Hello, from PNG!

Papua New Guinea is absolutely breathtaking! 

I arrived at the Madang airport Monday around 4:30pm.  I was on the flight with a few other people who are also attending POC (Pacific Orientation Training).  The airport is so small!  They brought our luggage up to a table and set it on top for us to grab.  Side note: I’m so thankful for luggage carts and gentlemen.  Up until that point I’ve had use of a luggage cart the entire time I needed it, and then here had someone willing to carry my bag to the truck and off the truck.

We piled ourselves and our luggage into the back of a truck with a roof over our heads and wooden benches, and then set off up the hill to our camp.  Madang is on the north coast of PNG; the higher we climbed, the more beautiful the ocean scene became.  We finally rolled into camp around 5:30 to be greeted by staff and other students who arrived ahead of me.  I was so tired!  I hugged the few people I knew, then went straight to my room.  We had dinner almost immediately, but I was pretty much a zombie!

That night I went to bed before 8 and didn’t get up until 6am.  I finally started feeling like myself again Tuesday afternoon.  Tuesday morning we took a trip into town.  Somehow all my towels were packed in my things sent straight to Ukarumpa and I totally forgot to pack shampoo and soap, so I picked up some of those things.  I was overwhelmed by everything, so I didn’t get much else!

I’m taking this adjustment a lot better than I thought I would (for now!).  In the mornings and evenings it’s kind of cool… at least cool enough to sleep comfortably.  Around 11am it gets super hot and sticky, and you’re pretty much sweating until the sun starts to go down.  No A/C here!  There’s no way I can take a nap during our “quiet hour” after lunch… it’s so hot!  But sometimes I’ll be walking around and all of a sudden come across a spot where the wind is whipping around.  And it’s a pretty cool wind, so it feels wonderful!

We have wireless internet.  I paid about $25 for 300 MB of downloads… we’ll see how long that lasts me!  It worked great Tuesday night, but I’m having trouble getting on it lately.  It goes in and out.  I turned off all pictures from being downloaded, so when I get on facebook, I can’t see anything you’ve uploaded!

Ok, I guess that’s enough reading for you for now.  Here are some pics (I hope they're ok, I can't see them!!)…

The sunrise this morning from our camp

Our dorms

My mosquito-netted bed and mom-made calendar

 

My corner of belongings

 

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

 ¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
   where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the LORD,
   the Maker of heaven and earth.

 ³ He will not let your foot slip—
   he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
   will neither slumber nor sleep.

 ⁵ The LORD watches over you—
   the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
   nor the moon by night.

 ⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
   he will watch over your life;
⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
   both now and forevermore.