Currently, we are not in our village. Benjamin has had "pek pek wara" (diarrhea) for some time, so we are back at the training center while he takes his medication. Please keep him in your prayers. We want him to get better, and we really want to get back to the village to finish what we started over 2 weeks ago.
What an incredible experience. It is literally an experience of a lifetime. Village living has his share of inconveniences (no refrigeration, no privacy, bathing in a river, toilet in the ground, etc). But, it also has its upsides. We are a 10-15 minute walk to one of the most beautiful beaches that I have ever seen in my life. Also, the people are so welcoming and quick to teach. We are building relationships with practically everyone we meet. Most days, we feel blessed that these Papua New Guineans would open up their lives to us and let us live "with" them.
The house we are living in is made of all bush materials (things they gathered from the jungle). We have no refrigeration and cook all of our meals over a fire. We are literally bathing in a river, filtering all our drinking water when we "fetch" it, and learning the ways of Papua New Guineans. Our language skills are improving daily as we "stori" with our new friends and new famili.
I'm not going to sugar-coat this: it is hard work! The life of Papua New Guineans is physically demanding! We have been adjusting to the physical lifestyle for the past two months, but I still feel entirely out of shape. I can't imagine trying to live like this having just stepped off the airplane.
The first week or so in the village has been one of constant learning. I have been a bit of an over-achiever (surprise, surprise) and I have managed to bake bread, cakes, scones and big meals daily. Seriously, this is a big deal.
Caleb has been so great. He does not need to help me (most women here are SO strong and can do all this hard work themselves), but he has and continues to make this experience so rewarding. It helps when you are able to focus on the relationships and not just on the whole surviving part alone. Caleb has made that possible for me.
Benjamin has been doing really well (except for this little sickness). At first, he was a little uncomfortable and scared of the new place. Now, he has adjusted to all the new people. He is really having a blast. Most mornings, he wakes up, torments the cat that hangs out in our house, eats breakfast, then runs out to the front "yard" to play with all the other children. He has learned to kick the little puppies and torment all the chickens. Practically every morning, we have had to sit him down and drill in his head that God loves the puppies and chickens, too. We do NOT kick them. We are still working on this.....When he is not running around creating havoc, he is busy swimming at the beach, playing in the river, eating fresh fruit the other children get for him from the trees or playing with rocks, sticks and dirt! Can't wait to show pictures!
We celebrated Easter while in the village. At first, we were a little nervous that we would not have any celebration since our famili's church is broken. But, the town brought in a pastor and a worship team. On Thursday, we had lotu (worship) in the morning and the evening. On Friday, we had lotu at night, followed by a showing of the Passion on the Christ. The whole village watched this movie on the 15 inch tv screen. It wasn't in English....Tok Psisin or Tok Ples. On Saturday, we had lotu in the evening. On Sunday, a group of people started walking around the village at 5am waking everyone up for the sunrise lotu. We were woken up to the sound of singing and praise. Then, friends of ours who are staying in a village an hour walk away joined us for the Easter Lutheran Service on Sunday morning at 10am. After that, they even had a pot-luck (can you call it that?). The afternoon, we spent on the beach. It was amazing.
We are thankful that around Easter we had so much to do....because we really missed you all during this time. I had a good cry and few times....but, we were able to talk to our parents....which helped!
I wish that I could write more, but it will have to wait until we return from village living. Just know that we are happy and for the most part healthy. We would love any and all prayers you could send our way for Ben.
At a later time, I look forward to sharing more of my heart and what I am learning as I live side by side with Papua New Guineans. Until then, thank you for all your prayers and support. We miss you all!
Adrienne
P.S.
In case you are interested, here is a daily schedule that we try and follow:
Wake up
Caleb- Makes a fire for breakfast
Eat breakfast in the house
Morning Devotions (English) and Daily Scripture Reading (Tok Pisin)
Caleb- Goes to get water
Bleach the water for dish washing
Adrienne-Wash all dishes
Caleb- Fetches "drinking" water and puts it through the filter
Caleb- Cuts firewood
Gather all the things we will need to cook with and put it in the house for the day
Adrienne- Washes all clothes and big pots in the river (it is really important to have the outsides of all your pots clean here) Ben usually comes to play in the river
Clean house
Adrienne- Work on making a bilum (sitting with all the ladies) or make bread or sell sweet popcorn at the school market
Caleb- Makes a fire for lunch
Cook and eat lunch
Rinse all dishes to be washed at night
Ben takes a nap
Caleb and Adrienne rest
Adrienne bathes in the river while Ben naps
Some days- Adrienne bakes with the ladies and/or Caleb stori's with the "big men"
Caleb- Makes a fire for dinner
Cook and eat dinner (sometimes we invite people over to eat with us. We provide the rice, tin meat, sweet bread of cake and tea. They bring a big pot of their garden kai kai/food.)
Ben goes to bed
Wash all dishes from lunch and dinner using water we gathered earlier that day that has already been bleached in advance
Make tea and serve it to our wasfamili (papa, mama, three kids, sister-in-law, her daughter, mama's papa, brother-in-law). We usually stori at night and then go to bed!
Phew!
One last thing- When Caleb read this post, he commented, "It all sounds so happy". And, we are, for the most part. But, we have this feeling like, "As great of an experience as this is and as much as we are learning, we are still ready to be finished."We are ready to be finished with training and have the opportunity to begin to make a life in this country. We know that we have learned so much and are grateful for this experience, but it is hard....physically, emotionally and spiritually. I almost feel like we don't have any right to complain....since given what this experience could be like (worst case scenario and all), we are blessed to be where we are and with the village that we have been allocated to. Make sense???
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