Cockatoo

I've found that Cockatoos follow me everywhere I go. When I was home in MA a new family moved next door and had a pet Cockatoo. Now there is a wild one or a lost pet that has decided to camp out on my porch. Hopefully it will leave soon because it has started to eat my door. And all it knows how to say is "Hello Koki". :)

Goroka Show...

Papau New Guinea celebrates isn't independence from Australia every Sept 15th by putting on a show with many different tribal groups singing and dancing. This year I was able to go! And I had lots of fun taking pictures.

Little Beth came to visit...

Beth and her mom stopped in for a visit the other day. Beth has grown so much since the last time I saw her. She will be 2 years old in October.

This is Beth's mom, Peku, with Beth. Peku works in the kitchen with me.

Lastest Project...

I've attempted to grow my own herbs and it is quite exciting to watch! I'm not very good at growing plants of any kind. Of course starting out with a Chia Pet Herb Garden has helped tremendously. :)

Cozy Germs...

I still cook one meal a day for the short term guys and a lot of times they (Michael and Friedy) sleep in the hammock afterwards before heading back to work. I couldn't resist getting this crazy shot! :)

Heading into the Jungle of the Sepik...

I had the privilege of going on one of our side trips with the students into the jungle. I went along to cook for the 9 of us as we headed in to see how God is working in a Sepik tribe where NTM missionaries are located. It was an amazing experience for the students and for us leaders as well, to see how God has transformed the tribal people into His children! Here I am with one of the believers.

After an early departure from INTERFACE, (plus a crazy 2 weeks of unpacking, working in the kitchen 10-12 hours a day, and packing for side trip for me), most of us slept for 2 hours in the C90 flight on the way to another air strip, just 30 km from Indonesia. :)

Then we flew from an old military airstrip on a 206 to an airstrip where some NTM missionaries used to work, about a 20 minute flight.

We landed at an airstrip and had to hike 1 1/2 hours to the missionaries houses, the three white buildings.

Hiking into the tribe...

We visited a home in the tribe. We were a little scared that it would fall apart when all 9 of us were walking around in it. But it was fine!

One of the believers preaching in church on Sunday. It was wonderful to worship God with others from another language group. Even though we didn't understand we knew they knew our Saviour.

Sing Sing House

We hiked 2 hours through lots of mud! There were some logs to walk on so that we wouldn't have to tramp through the mud, but we all managed to fall off many times! We finally made it to this Sing Sing House where we spent the night as we watched and listened to the people sing and dance. It was quite an experience!!

My brand new sneakers while hiking in the muddy swamp to the Sing Sing House. It was CRAZY and lots of fun!!

Inside the Sing Sing House it was really dark except for a few fires going, while the people sang and danced all night long.

Hiking back to the tribe after spending the night at the Sing Sing House...

We are all dead tired after a long hike through the muddy, swampy jungle...

July/August INTERFACE team

Pray that God would continue to challenge the students lives for missions as we head out on Friday for the side trip to a few bush locations. I get to go and cook for one group headed into the jungles of the Sepik! Pray for safety as well! Thanks!

INTERFACE Staff

Doug and Cheryl; Emerson, Miriam and Emma; Doug and Kara; Janie; Simon; Simple; Dave and Sally; Herb, Jana, Caleb and Alicia; and me.

Back in the Kitchen again!

Julie and I are sporting our new aprons, made by the Pioneer Girls in my home church. All the national ladies LOVE them and put them on immediately! :)

Arrival in PNG!!

I made it here with both my bags! I was able unpack my whole house in 2 days and now I am full swing in the kitchen again. It is rather crazy! But God continues to give me strength. In case you need proof of my arrival, I will post a picture tomorrow as proof. :)

Heading to my Final stop... Bribane, Australia

Sorry, I have no pictures of Brisbane because all I did was sleep there, I was so dead. I was thankful for all my layovers because it has helped me get over jet lag so much faster once I arrived and jumped right into everything.

Second stop... Honolulu, Hawaii

It was my first time traveling through! Beautimous, but hot! The same as Alberta, just added humidity. But I still enjoyed relaxing before the craziness of the kitchen started again. :)

I enjoyed my full day in Hawaii wandering around... my last bit of freedom before returning to PNG!

First stop... Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada

I really enjoyed my time in Alberta visiting a friend and his family for 5 days!

The World's Largest Teepee

One of Medicine Hat's landmarks is the world's largest teepee. It gest bigger as you get closer to it!

I tried to use the self timer and ran but I didn't quite make it, in order to face forward in time. :)

Heading back to PNG...

My parents thought it was pretty funny that my carry on, back pack was bigger than me. :)

Goodbye to family...

Please pray as I have to say Goodbye to my family for 2 years. Pray for my family as well! It is always bittersweet to say goodbye. I will miss them, yet I am very excited to return to PNG.

Goodbye to my car...

Saturday was a sad day because I had to give my car back to Charley (man from one of my supporting churches in CT). I was so thankful for his generosity! He let me use his extra car for the entire time I was home. I have enjoyed the freedom of driving while I had a chance because in PNG I don't have that freedom.

FINALLY Heading Back to PNG!!

I now have my passport with my PNG visa in hand!! Once all the paperwork was done in PNG the US Goverment was very speedy in finishing it all up for me! I am leaving in the middle of July! I can hardly believe that I can actually really plan to go! :)

My arm is doing much better so I'm so thankful I've had this extra time to go to the Physcial Therapist! Please pray as I pack that I will be wise in packing my carry on luggage so that I don't ruin my arm once again.

Thanks so much for all your prayers during this HUGE delay! I just talked to my friend Janet in PNG via Skype (internet) and she is getting all packed and ready to go back home. I'm sad that I will miss her. But she has seen how God has worked in this whole thing! I'm glad God knows where we need to be and when! And I'm thankful that I can trust Him completely with my plans and life.

HUGE PRAISE!!

My work permit has been granted! So now I just have to wait 2 weeks for the PNG Government to process my visa, then I can send my passport to Washington DC!!! Finally!!! But God has been teaching me lots through this 2 1/2 month delay in my return to PNG! Plus, I am going to physical therapy two times a week now so hopefully my arm, Tennis Elbow, will be healed by the middle of July when I head back to PNG!! Thanks so much for all your prayers!!

Whale Watching...

Saturday, my mom and I headed to Gloucester, MA to watch some whales. It was amazing! Here we are headed out to sea. My first experience on a large boat in the Atlantic Ocean!

Waiting for the whales to come...

And the whales came! God gave us a wonderful show of His creation as we watched the whales come within feet of our boat. There were two whales that waved their flippers at us. One even did a back stroke within feet of our boat. It was so amazing. Whales are sooo HUGE! Now I know how Jonah could have lived inside the belly of one. :)

All 11 whales that we saw on Saturday swam and played around our boat for a while. A couple of times we had 3 whales right around us. And when they all left they always waved goodbye with their tails.

Me and my Mom relaxing on the boat! :)

And again...

Well, I am still here but the INTERFACE students just arrived in Papua New Guinea yesterday. It is very strange! Please continue to pray for my work permit and visa to be granted. I just received word today that my work permit was not one of the 8 that was processed this week. There are only about 80 more work permits/visas to be processed out of 440. But it seems to be going very slowly. I postponed my trip once again so now I do not leave until the end of June. I will miss the May/June INTERFACE program completely and arrive 1 day into the July/August INTERFACE program. Please pray for the staff at INTERFACE as they work harder to cover my responsibilities. And please pray for Janet, a friend, who is helping out there for 2 months. Now I will arrive after she leaves which isn't fun at all. Unless of course she can stay longer! I do hope!

Flights re-booked once again...

There is still no word on my work permit and visa so I have postponed my trip once again. Now I plan to head to Alberta and on to PNG through Hawaii and Aussie in the middle of June. Please pray that my work permit and visa arrive before then so I can fly!! Some missionaries have gotten their work permits and visas so the process has started, its just really slow. And they haven't gotten to mine yet. So I am enjoying spending time with my mom on her birthday and Mother's Day! My dad arrives back from Missouri tomorrow after helping out at NTM for 5 weeks. Pray also for my friend Janet who is now in PNG without me and will be helping out for 2 months. I hope to be able to arrive before she leaves!!

Cow Country...

Instead of heading to Alberta, Canada and on to Hawaii, Australia and Papua New Guinea I headed to Cow country instead to visit my Grandma. Please continue to pray for my visa, still no word!

I just got back from visiting my other Grandma in Western, NY where I helped her sort through everything in her attic. It was actually quite interesting finding things from my great Greatparents who I've never met. We found books and papers that were really old but in good condition, 1897 - 1908 being the oldest. She is getting ready to sell her house and belongings in an auction in the next months. So there is lots of work to do.

Waiting...

Well, I am officially not leaving the country this week as planned. Please continue to pray for my visa to be processed quickly. I really would like to arrive before the INTERFACE students, even if it is the day before. God knows what He is doing in this very slow visa process so I am thankful for that. And I'm thankful that I have more time at home with my family. My mom is quite excited that I will be here for Mother's Day and her birthday! But please pray for my co-workers at INTERFACE who have to fill in the gap as I will be arriving late. Thanks!!

VISA

Please pray for my visa! There is a back up of paperwork in Papua New Guinea right now. I still have not received the go ahead to send in my passport to Washington DC so that I can receive my visa. I am suppose to leave in 2 weeks!! I really want to leave when planned so that I can arrive BEFORE the INTERFACE students and finish the kitchen preparations. Please pray!

Friends...

I had fun visiting a friend from high school, Amy, and hanging out with her kids!