Dear friends and family,
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
Please keep our physical health in prayer. Matthew has been suffering, in various degrees, for the last two weeks with nausea, diarrhea, fever, chills and a relentless cough. He seems to have times of feeling better, but then digresses again. We took him to a doctor on the 24th and he thinks he has a strain of influenza which lingers. He suggested we wait it out so Matthew continues to suffer. I too have picked-up the cough, but not much more. It is important that we go to our village this week with no serious illness.
Since our last update, we have met with our wasfamili, attempted to learn more Tok Pisin, bought all the food and supplies needed for our village phase, completed a 3 day hike and more.
On Saturday the 14th we had our wasfamili here and prepared a meal for them in our Haus Kuk. Though they brought some staples from their garden, Tammy prepared the bulk of the meal(over a fire) - and it was EXCELLENT. In addition to the main course she baked rolls and chocolate chip cookies in our drum-oven over the fire. Our wasfamili loved them! Our waspapa commented that Tammy was "a good meri" which is a high compliment in a culture that doesn't praise women too hastily. A departing student left us a large bag of marshmallows so we decided to introduce our wasfamili to roasting them over the hot coals of our fire. Our wasmama liked them, but our waspapa, immediately after putting a roasted marshmallow in his mouth, grabbed a roll and stuffed it in his mouth too saying that the marshmallow made him want to vomit. The PNG kids loved the roasting part and soon we had kids from other wasfamilis around our fire joining in the fun. We all had a great time and enjoyed growing closer to these warm Christian brothers and sisters.
On the 17th, after much preparation, we headed off to town to buy our supplies for five weeks of living in a village. This was quite and adventure. You don't realize how much you need until you have bought it and then have to package it in a way the rats/roaches won't get to it until you do.
On the 18th we celebrated Savannah's 14th birthday. Missy, the kitchen manager, made cakes and we all enjoyed some with ice cream. Thank you to all who sent gifts and good wishes.
On the morning of the 19th Tammy and I left on a three day hike. The kids stayed in the POC compound and were cared for by our Australian friends, James and Natalie Nelson. The purpose of this hike is to prepare us for those initial days when we go to our village. Going into a village, as white westerners, can be pretty stressful. The stress does not come from fear of the people, but from the demands of the masses who want to get to know you. Additionally, the language barrier can be substantial. Tammy and I found the language barrier to be a very real stressor. If you add to that the fact that we hiked all day, through the mountains, in the tropics, things can get exponentially accentuated. We bathed in rivers and drank our water from rivers (filtered of course - thank you Dokken family). In the first village all seven in the group slept in the village meeting house. All lined up in individual enclosed mosquito net "boxes" (aka "coffins") in the same small room. One student commented that "Now I know what it must feel like to be in a cemetery." On the second night we slept in a two bedroom home on stilts. Whenever anyone moved the whole house swayed.
We had a great time with the people. They are always eager to hear our stories and to tell theirs. In each village there was a different language spoken (Tok Pisin is a second language to them). Neither village's language has been written, so they have no Scripture in their heart language (mother tongue). Unfortunately, the majority of people in Papua New Guinea are in this situation. Please continue to pray for the Bibleless people in this nation.
We will be in the village March 27 - April 30, so this will be our last update until May. Feel free to send us snail mail (Air Mail)! The staff here will be visiting us mid April and will bring us any mail that we receive here at the address below.
We thank you for your prayers and support. We look forward to sending 5 weeks worth of updates when we return back to the email world.
For His glory,
Scott, Tammy, Matthew, Savannah & Emilie Wycliffe, USA
Mailing address:
The Harms Family
c/o SIL-Pacific Orientation Course
PO Box 872
Madang 511
Papua New Guinea