Law and Order

*Crash* “What was that?” I wonder to myself. I had been driving around on Wednesday night picking people for my Bible study. The crash had interrupted a perfectly normal evening. Within a few moments I realized I had just been stoned (in PNG if someone throws rocks at your truck it is called a stoning – yes it is a comforting thought that they have a name for itJ). A couple of the people in the truck knew the two boys who threw the stones. I went and told the police and they went out to check things out – with their shot guns. On Thursday morning I went out and found the boys and gave them an option. They could either come and work for me for a day, or I could take them to the police. Locals here are very protective of expatriates so the idea of confessing their deed to the police was not very appealing. The two boys spent a day working at our new property cutting grass by hand with a long bladed knife.

By the way, last week I saw a dolphin in the wild. Just thought our readers might be glad to know that. Jeri was at home so she wasn’t able to see the sight.

I have spent the last few days trying my hand as a foreman of a construction project. Jeri and I are building a chain link fence at our new property and so we have several folks who are helping work on it. We are hoping they will start building the house in the next couple of weeks.

Pictures

Hannah wants to grow up and be a basketball player! She loves getting outside and walking around. Here she is showing off her basketball moves :)






For Independence Day (September 16th) everyone gathered at the soccer field to celebrate. One of the main attractions was the "greasy pole". There is a long pole with 500 kina ($) at the top. The first preson to climb the pole gets the money. It was actually quite entertaining to watch the people climb up and slide all the way back down. This year PNG celebrated its 31st Independence Day!

A late blog

This picture is of a local ‘feast’. It is a celebration after a death to honor everyone who has contributed money for the funeral. It was a neat experience so I thought I would go ahead and send you a picture.

Our new ‘home’.

Jeri, Hannah, and I are now sharing a room at the William’s house. They have been extremely hospitable and welcoming. Fortunately, we have an en suite bathroom and everything we need in our room. The territory that used to be shared by the three Fords is now occupied by three Ford’s and Five Williams’. But there are certain advantages that most families would miss. For example, ladies, imagine only cooking half of the nights a week? (Jeri and Loopie are rotating cooking nights). Or imagine needing to run out and knowing there will always be someone in the house to watch the baby. We will be here until October 6^th when we move to Marcus and Diane Reese’s house.

Insight into life here:

One of the men from the church was having stomach pain and after a week they concluded it was an appendix problem. They decided to go ahead and set his surgery 4 days later. Is that not the craziest thing you have heard of? If that thing ruptures you are in a lot of trouble. But, what can you do? The few medical doctors need time off and time away from work.

Hannah’s growing popularity

Hannah continues to enjoy a lot of attention around town. Last week we dropped a girl from church off at the clinic and the nurse recognized Hannah from giving her a shot in July. She passed the message for us not to forget to come in October for Hannah’s next shot. How many nurses in the States will see a kid on the street and know when their next immunization is due? Amazing.