"Summer" in PNG: Part 1

This month presented itself with a few challenges, plenty of fun, and some learning.

At the beginning of June, Adam took over the role of supervisor on the job site (the three new doctors houses).  The girls and I finished school about the third week of June and enjoyed some much needed “American” fun in the sun! This last week, after hiring some wonderful local men to clean out the garden space, the girls and I got busy planting. We have some cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, asparagus and zucchini already sprouting!

Our small garden area BEFORE

Adam busy in the new Field Shop

Small garden area AFTER

We currently have a Work & Witness Team here from Arizona. They are busy working on the decks and cabinets in the houses. Adam is proving a great “boss man” and has spent the last month proving to the local workers that he knows a thing or two about “American” style carpentry. It’s been a challenge for him as he learns the language and tries to communicate to them how he wants something done. He has created his own tok ples (language of the village), he thinks just adding “pela” to the end of everything is going to get him by. His workers are finding his humor quite funny and I think he is really enjoying his job. But, at some point he is going to need to buckle down and do some serious studying of the language.

This past week, the girls and I got to be apart of VBS (put on by the W&W Team) at the Nangbe Care Center. Sister Ruth and her husband house/care for about 40-50 orphans as well as provide the community with HIV counseling and care giver training. It was an amazing opportunity to be a part of the work being done there!

Adam is getting ready to go to Tonga at the end of July, meeting up with our home church. I am disappointed that I cannot go this time, but am excited that Josiah Radcliffe (a MK student here and Adam’s summer help on the job site) gets to go with him.

We had about a week this past month that the hospital was closed due to a situation involving the work being done on the hydro electric plant. There are few paying jobs here in Papua New Guinea (about 85% of the population is unemployed) and it proves difficult to please everyone. For the moment everything is back to “normal” and the hospital is busy saving and changing lives. When I start to wonder, “What good we are doing here? I’m not out preaching or saving lives in the hospital.” God has to stop me and remind me that the body has many parts for a reason (Romans 12:3-8) and it takes the work of many to accomplish God’s will. I think I can speak for our whole family when I say that we are so thankful for all of our past experiences. We can see that God is using gifts/talents, which we did not know we had gained or maybe thought unnecessary, to simply share the love of Christ in Papua New Guinea.

Adam holding a cuscus

The local people here are very gracious. Just like in the States, at times you have to be cautious, but there are saints here that have truly blessed us already. I have a gaden meri, named Betty, who I am very thankful for. She has been helping me with my tok pisin. Today she showed up with four other women to work on the ditch and hibiscus hedge which was over grown with weeds just outside our house. My immediate reaction was, “Great, I can’t afford to pay all of them!” Well, with help from my neighbor Gail and further probing, we discovered that just as we are missionaries to them, they want to be missionaries to us. So they started working around the station (back breaking labor, after fasting for a day) to bless us as they serve Papa God. Boy, did I have to go to prayer on that one! But in all honesty, I am so grateful to the people here for showing me service like I’ve never seen before.

Well on another note, we are still having problems with the internet and discovered this past week that our modem had been hacked. Thus the reason we were going through so many units so quickly. Hopefully once the Goossen Family returns in August we will be able to get station internet back on our end of the mission station, which will help a bit.

One more thing, we got a copy of Kenny and Kari Dodd’s home movies from their time here in PNG from 1965-67. (Thank you to all involved in the sending of that!) The Dodd’s were short term missionaries from our home church. We had seen the video footage before, but it was really exciting to see the Radcliffe’s house, the Knox’s church, the chapel, old hospital and many other buildings that are still here and being used on station! 

Thank you so much for all your love and support from home. We are feeling the prayers, so keep em’ coming! 

Blessings,
Stephanie

The Peterson Family is in PNG!

We made it to Papua New Guinea! What was suppose to be 36 hours of travel turned into 58 hours and on April 12th we finally arrived at Kudjip Nazarene Hospital and Mission Station.

Our journey here with 15 checked bags, 6 carry-ons, 1 baby and 3 kids was anything but easy. Thankfully God put a few angels in our path and yet again proved to us to be fully in control of all situations. The kids did amazing on all the flights. Adam showed great patience with them and helped me pull it back together when I just about lost it in Australia after a 16 hour flight with little sleep and baggage/customs problems. But like I said, God placed an angel in our path who took care of our luggage and ended up taking care of a major mix up that could have happened once we entered PNG with our US baggage allowances. God is good! 


Once we made it past that hurdle, upon landing in PNG, we found out our flight to Mt. Hagen was cancelled. God sent another angel into our path who allowed us to leave our luggage at the airport and the airline put us up in a decent hotel. It was a gamble leaving our luggage at the airport, but when we arrived the next morning it was all there and they even arranged to help us move and recheck it all.

We had a great teaching moment when the girls lost their portable DVD player and new movies in the transition from the hotel to the airport in Port Moresby. Adam went out of the airport, once we realized it was gone, asking all the shuttle drivers to look for it but he had no success. The girls were very disappointed, we prayed with them that it would bless someone else and we could see, after they had cried and asked about it all morning, that they had finally let it go. Hours later, as we impatiently waited for our flight, someone tracked us down in the airport waiting area and returned it. Not a necessity, but a blessing for sure!

Once we finally arrived in Mt. Hagen we were greeted by...no one! The airline had told the Mission Station that we were flying in at 2pm and we actually arrived at noon. Luckily, a local coffee plantation owner, who use to work at the hospital and is from Washington State, happened to be at the airport picking up friends who were on the same flight as us. He helped us contact the Mission Station and they sent our welcoming committee! Since my mom is probably reading this and is worried enough as it is, I won’t go into grave detail but this was not the best place on earth to be stranded with all our US necessities in 21 bags and with 4 small white children...some security risk, but, once again the Lord sent us help!

We had a beautiful welcoming. Most of the missionaries and the MK’s (mission kids) on station were at our new house as we arrived on station, with yes...ALL our luggage. It was very nice to finally meet our new mission family. Shortly after we arrived we crashed! However, for the next week, Adam and I both promptly got up at 1am, which is 8am in Oregon, thinking we were running late for something. The first week took some adjustments: mud, sugar ants, no water, cloth diapers, bug bites, chicken pox, cockroaches, shopping in Mt. Hagen, did I mention sugar ants?, bugs in the pasta, gas appliances, hang drying laundry when it rains each afternoon, and unpacking. Adam was such a help as I figured out things the first week; he helped fix the plumbing, cooked breakfast, took the morning shift of bug spray/sunscreen and even tackled a few cloth diapers!

Once we settled in...a day...they introduced us at Knox Church just outside the station gate, had a graduation party for the MK’s, went to dinner at several missionaries houses, finally met the Goossens (missionary friends who, through facebook, had been giving us tips and guiding us as we prepared for this journey), Adam toured maintenance, we met with our mentors, I had a meeting about school next year for the girls and my role in the field office. Then after being here a week we repacked our bags for our cultural and language study in Dusin. (That’s a whole other story to follow!) 

It has been a world wind of a month, with so many firsts! We are looking forward to getting settled here and finding out where our gifts and talents can be best used. The journey has only just began! 

Dressed up for spirit day at the MK school.

   

Getting closer to take off!

Adam Chaining Up

Well, it has been a long busy start to the year! But we had a great holiday season and wonderful time with friends and family.

In expectation to leave for Papua New Guinea on February 21st, we managed to pack up our bustling home in Newport and move in with Stephanie's parents on the 10th. Along with the move, Adam's job ended at the end of January allowing time to move and pack.

Watch Out!

Well...as you can see today is the 19th and we are NOT anxiously doing any final packing, yet! We were notified Monday that there were a few more delays with our paper work and now are looking at March 15th for a departure date! All we can say is that God's timing is certainly not our timing. We did get our work visa, praise the Lord, and are now awaiting the return of our passports. We are anxious to get on the road and are surviving this period of limbo. Premature but not disappointing, we had an amazing going away potluck at church and have been so blessed by our church family and friends.

We are SO thankful for all of the financial support. In just a period of four months we have went from nervous about setting pride aside and support raising to being fully funded through pledges and donations. This means that our daily living expenses and flights will be covered for the next two years. However, we are still working on building up our savings account for our personal expenses and the girls schooling costs. Adam has a few side jobs in the works, he has just about exhausted Stephanie's Dad's to-do list! Seeing that we will be here for a few more weeks he is going to have to find something to do! What is the saying about idle hands? :) We are amazed everyday with how God has provided. It is such an awesome confirmation for us. We have had the opportunity to be blessed by new and old friends around the dinner table these past few weeks. Thank you so much to all the families who have welcomed us into their home to hear about us and our adventure!

Lainie & Gracyn

The girls are busy doing school, Gracyn is crawling, and they are all enjoying "living" at Grandma's house! We are so thankful that they were willing to open their home up to us. I'm sure this chaos that we have brought into their peaceful home will help to soften the blow of us leaving...at least for a few weeks! 

We will most certainly keep everyone posted as we finally close this chapter of preparation and move on to life in the mission field. Thank you again for keeping our family in your prayers, we are seeing God's amazing work at hand! 

Gracyn Helping with the Garage Sale

Reegan, Gracyn, Lainie & Hali

Learning patience...

Yes, two months is too long in between updates!

It seems as if we are being tested in our patients again. We have been waiting since the beginning of October for Adam's work visa to be approved. From what we hear this process can take about three months...or longer. But we know God has a plan and His timing is always perfect. Habakkuk 2:3 states, "For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay." God is truly teaching us patients for his perfect timing. He will help to keep us focused and forbearing. 

Halloween FunAs we wait we are busy fulfilling the requirements for our entry permits (chest x-rays, letters of good health and character, HIV tests, vaccinations, etc.), praying for and raising support, sharing our story with Lincoln County churches, enjoying the holidays with friends and family, and trying to wrap our head around this crazy idea of packing our household of six into ten fourty-five pound checked bags!  

Adam's 2012 Harvest: Heavy 3x3 Blacktail

Lainie's First Year of Quizzing

Meeting Cousin Nora

We have been officially announced!

IT'S OFFICIAL...the word is out! 

We have been officially announce to the Melanesia and South Pacific region! We are currently waiting patiently for everything to come together. Just a few things we are currently working on: sending out support letters, waiting on Gracyn's birth certificate for her passport, planning a moving sale, starting school, bow hunting, waiting for work visa's and trying to figure out what to pack/sell/store!

One step closer and yet it still seems so far away. We will continue to wait and pray as things fall into place. Luckily we know His timing is perfect and we will leave when the time is right!

"To scout or not to scout...successfully?"

A mentor of mine calls cross-referencing "taking a bunny trail". However, my husband, who is a manly man, has decided to call it "going on a scouting trip". As I pondered the idea of scouting through the Bible and thought about what the word scouting means and how it might look in context, I also thought about the scouting trips we've been on while looking for potential game. 
Quiet, patient, focused, persistent...just a few words that SHOULD describe what a perfect scouting trip might look like. However, with four kids our trips usually can be described with words more like, noisy, restless, distracted, not exactly actions that assist us in gathering information about our potential prey. Instead it usually leads to everything but the desired outcome. (I will say that we do usually have fun with the kids, which in my mind is what it is all about.) 
When looking up "scouting" in the Thesaurus I came upon an interesting list of synonyms. It said, "search, look, hunt, ferret about, root around". As I contemplated those terms they brought to mind our girls and how uniquely each one encounters life. I realized that each of these terms describe them in their own unique way. Lainie, our oldest daughter, is a "hunter". She is determined, has a plan and needs to know what the plan is. Hali, our second daughter, tends to "ferret about". She is a free spirit, creative and imaginative. Reegan, our third daughter, is on a "search". Always looking for trouble and usually getting into it. And Gracyn our fourth daughter is...well...let's just say "rooting around" at this point! Each one looks at life and takes it all in through a different perspective. 
Many times in my own devotional life, I find myself taking "scouting trips" that are too often similar to the ones with our girls: noisy, restless, distracted. However, Psalms 46:10 says, "Be still, and know that I am God" and Isaiah 30:15 states, "in quietness and in trust shall be your strength". I am finding that I need to remind myself daily what kind of a journey I am on. Because no matter how I encounter life, I need to encounter my time with God in one way, like a successful "scouting trip": quiet, patient, focused and persistent. And my "scout" will help to lead me on a successful journey through life.