if more will be coming before the course begins. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two tea breaks are served. They offer tea and instant coffee, but luckily there’s always water on for our French press! Eventually, we’ll have kitchen duties but for now the staff serves us as we get our bearings.
The campus is beautiful. We’re at the top of the mountain with steep drops all around us, revealing the beautiful foliage of the jungle around us. The ocean can be seen in the distance. I’m not sure how far it is but the clarity in the air makes me think it’s only appearing to be so close. The weather is fairly cool, being that the mountain has a fantastic breeze. There have been times, even in the heat of the day, that I’ve felt a little chilly. Though that was inside in front of a cliff side breeze. The nights get frigid. I woke up in the middle of last night to lay a blanket over James and grab several more airline blankets for us. (They’re super thin but heavy! Perfect for traveling, so we collect them from our flights.)
The feel of the camp is that of summer camp: rustic beautiful environment with tons of people living in close quarters. We’ll be here for two months, do village living for a month, come back to debrief for a couple days and we’ll be done at the beginning of December.
We’re excited to start learning. And we’re excited to be done. The fact of the matter is, while we’re still in PNG (yay!!!), this is still training and a step we need to complete to get to our ministry and our end goal of transformed lives through God’s Word in every language.


Pray for rain. When we flew in, this beautiful land we remembered was brown and covered in fires and smoke. People need water to live and to grow food. When people are hungry and thirsty and dying, spending effort on Bible Translation is put on the back burner. Pray that God meets their physical needs so we can return our focus to the spiritual. 

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Our Plane Story


Three flights got us to PNG. Really, I don’t know if it’s possible to arrive in PNG faster than we did. If those flights were any closer together, we wouldn’t have made the connection.


16 hours – The number always sounds daunting, but when it gets down to execution, it goes by surprisingly fast. This isn’t a car ride! You get to distract yourself! Watch movies, eat food (they keep the carts coming to help things seem like they’re going faster), sleep. And when you look back and think, “I’ve been on this plane for 8 hours” it comes as a surprise.

Flying with James was super easy. Flying with a baby wasn’t fun. Let me clarify the difference. The activity of flying with a baby is, in its essence, miserable. Not a bit of that was James’ fault. He was great. Got fussy maybe four times on the 16 hour flight. Exhaustion was the worst, because really we just needed to let him cry it out for 5 mins, but we were on a plane… so we bounced and shush a fussy baby for 20. But the luggage. The snacks and diapers and sippy cups and toys. And only four hands. Ugh. No.


4 hours – Apparently someone prayed that we wouldn’t have to deal with 7 items and a baby on the gangplank after I made my  last Facebook post. That prayer was answered. But not at all in the way I wanted. They forced me to checked bags at the gate. Including the car seat! Which couldn’t fly because, though it had a sticker that said it was safe to fly, it didn’t have a number, which Qantas was fine with and this was a Qantas flight too, though on an Air Nuigini – No. Sorry. No. I’m not going to mentally rehash this. It was not the highlight of my trip, having to check bags I wasn’t prepared to check.


1 hour – The previous flight was delayed (I hate everything about the Sydney airport. Never again.) And I had less than an hour to get to my connection. Which includes going through the visa check, getting my luggage from international (waiting until every single thing came through to discover the pack and play didn’t make it and filing a claim), going through customs, transferring them to domestic, going through two security check points for all 6 pieces of carry-on luggage (we checked the carseat for the hour flight, totally not worth it), having to get baggage checked at the gate again. This time they made us check the sewing machine, laptops, and camera bag (last time I checked our personal items), but I watched them get put on the plane and watched them get taken off and brought to baggage claim. We were directed to the wrong plane and finally got on the right one and they closed the door behind us.


Landing – We were greeted with leis of frangipanis and a group of women from the PBT offices there, 2 of whom I already know and love. We found out that our pack and go was found in Port Moresby and it should be sent onto Madang on Monday. (We have a crib at POC and a little peapod bed for that night) We got to our flat for the night and took advantage of some free internet before passing out at 7pm and sleeping til 4am.


Things I miss from America - Free wi-fi
I just paid $18.50 for 800mb of data. MEGABYTES
#thirdworldproblems  

Saturday, September 5, 2015

A Self Interview: At the Gate

An interview I meant to post at the gate but couldn't and a follow up question for your reading pleasure:

Well, you've made it through TSA. You are at the gate. Waiting to board a 16 hour flight, the first flight of three, with your infant son. How do you feel?

Good. Tired. Ready to get this started!

What happened between waking up this morning and getting to the airport?

We woke up at 9:30 (read: 5.5 hours of sleep). I fed the baby and went to grab us some coffee while Jacob took advantage of some more sleep. It took way longer than expected packing everything up and getting it into storage and getting the luggage loaded in the car. We finished that around 5. Then we headed to Starbucks to meet with Jacob's parents who came up to send us off. The guy who was going to buy my car flaked out so our home group leaders took it to sell it for us and we left it in the Starbucks parking lot for them to get later. And then we headed to the airport!

Tell us about your efforts getting to the gate?

Well, we had 5 trunks and one duffel bag, all weighing just shy of 50 lbs. We had 3 carry-ons, 2 personal items, one hiking backpack baby carrier, the carseat, and the pack and go.
A security guard got stingy with the big rolling cart and insisted he help us, so we loaded that up except for the carrier, which James was in on Jacob's back. We asked the desk to route our six bags and pack and go (complimentary with purchase of a child's seat) all the way to Port Morseby even though this ticket only went to Sydney. One less thing to worry about! We latched all of our carry-ons together in a crazy luggage caterpillar and Jacob put a backpack on his chest, while I put one on my back and carried the carseat through security.
I'm a TSA ninja so that was a breeze. Jacob set down the carrier and removed James while I was flipping buckets, pulling out laptops, dropping bags of our 3oz fluids. I took James, went through the security check, and reassembling our luggage was as smooth and taking it apart.

You've been trying to switch to a nocturnal schedule with your 10 month old son in preparation for this huge timezone change. How did that go? What time are you planning on going to sleep tonight?

That's actually been kinda crazy. There are a lot of things to think about and juggle. One of which is the complete irrelevance of the time on the clock. What does it mean now that it's 1pm or 1am? How long have we been awake? How long until bedtime? Trying to keep feedings and, most importantly, naptimes regular is really tough. And if you don't get those nap times down, trying to stay up an extra hour each night is really difficult! And remembering that mommy and daddy need the nap times too is important! In theory, moving one timezone a night keeps jetlag away, and that's what we've been trying to do, but there's no working around the biological connection to sunlight. When it's been gone for a while, you start to get sleepy.
We, however, consistently had trouble staying asleep past 10 am which made it hard to stay up past 3 am. Last night we went down at 4. Tonight we're just playing in survival mode. Get through the 16 hour flight. Nevermind sleep schedules.

What are you going to miss most about living Stateside?

Walmart. Maybe you're a Target person or a local business owner consumer, but the convenience of knowing that, if I need something, I can go to the store and buy it... That will be missed desperately. Especially for an everyday low price.
Also Starbucks.

What are you most excited for about getting to country?

That would be a toss up between my dreams, goals, and aspirations finally coming to fruition and an Orange Mango Schweppes.... mmmm.

What are you most apprehensive about?

I don't know. There are a lot of things that I think will be frustrating and stressful but, like, a little. It's them all piling up that can dangerous. What's the thing that's going to "get me"? Well, hopefully, nothing!

You are not leaving the country fully supported or even at 90%! How does that make you feel?

Actually... optimistic! I think God wants his children, especially his missionaries, to turn to him *all the time*. My marriage is great! My kid is awesome! I don't need to fall on my knees everyday asking for the Lord to move in those relationships, but I do for money. Hopefully, what the lack of sufficient funds means is that this first term is going to be easy! If I had all the funds raised, then God would give me another reason to turn to him *all the time*, culture shock, team dynamics, etc. And, really, *this* is a "thorn in my side" I can live with. Because I know full well that God *will* provide, as he's always done. The fact that we were green-lighted to buy plane tickets in the first place without 90% is totally him opening doors! He's going to orchestrate a way for us to keep on keeping on. And all glory will be His!

How do you feel about standing on the brink of leaving for 2 and a half years?!

The same as I felt standing at the wedding altar or in the Labor and Delivery room. None of this feels real. Even now sometimes it blows my mind that I'm *married* or I'm a *mom*. Maybe it's because it's been so natural. It doesn't feel like as big of a deal as it should have been, as it was made out to be. It's just... another facet of who I am. Sometimes I try to stand back and look at the *gravity* of the situation, whether I try to think about my life as if I was 16, showing 16 year old me my life now, or trying to appreciate my life through someone else's eyes. But while 2 and a half years is a *long* time and while PNG is a very different place, it doesn't seem real. The gravity I think the situation should have feels unreal. But maybe that's because this is just natural for me too! Hopefully, right?!

About what can we pray for you specifically during your traveling time?

I have an anxiety of flying... But I can't pop a Xanax per-usual as I'm nursing my kid and he doesn't need to be drugged. (I think... I'm pretty sure.) My adrenaline spikes, my digestive system shuts down, and those little baggie you find in the pocket of the seat in front of you get used. So we need to keep my anxiety and my adrenaline down.
Fight or flight, and the only option is *gulp* ...flight...
Also pray for little blessings. Once, when a woman prayed for this for us, we found ourselves at the tapering of the plane where three seats could no longer fit, so we had two seat (no random stranger in our row) with space between the "middle" chair and the window (read: extra leg space!). It was so nice! So we regularly ask people to pray for little things that make our flights nicer.
Transitions. Most fearful: the switch between the international gate and the domestic gate at Port Moresby. I did it once as an intern in 2010 but that was a game of follow the leader. Not sort this out on your own! And we only have a 2 hour layover with customs and transferring checked luggage between our gates! Dun dun dun!



You are in Papua New Guinea. Does it feel real yet?

What a question! I mean, yes. It looks like PNG. It smells like PNG (which, in case you're wondering, is not a dig at the aroma. There's a distinct PNG sweat smell, yes. But there are a lot of other scents that make the aroma of PNG unique and memorable.) So, yes, I'm cognitively aware that I'm in Papua New Guinea and this isn't a dream.
But I've thought a lot about the preceding question of similar nature on my very long flight and I've come to this: it's anticlimactic. For 10 years, I've shed sweat, blood, and tears to get to my first term on the field. And now it's here! And that means I'm sitting on a plane for 16 hours. That is my dreams coming to fruition: sitting on a plane for 16 hours (and another for 6 and another for 1). That's it! I'm still the same person I was before. And I travel now just like I always have. So it feels no different at all. It doesn't feel like a momentous occasion.
And that's ok. Because sometimes even momentous occasions are just a blur. But my wedding wasn't about getting married and checking that off my to-do list. It was about being a wife and helper to my husband in a way that reflects Christ's relationship with the Church. And my labor and delivery wasn't for the sake of claiming I made a human being, but so that I could be a parent and do so in a way that reflects the Father's love for his children. And I didn't labor to come to Papua New Guinea for the sake of going to a cool new place. It was so I could be a missionary and model Christ who lived incarnationally to reach the lost for His glory.
I'm not suddenly a different person. But my story will be very different now. And hopefully, so will the lives of many, many others.

Mmm. That's good. Good job, self! Well, since that was so good, and you're exhausted and afraid you might actually fall out of that chair, we'll pick this up later. Which will give our readers a chance to comment with some questions that they would like to ask you. Which maybe you will get a chance to address before you're whisked off to Jungle Camp tomorrow.