These are the days of our lives...

Hello friends.
Life is good and busy here in Mt Hagen for us all.
Sandy days are full to overflowing with flights and MAF related work. I am kept busy with school with the kids, hospitality, market shops for our outstation family and generally keeping the house hold together.


This week Sandy spent Tuesday night down the south of the country in a village called Kawito. Earlier in the day, one of our other pilots had a prop strike when he taxied over a pot hole in his 206 after landing, the ground was slick with mud after rain, so he didn't see the hole, and the tuning propeller hit the ground.
Sandy flew down with a engineer to asses the damage. The guys decided to fly back to Hagen in Sandy's plane, and return today with the larger aircraft, and a spare engine, and a team of engineers to install it into the damaged plane, and fly it back to Hagen. Once back in Hagen, the damaged engine can be tested properly and repaired.
The local communities are responsible for the up keep of the airstrips here in PNG, and they work hard to try and keep the strips in good condition. However, heavy rains, wild pigs that love to rip up the soil, and natural springs that can pop up overnight make for interesting challenges in the maintenance of strips.


Back at home, our side of town is in a bit of a chaotic state, as the roads are being worked on this week. Roads are closed while repairs are done, and detours often find us going into the opposite direction we really want to go....but its all for a good cause, and we look forward to driving straight again soon.
On Tuesday night, we had a little taste of tribal waring that can take place in the highlands. The highland people are notoriously ‘bel hat’ (hot hearted), their fuses are pretty short and when they pop, they pop most spectacularly. Down the road from our compound is a squatter camp where some highland people are living. Fights are fairly normal, but on Tuesday night we had a full on confrontation between two tribal groups.
It was rather strange to be in bed reading a good murder mystery, only to have it interrupted by a mini war down the road. Such is life in the highlands of PNG.
(this picture was taken at the Mt Hagen Market opening singsing events... NOT from tuesday night!)

It was all spears clashing and blood curdling screaming and some gun shots mixed in as well. I felt completely safe, we have a guard on our compound and he and some other local blokes who live on our compound were at the gate watching the drama. The kids slept through the whole thing and it all calmed down after a couple of hours.

Megans 7th Birthday!

Our baby turns 7 years old tomorrow. Today we had a big party with all of Megs MAF girl friends. It was a 'come as your favorite movie character' party - we had a pirate (from Peter Pan), Poo bear, Dorothy (from the Wizard of Oz) and quite a few princesses. A great day!

Missionary Love : a version of 1 Corinthians 13

If I speak fluently in another language but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I wear the national dress and understand the culture and all forms of etiquette so that I could pass as a national, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love endures long hours of language study and does not envy those who stayed home.

Love does not exalt his home country, is not proud of his national superiority, does not boast about the way we do it back home, does not think evil about his new country.

Love bears all criticism about his place of origin and believes the best about his new place of ministry.

Love endures all inconveniences.

Love never fails.

Where there is contextualisation it may lead to syncretiscism. Where there is linguistics it will change. For we know only part of the culture, and we minister to only part. But when Christ is reproduced in this place then our inadequacies will be insignificant.

When I was living back home, I spoke like a citizen of my own country, understood like one, thought as one. But when I left my country I put away these things. Now we adapt to a new culture awkwardly, but He will live in it intimately.
Now I speak a strange accent, but He will speak to the heart.

And now these three remain - cultural adaptation, language study and love. But the greatest of these is love.