Okay time for a little reality check…

We have for the most part been enjoying our time here in Papua. But as I mentioned earlier we have also had some sobering moments as well.

Remember I mentioned the mattress they wanted me to sleep on here in the house, well this is a picture of it. The black line to the left of the tear is an ant highway. You can pray for my endurance/patience. The reality of the bugs everywhere that you can't escape from was one of my first sobering moments. They are absolutely everywhere and our house is full of them. Joerg and I (Selfi too) have been virtually eaten alive since we arrived…we are talking hundreds of bites. Mosquito spray and nets only go so far. I gotta tell you our sanity is a little thin at times because of all the itching, so pray for endurance. You could also pray that we will stay healthy because with all of these skeeter bites we are testing these malaria meds to their limit.
This is not a wealthy village we are living in so people here don’t have much and they, for the most part, don’t spend what little money they have on toothbrushes. Before I left Boise I got a Colgate representative to donate over 300 toothbrushes for the people here. And finally after hauling them half way around the world we handed them out the other day and they were really excited.

Please pray for the people of Papua, we have seen some of the darkness that they live in. There is nothing "romantic" about the simple life...they do not have things because they like it that way...they do not have things because they don't have them, but they are the same kind of people in their core as we are, with the same sin nature. I know that Joerg mentioned in his post the woman that was beating her child, but I also have to mention it because of the impact it had on me to watch that scene. It was pretty awful. Please pray for the Papuan people that God would shine a light in the darkness.

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Please pray with us that God would be glorified in Boise, Papua, and wherever there are Christians to shout His praise.

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In Christ, Jen

Mount Doom

After two trips to the beach we wanted to mix things up so we decided to hike up to the property where Beyond Cultures is planning on building the pastor training and retreat center…or at least that’s what we thought. I have been to the property before, so when we got there and turned right I knew that our final destination had not been communicated to us. It turned out instead that they were taking us on a 2 hour hike straight up the side of the mountain behind it. It wasn't quite what I was expecting to do that day and might have traveled a little differently with some warning. Also, it’s not exactly comparable to a hike in America because it is all jungle and the “trail” is wherever the machete clears.

As we began our journey we had quite the entourage out of town. Only about 10 of us went up the mountain, but they all like to watch us white folk trying to live Papuan style.
THIS believe it or not is the trail. The whole hike was thick with plants, trees, vines, and of course ants and skeeters. Joerg and I have well into the hundreds of mosquito bites to show for this hike. We both went and bought long sleeve shirts to hike in next time.

This is Hengki climbing the roots of this crazy cool tree in the jungle while Selfi and I caught our breaths.

I asked Nirmala to take a picture of me, and Martinus jumped right in and whipped out his phone to be funny…They actually did get reception once we got to the top of the mountain.

I fell about four times on the way down so I came out a little scratched up. I also had the misfortune on the way down to fall into a bee hive and got stung three times before I could swat the devils away. It was a very steep hike and a little unexpected so there were some not so pleasant aspects for me of that particular hike, HOWEVER there were some great things for us about that hike. I made a new friend my age on the hike named Nirmala and we made friends with a lot of the village boys that went with us on the hike. Also, Joerg and I got to spend time with Ron/Di’s partners Martinus and Hengki.

A few random shots from last week...

We are currently back in the city of Manokwari enjoying mattresses, electricity and internet, but as we get ready to head back to SP11 I think that both of us are very ready to get back. SP11 is a great place for us to really build relationships with people. We walk around the village and chat with the Indonesians and Papuans that live there, and we take little adventures with them as well. We do enjoy our time with Edy and Riama in the city, but the pace of life here is very different and I tend to get "cabin fever" after staying in the house not doing much. Joerg reminded me tonight during devotions that even in the "slow lane" moments of life God might be using us to impact someone.

SP11 is a beautiful piece of God’s creation.
Sometimes in the little moments He uses us.

This is me in the back of a gas truck that we hitched a ride in on the way to the beach. Joerg and I have been making up Papuan Proverbs for the lessons we have learned here and this one: "All transportation here is public." Gas trucks, private cars, motorcycles...all public.

I spent our second afternoon at the beach teaching Selfi to swim. She can now officially float on her back and do the doggy paddle. I threw this picture in of Selfi tidying up our front yard…she was sweeping up the stray leaves, which just struck me so funny because the inside of the house is such a nightmare that a few leaves in the front yard just seemed funny.

To Lori Price and Michelle Markham: a big thanks for the beads. The ladies/girls had a great time making bracelets and via Selfi we were able to give the whole salvation message while we made them. Great idea!

A little more from our first day at the beach...

When Joerg and I came back from our swim out to the coral rocks we found that our friends on the beach were going to make lunch for us out of some fish that some guys on the beach had caught and from some taro root that grows around the beach.
At this point I figure you’ve gathered that most of our food still has eyes when we eat it. We tend to stay away from the heads but they really like them.

They do most of their fishing with nets. The log in the guys hand is for floating.
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It was a great first afternoon. We were really able to enjoy some Papuan culture and practice our limited vocab. We both had a great time just sort of sinking into life here.

We didn't come halfway around the world to go to a beach but...

Joerg asked about beaches close to SP11 because as it turns out we are very close to the ocean. So, for our first day in the village Selfi, Joerg, and I visited Pantai Kasbederi with some of the village girls. It was “only a 10 minute” walk from the house. I put that in for Diana, because Indonesians have no sense of time whatsoever and it was almost an hour trek from our house across town through the jungle.

Joerg and I quickly abandoned our flip flops for the Papuan style of barefoot travels because our flip flops were no match for the jungle mud.
We were really hot and disgusting so when the trees parted and the ocean fell into view it was a welcome sight.

Joerg and I swam out to this little coral rock to explore. The girls weren’t quite ready to swim and Selfi can’t swim so they waited on shore and took pictures for us. It turned out that the rocks were inhabited by quite a few decent-sized crabs.

I thought I should throw this one in because we haven't been in too many pictures together since one of us is usually behind the camera.

Going to the beach actually turned to be very fruitful. We were able to start putting our Indonesian to practice. Also, I have since been able to build relationships with at least 2 of the girls that took us to the beach that day.

A little more from our first day at SP11.

It took Joerg all of 10 minutes after we arrived to climb a coconut tree. He and a friend that accompanied us out from Manokwari climbed the trees so that we could have fresh coconut milk.
Fresh coconut milk definitely tastes the best straight from the coconut.

Our house is sort of a hangout spot because we are between the school and the store and because the well, a volleyball net, and the bus stop are in our “front yard.” There are always kids and adults hanging around, and Joerg and I try to practice our Indonesian on them.

This picture cracked me up because little kids with big knifes are nothing extraordinary around here.

We are constantly living in a fish bowl here, we haven’t seen one white person since we left Sentani 2 weeks ago. We do things so differently than them that we still need a lot of help to learn to do simple things the “Papuan” way. Day by day it gets easier but sometimes it is a little overwhelming so I like to take walks to clear my head and enjoy the sunsets.

And so our journey begins...

Well, since my last update much has happened. There have been good things and hard things, dull times and great adventures, great moments and sobering ones. We left Manokwari last Monday for our home in SP11.

The night before we left we had a big send-off dinner with people from Edy’s church.
Apparently, lots of folks here think that papeda is quite the treat, so they made a big batch for dinner. For those of you who don’t know, papeda is a dreadful substance that they make from the pulp of the sago tree, and it is the consistency of snot. So while I was less than thrilled to see 2 buckets of papeda on the table it was nice to be in the company of fellow believers before we took off for the wilds of SP11.

I thought you would get a kick out of the “gas station”…Joerg and I thought it was great. Nothing is automatic here.

Home sweet home. Selfi, Joerg and I are staying at this house while we are here. It has not been lived in for over a year so you can’t even imagine what manner of critters are living here with us. The whole place is crawling with ants, skeeters, and all manner of insects. The first day, Selfi and I tried to put sheets on our bed and hundreds, HUNDREDS of ants came pouring out from inside of it. You can imagine my thoughts on sleeping on that mattress…so we left it behind and are sleeping on the floor over at the school.

The “mandi” or shower and the well that all of our water comes from. We accidentally left the water filters in Manokwari so we had to scrub out an old one here and so far neither of us have died from anything.

For now...

I have been trying to upload a few photos, but for now the computer doesn't seem to be inclined to acquiesse to my request (bonus points if you know what movie that's from) so this posting will be pictureless...sorry.

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Yesterday and today have been very mellow. We went to Edy's church this morning...and even sang All in All in English and Indonesian in front of the church. It was our kesaksian (testimony) for them. They are very big on people sharing their kesaksian (basically whatever God has laid on their heart). Sometimes it is a song, sometimes its a passage in the bible, or what God is doing in their life. We leave early tomorrow morning for SP11. I think that both Joerg and I are excited to be moving on to the next phase of our journey. We have done a lot of "hanging out in the house" here in Manokwari and we are both pretty ready for a little more activity. We are also excited to get into a little more formal language study...most of our studying has been on our own up to this point, and well, a little guidance couldn't hurt.

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We will not have phone or internet access out at SP11 so please keep us in your prayers and we will check in when we can. We hope to come back into Manokwari in a week or so. That's all for now folks. Live in the light, Jen

More from the fish market...

Not like any market we have.

Manokwari

Dinner.

Pasar Ikan

After a few days of being "holed up" in the house, Joerg and I were pretty to strike out and see a little more of Manokwari, so yesterday and today we went to the market. Selfi, my language helper, has been our guide. Selfi, doesn't know very much english so we learn a lot when we travel with her. I posted previously about some of the food (eating batman and hot dogs), so I thought you would get a kick out of the market. By the way, for those of you who have asked...Joerg did eat the bat brain and one of the eyes but couldn't quite summon the will to finish off the second eye. For me, eating the bat body and bat wings (REALLY chewy) was sufficient.

Chicken anyone? When this picture is full size you can see how many flies are on them.
The market is right on the water...Manokwari is a coastal town. The market is also on the edge of trash heaps everywhere as you can see.

I got a kick out of the "hallelujah" boat.

Lunch. Selfi let me try buying the fish for lunch...I did okay but I had a lot of assistance.

This is a fruit called sri kaya. It actually was pretty good. Joerg and I were a little unsure when Selfi first handed it to us because we thought it was some sort of shrunken artichoke. It looks funny but tasted okay.

I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts...

SP11 is actually not that far from the ocean so we stopped and walked on the beach before we headed over to SP11 for the afternoon.

Look closely, there is a guy up in the tree getting some coconuts for us to drink.

I am not a huge fan of coconut milk, but it is better than a few of the other samplings we have had. I have officially eaten "batman" and "hot dogs." Which means that dinner last night was dog meat, and lunch today was bat meat. I ate bat meat and bat wings, poor Joerg ended up with a bat head on his plate.

The REAL wakeup call…Are you really alive?

On Wednesdays, here in Manokwari, Edy’s church takes to the streets to share the gospel. It is illegal here, and you can be put in jail for doing so, but they go anyway. They tell me that the people are open to hearing the gospel, and so they go.

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I have been reading about the church in Sardis (Rev. 3:1-6). God told them “You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. WAKE UP…” The church was strong in reputation but not in reality. I have been very convicted on this issue since arriving in Papua. I have seen ways in my own walk with the Lord that people would outwardly see as good, but inwardly I know my character doesn’t match. I don’t want to be about reputation only, but about real Christian character. I don’t know who all is reading this blog, maybe no one, but if you stumbled on this posting today, take a moment and decide if your spirit is alive in reality or in reputation only. If your spirit is dead or sleepy, here’s your wake-up call. WAKE UP and fix it. It’s easy to keep up appearances, but God USES people who are really alive.

There little mosques like this all over, and I wake up every morning at 4am to their call to prayer. Please for the people of Papua, and for the hearts of the people ministering to them.