Weir in PNG

Whereas Caleb has been missing the comforts of home lately, I have been feeling a little overwhelmed. Last week, we spent most of the time planning and then building our "haus kuk" (sounds like "house cook"). Let me try and explain the process:
We were given a bush knife, tomahawk and some twine. Papua New Guinean men cut down long sticks, bamboo, and other bush materials for our use. We took a long stick which had a "V-Shape" top, shaped the bottom into a sharp point and then jammed it into the ground over and over again unit it was deep enough. We did this four times to make a rectangle. Then, we bamboo in between the "V's" to make the roof. We tied all the sticks together with twine (Papua New Guineans use other material from the bush, but we were allowed to use twine). We then draped a tarp over the frame of the house and tied it down. After that, we set to work to design and make a table, chairs, counter for our water basin, etc. We still have to make a long counter and a high chair for Ben. Eventually, we will entertain our "wasfamili" (our Tok Pisin "watch family") in our haus kuk. I'll explain more about a wasfamili when the time comes.

Caleb did most of the work with our friend Carl. His back is pretty sore. He even managed to get a few "Man versus The Bush" wounds. Papua New Guineans called the jungle the "bus" (the "bush"). We ran out of materials, so Caleb took his bush knife into the jungle and brought back some fine pieces of bamboo. Later, he showed me his tracks. Turns out the hill was really slippery, so he had to surf down it with a bush knife. Don't tell our parents!

All this to say- we had a busy week. I was watching Ben during most of the building, but I was able to do my share of tying down and I even sharpened one stick and cut one piece of bamboo!

Luckily, we did not have to cook in our haus kuks this past week-end. But, that all ends this week-end. We have to plan all of our meals for the next 5 week-ends. We are also encouraged to begin spending as much of our week-ends outside or in our haus kuks. The reason- Papua New Guineans live their lives outside. You will rarely see them inside. When we go to our village living phase, if we want to spend time with the people of the village (which is the point), we are going to have to train our bodies to function out of doors!

In addition to building our hauk kuk, we have continued our language learning. This is tough for me! I am going to have to devote more time to learning the language outside of the classroom. It is so hard to be here...to want so badly to approach and talk to these wonderful people....but to be so limited! I think that has been one of the hardest things for me. Since I tend to be an impatient person, I want to talk now!

Yesterday, we went to our first Papua New Guinean church service. The church has Lutheran roots (actually it is a Lutheran church) so the service was very liturgical. Even though I could not understand the message, the songs were absolutely beautiful. I found myself all choked up while we were singing. There was just something so right about being there and hearing the Papua New Guineans singing out to God in worship. I felt privileged to be there...to have a taste of what God hears. It is a memory I will probably never forget. I have seen pictures of church services in PNG, but I am so thankful that I had and will continue to have the opportunity to worship with Papua New Guineans.

Ben is still doing well. He likes to go on "big hikes" and to swim in "solwara" ("salt water"). He randomly calls out or sings about MeeMom and PopPop, Beach Grammy and Beach Grandpa, and Grammy and Buna. We have also spent evenings looking through our pictures of friends and family. It is sad to see his face light up when he sees all our friends and family who do not live in PNG with us now. We miss you all so much!