Purpose Asia

Monin olgeta pren bilong mi! (Good morning my friends!) This is the third week of my training here at the Pacific Orientation Course. I had meant to send you an update since my last post but things have been very busy here and it took me longer than expected to let you know what's going on. We've been learning great things; both head knowledge and practical hands-on knowledge. Since I last wrote I've been learning a lot of Tok Pisin (as you can see above). We get to have language lessons almost every weekday morning and the national staff here are eager to help us and encourage us to talk a lot and try things out. Their constant encouragement to t oktok planti (talk a lot) helps me feel safe to practice and they're such amazing and patient teachers. I'm really enjoying that. This week we had the chance to learn some traditional skills from them like making fire fans, bilums (woven bags), rice baskets, woven walls for houses and roofing materials. It was incred...

Can you believe I've been in Papua New Guinea for over a week? I started the Pacific Orientation Course last week and I am really enjoying it! It is a course designed to equip missionaries going to the Pacific area  with the tools necessary to thrive in the physical, relational, cultural and spiritual context of the Pacific (that includes areas like Papua New Guinea (PNG), Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, etc…). We get the chance to be immersed in Melanesian culture, to learn Tok Pisin from Papua New Guineans and start mastering basic skills for basic and outdoor living here in the Pacific. It's such a great opportunity and I'm thankful that I have this time unencumbered by other responsibilities to really start to get to know Papua New Guineans and learn from and with them.  My heart, as many of you know, is not only to live and work her in PNG but to get to know Papua New Guineans well. I want to be able to do life with them, do ministry with them and really build humble,...

Horsetail Falls, OR, USA Columbia River Gorge Hello All, When I last wrote to you I was telling you of my upcoming departure from the USA. Now, after 33 hours of travel, 3 flights and 2 countries later I am in Cairns, Australia. I decided to stop off here to take a minute to process my transition, get over jet lag and "fuel up" for my training in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Before I left the Pacific Northwest it was cold and wintery, and now I'm in the tropics with the high today around 90 F (that 32 Celsius, my new measurement system) with 60% humidity. It's been quite the transition.  Cairns, Australia Lagoon on the Esplanade overlooking the Coral Sea However, that's not the only transition. In the last few days I left behind my car, my house, my dog, my phone and everything I had not packed to go with me and set out on a plane to start a new chapter in my life. Although all that was difficult, leaving my family was one of the hardest things I'v...