My new desk!

Jacob just finished the desk he was building for me before our Interface program started. I love it! So I had to show it off!! And now he is making one for him too!

Our Trip to Lae...

 We hadn't even gotten onto the main highway yet... still on our Interface dirt road and we got stuck on the side in a ditch! But we weren't there for long!

 It was an amazingly beautiful drive!

 One can't forget we have an amazing God if you take a drive to Lae for 5 1/2 hours!

 PNG Road construction.

 PNG Gas Stations... if you look closely you will see a yellow can of gas sitting on a stump. :)

 PNG Rest stops, quite different then our typical rest stop in North America with the rows of snack choices, benches to sit, picnic tables to eat your lunch, paths to walk your dogs and nice clean bathrooms.

 Fresh coconut anyone?

We made it to Lae! This is the PMV stop... the place you can pick up a ride on a Public Motor Vehicle for just a few Kina.Oh and the roads are paved but watch out for those pot holes!!

Supply buying in Lae...

 PNG's version of Costco...very different to say the least! We were so thankful to be able to have a contact at this wholesale place! We were able to walk through the warehouses with one of the managers to find some of the food that we needed. But American type food and bulk food are hard to find here in Papua New Guinea! It is much cheaper for me to order a Food container from the states with large cans of corn, tomato products, ketchup, etc then purchasing the same products here in country! Unfortunately our food container, due to arrive in May has been postponed until August, right after our Interface teams leave.

 I was so excited to find sugar!! Enough for both Interface programs! Ramu sugar company has had some fires and lost a lot of their crop. And this is the only company that sells sugar in PNG! So our sugar prices have been going up and up! But I found 160 kgs of sugar at the normal price of K5.00 per KG and I was excited!!

Our first day in Lae was spent touring all the grocery stores and the one wholesale store. Then the second day was spent at all the hardware stores buying all the much needed supplies for the workshop... screen, pipes, tape measures, chain saw parts, etc!

Sights of Lae...crocodile farm...

 We had the opportunity to take a tour of the Crocodile Farm as well as buy 60 kgs of meat!! The Interface students love it... so far we have made grilled crocodile and crocodile nuggets (just like chicken nuggets).

 These are just the baby crocodiles, some of which they buy from the nationals around for K30 a croc.

 It takes about a 1 1/2 years for the crocodile to grow large enough for meat.

 And the skins are very popular as well and bring in more money then the meat.

 They are salted and shipped all over the world. Japan and France buys all the best quality skins for the big bucks.

Richard, Jonas, Jacob and I are out for a Chinese dinner... the guys are enjoying fried ice cream. :)

Packing up and heading out...

 After our 2 1/2 days of  food supply buying and workshop supply buying we were ready to head back home to Interface... but first we packed the car very very full!

 The car road a bit smoother on the way home with that heavy load!

 Although we noticed that some PMVs have a very heavy load of people!

 We were quite surprised to see new white lines on the road!

 It was going to rain hard very soon so the guys stopped to cover up our cargo with a tarp.

Beautiful!!

Exciting times... a container arrival!

 Jacob and I, and Julie, co-worker, headed to our NTM Center to pick up a few things that came in on a container from America!!

 We are so thankful for a couple who gives of their time to load up boxes of so many different missionaries living in PNG... and everything heads over on a container shipped by boat. So much stuff, but for so many different missionaries in PNG!

 Opening of the container is exciting for everyone!

We finally got our crokinole board that we left at home to be sent on a container!! A wedding present!!

Our staff team celebrating Julie's birthday!

It is amazing how God has hand picked all of us to be here serving Him together! There are four families, three with kids plus us.... two single ladies and three Intern guys... all from three different countries (Canada, USA and Germany) and cultures and backgrounds. It is neat to see how God works as he unites us and enables us to work together more and more all the time!

Hanging Out with the Bena...

 Sone, one of our Kitchen workers, and her child.

 The Bena people cook sweet potato for the pigs to eat. Pigs are very special in this culture.

 Atufa and his baby pig.

 The Bena people start their days early in the morning. So, if Jacob wants to catch people before they go off to work in their gardens, pick coffee or go off to town, he needs to get to the village early. When Jacob heads to the village around 6:30 am, he sees some beautiful pictures of God's creation!

 We had fun talking with Kesi, one of our Kitchen workers, and her husband, Mike. They were shelling peanuts to dry so they could use them as seeds for next year.

A Helicopter lands in our front yard...

Our co-worker's brother was visiting from the States. So they took a trip into a tribal location to visit some missionaries. There is no airstrip in this remote location, so they had to fly by helicopter. On their way out, the pilot thought it would save time to just drop the family off right at Interface. Then someone from Interface wouldn't have to drive 1 hour to Goroka to pick them up. Very fun!

Catering for all the missionaries at NTM Headquarters of PNG...

 The national ladies (Linet, Loli and Efeke) and I had a great time cooking for 200 at the NTM headquarters yearly conference. They have a time of spiritual refreshment for their missionaries. It is great to help out during this time and provide the meals for all the missionaries so they can sit back and enjoy all the guest speakers without having to worry about what is for dinner.

  Here the national ladies are cutting all the lettuce, cucumbers, green peppers and carrots for the salads! It was wonderful to have a working walk-in cooler again! I'm not sure how we would have done this without our "Coolbot"! :)

Making chicken enchilada casserole with Suzanna! I couldn't believe how much sauce I made and I was sure that it was way too much! But we used it all!

Brown bread for 200! I loved using our 40 Q mixer to the max!

Jacob was a huge help!

Utu, Kesi and I

Julie, one of our faithful dishwashers.

Everything is ready and waiting for our departure via truck to our catering site!

Drawing up a diagram of the set up of the food once we arrive at the Center.

Ready to go! We have a warmer that we can strap to the back of the truck that keeps all the hot food hot! It works so well! Till, Richard, Jonas and Julie did a great job helping us transport and serve the food!

Jacob drove us each day and helped out by setting up the dish lines and refilling food too!

Serving the missionaries!

 

Everyone helped out by doing their own dishes after wards! :)