Travel Update #9b: Saturday, Aug 14

Thomas was finally able to send me their update from last Saturday. This is a few days old and now out of order, but here you go:

As I type this update I am being sarenaded by a symphony of thousands of rain drops dancing on the metal roof over my head! This is an unusual sound because this area of PNG has not seen rain at all in the last 2 months. The rain barrels which supply the water for the missionaries have been critically low, limiting every use of water. From showers to dishes to toilets...everything has been on highest restrictions.

This rain came very quickly about 2 hours ago. I was on the airstrip grading away when I saw a lightning bolt. A few drops of rain hit the muffler stack and instantly turned to steam and blew away in the wind. As more drops fell the dry dirt turned to a thick mud and began to adhere itself to every part of the tractor. My tracks began to spin, preventing me from getting a good grip on the land. The blade would retain half of it's load after I pushed a pile across the field. I continued to press on, enjoying the wetness of the rain on my skin, knowing what an answer to prayer it was. I started to sing very loudly while making a bigger and bigger mess of the area that I was working in.

 It was then that I noticed Jon standing on the hill in his Super Cool Yellow Rain Suit. Now a note about this rain suit: It's DRY season. Who wastes space in a suitcase with a full rain suit when you are going to an area that is experiencing a drought? Well... Jon does, apparently! There he was, standing on the hill in his Super Cool Yellow Rain Suit, with an umbrella! Now a note about the umbrella...IT WAS LIGHTNING! Who stands in the rain in a Super Cool Yellow Rain Suit with an umbrella in *lightning*? Well...Jon does, apparently! I watched as he made his way down to my mud hole and I wondered what he thought he was going to accomplish in the thick mud.

 Well like a good brother he wanted to make sure that I was ok. We decided after a few more lightning strikes that perhaps I was the biggest idiot of all. You see, unlike a car driving through a lightning storm, a bulldozer has no rubber insulating it from the ground. Which means I was driving the biggest lightning rod in the area! Now Jon's umbrella and rain suit paled in comparison to my wonderful display of brilliance!

It was at this point that we decided to head back up to the house. So Jon jummped on the dozer and stood next to me (yes we know you aren't supposed to do that...but hey it's PNG...no OSHA!) 

Now 3 things to keep in mind; 

1) It had been raining for about 45 minutes and

 2) the drive up to the house is about a 45 degree slope. 

 3) remember how I said the mud was sticking to my tracks and making it difficult to get a grip? I'm sure you can guess what happened! We did make it up to the house, but made quite a mess in the process. 

Well one good thing that may come of this rain - besides the water in the rain barrels - may be putting out some of the random fires that the nationals start on the side of the hills. 

The other day we were standing on the end of the airstrip working on fence posts when one of the national men walked up with a smoldering stick. He walked over to a pile of dry brush - now keep in mind that we're in a dry season - he stuck the smoldering stick into it, quickly starting a small fire. Well you know what happens to a fire in dry season. The fire quickly became a roaring brush fire on the side of the mountain! Jon and I were shocked and made some comment to that effect. Everyone else, including the missionaries, simply ignored the fire and went about working on the fence. We're like..."hey there's a big huge fire...like right there...don't you see it? AHH!" They all kept working. We couldn't believe it. Eventually the fire died out. We were told that this is a regular occurance as the nationals are trying to burn off the old vegitation to make way for good crops in the coming rainy season. Sinse that time I have seen the same thing happen 4 other times!  Apparently they are pretty confortable with the idea of having roaring fires right next to their grass and wood huts... I'm just not too sure about this!

We did get much accomplished on the airstrip today before the rain came. Still more dirt to move,

 but little by little, inch by inch, the landscape of the airstrip is slowly changing.

We still covet your prayers,

Jon and Thomas

Travel Update #11 - Making Progress - going to Aibai?? :)

MONDAY AUGUST 16  - Well a new week of work has begun! Not too much exciting happened today with me. I simply climbed on the dozer around 7am and worked until 6:30pm. I got a good bit of dirt moved today but still more to do tomorrow. The upper part of the airstrip is finally starting to take shape! No longer just a bunch of dirt piles and steep walls. We have moved most of the piles, leveled off most of the area where dirt has been pushed for the last 2 months (this area had to go down more than 15 feet), and began leveling the runway side to side. One side had to go down about 3 feet and the other side had to go up about 3 feet. All of this leveling has to be done while keeping the 12% slope intact. It's a lot of fun. After about 2 hours on the dozer the front blade becomes like an extension of my hand - I feel like I can literally make it do anything I want it to do. Yeah...it's fun work!

Well, while I did the fun work Jon went off to collect lumber for the remaining fence posts. Let me explain something: when you need wood to make something out here in the bush, you can't simply run over to the local Home Depot and grab what you need and start building. No, first you must find a tree. Here in PNG ownership is quite interesting. On a given peice of land ONE person can own the building, a SECOND person can own the land and a THIRD person might own the trees on the land. So not only do you have to find a nice tall, solid, straight tree, you also have to find the correct owner and figure out his price. Once you settle on a price the tree will be marked and you can go cut it down.

 Now the tree that was chosen for destruction today was at the top of a hill running along the bush road. Randy climed up the hill with the "man-of-a-chainsaw' and proceeded to decapitate the tree from it's root system. When the tree fell it slid down the hill right toward the road, being de-barked and de-limbed all the way down. Once the tree came to rest the real work began. Jon had to climb the side of this mountain, with said chainsaw, and cut the main trunk into 8' sections. Once a section was cut it had to be rolled to one side and slid down the mountain to the river below where it would await its final doom at the hand of the saw mill. The wood was very hard and the grade very steep, but Jon survived! I could only wonder...was it the supper cool yellow rain suit that made a difference for him?

Thomas

Jonathan hasn't emailed full updates, but he did talk with Crystal and shared some of his experiences: "He was observing how much the native kids loved his ipod and "cool-dude" headphones. He allowed several of them to put it on and their eyes just widened in joy and amazement!  They may never be able to hear the triumphant strains of a full orchestra or the rhythmic beat of a marching band again...sounds that we simply take for granted. He talked to me while looking over the side of the mountain some several thousand feet down, he is loving being in that incredibly beautiful part of God's creation :), if we were not back here in the states, he might never return to the boring old USA:) Jonathan didn't talk a lot about the airstrip, just said that he is losing weight as he is digging post holes and milling lumber, and loving every minute!"

Note from Katie: Thomas mentioned in a brief separate email that they might be able to move the equipment on Thursday to start work on the runway in Aibai (where they originally planned to go!), if the work on the Kiari strip continues in the next day or two so well! This would be a huge praise to the Lord. I know Jon and Thomas are enjoying their time with the Smiths et al, and are excited to be working in Kiari, but they really desired to get to Aibai if at all possible and do some work for our good friends, the Berbins. 

IF they're able to move on to the Aibai Airstrip, they will have to drive "the elephant" bulldozer down the hazardous bush roads to the village of Aibai - a good 10 hour drive by bulldozer. Please be praying for good weather, great progress on the airstrips, and safety as the guys work and move equipment. thanks!

Travel Update #10: Four Thousand Words from the fat Americans

 Thomas managed to upload 4 pictures and send them through Catherine McQuaid's cellphone, since sending a photo by satellite email probably literally costs as much as sending a thousand words. Here they are!

(Click for bigger photos. Note the stickers on the side of the bulldozer. There's one big square one under Jon's elbow, and a long one along the top of the nose of the tractor. :)   You can also see the cool-dude headphones the guys got for the trip: noise cancelling so they can listen to 

Pastor Minnick's Romans series sermons.

 Now tell me - two very close brothers go to the other side of the world to a beautiful tropical land, leaving the nagging ("take a shower!") women behind, where they can play in the dirt all day with a big tractor and wear cool-dude headphones to listen to sermons

 - now tell me they're not having the time of their lives.)

I also received an email update about their Sunday. I think there's an update missing: Thomas told me via phone call that the Saturday update should bring a few laughs, but I haven't seen it yet. I'll see if he can send it again. Meanwhile, here's Sunday:

Well today was a nice slow day. We arose and enjoyed a breakfast with the Smith family of baked oatmeal. Then we headed down to church which is about a 20-30 minute walk. Church was a great experience! I enjoyed singing in the Pigeon tongue. What really threw Jon and I for a loop was that Randy preached this morning in Pigeon, a language I barely understand, and he had a translator giving his sermon in"talk place" which is the local tribal language...boy were we confused!

We had our lunch at church and waited for the afternoon service. After the service Jon and I and 5 of the young men from Kiari (Suo, Rocky, Phillip, Bandi, Thomas) decided to attempt to climb to the top of a mountain behind the Smith's house. One problem...ok maybe more than one...the elevation change from church to the Smith's house is probably about 500 feet (not to mention the additional hike to the top of the mountain), and takes about 20-30 minutes to traverse. Well our wonderful national guide deicided it would be better if we ran! Ha! Do you know what it feels like to be out of shape, in high elevation and running after a national who doesn't have shoes on? Yikes...it was painful! I made it to the Smith's house in record time, breathing very heavily! Our 5 friends weren't even sweating or panting!

 Well, I bailed at the house, but Jon decided to continue the rest of the way with the guys. About 5 minutes later I heard Jonathan shouting from the school yard. He wanted me to climb the last 75 feet and join him. So I gathered my remaining strength and water and climbed up the hill. I found Jon sitting at the top absolutely wiped. He couldn't go any further either! So we sat there and enjoyed the nice view from the school yard overlooking Kiari. Like a couple of sad, out-of-shape Americans, we never made it to the higher ridge! We plan on trying again on Monday...we'll see.

After all of that craziness we came back the house and enjoyed a relaxing snack time with the Smiths and Jeff. We had popcorn, banana cake, pb&j and Coke! We also enjoyed a bunch of photos showing the work on the airstrip up to this point. We were completely amazed! Our work here is just a drop in the bucket compared to all of the countless thousands of hours that have been poured into this airstrip. We are truly blessed to be a part of something so big. We plan on attacking more of the project tomorrow.

Jon and Thomas

(note from Katie: Hey, Crystal, now that we know they can run the distance between the Smith's house and the church, we should be getting phone calls more often, hey?) ;)

Travel Update #9 - can you hear me? can you hear me?

Since Thomas told me the only place they can get reception for the cell phone is down near the church in Kiari, I've been hoping that perhaps the guys could call before or after their Sunday services. Sure enough! A little while ago I FINALLY got to talk with Thomas, after a full week!
However - apparently they were in a big cloud on the mountaintop, and the call was breaking up very badly. I could hear him enough to learn that they got alot accomplished on Saturday, and enjoyed some nice rain Saturday evening and a great night's sleep. It's a beautiful Sunday morning and they're preparing for Sunday School, then a break, then Morning Service and a service in the afternoon.
The call was so bad that we were wasting expensive cell minutes exchanging "can you hear me?" so we gave up - he'll try to call again later if the clouds clear.

They have an email typed up to send out -  maybe even with pictures! - but the satellite service is down and they can't connect to the internet currently. I'll post it once it comes through...

Info for the curious

No news, but here are a few links to more information for those of you who are curious,
and some prayer requests. Please sign the guestbook, linked to the right!

Weather forecast for Kiari, Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea

Who is Jeff Owens?  

(also: Jeff's Website)

Who are the Smiths?

History of and more information on the GFA Missionaries in Papua New Guinea

Demographic information on Papua New Guinea

Prayer requests: 
note the weather forecast calls for some rain in Kiari over the next few days. I'm sure the rain will slow work on the airstrip - I can't imagine what it'd be like to "drive an elephant" bulldozer in the mud.
Pray that the Lord would give good weather for the work to continue full speed ahead. 

Also: as we near our US Saturday evening, it will be dawning Sunday morning for the tired workers in PNG. Pray for a good refreshing Lord's day and good day of rest, that their bodies will be renewed with energy for another 6 days of labor.

Travel Update #8: preventing squashed pigs in the sweltering heat

FRIDAY, AUGUST 13: Well, today got a little hot! I think we got all the way up to 79. I sure hope tomorrow isn't that bad...sure can't get much accomplished in that kind of heat!

I say all of this of course in jest because I know that many of you who are reading this wish it would just get down to 79 overnight! The weather has been tremendous here in Kiari. Some clouds and some sun provide nice working temperatures throughout the entire day.

Today Jon and I got up nice and early with the intent of accomplishing a lot!

I began work on the dozer around 6:45am. There is still a good bit of dirt to move on one section of the airstrip. This is a time consuming process as the only way to move the dirt is by pushing it one blade-full at a time. But I'm not really complaining since I got through 5 sermons in Romans before lunch! It is a lot of fun to be halfway around the world pushing dirt with a bulldozer and listening to Pastor Minnick exposite the Word of God.

While I worked on the dozer Jon continuted to dig holes for the fence that is surrounding the airstrip. This fence is being put in to keep pigs and goats off of the runway. As Randy said, "a 1000 meter fence is a lot less expensive than a plane hitting a pig." 

After lunch we shot grade (used a transit to determine the slope and level) on the airstrip and discovered that we had a lot more dirt to move than originally thought. So Jon took over the dozer work and I headed over to continue digging more fence post holes. I used a post hole digger along side of a national man who had another post hole digger. I remember now why I was supposed to bring work gloves. All of the nationals helping with the fence roared with laughter when I yelped at the pain of a popping blister. For some reason they get great delight in seeing me suffer! Well admittedly it may not be from my suffering but from trying to be all manly "white man can do it with out gloves"! I won't be doing that again! 

Yesterday one of the younger men was commenting on my funny looking skin. It took me a while to figure out what he was talking about, but eventually I understood and explained to him that what I had was a curse of the white man. When a white man goes to a tropical region and stays out in the sun all day he changes from white to red to brown. He thought that was quite humorous!

Well the sun has been down for 3 hours now. After a nice dinner of potato soup and bread, with oatmeal and raisin cookies for desert, my lack of energy has caught up with me. I think I'll call it a day.

Thanks for all of your prayers

Thomas and Jon

Travel Update #7: Busy days

Wow - I'm feeling spoiled! I think Thomas has emailed an update to me two days in a row! Word from the bush will be sparse, since satellite internet service really costs the missionaries by time/data size. :(  Thomas also told me that he wants to call, but "calling from Kiari is very difficult. Can only call down by the church...a 30 minute walk. I have been so busy that I can't get down there. I will try though." Addelyn and I are back from our camping adventure, so when Daddy calls we can try to answer the phone this time - and we'll have reception, for sure. I haven't talked to Thomas since last Saturday, and it's starting to feel like a really, really long time! :(

THURSDAY AUGUST 12, 2010 - Today began bright and early for Jon and I. We got up around 5:30am, did devotions, dressed and enjoyed a nice breakfast of eggs and fried potatoes prepared by our wife-less host, Randy Smith (Elana returns Friday from a ladies retreat in Kilau). Following breakfast we prepared the dozer for a long day of work. We checked all the fluids, greased all of the joints, filled it with diesel fuel and checked the track tension. Once this was done Jon began a long day of grading on the airstrip. He was able to accomplish a great deal. Tomorrow we should be able to shoot grade points and be sure that the airstrip is at a nice 12% slope.

 While Jon was grading I left with Jeff and a few men from church and headed off to another village about 35 minutes away where we began setting up the saw mill. Setting up the saw mill took nearly 2 hours. It required a lot of leveling and squaring to get all of the parts to line up so they would not bind while in use. We milled 5 logs today each about  9 feet long and 2 feet in diameter. The wood we were milling was very hard, and very heavy. The milling took till after dark. We finally headed back to Kiari by 7. when Jeff and I were pulling into the compound, we noticed that Jon had just come up from the aristrip with the tractor. Both of us having put in a long day, are exhausted and ready for bed. Lord willing we will accomplish more on Friday.

Thanks for all of your prayers,

Jon and Thomas