Settling in

Ok, it's been a full week, and I can safely say that my heart is doing much better. Thank you all for your prayers! Life is certainly different than it was a few weeks ago - less busy, a lot less people around - but I'm learning how to live life around here, and pretty soon we'll be busy planning for the next conference.

I've been able to get out to the surrounding villages a little bit. It felt great to be out with the people again. We just sat around and "storied", and we even had the opportunity to eat some kaukau from a mumu they were preparing!
This is a little girl who sat with us ladies while we talked, and guys carrying a pig in for the mumu.

Here's a pic of our little group walking home from the village, eating our mumu fresh out of the fire. (Beth & I are wearing our bilums on our heads - like good PNG meris). I stopped to take that picture because I wanted to remember the moment. We're on this dirt road, with the banana trees to our right, huts to our left, mountains and blue sky ahead of us... eating our kaukau...a breeze is blowing... it's like God is walking right there with us... and I'm like "THIS IS MY LIFE NOW!?! It's amazing to me that God has brought me here. It strikes me every day that I'm so unworthy, and so thankful and I want to appreciate it like this every single day.

On our way home we saw this lady carrying firewood... very typical in PNG. But she still stops to say hi and shakes hands with us... balancing it all! The women here are just amazing!


The only part I don't like about life here are the constant goodbyes. People are constantly coming & going - on furlough, or they were just here for a short-term. It's brutal for me.

But other than that, I'm getting into the swing of things. I really enjoy going to the market and actually shopping there - not just being a ridiculous tourist. Here are a couple pics of us at the market on Saturday...

That's me with my regular bilum, and another bilum for shopping... I have some fresh popo, bananas, tomatoes, beans & an avocado on my counter right now. Love it! Now if I could just find some steak & Wisconsin cheddar...