A few months ago when booking plane tickets I thought to myself, If we fly into Bali Indonesia it's really close to
Papua New Guinea so we should have no trouble finding transport into the country. Well we did find transport but I
wouldn’t exactly say that it was easy. After 2 small domestic flights, 4 days stranded in a small town, 1 day sitting in a consulate office for visas, 5 hours in an extremely smelly cramped mini bus and 1 walk across a river we have arrived. I would like to say it is the hardest travel we have done so far but fortunate for us most people in this county actually speak English making finding
information extremely. I must say that the people of
PNG are the most friendly people we have met in the 12 countries so far. Everyone we meet goes out of their way to guide us around. We even had a fellow take us around the entire town of
Vanimo.
Vanimo is a small town on the border of
PNG. We arrived to this town in hopes of catching a boat south seeing as how roads do not exist. We found out the boat comes once a week and just left the previous day. So we booked a flight hoping to leave the next day. After them filling the plane without us we had to wait out the weekend, then on Monday the plane
didn’t show up and so Tuesday late afternoon we took the 2 hour 10 passenger plane to the city of
Madang, city of flying foxes (gigantic bats filling the skies). With hearts of expectation we entered
PNG and being stranded in
Vanimo was one of those moments where you keep looking over your shoulder wondering what God had up His sleeve. Well, we were quickly introduced to the Mr. John Barry. John came to
PNG as a lay missionary years ago and today runs a shipping company and grocery store. We were told he had a cheap guesthouse for us to stay in.
What the town people don't know is that by cheap he means free!
Vanimo is a peninsula beach town and in fact feels just like a small island. Every person we walked by said hello and most shook our hands. We quickly found ourselves on the beach with about 25 little black kids, throwing them through the air into the water and building sweet sand castles. We had a great time and yet again God was faithful to cross our paths with many people giving us multiple opportunities to share our faith. We eventually got to
Madang and took the 5 hour van ride up to the mountains of
PNG. The highway bridge was out so we walked across and transferred vans a very interesting experience. When we arrived to
Ukarumpa it was like nothing was had expected or hoped.
We are pretty much living on a missionary version of a
Hutterite colony. This is a center for people translating the Bible into the surrounding tribal languages and so the missionaries all kind of conglomerate together. I am positive it is the biggest missionary center in the world. With over 1000 missionaries all living in one small gated community. So we found ourselves doing to prep to frame an addition on the youth building. We had high hopes of living and working in some foreign village in the heart of
PNG and this place is sure foreign alright but in a whole different way. The people here are great and we know that God has things in store. The work that
Wycliff does here is fascinating and we are pleased to be a part of it for this short time. Dan
A few months ago when booking plane tickets I thought to myself, If we fly into Bali Indonesia it's really close to Papua New Guinea so we should have no trouble finding transport into the country. Well we did find transport but I wouldn’t exactly say that it was easy. After 2 small domestic flights, 4 days stranded in a small town, 1 day sitting in a consulate office for visas, 5 hours in an extremely smelly cramped mini bus and 1 walk across a river we have arrived. I would like to say it is the hardest travel we have done so far but fortunate for us most people in this county actually speak English making finding 
information extremely. I must say that the people of PNG are the most friendly people we have met in the 12 countries so far. Everyone we meet goes out of their way to guide us around. We even had a fellow take us around the entire town of Vanimo. Vanimo is a small town on the border of PNG. We arrived to this town in hopes of catching a boat south seeing as how roads do not exist. We found out the boat comes once a week and just left the previous day. So we booked a flight hoping to leave the next day. After them filling the plane without us we had to wait out the weekend, then on Monday the plane didn’t show up and so Tuesday late afternoon we took the 2 hour 10 passenger plane to the city of Madang, city of flying foxes (gigantic bats filling the skies). With hearts of expectation we entered PNG and being stranded in Vanimo was one of those moments where you keep looking over your shoulder wondering what God had up His sleeve. Well, we were quickly introduced to the Mr. John Barry. John came to PNG as a lay missionary years ago and today runs a shipping company and grocery store. We were told he had a cheap guesthouse for us to stay in. 
What the town people don't know is that by cheap he means free! Vanimo is a peninsula beach town and in fact feels just like a small island. Every person we walked by said hello and most shook our hands. We quickly found ourselves on the beach with about 25 little black kids, throwing them through the air into the water and building sweet sand castles. We had a great time and yet again God was faithful to cross our paths with many people giving us multiple opportunities to share our faith. We eventually got to Madang and took the 5 hour van ride up to the mountains of PNG. The highway bridge was out so we walked across and transferred vans a very interesting experience. When we arrived to Ukarumpa it was like nothing was had expected or hoped. 
We are pretty much living on a missionary version of a Hutterite colony. This is a center for people translating the Bible into the surrounding tribal languages and so the missionaries all kind of conglomerate together. I am positive it is the biggest missionary center in the world. With over 1000 missionaries all living in one small gated community. So we found ourselves doing to prep to frame an addition on the youth building. We had high hopes of living and working in some foreign village in the heart of PNG and this place is sure foreign alright but in a whole different way. The people here are great and we know that God has things in store. The work that Wycliff does here is fascinating and we are pleased to be a part of it for this short time. Dan 
4 comments:
Hi everyone. Matt here, just got this in today, Dan said internet connection is slow, so he let me do the honors of presenting the lastest news.
Miss you guys! I'm so proud of the three of you. I am always so in awe of our God when I hear your stories. He is so faithful and it's so encouraging to be reminded of how intimately involved He is in our lives. I love the pictures!!!!!!!! Praying for you guys. Be blessed.
Love Kendall
you guys are so incredible, your in my prayers
You guys have really been on my heart lately. I think of you often and pray for you everyday! God hears your prayers, and He will provide and be there for you every step of the way! I'm so encouraged by you all, and I'm so proud of you! Missing you so much... :)
Love Kalena
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