A Bible Dediction - Part 3

The ride in the small boat to Aromat was in the full sun! The day before on the same boat was gray and cloudy outside, even spitting rain now and then. But this time it was full exposure to the blistering heat of the tropical sun. I had lost my sunglasses, ended up not having my hat or water bottle, cause it was burried under the pile of cargo at the bottom of the boat and didn't even have a towel to drap over myself. For the first half hour, I was fine, but the last half hour or so, I was starting to feel it. I pretty much just stayed huddled up with my shirt colar turned up to try and protect the back of my neck from sunburn. If I had been in that kind of exposure lost at sea or something, it's hard to imagine how you could make it through a whole day!

Anyway, as we approached Aromat island, we could hear men signing and drums pounding. We jumped off the boat just off shore and walked through the shallows to the beach. They treated us like honored guests, immediately lined us up behind a procession of dancing warriors (apparently they had been waiting for us for some time and were ready to start as soon as we got there).

As we lined up behind the male warrior dancers approaching the main courtyard.

A Bible Dedication - Part 2

We had spent the previous day in travel to this remote tropical island in the Pacific called Tuam. I had slept at least a few hours that night on the hardwood floor with a wadded up t-shirt for a pillow. But as soon as the moon came out, a rooster started crowing outside my window every 15 seconds! I'm guessing it started around 2am and lasted well past daylight. It was a little more than mildly annoying :)

I finally lifted my stiff self off of the floor and stretched out all the kinks. Then went outside to take a look around. Something interesting about this village is that they have built huge walls out of bamboo posts and palm & banana leaves, many were about 20 feet high. I had seen a couple of these walls yesterday, but looking around in the daylight, I saw that they were all over the place, and all facing the same direction. My first thoughts went back to the movie King Kong! I was thinking what kind of animal are they trying to keep out of here? I was able to use enough Tok Pisin to ask someone what they were for and they told me it was an attempt to block the wind from the ocean. I thought that was a little strange, cause I hadn't really felt any wind since I'd been there.

So they pointed me toward the ocean and I headed that way. I reached the biggest wall yet but noticed a small openning big enough to crouch through. As soon as I stood in front of the openning I felt a blast of steady cool ocean breeze hit me. Forcing my way through, I found myself standing on a beatufil ocean shore with waves pounding the beach! Definately the kind of scene you would expect from a tropical pacific island.

After taking in some of the scenery, I headed back for the house. I didn't want to be late for breakfast and for any of the dedication ceremonies.

We had a breakfast of biscuts and bananas. And headed for the courtyard like area in the center of the villiage. Here are some pictures of the people as we approached.

Thanksgiving from PNG

As we reflect on thanksgiving week (even though it doesn’t feel like fall here in PNG) we have been asking the kids what they are thankful for and we included ourselves too. 

·         The prayer/support of all of our family and friends back in our home country. 

·         That God gave us all an important job to do, even if it seems insignificant at the time.

·         God gave us our own free will

·         Jesus came to earth as a baby and gave up his son for us.

·         2 great school campus that we have in PNG

·         Comfortable home to live in

·         Being here in this beautiful country learning more about God each and every day

·         Being able to ride horses

A Bible Dedication - Part 1

As promised, I wanted to share my experience at the Bible dedication I attended a couple weeks ago. The translators were Bob and Salme Bugenhagen, and they were dedicating the Tuam and Oov dialects of the Saveeng language on the Siassi Islands just southeast of New Britain.

Our journey started off with bad weather and our flight out of Aiyura airport (near Ukarumpa) being delayed for a few hours. As it turned out, the aviation department was having some computer problems and so I was able to help out while we waited for the weather to clear.

The planes they fly here are small enough that they have to make sure they load them properly to keep the center of gravity within a certain range. So what that meant for me was that I was seated in the co-pilot's chair! That was pretty fun being right up in front with the instruments and flight controls and chatting with the pilot over the headset.

As we left Aiyura Airport

Life is Full

We feel awful that we haven't been blogging as much lately but we're hoping to make this part of our routine again.

A lot has happened since the October. Here is a quick summary to get you caught up in the life and times of the Michael family:

Chad's Manager Position
The original plan was that Chad would become the acting CTS (Communications and Technical Services) department manager in December. Well, things were accelerated and he has been managing since the 1st of November! There are about 20 people in that department all together. Eleven PNG national staff and nine expatriates. There is a lot of email to "shuffle", forms to authorize, supervision of staff and all kinds of other managing duties to keep Chad super busy during the work day. But he still takes an hour lunch and hasn't worked any weekends so far! Please pray that he would continue to balance life between God, home and work well.

Ruth's Teaching Position
Ruth has been helping in the first grade class at the international school here in Ukarumpa. She has really enjoyed being in the classroom and has mastered the copy machine just like back home at CHS. Currently, the class is team taught by two teachers with Ruth as a helper. But next year, one of the teachers will be gone on furlough during the first term, so they have asked if Ruth would be willing to team teach during that time. She is very excited about it and we are beginning to plan for that. That may mean we stay a little longer than our original 1 year plan, so we are grappling with all of that.

Meliah's Network of Friends
Many of the seasoned veterans here in Ukarumpa have said that the worst year to enter your child into school here is 10th grade (Meliah's grade). The academic expectations are really high, and the way their class scheduling is setup makes the class load very demanding. Also, they have a big emphasis on what they call senior banquet, and the fund raising for that event starts in 10th grade. So there is always a bake sale, or a fund raiser of some kind going on with the 10th grade.
But Meliah has fully adjusted and adapted to all of these things and is surprisingly loving it here! She has made a ton of good friends and seems to be doing very well socially. Her grades are very reasonable as well.
While I'm amazed at how many activities seem to be going on at any given moment, sometimes we'll just get a knock on the door and it will be a group of 10th grade girls going for a walk and wanting Meliah to join them. Sometimes they go on prayer walks where they will pray for the school, for the individual families around center. The 10th grade even has a group they call "Beer and Cigars" modeled after C.S. Lewis and Tolkien where they talk about challenging theological issues.
These are good kids and good influences. Ruth and I have really seen a change in Meliah's character for the better as she spends time with her new network of friends.

Annakah's Loving Spirit
The 6th grade teacher is Mr. Raube (pronounce Rob) and the entire class loves him! Annakah just had a movie night at Mr. Raube's house with the rest of the 6th grade class and had a great time. Mr. Raube is a definite blessing to Annakah and the rest of the students in the class. Annakah loves school and is doing just fine in her academics. Thank you Mr. Raube for what you do!
She has had a little harder time with friends, as there has been some girl drama happening. But she has such a loving and sensitive spirit. Several of her strongest friends now are girls who she had spats with but they have since made up. They even organized and performed all on their own, an American Girl play. It was a parent invitation only performance, but wow! They spent the better part of two months working on the set, costumes and rehearsing. They all did great!
Overall, Ruth and I think Annakah has adjusted very well to living here in PNG. Both her and Kiery are tithing from their allowance in little jars they decorated, and they also have an offering jar that they want to give at the end of the year to a Papua New Guinean family to help them pay for their school fees.
Annakah is also quite the entrepreneur! She came up with a business idea to sell cold lunches at the school in the mornings when students line up at the front gate. There is no hot lunch here, so every school morning, everybody makes a cold lunch for their kids. Annakah thought she could setup a stand in front of the school gate and sell cold lunches! She even typed up a menu on the computer and has thought about pricing and a lot of other details. Mom and Dad aren't all that excited about having to setup a cold lunch assembly line each morning, so we are gently breaking that news to Annakah. She is one good thinker!

Kiernan's Love of Life
Kiery is a blessing to our entire family with her constant smiles and silliness! She has an infectious laugh and giggle that you just can't help but be happy when you hear it. She had a great sleep over at her friend Leslie's house the other night. They had a blast! Every week Kiery and her friend Tsion alternate between our house and her house and have a play date after school. There are also several first graders that live really close to our house here on center and they come over often to see if Kiery can come and play. It's sush a good feeling as a parent when your kids have good friends.
One thing that has really blossomed since we've been here in PNG is Kiery's reading! She has skipped several of the reading levels in first grade this year and is now doing what I think they call independent reading assignments. With all the girls, Ruth and I have read to them just about every night until they were reading on their own. I was shocked when Kiery wanted to read the Berenstien Bears book to me instead of having me read it to her. And she did it! Hardly even paused for harder words and even had tone and inflection. I was beaming with pride!

Well, that should catch you a little bit on our family happenings. We have a lot more to blog about and will soon. We didn't mention that:

• Chad preached a Sunday morning sermon at church on Ephesians 2 (and facilitated communion)
• Ruth and Chad went together on another successful Lae in a Day trip.
• Ruth will be giving her testimony at Sunday evening church in about two weeks.
• Chad went to Melbourne Australia for a technology conference and saw kangaroos and hiked through the Grampians.
• Annakah has a duet on her Trumpet at the Christmas concert.
• Meliah is one of the star players on her basketball team.
• Chad went to New Britain to attend a Bible dedication ceremony (lots of pictures and video to share from that)
• Chad went as a Cabin Sponsor to the High School Encounter Retreat (lots of embarrassing pictures from that)
• Kiery was the Star of the Week last week in her class.
• etc. etc. etc.

Planted cabbage in Mama Ruth’s garden

What a neat experience Chad and Kiery had! They went to our house merri’s place and helped plant cabbage in her garden! Her garden is huge!!! You are literally hiking through the acres of jungle to get from plot to plot. And she said next time I’ll need to plan a whole day to go with her to her cow cow gardens up on the mountain. From there you can see all the way to Yonki dam (which is pretty far away J) The people here are so generous and love to show you their gardens and tell you about things. Of course, in-spite of my protest, we weren’t allowed to leave without armloads of lettuce, carrots, green onions, cucumbers and sugar cane. The sugar cane is a neat snack and they got a kick out of watching us try to bite through the tough husk!

A panorama of the Kasam. The mountain that we climb when getting into the highlands.

Chad accepted CTS Manager position for December through July-ish

Well, we haven’t been here for long, but there is a severe shortage of computer guys here at the SIL (that’s Summer Institute of Linguistics which is the parent organization the Wycliffe operates with). The current manager of the CTS (Computer and Telecom Services) department is leaving on Furlough in November and that leaves a big gap. So they approached Chad about taking on that role until the full time manager returns in the July timeframe. After a weekend and prayer and consideration, we agreed to it and look forward to seeing what God will do with that.

Trip to Madang

With Term 1 completed, the kids had a couple weeks break. We decided to be tourists for a while and went down to Madang which is on the Northern coastline of the Island of PNG. The drive takes about 5 hours and about 1 hour of it is through the Finistair mountains. It might be appropriate to just call it the Forest Stairs as the pass is just one steep hill after another on dirt roads that lead you through the jungle. Of course, the road hadn't been graded for a long time and it had rained a lot just before we left, so you are basically 4 wheeling it through a jungle dirt road for what seems like forever. Fortunately, even with all the shaking and jarring, Ruth's neck was only a little sore! There was even one river to forge right at the end! Here is a picture our friends took of us as we forded the river.

Chad’s Awesome Day

Everybody now and then needs a break. The lives of missionaries are no exception. Chad has been escaping Sunday afternoons to ride bicycle on trails throughout the countryside. This country is amazingly beautiful. The rides have all been great. Even though sometimes we follow a road that eventually gets swallowed by the jungle (as you can see in some of the pictures), it all makes for great stories we can tell later on.

This Saturday, we started off the day at the horse paddocks taking the 6^th of 8 horse management courses. Anyone who wants to become a member of the pony club must complete the entire course. Then you can have access to the paddocks and are allowed to “care” for someone’s horse when they are away on furlough or in the village.

Ruth went to Lae in a Day (twice)

Jail break!!! Sirens! Lights! Radio Chatter!

But seriously, Ruth has finally got off center and is on an infamous “Lae in a Day” journey with a couple of other families from Ukarumpa. Actually she went with the Lae in a Day group but she stayed overnight with a friend at the SIL Guest house in Lae. These two moms were long overdue for a break.  Besides getting a lot of much needed shopping done, they were able to relax and enjoy the nice accomodations and… get ready for this one… EAT OUT!!!

That's a big deal in this country.

To demonstrate how urgently Ruth needed to get out of Ukarumpa, here is a picture of Ruth "before"...

Church in the Villiage

Annakah, Kiery and Chad went to a viliage church this Sunday. It was about a 50 minute walk through the jungle with one river to forge. But it was really cool! The only down side is that they only spoke Tok Pisin at this church and they spoke really, really fast. So Chad could barely understand maybe 30% of the sermon and the kids didn’t get any of it. But, it was totally worth the hike.

Annakah got Bucked off Jazzie

Annakah had been caring for a horse on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons since her owner was taking Rugby at the high school those evenings. Annakah was brushing, cleaning hooves, feeding, saddling and riding Jazzie and hadn’t had any trouble for a few weeks.

Meliah played softball in Goroka (sun cookim face)

Meliah went with a small caravan (police escorted which made mom and dad feel better) to Goroka for the first of two softball tournaments of their season. They won! Well, they only had two other teams to play against.

Sports Day, or as I affectionately called it, Mud Day!

Earlier in the week, prior to Sports Day, the weather was very much raining and just messy.  About 2 days before the event, the weather turned nice and we were all (mostly us parents) hoping the grass and field would dry out before the Friday event.  It was nice all day Thursday even through the evening hours.  Then as I was tucking in the girls that night, Kiery was in a goofy mood and she prayed for rain for the Sports Day.  She must have a more direct line to God then I do at times.  We woke Friday morning to pouring down rain.  Kiery thought she was so funny…..  As we went out the door, we grabbed umbrellas, jackets and prepared ourselves for the mud!!!! 

Bananas!!!

We finally harvested our first bunch of bananas! We have about six banana trees in our garden and one bunch was ready to chop down. After we cut it off at the stem, we hung it from a rope on our porch to let them ripen. As part of chopping them down, we learned that if you get any of the juice from the stem on your clothes, it will permanantly stain them!

We are going to have to get creative to use so many bananas in a short amount of time. They will ripen really fast and all at once. Banana bread, banana cookies, banana slices in our pancakes and pudding will all be on the menu for a while.

Anyone have any other banana recipes you would be able to share?

Birthday

Well, today is my birthday! I have to say that I never thought I would ever spend a birthday doing what I did today. First, I went to a village church in the Gadsup (pronounced God soup) people group. It was a great experience getting to worship our Lord with people from all over the world. I recorded some of the singing during the praise time if you’re interested.

Gadsup Worship

The message was given by one of the “youth” from a church group visiting from Goroka. An interesting thing about the youth in this country, is that they aren’t necessarily people who are younger. It seems that a youth is anyone who hasn’t married or hasn’t had kids, or sometimes, you can still have a youth who “is” married and “does” have kids, but they are still considered a youth. I haven’t quite figured out the rules on this one yet. But basically you’ll see people who are likely in the late 30’s or 40’s who are still part of the “youth group”.

What has God been up to lately?

Ruth and Chad

Ruth and I have been haveing some really good conversations about plans for the future. We're both sold out for Jesus, we're both willing to serve Him no matter where He calls us. And, of course, we're married to eachother! This makes for a very exciting combination with a lot of potential.

One thing about Ukarumpa, is that you walk everywhere you go and it's always uphill. I had read that somewhere before coming and thought, yeah whatever. But actually you don't appreciate how everthing is uphill until you live here. I guess if you thought of a town of hills, and then everybody built on a hilltop, that kinda gives you a perpective of what it's like walking around town here in Ukarumpa.

But I digress,... the point I was getting at was that when Ruth and I are going to the store, or visiting a friend, getting the mail, renting a movie from the Russel's (missionaries here who have a big movie collection), we walk to where we need to be and it can sometimes take a half hour or more of just ... walking.

We've been looking forward to running errands because walking together becomes a bit like a date! We are hanging out and chatting along the way. And unlike date night's at home where we would go to a restaurant and pig out, these dates come with the added bonus of excercise! (Actually, I think Ruth and I are already healthier that when we came.)

The Unfamiliar Becomes Familiar

For the first several weeks we were here in PNG, life was just so “unfamiliar”, nothing was “normal” to us. In the last few days things are finally becoming “familiar” to us. We’re starting to get names and faces and families figured out! Most things have found a place in our new home. Knowing what the store has and doesn’t have is becoming more routine. Knowing where people live and places are and getting to know the short cuts in the community is helping a ton since you have to walk everywhere!!!
We have settled into a pretty good daily routine at least for now. All 3 girls enjoy school and their friends and activities.
Meliah is in softball and doing “Soul Purpose” which is a youth group and also a small group of girls that meet another night a week. It seems someone is always having a movie night on Friday nights so Meliah is a part of that also.

AAAARRRRGGHHHH... I'm a Pirate!

We were at Meliah’s first softball game of the season and Annakah was hanging out with a group of her friends when suddenly she had a parrot on her shoulder!

The parrot’s name is Buddy and he says several things and even sounds like an alarm. Anyway, Ruth and I had to snap a couple pictures. Annakah has a way with animals of all kinds and Buddy really liked hanging out on her shoulder.

When you’re living in a third world country, you learn to love your dishwasher….

I love it here, as I have said before, but there are some definite luxuries that I miss from back home. Such as the dishwasher. And my computer. Oh, the loveliness of my computer. Mhm, and our 42” television. We need to get the pictures up, but we have an insane dinosaur-like TV. Big box on the back, antenna poking out the front… yeah, put a dial for the volume on the screen and you got yourself a priceless antique.
Anyway, school’s going well. Considering. I had no idea how complicated those twisty code locks could be. I get it now. But the first few day?! Well, I didn’t use my locker. At all.
Well, this isn’t a big surprise to anyone, but Math defiantly isn’t my strong point. Geometry doesn’t like me, And you know something? I don’t like it either. But something that is probably a surprise to most of you, is that I had to drop Spanish 2. It turns out when you combine Spain Spanish and lack of my alphabet skills with me, and my wacky work ethic, it ain’t pretty. But the rest of my classes, including Yearbook, are going really well. I hope it keeps coming. I really like the school and the kids and the teachers. Everyone seems to want to be there. Really? If it wasn’t for the kids wanting to be apart of the mission field, there wouldn’t be a Ukarumpa. It’s kind of incredible, actually.
Okay, well I’m done jabbering at you now. Keep us in your prayers, Oh and be thinking of me on Thursday, I’ll be playing in my first softball game. Yeah. That’s how I roll.
Yours Truly,
Meliah Michael

Home Away from Home

Today Ruth grabbed the camera and went around the home we're living in and snapped some pictures for the blog! So for anyone out there who is interested in what our house looks like, this post is for you!

The internet is working way better tonight so I thought I better get these pictures uploaded while I can!

Our house from the front yard

Garbage Talk

One of the additional tasks of living in Ukarumpa is that you have to separate your garbage. You have burnable, wet garbage, and other. So this means you keep three different buckets in your house and are constantly making decisions of how to sort your garbage when you throw it away. Also, if your garbage is in the "other" category, like tin cans and stuff, you are asked to wash it clean. I think this is because while their storing it in the trucks and containers before it's taken to the dump, it attracts a number of dogs and rodents that like to rummage around it.

An Update from Ruthicus

The girls started school on Wed July 20th and Chad had his first day of work in Friday the 22nd. The girls seem to love school. Meliah and Anna have had homework every night so far but they seem to enjoy the classes and friends. Kiery loves school and is making lots of friends and is reading lots of different things. Anna has decided to play the trumpet in the school beginning band, luck us....Actually I don't mind b/c of playing flute all those yrs and I figure its pay back time. :) She is also in choir and she went to ride horses today (Sat). Meliah commented that Anna is never home that is a switch We are very impressed with the schools thus far and everything about them. The weather we aren't impressed with though. We have had rain most days since being here (like the drizzle kind of rain contuinally in Seattle.)

To Be Stupid or Not Be Stupid. That is the question.

Hum. I started 10th grade today. It was pretty intense. Word of advice: when traveling around the world, and you hope to get some schooling done while traveling, BRING SCHOOL SUPPLIES. Even if they say the teachers and/or store will provide them, you need to bring them with you. I don’t care if you have to pay the stupid overweight fees on the luggage. Make it number 4 on your priority list, next to clean underwear, toothbrush, and Sammy the Teddy Bear.

Anywho, I really do hate being the new kid. I mean, the kids are nice and everything, but just the fact that I know that I’m out of the loop on most conversations, is all but maddening. It’s weird being on the other side of the fence(aka ocean). Metaphorically. I’m usually the one on the inside of the jokes and pick up lines; in fact I think I may be the causes of most of those jokes and pick up lines. Yah, it’s weird being an outsider. I have a new respect for all you new kids around the world. I bid you my condolences.

Annakah & Jazzie

On Saturday’s members of the pony club come to the paddocks to ride and hold courses for new riders in horse management and care. Annakah has dreamed of riding horses for years and was overjoyed at the idea that Ukarumpa has horses!

We had met Savanah earlier in the week and she offered to give Annakah a lesson and ride this Saturday so Anna made sure we were there on time and ready to learn. It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning. We plan to continue with the lessons and take the horse management course. When we get home, I’ve seriously been considering getting a couple horses on the farm for the girls. So it’s great to learn good horse care.

We snapped a number of pictures and video, but have temporarily “misplaced” the camera. So I’ll try to think to update this post with pictures when we can.

Chimney Fire and Land Cruiser Fun!

Before you all panic, it wasn’t in our chimney, but our fellowship family’s. They live on the other side of Ukarumpa and in the early morning hours, their motion sensor, and then their fire alarm woke them up and their house was full of smoke.

On Monday, since we were waiting for our new house to become available, and I wasn’t working at my job yet, I walked over to see if I could help.

As it turned out, there was plenty of demolition happening and I was able to jump in and help. The next days were spent reframing the wall that had burned, and putting a window in where the fireplace & chimney had been.

A Trip to Kainantu

Sunday morning we attended the English service here at the Ukarumpa meeting house. We were very impressed and thoroughly enjoyed worshipping with our brothers and sisters in Christ here in PNG.

We were invited to go to lunch after church with a couple who have served here a long time as children’s home parents, Geoff and Sue. They took us to a hotel in Kainantu that has an outdoor restaurant. We had rump steak, t-bone steak, chicken and all the sides. The meal was excellent and the conversation was encouraging and inspiring as well.

While we were waiting for our meal, Geoff took us over to the “mini” zoo at the hotel where there were tree kangaroos, a regular kangaroo, and a cockatoo. I took a video of the girls laughing at the maniacal cockatoo for you all to enjoy. Unfortunately, the internet is bad enough here that I can't get it to upload. So, here are a couple pictures instead.

A Trip to Gatsup Village

Our family was invited to visit one of the nearby villages to help deliver some old doors and miscellaneous items to one of the homes there. The village is pronounced like God Soup. The person who greeted us and was receiving the items being donated, was named Mama Ruth! We really enjoyed getting to meet her and she showed us around her gardens and the various homes that are on her plot of land where several family member’s live.
She also has one of the few hotels in the area where people who are travelling through can stay for the night. One time, the police had a group of around 15 or so people who were stranded for some reason, and they brought them all to Mama Ruth’s hotel. She told us how she had to run out to her garden and get enough food to feed them all. It was really neat hearing her tell these stories in Tok Pisin while our friend translated for us.

Things that are different about living and adjusting to life in PNG.

This is a list of things I’ve put together for those who are curious about how life is different here in Ukarumpa PNG. Not wrong but different than what is “normal” for us.

• Hot water depends on if Sun is out and how long sun has been out.
• Electricty is VERY expensive here and you don’t leave lights on unless you are in the room.
• Sun being out determines if clothes get dried in a timely matter.
• It gets light @ 6:30am and gets dark @ 6:30 pm. No fluctuation.
• People tend to be in their homes and in for the night by 8pm.
• The eggs stay out on counter here you don’t refigerate them. If the egg looks funny after cracking it then throw it out.

Asde yu bin baim wanem kain kaikai long maket?

Roughly translated, "What kind of food did you buy at the market yesterday?"

I've collected a handful of books and we're trying to learn Tok Pigin which is the local trade language in Papua New Guinea. We elected to skip the Pacific Orientation Course which is where missionaries typically go for 6-12 weeks  before coming to Ukarumpa. Since we were only committing to 1 year, it's considered optional and we decided to come directly here and begin serving straight away.

However, the disadvantage of doing that is not getting a handle on the local language. So, it's up to us to learn as much as we can on our own.

But getting back to the market… besides feeling completely out of place and like everybody was looking at us, we found some really great food and other items there. We got; potatoes, bananas, lettuce, strawberries, a bilum (a shoulder bag), and some necklaces for the girls to send home to friends.

Revenge of the Malaria Prophylaxis!

Our first day in Ukarumpa we visited the clinic! That's not a good sign J.

A part of living here in Ukarumpa PNG, is that we need to protect ourselves against malaria which is a major problem here. There are several different malaria pills that you can try, the cheapest is Doxycycline. This is a fairly large pill that must be swallowed so we decided that all of our family except Kiery could probably manage it fine. However, you need to start taking it a few days before travelling and when Ruth tried hers while we were still in the States, she got violently ill and ended up losing the medication. So, we called the doctor and decided to split Kiery's Mefloquin with Ruth which is working fine.

However, a little tip about Doxycycline is that you shouldn't lay down for at least an hour after you take one. Otherwise, it could stay in your esophagus and dissolve causing an ulcer. Well, we know that now, but we didn't know that until after Meliah took her pill and laid down for a nap!

She started complaining of a lot of pain in her upper chest, so we took her to the doctor at the local clinic and he explained what had happened.

The good news is that he started her on some meds that help soothe the ulcer and begin a slow healing process for her. She's feeling much better but it still irritates her after a meal. It hasn't slowed her down much and she's met several girls from her class already and has walked all over the town with them swinging from tree ropes over puddles and having a great time.

But keep her in your prayers that her ulcer would heal quickly and there wouldn't be any down-stream effects.

Planes, Tuk Tuks, and Automobiles

Well, we made it to Ukarumpa! Who Hooh! The last few days have been full of activity. Loren and Kensey dropped us off at Chad and Kendle’s for a home cooked meal. They have two children around our younger girl’s ages. It was really nice to meet these folks and they had a wonderful dinner prepared for us.

We spent a good time in fellowship and prayer with them and then it was time to head to our new home away from home. Translator Lodge 8B.

Use the term “Road” lightly

We landed in Lae- last plane ride!!!!!! Our fellowship family (the family assigned to show us the ropes of Ukarumpa living etc.) met us at the airport and drove us to a SIL guest house were stayed the night. The girls were very excited to see a pool there. The fellowship family has a girl that is a month older than Kiery and a son that is almost 10. So the kids paired up. Kiery was so excited to have someone to play with and they became friends immediately. Again the Lord knew what we needed just at that point.

The husband, Loren, will be Chad’s supervisior in the CTS department so the men started into the computer jargon and getting to know each other. The roads in Lae make the pot holes in Spokane look like nothing. The road is totally washed out or earthquakes have created big gaps in spots. And remember that we are on the different side of the street as well, so driving through town was an adventure.

All Part of the Body of Christ

Waking up at the Mapang house we leisurely went about getting ready for the day by repacking and sorting through bags, AGAIN!!!  Ruth was still in a lot of pain and not being able to move side to side well and knowing that yet another plane ride was looming ahead.  God knew what we needed when we needed it.  He sent a couple that was starting their trek state side after being missionaries for many years with a different organization.  The lady’s name was Penny. Penny and Ruth talked about life and stuff and got to know each other over breakfast. Penny noticed Ruth was rubbing her neck and asked if she could rub it for her.  Ruth quickly said yes!  She was able to get one of the many knots out of the neck/shoulder area as they talked about scripture etc. and being a missionary.  We saw Penny as an angel sent by God.

Brisbane to Port Moresby

Something really unfortunate that happened was during the flight from Brisbane to Port Moresby, Ruth's neck ache got really bad. We were in a smaller plane and you could definitely tell that the cabin wasn't pressurized as well as the bigger planes. Somehow, this caused Ruth's neck pain to elevate, and it felt as though she was having pinched nerves that were causing involuntary twitches in her legs. It was a pretty miserable flight, especially for her, but I continue to be inspired by her strength and ability to endure incredible hardships. And throughout all of these challenges she remains an authentic daughter of God, expressing her emotional highs and lows. I am so thankful that God established the institution of marriage so that together we can represent more of God's character from both the male and female perspective than we can alone.

We arrived late in the evening in Port Moresby around 9pm and had the daunting task of going through immigrations and customs in our already exhausted and miserable state. Before we got off the plane we just prayed together that God would give us the energy and strength to get through this because at that point, we were close to collapsing on the floor (literally). We managed to get off the plane with all our carry-ons and march across the tarmac to the lines forming for immigrations.

Pictures from Our Journey

Some Pictures of our Journey from Spokane to Brisbane!

Ready to leave Spokane

In LAX awaiting our Air New Zealand flight to Auckland. It was pretty crowded at the gate.

In Auckland Airport. Burger King for Breakfast!

Brisbane Australia

Waiting at the gate for our Air Niugini flight.

Too Much Stuff

After we arrived in Brisbane, we had about a 6 hour layover. The first thing I wanted to do was to make sure that Air Niugini was going to accept our excess baggage fee receipt from Air New Zealand. The main concern was that they were going to want to try and charge us again using their fee rates which would be thousands of dollars for the amount of luggage we were bringing.

I had spent almost 3 hours with between two ticket agents in Spokane and LAX trying to figure out how the luggage would work. The week before we left I called all three airlines multiple times and each time I talked to a different person and would get a completely different story of how I should check my luggage. It gave me a very uneasy feeling that I couldn't really know what they were going to charge until I arrived at the ticket counter!

Anyway, when it was all said and done, we made it through paying $1300 for around 650 pounds of luggage. While that's a lot of money, I am actually pretty pleased with the end result considering the other possibilities that were floating around.

10,000 Kilometers in a Plane can sure give you a Crick in the Neck!

According to the inflight display screen, we travelled 10,677 kilometers in just under 13 hours from Los Angeles to Auckland New Zealand! We left LAX at 10:15pm and so the entire flight was during the night. We were chasing the sun past the horizon so it was pitch black outside the whole flight.

It was really touch for us to sleep at all, and Ruth ended up with a painfully sore neck. We've pumped her full of ibuprofen and will put some icy hot patches (or PNG equivelant) when we can if it's still causing her problems.

As I write this we are on the plane waiting to leave the gate at Auckland Internation for our flight to Brisbane. I'm a little nervouse about switching airlines in Brisbane because Air Niugini may not readily accept my baggage receipts from Air New Zealand. Later, I'll have to put together a post about trying to get baggage through three different airlines on the same booking and how amazingly complicated and mysterious it is. Thanks to Jeff Mahowald who met us at the Spokane airport and stayed for the 1 1/2 hours while we tried to get it figured out with the ticket agent. His help lugging the bags around was much needed and he led a time of prayer for our family just before we headed through security. We love you Jeff and family!

Anyway, all electronic devices must now be turned off! Pray for us and for Ruth's neck. This day just keeps going on and on. Can't wait to actually sleep in a real bed and not in an airplane chair (not at all comfortable to sit in let alone try to sleep in).

God Bless!

Opening a New Chapter Today!

Today we end the preparation phase and begin the journey to Papua New Guinea to serve with Wycliffe Bible Translators for 1 year!

It's been amazing what God has already done in the lives of our family and those in our circle of influence. Even if we go and nothing else were to happen, we have already bonded like never before. We appreciate all your prayers, help and other support over these last several months and especially the last couple of weeks.

Our ride just showed up to take us to the airport, so I guess that's it for now. We'll post to the blog with pictures from our trip as soon as possible.

Thanks and God Bless!
-The Michael Family

Michael Family Send Off Party

We had a great evening with Chad's family last night. Mom, Dad, Jason, Evan and Sara and her family Michael, Brandy and Cameron all came and we had a BBQ in the back yard of Mom and Dad's farm where several  generations of Michael's have been raised. It's a beautiful setting with a little campfire and picnic tables. It was great to enjoy some delicious home cooked treats and spend time with loved ones.

We took a ton of pictures, here are a few to share.

An Angel Among Us

Yesterday after church, we came home to huge piles of "stuff" and half packed bags. We needed to go back through everything and try to figure out how we were going to get all of it to fit into our luggage and still be within the weight limits for the airlines.

As much as Ruth and I work at this and pray for patience with each other during the process, it's difficult for us to work together when packing. It's a delicate balance of allowing one of us to be in control without the other one irritating the other.

But God answered our prayer yesterday in the form of one of our dear friends, Denise! She's a wonderful friend of ours who has always gone above and beyond to help us out. She came over and started working with Ruth on organizing, sorting and packing. They worked well into the late evening and by the time they were done for the night, they had been laughing so hard their side's were aching! It was a lot of fun watching the two of them rolling on the floor.

Home Church Send Off

Our home church, New Horizons, held a potluck send-off for our family last Sunday after service. We feel honored and blessed to have had such an expression of love from such dear friends.
Our pastor, Randy used our family in part of an illustration and we got a kick out of his drawing of our family.

Panic Mode!!!

Well, we have one week before we leave for Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea! We've had a number of unexpected "things" come up that have kept us from making the progress we would have "liked" to have made up to this point.

Saying goodbye has been tough and has taken an emotional toll. We know that the plan as it sits right now is to be gone only a year, but it's still heart wrenching. It's been important for us to take extra time to connect with certain people and those times have been very precious to us.

VBS Week at Edwall

This last week we were honored to play a small part in the Vacation Bible School at our home town of Edwall.

The VBS mission fund for this year was to the Education Gift Fund for the O'umpa school in PNG! This fund is used to help pay for the PNG national children to attend school, which isn't free.

Each day of the week, our family presented to the kids a little something about; Papua New Guinea, the importance of people learning about Jesus and having God's Word in their heart language, and what our role will be while we live in Ukarumpa working with SIL and Wycliffe.

We have our Itinerary!

The flights are all booked and stop-over arrangements have been made! We are leaving on July 7th and will arrive in Ukarumpa on the 11th. Check out this short movie that I did in Google Earth that shows our flights and waypoints during the journey. If you have Google Earth installed on your computer, you can load this kmz file to watch the animation in high def. Otherwise, here is a low quality version:

If your interested in how I got the lines to draw, you can download the kml file here.

We got our Visas!

It's been a whirlwind couple of days. We got our Visa's on Tuesday, last day of school on Friday, Ruth and my anniversary on Saturday, and in the midst of all that, we've kicked into high gear booking our tickets for PNG, getting international medical and emergency evacuation insurance, and working towards getting all our other affairs in order before our trip.

Now that we officially have our visas, we have essentially completed the last major step of the process and there really isn't much left that would prevent us from being able to serve in PNG with Wycliffe. Consequently, we hadn't purchased plane tickets, switched medical insurance, purchased malaria and typhoid pills, and a handful of other necessary costly tasks until we knew we were fully authorized to leave. So that's made the last week a flurry of decision making!

A send off party from our friends at CHS

We had a great time this evening at a potluck send-off hosted by our dear friends at Christian Heritage School! There was great food and all my favorite desserts. We had great connections with lots of friends that Ruth and I have made over the years here.

Plus, there was also a special one-time performance of a special song by the teachers of the school! We've posted it on our blog for your entertainment. What a blessing to have such encouraging friends!

Ruth's List of FAQ's

Ruth has been collecting a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that I thought would make a nice blog post. These questions touch on some of the challenges we’ve faced in the process of preparing for our time in PNG with Wycliffe, and also just answer general questions that have come up along the way. So for posterity and for the curios:

Ruth’s Frequently Asked Questions

about Papua New Guinea

(note: answers reflect what we “think” we know and may turn out to be wrong J)

Q: Will you be able to drive?
A: Yes, we think so. I’ve heard that you can rent a van or vehicle of some sort. You can drive to Kainantu which is on the order of a half hour away and has some shops and I even heard a rumor there is a cafe or something there that you can go to for Sunday lunch. The coastal cities of Lae and Madang are like 3 and 5 hours away respectively. 

Q: What kind of training or preparation will you get before you are stationed at your job?
A: There is a training course called POC (Pacific Orientation Course, formerly called Jungle Camp)

Immigration Department Approval

Just heard that the immigration department in PNG gave their approval. So now we can finally send in all the paperwork we've been collecting for our Visa application! It turned out to be a bit of work to get all the vaccinations, blood work, and doctor approvals. Just doing a final check to make sure it’s all in order and then we’ll send it off to the PNG Embassy in Washington DC.

Work Permit Is In!

Awesome news! We received word that our work permit was approved by the labor department in Papua New Guinea. Now we just need to wait for the immigration department to give their approval, and we can send in our PNG Visa application to their embassy in Washington DC.

Ruth has been putting together a list of Frequently Asked Questions that I think would be fun for us to make into a blog entry. So be on the lookout for that coming soon!

New Blade Meets Nerves and Tendons... Blade Wins!

Well, one little mistake is all it takes sometimes. I was finishing up some work on a remodeling project. As the counter tops were coming together, There was a little piece of trim that needed to be cut back an inch. Out comes the utility knife and I stark cutting it back. I was just about through and gave it one last hard slice. At that same moment my left hand moved into just the right position so that when the piece came loose, my left pinky finger caught the blade on the down swing!

Oops! I've found that when I hurt myself badly, I usually have about 60 seconds before I start to feel a little queasy. So I folded my finger back onto my hand and walked swiftly to the kitchen and ran it under some water. After looking at it, I decided that I should go to the ER to get it stitched up. Ruth was in Seattle at a Children's Ministry Conference so I called for Meliah to round up the kids in the van so we could all go in together.

Total It Up Program

The better part of last week I spent with several Bible translators and Wycliffe representatives at a 5-day course titled Total It Up (TIU). The purpose of this program is to give aspiring translators a taste of what's involved in Bible translation.

The Bible translated into a person's hear language is essential for personal spiritual growth and is the foundation of the church. Without the Bible, we have no basis for worshiping the God of creation and learning about God's plan of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Responding to the Call

New Horizons Community Church has been our church home for about the last 12 years. About 4 years ago, I recommitted my life to the Lord, and this time I was really serious. I finally understood at a heart level the design for family that God planned for us. While I'll never be perfect by any stretch of the imagination, my life is slowly changing, step-by-step, to better reflect God's glory as I live in obedience to Him. And a big part of living in obedience for us, has been prayerfully listening to God's direction for our lives individually.

The news! We believe God has asked us to commit to moving to Papua New Guinea for 12 months to serve there as missionary supporters in the town of Ukarumpa. I was given an opportunity to share about the process we've been going through on a Sunday morning at church. Here is the link to listen to the story.

The Beginning of a New Life Chapter for the Michaels

A couple of years ago I heard a few spots on the radio about Wycliffe Bible Translators. As part of the program, they kept pleading for volunteers to help with their goal of seeing a translation effort in every language that needs it by 2025.

Today about 340 million people do not have the Bible in their own language. Wycliffe’s vision is to see the Bible accessible to all people in the language they understand best. To make this vision a reality, Wycliffe also focuses on community development, literacy development and church partnerships.
At the time, I had found myself with a little time on the side and thought I might be able to help with some work from home. Given that software development sometimes lends itself to telecommuting, I figured I’d give ’em a call.

After going through the application process and being approved as a Wycliffe volunteer, the first opportunity they sent my way was a 1 year commitment in Papua New Guinea! I’ll admit to being somewhat enticed by the idea. But it wasn’t practical! I have a wife, three kids, I’m very involved at their school and at the church. Too many commitments, too many relationships. So, I passed.
Over the course of the next couple years, an occasional email would come through asking for software developers or IT help in different parts of the world. I kept looking for something that I could do from home, and even responded a few times mentioning that I would be a great fit, except that I wasn’t in a position to move my family.

In the last month or so, the Lord has been working on us. At church we’ve wrapped up a series on I Corinthians 13, the love chapter. One of the underlying themes throughout the series this time around has been on having a “biblical perspective”. Remembering our God given purposes, and using what He has given us towards what He has called us to.

The Monday after a message that was heavy on missions, guess what popped into my inbox… Papua New Guinea. I prayed it over some and moved on. But this time, it stuck in my mind. I mentioned it to a couple of close friends and we took it to prayer. It was starting to “bug” me so I decided to mention it to my wife so she could knock some sense in to me. When I mentioned it to her, I just about fell out of my chair, when she said we should pray about it!

Well, a lot of prayer and rumination later, we decided God was telling us to take the next step! I responded and am now looking over a bunch of information about Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Ukarumpa. Not sure where this will end up, but I imagine it would be blog worthy so I’ll plan to make updates here on occasion and more information pours in.

God Bless!
-Chad