Bless This Food

Praying before mealtimes in America is a fairly widespread tradition, especially amongst church goers. I'm not sure who started the idea, but whoever he was probably had visited Papua New Guinea at some point in his life. Because here, sometimes you literally are asking God, "Bless this… what was it called again? Flying fox? Umm ok… bless this food… What I mean is… God, I am stepping out in faith to eat this thing, and I am BEGGING you to be merciful on my digestive system tonight." I'm guessing that's where the phrase "Bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies" came from (nourishment rather than puking your guts out).

Thankfully, our mealtime experiences haven't been too bad so far. The most different thing we've had here up 'til now has been freshly fried fish from an open-air market that was caught that morning and cooked just before we bought it. And we've only had one throwing up episode so far. Yeah, not super exciting.

But I know the day will come.

So where do we actually get our food? And what do we eat? Good questions… thanks for asking. Believe it or not, there are actually small grocery stores in town here. The NTM base that we are living on is only 20 minutes from town (it would be shorter if the road didn't have so many potholes). Every other Thursday, we drive (on the left side of the road) into town with a few of the other new missionary families to buy our groceries for the next 2 weeks.

One of the grocery stores where we shop. Yes, those are security guards at the entrance :)

When I say grocery store, I mean just that. They are much smaller than American grocery stores, but you can get almost anything that you would get in the States… for a price. Everything (except fruits and veggies at the market) is at least 2 or 3 times the price of what it is in the States. Meat, dairy, eggs, and pretty much anything "Western" are the most expensive. Things like rice, canned tuna and mackerel, fresh tropical fruit, and vegetables are fairly cheap because they are more of what the people here eat. We try to buy more of these kinds of things, especially the fruit and vegetables because they are absolutely delicious! Yay for going organic without hardly trying. :)

The open air market where we buy fruit and vegetables

We're grateful for the ability to buy groceries and not have to eat grubs or flying fox, or any of those kinds of things. I'm sure we might have to try some at some point in time, but for now, our digestive troubles are mostly related to an overdose on papaya or coconut. :)

Thanks to the Tower of Babel...

Nice going, guys at the Tower of Babel. If you had only known what havoc you were going to wreak upon humanity from that day forward. I mean, really? Thanks to you, there are over 800 distinct languages in PNG. Yeah, it's pretty insane!

Thankfully, we don't have to learn 800 different languages while we are here! One of our main tasks while we are in our 6-month orientation program is to learn the trade language of PNG, which is called Tok Pisin or Melanesian Pidgin English. Not everyone in PNG speaks the trade language, but there usually will be at least someone who knows it anywhere we would go. It's a relatively easy language, and the structure is pretty close to English. We can understand a fair bit already since we've both been here before.

We're required to get at least 40 hours of language study in (including events like church and any formal class sessions we may have), so it's pretty much a full-time job!

Spending time in a nearby village

Our language sessions, both planned and impromptu, will involve lots of time with the national people that live around the NTM base. We'll be combining language learning with culture acquisition, so we'll be trying to learn words and phrases that would relate to everyday events in PNG culture. For instance, a common event here would be planting a garden. So we would want to go with the people to see how they plant their gardens and what kinds of nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc they would use during this event. 

Learning how to cook a traditional meal

Since the NTM base is located near one of the bigger towns, a lot of the national people that live nearby actually do know a bit of English along with the trade language. So we can have a little bit of a help when we start trying to learn specific words or phrases.

So we won't be doing lots of memorization work. Instead, it will be lots of time with the national people getting immersed in their lives. It's kind of exciting, because instead of a classroom setting, we'll be able to interact with people and hopefully be a witness to them if they don't know Christ.

And in the long run, the learning the trade language and basic culture of PNG will help us bridge the gap to learning another distinct language and culture in a remote tribal group. We're excited to officially get going!

Just Another Day in PNG

The loud humming noise drew closer, and we all raced to the open field behind our class building in excited anticipation. We scanned the skies, looking for the source of the sound as it continued to grow louder. Then, over the palm trees, the red and white NTM helicopter soared into view. Like all good newbies, we whipped out our phones to take video and pictures. Of course, in time, these helicopter landings will become common-place. Just another facet of missionary life in Papua New Guinea. But for now, it’s exciting and new.

We all watched eagerly as the helicopter landed in the grassy field. The pilot left the engine running (I guess that’s something you have to do with helicopters…don’t ask me why because I have no idea), and then hopped out. A few of the veteran missionary guys who are used to this sort of thing rolled some fuel drums over to the side of the helicopter and started fillin’ her up. One of the ladies brought out some items that were clearly labelled for NTM missionaries in other parts of the country, and loaded them on board. Since this mission base is located near a bigger town in PNG, the missionaries who live here can help transport supplies to other missionaries who live out in remote tribes.

This is just the way of life for many missionaries here that live in remote locations in the jungle. They are miles away from any stores, so their supplies are usually flown in via helicopter or small plane.

And these pilots… man, they are incredible at what they do! They have years of training and experience. They have to navigate through tough weather conditions and rough air strips. They are constantly flying people back and forth, and they are often an ambulance for medical emergencies. We are so grateful for the vital part they play in the mission work here in PNG! Even though helicopter landings are just a part of the routine here, we don’t ever want to take them for granted!

Our Little Buckaroo

Ok maybe I am (incredibly) biased, but I kinda think Kyler is just about the cutest baby out there. Agreed? Ok, good now we can move on. :)

He just turned 3 months old a few days ago. He loves life, and we love him!

  

His current favorite things (that I can tell so far): "talking" to people, just being with people in general, playing "rough", bright colorful lights or toys, being sung to or listening to music

Personality: Quick to smile and laugh and usually only cries if he's really needing something, loves to be with people

This month's accomplishments: Rolled over once from his tummy to his back. Oh, and he found his hand to suck on… not sure if that's an accomplishment, but anything for a baby is pretty good.

It's been such an incredible blessing to have this little guy in our lives. We can't really imagine life without him. We are excited to share this ministry in PNG with him, and he is already a big help to our little family team. The national people absolutely adore him, and talking about him or to him makes for a great ice-breaker with strangers. I'm sure he doesn't have a clue that he is such a big help to us as we start to learn the trade language, but hey, it's pretty awesome that he can have a part at 3 months old! :)