NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Most people in Papua New Guinea do not celebrate their birthdays, know their birth date, or even know their own age.  That is such a foreign concept to us as we patiently count down the days of the year until we finally reach our birthdays.  We check the mailbox and e-mail to see who remembered.  We look forward to being acknowledged with a special meal and at the very least a thoughtful gift.

Here in PNG birthdays are no big deal, unless you are a young child.  One their first or second birthday, children are given one big birthday party.  This is usually the only birthday that will be celebrated for the life of that person.   One of our language helpers was excited to invite us to a birthday party he was having for his soon to be two year old daughter.  We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

Everyday we are thrown into new situations that involve tactfulness and sensitivity.  When we accepted the invitation to the birthday party we knew that there was a good chance there would be some sort of expectation of us.   One of the biggest cultural things that take adjustment here in PNG is the “Wan Tok” system.  Translated this means “friend” system.   When somebody needs something or has a big event they go to all of their friends who are expected to help them with the situation.  The national people in PNG are generally very poor.  In the highlands there is great soil and a perfect climate for growing things.  Even though hardly anyone has much money they do have plenty of food by putting in many hours working in their gardens.  Many people in the highlands of PNG only eat meat once every two weeks.  Animals are raised for special occasions.  This birthday was one of these rare special occasions.

I realized that I needed to contribute some meat to this party, but I had no idea what was expected.  My language helper told me that one chicken (preferably alive) would be a good addition to the meal.  He helped me catch a bus to the local market to find a chicken.  Once we had the chickens legs all tied up and put into my bilum (PNG man purse) we caught the bus back home.  I kept the chicken overnight because it was culturally appropriate for me to hike the chicken over to his house so that everyone along the way would know what I was bringing to the party.  While I was at the market Kelly was at home busy baking a birthday cake for the event.  They would not normally have a birthday cake, but because we were from North America they were thrilled with the idea.

The next morning I got up early so that I could catch the chicken again and tie up it’s legs for the hike over to my friend’s house.  The morning was filled with preparation for the main event.  There were already at least twenty people at his hut starting to prepare for the party.  Baskets of sweet potatoes, yams, bananas, and greens were being prepared.  In PNG there are specific jobs the men and women do. During a big event the women prepare vegetables, kill and prepare chickens all without stepping over or allowing their dresses to pass over the food sitting on the ground.  If this were to happen it would render the food inedible.  The men dig a large hole in the ground, light a large fire in the hole and place large stones on top of the fire.  They also kill and prepare any of the larger animals.  My language helper had been paid a cassowary as part of the bride price for one of his sisters who had been married two years prior.  Today was just the event he had been waiting for to kill this large bird.  I watched while he caught the bird and as a group of men killed and prepared it.  All of the large feathers were saved so that they could be used later as decorations woven into bilums or made into headdresses for large singing and dancing events.  Finally the stones in the fire were hot and the meat was ready.  Surprisingly, after all of that work, I didn’t feel hungry for the rest of the day.

The hole in the ground was lined with banana leaves and parts of the banana tree stalk.  This made a clean place to put all of the vegetables.  By now many other friends and relatives started arriving each bringing food to add to the event.  As the vegetables were placed in the hole, they were carefully separated so that when they opened up the ground oven they would be able to tell who had brought what to the party.  First the root vegetables were placed at the bottom of the pit, bananas and greens were placed on top of that.  Every part of the cassowary was used for eating.  The entrails of the bird were mixed into the greens for flavor (trust me I made a mental note about that so I wouldn’t forget when I was eating later).

The rest of the bird was spread out like a canopy over the small mountain of food.  Everything was covered with banana leafs, a pipe was placed down into the middle of the food and tarp covered the pile.   A couple of men grabbed shovels and covered the entire mountain with dirt so that there were no gaps for air.  A five-gallon bucket of water was brought out and carefully poured down the inside of the pipe.  As the water ran down the inside of the hole onto the hot stones below steam began to come out of the pipe.  The pipe was then removed and dirt covered the final remaining hole.

Three hours later steam had started to come out of the dirt indicating that the food was cooked inside.  We were shocked to see that by the time the food was all ready there were more than two hundred people at this party.   They had prepared a special bamboo mat for Kelly and I to eat on as their honored guests.  That definitely felt a little awkward for us to have two hundred Papua New Guineans watching our every move while we ate.  To make matters worse we were not allowed to serve ourselves.  A special bowl of food had been prepared for us to eat.  There was some of everything inside of this bowl, even the things I had wanted to avoid.  Now with two hundred people watching us we just smiled and tried to swallow.

You are maybe wondering what cassowary tastes like.  It is a dark red, very dense meat.  I took my first bite and smiled.  I started to chew and chew and chew and chew.  After at least twenty minutes of chewing I found a moment when I wasn’t being watched and was able to slip it into my pocket.

Chimbu Provice - The highlands of Papua New Guinea

There have been many new things to get used to as we adjust to our new culture and surroundings here in PNG.  About a month ago we experienced out first earthquake here.  It was the middle of the night and I was woken up by the shaking of my bed and the closet doors banging open and shut.  At first I thought that Kelly was just angry with me.  The thought entered my mind to get up and run out the front door, but in my hazy state at the time, the whole event was over before I could figure out what to do.  I am glad that I decided not to run for it as I found out later that earthquakes are fairly common in PNG, especially this time of year.  We have now felt three earthquakes in the past month here and each one is very different.  Sometimes it consists of a slow wave like feeling, other times they are harsh and jolting.  One time I was up getting ready for church and when I came out of the house everyone asked me if I had felt the earthquake.  They had seen the power lines moving, but I had not felt it at all.  This has become one of the new things that really took us by surprise here in PNG.  It is a good reminder of just how powerful God is, since He alone created this earth that sometimes shutters underneath our feet.

We are just finishing the rainy season here in PNG.  This year they have had more rain here than usual.  Many people who own gardens along the rivers have lost land as the rivers have torn away the land along the banks.  Almost everyone in PNG survives off of the crops that they grow.  When the crops fail it is not a loss of income, but rather a loss of food.  This has left many families in pretty rough situations due to shortages of food in the valleys.  The dry season should be here soon.  The rains will slow and crops will grow well again.

Land slides are one of the effects of the mass amounts of rain combined with the earthquakes.  Where we live, up in the highland mountains of PNG, the towns only link with the outside world is one two lane road that joins this large region with one of its coasts.  Growing up in North America with roads running in every direction it is very strange for me to live somewhere where no roads exist that can take you to the East, West or South side of the country.  There is only one road (called the Highlands Highway) and it joins us with the Northern coast.  This road dead ends somewhere deep in the mountainous highlands of the country.  Everything available for purchase, including fuel, must be trucked up this highway.  In the mountains the highway is often disabled for long amounts of time due to bridge collapses and landslides

Recently a bridge was out for over two weeks stopping vehicle traffic into this region.  Most countries would have large infrastructure to deal with these problems.  Back home in the mountains of Canada, highways through the mountains can close for one to two days while equipment clears avalanches.  In PNG there is just not the equipment and qualified manpower to deal quickly with some of these major events that damage this lifeline to the outside world.  Driving at night here is very scary due to the condition of the road and bandits.  In the picture you can see almost an entire lane of the highway is missing almost overnight.  If you were driving you would see no signs, red cones, or anything else to warn you of your impending doom.

I must be extremely vigilant as I drive, looking for anything out of the ordinary.  I also have to resist the urge to speed up when the road condition seems to improve because you never know if there might be a lane missing (pictured above) around the corner.

Recently I got the chance to go on a trip further up into the highlands to check on a missionaries house.  Many tribal locations in PNG are located where they can be reached by helicopter or bush airplane only, but this one was accessible by a four wheel drive road.  In the mountains of North America, when a road sign says four wheel drive, high clearance vehicles only, there are many times you could drive the road with your minivan as long as you were okay with getting a little mud on the paint.  Here in PNG when they say a four wheel drive is required, they are not talking about your fathers luxury SUV with four wheel drive.  These roads require serious off road vehicles with very luggy, mud gripping tires.  I did not know that vehicles could physically climb in the mud like they do here.

This missionary lives up in the mountains working with a tribe.  This family is currently in North America on furlough, but we had received a phone call from a man who had hiked out to the road to let us know that a landslide had damaged the missionaries house.  We drove in to assess the damage and to recover any property of his before it was stolen.  After about four hours of driving on very terrible roads we made it there.  It was such an interesting cultural experience.  We were not able to drive right up to the house due to the damage that the land slide made to the road.  Many of the villagers were in mourning.  They were convinced that evil spirits had been involved in this terrible thing that happened to them.  Many of them had rubbed dirt on their bodies and faces to show how sorry they were about what had happened.  Here in PNG the people “talk sorry” with actions.  If you feel sorry for another family member or friend you may bring them food or money to show them that you are sorry.  It is not enough to just express sorry with words as would be acceptable in North America.  Talking sorry is an action.

When we made it to the missionaries house we could see the damage.  There were places that the ground had cracked and become terraced.  Some of the cracks caused the dirt to drop more than four feet.  A garage used for storing fuel, oil, and tools was completely destroyed when it tipped over.  The house, which had been built on four foot high wood pilings, had tipped off of its pilings and slid more than four feet down the hill.  It was surprising to see that that house itself still was generally intact.  The windows had not broken and from what we could tell the contents remained safe inside.  Many people in the village were not sure what to do next.  Many had lost their homes and now were fearful of the unstable ground and the spirits that they believe had caused this event.  You can pray for this missionary couple as they figure out what to do next.  If the village moves then they may need to move as well.   Sadly this will be a fairly major delay in their ministry of churchplanting while all of the details are sorted out.

Learning language in PNG is much different than I would have ever thought. When I heard the words “language school” my mind filled with images of a nice air-conditioned school that I would walk in each morning with my homework done ready for the next lesson. When we arrived here, language school took on a whole new meaning.

New Tribes wants us out with the people, learning language in their environment. That way we can build relationships with the local people and learn their culture at the same time. Language school consists of putting on the hiking boots, strapping our children to our backs and walking through the neighboring village. We are never sure who will be home or who will have the time to spend talking to us. Instead of air-conditioning, we brave the fresh air (body odor, animals, rotting vegetation) to be out with the people. As we descend down the hill from our house into the village I seem to always step in the same muddy hole. I know approximately where it is along the trail, but because the trail is narrow with tall grass hanging over it, I seem to step in it every time filling my sock with mud (at least I hope that it is mud).

We are often humbled by how little the people have; as far as worldly possessions go. They build their huts out of bamboo, sticks and kunai grass. Often they cook and sleep in the same room, surrounded by their children. Many families worldly possessions consist of a beat up aluminum pot for cooking and a bush knife. Yet they seem eager to teach us their language and want to show us how they do everyday things. Just a few days ago, one of the neighbor ladies took Kelly into her garden and showed Kelly how to harvest sweet potatoes (kau kau in Pidgin). It is hard work out in the heat digging into the dirt with just a stick and your bare hands (while a little one nurses at the same time) trying to find the potato. Tomorrow we are going to have a moo moo (a way of cooking in the ground) with one of the families that lives near us. We are enjoying getting to know the people here and continuing to build friendships with them.

Today Kelly and I drove into town with Terry (who is in charge of our language and culture orientation).  Terry had me drive his personal vehicle into town so that I would get more experience driving.  Driving from the right seat does not seem to be a problem anymore, it is the goats, dogs, children, men and women who seem to believe that the road is a sidewalk.  It is amazing how many people are walking right on the road.  There is no shoulder on the road so the dense foliage forces people to walk on the road.  If they would just stay where they are it would not be as much of a problem.  Often at the last second they will walk right out in front of you.  Animals can also come flying out of the bush.  Here if you hit an animal you have to pay for it even if it is in the middle of the road.  Other drivers can also be a hazard.  While I was driving, I rounded a corner doing 75km/h only to find a van headed towards me in my lane.  At first I thought that maybe I was in the wrong lane, but no he was definitely in my lane.  At the last minute he swerved back into his lane.  That got my attention.  Terry told us that on that section of the road the pavement is smoother on my lane, so that is why the oncoming traffic was in my lane.  It was not to avoid a pothole (I could understand that), but just because it was smoother.  When we got to town I pulled over to let a national man who had hitched a ride with us out of the vehicle.  As soon as you stop you are surrounded by people who are walking.  It gets very difficult to start driving again without hitting anyone when they are paying no attention to you trying to back up.  They just continue to cut behind the vehicle.  This whole process is just like learning to drive again from the beginning.

We visited the hanger again today for a tour.  It was nice to meet everyone again.  It seems like a great team of guys.  They showed me a lot of interesting things in and around the hanger.  Their shop is similar to NTMA in Arizona.  Not nearly as nice, but they do have a decent machine and sheet metal shop.  They do major maintenance, avionics, rebuilding seats and fabric.  While we were there a large group of nationals with all of their belongings showed up wanting to be flown into a tribal location.  They were busy weighing everything and getting them ready to go.  Ray (the helicopter pilot) spent a nice amount of time with me showing me the Bell 206L helicopter and some of the modifications that they have done to it.  It is a very large helicopter.  I forgot how much bigger it is than the R-44 that I have been flying.  The whole cockpit of the R-44 could easily fit into just the rear passenger area of this helicopter.  They can haul 12 foot building material inside the cabin with all of the doors closed if they fold down the copilot seat and push the material right to the front.  That should give you an idea of how big it really is.  They seem very excited to have another helicopter pilot here to help them out.  They told me that they have been asking for a helicopter and airplane pilot for the last five years and I am the first person that has come.  It was nice to hear that they are excited about us coming to help out.

After the tour we drove to the large market in town.  I was surprised at how large the market really was.  There are hundreds of people shopping and at least three hundred vendors selling vegetables they have grown.  There is a huge variety of anything you could think of in there.  Everyone has their produce washed (albeit in contaminated water, but it looks pretty) and displayed orderly laid out on pieces of tarp with prices listed on scraps of paper for each thing.  It is nice to not have to barter for everything.  To give you an idea of the fruit and vegetable prices (in USD): pineapples (70 cents), lettuce (30-80 cents depending on size), passion fruit (4 cents each – Noah calls the inside of the passion fruit yogurt), tomatoes (20 cents for large tomatoes).  The prices are good, but Kelly got pretty frustrated this afternoon when she realized how much work cleaning them would be.  She rinsed the vegetables, filled the sink and soaked them for fifteen minutes.  Then we took drinking water (that I have to haul in five gallon buckets from a rain water catch basin to our filter) and filled the sink adding vinegar and baking soda.  All of the vegetables had to soak another twenty minutes in this mixture.  Then all of the lettuce had to be laid out to dry so that it would be preserved in the refrigerator.  In all this process seemed to take about an hour and a half by the time it was all done.  The other crazy thing is that you can’t just go to the market and get everything that you need.  We are so used to pulling into to Super Wal-Mart.  Kelly would grab groceries while I am grabbing motor oil and light bulbs, Noah would get french fries from the in-store McDonalds, while at the same time my vehicle tires are being balanced.  Here, you go to the market for vegetables, you go to multiple stores in town to see who has meat that you can stomach and for your imported favorites you wait for the PNG highlands center store to be open on Monday and Thursday.  It is amazing how much time it can take to get what you need by the time you drive all over for it.  I needed a simple tarp to cover some boxes that were getting wet.  We drove to three different stores in town.  One store had nothing, the second store had rolls of tarp material (but it was only five feet wide) and the third store had 15′x30′ tarps (but they were $130USD each).  I was glad that I waited because I found a missionary looking to sell one of similar size new for $25.  Each day is an adventure as you try to track down what you need for the job at hand.

Tomorrow we start language school.  We have Terry and a national man arriving in the morning to start TPR (Total Physical Response).  They will start teaching us the language the way that children learn language.  They will show us objects and say the world.  The goal is not to try to memorize like crazy, but rather get used to hearing the sounds associated with each word.  Eventually you just remember what they are.  We will do this for approximately a week and then will move into more bookwork and visits into the surrounding tribal village to work on using the language.

Thank you very much for praying for us.  We are encouraged and are enjoying life here.  We have all been very healthy and are ready to start language tomorrow morning.

Kelly and I have just arrived in the Eastern Highlands Province (EHP) of Papua New Guinea, with our two kids (Noah and Eli).   We are beginning to get settled into our new home where we will be learning Melanesian Pidgin English from the neighboring tribe that lives around our house.  These first few days we are getting accustomed to our surroundings and have had the opportunity to venture out on a couple of outings.

Yesterday, some coworkers of ours drove us into Goroka (the largest populous in the mountains of PNG).  To get into town we had to drive on the Highlands Highway. The Highlands Highway is the only road that joins the mountainous highlands of the country to the coast in Lae.   There is currently no road that can take you from here to Port Moresby (the capital).   The only way to get there is to fly.   As we pulled out onto the highway, the number of people walking down the highway on both sides amazed me.  There are no shoulders on the road and there are large potholes everywhere. It requires constant vigilance on the part of the driver.  The highland people are quite amiable, but also very emotional.   If you accidentally hit someone who was in the road or even an animal (there are goats, pigs and dogs running free everywhere) and caused an injury or death, it is very important to not stop the vehicle, but rather to drive directly to the authorities and turn yourself in.  Most other countries would require you to stop and assist the injured and trade insurance information, but if you did that here you could be pulled out of your vehicle and beaten to death on the side of the highway.  Emotions run high during an event like this and for the driver’s safety he would need to make sure he was protected by the authorities and had them as mediators during the settlement process.   All that to say it is very important to drive carefully in this country.

Once in town it was time to apply for my drivers license.   A coworker of mine took me to the transportation office.  As we entered the foyer of the building was full of people.  It was impossible to figure out where the line was due to the fact that many of the people in there doing business had friends that came along to hang out.  Finally we got to the front of the “line” and told the lady at the window that we needed a driver’s license.  She handed us a form that we then had to take and fill out. After filling out the form we had to line up in front of a separate window (two feet from the first window) to pay.  The amount a person pays is based on the class of license that he would like.  After deciding that I needed a class 6 driver’s license (which allows me to drive three axle vehicles) I paid my 60 Kina (approximately $22 dollars) and my application form was stamped.   Next we lined back up at the first window to submit the application.  After waiting for them to process the form I was invited into the office to have my picture taken.   It turned out to be a great day to have gone for my license as their Polaroid camera was working, they had film for it, the laminating machine was working and they had the supplies for that as well as the official application form was in stock.  I have been told that other people have had to go back to the office multiple times waiting for the day where everything would work out.  As I looked at the bench where I was supposed to sit for my picture I noticed an old cloth backdrop hung behind where I would be sitting.  There was a large number sewn on one side of it.  I was instructed to sit to the side so that my head would not be in front of the number.  I thought that they were trying to avoid getting the number in the picture, but in actuality they wanted the number clearly visible in the picture, because it was the class number of my license.  When my name was called, I walked to the window and was handed my new Papua New Guinea license.  I had to laugh, because before laminating the license it had been cut too narrow and the words “Papua New Guinea Drivers License” are almost completely gone.  I guess it will work in any country now.

Thank you so much for praying for our long flight.  We wanted to share with you a couple of exciting ways that God provided for us along the way.
Saturday night Noah had a fever.  He had a high fever Sunday morning and took a few extra naps during the day.  We prayed that God would heal his body and Monday morning he woke up happier than ever.  What a huge answer to our prayers!

The beginning of our trip started with my heart racing in Tucson as the ticket agent told us he could not find Eli’s e-ticket for the flight… even though we had the confirmation in our hands!  He seemed to be new on the job and was blaming our travel agent for messing us.  He also could not find our visitor visas for Australia in his system.  It was twenty stressful minutes at the check-in counter, but finally his supervisor helped him over the phone and we got everything sorted out.  We had a lot of bags to bring with us and one we knew was going to be oversized and overweight.  After he totaled the extra charge, we were really thankful to find out he only made us pay one of the two charges (this saved us $200).  We all made it on our first flight just fine.  Noah enjoyed every minute of that flight because of a new toy and a treat from a friend.  When we landed, I asked him if he wanted to fly again and he said, “Yeah, big, big airplane!”

After a layover in LA, we flew to Auckland, New Zealand.  We went to the ticket agent right away because our seats were not together for the long flight (Mike tricked the travel agent to let him sit three rows behind the rest of us).  She was able to get seats for us together and even a bassinet for Eli.  Overall, our kids were amazing!  They slept for a lot of the flight.  I was amazed that even I was able to sleep and didn’t even have time to watch a movie.  Of course, there were a few moments that I’m pretty sure everyone around us wished that we were not on the flight… but we still thought it was a miraculous trip!

After another four-hour layover we flew to Cairns, Australia.  We were a little concerned when as we checked in the flight agent wanted to know how many bags we had checked on the plane in Tucson.  She implied that they had lost some of our luggage, but when we arrived in Cairns they were all there.  After getting through customs, we weren’t sure how we were going to get all the bags in the little car we had planned on renting.  Then the car rental company told us they had run out of the economy size car and would have to upgrade us for free to a mini van.  We were thinking we were going to have to get a taxi as well as our rental to get everything back to the hotel, but it all fit!  We were so thankful for how God provided for us.

We’re just working on getting over jet lag now.  Last night we went to bed at 7PM and I was so glad we did!  Between Noah and Eli we were up quite a few times in the night… but we were still able to get a great sleep and we’re not doing too bad today.  We’re so thankful for your prayers for us!  We are so thankful to God for not just helping us “get through it”, but amazing us by doing more than we ever expect.

Kelly and I just heard this morning from the Papua New Guinea embassy in Washington DC that they have received approval from PNG to put the visas in our passports. We have been waiting throughout the fall for this and are very excited that the approval has finally come through. We will mail in our passports this week to have the visas put in them. Hopefully will be able to depart for PNG later this month.  If you would like to view our personal website for more information and recent pictures click here.

A few months have past since our October date when we had hoped to leave for Papua New Guinea.  Our paperwork process has taken much longer than we anticipated, but it now appears that we are getting close to the end of it.  We have been told that our work permits have been approved in PNG and now we are waiting on our Entry Permits (visas) in our passports being completed at the Washington, D.C. PNG embassy.  We will let you know when we have our passports in hand.  We are hoping to leave in early January assuming that the remaining paperwork goes smoothly.  Pray that this gets processed without delay.