Politics

So I was digging a grave the other day here in Jerusalem and was talking with Remise the maintenance man and our right hand man on the job site. He was telling us about his work days, "I always try to leave my house a half hour early, you know just in case the roads get closed because of a bomb or in case I get questioned by the police for a while on my bike ride to work." The three of us kinda looked at each other with one of those "is this guy serious?" looks but after a few days in Israel it all seems to make perfect sense. Everywhere in Israel we see signs that say "pray for the peace of Israel" and I have to admit I always think to myself, "fat chance" the turmoil in this country is really surprising and incredibly accurate to the image that the world has on Israel. Politics in Israel is like a continuous passive civil war. Here is a land where 2 very strong and distinct people groups have their claim of history and culture. Two very different cultures trying to co-exist in a country of incredible beauty and history. Well co-exist they do but co-operate they do not. Every day I seem to hear more stories of how oppressed the Arabs are by the Jewish government, how they cannot travel or even take a picture without being harassed by police. And then on the news we hear of another bombing in a Jewish neighborhood somewhere. And so the conflict continues, It really is heartbreaking to see a land so beautiful so torn apart. So though I feel the pain of Israel and fail to see the resolve I say this, "Please pray for the peace of Israel. "

The last few days we have been beyond the great concrete wall into what the locals call Palestine. It is here in this land of 100 percent Muslims we share the good news the best way that we know how, we pick up a paintbrush. Together with Richard we restored and gave life through color to a small kinder garden room in a small village in the middle of Palestine. We had many little visitors with lots to say unfortunately none of it in English but we show them love in a way they have never seen. It is a cultural assumption in these parts that you only help your own people group out, those of your religion and family but we are 4 white guys painting and fixing a classroom asking nothing in return. That my friends is the gospel to a closed nation the true good news of Christ.

Being in Israel is everything I hoped for and more. Having a taste of home working with the Christian Alliance church has been nothing less than exciting. Scot and Carrie Dresler and their 4 awesome kids have been like a family to us. Most evening we sit in their living room holding a child on our lap...OK I'm usually in the toy room playing cars or something rad. But they are great. As we see families like this who leave everything behind I am humbled to think of what I can possibly do to serve my God around this little place we call the world.

Daniel

24 Hours

The past couple of days have been a blur of travelling. Last night I got my first decent sleep in 24 hours. We left New Delhi India three days ago and started our trek into the middle east. We all were very excited for the change in spiritual climate as well as an environment that was quite a bit less noisy and substantially less garbage. We arrived into Amman Jordan thinking that we where about to have a long day of sitting in the airport. Our layover there was ten hours, and the entry visas were a little pricey for a day trip. But to our surprise because of our lengthy layover the airport issued transit visas for the day. This gave us the privilege of going and touring around the country a bit. So we hopped a bus into the city of Amman. The drive was stunning and had all three of us commenting constantly on the sites all around us. Amongst the hills we saw mansionesque estates everywhere. They had wonderfully lush trees and greenery in their yards which was a stark contrast to the desert that lay just outside their walls. The city of Amman was filled with inspiring architecture and busy with construction in every direction. All the buildings blended with the colors of the desert to create a very earthy look to the city. After departing the bus we hired a taxi to take us to the Dead Sea. Like most countries we have experienced the first man we tried to hire was scheming to get as much money as possible from us. Luckily though we escaped the scam without losing our shirts in the deal. After that we found another taxi driver that was a real stand up character and hired him for the day. The drive out to the Dead Sea was an hour long through the country side of Jordan with the windows rolled down and driving on the right side of the road. The best way to describe it was that I felt peaceful as we drove, no cares or worries, just driving! When we arrived to the Sea it was a barrage of tourist traps and fancy resorts, so we asked our driver to take us to a local spot that was free. We ended up at this great little spot with the hills all around us and heaps of locals watching us strip down to our boxers. When we got into the water it was as if we had entered a whole new world. It was like nothing any of us had ever experienced. You could float effortless, hands and feet sticking out of the water and still not sinking. The water burned the mouth, nose and eyes so badly if ever you tried to swim under the water. On the surface of the water it was like a translucent oil film covered the sea. It made ones body feel smooth and silky! We played in the water until we finally had to head back to the airport. The drive back was equally refreshing, looking out over the hills in awe of the landscape that God had created. Then with Jordan behind us we boarded a plane that took us to Tel Aviv. It was there that we caught a bus to the old city in Jerusalem. We arrived late into the night and found a cheap hostel to settle into, getting our first decent sleep in 24 hours. The middle east is a fascinating place and we are so excited to see what God has in store for us here. Lehmann

Faces

Standing in a pit of dirty laundry at the Mother Teresa house this morning my mind drifted away to the many faces that I had just walked by in some kind of haste like I was late for some sort of meeting. Truth is I wasn't late at all but there is something deathly terrifying about looking into the face of a people so broken and poor. The Question is, "what is better, to ignore them or to look and in so doing risk the breaking of your heart" Walking to the home there wasn't a direction I could look without seeing heart breaking poverty. Naked children sitting crying on the curbs, blind, lame, dirty and poor, they were all there; In every direction. The slightest glance with gain you a rubbing hand for at least a block and if you give any money at all, you all of a sudden become an ATM. So with arms tied behind my back I walked those streets in complete awe of a world so broken and hurting. Stepping into the Mother Teresa home is not much better; for the place we are serving is labeled "A home for the Dying" Here I can look long and deep and hard into the faces of men from every age with every kind of disease and infection you can think of. Holding their hand or rubbing their frail bodies. Mother Teresa's heart was to show love and give some kind of dignity to the dying and I am so unworthy of carrying on this dream. As I changed soiled pants and fed the lame I couldn't help but pray a selfish prayer "God let me die young before I ever end up this way" In a place where I feel that they have lost all dignity and pride having young white kids change their pants it occurs to me that this is more dignity than most were ever shown in their life time.

I stamp the laundry until I think its clean and then proceed to wring it out to be rinsed and my mind drifts again. Who decided that I be born in Canada and these children to be born on these streets. In India the hindu faith makes a lame attempt to provide this answer by saying it is a punishment from their last life and they deserve to live there. I say Bull! what if it was me or you born in that little frail body, what if I was raised on the streets of Calcutta with only a begging hand to make my living. We live in a world where most things don't seem fair. Some like to blame this on God, I see their point but the fact of the matter is it didn't start with God, it started with man and an evil serpent. Satan came to this world to steal, kill and destroy. Wherever people give him reign he doesn't mess around. Every street corner has a different idol or a different picture of some god or goddess. 30 million gods in total in this country and if that isn't a reign of Satan then you obviously don't believe in Satan. Justice seems far from the people on the streets of Calcutta, but justice isn't what they need. They need freedom, they need grace, they need mercy....They need Jesus!

-Daniel

Living in the Clouds

The last few days have been spent in a village about 35 mins from Darjeerling, in a cloudy place called Rangbull. Each of us wake up to a sunny day in the mountains where the view is enough to keep us quiet. The little community is quick to pick out the visitors, and each person makes an effort to get to know you. The common questions are: Where are you from? What are you doing? Where are you going? In that order. Answering these questions seems to then make you a friend after passing by the next time. The thing they don't understand is that we seem to be working... Why would a foreigner work? It seems that people seem to think that we foreigners don't understand the concept of work. We some how swim past all the bills of life. Each day as we walk to the church in our work clothes often carrying tool or material for our fixing job the people look at us with a puzzled expression. The bottom level of this church building is in serious need of repair, so we have taken it upon ourselves to make an attempt of making some improvements. (We have no idea what we are doing) But as I said before we look like we do. No need to worry once it is painted it should at least look better. The couple we are staying with here has been so generous to us. They have opened their home to us and fed us so well. We are so thankful for their warm welcome and our individual beds. Each day with them has been so much fun. They have introduced us to so many of the people in the village. In the short time we have been here we have been invited to two birthday parties, to many homes for tea, and even a momo cooking party. (which is like the chinese version of perogies) We were also asked to share in church this weekend as well. I shared for the Sunday School, Jordan shared with the youth and Daniel was the pastor for the adults. We have enjoyed our time and our time here, and we are expecting to continue staying with these people until Tuesday, by which time we expect our renovation project to be complete unless there is more momo's on the menu. Kenton

Movements

The life of a traveling bum is all about moving. Here in India movements are always delayed but always quick. Walking down the street I still jump every time I hear the ear piercing horns inches behind me. It doesn't matter how far off the road I am the horns always continue to blare! And one must always be aware of the vicious monkeys. I am always a big fan of a fury animal, it reminds me of myself but when too many surround me I move fast cause rabies doesn't interest me too much. And of coarse there are the quick and sudden movements that come as a result of the curry...And then of coarse the need to move on from here. Today we venture down the mountain a little way to see what we can find with an awesome couple from Argentina. Sometimes I long to get nice and cozy comfortable in a place but it seems that every time we find any comfort at all we must keep on moving. But really there is a movement going on that is much bigger than us. The movements of a faithful God. Coming to India I so desperately wanted to see what and how God was and is at work. In only a short time we have seen the fingerprints of a father who loves His children here in India. Going to the deaf and dumb school with a ywam team last week we saw 11 young guys give their hearts to Jesus. Then later that week we heard from that same team who reported that they had been in the home of a Hindu family when a lady suddenly dies in their arms (literally) after a while when no pulse was found they began to pray to the one and only true God of heaven and then, Bam! they heard a gasp and she was back to life, True store happened just this last week!, that same team saw another 10 kids and 2 teachers in a school give their lives to Christ as well. There must be something real in all this I think to myself and daily I continue to pray that God would increase my faith. For us the movements we see are a daily faithfulness and a deep encouragement. As I sat in church the other day between a Hindu man and a Buddhist man both earnestly praying to God I was humbled and reminded again that the God I serve is indeed making His movements across the globe. Daniel

Phantom Pains

I have heard stories of how sometimes when a person loses a limb or a part of their body, they will have phantom pains. Basically this is their minds fooling their body into thinking that the body part is still there. It can be anything from an itch to even a sharp pain in that spot. Recently I had a very similar experience. Just a little while ago I had an incident that was quite traumatic and I lost one of my extremities. First there was the feelings of shock and then a scared feeling of "what just happened." But it was not until just this morning when I had my first phantom pains that it really hit me. I woke up in our hotel room and was getting ready for the day, when suddenly out of the blue there it was, the phantom pains. I went to put my hair into a pony and the pain hit like a semi truck hitting a deer on the interstate. No longer was I a whole person, there was something missing, that possibly could never be replaced. I stood there almost to the point of tears knowing that I had entered a new stage in life. I had joined the ranks of men and women around the world who would always think back to when they were a whole person. The pain comes and goes, but it is only when people stare, that my heart really drops and I think back, to the good ol days. A time when I could go out and not feel like I was different. So if anyone reading this can relate to my story I just want to say that your not alone. After my trip to the Barber I am no longer part of the elite group of mullet sporting people in this wide world! Lehmann

Thanks For The Tea

Here we are in the incredible town of Darjeeling. It is a unique place where Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian all live together in peace. On one corner you can see Buddhist monks playing cricket and then with just a glance in the opposite direction you can see a variety of Hindu temples and Muslim Mosques.

Its a place renown for its tea. But many people and especially backpackers that come

through here are on a spiritual pilgrimage to find enlightenment and truth. Therefore it has been a perfect place for YWAM and also for we three to be wandering the streets. Upon arrival into this small city in the Himalayan mountains we found such an incredible group of people here. The team that was in from Oz was just so life giving to the three of us. We had the opportunity to worship with them, share stories of our different adventures and just be revived. They also let us tag along as they hung out with a school for deaf and dumb kids. That was an incredible time as well. I got to just hang out and talk in sign language with some of the kids there. It was slow going but over time the alphabet came back into perspective and I remembered what I had learnt as a kid working at camps. Now we are getting into some practical work here painting and building bunk beds for our friends that are living here in Darjeeling. We have also been able to really live out our faith though in day to day life. Just the other night walking home from supper we met three backpackers that were stranded without a place to stay for the night. So after talking with them for a while and sharing about our trip and what we were doing here, we got the opportunity to show them what we were talking about. Our friend here said that we could sleep on his floor and therefore these three could have our hotel room for the night. With this news we grabbed their bags and walked them across the city to our hotel talking the entire time about the amazing God that we are in relationship with. They ended up being able to get a room of their own at the hotel, which worked out great. I don't think that our talk with them changed their belief in God but maybe it changed their view of Christianity. And just today we were visiting with the new group that showed up here and they were saying that last night they had this great conversation with three backpackers from Europe. As the story went on it was pieced together that it was the same three, and they totally remembered us and were amazed that only a day later they were meeting more Christians that were challenging them to think more about Christianity. So our time here has been quite eventful already with meeting some amazing new friends from all over the world and also being able to really get involved in the community. Lehmann

The pics for India

When they honk at you, you GET OUTTA THE WAY!!! (check out that gun)

Tashma Hall. (That's as close as we got... )

Temples everywhere...

Ladies watch out!

Kendall... good luck...

Gateway to India.

We were on this train for 26 hours. It was a lot of sleeping, and eating.

Here we were just doing our best to find a ride. Sitting on their roof seemed like a good idea.

India

Our time in Thailand is over and we are now experiencing all the wonderful things of India. We arrived in New Delhi on the 14th, with very little idea of where we were going and what we were doing. With a spirit of encouragement that our parents left us in Thailand we were feeling optimistic about this friend who replied to Daniel's email. This in itself showed great promise. We got ourselves involved with a small business that sets people up with tours around northern India, in order to book ourselves the best way to meet with our contact. We began to to experience the smooth side of Indian business people who are willing to be your best friend before selling you anything. This new best friend of ours explained our best route to Darjeeling... that we would need to swing by very close to the Tashma Hall, as we waited for our train there. So when we did arrive in Agra we spent our night in a hotel he had booked us in. The next morning we were ready to meet our driver for our tour of the town and of Tashma Hall, followed by getting on our train. The problem was, our driver explained to us there was no train for us to get on, and that if we wanted to catch the train he booked for us we would have to go straight back to New Delhi to make it in time. We had no time for tours, we just had to get right back in that car and drive four hours back. On the way back after driving a while our driver gets another call that we don't need to rush the train we are booked on now is going to leave the next day. We weren't very impressed with the situation and were not very willing to turn our car around to do the tours for the day, so we decided to continue back stopping to see different temples along the way. It was beginning to quite hard to keep that positive excitement that gets you through the hard times. Along with India's cultural differences, like crazy traffic, car horns that seem to be trying to cause people's ears to bleed, and a high expectation for foreigners to leave a hefty tip for every act of service. We were in serious need to find a place to chill (quite literally, 42degrees) and really find some people who were following their hearts by serving God. Our contact here was exactly what we were searching for. We came way up into the mountains into the city of Darjeeling, where our friend met us and helped us find our way around. This city is now in it's warm season as well, but we have found it to be the coldest place we've been in the last six months. These mountains are within viewing distance of the largest mountains in the world, (even Mt. Everest which I've decided to climb, maybe..) So we have now connected with the Christians in this area, and we hope to find a way to keep our days filled with work, Bible studies with the locals, and just meeting the people who live here. There are teams here also doing different programs, which has been a way for us to find good fellowship and have times of worship with them. We're praying God's blessing and protection over you guys as you move on through India. Take care. Kenton. Side note: we're looking into finding a map of this city for our friend to have and we're not very computer inclined, if anyone would have suggestions of how we could piece together a big sweet map of Darjeeling from the Internet, (maybe a good website) let us know...

A Few Pictures ...

Here are a few quick pictures for you to enjoy ... Kenton's Parents (Ed & Darlene), Dan's Parents (Jake & Loretta), Dan's brother and sister-in-law (Jon & Purdy) and Jordan's Parents (Rick & Caron) are all here in Thailand to visit us.

Bitter Sweet Moments

Moments in life are precious and for most of us we need a good slap in the face to be reminded of how truly blessed we are. Half way done, or half way to go, depending on which way we look at, but lately for myself it has been half way done and only 6 more to go. Every traveller hits a point where they feel done, finished, ready for home, Well entering Thailand I hit that point. I felt tired of everybody selling me something, tired of having to find a new home every night, tired of ...well everything, Then to my great dismay I lost a dear close friend. Matthew was a great man. Everyone knew him for his laugh and his amazing video's. He brought so much joy to so many people and had a unique presence that made the school FGBC a much better place. The night I lost Matt I felt like giving up. Walking home in the warm night rain on the streets of Bangkok I felt so alone and abandoned. Most people would. Losing somebody close is like having a peice of yourself ripped out and you can never get it back. I know that Matt had so much love for so many, I never felt more encouraged by any person that I have ever known. Matthew had a way of making those around him feel appreciated, feel like every word or every deed that they did mattered. Death has its own way of slapping us in the face to look at our lives, to look at the moments and to cherish those around us and mostly to look up to a loving God and admit our anger, our hurt and even our dissapointment. Just when life seems to fall apart my soverign God always seems to be there. Last Sunday all of our parents came to the Bangkok airport and one day later my brother and sister Jon and Purdy came. It is the kind of moment most people dream about their whole lives. Spending my moments on the other side of the world with most of my family is a dream come true. It is the bittersweet moment that I know came just in time for a man with a broken heart. I cant even begin to share the stories but the days are filled with laughter, excitement, sun and a whole lot of brand new experiences. My heart hurts for Matt and yet I know he is experiencing a deeper peace now than he would have ever found in this life. So as I look to my moments now I cannot help but shout it out that we serve a loving good God. When life hits us in the face with pain and confusion we cannot forget the one who made it all begin. Thanks Father I am a blessed man.

Dan

"Why God..."

My best friend told me the other day that every time I share a new story with her of God working in my life it reminds her of how intricately God is involved in our lives. I was thinking about this and all the conversations I have had with people all over the world. It seems that everywhere I go people are trying to come up with an explanation to replace a loving caring God. I don’t quite understand this, it almost seems as if a loving caring God seems too good to be true so people try to explain Him away or replace Him with some other religious practice that involves more rules. Well I have always been a loud preacher that our God is intimate and how He will show Himself to those who are available. Well here I am, I couldn't be more available than right now and yet it has been a really hard past few weeks. Looking back today I can of course see God's hand every step of the way but in the moment I remember being extremely confused and I even remember looking up to the raging PNG sun and wondering if God was really there. I remember the morning we tried to cross the border into Papua New Guinea. Everyone told us we needed to apply for our visa's ahead of time but the consulate was closed until the following Tuesday and this was a Saturday so we conjured up all our faith and put ourselves out on the line. I remember riding in our little mini bus on the way to the border, my 40 pound bag on my lap and having such a strong confidence that God was going to show us a miracle and get us across that border. Well 4 hours later we were back to the border town now with no money, the bank closed and huge disappointment on our hearts. I felt hurt like I had been wronged for having faith. It's easy to look back today and tell everyone "oh it was a good character building time, God always uses those moments to test us” but in that moment, I remember sitting on my backpack in that empty gravel parking lot looking out onto the open water of the ocean and asking, "why God...you really hurt me today" not that God had to get us to Indonesia, in fact He doesn’t have to do anything for us I mean really hasn’t He done enough? I have breathe everyday, that’s from Him isn’t it? So I guess what I am trying to say that in those moments when you feel like the world is falling apart and God has let you down don't forget who gave you breathe in the first place. We had a tough weekend waiting for that border to open up but I must say without it being cliché that God was leading our every step and yes my character was stretched. The day we finally got to Indonesia we caught a flight all the way to Jakarta where God blew me away. As we were standing in that airport our hearts beating faster as our bags didn’t show up I remember turning to the guys and saying, "this could really turn into a blessing, lets see what God has up His sleeve” Well a few hours later we found ourselves in a beautiful home, a bowl of rice in front of us and the experience I have always dreamed about. Do you know those times when you imagine something and how amazing it would be? "Oh that would be so cool if we could...” Well mine was to stay in the home of a Muslim family. It was a dream come true, sitting around a table shoveling down rice with our hands and talking about our faiths together. We even asked them to say their prayer in Arabic before the meal and we said ours. Lukeman, Uni, Nova, Feby and Jimmy, here's to you, you are amazing. It is times like those that make me really wonder if the God that we are serving is so much bigger than we think He is. Well to give a brief update things are looking on the up and up for us. South East Asia is an interesting world of scooters and squatty potties. We are always doing our best to be culturally involved but there is something about squatting over a hole with a water hose in your hand that just doesn’t seem right. But I suppose Malaysia is an upgrade from the Indonesian culture, which will look at you funny if you use your left hand for eating because the hose doesn’t exist in Indonesia but rather a bucket of water, you figure out the rest. We had great day touring the booming metropolis of Singapore and hope to be in Thailand in 2 days time. We are all excited to be on the road again and can’t wait for our parents to get here in 2 weeks. Things are feeling pretty positive for us and on the bright side of things Jordan finally saw the doctor about his rash he has been hiding and the doctor tells Jordan he has got to start wearing underwear, if only he had listened to his mother a long time ago, but as all rebellion has a consequence now Jordan has met his, so after he figured what size he might be after the last time (10 years ago) he got some brand new briefs. So Jordan is feeling much better and should be up and kicking in at least a weeks time. As for my skin fungus my stubbornness has yet to give in and it only grows but I am sure it will go away any day now. Well as the good Lord gives us breathe and leads our every step, we shall follow. Daniel

Jakarta

After leaving PNG we had a strong sense lingering with us of caution. Thinking 'what else will go wrong?'. For example when we sitting on the plane to leave Jayapura, still we questioned if we were truly able to leave, or if at any moment the flight attendant may come and ask us to get off for some kind of delay. However, I had a strong hope and belief that God will not delay our plans any further as we left PNG. On Wednesday we caught a flight across Indonesia Landing in Jakarta in the evening. When we got off the plane to collect our bags we could not find them, any of them. I remembered our ticket stubs for our bags were on my ticket, which I had left in the pocket in front of my seat on the plane. We had no bags, and no proof that we had bags. It happened to be a flight where we left more things in our undercarriage than ever before. Panic struck the three of us, and perhaps anger towards me for the loss of the stubs. We stood there in the empty airport in a foreign country with no bags, no plan, and no one we knew. Hard to imagine that God was working out a pretty sweet deal for us. An airport worker named Lukeman walked up to us with his airport uniform, he asked us what our situation was, and began working to solve our problem. He sent people to retrieve the ticket from the plane, called all the airports of our transfers, and began doing everything possible to track our lost luggage. Lukeman assured us that perhaps the flights tomorrow would bring our bags if we came back the next day. But he was unable to get us a hotel because he could not contact anyone to authorize that payment. He began to look for anyway to help us, and found that all he could offer was him home. We were shocked, he was willing take us three foreigners into him home until he found our luggage. A few minutes later he received a call from his people that were searching. They informed Lukeman that our bags were found in a warehouse and would be 10 minutes for them to get them to us. We when we finally had our bags in our hands, and our stress lifted from us. Lukeman said to us, we would still be able to stay with him in his home if we liked his offer. We did like it and took his offer and went home from work with him, and met his entire Muslim family that soon became our huge blessing. We spent the next three days with the family, eating with them in their beautiful home and going with them to the Fantastic World Theme Park with the family. In our 3-day stay with the family, we learnt so much about the Indonesian Culture, the Muslim traditions and met new people who we hope to someday visit again. We found that having our luggage misplaced was the way God lead us to meet a different culture in a foreign place through a very great family. Kenton

Escape From PNG

What should have been a simple two day exit route became a stretched out Jail sentence of two weeks. No matter how hard we tried we could not get transport to leave the country. We took a PMV to Madang and even on the way there, a simple taxi ride, the driver got stuck in a river and we had to help to get unstuck and outta the river. Then once we arrived in Madang, we booked our boat tickets to go to Vanamo. But then outta nowhere the day we planned to leave on the boat, there was a tsunami warning and everything was shut down. The boats were delayed, everyone had abandoned the city. People were left waiting for food in restaurants and everyone was running down the streets in a panicked state. So then we had to figure out how to get a refund for our boat tickets and get another way outta Madang. We found a plane ticket but it only went half way, so we took it. That flight brought us to Wewak, from there all the boats and flights were cancelled because of the tsunami, so we spent some time there trying to get away. Finally a guy gave us a ride to the next town and said that there would be boats from there. So we took the ride and went to Adepai where we ended up having to wait again for a little banana boat to take us to Vanamo. After watching heaps of boats leave with out us, a local man helped us to get on board one of these little vessels. From there it was a five-hour ride filled with big waves, water splashing and really sore bums. But we were excited because we had made it to Vanamo, and therefore we were just a short one-hour drive from the border and freedom! But then as soon as we got our hopes up the famous PNG saying, "Expect the unexpected" happened yet again. Because of the Easter holiday everything was closed down for the next five days. The consulate was closed, the borders were closed, all of the stores were closed, and even the banks were not open. So during that time we lived off of crackers and noodles. Once our money ran out we started a tab with a little snack shop so we could still get noodles to eat. It was a complete ruckus, and we were not impressed by the whole scenario. But after a short five-day wait there we finally got a visa to enter Indonesia and we caught the first PMV that we could get and made our escape from PNG! I am really hoping that the movie about this part of our trip is released soon. Although I am not so sure if it will be a suspense movie or a comedy! Either way we escaped and we are now on our journey to meet our parents in Thailand! Lehmann

We will be entering into a stint of travel from Madang to Indo. Where we may not have much internet access, so we will be having to respond to you emails and comments at a latter date. Off for now. We have a boat to catch.

Ukurumpa Life

Our time here in Papua New Guinea, although different from what we had anticipated has been full of blessings. The renovation project on the teen center has been coming along slow and steady. Which truly is encouraging to see. It is something tangible that is growing each day and we see the results of our labor. Also we have been blessed so much by the community here. Different families have gone out of their way to have us over for meals. So here is a big shout out to the Clements, Russells and the Banks. Thank you so much for opening your homes and tables to us and especially thank you for the friendship that you have shown to we three. Just recently the opportunity came up to go on a medical excursion to a small village. As we pulled up in our land cruiser all of the small children of the village ran behind the SUV yelling and waving with big smiles on their faces. In the village everyone was bare feet and lived in small grass huts. Playing with the kids and entertainment fell upon us as the nurses examined the babies and sick in the village. So we played games with the kids and mostly ran around laughing and chasing them. We also had the chance to put on a small concert for the village which was a fantastic sight. A whole village gathered around the three of us while we sang worship songs and praised our Lord. They kept shouting for more songs every time we tried to stop. But eventually one of the guitar strings gave out and it brought the music to an end. This past weekend we were honored to be asked to chaperone the grade 12 guys road trip to Lae, a small city on the coast. The weekend was an amazing time of swimming, playing full contact sports and having some amazing talks with the guys. It was such a privilege getting to know these young men who are about to be stepping into a new world of work, university and figuring out a new step in life. We got to share our stories about college and what we have experienced since leaving high school. We are hoping to see some of these guys in November when we get home attending FGBC, the college we all went to. Tomorrow is our last full day here in Ukurumpa and although we are excited to get back on the road we will also be sad to leave such good friends behind and the distinct land of PNG. This far corner of the world although remote and difficult to get to is an amazing place. It is a land of contrasts, people who can be ferocious warriors and also the most friendly loving people willing to walk an extra mile to help a person out. Because of the tribal living here it is still a country of different dialects, tribal warfare and close family bonds , but it lacks the unity as a whole nation because of these unique aspects. I do not think that we will find a place like it in the rest of the world. We have been blessed to be here, it has left a mark on all three of us in many distinct ways. Lehmann

Life on the Colony

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