I woke up Sunday morning to another earthquake. The epicenter for this one was in Lae which is 135 miles from here. The magnitude was 6.9 at the epicenter. It did not do any damage here but one village in which NTM works was damaged.
The house of the missionaries, who were not in the tribe at the time, was knocked off its posts and moved forward about five feet. Their garage was about ten feet down the hill from where it stood. The land buckled as much as three feet and the road was impassable. Many of the local villagers lost their homes and their gardens. With the earthquake and the tremendous amount of rain we have had, the gardens slid downhill. Thankfully no one was hurt or killed. The missionaries asked for prayers in their decision of whether or not to return earlier than planned to PNG.
Thursday around noon we got a call on the two-way radio from a missionary in the bush that a local woman had drank two cups of medicine from poison rope. She is one of two wives and she had been arguing with the other wife that day. The missionary tried unsuccessfully to get her to drink charcoal and she passed away about an hour later. This is a common method of committing suicide in PNG. The missionaries were just about to start their teachings in this village.
There was another earthquake early Friday morning. The epicenter was 30 miles east of Lae and had a magnitude of 5.2. I had planned a trip to Ukarumpa with our radiology technologist, April, and her husband, Dave, to pick up some supplies from the SIL (Wycliffe) hangar. We heard there were some landslides and they were not letting semi-trucks on the road, but we were unsure about cars. So, we left in the van about 12:30 pm for what was supposed to be about a 1½ hour drive. There were three places where the road had washed out. The traffic was backed up with lots of people blocking the road at each place. The men had their bush knives and they told us they had cleared the road so they wanted us to pay before they would let us go forward. They wanted as much as K50 (about $20 US) at each “toll booth” but the most we had to pay was K15 at one of the stops. Dave was able to negotiate the price down. All total, we paid K45 (about $17 US) on the way to and from Ukarumpa.
We were able to pick up the cargo and also visit the SIL compound. It is much larger than the NTM center here at Lapilo. We went to their store which was wonderful. I even found sweet pickles and my favorite brand of ketchup, Del Monte. These are among the things I have not been able to find here or in Goroka. I picked up quite a bit of groceries that should last awhile.
Saturday night was skate night. This is a quarterly social event here at Lapilo that is orchestrated by the junior class as a fund raiser and different missions in addition to NTM attend. The theme was movies and some people dressed up as their favorite character. There was a costume judging contest and several acts of lip syncing to songs from famous movies. They had a food bar where you could purchase dinner as well. I went to Gail’s house afterwards to watch DVDs with Carmen, Emily, and Gail. My other night out this week was to Julie and Jahn’s to watch a movie.
I received a big package from home this week. The Lapilo administrator saw me picking it up at the mail boxes and told me I should have a bigger smile when receiving a package that large! Everyone gets excited when packages arrive. It was some of the clothes I had left behind and my pillows. Now I really feel like I am in heaven with a double bed and my own pillows!
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12: 7-11
Shirley Falls - Connecting You to Tribal Missions in Papua New Guinea
