I recently attended a week long training called Roots of Care with another team member from Papua New Guinea. We traveled to Bali Indonesia and met teammates from Dallas that I’d not seen in a few years or more and met new families who reside “close to” where we held the training. Since there is only one flight a month from here to there, we missed the entire first day. But they were quick to get us up to speed. Leaving on the specified day was another story… to be continued…

After our first full day of training, we got to go to dinner where they treated us to Balinese dancing. It was really neat, but sometimes a little scary… you might have to experience it to know what I am talking about. One of our teammates was brave enough to go up and learn how to dance with them. I did not.

Then we hit the training hard for the rest of the week.

We talked about and learned better ways of communicating and listening, with some practical ways of helping others in the situations that we find ourselves in over here. We each did our own stress test and I was once again reminded that the number 1 reason a missionary leaves the field is not what we might think; bugs, heat, cold, weird food… nope! The number one reason is actually “other missionaries.” We each deal with stress and cultural differences from our home countries in a different way. We each have our own stress levels.

We talked a lot about transitions. In my opinion, that hits every single missionary in the eye. I have been back and forth to America (A LOT in the past 4+ years), and that alone is hard… travel is hard! With the packing, the weighing, the endless flights with your knees in the seat in front of you and the back of their seat in your face … for hours on end… the unpacking, the buying (which I can find horribly overwhelming at times), the packing, the weighing… and then it starts over again, and again.  I am incredibly grateful that I have been blessed to be able to move into my little flat, nearly every time I have come back to PNG from America. Others have been in several different homes for a week or two here, and a month or so there. It’s hardly worth unpacking your suitcase. In my opinion, missionaries are always in transition.

It was neat at this training, because some of the people who led the training have lived and served in PNG. So, they know the ins and outs of Madang and surrounding areas. When we broke into small groups, we could craft real life situations from here, and then go through the training using them specifically. We learned and talked a lot about grief and its process, the emotions that go along with it and depression that a lot of people deal with, on or off the field. We talked about anger and anxiety and stress… that is huge! Simply (I say that word loosely) living overseas is stressful. Not a day goes by that there isn’t something that is not like my home country. Everything is different. We learned about burnout and self-care. Self-care is imperative!! If I don’t take care of me, who will? How can I help someone if I am not doing well myself? Building community is another topic and it actually started right there in training. A community was built within our team of participants. We set up a communication so that we, as a new little community, can keep in touch. We also discussed building trust, relating to our leadership and my personal favorite… being an encourager.

We had a free day at the end of the week where we got to go to a monkey forest. I actually had a monkey on my back… without warning. We always joke about that sort of thing. Thankfully I had friends with me who encouraged him to get off quickly. As we walked around a little, I kept thinking, “you know, he was really gentle and his fur was soft and when are you ever going to get another chance to hold a monkey?!?” So, I got brave and asked my friend Gina to take these photos. Until I looked at the photos, I didn’t realize that he was actually sitting on my head, ha-ha! Aren’t these photos a hoot?!?

….Our original flight back to Madang was canceled, so we ended up spending a couple more nights in a different hotel in Bali. They were going to send us through Singapore or Manila, but thankfully we ended up going to Brisbane (which feels more like home); spent a night, and came back here on the 12th of April. Thank you for helping me to get to this training. Please pray that I will use all that I learned to the glory of God. I want to help others… all.the.time. I pray that I can be a blessing.

I should arrive Ohio on May 7 if all of my flights go as I hope. I look forward to seeing you!!

Prayers ~

• Please pray for a wonderful time of connection with my family and friends in Ohio
• That I will indeed be a blessing to both my teammates and to anyone I come into contact with… on the streets, in the stores… my precious haus sik
• That the blankets and all other baby items that are collected and sent and delivered to the haus sik make it here safely
• Pray that the baby items that are delivered to the mama wards and to Jomba Health Clinic are only to God’s glory and I get no “credit”
• Pray for safety in and around Madang, and for the recent unrest to finish so people feel they can walkabout freely
• Pray that rascals don’t continue to take advantage of situations to keep things in an uproar
• Pray for peace

Praises ~

• The Roots of Care training in Bali was really well done ~ I made it there and back with very little hassle
• More mamas and babies are able to be at the haus sik now that the water situation has been resolved and repairs made to the main water station
• I leave for Columbus Ohio on May 6 to celebrate my oldest grandson, Robbie, graduating from high school.
• ROBBIE COMES BACK TO PNG WITH ME! This is also a prayer request. Things have been unsettled here, pray for peace over the entire land. Pray for a time full of incredibly wonderful memories for Robbie to take home with him.

Thank you for everything… you enable me able to stay here with your prayers and finances.

Joshua 1:9 – Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.