April Showers!

Hello friends!
Well today was a busy day.  We had our school's annual field day today, which is a fun day of games, events and competition!  Tayah was the only one of our kids to participate, but we all went to the field to watch her compete in a variety of different activities.  She ended up placing 1st in the obstacle course and the 3-legged race!  She placed 3rd in the bean bag toss.  Overall, she was thrilled to be able to climb the podium and stand at the very top! :)  It was a proud moment in the Friesen family... :)  Clinton also helped out with judging the shot put event for all the age groups.  He loved shot put in junior high so he was quite pleased to help out with that event this year.
Yesterday we had quite the scare as the hangar received an SOS transmission from our helicopter pilot who was out in a very remote bush location.  He is out there slinging missionary houses from one spot on the mountainside to another spot with the helicopter.
Because the location is so remote, they couldn't just call him to see if he was ok.  After an intense few hours of not knowing what happened to him, the hangar received a radio call that said he was fine and the helicopter tracking device had malfunctioned and sent out a false alarm.  Praise the Lord!!!  This pilot is a young man with a wife and 3 young kids, they just arrived back in PNG about a month ago after going home to have their 3rd child.  It makes you realize the danger that this country poses and how difficult it is to fly in.  The mountains are so beautiful, and yet so very dangerous.  It is a reminder to pray for our pilots.
Life in the clinic has remained busy, yet fulfilling and enjoyable for me.  I appreciate the doctors and nurses I am serving with and the patients who trust us with their healthcare.  Last month I flew a 10 year old missionary kid from our hangar to Australia as she was showing classic signs of appendicitis.  She was quite sick and in a lot of pain which only worsened as we flew.  It turned out that her appendix had ruptured (not sure when exactly) and was in surgery shortly after we landed.  She is now doing fine and is back in the tribe with her parents.  Her village is really remote.  To get medical attention, her parents took her by boat for a few hours to get out of the village and to a landing airstrip so our pilot and one of our nurses could meet her there and fly her to our hangar to be assessed by our doctor.  Overall, from her first boat trip to landing in Australia took 12 hours until she was properly treated.  As a mom of young kids, it scares me to think how far away help can be for some of our bush missionaries.  Their trust in God is an example to me and in this situation, the Lord provided the transportation and also kept that little girl safe.  He knows all and is in control of all.  It's a good reminder.
Tayah has continued doing well in grade 1.  Her report card shows that she is completing all the required course work and doing well at it.  We're very happy with how she is doing.  Her reading is incredible!  I don't know if I was reading chapter books in grade 1, but she does it effortlessly.  Her biggest struggles remains handwriting neatness and math.  Her last day of school is May 29th which is only a few days before we fly home to Canada! :)  Yes, we are now just about 6 weeks until hometime, can you believe it?  The time has been flying by for us here.  We've been truly enjoying ourselves and these last few weeks.  We want to finish strong and be a blessing to our fellow workers and our national brothers and sisters.  We will miss alot of people here.
We have an appartment lined up at Steinbach Bible College as Clinton will be finishing up his pastoral degree this next year at SBC.  He is both excited and nervous to be in full-time studies again.  My plan is to continue working as a nurse in Steinbach once we return home.  I do have some work to do in re-instating my nursing license in Manitoba.  I have been fingerprinted here in PNG and I am awaiting my criminal record check which I need in order to re-instate my license back home.
How you can pray for us during these next 6 weeks:
-pray for my criminal record check to come back quickly so I can re-instate my nursing license in Manitoba
-pray for us to finish strong
-pray for us to get all our cleaning, sorting, selling, and packing done in time
-pray for us as we head into Wusarambya on a weekend trip with the Banmans next weekend. Pray for safety in flight and for a great time of fellowship with the national believers in the tribe.  Also pray that my kids will maintain their sanity away from home in a bush location for 3 days and not cause their parents to go crazy! :)
We love you all and are truly thankful for your prayers and encouragement as we head into our final stretch here in PNG.
Love,
The Friesens

just Clinton

Rorik playing outside in his underwear...as usual!

pretty Aowyn loves to color

Tayah in the sack race on field day

me and Tayah

Tayah on the podium, she's so excited!

Zee or Zed?

Howdy all y'all!  No, I'm not becoming American...though we do think Tayah is! :)  She sure sounds more like an American than a Canadian!  We figure we'll have a lot of retraining to do with her once we land on Canadian soil again.  Lapilo center is largely made up of Americans and her teacher is American, so it's only natural she takes on an American accent and says "zee" instead of "zed" right?  :)
Besides Americans, we have the following nationalities on our center:
-belgian
-german
-northern irish
-english
-australian
-canadian
I am part of a bible study and as I was looking around the table the other morning, I was encouraged and blessed knowing that I am a part of something so much bigger than myself.  There are 2 Americans, 1 Northern Irish, 1 Australian, and myself in this bible study.  Our cultures may be different, but we all trust in the same Lord.  This same Lord is not "stuck" only in me or my circle of friends/family back home, but He is Lord of ALL!!  He is known throughout this great big world and is touching the lives of people in all walks of life.  He is not "stuck" in Steinbach!  :)  I can't stick Him in a box and say this is who He is...instead He is so much more than I even know/understand and He has shown Himself to the world!  Ok, enough preaching. :)  Just can't help myself sometimes.
So we've been keeping busy... :) 
As part of the mission barrel ministry that I do, I sell bags of clothes/shoes to the national workers on our center for 2Kina (about $1).  I have to be very careful that I am "fair" in how I sell to them.  I can't sell more to one person versus another, or I could end up with a heavy on my hands.  A "heavy" is pretty much a situation that arises which causes a disagreement or a feeling of being offended/slighted by someone.  There can be small heavies (ie. talking rudely to someone) or big heavies (ie, death, divorce, stealing, etc.).  As a center we try very hard to not cause any heavies and to fix them quickly if they do come up. 
So I was selling these bags to the workers last thursday and it usually goes fairly smoothly.  However, just as I ran out of bags to sell, I got a complaint that I hadn't sold to a group of individuals from one of our departments on center for quite a long time.  Now, my first thought was, "well they can wait until I have more bags ready".  Instead, I avoided having a "heavy" and decided to quickly whip up some more bags of clothes for these individuals and make things "fair" in their minds once more.  And it worked! :)  Now all is peaceful in the land of the mission barrel bag sale.
A few weeks ago there was an explosion in the airplane hangar beside our own.  The hangar belongs to the Seventh Day Adventists and one of their mechanics was working on their plane when the fuel tank blew up.  He was burned very severely and medivaced to an Australia burn center. He did survive, though his recovery will be long and torturous, so please pray for him.
Other than that, things have been fairly quiet at the hangar for Clinton.  Due to staffing shortages, there will only be 1 pilot and 1 mechanic for the summer months.  That is leaving the field very short for flights, medical evacuations, etc.  There are some pilots going through the training to come to PNG, however, that'll still take some time before they make their way to the field.  Please continue to pray for personel for our aviation department out here in PNG.
This past monday at the clinic I had a national teenaged patient who was miscarrying.  It turns out she was unmarried and got mixed up in the wrong crowd and got pregnant.  To spare her family the shame of her pregnancy, she ran away and stayed in the bush with some friends for 6 weeks.  During this time, she was introduced to a bush-method of causing a miscarriage.  She took this concoction and sure enough, she started to miscarry.  She came back home to her parents and they brought her to our clinic.  The baby was already dead.  She was about 14 weeks pregnant.  She will most likely need to have surgery to complete the abortion.  She was in a lot of pain, both physically and emotionally.  It made me think of the similarities/differences between our cultures.  Hers was a culture where the baby would have brought shame on her and her family, which is often the case with teen pregnancies back home.  Her culture doesn't allow for her to seek out help or counselling, my culture does, though many pregnant teens do not take this route.  Her culture found a way for her to abort her baby while causing her much physical pain and a subsequent surgery to complete the procedure.  My culture also has found ways to abort unwanted babies...
The biggest difference to me lay in the fact that my culture has perfected it's method of disposing of unwanted babies.  That is not something I'm proud of.
Now that I've opened a whole political-spiritual can of worms...
We're continuing our count-down to our return to Canada.  It's 14.5 weeks until we leave! (so that's about 15 weeks until we land in Canada). :)  We're getting excited and have started the process of getting our house ready and figuring out what we take with us and what gets left behind.
We want to thank all of you for standing with us in prayer and support as we've been out here.  Please continue to pray for us as we look towards home.  Pray that we'll finish strong out here and be a blessing to our fellow missionaries and especially to the nationals we come in contact with.

 Clinton showing pictures of our families back home to our friend and language helper, Aute.

 Tayah enjoying a PNG sunset.

 The kiddos enjoying cuddle time with our friend and language helper, Jeogina (Aute's wife).

Blessings to you all.
Love, The Friesens

A Christmas to Remember!

Christmas 2013

me and my pretty girls

my handsome boys

getting set to fly to Kudjip on the helicopter

co-pilot Rolanda!

landed in Kudjip, great flying pilot Ray!

Me, nurse Amy, the 3 blood donors, and our patient

blood bag

my crib for the night, not so comfy

C90 airplane medical evacuation of same patient to Cairns

off duty, enjoying my first McDonald's fries in 18 months!  Yay!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  :)  I realize I'm a little late... but I have a great excuse! :)  Actually, maybe not all that great... the holidays are a busy time of year for everyone... even us Friesens out here in PNG.  Though we didn't have any family to celebrate Christmas with, it ended up being a special time for us a family anyway.  We definitely felt more settled and "homey" this year then last Christmas, though it was difficult missing family, gatherings, church Christmas programs, Christmas dinners, office/staff parties, and so much more that goes on during the holidays.
 I really had a hard time last year with missing family and so I think God granted me a special blessing by allowing me to be almost too busy to notice I was missing much of the holidays!  Let me explain. 
I happened to be on-call at the clinic over Christmas (and something always happens when the clinic is closed!).  A missionary lady needed medical attention on Christmas Eve day.  As it turned out, her medical issue continued to get worse over the next few days with me and the doctor seeing her every day for a few hours.  Finally, on boxing day we decided to fly her via helicopter to another hospital here in PNG (40 min. helicopter flight) for a blood transfusion.  Back home this wouldn't be a huge deal, you'd be admitted to hospital and get your blood.  Out here, we had to fly the patient to a hospital that had the proper equipment to do a transfusion, plus I had to fly with her and stay with her as her nurse for her stay in the hospital (and do all nursing work for her, including the blood transfusion), plus we had to bring our own donors!  Yes, that's right, I flew my patient and 3 willing missionary ladies from our center (with the same blood type as my patient's) down to another hospital via helicopter so we could transfuse 3 units of blood from the donors into my patient.  Talk about stressful!  :)   But I gotta say, helicopters are so fun!  What an amazing experience! In any case, the whole procedure went so well, my patient had a very minor transfusion reaction that resolved itself after a short time.  I was so encouraged by the response I got from our missionary community when I first asked for blood donors... I think I had 13 responses within an hour of sending out an email. 
The next morning we flew back to our center with the patient feeling great and energized after receiving all that blood.  Well that afternoon, her condition worsened once more and it was clear she needed a surgical procedure we could not perform here in PNG.  So we got everything ready and the next morning we flew out via our C90 airplane (pressurized PTL!) to Cairns, Australia. 
The ambulance met us on the tarmac and transferred us and the patient to the hospital where she was being admitted.  The flight went very well and we left our patient in very capable hands.  At that point, I was officially off duty...and in Australia!  PARTY!!! :)  Just kidding, in all honesty I was very tired.  I had very little sleep the past 2 nights (a total of 4-5 hours) so I was a walking zombie.  I did get to eat at the mall foodcourt and you guessed it... MCDONALDS!! :)  It was sooo yummy and such a special treat for me to be able to enjoy fastfood after 18 months here in PNG. 
I experienced culture shock, which I wasn't anticipating.  It was overwhelming to be in civilization and not having everyone staring at me (cause I'm white) or trying to protect my personal belongings (namely my wallet) and hearing english all around me.  It made me realize that when we get home this summer, I (and my family) will have more difficulty fitting back into "regular" life than I originally anticipated.  I was not expected reverse culture shock, and yet it paralyzed me.  It gives me a greater appreciation and understanding of the feelings that our foreign missionaries have when they come home after 4 years away...never mind my 2 years! :)
So that's how I spent my holidays...  I told you I had a good excuse right? :)  Clinton was able to take off the week after Christmas as well and so we did get some good family time in and were able to relax. 
For New Year's Eve, we celebrated at a friend's house with a group of other friends and their kids.  We put the kids to bed there and then stayed up playing games until midnight at which time all the teens and other not-so-young guys drive their motorcycles or four wheelers (or golf carts) around the hills for 15 minutes.  There's not much to do out here, so this constitutes fun! :)  It was a great evening of visiting and strengthening relationships with fellow workers.
The week before Christmas I made a batch of Christmas cookies (recipe courtesy of Mennonite Girls Can Cook!) and invited a few of our national friends over for a visit one afternoon.  They loved the cookies!  :)  They don't have ovens and so homemade cookies really is a treat.  This one couple are in the process of building themselves a new house.  Out here, the roof which is made of this long, strong grass that they bind together, only lasts about 5-7 years before it starts leaking.  Instead of just replacing the roof, they build a new house and tear down the old one.  Well on their new house they decided to put on a nice door with a big lock.  The lady was so pleased with the fact that they were putting this big lock on their door just like a white mans house!  :) 
Now my pidgin is still a continual work in progress, but they all think I am doing so well!  I am definitely not embarassed to try out the words and laugh at myself when I say the wrong thing. :)
The patient that I was with during the holidays on the medevacs was telling me cultural things in her village. One thing that disturbed me greatly was that a whole group of women (20 or so), had followed the advice of this one man (a supposed doctor) who said he could give them a certain birth control.  However, they all ended up getting pregnant and their SDA (7th Day Adventist) pastor told them that the babies were demon babies because they were conceived while on birth control.  So he encouraged them all to abort their babies.  They way they do that in this village was to eat a few tubes of Colgate toothpaste.  They did it, and they all miscarried their babies.  It was such a sad story to hear, but it just shows how lost these people are and how they live in fear of evil spirits on a daily basis.
Clinton and a group of men from our center, climbed the highest peak in PNG... MT. Wilhelm in mid december.  It is just about 15000 feet high.  Clinton did so well, he complained abit of being cold and wet, but now he is so glad he did it and can actually see himself doing it again! :) 
Clinton has also completed his online course through SBC and got an A+!!!  I am so proud of him!  Tayah is getting set to start term 3 this wednesday.  She`s very excited to get back into school! 
We have bought our return tickets to head home!  The countdown begins. :)  Our departure date from PNG is June 2nd and our arrival in Winnipeg is June 6th.  We`re looking forward to seeing friends and family again, though the process of packing and saying farewell to all our new friends here on center and our national friends is daunting.  We have truly come to love PNG and call this place `home`.
Well this post has gotten a lot longer than I originally planned, but well, I have much to say! :)  Thanks for bearing with me as I babble, though I have many more stories to share, I will leave it at this.  Thank you all for your continued support, love, and encouragement.  We wouldn`t be here without you all and we couldn`t do what we do without you all!
Blessings to you all and we truly hope your Christmas and New Years was wonderful!
Love, Rolanda for the Friesens

October has come and gone...

It's been a fantastically warm fall this year for us...which is to be expected out here in PNG.  However, Clinton & I severely miss the cooler weather and the leaves changing colors...  It's an odd thing to grow up with the changing seasons and then to move across the world and have one season year round!  :)  Atleast it's spring-like out here rather than Manitoba-winter-like! :)  Though we are also missing snow!  We keep up with the going-ons of Steinbach via Steinbach online and we're missing the snow that's starting to fall back home. 
Because the NHL is still in a lock-out, being so far away hasn't been quite as hard on Clinton this season! :)  (though is he is still hoping that the lock-out ends soon!)  I know he's been itching to lace up some ice-skates and play some "real" hockey again!
We were skyping with family the other day and were able to see the snow back home.  Clinton was trying to show Rorik what snow looked like, and it made us realize that the twins have no idea what snow is! :)  What a surprise it'll be for them our first snowfall back home. :)
Things have been going well for us out here.  We continue to work in our ministry fields... Clinton at the hangar and I at the medical clinic.  The work itself doesn't change much as these are support roles and the least they change the better it is for everyone! :) 
As for the work out here in PNG there are new and extremely exciting things happening all the time!  2 men here at Lapilo have started a new outreach of sorts.  They are teaching bible lessons to the PNG preachers and religious leaders of PNG!  Even though PNG has had some sort of Christian influence for approx. 100 years, they are still very immature in their knowledge of scriptures.  The feedback from the conference they held this past week was overwhelming and they have quite a few more teaching opportunities coming up in the next few months. 
I was talking with one of my bush missionary friends a few weeks ago and she was saying how much things have changed since their village has heard the gospel.  She was telling me that shortly after they first arrived in the village a lady gave birth to twins.  Twins are considered a horrible thing in many places in PNG as one of the old beliefs is that one twin is the good spirit and the other twin is the bad spirit.  What usually happens is the father tries to figure out which twin is the bad spirit and then kills that child.  However, in this case that my friend was telling me about, the father couldn't figure out which was the evil twin and so he killed them both just to be safe.  Another instance of infanticide in this village is that if a mother has too many children to raise and none of the relatives want to adopt the new baby, then the mother or father will take a piece of firewood and knock the newborn on the head to kill it quickly and then bury it right where it's born.  The good news that I mentioned earlier is that since my friend's family and other team members have presented the gospel to this village, there is no more infanticide of any kind!  They are allowing both twins born to a woman to live and there is now always someone willing to care for any child born in that village.  Praise God!  I know there are many who believe that westerners should leave people alone in their beliefs and cultures... however, these villagers are so excited to not live in fear of the spirits anymore.  They have expressed their joy over and over again that God's talk was brought to them so they could be free!  It's incredible the stories that I've heard over here and it just makes me realize how necessary foreign missions truly is.
We have been so blessed to be a part of this work out here in PNG and we thank God for your part in keeping us out here.  The gospel is so much bigger than any one of us and seeing it change lives is so mind-blowing that you know it is not of anything human hands or minds can bring about, but it's the work of God and His Spirit touching and healing the lives of these individuals.  Praise God with us for the work that is going on in PNG! :)  I'll stop preaching for now, but it's exciting eh? :)
We celebrated Tayah's 6th birthday this past month and she had quite the birthday party :).  I even created a beautiful masterpiece of a cake... it was a barbie cake! 
Then a few weeks later we celebrated Clinton's 28th birthday.  And yes, he was spoiled a bit! :)  I made a wonderful trifle with angel food cake, however it exploded all over my oven so the treat was a lot of work as I then had to scrub out my oven!  Oh well, I'm still learning. :)
Clinton has now started an online course through Steinbach Bible College.  His plan is to finish off his pastoral degree when we return next summer, so he's getting a head start!  It's a lot of reading and assignments but I know he can do it well.
On that note, I'll sign off.  We truly want to thank you all for your continued prayers and support.  We appreciate the emails, notes of encouragement and skype calls.
You are all special to us and we pray God's richest blessings on you all.

Clinton & Rolanda, Tayah, Aowyn, Rorik

Prayer Requests:
1. Clinton's course:  focus and understanding of the course material
2.  the church of PNG:  growth in maturity and numbers
3.  personnel for the hangar:  pilots and mechanics
4.  safety for our family
5.  finances:  especially as we look to the cost of coming home next summer and setting up a house when we get home

Catch up time!

So it's been awhile eh?  :)  You see I still have my Canadian-isms!  To catch you all up on what's been going on in our lives out here in PNG I'll back track to July...
Lapilo center tends to empty out pretty quickly after school lets out at the end of May, so the "summer" months are fairly quiet around here... except at our house of course!  :)  We spent the summer months relaxing and continuing on with our regular routines.  Tayah completed her kindergarten year (which I homeschooled) and she did well.  She was granted admission into the 1st grade class out here based on some entrance tests she did.  She is the youngest in her class by 8 months!  We felt that might have been a hindrance to her, but she has been doing great!  The school year started off at the end of July and Tayah has been loving every day of it! 
She does great at math and reading, though her hand-writing skills need improvement.  She tends to write very slanted letters so we've been practicing extra hard with that.  I am amazed at how far she has come with reading... her mind seems like a sponge!  This is also very handy as she has a bible class in which she has to learn a bunch of verses, she's been picking them up so quickly!  Needless to say, we're quite proud of our student! :)
The end of July also brought about the twins' 3rd birthday.  We celebrated quietly at home with cake and some presents.  The twins seem to have grown up so much in the year that we've been here... but I guess that's to be expected! :)
August brought about Tayah's 2nd root canal procedure.  This time however, Tayah and Clinton were able to travel in with a friend of ours who had to take his boy to the dentist for a root canal as well!  The Lord worked out a great blessing for us.  This saved us a lot of money as this friend owns his own car so we didn't have to rent and the gas was split between both our families.  It also provided a great deal of safety in travelling as the more men you travel with the safer you are!  I didn't worry nearly so much this time around.  Another blessing was that this root canal took 3 visits instead of 4 and none of them caused Tayah much pain.  She actually really looked forward to visiting the dentist!  He is a really nice man and always complimented Tayah on her pretty dresses :). 
As for our ministries out here...
Clinton continues to fill 2 positions at the hangar and is keeping up fairly well.  He still enjoys being busy and truly enjoys working with the guys at the hangar.  Pilots and mechanics seem to be in great demand and short supply.  It's been a source of frustration and anxiety for many, not knowing if we'll have the personnel to keep the flight department running.  It's a great snowball effect.  If the flight department can't fly then the tribal missionaries can't stay in the tribes as they can't get food/supplies and they won't be able to come out in case of medical emergency or for other reasons.  We are getting desperate for more pilots/mechanics, but in all this, we know that God has not forgotten.  He knows our needs and in all honesty, the people of PNG mean much more to Him then they do to us ultimately.  We love our national brothers & sisters, but these are the people Christ died for... He will provide.  His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are so much greater than ours!  Who are we to complain or demand our way... (these are great things to remind myself of when I start to feel anxious or forgotten).
As for the clinic, we continue to run with a fairly full staff right now!  Praise God!  We have 2 American doctors this year, 1 RN from Germany, 2 from the states, and me!  1 of the American nurses will be going home in December, but we'll manage.  I truly enjoy all the new skills I am learning.  I'm quite proficient at the xray machine and lab machines.  I enjoy the pharmacy aspect of it as well as I'm learning more about medications.  I love the variety of patients that come in, the vast array of different diseases/illnesses and the differing degrees of severity within the patients.  I love how we all work together to bring about healing, but how ultimately we all recognize God's hand in the medical care we give.  I love the opportunity to practice my Pidgin with the patients, they are very understanding when I mess up or say something wrong...and very quick to laugh with me when I say something completely inappropriate! :)  I'm still learning!
Socially we are involved in a few things...
Clinton plays soccer or hockey on sundays.  Though soccer has become his new favorite game to play out here.  He really misses the ice and I know he's looking forward to playing some real hockey when he gets home next winter! :) 
I am involved in a ladies Bible study on Grace by Kay Arthur.  It's been truly a blessing to me to be able to meet with these ladies and learn from them.  I also play women's floor hockey on monday nights... and I love it!  :)  Who would have thought eh?  My slapshot is actually better than Clinton's now... :)
Tayah is involved in wednesday night soccer for grades 1-4 and she loves the competition!  Many times we'll catch her doing spins and ballet moves on the court rather than focusing on the game, but she's still having fun!  Tayah has 2 days left of school for this term. (our school year has 4 terms).  She's excited for the break, but I think she'll get bored pretty quick! :)  My job will be to keep them all occupied!
It's been raining a lot the last few days, lucky for our family we love the rain!  However, it does cause problems for the nationals if there is too much rain.  It floods gardens and ruins the food,  it also causes mudslides and the river to rise and wipe out more gardens.  It's also more treacherous for them to cross the river as it rises.  
Well I'll sign this post off for now, but I just wanted to say thank you to all who have been praying for us and continue to pray for us.  We love you all!
Some items to pray for specifically:
1.  personnel for NTM aviation (for pilots/mechanics)
2.  for our continued health and safety
3.  that we would serve with a joyful heart even when things are difficult or we miss home

 Tayah enjoying the water slide

 Aowyn feeding Rorik

 Tayah's first day at school

 Twins' 3rd year picture

God Bless!

June!

Well the beginning of June brought about the time for Clinton's mom, Ann Friesen, to leave PNG and head home.  It was a very sad time for us and I was surprised at how the kids (even the twins) seemed to understand that grandma was leaving for a long time.  The memories we made with her are wonderful and we will always treasure the special times we had with her all to ourselves! :)
The sunday before grandma left we went to visit a fairly local village church.  To get to it you have to cross a fairly wide river that was almost chest deep with a pretty good current.  It was quite the adventure to get there!  :)  It was a lot of fun though and we didn't lose grandma in the river! :)  The fellowship with the national believers was sweet and they were very inviting and gracious.  Even though we couldn't understand everything, we knew the message was Christ-centered.  It's lovely to hear God's Word in different languages...that's what it's all about right?  Reaching every tribe!
June also brought about Tayah's complaints of 2 of her molars giving her pain almost daily.  I was giving her pain medication quite often so we were finally able to get an appointment at the nearest dentist here in PNG which is still a 2 hour drive away.  The dentist is with another mission organization called SIL.  He took a quick look in her mouth and said she needed root canals on both those molars.  Ahhhhh!  That involves 4-5 trips per tooth which is a lot of driving and very expensive for us.  We asked if he couldn't just pull them both out, but as they are molars they would only naturally fall out around age 11 and in the meantime the space would close and not have room for her adult teeth to come in and then she couldn't possibly need braces or surgery.  Also if he were to pull them out now, that would involved a fairly difficult surgery.  So the only option available to us was the root canals.  So we started the first one and it was quite painful for Tayah the first time, but the subsequent treatments on that tooth have been fairly pain free!  Praise God!  Due to elections happening soon, we will have to postpone the 2nd root canal as the travel will become dangerous for us on the roads due to rioting or protesting.  So pray with us that Tayah's 2nd molar won't cause her too much pain in the meantime.  We should be able to continue with the 2nd root canal at the end of august.
I mentioned elections.  The election process out here is very different from back home.  The candidates all do their speeches and rallies, though they also feed the people to gain votes.  There is a lot of blackmail and bribing that takes place to ensure votes in their favor.  There is a lot of violence between opposing candidates and their followers.  There have already been a few election-related deaths in the past few weeks.  The candidating seems to go on for a long time.  We hear them on the speaker phones driving down the road and talking about their chosen leader's good qualities and what he's promised the country.  The people who stand with a certain candidate will spend hours a day singing and campaigning for him.  The vote is supposed to take place in early July and there is expected to be a sharp rise in violence and rioting once the ballots have been tallied as many won't be happy about the outcome.  Of course the towns are a higher safety issue, though people are targeted on the road as well which is why we are not supposed to travel during this time.
I have also been very busy in the Mission Barrel.  The Mission Barrel is a place where missionaries here at Lapilo can drop off items that they no longer need/use and also pick up any items they see there that they would like.  It's like a free self-help! :)  I am now the Mission Barrel co-ordinator so I've been busy organizing.  As the mission barrel co-ordinator I also have a lot more interaction with the national workers here on center.  For items that remain in the mission barrel for too long, I pack up and sell to the workers here for a very small fee.  The reason we charge anything at all is to keep things fair between the workers so they don't get jealous or fight with each other.  We find that charging a small amount and pre-packing the bags takes care of any perceived injustices.  
Clinton is still busy in the hangar.  The number of pilots and airplane mechanics has been slowly going down as missionaries are going on furlough or leaving the field.  Pray with us that the Lord would raise qualified pilots who have a heart to fly in PNG.
This past week a national friend of mine, Jeogina, stopped by for a visit.  It was nice to have her over.  The kids all love her and love playing with her.  I love the opportunity to visit and learn more language and culture issues.  It helps me understand the people we're trying to reach.  Jeogina actually became a christian at a young age when her mother took her to the village church.  Her sunday school teacher told her about Jesus. 
Well as I mentioned in the post, there are a few things we'd appreciate prayer for:
- Tayah's root canals:  minimal pain, safety traveling to SIL (2 hr drive each way), and finances to cover the cost of the treatments as well as the cost of travel.
- Election time out here in PNG:  things can get quite heated, just that we would remain safe
- For my busyness in the Mission Barrel:  should slow down in July
- For pilots and the aviation department here in PNG
- For our family:  health, patience with raising 3 young kids
We just want to thank you all for praying for us and going the distance with us on this journey.  We love you!

The village church we visited with Ann

My friend Jeogina over for a visit

Tayah at the dentist at SIL

Love, Clinton & Rolanda 

Can you make me 6 uteruses?!?!

Well as a continuation to my previous post I'll update you all on our trip to Madang with Ann and anything else we've been doing since she's been out.  We headed to the ocean city of Madang for 1 week.  We spent 4 nights in our NTM guesthouse and 3 nights at the Jais Aben Resort.  It was a wonderful time of relaxation and just visiting.  We did a lot of swimming while at the resort in both the swimming pools and the ocean.  The kids loved the small beach area at Jais Aben and even though there are some dangers to be aware of (ie. stone fish), we were able to truly enjoy it!  Clinton & I did some snorkeling and I must say that I almost panicked a few times.  Looking under the water and seeing the coral freaked me out a bit but after I got used to it I really enjoyed it!  The coral and the fish we saw were so amazing...my favorite was the electric blue starfish.  Our second day of snorkeling we got stung by jellyfish though we didn't know what had happened until we got out of the water and saw all the jellyfish in the shallow end.  I was a little concerned but we took some benadryl and a few hours later we were a-ok! :)  Even Ann put on the goggles and stuck her face in the water in the shallow end to see some of the fish.  And if you know Ann, you know that was a huge feat for her! :)  The weather was extremely hot and humid (too much so for my taste) but we kept the air conditioning on most of the time and so we were quite comfortable.
The airplane we flew in and out on was quite small, though the ride was surprisingly smooth!  The aerial view was fantastic to see the mountains and the valleys and the tribal locations.
Ann has been busy cooking us all our favorite meals and basically just spoiling us all rotten!  The kids are constantly hanging on her or sitting on her or playing with her...and she doesn't seem to mind! :)  How we've missed grandma!  Tayah wants to keep her until we go back to Canada next summer.  Aowyn has practically lived on grandma's hip since she got here and I'm not sure she'll remember how to walk once grandma goes home! :) 
Tayah has been homeschooled this year and the kindergarten teacher invited her into the class for 3 days one week to experience the classroom  and prepare her a bit for next year grade 1 as she will be going to school.  Tayah loved the experience though she did complain of the long days (will she ever need some time to adjust to full days in grade 1!).  She had to do some testing to see if she was ready for grade 1 and she did really well.
This past week I "inherited" another  ministry here on center.  I am now the "bossman" for the mission barrel.  The  mission barrel is a room where missionaries can drop off items that they no longer need or want (ie. clothes, electronics, household items, etc.- kind of like a selfhelp).  All missionaries are allowed to visit the mission barrel at any time and take whatever items they want, no cost.  It's a wonderful blessing to many out here and Clinton & I have used it many times.  Our kids love visiting the mission barrel to hunt for new treasures (toys).  Now I am in charge of organizing the new items that come in.  So far it's been fun! (though quite time consuming at times).
Now for the story that inspired my title for this blog... :)
I was asking one of my national friends if she would make a few bilums (crochet bags) for my mother-in-law to bring home for her grandchildren.  Instead of saying "...bilum long pikini..." (bilum FOR children), I said, "...bilum bilong pikini..." (which means uterus!).  I had just asked her if she would make me 6 uteruses!  I realized my mistake almost immediately and we both laughed for quite awhile over my language mistake :).
We have also taken Ann to the market here in Goroka and it was so muddy that day that we had very muddy feet for the rest of our time shopping.  I believe it constitutes a cultural experience! :)
Our visit with Ann has been so fantastic, and unfortunately the time is coming to an end in just under 2 weeks.  We're all really going to miss her...sniff sniff!
Well I should sign this post off as well, thank you for reading and following our journey and adventures out here in PNG.  Blessings to you all! 

Love, Clinton & Rolanda

Catch-up time!

Well folks, friends & family,
It's been a long dry spell for my blogging and I'm truly sorry! It seems that whenever I'm "in the mood" to blog, our internet connection fails or something else comes up.  So tonight, sit back and let me catch you up on the going ons of the Friesen family out yonder in PNG. :)
I'm not sure if I've mentioned before that I am currently the school nurse out here for our mission school (NCA- Numonohi Christian Academy).  In any case, I'm in charge of keeping the school lice free which means I check all the elementary kids' hair at the beginning of each term.  So our final term started in the beginning of April which meant lice check time! :)  I head off to school with my personal sized bottle of hand sanitizer and my hair in a bun.  I'm always a little nervous at first as I really don't like lice, but after the first few critters scurry across my fingers I get braver!  I have the do or die attitude with lice...if you show yourself I will catch you and squish you and then that child is sent home with a note to treat for headlice and how to prevent re-occurrence, etc.  Often times the children who have lice are the ones who live in one of the nearby villages and attend our school and it's so hard to control lice in those kids.  Part of the reason is that they live in such close proximity to other kids/adults with lice who are not being treated and the other part is that lice is ultimately a part of life for many of the village folk.  You'll often see them sitting and visiting with each other while picking through a child's hair and pulling out the lice and nits.  In any case, after I'm done head checking, I do a thorough washing of myself and I always have the heebeejeebies for the next day or two.  (And of course, I'm always convinced I have lice too!) :)
We celebrated Easter a little different than usual this year.  We still had an easter egg hunt for the kiddos, but there was no gatherings or church supper.  We did have some friends over for supper and had a great time with them.  The day after Easter, Clinton was able to go golfing for the first time since we'd been out here.  He had a great time with a few other guys and actually won the game by a small margin! (all while using quite outdated golfclubs!)  What a pro eh? :)  A unique thing about golfing out here though is that you have to use a national caddy and you pay them 10 kina (about $5) and a bottle of coke.  Clinton's caddy was a girl and he said she had an amazing eye for following where he hit is golfball...even when he thought it was in the complete other direction, she would find it!
April 23rd we celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary!  Yay for us eh? :)  We were able to go out for dinner to Goroka to a restaurant called "The Pacific Gardens" which is a really nice restaurant out here.  We were actually able to go out ALONE as in we had a friend babysit for us, I believe that was probably our 2nd date since coming out here 10 months ago. 
On April 27th Tayah participated in the NCA field day.  It was so much fun!  Clinton got the day off so we were able to walk around to the various events and watch Tayah participate in different games such as:   sack race, 2 legged race, 50 meter race, jump rope, beanbag toss, obstacle course and some other group games.  Tayah placed 3rd in the beanbag toss and got a certificate...she was so pleased! (as were her parents ;))  An unexpected medivac landed one of our bush missionaries in the middle of our races via helicopter.  As the landscape is very hilly/mountainous out here, the only flat area for our helicopter to land is on our soccer field so our  missionary who was ill had quite the reception with all the students and parents watching his arrival.  (poor guy!)  He's doing great now though!  Turned out to be a pretty nasty case of Dengue Fever.
The end of April brought about the most exciting even for us so far...Grandma arrived!! :)  For all of you who prayed for her flights...thanks!  She had no unexpected delays, no baggage fees, all her baggage made it out here and she made it here to PNG in one piece with her sanity still intact! :)  We were all soooo excited to see her come out of the gate...the kids were squealing (oh wait, that was probably me!), but in any case, it was a great reunion. :)  Our time with her has been going by far too fast, but we are enjoying each moment and are loving just being able to "hang out" just like back home.
If you want to read more about our adventures together with Ann then keep reading on to the next post, but I'm gonna cut this one off for now as it is already quite long! 

 Me enjoying my Ketchup chips and minieggs from home!

 Grandma baking with the girls on her first day in PNG!

 Tayah in the sack race

 Tayah winning 3rd place in the beanbag toss!

God bless!

March Madness! :)

Hello all! Well March has turned out to be quite a busy month and I'm not exactly sure with what! :) Sometimes it just seems like time flies by without you realizing it eh?

The month started off with me getting a house ready for some new missionaries arriving. I had to make sure the house was clean, dishes and linens ready, make sure the appliances work (order a gas bottle), and just pretty much make sure the house is liveable! :) This is called being a mission mate for the newbies, we had mission mates prep our house before we got here and it's a service that all missionaries living here perform at some time.

Mid-march brought about conference time. We had a guest speaker (Bill Meerstra) from Canada. The topic was "Entitlement" and boy were we ever convicted. You don't really realize how often your sense of entitlement comes into play on a daily basis. Not to point fingers, but I see this attitude of entitlement very clearly in my 5 years old! I know, it's crazy, somehow she must have been exposed to this while outside of our home...cause that would never happen in my house! :) Yeah right, I'm pretty sure I've taught her much about feeling entitled. Often we feel that God somehow "owes" us stuff because we've become His followers. For example, we feel that He needs to answer our prayers affirmatively, or we feel that because we've given up so much for Him or sacrificed so much for Him then we are "entitled" to have Him work on our behalf. The big question of the weekend was "If God does nothing else for me my entire life (besides saving me by having Jesus die for me) is it still enough?" Read that question again, cause it's a doozy. It's definitely not easy to answer, cause automatically we would say "of course!, salvation is all I need!". Is it? Is it? :) We often don't live like it is, do we. In my heart I often find myself bartering with God, I've done this for you, I've left family, friends all to serve you...I deserve this from you, you owe me (what?) Who am I talking to, eh? What a sense of entitlement I have and that's not all the examples I could think of.

One tribal update we received recently was the Biem people group here in PNG. One of the problems facing our missionaries there was illiteracy in the Biem people. How were these people going to read the scriptures that were translated into their language if they couldn't read? So the missionaries started having literacy classes and the first class has now graduated and the whole tribe is very excited about these literacy classes. More and more people are coming to learn to read and the ones who can now read are thrilled that they can write their own names, teach their children, and read the scriptures that have been translated.

Here’s a loose English version of Genesis 1:1 in Biem: “So so far before, in the time that God made the land and sky, He was there and he spoke and land and sky they just became. He didn’t make them with anything. With just words he made them.”

Pretty neat to see how the translation comes out in the end eh? It has to be culturally specific and significant to each individual tribe which I just find amazing. The work being done out here around us is so encouraging to us and so huge! I'm amazed at what God is doing in the hearts of the tribal people out here in PNG. This is what we're here for! :)

Thanks so much for all of your support and prayers. We truly feel blessed to have so many friends and family back home thinking of us and encouraging us and praying for us. You guys are awesome!

Love, Clinton & Rolanda

Hello Friends! Mipela laikim yupela! (we love you!) - I think I said that right :)

Well it seems like time goes by so fast sometimes and we always have good intentions of updating our blog more regularly, but alas, I regret to inform you all that we're not perfect! :) For all of you who didn't already know that already. :) I'll do my best to catch you up on the going-ons of the Friesen clan out here in PNG

The work in Papua New Guinea continues to draw believers to the Lord. In one village the Phase 1 teaching, which culminates in Jesus rising from the dead recently came to a conclusion. We have often seen the NTM video of an entire village celebrating the conclusion of this teaching and coming to the Lord as one body, but that was not the case in this village. The people said that this teaching was “strong”, but few made commitments to the Lord. And yet, we praise God for a few that did understand and gave a clear testimony of their faith and acceptance of Jesus' atoning sacrifice.

Clinton recently was talking with our missionary in another village and he spoke of how they were seeing a need to go back into a previous phase of the teaching because they were seeing that their young believers were not truly understanding some basic fundamentals of the Gospel. The people would say that they were saved by faith alone. However, these same people would define faith as the good works they do. This is a culture that has a very hard time understanding the idea of a free gift. The people may give a “free gift”, but they will always come to get a “free gift” from you at a later time. So, work goes on to try to help the people understand that the gift that was given could never be paid back, no matter how hard they tried!

Still another missionary reported that they were having troubles in their church with believers stopping joining in fellowship when previously they were very active. When they question deeper into what has gone on they find a similar problem with the understanding of salvation by faith. These believers have come up with their own idea of how many good works it would take to pay for God's gift of salvation, and after doing the math, they find they have paid God back and no longer need to be a part of the church. So, prayer is needed for all the many works going on by all affiliations in all the world that are bringing the true gospel.

In our family life we doing well, and continue to thank the Lord for the peace we have at being in PNG. Clinton is enjoying being a part of the work with our aviation program, and I am very thankful to get into the clinic and offer my skills as a nurse one day each week. I got to say, being out here has definitely been strengthening my skills and also helping me develop new ones. I love it!

I have also been doing photography again, every saturday for the past 8 weeks I've been donating approximately 1 hr of my time to doing senior portraits for the graduating kids out here. It's been a lot of fun for me to get back into photography and the seniors are such fun to photograph.

Tayah is doing really well in school and is reading really well. That is a really big blessing, since we were nervous about home-schooling her. She really is thriving with the individual attention she gets this way, but she is looking forward to joining kids her age for grade 1.

Just before Christmas we were moved from our house right near the gate into Lapilo to a place on the top of the hill in Lapilo. It has been a real blessing to move as our children are not constantly having to play on the road. Just the other day a family here gave us their swing and slide to keep at our place, which the kids are loving. The house also has an extra bedroom and the extra space is quite helpful. Not to mention that this house has a bathtub, which was really exciting for Clinton and the kids (though Tayah prefers showers just like her mama)!

We are beginning to gear up for a visit from Clinton's mom, Ann Friesen, sometime in July or August! Hopefully those plans can come together, and in the cheapest way possible. It will be really nice to show a family member what we have been up to, and for the kids to see grandma again!

The other day my national friend, Jojina, stopped by for a visit and while we were talking she was telling me how her husband, Aute, had loved the banana bread I had sent home with them awhile ago. Jojina was telling me that Aute was bragging to all his family in their village about how good it was, and yet when they came to visit him to try some of it he refused to share! He said it was far too good to share. :) I just laughed, Aute is known as quite a funny man in his village and he's always a joy to talk with. Jojina is a believer but Aute is not. He has been told the gospel but is still not ready to accept Christ. Please remember to pray for him.

While I was visiting with Jojina she told me she had to be somewhere by 3 o'clock sharp. So I was supposed to tell her when it was time. So our visit continued and I looked at my watch and realized it was a few minutes after 3, so I told her the time expecting her to pack up and head out. Instead she said ok and continued making her bilum (crochet bag), I was a little confused but was like ok, maybe this is a cultural thing. About 5 minutes later I started thinking maybe I said the time wrong...sure enough when I asked her what time I had told her it was she said "you said 5 minutes to 3 o'clock", after I finally got out the correct time, we had a good laugh over my poor pidgin and she was on her way. :) I've got lots of learning to do yet! Makes me wonder what else I've said to people around here! :)

One prayer request we have is for our passport renewals. We need to renew by April even though our passports don't expire until october, but PNG rules are that we will not be allowed to travel to any other country (including Australia in case of medevac) if our passports are less than 6 months to expiration. Therefore we have started the whole procedure and the only glitch so far is that I forgot Clinton's birth certificate at home (I think), and so we had to order a new one. Please just pray that all will go smoothly.

Another prayer request is for our finances, we're doing good! :) Bet you don't hear that very often eh? ;) All kidding aside, we are fairing well, though occasionally we have had to use some of our "saving for tickets home" fund. The issue is that the currency out here (the Kina) is rising in value compared to the Canadian dollar and so our money doesn't stretch as far as when we were first here. Costs are also continually increasing, for example electricity costs just increased 15% this past month alone. We are trying to be good stewards of all our finances and God has been very faithful in taking care of us out here.

Again, we thank all of you that have supported us in prayer and finances, making it possible for us to be here! We ask that as you think of us you would continue to pray for the work being done in PNG, and for your part in that specifically, and we would also be thankful if you felt led to support us financially.

May God bless you, keep you, and may His face shine upon you and give you peace,

Lukim yupela (see you all, common farewell greeting),

Clinton and Rolanda Friesen

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I know I'm a little late on the greetings, but I always figured better late then never right? :) Our Christmas was a quieter affair than usual (no duh), but it turned out way better than we were expecting! We spent the day with just us and the kiddos, and then had some neighbors over for supper and games in the evening. It turned out wonderful. The kids were excited about their presents and really got the hang of ripping wrapping paper off! We had received the packages from Clinton's family before Christmas so there were gifts from back home for the kids as well. We're still waiting on the package from my family to make it here (and praying it does eventually).

For New Year's Eve the kids went to bed as usual and Clinton & I watched a movie and went to bed early (party poopers I know!) :) It was nice though!

Clinton's ministry at the hangar has been going so well, he's made friends with the guys there and definitely feels a part of the aviation team. He is able to tease and joke with the guys at the hangar so that has been a big help in making him feel comfortable there. They in turn make fun of his food that he brings for lunches (ie. chicken balls, new years cookies, etc.). It's interesting different people's backgrounds are, even in a missionary community! :) It's good!

I have loved being in the clinic and being able to serve in this way. My pidgin is slowly improving as I converse with Bonita (the national worker in the clinic) and with the national patients who come into the clinic. This past week we had an emergency helicopter medevac from a remote tribal location to our soccer field here at Lapilo. The missionary who came to us ended up having viral meningitis and was quite ill, though he is doing much better now. It was a thrill for me to run down to the soccer field to meet the helicopter and my patient (definitely a new experience). Unfortunately for the missionary, helicopter landings on the soccer field are not a common occurrence so he was a bit of a celebrity when he arrived. :)

Tayah has been doing so well with homeschooling. Today I spelled out the letters j-u-m-p and she was so proud of herself when she got it! I admit I was quite proud of her myself! She makes me look like a good homeschooling parent, but in all honesty it's not my gift. She's just a very smart girl! :) I look forward to her joining the school here at Lapilo next year.

Aowyn broke her arm on boxing day. She was wearing Tayah's shoes and walking on the retaining wall outside our house and she fell off. It's only a 2 foot fall but she must have landed on her wrist. In any case, she now has a red cast for the next week and hopefully it should heal well. She has been great with the cast (though it is quite dirty by now) and she gets mad at me when I won't let her in the tub with Rorik. She only gets sponge baths for now! :) When she wants my attention she just bangs her cast on the table (silly girl).

Rorik is getting so big...he is now 4 inches taller than Aowyn and quite a bit heavier. They are looking less and less like twins, though Rorik's vocabulary is still very limited. (or perhaps I just can't understand him!) :) In any case, he's getting to be a very big boy. He loves all trucks, trains, helicopters, etc. We bought him a knock-off Buzz Lightyear toy out here for Christmas and he loves it! (even though it has now lost both legs and his head a few times, though the head still clicks back on). It's a leg-less Buzz, but he still loves it. :) Rorik also has started growling at everyone, I don't what he thinks it is, but it's not human. :) Mostly he's just cute, but occasionally he gets into trouble as his listening skills are not the greatest at times. (he's 2 right?)

Overall we're doing really well out here, it's still tough with missing family, but we're adjusting well. We were able to skype with family over Christmas and it was great! We saw some siblings and nieces and nephews that we hadn't seen since we got here so that was a huge blessing.

As we usher in this new year, we are looking forward to the many ways God is going to use us out here in PNG and also the many things He's going to teach us and bless us with. We are so thankful for our many friends and family members and our church family members who are praying for us and encouraging us.

Love you all!