Nicky's Adventures Out In The World

I believe. Help my unbelief!

2011-07-12T15:59:00.000-04:00

It's started - my load is a bit lighter. Last night I got rid of my kitchen table & chairs. Now there is a big empty space in my dining room, and with it came the first real pangs of the reality of my leaving. As my friend Matt said to me "your bonds are in your heart, not the table legs". But I realized, it's more than just another goodbye to a place. After 3 years of being a missionary, I'm just now letting go of the majority of my worldly possessions. I know, I know - it's just stuff. I like my stuff. I have nice stuff! It took me years to acquire it all. It's mine! Um, actually, nothing is mine. It all belongs to Him. This is just my fear, and my pride, getting in the way. I keep thinking "what if I need my furniture later?". Truth - God will provide what I need, when I need it. This hypothetical furniture might not be as nice as what I have now, but He is certainly capable of providing something even nicer! Or, if not, my little sister Barbie pointed out that I'll probably have the perfect furniture in Heaven. HA - Now, that is some good perspective. 1 more month! "[God] is not proud...He will have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him."--The Problem of Pain, CS Lewis

A few drops vs. the ocean

2011-06-29T14:58:00.000-04:00

I love coming across something in my reading that so perfectly fits into my own personal struggles at that moment. Yesterday I read this by Jonathan Edwards:

"To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here: better than fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of any or all earthly friends. These are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops; but God is the ocean."

Wow. I think that even works with following God's plans for you while walking through this life. I have rather pleasant accommodations right now. I have a beautiful apartment at the mission, overlooking a lake. I have stuff... like furniture. I have a job/ministry that I am passionate about. I have a lot of friends in Florida. I mean - a LOT. I've always been pretty social, but I've never had such a huge group of Christian friends who like to do all kinds of fun activities. And it's not just quantity, it's quality! Really, as always, my friends are my accommodations. I love them and can't imagine leaving them. But these are just drops; God is the ocean. I have been on this path for several years now. In fact, 3 years ago I was leaving to head to Papua New Guinea to serve there for 14 months. It was hard to leave my home in Wisconsin to travel to the other side of the world. I was devastated to leave my family & friends. But I LOVED it there. I'd never been so happy. Then 2 years ago, I cried all the way from PNG to the USA because I didn't want to leave my hut and my PNG family, or the life I'd enjoyed there, to live in Orlando of all places. But I've loved it here too! Today I was accepted to the New Tribes Bible Institute in Waukesha, WI. It's official - I'm leaving Florida and my life here. I obviously knew this was coming, but there's something about it being official that hit me pretty hard. Thankfully, I can look back over the last 3 years and see that even though the transition to each new place was BRUTAL, God has been faithful to provide to my every need. Including amazing friends. I KNOW, from my own experience, that if I follow where He leads, everything is going to be ok. Better than ok - because it will be from "...him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine". It feels awful right now. It feels unfair and too hard and I don't want to do it! But I know it's time to go, to move forward, and I have a strong suspicion that I will love what's next too. "Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to." ~ Elisabeth Elliot

First post of this year? I'm not much of a blogger

2011-06-16T13:58:00.000-04:00

Hopefully if you are in my life you have been updated by me personally on the twists & turns my journey has taken me down, but let's review... * After my trip to Belize last year I spent a month terribly sick. It turns out I had e.coli, along with some other Third-World Mystery Bacteria. After lots of labwork, a CT scan & a colonoscopy, I got a large dose of some serious anti-biotics and everything cleared up. Trips to the doctor are never simple for me - they keep finding more stuff wrong with me. It kind of makes me want to avoid doctor's entirely. (I have conflict-avoidance issues, clearly.) During this process it was discovered that I have ovarian cysts. While painful, they aren't serious enough to surgically remove, so I'm thankful for that. * I was able to spend Christmas at home with my family for the first time in several years. So fun! *In the beginning of February I converted my friends to Packer Fans!*At the end of February one of my favorite Germans - Jonny Ax - came to the U.S. for a visit. We served in PNG together 2008-'09 and have been trying to make plans to see each other again ever since. We went to the beach, visited State parks, went to a Strawberry Festival (where we introduced him to the wonders of fried foods & chocolate covered bacon), and spent a day at Universal Studios. It was great to be reunited and have fun together. In PNG we didn't have the freedom or opportunity to do much besides work together, so this was a refreshing change!

A day at the beachFlorida Strawberry FestivalManatee at Blue Springs State Park

*Now I'm in the process of applying to the New Tribes Bible Institute in Waukesha, WI. I have everything done except the Physical form (thanks, once again, to multiple trips to the doctor & more lab work being ordered. My stupid body is just falling apart! I can't wait for Heaven). I'm planning to leave Florida on August 11th, meeting up with my family in Alabama on the 12th (for my Aunt & Uncle's 40th anniversary party), and arriving in Wisconsin some time around the 16th or 17th. I found a place to live just a couple of blocks away from the campus. And I'm very excited to be starting the Bible School with a couple of Interface Alumni that I've known in Papua New Guinea! We're all very excited to go through the training together, and hope to serve overseas together at some point too! That's if for logistics right now. Up next will be a long blog all about my emotions & thoughts these last few months. YES! I know you all can't wait! "Fretting springs from a determination to get our own way!" ~ Oswald Chambers

More Belize pics

2010-10-13T08:40:00.000-04:00

Where we lived for the week - Bunk House & Kitchen Menu from a local restaurant - Mmmm, Cowfoot soup...

More pics from our morning at the ruins: The Kids

A few of us with Alfred, our bus driver and Creole teacher for the week. We face a humanity that is too precious to neglect. We know a remedy for the ills of the world too wonderful to withhold. We have a Christ too glorious to hide. We have an adventure that is too thrilling to miss. ~ Theodore Williams

Belize!

2010-10-05T14:14:00.001-04:00

The week in Belize went by extremely fast! As anticipated, it was SO GREAT to spend time with my Open Door peeps. I loved reconnecting with old friends like Seth (the Youth Pastor), the college kids & teens I already knew, and making some new friends as well. Our "mission", so to speak, was to help build a church for a local pastor who was having services in a room of his home. We spent the mornings either working at the constructions site, or "prayer walking", which was walking around the community and praying with & for the people there. We also invited all the kids (and parents) to join us in the afternoons for Vacation Bible School. What to say about our time there... It was HOT. Yikes! I helped out at the construction site for 2 of the mornings. Once I sifted sand to be used to make concrete. Another time I assisted with putting cement between the blocks to build the walls of the church (I'm sure there is a technical term for that, but all I know is that I used a trowel!) Oh the modern conveniences you miss when on a work site in the jungle. Things like ice. I may or may not have been willing to sell one of the students for a cold drink. (hehehe). Some of my teammates wrote a song that went a little something like this "Jesus Jesus, Send us a breeze-us, to relieve us, down in Belize-us." It became our theme song. It often rained around lunch time, and when I say rain I mean torrential downpour. It felt great! The pastor that we worked with hosted us for lunch every day, and we were treated to delicious Belizean cuisine. I particularly enjoyed the fresh-squeezed lime juice. After lunch the kids started arriving for VBS (Vacation Bible School). We started off with some singing, did crafts together, taught them a Bible Lesson (presenting the Gospel through out the week), and played games with them. The first day we had about 25 kids. By the end of the week we had well over 100, and we decided to do a late-afternoon sports ministry for the teenagers that showed up. Mostly, we played soccer with them. They LOVE soccer. And they loved us. By Friday we had built so many relationships with the kids & parents that we had a pretty dramatic & tearful goodbye on our hands. It was precious.We were able to sneak in a couple of hours sight-seeing. We hiked to the Xunantunich Mayan Ruins. Some of my favorite pics from that day...Of course, some of my favorite moments were just being with my team. It probably sounds silly, but I loved hanging with the girls in the dorm, having them braid my hair, sharing snacks, or fighting over showers. One night I crawled into my top bunk, fully intent on putting in my ear plugs & going to sleep, when all of a sudden a bunch of girls jumped on my bed & the surrounding bunks, and started asking me questions about my life and telling me about theirs. It was so cute! I'm so thankful for that time with And finally, just some shots of Belize that I liked... Thank you, again, for all of the support & prayers for our team. I was proud & honored to be a part of it!

Give me rules, I will break them Show me lines, I will cross them I need more than a truth to believe I need a truth that lives, moves, and breathes To sweep me off my feet, it’s gotta be

More like falling in love than something to believe in More like losing my heart than giving my allegiance Caught up, called out, come take a look at me now It’s like I’m falling in love

Quick Update

2010-07-23T21:51:00.001-04:00

Our time at Interface has come to an end. The students had a fantastic time on their side trips (5 days visiting a tribe) and some of them have been challenged into missions! Several members of the team will be starting Bible School either this year or next year. It will be exciting to see how many of them will some day be my coworkers. During our final week I taught my class ("The Blessed Blahs") and we experienced a fun earthquake smack in the middle of it. After I finished answering questions the students serenaded me with a song they wrote just for me... it was to the tune of "Hey Jude" by the Beatles in all "Blahs" in honor of the name of my class. We made it back from PNG with no problems - other than some serious jet lag and a little goodbye anxiety (pretty much all on my part). I leave for a mission trip in Belize on Sunday with the Youth/College group from my home church in Port Washington, WI. I CAN'T WAIT! In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures from my final days in PNG... The Students & I at Lapilo (New Tribes HQ in PNG)

Heti (The Miracle Man) & I

Brush-fire behind my house Students (Lynda & Abigail) & I in my favorite villageBeautiful PNGGoofy Pic of the students & staff together Saying goodbye to Julie & Janie (full-time Interface staff) "Neither go back in fear and misgiving to the past, nor in anxiety and forecasting to the future, but lie quiet under His hand, having no will but His." ~H. E. Manning

Our mouths are filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy

2010-07-05T20:03:00.000-04:00

It’s a beautiful day in Bena Land! And today, Rich Foster (tribal missionary to the Bena) witnessed a miracle. Today, Heti returned to the village. It’s just incredible that he survived the stab wound for one thing, but the fact that he didn’t get an infection is nothing short of miraculous. The doctors at the haus sik (hospital) often tell people to go home to their tribes after a surgery because they have a better chance of survival living in the dirt of their huts than at the haus sik – it’s so filthy. The people in the village are calling Heti “The Miracle Man”. Even the doctors said “We didn’t do this. We don’t have the knowledge. Your God did this”. And Heti gives all the glory to Him. When the people tell Heti that he’s so strong he says “I have no strength. God did this”.

Even more incredible is what has happened in Heti’s heart. At first he wanted revenge on his son. When the people came to him and said Ok, it’s great that God is healing you, but we need to kill your son, he said “Yes, kill him”. That’s just the culture here. They don’t know a better way – yet. But the whole night and the next day Heti was quiet and then he said “No, I need to forgive. God’s word says to forgive. I will forgive”. What a testimony to the Bena! We serve an Awesome God. He’s not some old dilapidated grandpa, He is a Mighty God!

In Interface news – the program is moving way too quickly! The students leave on their Side-trip the day after tomorrow. Side Trip is sort of the culmination of all of their classes, when they go live in a tribe (with the missionaries there) for 3-5 days. They are so excited! I will not be able to go with them, as only 2 staff people can go on each trip, and usually couples are the leaders. As much as I’d love to go with the students, I will enjoy my time here at Interface with the rest of the staff, and I’m looking forward to maybe having a day to relax! (Relax – Wait, what is that?!)

Time for some pictures! Here’s a couple of me in the village, learning how to start a bilum (woven bag).

We recently had a mumu in the village. A mumu is a big feast here in PNG. You put a huge pile of food (kaukau – sweet potatoes- tapiok, cooking bananas, cabbage, ferns, other greens, and lamb flaps) over really hot coals, on banana leaves, bury it, pour water on it, and use bamboo as vents to some of the steam out.

We all help peel the potatoes

While the food cooks, everybody hangs out together. Men & Women stay very separate, but everyone can play with the kids."Jesus Christ became Incarnate for one purpose, to make a way back to God that man might stand before Him as he was created to do, the friend and lover of God Himself" ~ Oswald Chambers

Has it really been 2 weeks already??

2010-06-27T20:35:00.000-04:00

It’s been 2 weeks and the students are starting to feel comfortable, in their environment and with each other. This means their real personalities are starting to come out! It’s been great getting to know them and hearing how God has reached in and grabbed a hold of their life. We just finished going through the Chronological Bible teaching. I was able to sit in on most of the classes (when I wasn’t in the kitchen) and I love seeing how the entire Old Testament is building up to the birth of Jesus – our Redeemer. It’s interesting to have that foundational teaching in chronological order, so it’s not just Sunday school Bible stories, but the story of man and our relationship with our Creator and our need for Him. When we came to the end, the trial & crucifixion of Jesus, it was like I was experiencing it for the first time. As one student (Drew) said “My allergies may have flared up a little bit…” I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room.

We’ve also done some things outside of class, like a hike to the place where the Interface “Changed” video was filmed. Here are some pictures from that hike…We call these "Dr. Seuss Trees"

My coworkers (Amanda & Julie) and I having a little rest after climbing the "hill".

The Interface Team

I had conveniently forgotten how dirty and smelly I get here! My feet will never be the same. Plus, it is dry season right now so there are a lot of bushfires, and therefore there is a lot of ash everywhere. I just finished sweeping up a ton of ash that must have come in through the screens, windows or cracks I the house. It’s crazy how much gets everywhere! The people burn the grass, and we have no idea how they control these fires, but they always stay under control… well, almost always. A few days ago one lady in the village lit some of her trash on fire when the wind suddenly picked up and that fire got out of hand near the road – but only briefly. Here is an after picture from that little debacle. :o) I’ve been spending as much time in the village as possible. I’m re-learning how to make a bilum. The ladies think I’m a slow learner (Hey, it's really difficult!), but a good PNG meri. This team is sure keeping me on my toes with my duties as camp nurse. I’m pretty sure at this point everyone has either been sick or had some kind of minor injury (mostly scraped up knees and elbows – but that kind of stuff can be serious business in a tropical climate). Thankfully everyone is mostly healthy at this point, including me! And of course, I love being here and part of me wishes I could stay forever, but God has other plans for me back home. I am just going to soak up every minute, and hope to have an impact. A friend of mine sent me an encouraging email and said “Each day you will have the option to do what's easy or to make eternal ripples for God's glory”, so here’s to making ripples! “God is looking for imperfect men and women who have learned to walk in moment-by-moment dependence on the Holy Spirit. Christians who have come to terms with their inadequacies, fears, and failures. Believers who have become discontent with 'surviving' and have taken the time to investigate everything God has to offer in this life”. ~ Charles Stanley

Blog # Threepla

2010-06-19T08:44:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I finally saw Joyce (my village language helper and friend)! We ran across the yard to each other. It was a moment. She called me “Indian Lady”. I didn’t really get that right away, but it was because I have long dark hair now and the last time she saw me I had short blond hair. She told me that she missed me so much, and that her son (Baby Rich) remembers me! Or at least he remembers the cake that I made for him. Typical! He wasn’t with her this time, but hopefully I’ll get to talk to him soon because he is fluent in Pidgin now. We haven’t been able to go up to the village for the last couple of days because of the State of Origin game. State of Origin is an Australian Rugby match (consisting of 3 games over a couple of months), and everyone in PNG really gets into the games (the Queensland Maroons vs. the New South Wales Blues). It’s a BIG deal. Kind of like our Super Bowl. In the villages around here, some of the guys get very drunk the day of the match and are therefore quite hungover the next day, so we stay out of the village for a little bit. On Friday we were finally able to go, and it was my first chance to visit. I was SO excited to see my peeps! There are a lot of new faces in the village because a Bena house-line across the valley were squatting on another house-line’s land and got booted out. They have been kind of crashing among our Bena people for the last couple of months. I finally found my friend Esta! She was very happy to see me – she hugged me, petted me, held my hand and cuddled right up to me when we sat in a circle talking with the kids and ladies. She kept calling me “longlong meri” (crazy lady) and “bikhed meri” (arrogant or stubborn lady). She was smiling and teasing me, so I was like “What’s the deal Esta?! Why are you calling me mean names?” And she said it was because I left her and went back to America. Aw! Last night we had another Campfire and the theme this time was “Got Any Rivers”. We talked through Joshua 3-4, when the Israelites are finally entering the Promised Land but first have to cross the Jordan River. The thing that really struck me is that God told them that He would dry up the river and they’d be able to cross, but first they had to start walking. They had to go forward, get their feet wet, and THEN the water stopped and the riverbed dried up. That’s such a great lesson in stepping forward in Faith. In other news, this morning in the kitchen I learned to crack an egg with one hand. Nate, one of the chefs, taught me how. Then he showed me that he could do one in each hand – show off! Having a Wonderful time!!! “[Jesus] is strong...but He's also approachable. He is able to carry our load...but He'll never make us feel embarrassed or defeated for asking.” ~ Joni Eareckson Tada

2nd blog

2010-06-14T19:19:00.000-04:00

I've been writing my blogs, but unable to post them until today, so here's the next installment right on top of the first... Things are going well so far. This team of students is incredibly enthusiastic – about everything! They are a very loud, fun-loving bunch, but also very humble and teachable. Yesterday we had the big talk with the girls about cultural expectations for the way we dress and how we act. It’s always a bit of a shock, and seems nearly impossible to adjust our behavior so drastically, but these girls were champions! They immediately stood up and asked if the way they were dressed was culturally appropriate (let me just say – they were all very modestly dressed to begin with, but for some of them their shirts were not baggy enough). And the guys are being great too. They are being careful not to talk too much to just one girl, to stay in groups, to not touch, and even to not have much eye contact – even when we are in the dining hall! They said “if we don’t practice this ALL the time, we won’t remember to do it in the village”. I am SO Proud of them! Yesterday after class they played their first game of ultimate Frisbee during free time. It was pretty intense. Most of them had at least 1 bloody knee or elbow. One of the guys ran over to me in the middle of the game and said “Nicky, if we knock a girl over is it ok to help her up?” I thought about it, and realized that even by extending a hand to help a girl up it would look bad to the Nationals – and believe me, we had quite the audience watching that game. Culturally it would be better for a guy to slam into a girl on the field and then laugh at her and walk away. Yikes! It’s so difficult to go against everything that we are taught in our cultural – to look people in the eye when you talk to them, to be a gentleman… but it’s cool to see that the whole team is trying so hard to not be a stumbling block to the testimony of the missionaries here. I have started working in the kitchen. Lo & Behold – I’m actually having a great time in there! I’m on for 2 shifts today, but then I’m off for the next couple of days so that’s nice. I managed to get a wicked cold, so I’m struggling a bit with a sore throat and stuffy face (I was going to say nose, but the truth is my whole face is stuffed up – my eyes are watery, my ears are plugged, I’m sneezing every 10 minutes like clockwork. Ugh). Anyway, the village ladies in the kitchen are very happy that I have come back. Yesterday Piku came up to me to give me a hug and held my hand for about 5 minutes and talked to me in all pidgin. I had to have her repeat everything 2 or 3 times, but eventually figured out what she was saying. It’s all coming back to me. Later, Kesi came over to say hello and I said “Moning Kesi!” She was so pleased that I remembered her that she clucked her tongue at me. I’d TOTALLY forgotten that the national ladies kind of cluck when they are very pleased or impressed with something. Ah, so much joy! I’ve been sitting in on some of the classes with the students. I’m learning so much, even though I’ve heard some of these lectures 2 or 3 times in the last couple of years. I love how God can teach us something new every time we dig into His word. I can’t even express how happy I am to be back here. I love it. It’s more than that, I feel as if I’m more myself here. Or becoming more of who I ought to be.

We have arrived!

2010-06-14T18:56:00.000-04:00

I was commissioned to meet up with one of the students traveling to PNG in Tampa. Honestly, I wasn’t looking forward to this detour because it would add a couple of extra hours of travel, but since I’ll be traveling for 2 days anyway, what’s 2 more hours? Well, it’s a very good thing I was there because we ended up having a very difficult time checking in. The lady behind the counter openly admitted she had no idea what she was doing, and after nearly an hour of phone calls & supervisors over a misunderstanding regarding our visas, she finally came to the conclusion that we indeed had all of our paperwork in order & the correct weight in baggage. BAH! My travel companion’s parents were still there, waiting patiently, and were SO GLAD that I was there to straighten everything out because they would not have known what to do. I guess God had me in Tampa for a reason! On the flight to Atlanta we had a large group of men in the armed forces, on their way overseas. I was getting really emotional watching them say goodbye to their families. Shortly before landing there was announcement – “on behalf of Delta, and I think I speak for everyone on this plane, we want to thank the brave men on this flight who are on their way to serve their country in the middle east…” The plane erupted in applause. Awesome. I may have had a tear or two. In the Atlanta airport I found 6 more of the students, so we met up for some lunch and to fly together to LAX. In LA we were greeted at our gate by 3 other students awaiting our arrival. Most of the team assembled there and we finally left the states at about 11:30pm (2:30am FL time). I managed to get a few hours of sleep on the plane, watched a movie, slept a little bit again, watched another movie… and arrived in Sydney 14 hours later. We met up with the remaining 3 members of our team in Australia and made it to Port Moresby a few hours later. I had a little trouble getting us all checked in – the immigration desk claimed we didn’t have visas at first and wanted me to leave all of our passports at a desk for them to process later. Um, no. Thankfully I had the gumption for once in my life to insist that they take care of it immediately, and they did! Sure enough, they had all of the paperwork they needed right in front of them. After getting us all through, we found out that 2 of the students were missing their luggage, so we’re still waiting to get that from Sydney. Bummer! The road to ITF is exactly as I remember it – horrendous! It might actually be worse than when I left in August. However, the scenery along the way is still absolutely breathtaking and I had a hard time grasping the fact that I was actually HERE! Finally, after a total of nearly 43 hours of traveling, we arrived at the Interface campus. I pretty much BURST out of the truck and ran to give hugs to all of my friends here. It feels SO GOOD to be back here, to be home. It feels like I never left. I can’t remember ever being this tired, but I feel that I’m exactly where I ought to be, and where I love to be.

And... I'm off!

2010-06-09T12:32:00.000-04:00

I'm taking a small break from packing, emailing, cleaning, re-packing, getting paperwork in order, and generally being a frantic woman. I begin my first leg of the LOOOONG journey to PNG tonight - driving to Tampa. Technically I fly out tomorrow. I'm going to keep a stopwatch running from the time I get to my gate in Tampa till I arrive at Interface so I can let you all know exactly how long it takes for me to get there. I'm in for a couple full days of travel for sure! I'm a little bit worried about the travel... not about missing flights or losing luggage, but more just that I'll be able to get some sleep somewhere in the air. Right now I'm too excited to sleep in my own bed, much less in an upright position. The internet has been pretty sketchy over there lately, so I'll do my best to get on-line when I can to update you all on my trip. I'm so happy. Land of the Unexpected - Here I Come! "It will not do to say that you have no special call to go... With these facts before you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the gospel to every creature, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home." ~ Hudson Taylor

Wisconsin Girl Banished from Homeland

2010-05-17T09:42:00.000-04:00

I've been having chronic stomach issues for the last couple of years, but it seems like it's gotten much worse in the last, oh, 9 months or so. It's finally gotten to the point of hating my tummy on a daily basis. My sister Robin suggested that I start cutting things out of my diet to see if something (besides onions - which I already know wreaks havoc) is causing the trouble. I don't eat much bread, so I threw out the possibility of a gluten intolerance. There are pretty much 3 items I ingest daily - coffee, a banana, and dairy products... The good news is it's not the coffee (I'm hopelessly addicted). The bad news is I'm pretty sure it's what I put IN the coffee. Hello Lactose Intolerance! Does this mean no more cheese for our girl from the Dairy State? Oh the Horror! If I wasn't already living out-of-state, I would be castigated & banished. I plan to cut the milk/cheese intake way down, but not out all together. We'll see. And so I venture in to the world of rice or almond milk and soy products!

2010-05-13T13:52:00.000-04:00

It's already May, and I have inexplicably been neglecting my blog. Guilt has finally taken its toll, so here I am ready & willing to share my life with ya'll. But first a recap on the last few months since I've neglected to post ANYTHING... * At work we've been very busy getting ready for our 3 summer mission trips (1 to Mexico, 1 to Brazil and 1 to Papua New Guinea). Lots of paperwork, lots of phone calls, lots of packing & repacking of suitcases full of supplies. Packing is apparently not among my many talents. * I'm continuing to be involved with a "small group" bible study every week. They have become wonderful friends and an excellent support system for me down here. We not only study the word together, but spend as much time together as possible. Including a 90's themed prom for Valentines Day. * In March I was able to visit the NTM Wayumi program in Jersey Shore, PA. It was a great refresher for me - to get another in-depth look at Tribal Missions from the perspective of the staff there (most of whom have lived in tribes in Venezuela) and a great reminder of why I'm doing what I'm doing! In March I also had 2 friends (from my time in PNG) come to visit me for spring break. We were blessed with free tickets to Disney World, spent time at the beach, and exploring the Springs & State Parks in my neck of the woods. * My Grandpa Schulze passed away in April. It was difficult to lose the patriarch of our family, but his funeral was truly a celebration of his life and the legacy of loyalty, love and service he has left behind. Also in April I celebrated Easter with friends in Orlando. We had an Easter Orphan Brunch - for those of us who are without family during the holiday. We went to church together, had brunch, and finished off the day for a full-blown Easter Egg Hunt! The competition was fierce... I only found 4 eggs. It was pretty funny watching adults run around a yard and battling over Plastic eggs! I'm leaving to head back to PNG in just under a month. We have solidified our team of 20. I will be on staff again, but this time in a much different capacity. I was disappointed to find out that I'm not going to be doing any teaching, but will be helping out in the kitchen and as an unofficial "nurse". Oh boy. I'm pretty much happy to be doing anything to be a part of this program - that's how strongly I feel about it - but God is taking me at my word and asking me to do things outside of my comfort zone with these responsibilities. He is teaching me to let go of my expectations and to be submissive. That seems to be a recurring theme in my life. I am definitely a work in progress. Still I am very excited about the summer! Not only do I get to go back to PNG (where half of my heart still resides), I get to spend a week in Belize with the Youth/College group from my home church in WI!!! I am honored to be a part of their team and very pumped to see them challenged with missions. It will be super fun to work alongside them and just be a part of their lives again! Satan, the Hinderer, may build a barrier about us, but he can never roof us in, so that we cannot look up. ~ Hudson Taylor

Back in the tribe...

2010-01-21T10:34:00.000-05:00

Every time I come home to Wisconsin people tell me that they are waiting for a new installment on my blog. The truth is that my life is, understandably, a bit less exciting than when I was in PNG, so I feel like I have less to write about. I have decided to try something new... I'm just going to start writing about what I'm learning, my thoughts, and what God's doing at my home on the other side of the world. Here is the latest... Months ago, when I was just getting ready to leave PNG, I told you all that Missionaries living in the village near us, along with some National guys from that village, were going to be starting an outreach to another Bena village. They began the chronological teaching in September, and this last week just preached the death, burial & resurrection of Christ. It was a very long, difficult few months for my friends over there. They felt weak, tired, completely overwhelmed, and more than once were discouraged to the point of wanting to give up altogether and just switch ministries. But God was faithful, and today we are all rejoicing that we have 7 new family members in Christ among the Bena! Nearest to my heart is my tribal susa (sister) - Joyce - who has made a clear profession of Faith. MAN! You may remember that last year, her sister Tumun passed away from cancer and what a huge testimony she was not only to her family and village, but to all of us at Interface. Joyce had gone to some of the teaching in the past, but rejected it. This time around she faithfully attended the teaching and now is really my sister in Christ! I can hardly believe it, even after praying for her for almost 2 years, I'm just in AWE of the fact that I got to see God in action - Working all things together (even the death of her sister) for the good!! That's my God! Here is a picture of me with Joyce & her son the day before I left PNG. She stopped by to bring me a special gift and say goodbye. It's really exciting that we have a team of students over there right now, who have been able to witness the end result of literally years of hard work. What better way to challenge them about missions!?! Please be praying for the team, for the missionaries as they take a little break and get strengthened & encouraged, and for these young believers as they grow in their knowledge and walk with Jesus. "What exactly has Christ done for you? What is there in your life that needs Christ to explain it, and that, apart from Him, simply could not have been there at all? If there is nothing, then your religion is a sheer futility. But then that is your fault, not Jesus Christ's. For, when we open the New Testament, it is to come upon whole companies of excited people, their faces all aglow, their hearts dazed and bewildered by the immensity of their own good fortune. Apparently they find it difficult to think of anything but this amazing happening that has befallen them; quite certainly they cannot keep from laying almost violent hands on every chance passer-by, and pouring out yet once again the whole astounding story. And always, as we listen, they keep throwing up their hands as if in sheer despair, telling us it is hopeless, that it breaks through language, that it won't describe, that until a man has known Christ for himself he can have no idea of the enormous difference He makes. It is as when a woman gives a man her heart; or when a little one is born to very you; or when, after long lean years of pain and greyness, health comes back. You cannot really describe that; you cannot put it into words, not adequately. Only, the whole world is different, and life gloriously new." ~ AJ Gossip

Much to be Thankful for

2009-12-07T16:51:00.000-05:00

After a few months of living in Florida, it’s finally starting to feel like home. In all honestly it’s been a tough adjustment for me, but I am beginning to appreciate life here a little bit more. That is due in large part to the new friendships that I’ve made. My apartment has become the hang-out spot for a great group of kids who I thoroughly enjoy hosting. (Hopefully they aren’t offended that I call them kids).

A typical Saturday night at my house:

One awesome thing about living at the NTM Mission is getting the opportunity to see missionaries I've met overseas who are passing through. In November my good friend Beth from Interface was here with her brand new husband on their honeymoon! It was such an encouragement to see Beth again, meet the man I've heard so much about over the last year, & to reminisce about our experiences in PNG together.A couple of weeks ago my Bible Study group said goodbye to one of our gang who is heading over to PNG to start his ministry in the Madang Region. We had dinner together at a Colombian restaurant to send him off. Good Luck Joe!

My job is going well too! We are sending our first Interface team to PNG in a few weeks. My coworker Kara is going to be leading that group over there. Be sure to keep them in your prayers… for safe travel, that they will be challenged & that they will have a fantastic experience while in PNG.

I am So So Thankful that I was able to go home to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving with my family. It was the first time in YEARS that all of my sisters & I have been together. While it was a pretty hectic few days, it was wonderful to be with my family for a holiday. I missed that a lot last year while in PNG. Most of the leaves were missing from the trees and the air was quite cold, dropping into the 30’s… the first time I’ve felt the chilly WI wind in almost 2 years. I loved it!

We took the opportunity to get family portraits taken, and of course, to goof around like only sisters can!

This last one is me & my favorite Niece! :) I'm so blessed!

"Thanksgiving is the language of heaven, and we had better start to learn it if we are not to be mere dumb aliens there." ~ AJ Gossip

Another New Start

2009-10-07T13:44:00.000-04:00

After 6 wonderful weeks back home in Wisconsin I have set off to start all over again in Sanford, FL. It was harder than I expected to leave, and I miss my family, my church and my good friends back in Sconi all a-fresh.The drive down was beautiful and blessedly uneventful…other than 1 incident where I locked my keys and my purse in my car and had to call a locksmith to let me back in. IDIOT! We had lots of help loading & unloading the moving truck – another huge blessing. And – WOW – my apartment in the NTM building is Beautiful!!!First Impressions of the Sunshine State: *It is HOT here. Yikes. I was expecting it to be a bit cooler, but apparently it doesn’t ever get that cold here. Despite the fact that it was 89 degrees this morning with 100% humidity, Floridians seem to be either unaware or unaffected by the heat. I was wearing shorts & a tank top, wishing it was appropriate to wear less when I walked passed a lady wearing jeans & a sweater…. Ummm… Just because it’s October does not mean the temperature drops around here! * It seems like Christians “down South” are more open and bold about their beliefs. Everywhere I go I see people wearing what I call “Jesus shirts”. And on Saturday I was exploring Sanford (my new town)and as I was walking through a park I found a group having a little worship service. I sat down in the shade to listen to the Baptist preacher share the Gospel. They also provide a bus on Sundays to pick anybody up and bring them to church… specifically the homeless in the area. I was pretty excited to see such a practical outreach to the community. I’m working on meeting people, finding a church and getting plugged in. I’m going to a Bible Study tonight, so I’m pretty excited to get to know some fellow NTMers. I start working with Doug & Kara on Monday. I’m looking forward to being a part of their team, and this ministry! More importantly, I'm stoked to be serving my King. "What are we here for - to have a good time with the Christians or to save sinners?" ~ Malla Moe

Reflections

2009-08-26T15:22:00.001-04:00

Now that I’m back in America, I thought it appropriate to take a step back… take a moment to reflect on the 13 months & 5 days I spent living in Papua New Guinea. But how do I sum up an entire year? I could talk about the people I met, the food I tasted, the indescribable colors of the country, the wildlife, the landscape, the smells… but what does any of that matter in the big scheme? The only part that is significant and valuable is what I learned – about myself and God – and what that means for eternity.

Here is what I learned about myself:

1) Physically, I don’t NEED much and can certainly live with a lot less STUFF. And God wants me to be generous with what I do have.

2) Emotionally, I was too dependent on my relationships – friendships especially. And God wants me stop allowing the importance of those relationships to over-shadow Him, and let Him to be my portion.

3) Spiritually, I have a lot to learn about trusting God with absolutely every area of my life and being obedient. A lot to learn about who God is – His Character, His Promises, His Will, His Word. About striving to be the woman He intends me to be. I learned that God has given me an ability to impact others lives… which is a wonderful gift from Him, but also a tremendous responsibility. I need to learn to be careful with HOW I’m impacting the people He puts in my path… how am I impacting this world for Eternity.

I’ve been hearing a lot that I’ve changed. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing, but I’m hoping most people feel that it’s for the better. Hopefully I’ve grown. It would be a shame to spend a year serving the Lord with my whole life in a Third World Country and come home unchanged.

At the end of my presentation in church last Sunday, my friend Seth asked “How has your view of God changed?” What a great question. I wish I had been prepared for it. I’ve been thinking about it for the last few days, trying to remember what my view of God was before I left last summer. I think He appeared much smaller in my life back then. I think He was someone I called upon more in times of need, but didn’t depend on Him for every decision, every circumstance. How often did I turn to Him only as a last resort, after trying to do it my way first? I think that I didn’t see or understand His heart for the rest of the world until I really immersed myself in another culture… until I heard their hearts and saw their need for Him. I don’t think I understood that He could use me for much, and wanted to use me in brand new ways. I didn’t see my worth, or who I really was clearly. How has my view of God changed? He is bigger than He ever was to me, and I am more in love with Him than I ever was before.

"'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world." ~ William Booth

Just a Wednesday

2009-06-10T08:18:00.000-04:00

I decided to do another Day In The Life of Nicky during an ITF program. I’ve realized that some people are very interested in the details of a typical day for me, so if you are one of those people… This Is For YOU! J I didn’t teach any classes today, or lead village exposure… but here is what today looked like. *Warning: May contain intense action sequences.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009: My alarm went off at 6:45am, but yesterday was Goroka Day (leading the students around town all day), and I’m exhausted so I hit the snooze till 7:15. Chat with mom on Skype for a bit. Stupid Skype does not work! Throw in a load of laundry and head up to the dining hall for breakfast at 7:45am.

At around 8:30 I hang up my laundry and check my emails. Rachel calls and asks I can tell the workmeris that she will be gone this morning and they need to clock out with me. Also, I need to check in with them and make sure they are doing ok. I walk down to the ablution block and tell the ladies in my broken Pigin that they should sing-out for me when they are finished for the day, and that I’ll be up in the office. Throw in a second load of laundry and hike up to the office. Rachel also needs me to print out more time cards for her. I have absolutely no idea what those look like or where to find them. I search the network, find something that looks feasible, print out a dozen forms and email her that they are in her mailbox.

The morning is a blur. I get a call from one of the security guys to have Danny give him a call (that conversation is entirely in Pigin, by the way). Danny calls me later and gives me new instructions for the security scheduling for the next Interface program. 1 guy has been suspended for 2 weeks for sleeping while on Night Security, 2 guys have to rearrange what nights they work because they are helping Rich Foster (missionary to the Bena) with Translation on certain mornings. This means I have to redo the entire schedule – an insane puzzle that will literally take me HOURS. First I make a new Security worksheet and Security Instructions document to put into the Security folder on the network so that Julie (my replacement in August) knows what to do next time. I’ll get to work on the schedule after lunch!

In the meantime, Rich Foster calls to find out what the Class Schedule looks like for ITF3. I make a copy of the schedule and email it to him.

Yesterday the official ITF3 student list (and their applications) arrived – Hooray! Now I have to start putting together a spread sheet of student profiles for the staff to look over. I need to show Julie how to do this, so for now I just put together an excel worksheet of the names of each student.

12:30pm – Lunch. Quick run home and hang up the 2^nd load of laundry. Hope it dries on time… it looks like rain. Nate arrives (new NTM Associate who was here last summer as well. He is taking over for Beth in the kitchen while she is on furlough). His luggage did not make it, but he made it safely! Hopefully it will show up on the flight tomorrow. Ah PNG!

1:15pm – run up to the office to open it up for students so they can use computers to email during their free time. 1:30-2:30pm – Staff Meeting in the dining hall (take notes and meeting minutes).

2:35pm back up to the office. A bunch of students are up there on the computers and asking me questions. Start working on Security Schedule. Make an Open House calendar for the students that will be around in between programs, and email it to the staff to sign up for. Show Julie how to make Student Profiles and then start working on them. It’s now 5:00 and I have about 17 things started and nothing finished… but most of these projects will take some time and don’t need to be done immediately, so I’m not stressed. I’ll work on them tomorrow! Time to turn off the computers and lock up the office!

5:05 – go back to my hut and take down all my laundry. It’s mostly dry. Decide that my house needs bit of a touch up before the students come over tonight so sweep the floors & clean the bathroom.

5:30 –Give announcements in the dining hall… “Skit/Talent night is on Saturday so start thinking about how you want to entertain us!” Supper time. Come home to bake some cookies.

7:00 – Campfire. Worship time and testimonies. Yay – I love campfires!

8:00-10:00pm – I have “Quiet House” tonight. Make tea & coffee for the 6 students who come over to read, write letters or do homework. I also use the time to read. I’m at the end of “Mere Christianity”. I really love this book! My cookies turned out awesome by the way. There are zero left. I was planning to shower before bed, but now I’m way too tired. Nigh Night!

Here is one of my favorite quotes from Mere Christianity: "Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of — throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."

For an Audience of One

2009-05-31T20:12:00.000-04:00

Once again, the Interface campus has come alive and it’s as if every one here is bursting with the expectation of what God is going to do in the lives of these young people. We are already 10 days into the IF2 program. As usual, I am running myself ragged. I want to do everything with the students, plus keep up with all of my official Admin duties. I have a hard time just chilling out at home and enjoying any quality down-time. I think the rest of the staff is going to force me to take a nap soon. But so far things are going well! It’s our first attempt at running a program without Emerson as director, plus Peter (the new bossman) and I had to prep without Janie, while battling sickness, but it all fell into place (Thank the Lord!) I’ve already taught 4 classes, and teach another 1 tomorrow morning. I had major technical difficulties (aka – my powerpoint was possessed) for my first classes, but I remained calm and rolled with it. I didn’t think it was possible, but I’m starting to feel a lot more comfortable speaking/teaching. It probably helps that my friends sit in the back of class and make signs like “You Rock” or stand up & cheer for me. HA! I definitely think the coolest thing about being a teacher is how much you learn while preparing the classes. Not to mention the discussions I’m then able to have with the students during meals or open houses. It’s also been a huge encouragement to have my friends Curt, Don & Kristina here. They were on my ITF team when I was a student and have returned to PNG to serve in Hospitality (the kitchen) for the whole summer. It’s so much fun having “old friends” around again. Plus, one of the students is a girl that I will be working with in FL. She’s here to experience Interface so that when we are back in the states we can work together to mobilize more harvesters to the field! I’m leading “Village Exposure” time with this group, and have been in the village with them twice already. On our first trip I made a new friend – Karufe. She speaks English very well, but mostly spoke Pigin because she wants me learn so that I’m able to speak to her people better. She also informed me that she was going to pray that Papa God brings me a “Gutpela Husband” and “Planti Pikininis” (Good husband & lots of kids). Oh boy, sounds like she’s been talking to my mom. During our second trip together, the students were surprised (and by that I mean several of them screamed and almost took off running) by pigs charging across our trail in the bush. I forgot to warn them that the people in the village often let their pigs run around during the day. Ah Culture Shock! Thankfully I teach my Culture Stress (Part 2 in a 2 part series) class tomorrow… Too often we say, "I have no talent to teach a Sunday school class." "My home is not nice enough to have a Bible study here." "I don't cook well enough to help with Meals on Wheels." "I'm a businessman, not a carpenter. I wouldn't know the first thing about building a house for Habitat for Humanity." When we step out in faith and offer all we have, God will use it in powerful ways. How much is enough? Just what we have when God is with us! *Photos in this entry were provided by my good friend Curt Sharp

Esra's Village

2009-05-13T20:14:00.000-04:00

I spent last weekend visiting my friend Heather at Lapilo. We had LOTS of fun plans. On Friday we were invited to the Numonohi Senior Class mumu. Ah, the joys of hanging with Teens again!The next day Heather's workmeri Esra invited us to her village to have a mumu with her family. What an awesome, once-in-a-lifetime experience!!! We had to hike about an hour into the bush. That in itself was an experience. We had to cross this crazy bridge over the river... Back on the trail it was seriously muddy, so I OF COURSE wiped out (still working on that least-graceful-woman-on-the-planet trophy). One minute I was upright and looking at the village ahead of me, the next second I was on my bum with a stunned expression on my face. While no one caught the actual fall on camera - here is a pic from a little while later of me walking through some banana trees while touring Esra's garden. You can see some evidence of the incidet, but I'd already gotten a little cleaned up. I was initially pretty covered in mud! At Esra's house we helped peel kaukau, carrots, and stuffed bamboo with chicken & kumu. Her family took care of actually cooking the mumu for us.We spent the whole morning just hanging out with them in their village. It was such a fantastic opportunity to just BE with the people. We were the only white-skins there, so it wasn't a big show... it was just a normal day. Esra was very real with us, and even talked about the hardships of being a first wife, and sharing her husband with a second wife - something that happens often in PNG. I have met many ladies here who are 1 among several wives. Anyway - enough commentary on the culture. Here Heather & I are with Esras family. They were so awesome to us! Also, I'm crouched down a little bit for this picture so that I wouldn't look like such an amazon woman. Heather is only 5'3" and she's taller than most of them... you can imagine how gigantic I look.On the hike home, we decided to take a short cut across the river. Esra insisted on carrying my camera because, and I quote "You'll probably fall again". Excellent - I am literally known around the world for my clumsiness. :) I don't even want to think about what is in this water...More Pics of PNG. Oh how I love it here!!! "I'll be your hands, I'll be your feet. I'll go where you send me, go where you send me And I'll try, yeah I'll try, to touch the world like you touched my life And I'll find my way To be your hands

I'll abandon every selfish thought, I surrender everything I've got You can have everything I am And perfect everything I'm not

I am willing, I'm not afraid you give me strength when I say ... I'll be your hands, I'll be your feet. " ~ Audio Adrenaline

A Very Special Day

2009-04-01T02:58:00.000-04:00

Wow, I just got back from a very special 4 days on the coast. This may be my last chance to get out of the Highlands and see a little bit more of the country, so I jumped at it. We had an opportunity to go to Madang for a long weekend. Our goal was to get out every day and be with the locals whenever possible, but not in the town. We wanted to be out in the villages on the islands. Time to step out of our comfort zones a bit, use our Pigin to communicate with the people, and experience some real cultural differences. One of the Islands is so small it only had 10 people living on it!

Sunday was our most special time. We borrowed some kayaks and paddled out to an island. There was a small beach there and we arrived just in time to help some people unload a boat full of bamboo!

We continued along the coast of that island and heard some singing. We found a little church service going on so we stayed in our kayaks (not wanting to intrude or distract) but listened to the preaching from the water. From there we headed to another Island. There were some ladies fishing along the way, so we stopped to talk to them and ask if it was ok to go hang out on their island.

It turns out the name of this beautiful place is Leper Island. HA! It’s because during WW2 they quarantined anyone with Leprosy on that Island. Charming. We enjoyed the beach and some snorkeling, and then the boys learned how to harpoon fish from some local guys! They all came back to the beach to show me their catches. (It would not have been culturally appropriate for me to go out there with them). There was a little girl with them named Linda, and I sat with her while she cleaned all the fish the men had caught. Then we played & splashed each other in the water while the guys built a fire and cooked the fish for us. It was so cool to just be with the people.

Oh yes... we ate Dori.

This last picture is sweet Linda, fishing again... just throwing out a line with a hook and some bait on the end. What an awesome day!!!

"Let there be kindness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile, in the warmth of your greeting...Don't only give your care, but give your heart as well." ~ Mother Teresa

"The soul, itself invisible, is seen by what it does through the body." ~ Johann Albrecht Bengel

Highlands Conference

2009-03-25T02:46:00.001-04:00

We just finished up the big annual Highlands Conference on Monday. ITF hosts the missionaries from all over the Highlands for a time of teaching, fellowship, relaxing, playing, worshiping, getting muddy (we've had a lot of rain), and encouraging each other with what God is doing in the highlands of PNG! It was just awesome. I was blessed to be able to attend a lot of the sessions… hearing lots of testimonies & tribal reports. I love hearing what happens in the villages as the Gospel is presented and they understand Grace for the first time. The joy and then the sadness & urgency these new believers have to tell others. It is an example to all of us.

It was great fun for me to meet & get to know other missionaries. There was a couple here – the Palmers – who have been serving in a tribe in PNG for 55 years! What characters! They were a hoot. From that extreme to the opposite – a young couple who’s only been in their tribe for 6 months and just starting their language study. The conference felt like a big family reunion! We had a skit night, lots of singing, a banquet, games, ice cream (oooh, what a treat!)… lots of lingering over meals with coffee and good conversation.

There was an older couple with some specific needs that needed less primitive accommodations, so I gave them my house and stayed in a cabin with my friend Heather. It was a little bit like camping and we had a great time. I also got to experience the famous ITF tradition – Bucket Showers!

During the last couple of weeks I’ve been battling a stomach virus from Hades. Ugh! I was only able to eat small portions, and mostly just rice and bananas and toast. Thankfully, that seems to finally be over. *Thank you all for your prayers about that!* Last night my PNG Family (Beth, the Germans & I) went to town for dinner at a new restaurant as a special treat, and I ate a whole steak! It was my first steak in 9 months… and while it was a PNG steak (definitely not the same quality as back home) I was grinning the whole time. I’m SO happy to be able to eat real food again, and to have a real steak! Now if I could only have some cheese…

In other news, things are starting to come together for me back home. I was able to find the cheapest plane ticket anybody has seen in 10 years, and God provided the funds for me to book it immediately! I also found out that I have a 1 Bedroom apartment reserved for me in Sanford, so I don’t have to do any house hunting. I am in awe of how all of these details have been worked out, through no effort of mine. It was some much needed affirmation that this is what God wants for me. I’ve been struggling with the idea of leaving PNG. But if I could be obedient enough to come here and leave everything behind, then I can certainly be obedient enough to head back to the States. Who knows where this next step will lead?!

“I want passionate feelings to characterize my relationship with the Lord Jesus. Of course, I want to be perfectly obedient to the Lord, but I want the obedience to spring out of a passionate love for him. I want to obey Jesus not simply out of discipline of duty, or because of some reward or fear of punishment. I want to serve Him simply for the joy of being able to please the one I love so much. If discipline is what ultimately drives us in our pursuit of Jesus, eventually we will give up that pursuit. But a man in love, or a woman in love will never quit.... I want my life to be characterized by an unrestrained affection for the Son of God” ~ Jack Deere

A Sigh of Relief

2009-02-26T00:57:00.000-05:00

It was so great to see Nationals around ITF today. I walked out of my hut and was greeted with "Moning Nikio!" and "Etahiabe Nicky!" Ahhh, sigh. It is so good to be back. I've missed my home. For those of you who don't know, we had to move out to Lapilo for 2 weeks and ended up hosting our latest conference there as well. While living at Lapilo I was able to take advantage of all of the health-care facilities. I somehow managed to get a major bladder infection, 2 cavities, and a wicked stomach virus that I affectionately call "The Plague"- all within 10 days. Leave it to me to spend a month hanging out in the villages almost every day, without incident, but visit a little city and I'm knocked out flat! It was a rough couple of weeks. But now I'm home, and finally able to walk around and eat normally. I really like food, and everything tastes especially delicious at the moment. The last couple of months have brought a lot of changes in my life, some of them very painful, but once again I've seen God providing what I truly need in extraordinary ways. Have I written already about how I love the smell of jasmine? I found out a year ago when I was at this organic fragrance store in San Francisco that jasmine is like my special scent. I don't think I'd ever smelled it before. And then I came to PNG and it blooms all over the campus here. Today I was out in the cabin circle... I had the very boring job of opening up all of the cabins and counting how many bunks are in each, so that we could make the cabin assignments for our next conference. It's not a hard job, just tedious, so I was having a hard time maintaining my "servant's heart". After I finished locking up the 24th cabin at the bottom of the circle, I stopped to take in the view across the valley below. It was still early and the sun was coming out full force - the morning fog pulling back over the mountains. A breeze came up and ruffled my hair, bringing with it the sweet aroma of jasmine. I stood there for a long moment... this moment that was clearly meant just for me. I suddenly knew how David felt when he said "I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this" - because I was crying and laughing and felt like dancing, but I just spun around a couple of times and said "Hi God!" "If you want a wonderful experience, take your New Testament and use a concordance to look up the two little words, but God. See how many times human resources have been brought to an utter end; despair has gripped the heart and pessimism and gloom has settled upon a people; and there is nothing that can be done. Then see how the Spirit of God writes in luminous letters, but God, and the whole situation changes into victory." ~ Ray C. Stedman

IF1 09

2009-02-10T00:31:00.000-05:00

Our first Interface program of the year was an absolutely incredible time for everyone involved. We had 14 students – mostly from America & Germany, and with all different backgrounds. It was such a cool dynamic! For me, it was exciting to see the program from the staff point of view. I was again thankful that I was able to go through the program as a student in July/August, because I could appreciate everything the students were going through & learning for the 4 weeks they were here. It was really evident to everyone that the ITF program is the heart & soul of this campus. The conferences are great, but it’s very clear that we (all of the staff)have a heart for the students and are all about pouring our lives into theirs. It’s our purpose for being here – and to show them the reality of tribal missions. That yes, it is difficult, but it can be done! It was so cool to just sit and talk with them, answer questions, and watch them grow.

My job was very different during program. I still ran around fulfilling my assistant-to-the-director duties, supervising the workmeris, and being the audio/visual geek… but I had several new roles as well. I had students in my home almost every night, ate every meal with them, lead many of their “village exposure” trips (awesome time getting to know more villagers, and working on my pidgin), hiked with them, sat in on some of their classes… and TAUGHT a few classes too! Whoa. That was a huge step outside of my comfort zone. When I was asked to teach I immediately said “yes”. A millisecond later I thought “what on earth possessed me to say that?!” I was ridiculously nervous, but also excited. I’ve given talks at Bible studies and churches (for the record, even that makes me nervous), but I never had the responsibility of imparting knowledge into willing minds before. My first class was “Health & Hygiene” – a nice easy one to start off with. I mostly talked about the physical ramifications of living with new foods and in a tropical climate – like wound care and diarrhea. Oh joy. This had the unfortunate side effect of daily confessions from students about their intestinal activity. But they were all very gracious about my nervousness and were excited to see God stretching me into this new area. They kept asking when my next class was and were so encouraging! I was pretty calm for my second class – Serving As Senders – where I was actually able to teach and spread my wings a little bit. I LOVED IT!!!

Here are a couple pictures of me that the students took:More pics of our time : Village Exposure Peeling kaukau for the mumu Before our big hike to the river. By the time we came back we were covered in mud (and by that I mean mud combined with manure!), a little blood from the nail grass, and got soaked in a downpour. It was the most fun I've ever had hiking:The best thing... the reason that we are here... is that some of the students truly had life changing experiences. After all they saw & heard, they are convinced that they want to take God's Word to those without it. Several are headed off to Bible School or Missionary Training. Please pray with us for them - that they would keep striving hard, trusting and pursuing God's call for their lives. I've watched Him do amazing things in their hearts and it's been a tremendous privilege to be a part of it, to invest in them, and serve in this particular ministry. "Whatever you do, wherever you live, if you belong to Jesus Christ, the call from heaven has come to you - to the highest honour a human being can experience. The Son of God is spreading His love, His lifestyle, and His life-saving message across this planet - and you know what? He has summoned you to join Him in His glorious Administration. Don't settle for anything less. " ~Ron Hutchcraft

News in the World, and in my little world

2009-01-11T19:32:00.000-05:00

I've had many people write to me and ask me about my thoughts on this article... http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/01/08/png.witchcraft/index.html When I read it my first reaction was that I was surprised that it had made it to the headlines in the states. Sadly, this is nothing new in PNG. This particular incident happened pretty far away from where I'm at in the Highlands, but I've heard of it happening even before I arrived here. There was a show on the Travel Channel called "Living with the Mek" - about 2 guys who went to live in the Mek tribe in highlands of PNG. There was an episode where the chief of the tribe became ill, and they blamed a young girl for witchcraft. Thankfully, she ran away before there were any "consequences". When the westerners did tests on the chief, it turned out he had malaria. But it doesn't matter to the tribal people... if someone is sick (regardless of age or health/hygiene issues) the only explanation is sorcery. Often a young girl is accused of witchcraft. And the people live in constant fear of the spirits. This is a land in darkness... spiritually and in many other ways as well. When Americans tell me that they think it's offensive that Missionaries go to PNG and push their beliefs on tribal people who are happy and content to live in the old ways, I just shake my head. That could not be further from the truth. They are begging us to come! Who would be happy living in constant fear of death or fear of being cursed or attacked by spirits?! I think I've mentioned before that every where you go there are ripped up cards on the side of th road. That's because if they lose in a card game it's due to evil spirits in the cards themselves... so they rip up that deck and buy another one. This is all true, I'm not making this up! There has been a tremendous testimony recently in my neighboring village. Tumun, a believer, became very sick. Her abdomen was swollen so much she looked like she was 9 months pregnant. We took her to the doctor and found out that her insides were full of cancer. The other people in the village called for witchdoctors to come and work magic, but she would not allow them in her house. She said "My family members keep trying to bring village "doctors" to heal me. It wouldn't be good now that God has brought me into His fence if I brought the things of Satan into God's place -- I don't want God's house messed up." As Tumun's illness became worse, her Faith was an encouragement to everyone! She was upset that she was missing some of the Bible classes because she didn't want to get behind, but then she said she was at peace about it because God told her that very soon her understanding of Him would beat everyone elses! An older lady in the next village just died with apparently the same sickness, and the word that was spread was of the agony that she suffered while she was ill as well as the torturous death she experienced. Joyce (Tumun's sister and my friend) heard that story, and then saw Tumun resting quietly and not being in any pain, and she saw God looking out for His child. She saw the quiet, uncomplaining spirit of Tumun, and she saw God in Tumun, giving her strength. Tumun passed away last week, just as quietly and totally at peace. It was all over the village. They'd never seen anything like it. Tumun's husband said "Tumun went so quietly. Many times, people who are dying cry out and come and go back and give those of us watching such heaviness to watch them leave. But Tumun went so quietly." When asked if he knew why Tumun went so quietly and he responded, "She knew God." What a testimony she has left for her family and friends. During her funeral, her family announced that they believed that her death was not because of sorcery, but because of sickness. This is UNHEARD of in PNG!!! And we rejoice for her because Tumun is free and she is the first of her tribe in Heaven. "I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain." ~ John Henry Newman

December: Part Tupela

2008-12-30T19:34:00.000-05:00

So of course it's difficult on all missionaries to be away from family on Christmas. To compensate for the sad times we might otherwise feel, we apparently plan LOTS of activities. The last few weeks have been FULL of festivities. At Lapilo there was a Christmas bazaar, choir concerts, and of course a Christmas Eve service complete with Pageant! Oh yes, it was the cutest thing ever. Here at ITF we had a staff party, where we all got together to eat, drink hot cider, eat some more, play a couple of games, and watch the kids receive their stockings. Oh, and we had a story time too.My friend Heather came out to spend the week of Christmas (and her Birthday!) with us. We attended a "Carol Sing" at the ITF director's house. We all sat around the piano and sang carols, and ate more food and drank more cider. (do you see a theme here?!) The next day, we (with Beth, Fred, and the Germans) made & decorated cookies, and then delivered them to all of the staff families - and did some caroling while we were at it. On Christmas morning we had breakfast together and then opened gifts - from each other, plus we 'd saved all the gifts we'd gotten from home in care packages and opened those together.

Boys sporting some of their new gear

Sunglasses & bracelet from mom. Buried in all the wrapping paper :)

In the evening we (single people) had a feast over at the Mixter's house - salad, rolls, ham, chicken, potatoes & green bean casserole. Plus birthday cake & cherry pie. After dinner we watched "A Muppet Christmas Carol" and just hung out together. Again, I was thankful that God provides not only a Savior, but also friends & family to encourage us when we need it. I am often overwhelmed that the God of the Universe who has already given us so much, cares about the little details of our lives. I pray that you all had a blessed Christmas! And as for the last week - we have been very very very busy preparing for our first Interface program of the year! Woo hooo! I absolutely cannot wait for the students to get here and to watch God work! Oh, and just a cute side note. Today I had a bunch of the kids from the village come to my door and ask if they can color. I've been bringing crayons and coloring books to the village when I go up and coloring with any kids that are around. I must have gotten a reputation! After they colored a couple of pictures they called out for me to come see their work. I now have some beautiful art decorating my fridge!

~ Nicky

"If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen. He could live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart. What about the Christmas gift He sent you in Bethlehem; not to mention that Friday at Calvary."

December: Part Wanpela

2008-12-28T03:50:00.000-05:00

December has brought some exciting adventures for your favorite Missionicky! I had the opportunity to spend the beginning of the month on the east coast, in Madang. Beth, the Germans & I were able to fly with NTM- Aviation... in a tiny 5 seater Cessna. That was a little nerve-wracking, but I've always enjoyed a good adrenaline rush.The temperature difference in Madang took some getting used to! It was not only extremely hot but I suspect the humidity is around 1,000%. I spent lots of time either in the water, or in the shade. It was incredible to experience another part of the country, and I very much enjoyed playing in the ocean, trying new foods, meeting new people, and reuniting with some friends I'd made a my orientation in FL who are serving in Madang. Plus, the culture is quite a bit different on the coast than in the mountains. Some boys playing by a "boat". Notice one of them is wearin' nothin' but swimming goggles and a smile!This is fried seksek wrapped in a banana leaf that I bought in the market. SekSek is from the inside of a sego palm, and a traditional food of the region. It was fairly disgusting.One of the coolest things for me was being able to go scuba diving again! I was PADI certified many years ago while spending a semester abroad in Australia. Madang boasts some of the best diving in the world, some say even better than the Great Barrier Reef because it isn't very touristy here. However, on the dive boat that day we had 7 people and 4 different languages. Thankfully for this dumb American, they all spoke a little bit of English. Check out how spectacularly clear the water is!How can I even begin to describe the wonders I saw under that blue?! There were brilliant colored fish, big barracuda, electric blue starfish... I held a puffer fish, stuck my head inside a B-52 bomber, and even swam close to a shark (a little guy). From the boat, I saw a couple of dolphins jumping only 40 yards away. Oh, and I can't forget about the entire SCHOOL of fish I saw JUMPING out of the water. Repeatedly. They arced out about 5 times. It looked like a cartoon. It was a huge blessing to all of us to be able to go on this break. We'd all been working very hard for the conferences the last few months, and rarely able to leave the campus. I didn't even realize how stressed I was until we had the chance to relax a little bit. And it was a fantastically intimate time for me & God. By the time we got "Home" I was encouraged, refreshed and ready to dive back into work. And there was a LOT waiting for me. Our first ITF team of students arrives shortly so I have been extremely busy preparing for them to spend a month with us. To Be Continued... "I want passionate feelings to characterize my relationship with the Lord Jesus. Of course, I want to be perfectly obedient to the Lord, but I want the obedience to spring out of a passionate love for him. I want to obey Jesus not simply out of discipline of duty, or because of some reward or fear of punishment. I want to serve Him simply for the joy of being able to please the one I love so much. If discipline is what ultimately drives us in our pursuit of Jesus, eventually we will give up that pursuit. But a man in love, or a woman in love will never quit.... I want my life to be characterized by an unrestrained affection for the Son of God" ~ Jack Deere

Thanksgiving -PNG Style

2008-11-29T05:43:00.000-05:00

I have several stories for you guys. First ~ Last Sunday a few of us had a chance to go into town and go out to lunch at a restaurant! I know, it probably sounds funny to you all, but this is a big deal for us. We went to a hotel/restaurant called pacific gardens. Here are some pics of us having fun in the garden: The food was very good. One very typical PNG incident... I went up to the "salad bar" and when I got to the end to put some dressing on my salad there were 5 bottles of dressing all labeled different thing - Ranch, French, Thousand Island, Honey Mustard & Italian - but they mysteriously all looked like they were containing the same liquid inside. Sure enough, it was ALL Italian dressing, just put in re-used bottles. HA! Second ~ this week started in such a sweet way. On Monday morning I heard a soft "Nikio!?" coming from my porch. I went outside to greet my visitor - my special friend Joyce from the village. She brought me a bag of veggies - cucumbers, green beans, & cherry tomatoes (my favorite) - from her garden! This is a very cultural thing to do. It is a sign of friendship to show up unexpectedly a bring a little gift. It also requires some kind of reciprocation on my part. I'm not sure what I will do yet, but plan to bake something sweet for her and Baby Rich (her little boy). I am very happy to be growing this friendship with a national lady. Third~ We celebrated Thanksgiving in a special way. First, our little group (Beth, the Germans & I) had our own celebration. Turkey is outrageously expensive, so our choices were pukpuk (crocodile) or chicken... we decided on the more exotic route. Hey, it's PNG... When in Rome! So we had grilled croc & zucchini and mashed potatoes. Yummm, it was FANTASTIC. We all agreed it was our favorite meal we've had here! Today we had a staff shindig, and celebrated with a more traditional Thanksgiving. We all pitched in to get a small turkey and some chicken. We all ate up at the dining hall and pulled some tables together so we could have 1 long table. Here are a few pics: Tammy & Danny Tobi & Jonny Me & Adonai The whole gang While we were all eating together I was overwhelmed with how thankful I was to be here, and that I wasn't as homesick as I'd feared I would be. I was amazed at how much it felt like home! Everyone was talking loud and laughing and eating too much, just like my family back home... and it occurred to me that God has truly given me a family here. I got a little teary-eyed, but hid it well. After dinner we set up a projector and a sheet up on the wall and watched a football game! One of the guys here (Danny) is a huge Steelers fan and his family sends him the games on DVD. Even though it wasn't a Packers game, it was still GREAT to watch some football on Thanksgiving! And finally, we decorated for Christmas. It feels very odd to all of us to be putting up a Christmas tree and lights when the weather is exactly the same as it was in July when I arrived. Still 80 degrees! But we decided to have fun with it and try to get ourselves in the Holiday mood. We had a great time! It really helped prepare our hearts for the season to be decorating and singing together. I love that last picture because we are all genuinely laughing in it. My heart is so full of joy and thankfulness. I can't express how grateful I am, once again, just to be a part of this ministry, and that God has surrounded me with family. No matter where I am, I have family in Him. I am happy. ~ Nicky "If we could only see the heart of the Father, we would be drawn into praise and thanksgiving more often. It is easy for us to think that God is so majestic and so highly exalted that our adoration makes no difference to him. Our God is not made of stone. His heart is the most sensitive and tender of all. No act goes unnoticed, no matter how insignificant or small. A cup of cold water is enough to put tears in the eyes of God. God celebrates our feeble expressions of gratitude. " ~Richard J. Foster

Spritual Emphasis Weekend

2008-11-19T19:04:00.000-05:00

Hey all! We just wrapped up S.E.W. - a big youth conference for all the New Tribes MKs. We had 11 people from Hume Lake, CA leading the weekend for the kids. I think it was an eye-opening and growing experience for absolutely everyone! For my part, I was the "Point Person" for this conference... a big step for me. This meant that whenever anybody needed anything, they came to me. It was mostly taking care of little things, like finding tacks so they could hang up posters/banners, getting the guys to bring them a ladder or change the batteries in a fire alarm, and answering lots of questions. I also did the Welcome presentation again, gave a campus tour, and did occasional announcements at meals. Good stuff! It's funny to think that I used to HATE speaking in front of people, and now I'm doing it regularly. You gotta love how God just keeps stretching you when you trust Him with your plans. Here a couple of pics that the Hume Lake people took of the weekend and I stole from them. They are beautiful shots of some things I get to see every day. The road to ITF - No joke, I get car sick on this road every time. Meh.The Classroom - where we have church, classes during programs, and to the left there is where we have our campfire cookouts on Friday nights.S.E.W. Group Picture!!! Recreation time And so ends our crazy conference season. *Sigh* Now we all have a little break... and time to prepare for the first Interface team that arrives in January! I CAN'T WAIT! I've already started working on the class schedule. I'm so excited to see how God is going to work in the hearts of the new students. I hope they are instilled with the same fresh passion for God that my team was! We can carry the world on our shoulders, or we can say, "I give up, Lord; here's my life. I give you my world, the whole world." ~ Bruce Larson

Conference Season!

2008-10-30T01:20:00.000-04:00

Hey all, just wanted to give you a quick update... * The IEW conference went really well! It was a lot of work, but very rewarding for all of us. The missionaries attending told us that they were able to get so much done while here. One guy told us they finished translating the book of Mark! He came up to our group to thank us for all we did behind the scenes to enable them to get that done. Wow. I got a little choked up by that... to be part of his ministry for a couple of weeks so that he could translate part of the Bible into a previously unknown language. In the midst of working in a hot kitchen, making a zillion photo copies, and running around making phone calls it's easy to forget why I'm here. It was very cool to have that reminder. * We have another conference this weekend - a "Cultural Awareness Retreat" for new missionaries who arrived on the field in the last few months. This is very cool for me because I know almost everyone coming. In fact, 6 of them were in FL with me for Pre-Field Orientation back in June. REUNION! Plus, I'm going to be doing the Welcome Speech presentation thingy. Funny how I used to be terrified to get in front of a group to speak. I think speaking in front of the church so often this past year has helped to cure me of that. * And speaking of God stretching me... He continues to push me out of my comfort zone on a regular basis here. I've been given some leadership-type responsibilities (aka "opportunities"). It's not that I'm a terrible leader, I'm just more of a people-pleaser so I don't like to tell my peeps what to do. Turns out that I'm not too bad at delegating. Meh, who knew? We work together on most things, but when the boys joked about being my slaves I assured them that we are all slaves together for Jesus! :o) * I don't have any new pics to attach this time, but I'll give you this fun one from a few weeks ago. This is my PNG family - Beth, The Germans (Jonny, Tobi & Andy) and Adi (Danny & Tammy's little girl). We were all supposed to be making funny faces, but not everyone cooperated. * This quick update is getting long, but just wanted to share this story with you. Today I was busy running around - as usual - preparing for the conference. Adi came out and yelled "Hi Miss Nicky, wanna play?" I feel bad because she asks me this all the time and I'm always busy. I noticed that she had squirt gun. She mentioned that she had another one. Hm. I needed to run up to the workshop to talk to the guys about some mattresses that had to be moved around. So I suggested we fill up those water guns, go to the workshop together, and wage war on the boys. We walked casually into the workshop with our pistols behind our backs, then I counted "1-2-3" and we attacked. The boys went running and grabbed a hose. Uh oh, didn't see that coming. The battle only lasted about 5 minutes, but it was good fun to be kids again for even a short time in the middle of accomplishing our "to do" lists. Be free,... simple, a child. But be a sturdy child, who fears nothing, who speaks out frankly, who lets himself be led, who is carried in the arms; in a word, one who knows nothing, can do nothing, can anticipate and change nothing, but who has a freedom and a strength forbidden to the great. This childhood baffles the wise, and God Himself speaks by the mouth of such children. ~ Francois Fenelon

Kitchen duty

2008-10-20T01:54:00.000-04:00

This week has been insane. I honestly couldn’t even give you a break down of 1 of my days because I have been so crazy busy and running all over campus! We are hosting a conference right now… IEW (Intro to Epistles Workshop). Missionaries from all over the country are here with their National translation helpers. I am doing my normal job (whatever that is!) and also helping out in the kitchen.

Working in the kitchen is not so bad! I expected to be doing dishes and chopping onions the whole time, but instead I’ve been actually cooking things. It makes me feel extremely productive to be able to make something from scratch. Here I am mixing dough that I made for 300 tortillas!

Here I am making a huge thing of Kool-aid.

And here’s the sausage that I made this morning (enough for 100 people – crazy).

*Note – I think if my nose gets sunburned one more time it may actually fall off. Seriously, ever time I go outside my nose gets sunburned… still not used to the intense sun here! :o)

It’s really exciting to be able to meet all of these tribal missionaries, but also to be able to be a small part of their ministry as they work on translating the epistles into new languages. I’m really enjoying just talking to them at meals, and serving with some of them in various ways around ITF. The more missionaries I meet, the more I realize that they do NOT fit into the typical mold that I expected. They are all cool, down-to-earth, very REAL folks. They struggle just like the rest of us, most of them have a great sense of humor. I think it’s a requirement.

Last night I was SO excited to talk to my whole church over Skype. How COOL to live in a time where technology enables us to keep in touch that way. It was such a blessing and an encouragement to talk to them… I’ve been smiling all day. I just love how God provides exactly what I need at the moment I need it most. It’s been so hectic here, and easy to get lost in the busy work. Thankfully God knows me well enough to give me a jolt of relational time – with my church family and also with a group of single girls (visiting and helping out with the conference for the weekend) who randomly showed up at my cabin and plopped themselves down in my tiny room. We sat and talked, sang some songs, and giggled a lot. It may be silly, but it’s just what I needed, and I love my God who knows my heart well enough to provide me with the silliness necessary to refuel my batteries.

Aloneness can lead to loneliness. God's preventative for loneliness is intimacy - meaningful, open, sharing relationships with one another. In Christ we have the capacity for the fulfilling sense of belonging which comes from intimate fellowship with God and with other believers. ~ Neil T. Anderson

A New Name

2008-10-08T03:07:00.000-04:00

It's funny how a small act can change how you look at a day, or even at your life. How for a moment, you see yourself in someone else's eyes, and realize that you have an effect on people when you thought you were relatively insignificant. Today I went down to "the circle" (the fenced in circle of cabins). I had the task of taking down a bunch of tattered curtains so that they could be replaced with new ones before our big conference next week. As I walked into the circle, concentrating on what I needed to do and where to start, I heard some of the workmeris say "NIKIO!" My head snapped up immediately and my whole face lit up with a smile. For the Bena people, adding an "o" to the end of your name is a sign of love and affection. I'd heard them do this to other people, but never have they used it for me. I waved, called back "Moning!" and practically skipped off to work on my curtain project. At lunch, I told Beth about the ladies calling me Nikio and she smiled and said "Oh yeah, Soni told me the other day that they all like you because you talk a lot to them". (Soni works in the kitchen with Beth) Now, while this does sound like me and my big mouth, I'm not sure it applies in this case. My pigin is borderline pathetic, so I really don't say much at all... maybe a few words and a big smile. I'm so happy they can tell that I care about them and I'm TRYING to communicate. See, THIS is my ministry. Yes I'm definitely here to serve and use whatever skills I have to do real work at ITF. But what moves my heart is people - the staff here, their kids, the Bena - they are my ministry. My desire for coming here was to be obedient and please the Lord, but also to be a blessing and an encouragement to the people here. So life is good. I'm very busy this week preparing for a conference that arrives on Tuesday and lasts for 2 weeks. Our new Germans - Tobi & Jonny - seem nice and are pretty decent volleyball players, which makes our Saturday games even MORE fun! It's rainy season now, so it rains almost ever afternoon. Sometimes we even get some cool thunder and lightning. (Yay for storms!) Last week we had a downpour and I had run home in it... I giggled the entire way because I was completely drenched and muddy, but it was warm out so it just felt like I was playing out in the rain. It's interesting when it rains because we live on the side of a mountain. There are ditches dug all over campus, and now I understand why... the water positively RUNS downhill after just a little bit of rain. It's not like there's pavement here... it's all dirt roads and grassy hills... so running to my house in the rain was quite the adventure! I'm surprised I didn't fall and hurt myself. You all know how graceful I am! (*Note - That was the epitome of sarcasm.) On Sunday we all went to the village together. It's still my favorite thing! Haha - I love the crazy faces and silliness of this first one... This seems so odd to me - a lock on a hut. But it is sadly necessary.Just a beautiful view from the village."When was the last time you laughed for the sheer joy of your salvation? People are not attracted to somber doctrines. There is no persuasive power in a gloomy and morbid religion. Let the world see your joy and you won't be able to keep them away. To be filled with God is to be filled with joy."

Youth Weekend

2008-09-28T01:36:00.000-04:00

I have to say, that the SIL Encounter weekend was a wonderful experience. First of all, it was so GREAT to have a bunch of people on campus. (Could I BE any more of a "people-person"?!) I was so excited to be around youth again, but I'd forgotten how long it takes for kids to accept and trust you. I'm so used to my TLC kids back at Open Door coming up to talk to me, that I was a little disappointed at how hard it was to get these kids to open up. It made me miss my TLCers a TON! (I ♥ you guys!) Anyway, on Sunday morning, one of the boys from the retreat decided that he wanted to get baptized. He went to the leaders to ask about it, and they started to tell him when the next "corporate" baptism was at church and he said "No no, I don't want to wait for that... I want to do it here, now!" The first thing I thought of was that when I got baptized, it was so important to me to have my family and friends all there... but that's not how it was done in the Bible. This situation reminded me of the eunuch in Acts, and it was so inspiring! He was just burning for Jesus! We don't have the facilities at ITF for baptizing, and the closest river is about a 35 minute drive. So we put a tarp in the back of a truck, filled it with water, and Izzy was baptized right there! WOW, it was so cool!On Monday evening, at about 9:30pm, I got a call "Nicky, we have another guy who wants to get baptized... can we use Emma's kiddie pool?" By the time they were all ready to go, a few more had decided they wanted to take the plunge as well. A dad who'd come along on the trip to help with security baptized both of his sons. In the end, 16 kids got baptized that night, for a total of 17 during their retreat! What a beautiful and exciting thing to see God at work in the lives of these teens! In other, much less exciting news, things here have returned to normal. It is officially rainy season, so it rains every day - but not all day long - usually just in the afternoons. This is a very good thing for the villagers, who are thankful to have their gardens watered after an exceptionally long dry season. Everything has already become even more green... more lush and wild and beautiful. Our ITF family continues to grow, and then shrink, and then change. We have 2 more Germans arriving on Tuesday - Tobi & Jonathan - who will be here for the next year. Life continues to be an adventure. It's amazing how different my daily activities are here... how much my "routines" have changed. It still feels like a dream. I know that I will be changed forever because of this experience. "Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell, I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell." - C.T. Studd

A day in the life...

2008-09-18T07:12:00.000-04:00

Many of you have been asking me what my “typical day” looks like. HA! I’ve been at ITF for nearly 6 weeks now and have yet to experience a typical day. Honestly, my job title of Administrative Assistant is not really accurate. We are thinking of new title options for me. But it doesn’t matter, my job is to be a servant – so I do whatever needs to be done. For the last couple of days that includes such glamorous tasks as sweeping, dusting, moving bedding, organizing a workmeri calendar, getting a package ready to mail, making a sign for a garbage can, packing up curriculum, and yesterday I was conscripted to the Poop Patrol. We have 15 German Shepherd security dogs on campus, and we have a youth retreat descending upon us this weekend, so needed to clean up poo. Yuck! But it had to be done, and a group of us worked together on it.

Here’s what today looked like (remember – not a “typical” day, but probably typical of what a day before a conference might look like):

6:15 am– rise & shine! Throw on my “dog clothes”, start a pot of coffee, take care of the 2 dogs in my charge, have some breakfast, devotion time, respond to a couple of emails

8:00 am(ish) – head down to “the circle” (of cabins). Heath & I are in charge of logistical mattress moving and getting the beds ready for the conference. Here I am moving a mattress:

Here I am trying to communicate with and instruct the workmeris about what needs to be done… in all pigin. GAH! This was good for me because it forced me to use the language in every day life. They loved it! They told me that now I am a real Pisin Meri.

After mattress moving, I headed to the classroom to clean the Media Room. It was SO GROSS in there! Everything was covered in dust, dead bugs and gecko poop. So I dusted, tidied up, and vacuumed. As you can see, the vacuum did not work extremely well... It’s only morning, and I’m already covered in dirt and sweat!

Here is Andy cleaning out the cobwebs in the classroom (I'm glad that I didn't have that job!)

12:00 pm – Lunch *sigh of relief*. Usually Beth, Andy & I have lunch together on Beth’s porch, but because of our schedule we are having supper together instead. I have an hour to eat and relax a little bit… I used most of it to chat on line with friends back home! :o)

1:00pm – It’s thundering and started raining. Good thing we got those mattresses all moved this morning! Made new phone directories to post all over campus. Worked on Generator, school run, on-call & phone schedule for next week. (it stopped raining by the time I had to distribute the new phone lists). Emailed the dentist at Lapilo (my friends the Tiedjes – who I met at PFO) to make an appointment for Andy who has a terrible toothache.

3:00pm – time for more manual labor… met Andy & Heath in the classroom to set up and clean 120 chairs for the conference. Then went back to the office to send out some more emails (follow up emails to the ITF alumni), and try to arrange the dentist appointment again. Sent out final schedule for approval

5:15 pm – took a nice hot shower and got all cleaned up! Had some quiet time and did some reading.

6:30 pm – dinner at Beth’s. We had pork stir fry and fresh mango for dessert. This is the first time I’ve had the mango here, and it is DELISH! Could the fruit here be any more tasty?!

7:30 pm – headed to the Mixter’s house to play games with them. They have us (Beth, Andy & I) over to play games about once a week or so. They’re a fun couple that are the same age as I am, with a little girl named Adonai. Earlier this evening, Adi came knocking on my door to show me a huge moth she caught. Very cute!

I have such a lovely PNG family.

And now I’m back in my hut and about to get ready for bed. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?! I know it will be something totally different (as far as job duties anyway). I’m pretty excited for the retreat this weekend. It will be nice to have so many people on campus, and to work with Youth again.

"In the Kingdom of God service is not a stepping-stone to nobility: it is nobility, the only kind of nobility that is recognized."

Change

2008-09-11T01:27:00.000-04:00

I haven't written in a little while because frankly, I was just going through a rough time. I felt guilty about it, because everyone is being so encouraging and supporting me here, but the reality is that sometimes it's HARD! I could list all of the things that I was struggling with, but it's not that important in the big scheme. Thankfully, my sister Robin & our friend Clifton helped me get of my funk by having me think about things that make me happy. They asked me to make a list of things I love here, rather than the things that I don't like, or the things I miss back home (or the people!) I thought you might like to see that list. It's not entirely complete, but here is what I have so far...

Things I love about PNG

The night sky (probably my favorite thing here)
The wispy fog on the mountains in the morning
fresh papaya, bananas & pineapple
the bougainvillea, pansies, & banana trees (the landscape in general!)
the way little girls run up and hold my hand or give me flowers
the way the nationals all wave & smile at me when we drive by or walk by. I'm like a celebrity!
time is so fluid. I rarely know what day it is, and am shocked to realize it's September.
relationships are the most important thing in this culture – which is perfect for me!
the kids chasing muna & giggling at twilight
finding creative ways to have fun during my free time (pie nights, pranks, eating bugs... whatever it takes to be silly and just have FUN)
volleyball on Saturdays
national ladies scooting close to me while we are sitting on the ground working our bilums. They are very touchy-feely, and it’s nice.
wearing skirts can be quite comfortable, especially since I wear them t-shirts and flip flops.
not really worrying about my hair or makeup or what I'll wear that day.
The simple life style all around!
The cool mornings & evenings, and the hot afternoons
watching the sunset over the mountains from my porch swing
hammock naps on the weekends
how generous the staff here is with each other. It’s really true – that sometimes the people who have the least are the most giving
the earthquakes - since they haven't cause any damage, they're just kind of amusing.
the silence. Usually the only thing you hear out here is the generator, birds, and people talking or laughing. No airplanes (occasionally we hear one, but it’s rare), sirens, traffic, church bells…etc.
the wind. There’s usually a really nice breeze. Seriously, the weather is PERFECT here.
the coffee!!!! And I get to enjoy this daily.
owning a machete. It’s practical, and just cool
eating kaukau fresh out of a mumu
being in an environment where everyone is passionate about serving God with their lives.
buying fresh fruit & veggies at the village market
seeing a baby in a bilum
have I mentioned being with the Nationals??? Their smiles and their warmth make everything better.
the smells – which may sound funny since the aroma around here is quite pungent. It smells like sweat, pigs, brush fires, smoke and even more unpleasant things. But PNG (the villages) has it’s own unique smell, and when I’m away from it too long, I actually miss it.
knowing that I am exactly where God wants me... serving Him, and serving others .

Muna Season

2008-08-31T02:19:00.000-04:00

Things are getting a little bit busier around here for me. But I'm sure none of you want to hear about me working in the kitchen or scanning documents. Time for a fun post! First of all, we had a nice big earthquake here yesterday. It was a 6.3 on the Richter scale. I was in my house making dinner and at first I thought the boys were pranking me and rattling the house... until the whole place started shaking so much that things were falling off of shelves! I wasn't scared though. Nothing was damaged, so it was kind of fun! Second - it is Muna season - that special time of year that marks the beginning of the wet season. Muna come out and fly all over the place in the evenings. This is muna... they look kinda like june bugs back home. The nationals eat muna. It's supposedly a tasty little snack. Many of the staff here eat them every year. So I, of course, needed to experience this delightful tradition as well. This is me holding the muna. I was not pretending to eat it... I was screaming because the legs were clinging to me and I couldn't get it off. This is Andy and I pulling off the heads & legs of the live muna...Here is the bowl of carnage - heads & legs, and a few wings too. I had made pork steaks in gravy, so we used the leftover gravy to fry up the muna. Here is the proof that we actually did eat them. It was not delicious, but the gravy helped a lot.While I'm glad that I tried it, because I really do want to experience all I can while here in PNG, I don't plan on eating them again. Or any other bugs. But we'll see! :)

Settling in

2008-08-17T21:06:00.000-04:00

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...

Home Sweet Home

2008-08-11T06:45:00.000-04:00

Well, here I am... all settled into my new hut. But first, let me catch you all up on my life. We spent another day in Goroka, shopping and what not. I found that this time I was way less nervous, and felt less on display. And, now this is funny, I found it weird to see other white people (not from our group). It's a little shocking how much they (we) stick out. On Saturday the rest of my team left to go home. It was miserable, I was so sad! I realized that I had gone straight from leaving my friends & family, to gaining a whole new family in my team. When they left I felt really alone for the first time. I was finally able to move out to ITF and into my house, but after the excitement of unpacking & settling in, I felt tremendously gloomy. During one of our last nights we had a campfire, and one of my friends was talking about the transfiguration... and how it was such an incredible, life-changing experience that Peter wanted to set up camp and live up on that mountain forever. But we aren't meant to live on the mountain top... we have to come down, because we have a job to do. It's a difficult transition, but I know that I'm right where I'm supposed to be. As requested, here are a few pics of my new digs: When you walk in the front door, to the right is my kitchen. To the left is my living room. Then my bedroom is behind that. This is my little desk and closet. And then straight out the door is my bathroom Here is my porch. A walk around the outside. The flaps to the right and left are my bedroom & bathroom windows. The bigger picture. And of course... the view is spectacular.

Side Trip

2008-08-06T03:10:00.000-04:00

On Friday I left for my side-trip… a 5 hour journey through windy, sometimes treacherous, mountain roads to “the Dom”. Both the drive and the destination were incredibly beautiful. My side-trip team and I stayed with the missionary family that has spent more than 20 years in the tribe, learning the language, building relationships, and attempting to translate the Bible into their language. I feel like being with them for 4 days was a bit of a jolt of reality to what tribal missions would be like. It was rough! They had a house with a shower and a working bathroom, so that was pretty nice. But every day we had to keep a fire going to heat water, turn a generator on and off for electricity and to keep the water pump going, and they were SO isolated! I can’t imagine how lonely it can get out there with no partners to work with. Yet they keep persevering, through difficult circumstances, to finally finish the Dom Bible translation.

We had lots of fun with the tribal people too. Their Pidgin was harder to understand because their language is more tonal… so their Pidgin sounded more sing-songy than we were used to. They were very happy to see us! On Saturday we hiked down the mountain to a hidden cove with a HUGE waterfall. Almost the entire village hiked down with us. Seriously – even the guy who was recently elected the councilman came along. All the white people jumped in the water, swam around, played in the waterfall, splashed each other, and took pictures. We had an audience of about 40-50 Nationals just watching us and laughing. The water was way too cold for them and they pretty much thought we were crazy! Then we found out that they didn’t think we’d be able to make it back up the mountain. They think we (whites) are really weak – which we ARE compared to them. They are nothing but sinew & muscle – especially the women. They are always teasing us about how weak we are… but they think we are all So Smart, and they respect that greatly, almost reverently. (You can see how this would create a barrier for building relationships).

On Sunday we were able to worship with the believers in their church. They sang for us, we sang for them, they sang some more. Then I got up and gave my testimony (translated by the missionary there), as did another guy in our group. Then we all sang some more and just spent time together. I whipped out my bilum that I’m attempting to create and that caused some laughter among the women. They showed me some new techniques. Then one lady asked us to come to her house. She showed us her garden (they are very proud of their gardens) and introduced us to her family. She told us about her 3 little children, one of which had died. She’s 25 years old and she has lost a child, and was so open about it with us. (this was all in Pidgin by the way, so I’m getting better at understanding it but I’m still awful at speaking it). When we left on Monday morning the whole village turned up to say goodbye to us again. They were very sad to see us go, but hopefully we will all see each other again in Heaven.

Talking with the other students (that went on other side-trips) it was amazing to see how God has been working. One trip went to a tribe that doesn’t have a missionary anymore… they have an established church there that is growing and going out to spread the Gospel to OTHER tribes. They have no concept of NOT evangelizing. To them, having God’s talk in their language is a treasure. They continually said how thankful they are that their village was chosen to receive the good news, and were just praising Him over and over again. These are not new believers who are just a little fired up right now… they have been believers for 20 years or more and are just Passionate in their love for God. They also repeatedly said “you have white skin and we have brown skin, but we are the same in the inside. We are brothers and sisters!”

In the third tribe, they’d lost a 9 year old boy die of pneumonia the day before the students arrived. We didn’t know how they would react to having a bunch of missionary students around during this time. They are brand new believers there. But the little boys mom and dad said “I know that he is a believer and knew God’s talk, so we don’t have to mourn like we usually do because we know he is in heaven now. He is the first Bagwido man in Heaven!” WOW!

One thing that really struck me about both of these tribes is that they really wanted the students to come back and see them, but felt that it was even MORE important for them to come back to PNG and go out to DIFFERENT tribes so that THEY would have a chance to receive the Gospel. That is how strongly they feel about missions. They were sad to see them go, but said "it's ok, we'll see each other in heaven. Go and give this truth to the people who don't have it yet". How amazing is that?!

I think Bobka (a man in the Dom) summed it up really well for us during our church service. “We were all once in Satan’s hands. But then God sent his workers here to us, to give us the truth. We understand it and we believe it. Now we are in God’s hands, and we are all on the same road to Heaven”.

How Great is our God?!

MUMU

2008-07-31T02:06:00.000-04:00

As promised, above is a picture from my porch during our morning prayer time. Believe me, this does not do it justice.

On Tuesday we all went into the village to attend a mumu. That's where you dig a pit, start a fire, heat up a bunch of rocks, put tons of veggies (mostly potatoes) and meat in, cover it all up with banana leaves and then cover that up with dirt. It's like 400 degrees in there (literally, they measured it once). So we get there and the boys and girls are separated. The boys sit around and do nothing, while us girls peel a bazillion potatoes and cooking bananas (which look like a banana, but smells like a cucumber, has the color of cantaloupe on the inside, and tastes like a potato). Sadly, I missed most of the festivities because of a stomach pestilence that has been plaguing our group for the past week, and it was apparently my turn to get it. I at least had the opportunity to taste a little bit of lamb that had been cooked inside of bamboo with a bunch of greens (kumu) - and that was very delicious. Here a couple of pics:

This is part of the pile of kaukau that we peeled, along with the meat from the bamboo on a banana leaf. And the next one is a picture of the actual mumu I will be out of touch for the next several days, as I will be on my "side-trip". I leave tomorrow morning to spend 4 days living in a remote tribe with a missionary family. I'm so looking forward to the opportunity to go tribal, and worship with believers there! We've learned several worship songs in Pidgin so that we can sing with them. Can't Wait!

Random Monday Musings

2008-07-27T22:56:00.000-04:00

* I've come to really enjoy the fact that the men and women are separated during our village exposure time. While the guys are off learning how to make weapons out of grass and leaves, the ladies sit around and work our bilums, sing together, tell stories and just talk. It's nice to have the freedom to build those relationships, just be girls, and not worry about the guys seeing us or hearing us. * I haven't heard a cell phone ring in 3 weeks. Sometimes I still go into my purse (bilum) thinking I need to turn down my ringer, or wanting to check to see if anyone called me during class. * On Saturday night I was able to bust out my EMT skills. During an exciting game of night-time ultimate frisbee (with hardly any lights on at all) 2 of the guys had a bit of a collision. At first I just laughed... then I realized they were both not getting up. One of the guys' teeth connected with the other guy's eyebrow. He had to have stitches and has the best black eye I've ever seen! They both were a little bit googily after that, but I really enjoyed taking care of them until the doctor could see them. * I've lost 10 pounds so far. That's the good news. The bad news is that I feel like after some of those hikes I should have lost more like 30lbs. Also, you can't see any difference since I have to look frumpy every day anyway. * I love waking up every morning and having our prayer group outside, looking at the mountains. It is often foggy/misty in the mornings and sometimes you just see certain peaks with the fog hovering around them. Looking at that, and seeing waterfalls, the bougainvillea growing wild, and the brightness of the stars, feeling the cool of the evening... all I can think about is How Great is Our God!?! And wonder how I could be important to Him at all, and yet I am. ("Because we mattered most to the One who matters most"). * I am constantly dirty and smelly. There is no way to stay clean and smelling good. We all try, and we shower every day, but we still stink. I really miss fabric softener. * I also really miss cheese. And steak. Let's not talk about it. * I've been learning a lot of things from God these past few weeks, but it's not what I expected to learn. I wanted to grow in my knowledge of the Bible, and I suppose that has happened as well, but really I'm learning so much more about what it means to be gracious, especially when you just feel like being selfish. And about what it means to truly give something to God. I've realized that while I SAY that I'm giving it to Him, my heart really isn't in it. I SAY that I want clarity, but I'm too afraid the answer will be NO. I'm learning a lot about surrender and sacrifice. The true follower of Christ will not ask, "If I embrace this truth, what will it cost me?" Rather he will say, "This is truth. God help me to walk in it, let come what may!" ~ AW Tozer

The Market, a couple of hikes, and some fun ones

2008-07-25T02:29:00.001-04:00

Hike of the Roja houseline.
This is a "step" to climb the fence.

Above - a few of the girls and I.
Below - the Veggie Market
Bilum yarn sold in the market
Sausage or fish anyone?
Above - a WWII plane at the museum.
Below - pigs run around free in the village. This liklik pik (little pig) came over to say hi to me

Below - After a GRUELING hike (3 hours climbing a mountain) we finally made it to Akeya falls. Here are some of the girls and I. Immediately after this, we dove into that pool... it was freezing cold and perfectly refreshing.

Catching up

2008-07-19T23:30:00.000-04:00

It's been a few days since I wrote so will quick sum up my activities and then share some other things that are on my heart. We've been able to experience quite a bit of time in the village. We worked in a garden and planted kaukau (see picture) - and again learned the phrases for what we were doing. We learned some tribal games, which was definitely interesting!

This pic is from a little hike we took up to a plateau that has a 360 degree view of the mountains. We went up there to have some quiet time. I sat there for an hour, taking in the view, and just thought about how amazing it is that I'm here... that God brought me here and knew that I would follow Him to this place. I felt so unworthy and just so thankful.

This the spider I realized I was sitting next to about 5 minutes later. Yikes!

Yesterday I went on a hike and was able to at least ATTEMPT to communicate a little bit in Pidgin with some new people. Ok - so the hike was amazing. Like there was one point that we were on top of this ridge... a steep cliff... and we were above most of the trees looking down onto this garden Waaaaaaaay below us. It was this deep valley, and one of our friends told us that back in WWII, all of the people from his village hid down there, and stayed till the end of the war. Then they came up to the top of the ridge to build their houses, but they still maintain their gardens down there. Now, how one EARTH they get down to those gardens is a mystery. He showed me the "road" and I started laughing. There is no way that I, or any white person, could do it without equipment. And yet, up that road came a woman, carry her wet laundry on her back and a toting a baby along too.
But this is what I want to share with you all. As cool as that hike was - the exercise, the scenery, the interaction with the nationals - what impacted me the most was that they LOVED our guide Heath and were DESPERATE for New Tribes to establish a church there. They currently, in that small area, have 9 churches... none of them preaching the Gospel, and all of them preaching in Pidgin which is not their "heart language"... it's just a trade language. There is no word for Love. They can say "Mi likim yu stret" which is "I really like you". But the only way they can say Jesus loves me is "Jisas em sori long mi". Which is the word for "sorry" - like he empathizes with us, he cares for us - but that's the closest thing they have. They know that there is more to this story, and want to here about it, but there is no one to send. UGH! It just breaks my heart! This place brings a whole new meaning to "the harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few". Can you imagine - knowing there is more, but having No Opportunity to hear it? That there is no one who knows your language, no one to to teach you the Truth. It's pretty clear that God's heart is that everyone would hear His word... it's pretty important to Him. So why aren't we going out? I'm about to offend people right now, but I'm fired up right now so too bad! We're all so comfortable and it's so easy for our default answer to be "I wasn't called to that". But we're not ALL called to stay home either. God's call is general - it's WHO WILL GO??? Not who is worthy, who is able, who is the best... it's who will go for me? The Bible doesn't say that only certain people will get a special call, but He repeatedly says GO.

Mi kukim kaukau

2008-07-15T06:53:00.000-04:00

This morning we jumped in the back of the truck and headed up to my language helper's village (near ITF). We spent time learning how to build a fire and cook kaukau & bananas (not the sweet kind)... all while learning the verbs, nouns and phrases associated with this task in Tok Pisin. Then we ate a little bit of it. I tried some of the banana, but it tasted like a potato. Then Joyce taught us how to make bilums. It is much more difficult than I had anticipated. It is a craft and skill that takes years to develop. But I started on one, and learned the Pisin words for what I was doing (see picture above). While I was sitting there, I looked around me at the mountains, at the houses, and the children teaching one group of girls how to play their games, at the lush vegetation and at the oh-so-patient Joyce, and just had this surge of joy in my heart. I said "I am so Happy right now!" to which Joyce corrected me and said "Mi amamas stret" - which means I'm really really happy. And yet my heart is breaking for these people that don't know God. Today I saw this quote that was something like "We look forward to Christ's second coming, but much of the world doesn't even know about His first". Ugh!
I've been meaning to tell you guys about this story I heard from one of our instructors. After going through the Chronological teaching in his tribe he then began translating the Bible into their heart language. They were still teaching out of the beginning of the new testament and had only really learned out of the old testament so far, when a man in the village said "These words are true. They are like a machete cutting our path for us, and we must follow it wherever it leads". It is just incredible to me how these are words right out of Hebrews and Romans but he'd never even HEARD them yet...the Holy Spirit had shown him just from the teachings out of the OT and applying it to his own life. Wow! It blows me away how God is so consistent and His word is still sharper than any sword.

"Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God" ~ Bob Pierce

More Pics!

2008-07-14T07:51:00.000-04:00

Sustenance

2008-07-12T23:23:00.000-04:00

I seem to get more questions about Food than anything else! So here is the scoop so far... The main meal of the day here is Lunch. We have a nice big breakfast - usually oatmeal or grits or eggs or cereal and fresh fruit. We eat lots of fresh papaya, pineapple and bananas. There is literally a stalk of bananas that someone macheted from a tree and hangs from the ceiling in the dining hall so we just grab one whenever we want. There is also this very strange fruit that I think they call sugar fruit, but we affectionately call "snot rockets". You peel the skin and inside it looks like a mucus sac with seeds in it. Or some say it looks like snot with frog eggs in the middle. You eat the whole sac and it tastes like sweet tarts, but the texture takes some getting used to. Lunch is more like we Americans have supper. It usually includes some kind of meat like chicken or pork, and then sweet potatoes cooked a variety of ways. Today we had lasagna. Yesterday we had pork and crocodile. I was a bit worried about trying it, but my adventurous side won out - and I'm happy to tell you that I LOVED IT! Crocodile is my new favorite food here. Delish! For dinner (supper) we usually have a lighter meal like cold sandwiches or soup. We rarely have junk food of any kind but sometimes we have a treat of cake or cookies. We all love the coffee. We also don't get milk to drink, but have a little bit for cereal. I'm hoping with the abundance of exercise and the limited junk food that I will be in some seriously good shape in no time! :-) Today is Sunday and I'm so thankful that God created a day of rest for us. I need it! We went for a hike in the mountains yesterday. They warned us that it would be intense, but I guess I thought they were being overly cautious. Not so much. It totally wiped me (and everyone else) out. Plus there is fun little weed here called "Nail Grass" that we had to walk through which is just as gnarly as it sounds. My legs have little cuts everywhere, because keep in mind - I still had to wear a skirt. That's what I get for not being more prepared (wearing pants under my skirt) and thinking I was Shira - Princess of Power. Tomorrow I get to spend more time with the lovely Joyce - my language helper from the Bena people. Yay! I can't wait to be able to speak better Pisin. Love and God bless you my peeps! ~ Nicky

Finally some pics!

2008-07-12T03:11:00.000-04:00

Another Village

2008-07-10T07:10:00.000-04:00

Today I spent some time in the village of L*Sorry to say, we were not allowed to bring cameras again, but next time we will because the villagers asked "where are all their camera?", so now we know it's ok there. Anyway - wow, what a super cool experience. A lady offered to give us a tour of the village. We walked to a hut at the river's edge and there were several little ones playing down by the river. One little girl saw us, squealed with delight and yelled "WHITES"! She laughed out loud and ran full out to come to see us... but then stopped short and stood about 15 feet away acting all shy. It's so funny how children from every culture are the same. The real tiny ones smiled at us but mostly hid behind their mom's legs. The young kids followed us, elbowing and whispering to each other - daring their friends to talk to us. One girl came up to us and said "Shake your hand?!" then shook our hands and ran away. Another little girl shyly handed me some flowers she just picked! When we got back to the village square (that's just what I'm calling it) we sat down to just observe and be there. The whole village came out to watch us watching them. The kids had called out to their friends and I'm pretty sure everyone was there to watch the white man TV. Some tried to communicate, but mostly they just watched us from afar. They are so genuine with their smiles and laughter! There was one young woman sitting near me (a little more adventurous than most). I introduced myself to her and found out her name is Rebekah. We have a Rebekah in our group, and that was very exciting to them. If you have the same name, that's your namesake, and you are basically the same person. As we were leaving the tribal Rebekah presented our Bekah with some fresh onions and beans. It was very special. My language training is going better than I expected. It's frustrating to not be able to communicate right now, but I'm getting pretty good at transcribing the language and learning the new sounds. I practice some phrases on the nationals and they get a big kick out of it. I'm prepared to be totally humiliated by saying the wrong thing. I'm also really loving the Chronological Bible teaching. Tomorrow we start a new "class" called Prayer Focus. Basically we just pray together, but I've been made a leader of a prayer group. Not sure how that happened, but I guess I better start getting used to having some responsibilities around here. Mostly I just make people laugh. Other impressions ~ It's hard to see the scraggly dogs here. Dogs are like rats... pigs are the pets. Except they eat their pets eventually. Women are property and are like work horses. From birth their neck muscles are strengthened so that they can carry things (we're talking upwards of 100lbs) on their heads. They have big cockroaches here. Huge. The kids are so friendly toward us, but also seem to be a little bit afraid. They keep their distance. This may have something to do with their moms threaten them when they're bad that if they don't behave the white women will come to take them away to eat them. Hmmm.... I'm hoping that by spending more time in this village the little ones will get used to me, come a little bit closer and let me hug them. :)

A Village Visit

2008-07-09T07:14:00.000-04:00

Ahhhh... my heart is full of joy and breathing a sigh of relief! Today we left (temporarily) the campus at Lapilo and ventured into a couple of the neighboring tribal villages. I finally felt like I was in New Guinea. We spent about 2.5-3 hours hiking, and it was sweaty, exhausting business - but just awesome to be in that environment. The Bamboo was gigantic, the flowers brilliant colors, the huts exactly what you would picture and so were the smells. The nationals were full of smiles and giggles - because we are so foreign to them. No matter what we said the kids would just kind of laugh at us and hide... but then follow us around for awhile. At one point we had about 30 kids behind us - giggling and whooping with excitement. One lady came to every one of us and give us a little hug. Another lady introduced herself and asked all of our names. Thankfully we've had some language classes so were able to speak a tiny bit of Pidgin. " Apinoon! Nem bilong mi Nicky" is roughly "Good Afternoon my name is Nicky". And then "Lookim u" is like "see you later". We are like TV to them so they would pretty much drop everything to either come say hi to us or just watch us from afar with smiling faces.

Unfortunately we were not allowed to bring cameras on this expedition... otherwise it would have been 28 white people running around the jungle like tourists. We're going back tomorrow in smaller groups to observe, and will be allowed to bring cameras then. I'll attach pictures as soon as I can. I wish I could show you all the "bridge" we all crossed today. It's amazing we all survived. Danger - I love it! :)

Classes continue to blow my mind. Even after just a few days, we all feel like we're growing. We're really being challenged to be passionate after God, to study His Word, and that we will only be satisfied when we walk contrary to our flesh and step out of what is comfortable and let ourselves be totally dependent on Him and His strength. I know that as long as I'm growing in my relationship with Him, and pursuing Him with my whole heart, that His plans for me will be made clear.
Love,

PS - thanks for all of your comments. I will get pics posted ASAP!

July 8th - New Guinea time

2008-07-07T23:13:00.000-04:00

I still can't believe I'm here. I look around, at the mountains and the flowers and the clear sky and the Nationals to try to get my bearings and to let it all sink in. It's so indescribably beautiful. It's true what they say - PNG is the land of the unexpected. You have to be super flexible because things rarely go according to plan. They are a relationship-oriented culture rather than a task-oriented, which is prefect for me. Relationships are their number 1 priority. However, when things need to get done - such as a new roof needs to be added - if someone comes by to see you, you have to drop everything to talk with them. Things don't get done very fast. The food here is great! We mostly eat "western" style food, but it definitely tastes different. Like we'll have fish, chips & veggies... but the chips are kaokao (sweet potato) and topiak (another root here). And we have fresh fruit every day - pineapple, papaya, guava and bananas with passion fruit. mmmmm. The Nationals are very friendly. They LOVE us. We are their TV. They just sit and watch us and smile at us. They can't differentiate the students from the other missionaries, so to them we are all missionaries. That means that we have to be VERY careful about how we dress, act and talk so that we don't damage the Gospel for them. We are learning a lot about their culture so that we don't offend them. For instance, guys and girls don't do ANYTHING alone with each other unless they are in a relationship. So if a guy just jokes around with me, like rumples my hair or elbows me - they would assume that we are in a sexual relationship. Or if I stand close to a guy and look him in the eye for more than 2 seconds, it means the same thing. This kind of behavioral change is difficult, but we're all doing our best to represent NTM in an honorable way. Every one has such great attitudes, so it is just a blessing to be a part of this group. We've started classes and are learning Tok Pisin (Pidgin English). In our free time we mostly hang out and get to know each other, but we sometimes play games or Ultimate Frisbee. Now that we are learning the language we are hoping to be able to communicate with the nationals soon. They are all over campus and very willing to sit and talk with us. Personally, this place is like magic to me. I'm not able to use a hair dryer or flat iron, but my hair is all curly and cute on it's own (now that I've figured out what to do with it). And I SLEEP here! So far, every night, I go to bed and immediately fall asleep and don't wake up till the morning. It's fantastic! The weather is perfect... the highlands of PNG is labeled one of the best climates in the world. It gets warm in the sun during the day, but nights & mornings are very cool. We don't have heat or a/c, but the weather is perfect for wrapping up in a sleeping bag at night, and there is usually a cool breeze during the day. I love the fruits & veggies & the coffee. Maybe it's the high elevation, but everyone here thinks I'm hilarious. And the stars at night... oh my goodness. I don't remember ever seeing anything like it. They are so bright & seem so close! I guess that's it for my initial impressions. I will continue to keep you posted on my thoughts & activities.

May 28, 2008

2008-05-28T11:33:00.000-04:00

Oh my goodness... I leave in 35 days. I've received my passport and visa from the embassy. I started introducing my immune system to Typhoid this week. This past weekend I had my last get-away weekend with my best friends. And I've officially started packing. I've also started an interesting cycle of emotions. One second I'm so full of excitement and nervous energy that I can't possibly sit still... the next second I'm sobbing thinking about leaving everyone behind... then I calm down, and feel at peace because I'm stepping forward on a path that I know God intended for me.

In more practical news, with my one time donations and promised monthly support I'm at about 71% of my fundraising goal!!! I can't tell you how incredible that feels. What a blessing to not have to worry or stress about that aspect right now! But not only that, this process has totally changed how I feel about raising support. I hated it at first. I felt feeble and somehow greedy asking for money. Instead, I now realize that it's not really about me at all. We're on this team, but it's God's team... not mine. I can see that this has enabled others to be a part of something WITH me. Everyone is fired up! It's fantastic! I'm so thankful for the tremendous support - financially, emotionally and spiritually.

For example, a few weeks ago my good friends Seth & Anya Meeks had a rummage sale for me. I was blown away by their willingness to put in so much time & effort just to help me, but Seth assured me that he wasn't doing it just for me, he was doing it for God. Right on!The weather was fairly miserable, and we didn't seem to get much traffic, but we raised just over $1,000. I was also really encouraged by the people who not only volunteered their stuff to sell, but their time to come and help out too!

This is the bunker we built to protect us from the wind & rain

Me - cuddled up, fighting the elements. Yay Wisconsin! Charlotte & I trying to stay warm!

Eric & Ezra

Charlotte - our walking advertisement. Yes, that's a lampshade on her head!

Thank you everyone! I really can't wait to see what God is up to... what He's going to do with my life. At this point I've given up trying to make any plans for my future. I've decided to see what kind of opportunities are going to come my way, be flexible, and let Him lead. It's a very scary notion for me to go forward like this, but awfully freeing too. LOVES!

"We often think of great faith as something that happens spontaneously so that we can be used for a miracle or healing. However, the greatest faith of all, and the most effective, is to live day by day trusting Him. It is trusting Him so much that we look at every problem as an opportunity to see His work in our life. It is not worrying, but rather trusting and abiding in the peace of God that will crush anything that Satan tries to do to us. If the Lord created the world out of chaos, He can easily deal with any problem that we have." ~ Rick Joyner

March 14, 2008

2008-05-01T12:38:00.000-04:00

Greetings, my adoring fans I know, I know, I have been terrible with my blogging promises. But since I TALK to most of you on a regular basis, I didn’t think it was as crucial to put pen-to-paper, or fingers-to-keyboard. Nevertheless, here is what is up… I have just about reached the peak of Mt. Paperwork. My work visa was granted last week – PRAISE GOD! It had been held up by the PNG Government for over 5 weeks, and I was beginning to get nervous about acquiring my visas on time for me to leave in July. I found out on Sunday that there are times when it can take months or even a year to get your visa, so this is a Praise indeed! The final step is to get my Entry Permit Visa. I have all of that paperwork ready to go, I’m just once again waiting on the government over there to proceed. I have all of my vaccinations, my chest x-ray, physical exam, AIDS test, police clearance, and passport all taken care of already. WHEW! What a ride! I’ve been hearing from other missionaries serving at the Interface campus on a pretty regular basis. It’s pretty cool that they are writing to me just to introduce themselves and ask if I need anything or have questions. I already feel welcome and loved! Also, some of you know I was supposed to have surgery for my nerve damage/bladder issues a few weeks ago. My insurance company refused to pay for it, and we had to cancel the surgery. At first I was marginally irritated… ok – furious! But already by the end of that day, I had a peace about it that could only have come from God. I had been praying about this surgery for months, and there was no guarantee it was going to help my issues. In fact, there could have been complications for me while I was in New Guinea. I felt totally comforted, that God knows what is best for me, and if He’d wanted it for me, I would have had it. (And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ~ Romans 8:28) It’s hard to believe that I’ll be leaving in less than 4 months. It’s starting to become "real" now. I’m not sad at the moment because God has just been showing up in tremendous ways the last couple of weeks. People I barely know or haven’t heard from in years have offered to help purchase supplies for my trip, have donated to my ministry, and one guy offered his airline miles to get me to LA. (A group of us are meeting in LA and flying to PNG together). It’s been SO encouraging. I still have a LOT (I do mean a LOT) of money to raise for the year, but it’s a start, and I fully trust that God will provide the rest through a variety of different folks. So you can see, I’ve been learning lots of huge lessons in trust… but even more lessons on God’s abundant, overflowing, & gracious love for me.

January 8, 2008

2008-05-01T12:37:00.000-04:00

I need to fill you all in on what God's been doing in my life since my meltdown last week. I have to say, first of all, that I am so incredibly blessed by how supportive everyone is. I needed encouragement, and my friends & my mom were all over it! I'm reading a book that New Tribes sent me, and it talks about how important it is to have the support of your friends, family members, and your church before you go into Missions. If they are telling you that they don't feel you're ready, or that it's not a good fit for you, you should take it seriously. I'm so relieved that didn't happen to me! Not ONE person hesitated about my decision. Absolutely everyone said "Yes, that is perfect for you! I'm so excited!" Every week at church I have people asking me about how things are going. Even my boss & coworkers are pumped for me. All of this is to say that God is continuing to make my path clear for me. It feels incredible to have so much affirmation from my peeps, but what I needed even more than that last week was affirmation from God that this is what He really wanted for me. I was doubting my decision. So over the weekend, in the midst of playing in the snow at Fort Wilderness, I asked Him to remind me of why I started pursuing missions in the first place. I took some time by myself to go for a little hike so that I could talk to God, and LISTEN to Him. In all of the paperwork & worrying, I had forgotten "the call" I initially had. I thought back to all of the times I'd listened to missionaries talk about their ministry and how my heart would nearly burst with excitement and the desire to be a part of that. How I would get tingly all over just thinking about being a missionary "someday". How everything fell into place when I started looking into PNG- the job that was available for me, and also seemed to so perfectly fit my personality! I felt excited all over again, and the doubts started to fade. Yesterday I received an email saying that in order to get my work visa, the PNG government needs copies of my college & high school diplomas (not just transcrips - but the actual cerfiticate) for the work permit. I was like - Are you kidding me? I have no idea where that stuff is! I called UWSP to see if I could get a copy of my diploma, and they said it would be weeks before I could get it unless by some miracle they had it on file from 11 years ago. So I prayed for a miracle, and asked God to please use this to help confirm for me that He really wanted me on this path. An hour later the records office called me and said "oops, there must have been a mistake because we never sent you your official diploma and still had it on file here! We'll mail it out right away." WHOA! Then we had some crazy temperatures here yesterday - it was like 58 degrees. So I thanked God for the warm weather which would be great while I searched my attic for my HS diploma (my attic is not insulated, and absolutely frigid in the winter). I found my yearbooks, my varsity letters, awards, and lots of letters from my high school bf, but no diploma. I stopped and prayed "God, this trip down memory lane has been super fun, but I really need to find my diploma... please help me. This would be a really cool story to tell people". I opened a new box, reached in, and pulled out my diploma. NO LIE! How AWESOME is that?! I had to document this whole story so that when I inevitably have doubts again in a few months, I remember His goodness to me. He didn't have to show up like that in my life... I still would have trusted Him. But He went into the affirmation business and worked overtime so that I would feel confident & refreshed & passionate again about going into the field. WOO, I wish I could leave right now! God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame. ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

January 4, 2008

2008-05-01T12:36:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I had a meltdown. I found out that I'm leaving on July 3rd, which means I have exactly 6 months to raise my support, get my visa, work permits, and my life together before I leave for a whole year. I started thinking about the enormity of the task at hand, how much I'm going to miss my friends, and questioning whether or not I really have a heart for service. I was downloading 5 new documents that needed filling out, including an employment contract (eek!) plus a 31 page manual that needs to be read, and I was eyeing up the corner in my office thinking how comforting it would be to curl up there in the fetal position. For a second, I even thought I'd made a big mistake in pursuing this... but only for a second because deep down I know that's not possible, and it's just the Enemy planting more doubts. It seems like every missionary I've ever met is so calm - they have it all together. I wonder how they felt while they were preparing for their first mission. I have a feeling it's pretty normal to go through a time of freaking out about this decision. But since none of them live around here to give me a pep talk, I did the next best thing... I called my biggest fans and forced them to tell me it's all going to be ok, and remind me that God is Good! So last night, after I'd been hugged, coddled, and successfully mollified, I spent some time alone in thought & prayer. I was thinking about that good ol' analogy about how God is weaving a tapestry with our lives. Up close, tapestries don't look so good - they're kind of a mess. Some of the threads don't makes sense. They seem like the wrong color and totally out of place from close up. But when you step back and look at the whole canvas, it's complex & richly designed. God sees the whole picture, and is creating something beautiful with our lives... even with those ugly threads. As freaked out as I was (am) about leaving, I absolutely believe that everything in my life has been building up to this decision. It may not feel like the perfect time (cuz I'm kinda old) and I may miss my friends tremendously (no getting around that) but this is God's will for my life so I can trust Him to get me there, and that He knows me... and I'm going to love this! I'm going to come out of this experience trusting Him more and loving Him more than ever. It's going to be so Amazing! I really have no doubt that I'm MEANT to do this. I'm a little embarassed to have gotten so worked up and worried. But I can't promise that it won't happen again. This is really a lesson in letting go - of selfishness, of control, and of my own not-so-well conceived ideas of what my life is supposed to look like at my age. Thanks for all of your love & prayers. Keep on Prayin'! God's promises are like the stars; the darker the night the brighter they shine. ~David Nicholas Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He's going to be up all night anyway. ~Mary C. Crowley

October 31, 2007

2008-05-01T12:35:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure why I was keeping all of this to myself, instead of sharing it with my faithful readers. Priscilla suggested that I start documenting everything I see God doing in my life this year while I get ready to be a missionary - and I agree that this will all be valuable to look back on. I could not WAIT to get all of the paperwork from New Tribes, but when it finally arrived, I was discouraged to see how much was involved. The application itself was a BOOK - full of lovely questions like "describe your prayer & bible study habits", "briefly describe the Gospel message", "discuss a trial you went through & how you overcame it", "how are you maintaining victory over sin"... about 14 pages of questions like that! So I thought I'd just take it 1 step at a time - just do a page or 2 in a sitting instead of looking at the whole book & freaking out. I finished the first 4 pages of questions & a ton of the other paperwork (employment forms & such) in the first night & I was super excited about how focused I was, and how much I was getting done... Then I looked at the last page of the app. At the very end was a "confidential" section, that asked about your past. I was instantly completely deflated, totally defeated. I could not work on any more of the questions, all I could think about was what I should do about that last page. I briefly considered just not being honest about that part of my past... they don't need to know that, right? But I could not bring myself to lie. I called my friends Dave & Eric, literally bawling! I said "you guys told me that I'm a different person now. That you didn't ever need to hear about who I used to be because you don't even know that girl, you never met her... so why do I have to dredge all of that up now for complete strangers?! It's not fair! I don't want anyone to know this stuff - even my best friends don't know this!" They were very calm and both (completely separately) said the same thing - that I should be honest about my past, and just rely on God's sovereign plan for me. And they said that there is no way I'm the first christian with a sinful past who wanted to be a missionary! Duh, of course!! I should have realized that, but I was so stuck on my SELF that I wasn't thinking logically. They are so wise, and such good friends. (How am I ever going to be able to leave them?!!) However, I still struggled with it. That night I went to sleep and had the worst dreams of my life. I kept falling back to sleep, only to have scarier, more graphic dreams. At one point I woke up and was so terrified I couldn't move, and was too afraid to even breathe because I didn't want whatever was in my room with me to know I was there. I felt surrounded by evil. I cried out to God, and literally heard Him say "it's ok little one, don't be afraid, you're safe." I prayed that He would protect me in my dreams for the rest of the night - and He did. However, I woke up with a fever, and very ill. After a week of being so sick and spending most of the days sleeping, I finally went to the doctor and found out I had a sinus infection, bronchitis, and laryngitis (I literally couldn't speak for 2 days). Can you say - Full-Amored Spiritual Attack!?!?! I can't believe I didn't expect it! Of course, I'm about to go on the front lines for Christ, I should have known I would get some opposition from the Enemy. So I finally said - ENOUGH - and finished that last page of my application, and sent it in. I realized it was really a pride issue. I didn't want New Tribes to read about my past, but the truth is - that's what God has taken me out of... and it only shows how great His Grace, how unfailing is His love for me. So I answered every question honestly and added "All of this happened over 5 years ago, before I knew Christ. My life has since been transformed". And that's all that really matters! My Pastor said that sometimes, God takes us through things like that just to remind us of how much we really need Him, and how much we needed Him before we knew Him. It gives us a renewed thankfulness for Him. I would say that's definitely true for me. I had forgotten how far I'd come (with God) in the last 5 years. It also taught me that while I was praying for focus to finish the paperwork - I was praying for physical focus, not Spiritual focus, which left me vulnerable. Lesson Learned! "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings."- 1 Peter 5:8-9

October 11, 2007

2008-05-01T12:34:00.000-04:00

Alright, I guess it's time that I fill you all in on the details of my life. I've been holding back from blogging this until I had something solid to share... and now you can expect me to be writing a lot more. For anyone who doesn't already know, I have started the application process to become an Associate Missionary in Papua, New Guinea for 1 year, through New Tribes Missions. (www.ntm.org for anyone interested). I will be the administrative assistant to the Interface Camp director in the Highlands. Hopefully this does not come as too big of a shock to anyone. It is definitely something that God has put on my heart for a very long time, and I am super excited! So far, everything has been coming together so perfectly that there really can't be any doubt that this is what God has intended for me. My path is clear. There haven't been many times in my life where I've felt such certainty. I will keep you all posted on what's happening. So far, I've filled out the initial questionaire, gotten the recommendation needed from Pastor Sid, met with Pastor Jim (head of Missionary committee at church), and now all of the official paperwork is on it's way from NTM. There is a lot to do! The earliest I will be heading off to the other side of the world is next July. The good news is that my boss is considering this a "sobatical" so that I can come back after the year & keep my sweet job. Oh, and I had an MRI this week, and got the results back the NEXT DAY! That was huge. I'm still cancer-free - YAY - Praise God! So that's the generic update... in the future, I promise to share a lot more. Obviously I would love your prayers & support as my life is clearly about to change in the biggest & best way. ~ Me Romans 10: 14-15 ~ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"