Port Moresby

Much to the delight of these two, our weekend in Moresby was a rainy one!

Here are the 3 students who graduated with a Certifcate in Reformed Studies from the Reformed Churches Bible College when we were in Port Moresby at the end of November. This certificate program is a 2 year course and offers such subjects as 'Through the Word'--a survey of the OT and NT, Children's Ministries, Worship, Doctrines and Creeds, Scripture Memorization, etc. It is open to anyone in the churches who would like to be better equipped to serve their local church, whether that be simply as a member, or an elder, or a Sunday school teacher, etc. The Bible College also offers a Diploma Program for those men who feel called to become pastors. There are two men currently in the program, and at least one or two who will enter the program in the next couple years.

Following the graduation weekend, while I was in Brisbane with Karlyn and Caleb, Ian and Jonathan, Wayne and kids, as well as the Versteeg's went to a nearby beach for an afternoon. Here they are eating rolled up pancakes, lovingly made by Auntie Rita.

On the Sunday, Wayne his daughter Sjaan, Ian and Jonathan went to a not so nearby village over some hills and through some mud, where Wayne preached (one of Ian's sermons, so maybe Ian could hear what his sermons 'really' sound like:)). Here is Jonathan and Sjaan and some of the children there. The last time we were in Beregoro was exactly 5 years ago, when we were visiting PNG for the first time. Jonathan was just 19 months old and we have a photo of him with the people very similar to this one. I should've found it and put it up too, but hey, then this blog wouldn't have gotten posted for another week or two probably!

Caleb and Madlyn, one of the students at the Bible College.

Karlyn and Caleb

"I love him so much", says Karlyn.

Finally caught that smile on camera! We are soon on our way again, this time heading to Port Moresby for a Board meeting of the Reformed Churches Bible College as well as the graduation. We are on the early flight to Moresby, meaning we will be picked up by the airport bus at 4:40am! Ouch! We're hoping it'll be a fair trade though--a few hours of sleep in exchange for actually getting on our flight on time. Almost every time we have flown Lae-Moresby flights, there has been some delay and we've waited at the airport for hours and hours. At some airports this wouldn't be too much of a problem, but at Lae Nadzab airport...well let's just say it's not the cleanest (ie. you don't really want to use the toilets); food choices are slim and there's not much of anything to amuse children for hours on end. The last few days we've heard all of the flights have been overbooked and there are people camping out at the airport waiting to get on a flight. More people than usual are heading to Moresby this week because the PNG Games start tomorrow. It is our prayer that things will go smoothly for us, and if we are delayed, that the Lord will give us all the patience we need to get through it.

Following our weekend in Moresby, I (Nadia) along with Karlyn and Caleb, will be flying on to Brisbane, Australia in order to obtain visas from the PNG Consulate for them. We'll be there for 4 nights and thankfully Cheronne VanderHeide and their baby Joseph will be joining us too, for the same reason. Ian and Jonathan will have some good father-son time together as they stay in Moresby a few extra days and then come back to Lae.

I’m reading a great book right now called The Most Important Place on Earth, What a Christian Home Looks Like and How to Build One, by Robert Wolgemuth. I appreciate the candid way that he writes; and the book is full of practical ideas on having a home and family life where God is praised. I just finished a chapter called, “Just for Laughs,” where he writes about the fact that when we become stressed by life’s demands, often the first thing we lose is our sense of humour. And this affects the whole family as everyone begins to feel the stress. Wolgemuth highlighted two things for us to remember: we need to be able to laugh at ourselves and to laugh with our kids. You know---be a little crazy sometimes!

Karlyn and Ashlyn have lots of laughs together.

"How can you expect me to be happy when you put me in this contraption??"


It seems a fitting reminder for us as we settle into PNG life again. If we don’t laugh, we could easily become frustrated. For example, when we drive on the roads, which we do everyday, of course, we need to laugh—out loud! We had hoped there would’ve been reason for a name change while we were gone, but alas Lae is still dubbed, “Pothole City”, and rightfully so. Many of the main roads are literally covered with deep potholes. As a result, at times we bounce around like that little ball inside a pin ball machine. The game continues as you play chicken with the cars in the other lane--they move over to avoid the craters on their side and you’re doing the same thing on your side! Honestly, you just have to laugh about it…but you have to show a little restraint while you’re driving.

Then there’s power black-outs and water shortages; difficult landlords; the heat; our sloooooow and inconsistent dial-up connection; and such things as perpetual promises for services “next week”, but next week never seems to come! Yes, many times we just have to shrug it off, find the humour in the situation, laugh and keep on going!

But there are other things here that are more difficult to laugh about, actually impossible. Like the story we heard from a member of our church of a woman being tortured and a man being stoned—both to death. It seemed their slavery to a cultural norm passed down from their foreparents wouldn’t let them. Then there is the abuse we know that is happening to women—wives, mothers and daughters—also in our church. Or, the sick people that become sicker on account of a poor and unreliable healthcare system. The list goes on. Things that make you cry more than laugh. These things remind us why we’re here and make us thankful that ultimately God is in control. We do continue to pray that He will change hearts and lives here and that peace and righteousness and hope will reign in ever increasing measure here in Lae and all throughout PNG.

It seems there is never a dull moment in this land of the unexpected. At least we haven’t had one since we arrived back in Lae on the 2nd of October. We unpacked some stuff, cleaned, organized, set up (all the while sweating) and then only 5 days later packed up again for our conference in the Highlands.

The conference attendees. (From the top, the Hagoorts, Versteegs, Doumas, W & C VanderHeides, us and A VanderHeide and girls. Natalie is missing as she needed to be in Cairns at the time.)

We thoroughly enjoyed being at the conference. We laughed, we cried, we prayed, we sang, we learned, and we planned with our fellow Reformed missionaries here in PNG. The focus of the conference was a course on dealing with conflict biblically based on the book, “The Peacemaker” by Ken Sande. We highly recommend this book/dvd series as it has so much benefit for all of the relationships in our lives—with our husbands/wives, children, extended family, colleagues, churches, etc. We also discussed the ongoing work that is happening in the churches in the Port Moresby area as well as here in Lae, and the Bible College in Moresby. Many plans and hopes and dreams were put forward and we pray for the Lord’s blessings over them all.

All the kids had great fun together! From left to right, Sjaan Vanderheide holding her brother, Joseph. Jonathan, Bryce Vanderheide, Shiana VanderHeide, Kirilee VanderHeide holding Caleb, Karlyn and Cameron VanderHeide.


We were home from the conference only two days and Karlyn began to complain of a ‘tummy ache’. This tummy ache soon turned into her not being able to keep even a sip of drink in without vomiting it out. “I don’t want to be sick anymore” she began to say, but her stomach just wouldn’t settle. And this is where we begin to get a little worried and distressed. Not only is it heart-wrenching to watch your child being sick, as any parent knows, but here in this climate there is great danger of dehydration happening fairly quickly. And to add to our stress, we weren’t sure where we would take her if she did need to see a doctor. That is always the dilemma…during the day, the suitable health care options are slim and at night, even slimmer. But we remembered hearing about a new private hospital that had just opened up the week before, so Ian drove there to check it out. He came back with some children’s oral rehydration solution and the news that there was a doctor on call if we did need to take her in that night. We were so relieved to know we had this option. We fed her the oral rehydration drink for that night—actually we bribed her with toea (PNG coins) as it’s a bit hard to get down! She seemed ok the next morning, but by afternoon the vomiting started again so we brought her to the new hospital.



She was immediately put on an IV drip because of dehydration. Unfortunately, her veins were a little collapsed and therefore difficult to reach. So after two unsuccessful attempts in the hands, (in the first attempt they thought they found a vein and began the IV, covered it up only to find out 15 minutes later that her hand was swelling like a little balloon,) the doctor was able to locate a small vein in her ankle. And so after much crying, a pool of tears and prayers, the needle went in. This all seemed eerily familiar to us as Jonathan suffered the same only a few months into this country back in 2005! Then it took 19 attempts to find a vein, here we were blessed after 3.

Being a new hospital we were given a clean private room where Karlyn attempted to sleep and so did Ian who was staying the night with her. It was a long night, especially as the IV drip caused quite a bit of pain to her little foot and ended falling out at 5 in the morning—clogging the entrance with blood. It was decided to keep it out from then on and she could then rest without any foot pain. She did have two pees and no vomiting or diarrhea during the night--we praised God for this blessing! And after a little food and drink she was released from the hospital but still complained of stomach cramps which lasted a few days. She was put on antibiotics which seemed to have cleared up the infection and she is basically back to her normal self. Here she is with Daddy, looking pretty happy and healthy, eh!?



Now that the crisis with Karlyn is over, we are dealing with a house that has been under repair. We’ve had workers in and out all week, usually 4 or 5 at a time—not that we’re complaining—but it’s just made things a little crazier. Two of our ceiling fans needed replacing. One of our showers was leaking down to our downstairs bathroom and leaving rust-coloured stains running down the walls. The bottom of the cupboard under our kitchen sink had rotted through and caved in (by termites?). Many of our window screens had holes in them and louvres needed repairing. And then today, when I was out taking someone to the hospital, the pest control people came. “Didn’t your landlord tell you? And is the house ready?”, they asked Ian as he was home trying to get some work done and take care of Karlyn and Caleb! (Jonathan was at school—-he goes 3 days a week.) So with the help of the pest control guys, he emptied all of the kitchen cupboards and closets, and pulled everything away from the walls and covered it all with sheets so they could spray. That’s what I came home to! We then had to be out of the house for 3 hours, which is how the above photo of Ian and Karlyn was taken. We went to a local hotel for a swim and some lunch. And then it was back home to clean and wash and organize once again—a huge job! We are trying to look on the bright side---having pest control done is a great way to clean out your cupboards and closets and dust behind bookshelves and desks, etc! And all of the cockroaches that may have been lurking around have all been dealt with, along with any termites, ants, and other little critters. (I’ve actually only seen 2 roaches in the house since we’ve been back, but for someone with a phobia, that’s enough!)

So it’s been a busy few weeks and we’re looking forward to settling down into some sort of routine and getting full into the ministry work again.

Here's Caleb with Kirilee VanderHeide, his no. 1 babysitter! All 3 of our kids love the VanderHeide girls who live right here with us in our compound.

Today we are in Lae, finally!

We've arrived. We are in Lae, today! After a month of transitioning from one home to another, one hotel to another, one plane to another, we praise God that we can finally say we are at home. To be sure, when we finally walked in the door of our house everything looked like it was when we left it, but it didn't really feel like it was ours. It felt more like we were borrowing someone's house still. Fourteen months away can create strange somewhat surreal feelings in your mind.

All the same, our co-workers made us feel like it was our 'home.' Natalie VanderHeide had prepared a great meal for us and we shared it around our table, with our chairs and in our kitchen. In just a few hours we did a lot of catching up with Andrew and Natalie, and our kids were right at home playing with their much loved play mates, Kirilee, Shiana and Ashlyn.

Then on Sunday we fellowshipped with our brothers and sisters in Lae. It was good to see them again. The congregation had a few new members and lost a few, but all said it was the same. We shook everyone's hand, said a lot of 'good to see you' in Pidgin and shed a few tears. It is often the case that when missionaries leave the nationals feel that they won't come back. They are deeply moved, it seems, when they do. It is a gift of God that we could worship together, be fed in their (second) language, Tok Pisin, and enjoy fellowship together. In the end, it felt as if the year away was compressed into but a few hours-that too was a little surreal.

Now here we are. At times there are those pangs of longing for what we enjoyed in Canada over the past year--family, friends, comforts and all that is familiar, but like turbulance on a plane the pangs come and go. We praise God that we can be here and we praise God that He is here with us--we sense His closeness.

Sorry there aren't any photos to compliment this little update. But picture this, if you will: green, very green, banana groves and lush vegetation, countless hundreds of people walking around, potholes, nice buildings and delapitated settlement homes, blue skys and blue ocean and brilliant sunshine. Or if you will, our children dressed in summer wear riding their bike and trike and enjoying their friends in our compound. Or, Caleb, our littlest man trying to make sense of all that has happened to him--unsettled on his own, but relaxed in our arms.

If that doesn't work, we promise next time to post a few photos.

Thanks again for all of your love and prayers and we continue to covet both!!