the first few days in Madang

 

 One of the many markets we visited.  We arrived in Madang on Monday, and spent most of our time in one market or another: souvenir shopping, grocery shopping, just about any kind of shopping you can think of.  It was a leisurely sort of trip; there is no sense in rushing since no one else does. 

 

 The sunrise from our house, vantage point: glorious hammock on the back porch.

Joseph, who was one of our hosts during the week, makes a produce delivery to the kitchen.  There were two amazing women who hosted the kitchen, with different families assigned to do most of the actual prep for specific lunches and dinners.  We were responsible for our own breakfasts, which Joey promptly took on (more on that later!)

 Kris and Lori, who dedicated their entire afternoon to roll pretzels for the VBS snacks.  Since our VBS had an amusement park theme, we tried to incorporate that theme into all aspects of the week, including snacks. 

 

 

 Dennis preps for his sessions (or emails home, not sure which).  At first, we planned to have the entire team in the guest house, which would have been cozy but certainly fine.  However, Geoff and Shannon unexpectedly had room in house they were staying in, so Kris and Gary got to have extra family time by moving into their house instead.  That made for only six people in our three bedroom house, which worked out well.