Story Time!

Every time I travel, there is always so much experienced that its hard to communicate it all once I return! 

I've spent the past 6 weeks on outreach in Papua New Guinea and have created a newsletter overview of my time there. However, there were many details that just wouldn't fit, so here are just some fun stories of my journey to the land of PNG.

So the first thing I encountered was actually while in transit to our first location. We arrived safely with all our luggage in Port Moresby (the nation’s capital) and were greeted by our host family, The Moses’, who we would be staying with our first night (and then again the last few weeks of our outreach). The transportation provided was equipped with lots of spacious room for everyone, a tremendous amount of airflow, and even live music! That’s right, my first taste of PNG transport was in the back of a big flatbed truck. Similar to experiences in Mexico, seatbelts are not required and there are no restrictions to the number of people you can fit in a vehicle! It made for fun (and loud) rides together which I began to really enjoy as a time to relax and connect with others.

My first morning in PNG was another learning experience: Due to the high chances of getting malaria (which is transmitted by mosquitoes), my team and I were on medication to help prevent our chances of getting it. The Doxy is to be taken with food, but due to the early hour we traveled from the village to get back to the airport to fly to Mt Hagen, I had forgotten to take it at breakfast. While waiting for our plane, I suddenly remembered and decided to take the small tablet right then and there in case I forgot again… bad idea! Exactly 20 mins later I was hit with extreme nausea, light headedness and couldn’t move due to pain! It was a horrible first taste of the consequences of not following instructions closely – a lesson I’m glad to say I didn’t repeat for the rest of my trip. I was lucky that the side effects were short lived and cleared by the time I boarded the plane, but man I did not enjoy that experience!

The Village Ute

Arriving in Mt Hagen (the very center of PNG), the scenery was absolutely beautiful! The YWAM base where we were staying was a bit of a drive from the airport as it is literally situated halfway up a mountain and you need a 4 x 4 to even get to it! Quickly I learned that when children see white people, they just scream at the top of their lungs at you, but I think it’s their own way of saying hello J. There aren’t many white people in the highlands and so our presence was apparently a shock to some. You learned to get used to the screaming, but sometimes it definitely made us jump!

1 of the school programs where we got to inspire the youth
 in missions through teaching on the life of Esther

During our 2 weeks in Mt Hagen, we intended to teach Bible seminars to a group of local pastors. Due to a death in the community and miscommunication, when we went to meet with some key leaders about when to start, they asked us to wait a week. At first we were all unsure what to do, but quickly new plans fell into place. A missionary family that was located in the neighboring province heard about our Bible teaching team and asked if we could come and share at their local schools and hospitals. It worked out that we were able to spend 3 days with the family and we were blessed by their hospitality. Instead of just sharing with 8-10 pastors like we intended, we did 2 school programs where we got to teach over 1000 youth! There was a local hospital there, and we got to visit every patient, pray for them, do some skits, and I shared part of my story along with a message of truth and hope to the people there. We also helped sort out books as a school was trying to establish a local library (See video below)

So our original plans didn’t work out, but it definitely was for the better as we were able to affect and influence much more people than we could have planned – totally God.

A similar thing occurred when our team split and half of us went on the YWAM Medical Ship. We had intended to sail to the Gulf province (about a 24hr sail), but the ship didn’t have a chief engineer, and we couldn’t find one available anywhere!! We prayed and made calls and waited and then prayed more, but it seemed like we were stuck in a waiting period. Since we had medical professionals onboard who had volunteered their time, we wanted to utilize their services, with or without a chief engineer. It worked out that we could travel to a huge village just 2 hours out from Port Moresby, and we were able to provide health care there. Even though the people there are so close to all the resources and hospital Port Moresby has, many can’t afford to ever see a doctor, let alone dentist or optometrist! The village had over 10,000 people in it, and we were all non-stop busy the entire two days we were there. Although we couldn’t see everyone, it was God who directed us to minister to this village that would otherwise have been overlooked. After those two days of providing medical services, we DID get a Chief Engineer and were able to travel to the Gulf province as intended, but I am just so thankful for how it worked out. 

Me sailing... before it got bad

Sailing is an experience in itself. I have gotten sea sick a few times and so I was very hesitant to venture into open waters. To help distract me from my fears, my friend Brooke and I came up with a song about sailing. When the day finally came and we were able to actually sail, I didn't get sick at all. The best advice I took  was to find a spot where you can lie down and not move for the entire sail! It worked for me!

The sail back from the Gulf was a bit different. The sea was much rougher and I was a bit more ambitious. I decided to sit outside on the deck for as long as possible, enjoying the fresh air before being cooped up for 24hrs. After a few hours, my friend joined me and we decided to go visit the captain in the bridge. The front of the boat was diving and rocking like a roller coaster. At first I was giddy and having a great time, literally waving my hands in the air. However, the fun was short lived as we started experiencing 4m swells.Nausea hit me and I knew I was in trouble! I ran to find my "safe spot" - where I was intending to lie the entire time - but I was too late. I felt dizzy and weak and knew I could throw up any min. So without loosing any time, I grabbed my stuff, including a bucket, and "ran" downstairs to my bunk cubby. Lying down I quickly learned that if you breath in time with the waves, it helps soothe your body. I laid in my bunk, flat on my back, for over 12hrs straight. I have to admit, I did throw up, but only once, and it was due to the smell of food at dinner time. Lucky for me, I had a very gracious friend who came and took care of cleaning my bucket. It was definitely an adventure!

Well I think I'll leave it there for now... more stories to come!

Thanks for reading :) 

~Liz