The Last of our Firsts

This is a blog about the “The Last of our Firsts – Our 1 Year mark in the land of the unexpected”

It is hard to believe we have been here exactly 1 year (we landed on PNG soil July 11^th 2011).

 We have done all of our birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and all the community events for the first time now.  Here is a list of some of the firsts over the last year in PNG:

-          The 4^th of July celebrated here for the Americans.  And using brilo steel wool for the fireworks, very pretty and soooo quiet!!!!

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-          We have done the first day of school at the new school

-          The first time playing softball, volleyball, and basketball in PNG

Kiery with friends for Sports Day

-          Sports Day for both campuses

-          Encounter for Meliah and Chad (like a youth retreat)

A skit that was done at Encounter that Chad was apart of (Meliah was very embarrassed)

-          First time flying in a Cessna 206 little airplane (still not one of my favorite things)

-          Have done the parent/teacher conference with each of the girls and realized that they had adjusted well and there were some areas that still needed tweeking.

MIchael Family Picture Update

Here are a bunch of pictures that show some of the main events in our lives over the last few months.

Chad & Ruth giving their testimony during Sunday evening church.

Kiery loves being barefoot and running around.  She says, “she wants to be as dark as a Paupa New Guinean” she gets that dark from mud at times.

Meliah with her Art class showing off there “ceramic” creat

Living Water

As someone who lived in a 1st world nation I didn’t realize how much of my life revolves around water, until I moved to a third world nation. And even then I didn’t realize how precious water is until our water tank went dry!!!  We are living in an old hostel/children’s home so we have a nice big rain water collection tank, (because the house is big there is lots of roof area to feed the gutters which direct the water into the tank).

So with such a big holding tank, no need to worry that it hasn’t rained significantly for a couple weeks, right???  WRONG.  For some unknown reason we ran out of water several weeks ago.  Not sure if there is a small leak in the tank due to some recent earthquakes or what, but we had no water.  So we had to switch to RAM water, which is really muddy river water.  And this water isn’t treated at ALL.  It is used by nationals for washing dishes, clothes and themselves and there is no EPA to decide what gets dumped into the water or the ground. So yes the water is nasty to say the least. 

Ruth's Ponderings on a Friday Night while Sponsoring Late Shift at the Teen Centre

Ruth’s perception of what I have seen around center in regards to the young people here.  As Chad and I sit and watch some teens hang out on a Friday night I was struck by something.  The teenagers and the kids here on center really have the relationship thing down.  Yes, teenagers are social, they love their friends and their peer groups and to hang out.  But as the 21^st century evolves so has social networking, like Facebook and texting and all the other social networks. So while American society as a whole may engage in relationship using digital services, but have we forgotten about talking and 1 on 1, or coming together in a group? Unfortunately it is becoming rare for people/kids just to hang out together. The kids here really have the relationship piece down.  The kids on center are really hanging out on this Friday night and interacting with one another.  Not the yes I am listening to you but I am texting at the same time or having the ear buds in so they can’t hear what is going on around them.  These kids are shooting hoops, playing volleyball, riding bikes and or skateboards and they are in constant communication with one another.  God wants us in relationships with Him and listening and communicating with Him without all the distractions that this world gives us!!  Without the pressures of media everywhere these kids are able to be kids a whole lot longer than in the states.  They are innocent for a longer period of time.  I wonder if there is any way we can get that in the states.  Besides becoming Amish J  Yes, kids will be kids and they all make mistakes even MK (missionary kids).  We are all forgiven by the grace of God and he wants us to be in relationship.   It is so easy to get caught up in the business of life, even on the mission field, that we “forget” to be in constant relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Life is Full, God is Good

Since we've been back from POC, I (Chad) have probably thought every day about updating our blog with some news. But between the pile of work at the office that stacked up while I was gone at the orientation course, the added responsibilities that I've had to take on due to shortage of personnel, the active family life that we have with friends over most nights, little parties and get togethers, and my weekend outings, I haven’t squeezed in a blog post for quite some time.
So this morning in between cleaning up from last night’s party, making a nice omlette breakfast for the family and then going to some yard sales, I think I have enough time to upload a few pics and talk about what’s been going on in the Michael family lately!
POC (Pacific Orientation Course) is a guys paradise! I absolutely loved traipsing through the jungle with Papua New Guinean guides. Indiana Jones style with bush knife in hand, chopping through vines uncovering ancient foot paths that lead to incredible jungle scapes and waterfalls. Basically you spend the first half of your day in class studying language, Melanesian culture, anthropology, PNG history and medical safety. All awesome stuff! Then you spend some time trying out your Tok Pisin with the workmen at the facility before they take you on a hike through the jungle or a swim in the ocean. Basically it’s about the coolest thing I could of dreamed of!

We are back from POC

We are back from POC (Pacific Orientation Course)  As many of you know I (Ruth) was not all that excited about this new adventure.  And of course since opposites attract Chad couldn’t wait to get started.  I really felt the prayers of everyone while we were doing this course. So thank you very much. Our health was good, nothing major to speak of, which is usually not the case when in that environment.  The heat and humidity was intense especially close to the coast (down in Madang and in our village during our 5 day village stay it is really hot and humid).  Cold showers have never felt so good even Kiery and Anna enjoyed them.

Our typical day was Breakfast @ 7am,

 School start for girls and classes for us @ 8am,

 Morning Tea @ 9:30 (snack time) with our Tok Pisin teacher

 10:00 More classes for us adults.

12:15  Lunch

1:00-2:00  rest time (or get laundry from the line, get kids ready for afternoon hikes or swims or study or just lay in front of fan for a few minutes)

2:00 it was either hike or swim on Mon and Wed.  and the other days was class for us adults and usually a field trip for the kids.  Yes the kids had more fun than we did. :)

4:00 it was “free time”! If the internet was up we could check email or go to the little store for something cold to drink or try to fold laundry or study or watch the guys play volleyball. 

Volleyball!

5:45 Dinner and then the evenings were spent either with fellowship groups or trying to study or get a cold shower or do something that didn’t involve brain power.  Before and after every meal we had duties to help with meal prep or clean up or setting the dining room so that took time also.

Lets Catch Up

Since there is not enough hours in the day (even here in PNG) for us to keep up the blog with all the happenings in our family, we are going to give a summary of highlights from the last few months. We are about to go unplugged for 6 weeks at POC (Pacific Orientation Course) until March 7th, so we thought we should get this out there before that.

Babysitting

Meliah was asked in November to help put together a “nursery” type thing for the video service that happens each Sunday before the main church service (like a Sunday school). So she has been recruiting other teenagers to help her each week and made a schedule.  The ages of kids has been 1 ½ to 3yrs.  She has done a great job! And the best part is that mom hasn’t had to be a part of it!  As of the last week or so she has gotten a babysitting job, 3x a week for a toddler and an infant while the mom coaches soccer.  The kids love Miss Meliah! 

CTS Bung (Party)

Every year each department here in Ukarumpa has some sort of Christmas Bung (a pidgin word pronounced boong and means party). Well since Chad is the manager of the CTS department (Communications and Technical Services) , this was his responsibility to plan and organize it.  He has made quite a few friends within his department, he is manager over 11 nationals, and 9 expatriates. So the nationals wanted to do a mumu (pronounced moo moo). A mumu is like a big bbq with pig and or chicken cooked in the ground with lots of vegetables and cooked bananas. They all were happy to do the mumu at our house!  So the planning started and Ruth wasn’t so sure about all these men planning something this big.  Well long story short, Chad went and got a live pig from a farm about 3 hrs away.  And he was very excited about all the happenings of this.  The pig was whacked in the head with the back of an axe and then cut up and put in the ground to cook and then later some chicken was killed and then cooked in another mumu pit next to the pig.  Chad was enjoying each step of this whole process which was about 36 hrs long! Lots of pictures were taken.  It was an honor that the nationals wanted and did the mumu for the whole department.  It was a great opportunity for all the folks in the department to bond, and celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ together.