Today is our 5th full day here and it already seems as if we’ve been here weeks.  Sleep has steadily improved through the week as our bodies are adjusting to a whole new world.  We’ve entered a beautiful new world and are learning to make it home.  All around us are new things, foods, bugs, people, and language.  Every day we get to experience more of our new world and fall in love with it more.

We have been given a beautiful three bedroom house in a small community with other missionaries and Papua New Guineans.  We have running water (that we can’t drink), electricity, an upright fridge/freezer, a propane stove and oven, a washing machine, and a gorgeous view.  Our community is surrounded by hills and mountains covered in lush green vegetation.  Up a small hill from our home is a play area with a sandbox, cement slab that will soon be a basketball court, swing, slide, and to complete it, a trampoline.  Our kids have spent most of this week on the trampoline.

One of the biggest adjustments, so far, has been getting used to the water system.  As I mentioned, we can’t drink the water from the faucets.  On our kitchen counter is two large water jugs stacked one on the other.  A water filtration system has been fixed between them and as we pour faucet water into the top jug it drips purified water into the lower one.  This we can drink.  We’ve had a few close calls with our boys wanting to stick their toothbrushes under the bathroom faucet, and we have to make sure our girls don’t drink the bath water.

This week has been a fairly relaxing week as the leadership wisely doesn’t overwhelm new missionaries with many things to do.  There has been about one thing on our schedule each day.  One day we went in to town and were shown the different places to do our food and other shopping.  Another day was completely free except for a meeting about how finances are handled here.  And, on top of the light schedule, the different families here each hosted us for a meal our first four days.  Our leadership knows we’re eager to learn the language, and they’re eager for us to learn it too, but they want us to get our feet on the ground before throwing us into the fire.  We feel as though we are just about there, which is good, as next week brings the official start to our language learning.

I’ve uploaded a bunch new photos into 2 new galleries under the Photos page.  There’s many pictures of our home and the surrounding area, and also pictures of the bugs and other creatures we’re finding here.  As we discover new animals we’ll take pictures and post them for your viewing pleasure.

lookim yu (goodbye)