Launching Celeste

Friday marked a momentous occasion as our boat took to the water after 2.5 years of being dry-docked!

She's our little tugboat... a beauty on the water, isn't she?!

These two gentlemen have been working on the boat for the last little while. The one to the rear is a former helicopter pilot. He's our technician...hooking up or fixing up some of the electrical items. The skipper, well he is a mechanic, welder, avid fisherman and a good friend to Ian. And here's the deal: they are fixing up the boat in exchange for some time on the open sea and hopefully reeling in some marlin!

Here's my dad, taking the helm. The reason he is so relaxed is because the boat is travelling only about 6 knots an hour. That's not much for a 135 horsepower engine, but maybe understandable since it's not been used for years. Hopefully that will be sorted out by the crew. They didn't mind a slow but steady journey along the coastline of the beautiful Huon Gulf anyway.

One of the beaches where they threw down the anchor and enjoyed a nice swim. My dad was worried about the sharks...but thankfully nothing nipped his toes.

The kids and I met up with them in the afternoon and took a little tour just outside the yacht club. The wind had picked up by that time and it was a little choppy, so the little tour was enough for me and the kids! But still the ocean breeze felt good.

It was good and refreshing for Ian and the rest to be away from Lae for a few hours and out enjoying God's awesome creation in the vast skies and open sea. Rejuvenating.

How to Make A 5Kina Lion

It was National Book Week and at Jonathan's school they celebrated by dressing up as book characters. Since Ian's been reading The Chronicles of Narnia to the kids lately, Jonathan had no hesitation about who he wanted to be--Aslan!

With no Wal-Mart's or Michael's Arts and Crafts Stores in sight, we had to get creative in putting the costume together. Thankfully, there are many second-hand clothing stores around. I found a brown knitted shawl, a brown pillow case, and a brown shirt all for about 5kina (about $2 Aus/Can). And thankfully my mom is here right now because I don't know how to sew! She went to work sewing a tail out of the pillow case, unravelling the shawl, and sewing pieces of the yarn onto the shirt and the end of the tail.
One of our craft books inspired us to make this mask out of a cardboard box. We all--Mom, Dad, Ian, Jonathan and I--did our share of cutting, gluing, painting, and attaching some more of that yarn for the mane!

RRROOAARRR!

A Visit to TISOL

Jonathan's class has just started a unit on "Celebrations and Traditions", where the students are gaining an appreciation for different cultures and the way they celebrate special occasions. My parents were invited to go and share about their Dutch and Canadian cultures and special stories that have been told in their families. The supply of available grandparents to come and visit the class is pretty low here since most of the kids are ex-pats and their grandparents live in their home countries. So this was a special opportunity!

My mom shared some stories about growing up in Holland with the dikes and bikes. She also told a story about my grandparents during WWII (in a way that 5/6 year old's could understand), when my grandmother was taken to a concentration camp because her brothers were involved in hiding Jews. Although Mom didn't share this with the kids, my grandparents were engaged at the time and when my grandfather heard that his young fiance had been taken, one side of his face paralyzed because of the shock. Something that you could notice on him for the rest of his life. Thankfully, the Lord was with my grandmother and after 5 months, she was released. Still, it is a powerful story that will remain in our family and be passed down to the next generations to remember the sacrifices made during the war.
To end her sharing time, my mom gave them a little taste of Holland...some purple and pink 'vruchtenhagel' on toast!

Here they are using a giant atlas to show where Canada and Holland are...far from this side of the world, that's for sure!

Dad read to the kid's an A to Z book on Canada. "If only my colleagues could see me now...", Dad was thinking.
He told them stories about dog-sledding...and tobogganing...and hockey...and Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our family has the tradition at Thanksgiving to each share something we are thankful to God for. Jonathan's teacher liked this so much she asked the kids to share their thanksgivings that day after my parent's session.

It was Caleb's first day at TISOL too.

Karlyn enjoyed the Library Corner!

My parents were really thankful for the opportunity to spend some time with Jonathan and his class during their time here. A reminder again that God's timing is perfect in every way.

The Gospel on Banana Leaves

Experiencing a House-to-House Fellowship Night...as described by my parents.

It is typical here in Lae to conduct a Wednesday night "House to House" Bible Study. The idea is that on Wednesdays various members of the Lae congregation host members and neighbours at their house, and Ian then presents the Gospel message to this audience. When we heard about this aspect of the ministry work, we of course wanted to be part of it. After all, we are used to Wednesday night Bible Study.

When we arrived at the church, it became apparent tonight's host, Jeffrey, was going to walk us to his home. As it happens, Jeffrey lives in the Kamkumung settlement behind the church. We should tell you about settlements here in Papua New Guinea. Thousands and thousands of people have made homes in the jungle among the trees and vines. Laneways, not roads, have been cut deep and narrow, winding into the jungle, so people can access their dwelling.

It was into one of these settlements, the Kamkumung settlement, that we walked and walked...... and walked. The stone-laden and muddy laneway took us past hundreds of homes, patched together with wood and corrugated steel, and built on stilts (because the torrential rains cause flooding). We were told that at night lighting is almost non-existent as only a few can afford electricity. The smokey smell in the air was constant.....fumes mixed with all manner of food aromas; some pleasant and some not so. We also passed dozens and dozens of stalls where people sold everything from alcohol to zippers. And of course an abundance of fruit and vegetables were also prevalent. We noticed this jungle community also had it's own entertainment as we passed several bars and dance halls along the way. There were of course people everywhere along our route and we found that most were friendly and wished us 'apinun' (good afternoon).

Our eventful walk came to an end when we walked over a bridge made from a single sheet of corrugated steel onto Jeffrey's property. We noticed one chair had been set up on top of a large tarp. Huge banana tree leaves were spread on the ground and these were for us to sit on. Now that too was really different. Darkness soon descended upon us and using a flashlight, Ian passionately spoke on Luke 24, when Jesus opened Scripture to the two men on the road to Emmaus. Our estimate of the group size who had come to listen was about 50, and the hope and prayer is that they will also come to church on Sunday.

We cannot, in this short blog, explain what we experienced that night. It was such a unique happening! We definitely came away thinking this was one of the most unusual and memorable Bible Study meetings we had ever attended. The wonder of it all is that whether it's a Bible Study in the comfort of an air-conditioned home or church, or on banana leaves in the open air of the humid tropics, the rich Gospel message is the same. And in the end that's what really counts!

With Grandpa and Grandma

On June 30th, my parents left Canada and made their way to Cairns, Australia. After about 24 hours in the air, they finally landed in the land down under!

We, on the other hand, left our home two days later and after only 2 hours in the air, arrived in Cairns before they did! At least we could then welcome them with open arms! After 10 months apart, it was a joyous reunion!

We journeyed to Cairns partly for pleasure and partly for work as Ian was requested to preach and lead communion one Sunday at the Reformed (house) congregation in the Tablelands just outside of Cairns. While we were there we were very blessed to stay at the home of Rodney and Makeesha Byl who happened to be attending a family wedding in Canada at the time! We had a wonderful stay there!

We had all we needed at their home, including shuffleboard! Here's a true Wildeboer--fully focussed with his tongue hanging out!

Grandpa and the kids enjoyed the pool, even though it was a bit chilly this time of year! We had some lovely times of fellowship with the church group there, as well as others who were visiting at the time. Here are a group of us ladies at a bbq at the Lagoon in downtown Cairns.

It was also great to see Wayne and Cheronne VanderHeide and their kids there. My parents took Jonathan and Bryce VdH on a tour of the Great Barrier Reef where they took in awesome views of the coral and other sea life, from the safety of a glass-bottom boat! Here they are playing in the sand at Green Island.

Caleb the Explorer--on the move at Muddy's playground!
We also went to the Rainforest Habitat in Port Douglas where Karlyn discovered that the Roos were pretty friendly!
My husband was pretty friendly too on this romantic(?) rainforest walk!
As for my Dad, well, he made friends wherever he went!
And then we were on our way home. Welcome to PNG, Grandma and Grandpa! We spent our first night in Port Moresby at the Bible College.
And then it was home sweet home to Lae where the swimming continues (for Dad and the kids, anyway).What a blessing to have them here with us. It is interesting to experience PNG anew through my parent's eyes--as they take in all the sights, smells, climate, people and different way of life. Things that have become commonplace for us have amazed, saddened, and overwhelmed them in the few days that they've been here. We look forward to sharing more days in Lae with them in the coming weeks.