Enjoy this. This is some interesting things that happened during our kids recent visit to Papua New Guinea. Sorry I'm just now getting it posted on the Blog.
This report written on July 31, 2009
By Scott Nelson
Okay, so I am on vacation so my brain must be too.
We are having a blast though. Yesterday we did something that is quite a bit of fun for the younger ones on the station. We took inner tubes and floated down the river near the station. Okay, on a normal day this would be alright and relatively safe. However, the river was really swollen from the rain all night the night before. That should have been the first clue right? The temperatures have been really cool too. It is their "winter" time here in the southern hemisphere. The water you ask? It was way colder. I mean turn your feet numb…cold. That was the second clue right? Oh yeah, we talked our wives into joining us. Third clue to not do this right? After a safety briefing to Zach (one which was intently listened to by the wives) we get started down the river. Jump right in and your breath is gone for a few seconds! I can't feel the whole bottom half of my body at this point. I look down stream and see Churie and Gloria both flip over at the same spot in the river. Okay, I am not exaggerating this very much, but if you were to classify this river for rafting, it would be near a 2-3 (out of 5) on this particular day after an all night rain event. Another clue not to do this, right? Okay, back to the story. Both of the girls are out of their tubes. Churie is clinging to the rock she is by like a drowned rat. My wife is being helped by the nationals. I am starting out on the tube by sitting in it…oh shoot! My big belly this time around is making it much more difficult to balance myself on the tube. All my energy is spent balancing the tube and I can not navigate it in any direction. Remember this thing is moving us pretty fast down the river? We get the girls back on the tubes and Geoff and I decide to lay down belly first on the tube. Okay much better, at least I can navigate the thing some. However, the girls are not out of trouble yet. Zach you ask? He and the other missionary kid are downstream having a ball! He has no clue the challenge he faces in this type of water. The girls make it past the next couple of sets of rapids then comes the area of the river where we need to get out and walk around a man-made disaster (lots of rusty wires and concrete from a hydro electric project that was destroyed by a flood). You guessed it the girls both get dumped out of their tubes. Churie goes to the complete opposite side of the river and grabs onto reeds. Gloria is tumbling downstream. I stop to help Churie because Geoff has already made it down to get Gloria. By the time we pull them out, they are telling us that they almost died and that their lives flashed before their eyes 2-3 different times coming down the river. Oh and we are hearing about it too by this point! "Why did we let you talk us into this…?" We get to a relatively safe spot to tube (shallow) and the girls would have nothing to do with it. We are walking the rest of the way back at this point. I mean a long way back. Oh, did I also tell you that they brought only flip flops to do this in? Those shoes were gone the first dump (later to be found downstream). We get to another part of the river that is very swift moving but the best and safest way to cross is to get on the tubes again. The girls come unglued! What do you mean?! There has got to be another way of crossing?! Nope, on they go, only this time we go first and get in a line to catch them as they come by. Then we still have a long walk back. Both girls are beat up. Scratches on their legs, Churie has broken a toe at this point. A slow, long walk back to the station it was. BTW, Zach and Josiah jumped out of the river and said, "That was fun! Let's do it again!" Momma shut that one down real quick!
My brain is on vacation too, remember? If that adventure wasn't enough, we get to the airport this afternoon for our return trip to the capital of PNG and then on to Honiara Solomon Islands where Gloria's folks are with our boys and Geoff and Churie's young girls. We've been looking at these itineraries for some time now. We knew we were flying back to the Honiara on Aug 1-2. What didn't sink in was that Aug 1 is this Saturday. We are all packed and trying to check in the flight on Thursday. The guy behind the counter was saying "I don't see your names on the flight." "What do you mean?! We reconfirmed this flight on Monday as we came through the capital!' He says, "your flight is on Aug 1." The color leaves my face and Geoff asks "Well what do you think today is?" Then the realization of what we just did sets in. Oh man! No way. We are two days early. Okay, best plan at this point is to get back to the mission station and wait until Sat. (We have already gone through all the food we bought earlier in the week and spent out money down to bare minimum to exit country.) We were in a Toyota Land Rover though and that is where the next adventure gets started. The original plan was to be in a 4 cylinder van.
Right before we get back to the mission station we learn that the road is closed. What? They put that culvert in now? While all the public transportation is still running? Anyway, we are not getting through there. We can see the mission station but need to get us and the car there and have just learned they will not be reopening the road until 10 p.m. tonight. A couple of the locals walk up to us and tell us that there is a way around all of this! The missionary that has been here the longest and was driving said, "I am not aware of any way around this." But the locals insisted that there was. "We have had 4 cars already go through here! You'll be okay." It ended up being right through the middle of the field! Remember that I mentioned earlier that we had rain the other night? Well, it has rained every night. The first turn they direct us to, is across two 2 x 12 type boards. Now, in America, I would never try this. But the wood they have here is some of the hardest in the world. So this missionary gets out and turns the vehicle over to another driver who has more experience 4 wheeling. That was fine until the middle of the field when we are up to the axles in mud and get the dang thing stuck. This is not a problem in PNG. When that happens 100 guys will run out of the bushes to help push or pull the car through. I have been in this predicament several times when I was here 13 years ago. So the guys all get out and leave the girls in there. We help the nationals push this thing through the field. Only to get to another 2 x 12 type "bridge". We barely make it over this one and get stuck again before coming to a third "bridge". We drive up there in time to see 4-5 guys bailing out of the back end of a truck, the back of the left side disappear in the ditch, and the nose of the truck end up in the air. Great! How are we going to get around this? He even broke that side of the bridge. Well, all the guys I mentioned earlier jumped right in. They unloaded the coffee he was carrying. They then all got to the back of the truck and lifted it up and pulled it with another vehicle and managed to get it out of the ditch. The next job was to then assess the damage to the bridge and "rebuild" it to make sure we could get the next two vehicles by. The third vehicle made it over, then ours, after much more repair to the "bridge". I've got pictures, some things you just have to see to believe. I can't make this up.
God was protecting us. By us being stuck in the middle of the field, we were away from the shooting that was happening at the closed road. We heard the shots but learned later that the police had shot someone because the crowd of people there was getting out of control. They don't shoot too straight.
Anyway, that's life when you choose the mission field as your vacation destination. It has been fun! We appreciate your prayers! Please continue to do so.
Between all of these moments though we are really enjoying the ministry we get to be a part of. The Nationals that knew us before are really glad to see us. It is like a family reunion in many ways. Some of these were the ones to help clean our houses and change our baby's diapers from years back. Geoff has been able to see a couple of the people that helped to raise him along the way. There are others who we have adopted as family and they have felt the same. It has been an excellent time of encouragement to me and I hope to them as well.
Yesterday, after the not-so-bright river adventure, we did get the opportunity to go out to the bush to pick up one of the medical students here that was teaching at a CBHC (community Based Health Care) center. When we got out there, we were surprised by the number of nationals we recognized from our time here before. It was God's way of showing us some of the fruits of our labors then. The relationships we developed and that Gloria's dad developed is just blossoming! There is a pretty neat revival going on right now in PNG. It is good to see! The church of the Nazarene is definitely growing here.
Yesterday, I was sitting and church and amused that cell phones were going off during the service. It just boggles my mind that cell phones are available here! Many things have changed but many have not.
Anyway, I'll let you go for now. I'll try to send some more info in 2-3 days.
Love you all!
Scott Nelson
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