A Trip to Madang -- on the Coast

Here are a few photos of our trip to Madang for a few days of rest and relaxation. We hung out at the guest house, went swimming and a bit of snorkeling, read lots of books between the 6 of us, enjoyed lunch, shopping at the fresh market and taking in yet again, new scenery. I apologize for the pictures being random rather than in order. Can't figure out how to do that yet. There's certainly a great big world out there that's way beyond our boundaries!

Just another day at the office! The sea was a bit rough as this woman was bringing home the bacon - in this case bananas. Women are the gardeners in PNG. The backdrop of this picture is the open ocean. The largest in the pigeon family, the Royal Crown, is the most beautiful as well as the dumbest, so we're told. Madang Resort grounds.

Isn't this a great picture of Donna?

Sporting a huge smile and Frangipani in her hair, she's cutting the strings off my meri blaus.

Loma, Donna and Glenda entering the Madang Resort lagoon. The gardens here are, well...they're tropical!

A black sand beach at Mololo - about a 20 minute drive from the NTM center. The water is warm, a gentle breeze, great fellowship in the midst of God's creation - who could ask for anything more?

We were unable to get the pictures to load in the order we wanted them, so these are mixed up a bit - again - Here's a full picture of the King Air airplane that we flew in.

The "high-tech" world of sorting green coffee beans. Coffee is big business here and there are numerous coffee producers in the Highlands of PNG (this is back home in Goroka). This is just one operation. Their premium beans are purchased by Starbucks.

Self explanatory :-)

Being 6 years old and having your own boat is commonplace on the coast.

Fruit bat anyone? With a 2' - 3' wing span, these guys are out and about during the day and "perch" in the tree tops.

The Madang Fresh Market - You want it? We've got it! Fresh fruits and veggies of all varities are available here over the space of about an acre. The sounds and colors and smells certainly stimulate the imagination!

The Madang Resort has a small "lagoon" for guests to swim in. It's protected from the open ocean by the rock wall. Lots of fish and clear blue-green water!

Although not a commercial airline, NTMA will fly Citizens to various desitnations. Here, this gal is coming back to Madang after visiting her family in Goroka. They moved down to Madang as her husband secured a job at a resort. Her 3 month old baby is a doll! The other option is a very rough six hour drive from Goroka. It's the rainy season now and we hear that portions of the road were closed due to slides - driving in PNG is uncertain at best.

We flew into Madang in a King Air airplane. It can carry 9 or 10 depending on the weight + cargo. The cost of travel with NTM Aviation is by kilo weight. Each type of plane or helicopter has it's weight limits. Tom and the pilot, who lives on center here in Lapilo with his family, are unlaoding some cargo in Madang. On our way back we took a gas stove back for someone, along with mail and other things.

We stayed at the New Tribes Center in Madang. This is a picture of their Guest House where the 6 of us stayed for a week. The coast is quite humid and a lot warmer than in the Highlands.

Just some thoughts...

ANIMISM: the belief in impersonal spiritual forces (can be animate or inanimate objects - rivers, wind, rocks, trees, pixie dust) that can be manipulated through ritual, taboos, spells -- can be used for beneficial or non-beneficial purposes;

and the belief in personal spiritual beings that need to be appeased for various reasons, often called ancestor worship.

Sanguma, sorcery, witchcraft, magic, witchdoctors, shamans, ritual, taboos, spirits, superstition are some of the terms within animism.

Secular does not exist...all is spiritual.

This is an extremely simplistic (and poor) definition of animism, I'm afraid.

Animism is usually attributed to "low societies" and "primitive" peoples.

It is deep and complicated, and I don't fancy myself as having much of an understanding at all, but it is thoroughly embedded in the societies of PNG and it exists all around us...

which has given me much food for thought.

One of the most disturbing discoveries for me has been the awareness of just how prevalent animism is in my own culture in the so called 'civilized' world of America, and in my own thinking. 'Can't see the forest for the trees' would be an applicable figure of speech.

We bandy about the word 'luck' with familiarity and ease as if it is some random spiritual force that may or may not fall out of the sky and land on a 'special' person of its choosing - we can manipulate the luck to choose us if we say a special prayer and send that email off within 7 minutes...to 12 people!...

or will win the slot machine jackpot if I rub the tummy of the jade monkey on the screen...

if I just do "this" or just say "that" then bad [or good] things won't [or will] happen...

"It's just not in the cards for me..."

"Knock on wood!"

We sneak a peek at our horoscope (and hope no one sees) in hopes that there just might be something there to give us some guidance because we're afraid of the future...surely there's some spiritual force within the alignment of the stars...and the various newspapers and magazines all say something different on the same day, but that fact does not seem to register...

I could go on but for the sake of brevity I think you get the idea.

Deception deceives.

For Christians, we say that we believe in the one triune God the Father, His son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit...

We say we trust His work in our lives...

and in His work and guidance on our behalf...

His great love for us and His desire for relationship with us...

We say we're safe, secure, all is well...

We say we believe the Bible to be the inerrant and inspired Word of Truth, given by God to the human race as a necessity because we've lost our way...

yet we're fearful, we're anxious, we're angry, we have fractured and broken relationships, we're in bondage to our emotions...

we're driven by Madison Avenue and Hollywood.

Yet we live in many of the things God says He has freed us from.

Now I can't speak for anyone but myself. I have to admit that much of my Christian life has been lived more like a functioning atheist than a believer in the one True God, who says His heart is for me, not against me.

But praise be to His Name! He is in the business of opening the blind eyes, softening the hard heart, unstopping the deaf ears and delivering from deception.

In one of my conversations with a tribal missionary, it was brought out that you can tell whether or not the Word of God has taken hold, not by what the tribal folks say, but what they do when a crisis hits.

Will they revert to the deeply embedded old ways of solving their problems? Will they resort to sorcery? Will they 'manipulate' the spiritual forces through ritual, taboo, etc? Or will they "tie their thoughts to the Word of God?"

Am I any different? I think not.

So often our thoughts are on a long tether and we're blown about and we struggle and we question and we're miserable and wonder where the answers are. We need to learn to think about what we're thinking about and if our thinkings are not tied tightly to the Truth of the Word, then, by an act of free will and intention, choose to think the Words of God and stand on them...

feelings aside.

Either God has given us the complete provision to be free from the control of our struggles ...

or He did not.

It is that simple.

It is refreshing and liberating to get back to the basics of Christianity...

repent of my unbelief of what God says;

forgive those who have hurt me;

forgive myself for not measuring up to that in which I believe I've failed;

make restitution to those whom I have hurt;

repent of my idolatry (believing that I can control things and people around me through whatever means);

refuse to take offense;

and quit blaming God for my problems.

If I am experiencing a chronic emotional (thinking) problem, I need to "purpose and choose" to let go of it because God already did His part...

and then live in the freedom He gave me.

I get it now.

Satan was kicked out of heaven because of his pride. He is the god of this present world. Mankind chose to go along with him and thus we have what we have today. We all make choices in keeping with Satan's nature or with God's nature. The wars and klling and hatred in this world are not God's fault.

God wasn't willing to settle for that so He became one of us to show us the way to safety...to buy us back for Himself because of His great love. He made a way out.

I can choose the way out - it's not a mystery.

Or, I can stay locked into the bondage that Satan freely provided.

It's my choice.

...for what it's worth.

Holidays in the Tropics

THANKSGIVING at the Guest House.

from left to right: Wayne and Loma Morris, myself and Tom, our special guest Justin Swift, (who has a surprise from us for a special someone back in the States -- it sure is a small world!) and Donna and Carl Sheetz. We have lots to be thankful for, of course. We had a great time with everyone.

When we were planning our trip, did we consider Christmas? Not in the least! But, the Guest House had an extra little tree, lights and decorations that fit just right in the corner. A neighbor lent us the little round table on which it is perched. Another neighbor lent us a very large wreath for the wall, so we weren't devoid of some of the trappings of Christmas!

Christmas dinner was phenominal! Donna went all out with creamy drinks, 'congealed' salads, and a host of other things. Loma and I, of course, contributed to the meal with desserts and other things. It was a fairly typical Christmas dinner with ham, potatoes and the works. Our local store was able to get in some special things from the States just for Christmas, things that we take for granted but are very hard to get over here.

Well, it was time to go home, finally about 9:30 p.m. and we couldn't resist taking this picture! After being 92 at mid day, here we are at 70 degrees with bananas from the banana tree in the back yard! We've been following the weather back home...many of you have had quite the snow, blizzards and cold. On one hand, we haven't missed the winter weather, but on the other hand, Christmas under a banana tree is also kinda strange! It's given us the opportunity to exercise our hearts towards the real reason behind the season, tho. Did you all have a pleasant holiday season where you are? We pray so, and that you were filled (and will be filled this coming year) with the knowledge of the fullness of the Lord!

Gate Market...

One of the most facinating things here is our local "farmer's market". Because there is a 12 month growing season every fresh thing you can think of is available. Apples, peaches, nectarines, ... and things that need freezing weather, like garlic, plums, etc., tho, don't do well, but everything else you can imagine is outside our security gate every Monday and Thursday from 4-5:30 pm.

This picture was from our first visit to market. The total cost was about $4.50, and I didn't even have the pineapple in view! The green onions were probably 2' long; the 'heap' of kaukau (sweet potato) cost about $.50; the avocados were $.40 each...the variety of things is amazing, too.

Also at market is a craft section where you can get bilums, meri blauses, baskets, jewelry, some pottery now and then. It's great fun and saves us all from having to go into town to the fresh market there. This is much safer, too.

The security shack in in the foreground...you can see the meri blauses hanging on the fence and people are begining to gather. Whole extended families come together so there are more Citizens that patrons. The men do the crafts (artifacts) and the women are typically the gardeners. If you look closely, you can see the men gathered at the left end and all the women are to the right. Roles here are very distinct and men and women do not sit together.

We're into the rainy season so you can see the water in the little ditch. But still, it never gets cold here but when it rains, it POURS! No wind like Ketchikan, tho. I can handle that! Do you notice the bags almost everyone carries? They are "bilum" (long e sound). They are now made with yarn that is cut into pieces, re-rolled and combined with other colors or fibers. They used to be made from natural plant fibers and you can still find them that way, too, but they are getting more and more colorful with many complicated patterns. They aren't crocheted or knitted - it's another method that is facinating to watch. Bilums are amazing! They don't look particularly big, but they stretch enough to carry a pig, a child, your household belongings, whatever you want to carry.

Everyone carries a bilum...men, women and children. The typical way is to hang it from your head, thus the wide strap. This allows one's hand to be free to carry other things. I agree...this is really quite comfortable and well balanced. They had the idea of backpacks long before we in the West did! The other thing that everyone carries as a matter of course, is a machetti. It's their main tool and is used for a plethora of functions.

Baptism

On a Sunday after church a few weeks ago, many of us drove to the river for the baptism of about 7 or 8 kids of missionaries there on Center. Their fathers were privileged to baptise thier own children - what an honor!

I used the zoom feature on the camera to get a picture of local folks across the river taking in what we were doing. We sang some songs and of course had some prayer. All of the people in this area have had quite a bit of exposure to the outside world and are familiar with these kinds of things. There is a huge Seventh Day Adventist presence here, as well as Catholic and some others.

One of the doctors on Center calls this the Typhoid River -- I've heard that our "pickle ponds" -- the settling ponds for our septic/sewer system, has tested better than the river. hmmmmm...maybe that's why Doc calls it that!

No we're on our way back home to Lapilo - just a very short jaunt down to and across the "highway".

Up until now, we have posted things that we have done, places we have gone and people we have met. There are a plethora of very interesting pictures and events...they'll get posted eventually.

We all want you to know that we haven't forgotten the real reason we are here and future posts will reflect that side of things. Tom and I are amazed, daily, at the magnitude of what goes on in this little "outpost" of the Lord's. There is so much more to tribal missions that we could ever have guessed.

Just very briefly, Tom has been doing some little, and some not so little construction/maintenance/finishing jobs and is currently installing laminate flooring in the headquarters offices. Pictures will follow another day.

I have been able to be of help in the office in the capacity of Candidate Secretary. I am learning just what it takes in the way of paperwork, documents, "proofs", time, communication, prayer, emails, government regulations...not in that order...so that missionaries can get over to Papua New Guinea to fulfill God's call on their lives.

So, until I get pictures and more details of that, enjoy these pictures and remember...we need your continued prayers! Again, may our Lord and yours, keep you close to His heart and bless you with the knowledge of His intimate love for each one of you.