Sunday was our last full day in Mibu, and was packed with adventure and happenings. I'll summarize the main events here, and then post pictures and more details in the subsequent posts.
After the usual preliminaries, we hiked down to Mibu for church. I think it takes a Mibu person under 20 minutes to tackle it, but Shannon allows closer to 40 for people unfamiliar and her kids. We had also been told by many that those hiking the trail for the first time experience a fall or two (or three, or four...). My goal for hiking the trail was this: not to fall. As the hike progressed, this (rather prideful) goal became less and less important as we enjoyed companionship on the way down and looked forward to church together.
We had the worship service in the church building there. As is the custom, the men sat on one side, and the women on the other. Different Mibu leaders stood up and took turns teaching during the service. Of course, we had no idea what was being said, but it was still moving.
After the service, just about everyone hung out and talked with each other. It reminded me of my church growing up, where we continued just to talk and be together afterwards, and often had potlucks. The plan was for our group to split and go to two different homes for lunch. Meals are social, and we also planned to share life stories and how being connected with Jesus had changed us. Most of the team ended up with Geoff at one house, and Joey and I were at another house. As is the case in other situations, I can't really do a good job describing what happened at the other house, but if someone else on the team wants to, that would be great.
About mid-afternoon, we wrapped up the meals, and then were just hanging out when we were given the opportunity to try beetle nut (buai). Some of us did.
Afterwards, Joey suggested a trek down to Beng, another village closeby. As we understood it, this walk would not take much longer than just returning to Tibu, where Geoff and Shannon lived. So, our happy little team agreed to travel with Joey while Geoff and Shannon returned to their house with their kids and Shiloh to continue preparing for the conference trip. A word to the wise: you might want to ask some clarifying questions when Joey describes anything.
Once we returned safely to Geoff and Shannon's house, we were ready for some down time. We all showered, had a delicious meal, and mentally prepared to leave Mibu tomorrow for Madang and the regional conference (part two of our trip).
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