Latest adventures

Here's what I've been up to for the last few days... Thursday morning was the monthly half day of prayer on centre, so I joined many other people in the meeting house for that. It's neat to see everyone make it a point to get together for that much prayer time each month. I've already mentioned some of the prayer requests (visas, RAM water pump), and two of the other highlights were prayers for those going home for furlough or for good, that there would be new people willing to serve in their places.

Friday morning the audit team left to go back to their various home states/countries. I took some time off to say goodbye to them before they flew out. It was fun to s pend time with them over the last three weeks, and until this weekend, every time I went off-centre, it was with some or all of them. Later, in the evening, there were swing dance lessons and a dance afterwards, so I went with some of the YWAM team that's here to learn how to do that a little more.

Saturday I went into Kainantu again, this time with the Baumans to celebrate Michael's birthday. We ate at Hig(h)lands Chicken again (the "h" is in parentheses because on most of the signs and labels, it's written "Higlands." look closely at the icon on the left side of the sign though...) and did a little shopping there.

It was different going into Kainantu the second time. I picked up a lot more of what was going on and what it looked like, because I was already slightly familiar with the place. It's still nothing wonderful (they call it the armpit of the highlands) but it's certainly a unique experience to see what it's like. Below is a picture of an evangelistic billboard there, which also gives you a general idea of what the town looks like. You can see a little bit of the trash that's lying around all over the place, and the people lined up, sitting outside of almost every building. Also, the man smoking in the foreground. Actually, smoking isn't as big here as chewing beetlenut. (I can't remember if I've described what they do with that or not, so I'll take a paragraph to do that below the picture) I took this one while we were driving, so it's not as high quality. If you click on it to zoom in, you can probably read the sign, as well as see the K-Mart to the right and the bank to the left. I have no idea if this K-Mart has any relation to the K-Marts of the US, or if it's someone trying to make people think it has some relation to the K-Marts of the US, or if it's just coincidence.

Beetlenuts... ok, what the nationals do is they take the beetlenut, mash it up and mix it with lime (as in, what we put on our lawns, not the fruit) and mustard plant, then they chew it kind of like tobacco. Apparently it's like a mild narcotic. (I've heard many descriptions of what it does to them, but that's the most common one) It's a bright red color, and you can see it all over the streets in Kainantu where they've spit it out. (they're not allowed to chew it in Ukarumpa) It also stains their mouths, and creates lots of problems because it destroys their teeth and very often causes oral cancer. The Pisin term for it is "buai", and it's definitely a big, but not glamorous, part of the culture.

Today was a typical Sunday so far, sleeping in a bit and going to the English church service, then playing ultimate frisbee in the afternoon. I got so muddy doing that today... because we got a lot of rain last night. That reminds me, I experienced an earthquake for the first time last night! It was just a little one, and most people who were standing up didn't really notice it. I was in bed at the time, just about ready to fall asleep, when I felt my bed shaking back and forth. It lasted about 10-15 seconds, and it took me about 5 of those seconds to figure out what was happening. We'll see if another one hits while I'm here or not. They're not uncommon in PNG.

I think that's all for now... more updates later!