Public Transportation at its Finest
"Its got free air conditioning," joked our friend and fearless leader over the roar of diesel engine and road noise. While we wouldn't have won any contest for 'most people crammed into the back of a truck' (that award would have gone to the truck in front of us), personal space was at a minimum. We were heading to town (yesterday) on a PMV (Public Motor Vehicle) as part of our orientation here. On the truck there were ladies with children taking produce to market, folks heading to town for work, and folks heading to town just because. One lady sat with her daughter on the spare tire near the front playing with an emerald green beetle (about the size of a quarter). She would let it crawl through her fingers and give her daughter glimpses of it. Part of our work here is to experience life, observe how people act, interact, and live, and write those things down in a culture file. This helps us to understand what kind of behavior is appropriate for us and gives us a platform from which to ask questions and understand the deeper thinking in the culture here.
Most of the time we are not the only ones doing the looking though. At one stop on our ride, several children who were sitting with their parents on the other side of the road called out to each other 'white man, look at all the white man.' I'm sure the four white adults and three white children riding a PMV here is a rare sight for them. Later, I was asking in the supermarket in town for cheese (there was none) and the man who was helping me asked why I was here. When I responded that I was a new missionary with New Tribes, he took a long look at me and said "Yes, missionaries like to come here, *it (PNG) is a nice place to live*." Which brings me to our prayer requests for the week:
Praises:
* The boys are doing very well with things. They even sat for two hours quietly with no entertainment in a pigin speaking church. (You bet we heaped praise on them for that one!)
* We have been out and about a bit and have made some connections with folks that will be helping us with language.
* We are all healthy and have been for a while.
Prayer Requests:
* We are constantly under scrutiny by the people - they really don't understand why we are here. Relationships seem to be growing, but there is still much that we don't understand and much that they do not understand.
* More missionaries are really needed here. I was talking with a friend here and he said that he had asked for a missionary for his village out in the bush - but was told that there were not enough missionaries to go around. (You heard it here to: 'Missionaries like to come here, PNG is a nice place to live')
* Timmy is learning to go potty on the toilet. He has yet to make the decision to be bothered to stop what he is doing and go there (even though he is well aware of the times that he needs to). We have been struggling with how to help him come to that decision (and the mess).
Thanks again for your prayers!
Nate for the Cs
Most of the time we are not the only ones doing the looking though. At one stop on our ride, several children who were sitting with their parents on the other side of the road called out to each other 'white man, look at all the white man.' I'm sure the four white adults and three white children riding a PMV here is a rare sight for them. Later, I was asking in the supermarket in town for cheese (there was none) and the man who was helping me asked why I was here. When I responded that I was a new missionary with New Tribes, he took a long look at me and said "Yes, missionaries like to come here, *it (PNG) is a nice place to live*." Which brings me to our prayer requests for the week:
Praises:
* The boys are doing very well with things. They even sat for two hours quietly with no entertainment in a pigin speaking church. (You bet we heaped praise on them for that one!)
* We have been out and about a bit and have made some connections with folks that will be helping us with language.
* We are all healthy and have been for a while.
Prayer Requests:
* We are constantly under scrutiny by the people - they really don't understand why we are here. Relationships seem to be growing, but there is still much that we don't understand and much that they do not understand.
* More missionaries are really needed here. I was talking with a friend here and he said that he had asked for a missionary for his village out in the bush - but was told that there were not enough missionaries to go around. (You heard it here to: 'Missionaries like to come here, PNG is a nice place to live')
* Timmy is learning to go potty on the toilet. He has yet to make the decision to be bothered to stop what he is doing and go there (even though he is well aware of the times that he needs to). We have been struggling with how to help him come to that decision (and the mess).
Thanks again for your prayers!
Nate for the Cs
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