(Just some ordinary PNG scenery. I was way overdue, so I snapped this as we drove.)
The family headed to church in Lapilo. This pic is right in front of our house and Aowyn is lagging behind as usual.
This is the river we crossed to get into one village. I saw a lady heading out of the village with a big basket of banana's on her head to sell at market and a bag of supplies in her hand. I asked how she would get through the river and was told with a blank expression "she'll cross the river". Bare in mind the river is chest deep with a strong current, even though you can't see it in the pics.
Just some really tall bamboo trees.

Bena Bridge Church singing in their tribal language.

We feel truly blessed that you would take the time to read about the happenings of our little family in Papua New Guinea. I look at my family, and all the special people we are surrounded by out here and I thank God. We begin at times to feel lonely for the familiar, but we feel joy in knowing that our friends and family back home are praying for us, and that God has no limitations in time or space and that he remains for us.
This past week provided several good opportunities for me (Clinton) to get inside a few of the local villages. The area of Papua New Guinea we are in would not be considered remote in PNG standards, and yet we are surrounded by village after village. Most of these villages you would not know exists, until you follow a small trail into the seemingly jungle/forest, and realize that many communities are all around. I can't remember the names of the villages, but I was in one last Thursday, another this Tuesday, and another this Thursday. It is part of the language training to get into the local villages to experience some of the culture and hear the language spoken. I also went to a village church for their service this morning. Our understanding and capability to speak in Tok Pidgin (Pidgin English) is quite limited, but is expanding. Each tribe also has a Tok Place (sort of a tribal language), but the people we have met all speak Tok Pidgin fluently. Unfortuantely, Rolanda has not been able to get into any of these villages. Women are more limited in their ability to travel at times, so she has been stuck with the kids. Don't worry, we will make sure she get's a chance to experience all these villages as well!
Probably the neatest village for me to go to had to do with the "road" into the village. It is only about a 10 minute walk down a side road (at home we would call this road a bush trail, to give you a sense of what we are talking about). Then the road dead-ends at the river. The river is about chest high, about 60 feet wide, and has a strong current at this time of the year (one guy crossing with me actually was pushed about 30 feet past the opening on the far side and we pulled him in further down the river. It sounds more dramatic than it was, he was fine:). On the way back we started about 100 yards up stream from the opening we wanted to hit, walked straigt, and the current still almost moved us too far. I got my phone and camera wen on the first trip across, so I didn't get any pics of the village. Fortunately, with some air-drying and some prayer we got the camera working again.
This morning was pretty neat as well as I enjoyed a church service with some believers in the Bena Bridge Church. I understood little that was said, but enjoyed singing with the believers. I posted a little video of some of the singing. The video I posted was in their tribal language, and most of the songs were sung a little different (for those that were in Guinea, West Africa, I found it to be similar). They sing with throats a lot more than North America, but the people are unafraid to sing and the Tok Pidgin songs were actually very catchy! I still can't get one song out of my head. After the service all the people gathered around us white guys on the floor and they wanted to sing with us, so we sang for another half hour. I am so small to think that God would be limited to one side of the globe, but to see the believers face-to-face praising God was really cool.
So, what to pray for:
Continue to pray that we adjust to life here and have an impact on the ministry and the local people as much as we can.
Pray that we would continue to establish meaningful relationships.
Pray for the tribal missionaries who are presenting the Gospel, and for the persecution they and the believers in those tribes face.
Pray that we would draw nearer to God personally, and as a family.
God Bless!
Clinton and Rolanda Friesen