Joey

One of my favorite parts of the trip was getting to know everyone on the team better.  Before we left, I felt like I knew one other member very well, a few medium well (just wanted to say that since some of this post is about food), and a couple not very well at all. 

Joey is someone I got to know better, not necessarily due to long, philosophical talks, but through lots of short interactions and his actions.  He came on this trip with the stated intention to serve, and that is exactly what he did.  There are many ways he did that, but this picture captures one of them, albeit in an odd way. 

Joey seemed to think his schedule in Madang was more flexible than the rest of ours.  I tend to think that it was more flexible because he made it so.  Regardless, Joey designated himself our breakfast chef, and breakfasts were amazing!!!  We had protein-laden scrambled eggs with cheese every morning, hand delivered to wherever we happened to be when they finished cooking.  At least one morning, I happened to be in the hammock on the back porch, and let me tell you, cheesy eggs with fresh pineapple in a hammock overlooking water is pretty much the best breakfast you can have.  Wow. 

One thing you need to know about our kitchen is that our toaster did not work, so we used the broiler instead (and by "we," of course, I mean "Joey").  However, he would get so busy scrambling eggs, delivering breakfasts, and pouring beverages that occasionally (and by occasionally, I mean at least once every morning), the toast would get a little, shall we say, overdone.  And by a little overdone, I mean BLACK. 

He, along with everyone else in the house, took it in stride.  People either did some scraping or waited for the next piece in hopes that it would be a little less done.  It has become part of the lore connected with our team, along with the Australian customs agents joking with Dennis and Kevin, all of us moseying somewhere, and Shiloh... (oh, just remembered, I wasn't allowed to share that part...what happens in PNG sometimes has to stay in PNG).

teens

I liked the nursery kids and the VBS kids and the wide range of interactions with all of them, but I really liked the teens.  I like hearing what they have to say and how they understand the world.  Plus, they are just plain fun.

Jais Aben

 

After the last morning of VBS had been wrapped up, we went with the teens to a resort called Jais Aben.  All of them had been there multiple times before, so they were able to tell us what to expect.  The main draw for most of them was a tire swing into the water, but then it was reported that the tree had become too wet to climb safely.  However, one of the girls had already managed to climb the tree, bypass the swing, and just totally launch herself off the top of one of the limbs.  It was fun just to watch her.  We were not able to rent equipment, which is usually the case there, but most of the kids had brought snorkeling gear, so they made use of that and went exploring.  The best discovery was a blue starfish.  We got to enjoy a trip on a boat that four missionary families share, and Kevin and Lori went tubing. 

snacks

One part I was most excited about with VBS is coming up with snack ideas that went along with the amusement park theme.  The first day we had popcorn, the second day these chocolate-covered bananas on a stick (because everything is sold on a stick at carnivals, right?), and on the third day, we had homemade pretzels. 

games

Gary, Lori, and I each organized one of the game days, and one of us served as an assistant while the other took on the nursery.  Although she may deny it, I think that Lori may have missed her calling as a PE teacher (check out that perfect form in the picture...she's just missing a whistle!)  Two teen boys helped us each day, which was very needed.  Gary mastered balloon bending techniques so that he could produce fancy crowns and animals within moments on our carnival day. 

crafts with Miss Kris

This is a perfect example of not being able to be in the right place at the right time.  Kris had all these cool crafts going on, but I was either in the nursery, at games, or getting the snacks ready.  So, I only have a few pics, and none of them do a very good job of capturing the essence.  I hope Kris or someone else has better ones, or perhaps shots of the finished products. 

WOW

Kevin led the WOW zone under the guest house so that he had a relatively cool spot with a certain amount of privacy, where noise from other groups or activity from other groups would not be a distraction.