Episode 31 - Best Laid Plans

So I am sending this blog post out on Tuesday morning as promised, but the reason it’s a day later than normal is not quite what I imagined. You see I had planned to spend this weekend in Mariama, a small remote village in the East Sepik. The boys from my class were all going together. One of our teachers used to work in Mariama. He and his family moved in to Mariama along with another family from New Tribes Mission and began learning the tribal language – without any translators to help. Having learnt the language, they then translated the bible and taught those who wanted to understand what it said. After about fifteen years in the village, they had helped those who wanted to know more grow in their faith and establish a Church. It was time for them to leave, to allow the people of Mariama to take ownership of the church without those who helped form it. Mark still goes back from time to time to encourage and teach when necessary. This weekend was one such time. But it wasn’t just any visit. Several of the churches from neighbouring villages were coming for a gathering and we (the boys from the class) we’re going to stay for the weekend. To listen to the teaching, to share in the food and to sleep in the village. It would be a great experience and a great chance to practice our Tok Pisin. But for me it wasn’t to be. That was my plan, right until I got ill the week before (and I still tried to hold onto that plan for a while before reluctantly realising I had to let go).

The last time the boys were together...

Now don’t worry, I’m not dying, but I was really looking forward to going, so there is no way I would have missed out unless I really couldn’t. And so I spent the vast majority of the weekend (and a couple of days either side) tucked up in bed asleep rather than out in the wilds of PNG. I should have been gutted. Really really disappointed. But I wasn’t. Apart from the fact that in all of those moments that I was flat out in bed, there was no-where I would rather have been in my present state than safely ensconced in my snuggly duvet (doona to any Australian readers). But even upon reflection I’m not actually disappointed. Sure I would have loved to have been there, but it just couldn’t be. And that’s okay. And it’s okay because in life (and particularly it seems in PNG), the unexpected will happen, but it seems that for every cool exciting planned thing that the unexpected takes away, it provides two amazing unplannable experiences. And the very nature of this life is that it’s unpredictable and that’s part of its joy not its pain. I will remember who it is that orchestrates the uncontrollable and hold on to His promise that; “God works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His promise”. And so for these reasons I am not sad or disappointed, I just look forward to the next plot twist that life brings. Also, a lovely CRMF family brought me guava juice when I wasn’t feeling well and it’s impossible to feel sad when you have guava juice!

Episode 30 - The Complete Package

As I’ve mentioned, last weekend a photographer/journalist from MAF came with David and I to watch us during a radio installation. One of the benefits of this, (along with coming away with awesome photos of me looking like I’m doing something clever and exciting) is that it provided a good opportunity to reflect on what brought me here and all that the short time here has brought to me, as I was questioned about my reasons for coming to PNG and what exactly it is that I do. As you may well know, I didn’t come to PNG because of a deep desire in my heart for a particular people, nor for a particular work to be done, but rather, because of a list. A list of what I felt God wanted me to be doing with my life. A list that was as broad as it was diverse. A list that perfectly matched the job description of the role that I now have. But it is one thing to read a job description, it is another to tell others about it, and it is yet another totally different thing to live it. This week marked five months of me being here in PNG and boy has it gone quickly. It some ways it feels like it was only yesterday that I arrived, but in other ways it feels like it’s been a lifetime with how settled I feel. Even so, with as much time as I have spent learning about the different jobs and roles that I will be fulfilling, it is only in the last two weeks after completing my language training that I have really started to take up the job description.

LuAnne can make even me gormlessly waiting around look cool!..

And I feel so blessed, because you never really know what I job description will look like in real life, but this once has lived up to all its promises. I sat in my office this week and thought about how great it was that I got to create and put in place a plan which will ensure our staff get the skills that they need. A plan which will hopefully long out live my time here, one that will continue to keep on giving. But along with this long term working towards the future, I get to work in the immediate too, as I knew that afternoon I would be going to the local hospital to help fix a steriliser. Work that would help people today, right here, right now, and work that let me “play” with electronics too. A job that was fulfilling and rewarding and also plain fun. I get to work alongside great colleagues, to help teach them, and to build great friendships. I’m in a job where people come to me with personal problems, and I can say; “lets pray about that”. I have a job where I get to start every day praising God, praying to Him and reading the bible with my colleagues. I have a job that connects me with people so that I can spend my spare time showing the Jesus film who don’t know the story of His life, and so that I can share God’s word and encourage groups of Christians. This Job not only promised all I could want, it also gave me all I could want. Or should I say God not only promised to give me everything I could want, but He gave it to me too. And He always does, because He has given us Himself. All we have to do is follow Him.

P.S. I'm going away next weekend, so next weeks blog will be published on Tuesday instead of Monday...

Episode 29 - Remote (out of) Control

Friday morning I was due to do my first installation of a radio in a remote location. All week we had been preparing ourselves for it. We packed all of the equipment that we would install. Then we unpacked it all just so that we could pack it again to make sure we really did have everything. We went through all of my tools to make sure I had everything I could possibly need, whilst making sure I wasn’t carrying anything that I didn’t. This process was actually much harder than it sounds. As I mentioned, this was my first install, so I didn’t know what I would need and what I wouldn’t. Fortunately I had an expert to help me pack. Unfortunately it seemed that he had a different name for every tool that has ever existed.  This became abundantly clear after a very confused conversation about walking spanners. It turns out that adjustable spanners are known locally as walkabout spanners. This was promptly followed by me training to explain what a mole wrench was. Half way through my explanation I realized that I was talking to someone who had no idea what a mole was. It turned out that imparting this piece of information helped in no way whatsoever in achieving my goal, but just served to confuse the matter even further.

 

Packing

Thursday afternoon came and we were all prepared, although I have to admit that I was still nervous. I wasn’t on my own though.  David who has six years’ experience was coming with me. Not just David, but LuAnne an MAF photographer was coming along too, which perhaps wasn’t so comforting, knowing that every mistake I made might be caught on camera and that my very confused face might make an appearance in an MAF magazine sometime soon. Despite this potential danger, LuAnne and David did make excellent company. So all looked good to go and we were set to leave to our homes to get a goodnights rest before leaving in the morning, when we got a phone call from the hangar. The little tiny plane which was scheduled to take us in the morning had taken some damage landing on a remote airstrip and would be unable to take us, so we would have to take a flight out the next day or maybe the afternoon if we were really lucky. That wouldn’t give us enough time to install the radio before our flight back. Although now I come to think of it, they weren’t certain that that flight would run either. In fact, they were uncertain about any of their flights. This uncertainty continued right up to us getting aboard our flight at about mid-day, which probably gave us just enough time to complete the installation before our flight back, a flight which was still far less than certain to occur.

What ever you do, there's always someone watching...

Twenty short stunning scenery filled minutes later and we arrived at Guwasa. We got off the plane, waved good bye to our bags as they were taken to wherever it was that we would be spending the night, we ate a couple of crackers for lunch and we started work installing the radio at the local school. The work was fun and incredibly fulfilling. We had lots of help from the locals and much batter ensued. And yet despite all this, the work still makes a pretty boring read, so I’ll skip over the details. We worked hard and before the sun had set and the rain fell, we had managed to fix the solar panel and the regulator and wire them up. We even manage to fit the roof mounting for the radio mast putting us in a really strong position for the next day. Satisfied with our work, we headed down to the teachers housing and shared a delicious and very filling meal before setting up to show the Jesus film in the school playground. About three hundred locals came to watch and it seemed to make a real impact. After chatting with the locals and packing everything away, we crashed at the headmasters house and grabbed a little sleep before getting up with the light, clearing our stuff out and setting back to work.

It's surprisingly hard to take a good picture of putting up a mast...

With just a break for coffee and crackers we had managed put up the mast, hoist the antenna and install the radio by one. Just an hour later we had tested the radio and taught the teachers how to use it. With everything done we celebrated with a Papaya generously given to us by the teachers. Victory never tasted so sweet. I had barely swallowed my last morsel before to our great surprise we heard our plane coming in. We grabbed all of our things and ran to the airstrip. We said our goodbyes and took off just before the rain came in. Everything might not have gone exactly to our plans, but it went even better than we had hoped and our frequent prayers helped remind us whose plan it was that would prevail.

The airstrip

Episode 28 - Loosing Focus

When I first moved to Papua New Guinea, my world changed in a day. Everything was new, everything was different and there was a lot to learn and cope with. It could have been easy at that time to decide that it was too hard, to give up and to take my eyes off God. But I didn’t. In fact everything that I had to face came easily to me. Why? Because I always kept my eyes on God. Because every new big thing reminded me that I couldn’t do this, that I was out of my depth, so I looked to Him for strength and peace, and He provided faithfully. I have said before that it is in times like these that I need God most of all, and no doubt I will say it again. It is very easy to say, but I wish I wouldn’t, because it’s not true. There isn’t a time in my life that I don’t completely need God. So the idea of needing God more sometimes than others is redundant. That would be implying that there are times that I don’t need him, or that I need less of Him.

I couldn't think of a picture relevant to the topic, so I thought I would

 show you what happens when my head gets full of thoughts...

After a bit of time being in PNG life settled down and there weren’t so many big things. Just life. Lots to do, there’s always lots to. Nothing big, nothing special to being in PNG or doing the work that I’m doing just busy life. And as life became normal, in the busyness I started to take my eyes off God. It’s not that I stopped loving Him or that I loved Him any less. It’s not that I thought that I didn’t need him anymore. And in His faithfulness He never stopped guiding me. But slowly, over time I spent less and less time reading my bible and talking to Him and worshipping Him. And when I did do these things I got distracted more easily. And it changed me. It was slow, subtle, and I didn’t notice. I slowly became duller and more distracted, less patient and more easily frustrated, but more than that, I became less me. And I didn’t notice. Over time, I started to feel restless, like something was missing, and subconsciously like I was searching for something, but I didn’t know what it was that I needed. I thought that maybe I needed to rest more, or be more sociable, or drink less caffeine or even if I needed to be thinking about doing something else with my life for God. The Irony! The one thing that God clearly told me to do, I was thinking that maybe I should do something else and in my mind, to do it for Him!

What happens when you look at your feet

Eventually (this whole thing probably only lasted a couple of weeks) the patently obvious slapped me in the face and I realised how distant I had let myself become from God. I sat down and told God all about it (not that He didn’t already know), I said sorry and that I didn’t want to be distant from Him. And I changed. I became brighter, lighter, and happier (not that I had realised that I wasn’t) I became full of life again, and once more, I became me. When I learnt to snowboard, I was imparted with some great wisdom; look where you want to go. Keep your head up with your eyes forward and you will go forward. Look at the ground that you are standing on and you’ll end up in a big heap on the floor. I only want to go closer to God, so I will keep my eyes on Him.

Episode 27 - Stuff

Four months ago I arrived in Papua New Guinea with just my rucksack on my back. Since then I have living here with just what I could fit in my bag and a bunch of household items (such as plates and bedding) lent to me from CRMF. I have had everything that I needed. In fact, for the most part, I barely even noticed that most of my belongings were bobbing up and down somewhere in the middle of some ocean, rather than nestling in my house. That’s not to say that there weren’t times when I wanted to use something, only to remember that I didn’t have it, or that there weren’t times when I had to beg and borrow things rather than use my own. But over all, there is one startling realisation to be made; I don’t actually need all of my stuff. I can actually survive without it. In fact, I can even live a happy and fulfilled life without it!

Stuff

And then after four months of roaming the seas my stuff arrived, something which I’m not going to pretend to be sad about, although the sight of my small house literally filled up with boxes was slightly overwhelming. Over time my boxes started to be unpacked and my house looked increasingly like a container lorry had crashed into it. Basic tasks such as cooking and using the bathroom became more like challenges from the crystal maze. But as my belongings began to reveal themselves something surprising began to occur. Despite the fact that I had been perfectly happy in my house, and despite the fact this relative chaos which now surrounded me had swallowed up the peace and tranquillity of my formally tidy house (anyone who has even been to a house in which I have resided will know that I’m speaking in hyperbole), as one by one my things were released from their prisons, my house started to feel more like home.

I probably should have tidied before taking these pictures...

I had never once thought that my house didn’t feel like home. Nor did I ever feel uncomfortable or out of place. And yet somehow, I now began to feel more at home, cocooned by my own things. There’s something strange about being around your own belongings, using your own things, being surrounded by the stories and memories, they don’t make you miss what is gone, but bring you more into the present, reminding you who you are, standing on all that you have been. Of course, it’s also brilliant being able to use my things and to be able to do stuff I couldn’t do before, after all, everything I brought does have a purpose, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered to ship it 10000 miles around the world!

Yeah, that's right, I have bunting...

It turns out I don’t need all of my stuff. I don’t even need to do all of the things my stuff enables me to do. But this doesn’t make my stuff bad. It enables me to do things I couldn’t otherwise, and it can help me to be more myself. My stuff is a huge blessing. But, having been without it for four months also makes me see that it can be a huge distraction, or even an obsession if I let it. My stuff is a huge blessing, but it is always my job to ensure I don’t turn it into a curse.