Surprise Eggs

Claire and Isaiah have vague memories of Easter baskets and egg hunts from years past but they haven’t been a regular tradition in our family.  This year, however, there were three little “surprises” waiting on their breakfast plates…Kinder Surprises.

They are a chocolate treat that most American kids can only dream about since they’re illegal in the US.  Apparently, the small toys they contain within their shells could constitute a choking hazard.  So just in case you Americans should find yourselves longing for this sweet concoction, you need only go to Canada to purchase one.  Just don’t try bringing any back home, you could get a fine of $2500 per egg!

To prepare you for this little walk on the wild side, Claire will now demonstrate how to safely eat a Kinder Surprise…without choking.

1.  Unwrap foil around egg and discard responsibly.

2. Break chocolate shell in half to discover yellow, plastic yolk.  Eat chocolate.  Do not eat yolk.

3. Open yolk to find toy.  After reading instructions thoroughly, assembly toy.

4. Smile really big!

Having Voice

We’re in the middle of our branch conference right now.  I confess it’s not my most favorite thing to sit and listen to reports and discuss governance issues.  I’m not alone in that opinion because sometimes during our meetings we even hash out whether it’s worth the time and effort to have the conference.  This year, however, I definitely see some benefits…even to me personally.

I work at home and home school my two kiddos.  My social interaction is often limited to trips to the store and Sunday morning services.  So it’s not often that I get to hear first-hand accounts of the work going on in the far corners of PNG.

Today I saw photos of villages almost completely isolated from the rest of humanity by mountains and swamp land.  I marveled at the number of language groups (not to mention individual languages) that exist in the Sepik and Sundaun provinces of western PNG.  And I was reminded that there is still a huge amount of work to do.

Later we heard presentations on a couple of proposed governance structures, and we were given the chance to discuss ideas and voice questions with those at our tables.  Even though I work primarily as a wife and mother, for me it is huge that I have a say in this work, and that what I say is valued.  It serves to reinforce in my mind that what I do matters in Bible translation.

A few years ago Jon was working at a university back in the US helping to start an aviation maintenance program.  We were convinced that we were furthering Bible translation by helping to train potential aircraft mechanics for the field—a skill that always seems in short supply.

The difficult part for me was that no matter what I did as the wife to support my husband in his role, I was not an employee and not privy to company plans and goals.  I didn’t expect otherwise, but I still found it hard to be left on the outside.  And it didn’t take long for our mutual aspiration to just become his job.

Maybe that loss of focus is my own fault, but that time on the outside has made me appreciate the “voice” I have once again.  I may spend my days making meals, washing work uniforms, drilling multiplication facts, or printing conference name tags but there’s no doubt in my mind that I’m doing it for Bible translation.

(Photos by B. Boogaard & P. King)

Fitting Pipes

Post by Jon--

Even though I have a very specific role in supporting Bible translation here in Papua New Guinea, I never really know what I might be called on to do from one day to the next.

A couple of weeks ago a guy I’d never seen before came into our hanger with a look of concern on his face.  He introduced himself as the leader of a rural development program within Papua New Guinea.  His company is in the process of installing a hydro-electric system next to a river in the remote location of Marawaka.  He had a logistical dilemma and was in desperate need of help.

He had prearranged about two hundred sections of specialized water pipe to be driven by truck from the port city of Lae to our airstrip at Aiyura, where a large Twin Otter aircraft would fly the pipe into Marawaka.  The problem was that all the pipe was cut into lengths that would not fit into the aircraft.  He asked us if there was any way we could help him get the material to his job sight. 

Wanting to help, we organized a system of measuring and cutting the pipes into manageable lengths.

Then we grouped them into loads that the aircraft could handle and loaded each one by hand into the plane.  This was no small task since some of those pipes weighed about 200 pounds!

 

As we visited with the leader of the project (who was an Australian) we learned that he had actually grown up in Papua New Guinea in the 1970s.  His parents were missionaries in a location about 40 miles from where we are now.

We just never know who the Lord is going to bring across our path, or who he is going to ask us to help!

Farm Chores

The yard around our house in Virginia often had bare patches where we never could get grass to grow.  Here in PNG, we have opposite problem.  Grass quickly fills in any available spot—often faster than we can keep up with.  I’m sure the local people must shake their heads at us in wonder as we routinely pull the grass out of our rock sidewalks and driveways.  The aviation department even has to scrape it off the runway.

There is a vacant house up the hill from us whose yard we walk through just about every day.  We were starting to need a bush knife (machete) to hack our way through it though since it hadn’t been mown in about a month.  I notified the appropriate authorities and a crew of men came with mower, weed-whacker and bush knives.  When it was done it looked like mowed hay, and I commented to the kids that Chaco would probably love it.

Chaco is our neighbor.  Actually he is our neighbor’s steer, but he’s a very sociable cow and the kids love him almost as much as our cat…and probably more than the dog we were watching.  The day our neighbors turn Chaco into mince and round steak will be a heartrending one for our family.

With Chaco next door, chickens in the coop, cats on the porch, and dogs around the house, Claire and Isaiah fancy themselves on a farm.  Naturally they couldn’t let all that fresh grass go to waste, so they decided to play “farm chores” and haul it to Chaco by the bucket-full.

Chaco by now knows to come close to the fence whenever the kids are outside.  Carrots might be involved afterall.  He enjoys watching Claire and Isaiah play kickball and will sometimes run to first base alongside the kicker.  Once a stray ball landed on his side of the fence and he obligingly nosed it back to where the kids could reach it.  So he was quite willing to participate in this new game.

Together the kids provided Chaco with lots to chew on, but Isaiah gave up the game long before Claire was ready.  She even coerced Daddy into helping her when he got home from work.  The next day, Claire composed the following for her home school writing assignment.

When I am 39 years old I want to live on Grandpa K’s farm.  I will live there with my husband, 3 daughters, 1 son, 3 adorable puddies [as in puddy-tat] and 2 wonderful dogs.  My job will be to raise work horses, cats that catch mice and sheep dogs.  When I’m not busy I’ll ride my horses and do different kinds of arts and crafts.  I can’t wait to grow up so I can do these things on my farm.

By Claire (age 8)

I noticed cows didn’t figure into her future farm.  I initially thought she discovered cows were too much work, but then I realized chickens weren’t on her future farm either.  Most likely, she doesn’t want to deal with animals as food and the attachment issues that might arise.  <smile>

Regret Isn’t the End of the Story

“Elmer ran off and went on a ship all by himself?” asked my daughter.

“Yes,” I replied.  “What would you have done?”

“I don’t think he should have left without telling his parents.  I would have told you and Daddy to come with me.  Then Daddy could bring his gun and we would have been safe from the wild animals…and we could still save the baby dragon.”

“I see.  Then Elmer’s parents wouldn’t have worried about him.  So you think that’s what he should have done?”  I queried.

“Yes,” replied my daughter thoughtfully, “but then there wouldn’t have been much of a story.”

We’ve all read stories or watched movies where a character makes a choice that causes us to wince.  We know or can guess what’s ahead—embarrassment, struggles, penalties, and failure.  Whatever the case, the decision usually can’t be undone and the character has to live with the consequences.

The hardest part is living with the regret.  We get trapped by it because we feel like it can never be completely fixed.

Jon and I talk a lot about our time in Virginia.  Should we have ever left the work here in PNG to take a job back in the States for those couple of years.  It certainly didn’t turn out how we had hoped.  Did we make a mistake—not pray enough about it?  Did we ignore signs from God?

Whether or not we made the right choice, we still have regrets—the stress the situation put on our family.  Buying a house and turning around and putting it up for sale 5 months later.  Resigning from Wycliffe and reapplying 3 months later.  How we must appear changeable, unreliable or even untrustworthy to those around us.  Since we can’t erase our history, we could hole up in our regret.

Fortunately, we have a God who’s bigger than our regret.  If we look back on our lives, we can look at the high and lows and BEGIN to see the beautiful story God is weaving in our lives.  Yes, we wonder if we really should have left PNG.  We may never know.  What we do know is that we’ll never regret the friends we made in Virginia.  We have memories from our time there that make our lives so much richer and colorful.

I believe God can make a beautiful story out of any regrettable choice we have made, IF we let him.  Forgiveness is the beginning of the next chapter.  So let’s get on with our stories.

 

PS—Elmer Elevator is the adventurous little boy with no regrets from the “My Father’s Dragon” series by Ruth Stiles Gannett and illustrated by Ruth Chrisman Gannett.

Similes in Poetry

We’ve been learning about similes and writing poetry for school during the past couple of weeks.  The kids enjoy making pictures with their words and the freedom from complete sentences and punctuation.  <smile>  Here are a few samples:

Tucker

Brown like dirt

Fur like soft grass

Barking as loud as the wind

By Isaiah

 

 

 

Mittens

Black and white like a soccer ball

Fuzzy like a blanket

Purring like a little motor

By Isaiah

 

Chime

‘Chime’ makes me think of jewels,

Or that I did my best.

Maybe it’s a beautiful ballet dancer,

Or a nice cool breeze.

It might be dark purple swirled with light purple--

All in this musical sound.

By Claire

I couldn’t resist joining in the fun.  The topic of my poem was inspired by the blog of a fellow missionary that I enjoy reading.

Duty

Sounds like a sweet treat for a toddler,

But a thankless task for the mother.

If it were a creature, it would be a slow moving ox.

As a day of the week—a dreary Tuesday morning.

It’s colored olive green, khaki…and pink

When the obligation becomes an expression of love.

Out with the Old…In with the New

Our aviation department saw two miracles happen over the Christmas holiday.

The King Air finally sold!  (See photo on left.)  It had served Bible translation well since its arrival to PNG in April 2003.  Its main job was to fly between our center and the capital of Port Moresby or Cairns, Australia.  It also flew between 60-75 medical evacuation flights to Cairns.  But because it wasn’t designed for rugged bush airstrips, our organization decided it was time replace it with some new aircraft specifically designed for “jungle flying”.

That new aircraft is the Kodiak—manufactured by Quest Aircraft Company in Sandpoint, Idaho.  Our aviation department currently has three Kodiaks in its fleet—all of which are flying constantly.  A fourth was needed to meet all the demands of Bible translation here in PNG.  Unfortunately, the waiting list to purchase another Kodiak was long.  But in mid December, we got the unexpected chance to buy this Kodiak two years ahead of schedule.  (See photo below.)

Over 12 days, people gave hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Wycliffe Associates sent funds that they had already raised for a plane, and hundreds prayed about this impossible goal.

And God provided.  In a few weeks, this Kodiak will fly to JAARS in North Carolina to be outfitted for service here in Papua New Guinea!  We thank the Lord for providing us with an aircraft that has the potential to impact the hundreds of communities in Papua New Guinea who still don't have his Word in their own language.*

*Kodiak story adapted from https://www.jaars.org/updates/god-answered-our-prayers