I was riding in the car with another missionary wife and mother today.  She asked me how the kids were doing here in PNG.  She wondered where they considered “home”.  I had to answer honestly that I really didn’t know.  They have mentioned missing people in America and a few fun things we were able to do there.  But we’ve really never discussed where “home” is.

But then I started thinking about where I consider “home”.  I was surprised to realize that I was unsure myself!  I feel at home in certain places in America, and in PNG.  But there was no physical place that immediately came to mind when I tried to think of home.

I think those of us raised in Western culture tend to think of physical structures and places when we think of home.  Maybe it’s because I’m in PNG or maybe it’s because the longest we’ve lived in any one place since we have been married is two years, but I no longer put a lot of emotional ties on places.  My warm memories of home include snapshots of family get-togethers at the holidays, spending time with my sister-in-law, playing games with friends, and talking over coffee.   Home has more to do with relationships than geography.  In my mind at least, when I am surrounded by people I love and who love me, I’m home.

Erica

Last week, I was honored to attend the Regional Conference for the Christian Union Church here in PNG.  I rode a PMV (Public Motor Vehicle or bus) out on Monday and returned to Mt. Hagen on Friday.  The meetings took place from Tuesday through Thursday all day.

I really enjoyed being there with all of the pastors and leaders that we work with.  Every day, I woke up to the sound of a group of the pastors praying (starting at about 5:30 and going until 6:30).  Then the pastors would switch to singing for a while before hearing a short devotion.  Then about 7:30, we would all head over to get our morning tea and scone (roll).  The meetings would run from 8:30 to 12:00, when we would break for a lunch of kaukau (sweet potato), kumu (greens), and sugarcane.  We would then have meetings again until about 4:30.  Supper consisted of typical Mumu food (food cooked in the ground by hot rocks): Pig, kaukau, taro, kumu, and bananas (the kind that you cook).  What followed next was the best part of the day.  The pastors would go hang out in their grass houses (each district had its own house) and sit around the fire talking.  Each evening I would slip off and join in with a different district in their house.

Sitting and talking with the pastors is one of my favorite things to do.  It is the best chance for me to really get to know them and for them to feel connected to me.  Many of them start out afraid to talk to me, assuming that I am so much different than they are.  But as I sit around the fire with them, joking and laughing about things or talking about something out of the Bible, I become one of them.  And that is the best way that I have found to be able to make a real impact on their lives.

Pray with me for the pastors that we work with here as I do my best to disciple them in the way that Jesus demonstrated and that Paul taught about in 2 Timothy 2:2.

One of the many things I love about our ministry here in PNG, is getting to travel.  Not that the roads are good at all, but I still enjoy it.  Just this last week I got to travel to Sumia (Past Mendi in the Southern Highlands Province).  I went there to be involved in a meeting with the Regional Board of Trustees of the Christian Union Church. 
When I travel out to Mendi, I usually ride in a pmv (bus).  I do this for a couple of reasons.  One, our vehicle is not able to handle the rough roads between Hagen and Mendi very well.  And since I don't have money to constantly fix it, I just don't drive it out that way.  Two, most of the pastors and church leaders that we work with have to travel by pmv because they don't have vehicles.  I do my best to try to work under the same restrictions or conditions that they do, so that I can relate to them better.

So after riding the pmv to Mendi, one of the Board members who has a truck picked me up and we rode out to Sumia.  The meeting was held in our church at Sumia, and the pastor and his wife fixed us a meal of chicken, kaukau, bananas, and kumu (greens).  We started our meeting at about one o'clock in the afternoon (the pmv ride takes about 4 hours), and didn't get finished until close to six o'clock. 

After the meeting was over at six, everyone was trying to catch a ride back to their homes.  Several men were able to get a ride to Embi and Montanda, the guy from Kar just decided to spend the night with the pastor of Sumia, and the guy from Poroma was the one with his own truck.  The two guys from Waralai had no way to get home, so they decided to spend the night at one of their in-laws place (Yagen) which was close by.  Since I had no way to go home either, I went with them.  Now, it is very common in this culture to just show up at someone's house and expect them to house and feed you.  However, it isn't very common for a 'white man' to just show up at your house and expect those things.  So the family was pretty shocked when I came walking up to their house with the two other guys.  However, they quickly made me feel at home.  We sat around the fire in the Haus Kuk (Cook House) for a while and then I headed off to bed.  They actually had a couple of bedrooms built into this Kunai  (bush) house, so they gave me my own room.

We got up the next morning and went out to the road to wait for a pmv to come along.  It was about a 20 minute ride into Mendi.  Once we got to Mendi, we went and hung out a Haus Kai (small fast food place) and got some breakfast.  I had some broccoli and a fish flour (kind of like a big corn dog, but with fish in the middle).  About eight o'clock or so, the pmvs were loading up to head to Hagen, so I jumped in one and made my way home. 

That is what you call traveling 'PNG Style', and I happen to love it!  If you ever make it over to PNG some time and want to travel with me, I will gladly take you along!

Do you ever have one of those days when you do something so stupid that you feel like going back to bed?  I had one of those recently.  I went to town and parked in front of Best Buy (Grocery Store).  I went in and was back out in 10 minutes.  As I walked towards my car, reaching for the car key in my pocket, I heard what I thought was the car parked next to mine running.  But as I couldn't find the key in my pocket, i realized that it was actually my car running!  I had locked the key in the car with the car running.  If you have ever been in Mt. Hagen, PNG, then you know that it was a miracle that my car was still there.  That was in part because the car parked next to mine was a police car.  As I stood there trying to figure out what to do (We have no spare key, there is no locksmith to call, and I had no wire in my pocket to pick the lock with), the policeman came out of the store.  It just so happened, that he is someone that I met while attending the Haus Krai (funeral) for his mother earlier this year.  He immediately greeted me and asked if he could help.  He let me put my groceries in his car while one of the store employees went to find a wire to pick the lock with.  After finding a wire, both the store employee and I tried our hand at picking the lock, but with no success.  Then a young man was brought forward (by this time there was a large crowd) and they said to let him try because he would be able to do it.  After trying with the wire that the store employee brought (it was too thick), he checked to see to make sure the policeman wasn't looking and then pulled a wire out of his pocket.  This wire was just the right size and pre-formed to the right shape.  He had the door open in about two seconds.  After making sure the policeman still wasn't looking, he put the wire back in his pocket.  So what do you do when a thief helps you break into your car?  I gave him some money and made sure that he wouldn't do it to me again some day!  I then thanked my policeman buddy, and drove home thanking God for taking care of me and providing help, even when I didn't deserve it.

Benji