PNG Report Part 1 of 3
Volume 1 Issue 8 August 2005
PART 1 of 3
Trip to PNG and POC
“There are, it may be, so many kinds of languages in the world, and none of them is without significance” (1 Corinthians 14.10 NKJV).
Dear Wantoks, Famili, na pilo bilong (Dear Friends, Relatives, and Supporters in Tok Pisin):
I want to start by saying one large thank you to all of you prayed this summer for my trip to PNG. I felt the warm prayers that were offered up to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you also who gave funds for me to go to PNG, and finally for all the emails I received while I was overseas. I want to say thank you and thank you again for your willingness in serving God through your prayers and support. I could not have gone without your faithful support.
The summer in PNG was quite a quick one. It was an amazing summer though. I saw God work in ways I could never imagine and my call for Bible Translation in PNG was confirmed. Let me share a little about what God did in my life over this summer.
The first of all my adventures was getting onto a plane, because I had never flown before in my life. I flew from Rochester, NY to Philadelphia, PA early in the morning. I found out that I loved flying! After a few hours of flying, I arrived at LAX and met up with the team as we began to build relationships with one another. God had most definitely made this team. Very different backgrounds yet together we were one unit ready to serve Him and His kingdom.
After much flying across the ocean and the International Dateline, we arrived in New Zealand for a short layover before continuing to Brisbane, Australia. After that short layover, it was off to Papua New Guinea. The excitement mounted as we crossed fly over the Coral Sea looking at the greenish blue water below. The coast of PNG came into sight after about an hour or so. The first thing that came to my mind was the thought, So much general revelation (Creation) and yet so little special revelation (the Bible). Knowing that PNG is a country with over 820 languages and of that only 300 or so have any portion of the Scriptures. The country was so beautiful from the air. I could not wait to land and start meeting the people. The Discovery adventure I had waited so long to come on was finally here!
We landed in Port Moresby, the capital of the country, and I was welcomed by the burst of heat when we walked off the plane into the terminal to go through immigration and customs. Soon I found myself trusting God for a need at the very beginning of the trip.
One of my bags, my largest bag had not come on the flight from Brisbane. I knew God was testing me to see how I would react. I tried to be calm about it. I talked to the nice woman and we got it all worked out. I had some clothes and my toiletries so I knew I would survive. It would come in the Lord’s timing. I had some money exchanged for Kina, the currency of PNG, and went through customs. Before long, we were walking to our next and last flight for the day, thank goodness, to Madang and POC (Pacific Orientation Course). As we flew north on the plane the country of PNG filled my vision with excitement! The lush green below made me more and more thrilled every second. Before long, we had landed at the small airport for Madang and disembarked.
The Leaches, (no not those little annoying creatures) Ray and Gerlinda Leach, from Melbourne, Australia had come to pick us up and take us to POC. They are the directors of the course. After we picked up our luggage, we boarded a Dyna truck in, which has no seatbelt and really no seats. We sat on wooden boards as we drove on the left side of the road headed up the mountain to POC. The mountain had once been a volcano we later learned. It had blown out its side and created a huge valley that went all the way to the sea. The road was bumpy, really bumpy. No guardrails on the side of a 1000-foot or more cliff as we moved up the road to the campground.
When we arrived, the sun was starting to set. In PNG since it is so close to the equator the sun rises at around 6 AM and sets at around 6 PM every night. Therefore, they have 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night every day all year long. The men were given a tour of the grounds by Dr. Ron and the women by one of the other helpers of the course. After a quick meal we all fell asleep exhausted from the long “day” that we had had. I calculated it a little later that it was a total of 26 hours of flying for me, not counting layovers.
I awoke in the morning and found out that there had been an earthquake in the night. I had not felt a thing. Oh, well. I would not feel one earthquake the whole time even though I was told there were several the whole time we were in PNG. I just slept right through them. Being that PNG is part of the Ring of Fire in the Pacific, it does get many earthquakes in a year.
The time at POC was going to be a very useful time for me. The group started learning Tok Pisin or PNG Pidgin soon after arriving. We tried new foods and learned about the customs of PNG. We had many times with our tisa (teacher). We would walk to their house and have tea or a meal. We would use our limited Tok Pisin to start communicating with the local nationals. The language group that we were in was that of the Nobonob people. Most of the people were trilingual, speaking their Tok Ples (Nobonob), Tok Pisin, and English. They have been living on those mountains for hundreds of years.
It was in those mountains that the Japanese during the WW2 had a post, about where POC is now. We went on many hikes and on our first hike; we were able to see a propeller blade from an American plane that crashed there in the mountains during the Second World War.
Another hike we went on was a very hard one for me and from it, I learned more about God and His love for me. It was a long down hill hike over very rough terrain down to the fish factory in Madang. I started the hike like any other, but before long, I was really tired. The hills went up and then went down very steeply and I was doing all I could from not falling down. The edges of the trail dropped off 15 feet or more in some spots. My legs felt like jelly. I was becoming frustrated and a little upset at my lacking in this area. One of the nationals who was helping us along came up, grabbed my arm, and began leading me on the steep narrow ways, and then the LORD hit me with a thought. You know this path is just like the narrow path of the Christian life. I cannot walk it by myself it is too difficult. The national was like Jesus who knows the path and can help me. The trail was still hard going all the way to the fish factory, but now I had a better attitude about it, and I had learned a lesson from it as well.
Apart from hiking and learning Tok Pisin, we also went swimming in the ocean. Yes, it was very beautiful. I was able to look at coral and fishes below and see yet another piece of the handiwork of the Creator God. So glorious to see the masterpieces of the Master painter all over Papua New Guinea, every place I went.
One of the animals that really got my attention was that of the black boccus or Fly Fox Bats. Many of them lived in Madang town. The first thing I thought when I saw them was, “I though the dinosaurs when extinct years ago?” Huge does not begin to describe these mammals. They are not night bats like many here in the States. They are not primary fruit bats either. They are large bats with a red-orange chest, which is why they are called flying foxes. They were amazing to watch as we were in Madang. I have a great local story about them if anyone ever wants to hear it.
Toward the end of our time at POC, we went to the village of Ihoa, which is part of the Amele language group. The women went to another village just across the river, which was also part of Amele. The time there was absolutely wonderful. I got to see Christian servant hood in such a new way. It was wonderful. The hearts of the people so pure and honest in way they watched out for us and took excellent care of us.
We were there for only 4 days, but each day was wonderful. We slept on a bamboo floor in their guesthouse they built just for us. We went swimming in a tropical river, which was gorgeous. We had a feast every night it seemed like, but the people are what I remember the most. The way they served. Very humbling to be on the other end of that service. True Christ-like servant hearts were shown to us that few days.
On one of the nights, we put on a drama of The Lord of the Rings. We did a very condensed version of the three books and changed some things around. We though most if any at all had ever seen the films or read the books. Boy were we proven wrong. The next day one of the kids brought up three VCD (similar to DVDs) of all the Lord of the Rings films. Boy did we get a kick out of that.
The next night after our drama the kids puts on two dramas. The one that the boys did was really well done. They told of what their lives were like when the first missionaries came to their village. The first missionaries were killed and eaten by them, but as more missionaries came the word of God struck them and they changed from cannibals to Christians. Now they never want to return to a life like that. They want to follow Christ with their whole heart and their whole mind, and in everything, they do. This is very evident in their Christian walk. You will know them by their walk, and you could tell that they walked the walk as well as talked the talk.
When we left the Amele village, it was very sad. We had great memories, but most of us were almost in tears. We had had an awesome God filled time, but it was getting time for us to go our separate ways into PNG for the rest of the summer. Most of us were heading to the main SIL center in PNG, Ukarumpa. About six out the twenty would go to other locations before coming to the center.
The time at POC came to an end as we packed our things and prepared to see what God had in store for us next.
(To be continued: Part 2 Ukarumpa and beginning of Folopa)
PART 1 of 3
Trip to PNG and POC
“There are, it may be, so many kinds of languages in the world, and none of them is without significance” (1 Corinthians 14.10 NKJV).
Dear Wantoks, Famili, na pilo bilong (Dear Friends, Relatives, and Supporters in Tok Pisin):
I want to start by saying one large thank you to all of you prayed this summer for my trip to PNG. I felt the warm prayers that were offered up to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you also who gave funds for me to go to PNG, and finally for all the emails I received while I was overseas. I want to say thank you and thank you again for your willingness in serving God through your prayers and support. I could not have gone without your faithful support.
The summer in PNG was quite a quick one. It was an amazing summer though. I saw God work in ways I could never imagine and my call for Bible Translation in PNG was confirmed. Let me share a little about what God did in my life over this summer.
The first of all my adventures was getting onto a plane, because I had never flown before in my life. I flew from Rochester, NY to Philadelphia, PA early in the morning. I found out that I loved flying! After a few hours of flying, I arrived at LAX and met up with the team as we began to build relationships with one another. God had most definitely made this team. Very different backgrounds yet together we were one unit ready to serve Him and His kingdom.
After much flying across the ocean and the International Dateline, we arrived in New Zealand for a short layover before continuing to Brisbane, Australia. After that short layover, it was off to Papua New Guinea. The excitement mounted as we crossed fly over the Coral Sea looking at the greenish blue water below. The coast of PNG came into sight after about an hour or so. The first thing that came to my mind was the thought, So much general revelation (Creation) and yet so little special revelation (the Bible). Knowing that PNG is a country with over 820 languages and of that only 300 or so have any portion of the Scriptures. The country was so beautiful from the air. I could not wait to land and start meeting the people. The Discovery adventure I had waited so long to come on was finally here!
We landed in Port Moresby, the capital of the country, and I was welcomed by the burst of heat when we walked off the plane into the terminal to go through immigration and customs. Soon I found myself trusting God for a need at the very beginning of the trip.
One of my bags, my largest bag had not come on the flight from Brisbane. I knew God was testing me to see how I would react. I tried to be calm about it. I talked to the nice woman and we got it all worked out. I had some clothes and my toiletries so I knew I would survive. It would come in the Lord’s timing. I had some money exchanged for Kina, the currency of PNG, and went through customs. Before long, we were walking to our next and last flight for the day, thank goodness, to Madang and POC (Pacific Orientation Course). As we flew north on the plane the country of PNG filled my vision with excitement! The lush green below made me more and more thrilled every second. Before long, we had landed at the small airport for Madang and disembarked.
The Leaches, (no not those little annoying creatures) Ray and Gerlinda Leach, from Melbourne, Australia had come to pick us up and take us to POC. They are the directors of the course. After we picked up our luggage, we boarded a Dyna truck in, which has no seatbelt and really no seats. We sat on wooden boards as we drove on the left side of the road headed up the mountain to POC. The mountain had once been a volcano we later learned. It had blown out its side and created a huge valley that went all the way to the sea. The road was bumpy, really bumpy. No guardrails on the side of a 1000-foot or more cliff as we moved up the road to the campground.
When we arrived, the sun was starting to set. In PNG since it is so close to the equator the sun rises at around 6 AM and sets at around 6 PM every night. Therefore, they have 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night every day all year long. The men were given a tour of the grounds by Dr. Ron and the women by one of the other helpers of the course. After a quick meal we all fell asleep exhausted from the long “day” that we had had. I calculated it a little later that it was a total of 26 hours of flying for me, not counting layovers.
I awoke in the morning and found out that there had been an earthquake in the night. I had not felt a thing. Oh, well. I would not feel one earthquake the whole time even though I was told there were several the whole time we were in PNG. I just slept right through them. Being that PNG is part of the Ring of Fire in the Pacific, it does get many earthquakes in a year.
The time at POC was going to be a very useful time for me. The group started learning Tok Pisin or PNG Pidgin soon after arriving. We tried new foods and learned about the customs of PNG. We had many times with our tisa (teacher). We would walk to their house and have tea or a meal. We would use our limited Tok Pisin to start communicating with the local nationals. The language group that we were in was that of the Nobonob people. Most of the people were trilingual, speaking their Tok Ples (Nobonob), Tok Pisin, and English. They have been living on those mountains for hundreds of years.
It was in those mountains that the Japanese during the WW2 had a post, about where POC is now. We went on many hikes and on our first hike; we were able to see a propeller blade from an American plane that crashed there in the mountains during the Second World War.
Another hike we went on was a very hard one for me and from it, I learned more about God and His love for me. It was a long down hill hike over very rough terrain down to the fish factory in Madang. I started the hike like any other, but before long, I was really tired. The hills went up and then went down very steeply and I was doing all I could from not falling down. The edges of the trail dropped off 15 feet or more in some spots. My legs felt like jelly. I was becoming frustrated and a little upset at my lacking in this area. One of the nationals who was helping us along came up, grabbed my arm, and began leading me on the steep narrow ways, and then the LORD hit me with a thought. You know this path is just like the narrow path of the Christian life. I cannot walk it by myself it is too difficult. The national was like Jesus who knows the path and can help me. The trail was still hard going all the way to the fish factory, but now I had a better attitude about it, and I had learned a lesson from it as well.
Apart from hiking and learning Tok Pisin, we also went swimming in the ocean. Yes, it was very beautiful. I was able to look at coral and fishes below and see yet another piece of the handiwork of the Creator God. So glorious to see the masterpieces of the Master painter all over Papua New Guinea, every place I went.
One of the animals that really got my attention was that of the black boccus or Fly Fox Bats. Many of them lived in Madang town. The first thing I thought when I saw them was, “I though the dinosaurs when extinct years ago?” Huge does not begin to describe these mammals. They are not night bats like many here in the States. They are not primary fruit bats either. They are large bats with a red-orange chest, which is why they are called flying foxes. They were amazing to watch as we were in Madang. I have a great local story about them if anyone ever wants to hear it.
Toward the end of our time at POC, we went to the village of Ihoa, which is part of the Amele language group. The women went to another village just across the river, which was also part of Amele. The time there was absolutely wonderful. I got to see Christian servant hood in such a new way. It was wonderful. The hearts of the people so pure and honest in way they watched out for us and took excellent care of us.
We were there for only 4 days, but each day was wonderful. We slept on a bamboo floor in their guesthouse they built just for us. We went swimming in a tropical river, which was gorgeous. We had a feast every night it seemed like, but the people are what I remember the most. The way they served. Very humbling to be on the other end of that service. True Christ-like servant hearts were shown to us that few days.
On one of the nights, we put on a drama of The Lord of the Rings. We did a very condensed version of the three books and changed some things around. We though most if any at all had ever seen the films or read the books. Boy were we proven wrong. The next day one of the kids brought up three VCD (similar to DVDs) of all the Lord of the Rings films. Boy did we get a kick out of that.
The next night after our drama the kids puts on two dramas. The one that the boys did was really well done. They told of what their lives were like when the first missionaries came to their village. The first missionaries were killed and eaten by them, but as more missionaries came the word of God struck them and they changed from cannibals to Christians. Now they never want to return to a life like that. They want to follow Christ with their whole heart and their whole mind, and in everything, they do. This is very evident in their Christian walk. You will know them by their walk, and you could tell that they walked the walk as well as talked the talk.
When we left the Amele village, it was very sad. We had great memories, but most of us were almost in tears. We had had an awesome God filled time, but it was getting time for us to go our separate ways into PNG for the rest of the summer. Most of us were heading to the main SIL center in PNG, Ukarumpa. About six out the twenty would go to other locations before coming to the center.
The time at POC came to an end as we packed our things and prepared to see what God had in store for us next.
(To be continued: Part 2 Ukarumpa and beginning of Folopa)
posted by Corey Adams @ 2:42 AM
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