Shirley Falls: Merry Christmas

I celebrated Christmas for the first time in PNG. It was hard for all the missionaries to be away from family during the holidays, but God provided to us strength and encouragement through His mercy and through each other. I had a peace about being here and enjoyed the fellowship. Plus, there were so many activities; there was not time to be sad. I was able to talk to my family on Christmas Day which was very nice.

It was exciting to hear how the missionaries living and working in the bush spent Christmas with their local churches. Some of the churches presented the Christmas story either by readings or by drama. Those leading the effort (missionaries or national believers) depended on the maturity of the church.

The mission's school is located here at Lapilo. Most of missionaries in the surrounding local area send their children here. Some parents home school their children. For the missionary families located in other areas in PNG, most children are home schooled until they are about 14 years old and then they live in the dormitory and attend the school here. One main reason is to prepare them to transition back to their home countries where the culture is much different than where they grew up in the bush. So December here in Lapilo held many activities that one would find back home.

We even had a Christmas bizarre. It was not quite the size of Market in the Meadow in Lake Highlands, but still very nice and much less expensive! People made items and each grade in the middle and high school had a table with merchandise to sell. We even had two violinists playing with a violin case at their feet to put donations that were going to a missionary family here in PNG that lost their home due to an earthquake.

The school’s drama club presented three short plays about Christmas. All three plays were terrific!

McGee's Gift

McGee’s Gift was about a man who turned down an invitation to spend Christmas in Hawaii with his daughter and her rich husband and instead opened his home and his heart to two orphan sisters. He taught a lesson about giving back and sharing to the two ungrateful and greedy girls.

If You’re Missing Baby Jesus took place in the bitterly cold winter of 1943 in North Dakota and was told from a young girl's point of view. Her mother bought a manger scene and discovered there were two Baby Jesus figures in the set. The woman put up a notice at the store that read: "If you're missing Baby Jesus, call 7162." On Christmas Eve, a woman living in an unheated house with her five children called the number in desperation with hopes of finding some good Christians. The narrator's family gave her not only the extra Baby Jesus but also some much-needed help.

The Night Before Christmas put a new twist on the familiar story with sneak peeks behind the scenes. It was so funny. Santa even showed up in his African outfit. I heard that one of our teachers here wrote it!

The kindergartners were the opening act to the school’s musical and then grades 1 through 8 presented A Very Extraordinary Merry Christmas Mission. It was about an angel whose assignment was to show the true meaning of Christmas to a very selfish young girl. Our physician even participated when he tried to cure her of the “I Wants.”

Diary of Anne Frank

Also, there was a 7th grade presentation of one act from The Diary of Anne Frank, a piano and violin recital, and caroling by the dorm kids. We have some very talented children in our school from all over the world – Australia, Canada, Germany, Northern Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Switzerland, and United States. (I hope I didn't leave out anyone’s represented country.)

Besides the school's activities, I had some wonderful "social" engagements this month. The Friesen’s, Stephanie, and I spent one Saturday night at ITF visiting with the Scholl’s. All of us were in the same orientation class in Florida in November 2010. It is absolutely beautiful there and it was great to get outside of the Lapilo fence (of course we were in the ITF fence but the feeling was just not the same)! We had a great time of fellowship and the kids really enjoyed jumping on the Scholl's trampoline.

The Christmas celebration for the medical clinic staff and spouses included dinner in Goroka at Pacific Gardens and then desserts at the Earl’s house where we played games and exchanged White Elephant gifts. I got a hot chocolate mix and two packages of Le Funelle. (Penny, Kim, and Sue – we could have used these on our mission trip to Tampico. Much more discrete than the “loudspeakers” that Penny brought for us!)

Some friends and I made reservations to eat at our guesthouse one night. I felt like I was in a restaurant back home. The meal was delicious, I exchanged Christmas gifts with my friends, and we even tipped the server who is a student saving money for her senior trip. (Tipping is not customary in PNG.) The best part was that Stephanie arranged for us to have a “limo” (golf cart) ride to the guesthouse. Our driver arrived in his tuxedo!

I spent Christmas Eve with Stephanie and the Friesen’s. We attended a wonderful Christmas Eve service, ate a great meal, and assembled a 1000 piece puzzle! Christmas Day was spent with the Friesen’s and the Nelson’s (who are from Australia). Australians have a cold meal since it is their summer in December. So we had a cold meal which was nice since it is summer here as well. We spent the day playing games and then had the left-over food for dinner. All-in-all, two very nice days!

Boxing Day was spent at Carmen’s watching Christmas movies. Boxing Day is the day after Christmas and is a public holiday. Historically, it was when the upper class would give gifts to the lower class and the gifts were placed in boxes for ease of carrying. Hence, the name Boxing Day.

I participated in the First Lapilo Cooking Challenge and Texans will be proud to know that I won in the main dish contest with King Ranch Casserole.

The Shortmeier's, our field administrator and his wife, left PNG in December after being here for 26 years. They raised their children here and both children are now living in the USA. They will be going to work at the US NTM headquarters in Sandford, FL. It was such a bittersweet goodbye to and from them.

Now, are you wondering if any work was done during December? Well, yes. One patient, Tena (pronounced Tana, translated Tanner), came to us with a fever. The right side of his face and his left leg were very hot and swollen. Tena had been to the local hospital but was getting worse. His sedimentation rate, white blood cell count, and platelet count were very high. An x-ray showed osteomyelitis of the tibia. Tena saw our nurses twice a day for IV antibiotics and our physical therapist gave exercises to his parents to do with him. At first his parents were bringing him in a wheelbarrow but NTM was able to provide housing at the center while he was being daily treated. By late December, Tena was smiling and hobbling around. Please pray that Tena’s bone infection will completely heal.

The clinic received several pieces of new equipment that we purchased thanks to gracious contributions. Our radiology technologist was able to set up our new digital x-ray reader before returning to the States for six months. This equipment provides many advantages and opportunities and the physician and nurses are having fun magnifying digital images. We also were able to purchase a new cardiac monitor, ophthalmoscope, pulmonary function test equipment, audiometry equipment, and a cast saw.

“When we look back and wonder how we ever made it this far, we realize it is not because we have been clever, but because God has been wise; not because we have been strong, but because God has been mighty; not because we have been consistent, but because God has been faithful.” - Roy Lessin

More photographs from December: