Ebel's Blogmail

Hi again everyone, we trust this finds you well.

We don’t have nearly the stories we had last time, but give us a month or two!! The past few weeks have brought many different things in our path. First of all, Rich is back at work again. It was a bit of an adjustment as we have had him with us at home for 5 months. So we were a bit sad to see him go, but it was time for things to begin so to speak.

He began in his first week, with studying. He studied and did some orientation things around the hanger. Monday a week after he began he was off to Port Moresby the PNG’s capital to write his Air Law exam so he can fly in the country. While in Port Moresby, he was told, that Port Moresby was ranked one of the worlds most dangerous cities!! He managed fine, without trouble and passed his exam! Thank you Lord!. He was even able to find me some chocolate chips, something that you can’t find here in Mt. Hagen. So that was a treat, I didn’t think I would get excited over groceries!! He brought a few things for the kids too. They were just excited to have him home again.

As of yesterday he is legal to fly here. So this morning he was going flying with one of the check pilots, this is phase one and it is just to get familiar with the airplane and flying in PNG. For now he is flying the Cessna Turbo 206, then in a couple of weeks he will get some training on the Airvan (phase two). That is the plane he will fly from Kawito.

Speaking of Kawito, we have been told they are planning on sending us down around the 20^th of March. Our drums have arrived in country so we are glad about that. We are sort of hoping we get them through Customs in time for us to get to Kawito, if they come too soon, we may be tempted to open them! We have heard they are working on our house to get it ready for us, like some painting, etc. So we are glad they are looking after some things like that for us.

The kids are back into a full routine with school work, and it seems to be working well. They are doing very good, and we are moving ahead, I think there is a chance we will be done either before June or just on time. So that is good considering the year we have had.

For those of you wondering about my toe, it is doing great. I am amazed how it has healed up and pretty much back to normal. It looks a bit funny, but I am able to walk and pretty much function as normal. So I am thankful for that, certainly didn’t think it would be the same again!!

Well, that’s about all for us here in Papua New Guinea. Feel free to write us anytime we love to get mail. The kids are beginning to have more interest in who is writing us an email, and they are beginning to write their own,

Talk to you all again soon,

Rich, Sue, Josh and Morgan Ebel

# posted by Ebel's Blogmail @ 2:55 PM 0 comments

Hi there, we are now back at Mt. Hagen, but not before our share of adventure. We had a great week at Mt. Bosavi. Everyone has their own story to tell about it and what they experienced. I think for the kids the main thing was playing soccer with the other national kids. It was awesome to watch them play, sometimes it would be Josh or other times just Morgan or both, they just went and played. No one was shy they had a great time. We did manage to do a bit of school work, I brought along a few subjects so we did that in the morning, and we did the rest of stuff later. Usually our days began with starting up the generator, doing the laundry, filling up the water tank, turning off the generator and continuing on with the day. We had access to a nice little river so that was our treat at the end of the day, a nice little swim, it was great.

We were able to attend the village church. That was an experience for sure. The building was a thatched roof bamboo floored hut. It was very neat. The stairs leading up to the church were a bit scary but I managed to do it, but not without entertaining the people watching me. Rich managed to get a picture of my descent. I had a lady holding me at the top and one at the bottom, what a sight. The actual service was in their local language, so we didn’t get a lot of it, but some was in pidgin also. Rich was asked to pray at the end, and I prayed at the beginning. Rich also said a few words during the service. The men sit on one side and the women on the other.

After church we went to Gibson’s house, he is the MAF agent in town, and a national. That was an eye opener for sure. We had lots of culture shock seeing that. It was a huge long house, much like the church, with beds on both sides, and a walk way down the middle. Men sleep on one side while the women and children sleep on the other. Every few feet there was a fire pit so they could do their cooking. It was quite something to see, not many pillows or sheets, blankets. Very simple!

We did hear of many creatures around, after all we were in the jungle, but we didn’t see any! I was very thankful to be spared that. Our very first day there, our host, Debi, saw Morgan’s snake book. She was excited as she went through the book showing us which snakes were around, which were poisonous and which they ate. She went through the whole book, telling which snake was good meat and which was too tough, in case I needed to know for a future time! Then I said, the snakes are out in the bush right? She said no they are here, and they are all very poisonous!!!! So that was how we began our week. I was trying not to laugh, as when our friends gave us the snake book, the intention of it was for us to know about what snakes we may encounter. So it was funny to have the good eating ones pointed out.

We had lots of fun with our host family (an SIL translation worker) and the pastor’s family. They encouraged our speaking in pidgin; they were very good and patient. The people were so gracious and generous allowing us to ask many questions about their lives and culture. Before we left they both gave us two large bilums, their string bags. They use it to load all the vegetables from their gardens. They are beautiful bags, all made from natural materials directly from the bush. It takes about one month to make it. They have to get the leaf from the bush, strip it and dry it. It is a lot of work, but beautiful colours. Josh was also given a bilum, it is a small one it fits so great over his shoulder. The men here all carry them, so he fits right in. He loves it!

If you thought we had an exciting week, filled with critters, snakes and lizards. Well, the fun is just beginning. Thursday we started the day in the usual way, generator on, laundry done etc. Then around lunch time, we had a plane arrive with a special delivery, a cake from one of the MAF wives, she knew it was my birthday and her husband (pilot) flew in to drop it off for us, complete with balloons, and party favours. It was a great treat, I think more than that it was neat to be remembered while we were way out in the bush.

Then our hosts and the pastor at Mt. Bosavi, said, let’s go for a walk to the water falls this trip had been talked about all week so we were ready to go. They warned us before leaving that we had lots of mud to go through. So sure enough there was lots of mud and within the first ¼ of the hike I slipped in a mud patch, diagonally, and stubbed my toe on a stump or rock, it was bleeding, and hurt, but it seemed like I could continue, as they did say that it wasn’t too far. Those were famous last words!! There was a lot more mud patches and lots of branches on the “trail”, and of course we were battling with leeches, and my skirt!!!! I did slip a few more times and in doing so I managed to lift my nail, on my big toe straight up 90 degrees. By now I was in a lot of pain. We made it above the waterfall, it was down one last slope, I decided that I couldn’t do it, so I waited at the top while they all went down for a bit of a swim. Rich had to pull me up of a hill; I had slipped down, lost my footing just before reaching the waterfall, so that is partially why I decided not to go down. When Rich came back up he said, it was good I didn’t go down, I wouldn’t have made it back up.

So now we began our trek back to the house, I was glad, and I think Morgan was ready also. She saw that I was in a bit of pain, so that played on her a bit. The way back was faster, I think I was running on adrenaline by this point. There was a lot of mud yet to venture through. Rich was with me and helped me through all of it, he was awesome. At one point, I really didn’t think I would make it, it was that painful. Then just when I thought that I was in way to much pain to continue I looked down and there was a nice fat leech right on my toenail, or at least where the toenail had been. I have to admit that is when I lost it. Rich pulled it off, along with a few others on my feet.

I think everyone had a leech or two. We were all muddy and tired, the kids went down to the creek and rinsed off and Rich tried to clean my foot. I wouldn’t let him get to close to it. The nail was almost standing straight up at this point. So then we decided that it was time to call the MAF plane to come get us or me a day early so I could get to a doctor. There was no way I would be able to make it through the night, and of course it was so dirty, that infection would be an issue.

So about one hour later, an MAF plane arrived for my medivac. There is a nurses training hospital in a village called Rumginae, the pilot that came, took me there and I stayed there for the night at his house. It worked out well, and MAF was certainly organized and worked it all out. It was quite an experience to be on the receiving end of MAF in a very direct way. It was a good experience all around, I was looking for the different things that God was teaching me through this. I truly do believe there was something, because the walk could have been a lot worse, my feet were slipping so badly in my shoes that they often slipped sideways. I could have easily sprained an ankle or worse. I am thankful it was the toe, I have bruising on the top of my foot and ankle, but I will take that over something broken!! Manfred (my pilot) had many stops to make on the way to the hospital, drops and pickups; it was so good to see all of this. These strips that we were at were some of the ones Rich will be flying into. It was awesome to see first hand how and why MAF does what they do. I saw very clearly that this is where we are meant to be. I could easily picture Richard at each of these places, doing that very thing. It isn’t easy work, lots of loading, lots of heat, lots of different smells, but they do it with a smile. The PNG people are so thankful, and happy to have the plane come. It is quite an experience. I am so thankful for seeing that and getting to experience the work of MAF first hand.

So the fun doesn’t stop there, I was greeted by Manfred’s wife, Karen, at Rumginae. One of the health workers walked me to the hospital; I had no shoe on the bad foot, walking on gravel, so I was a bit slow. The Rumginae “ambulance” came and picked me up and took me to the hospital, I was very thankful for that ride. He drives the patients to the hospital in the main town, and I guess he was dubbed the ambulance driver. Karen came and said, would you like me to come with you; I didn’t hesitate in saying YES! So she did come and kept me company. Actually it was more than that, she was my support, and someone to squeeze! I think she must have my finger prints imbedded on her arm! The two national workers came and looked at it, and they decided that it had to come out. They went and got a big steel blade to cut it, I of course said “I don’t think so!!” They gave me a local anesthetic around the nail, which hurt!!!!!!!!.................... Then they decided to wait for it to take effect, but were touching it every once and awhile to see if it was numb yet. Then the doctor from New Zealand came, she was about my age, and so good. She decided that it didn’t need to come out, so she gave me 3 needles at the base of my toe and froze the whole thing then she cleaned it removed about 80% of the nail and pushed the rest back in & down. It was 8:30 by this time; I left Rich and the kids at 4:30! They gave me pain medicine and antibiotics. So that is what I will be on for a while. Rich will change the bandage today (if I let him touch it); it will be the first time since, so hopefully it isn’t too painful.

Rich is very good at looking after me and all the things I can’t do. He makes sure I am sitting with my foot up.

I ended up flying back to Mt. Bosavi and met up with my family and we flew into Mt. Hagen. So that worked out very well, I suppose you could say I had a night away!!!

I just had a visit from one of the MAF guys, he was saying he was glad that I still had my toe, he said when the call came through no one knew what happened, if I lost my toe or foot or what. The radio wasn’t coming in very clearly obviously.

When we came back home, it was my birthday, it was amazing to have lots of visitors and cards and cake come throughout the afternoon. Our neighbor Allison, had lunch ready for us, and supper. Rich took me out for dinner and the kids went to a friend’s house. I felt very loved. It was a great day despite the toe incident.

Part of the reason for going bush was to see life from the other side and we did truly do that. MT Bosavi has only really been reached by missionaries in our own lifetimes. The name of their language means “True Man” called that because up until the last generation they thought they were it in the world. To cross the ridge on the horizon would mean falling off the edge of the world. Without MAF serving Mt Bosavi and the hundreds of other places like that they would be cut off from the world. No MAF flights mean no school, no health clinics, no support for the pastors and no tradestore goods. We were really touched by these people who were so generous to us and who led such simple lives, to them salt and soap are luxuries!

Thanks again for your emails and prayers!

# posted by Ebel's Blogmail @ 4:18 AM 0 comments

Greetings from Papua New Guinea

I hope this email finds you all very well! Here it is the end of January and the last day of our Tok Pisin language course. The course has gone very well and we are learning to understand and speak Tok Pisin. The challenge comes Friday when we go out to a village and spend a week there trying to speak Pisin only. (This village is only accessible by mission airplane unless you want to walk days to get in/out) Learning the language will help us build relationships with Papua New Guineans who don’t speak English. And if you must learn a language Tok Pisin is a whole lot easier then English.

I would love to say we have been all well since our last update, but true to living in a place like PNG, catching something not very pleasant is likely. So I, Richard spent a couple days “experiencing” giardia, a little fellow that causes painful stomach aches. Once it was diagnosed by one of the other missionary wives the medicine went straight to work and a day later I was mostly back to normal. Josh has also spent a day under the weather, we think it was giardia as well but were quick to get him on meds to avoid the worse. Needless to say we make a greater effort to ensure cleaner hands!

One bonus to living in the Highlands of PNG and especially in MT Hagen is the farmers market. It truly is an experience the freshness and variety is huge, avocadoes to zucchini. We can get all sorts of common and not so common fruits and veggies all very cheap (to us). A big change for us when in Arnhem Land before we never had fresh fruit and veggies.

For example

Cauliflower 1 kina or 40 cents CND

Large bunch of Bananas 1 kina or 40 cents CND

Pineapple 1 kina

In the picture attached you can see pineapple, cucumbers, oranges, papaya, sugar fruit, carrots and bananas. (The other picture is out the back of our house over looking a gully)

Everyone is crunched into a small area trying to sell you their cucumbers while there are at least 20 other cucumber sellers trying to do the same. For those familiar with the Market in Hagen you will notice from the picture that it has moved. This is just temporary while a new very improved market is built in its place. Josh and Richard do most of the market shopping and Josh never leaves the market without buying some sugar cane. The sellers are very friendly and generous it is unusual not to come away with more then we paid for.

As I mentioned before this next week is bush orientation and following that week Richard will start operational orientation (flying). That will take us into March when we will move to Kawito.

Thanks again for your prayers! We could not be here without them.

# posted by Ebel's Blogmail @ 4:17 AM 0 comments

Greetings from PNG!

Crunch, crunch, crunch… this was the sound I awoke to the other night. In Canada the sound of footsteps outside your window would be, to say the least, a bit unsettling but here in PNG it means (or it should mean) that the night watchman is still awake and doing his job.

We have arrived safe and sound in Mt Hagen a small city (about 40,000 people) in the Western Highlands province. This is where MAF-PNG has its offices and main operations base. The missionary staff are scattered about town on 6 different compounds. And we live on a compound with three other expat families and four national families. For those familiar with MAF PNG we are living in the Nicholson’s house while they are away.

There are lots of kids and Josh & Morgan have made good friends already, making it hard for them to concentrate on their homeschooling. They have settled in well and feel right at home already. We were warmly welcomed by the folks here and they have worked hard to make us feel at home. So far we have only had to make one meal!

Our first few days have been spent getting established in the community and our home. We had drivers’ licenses to get (actually the computers had been stolen so all they could give us was receipts) and then driver orientation, we drive on the left hand side here. There was shopping to do and accounts to open. The shopping is reasonable here and we will be able to get whatever we need, maybe not what we want or crave but at least all we need. MT Hagen boasts the largest farmers market in PNG loaded with fresh fruit and veggies all at very low prices. The market is at a temporary location that proves to be very muddy when it rains which is every day.

The plan for us right now is to start language study tomorrow which runs full on for two weeks after which we will have a working knowledge of Tok Pisin. Following the language school we will head to a remote village served by MAF for 10 days to practice our Tok Pisin, learn more of the culture, and to be on the receiving end of what MAF does here. This will take us in to early Feb, when Richard will start his flight & operations orientation which will last about a month, when we will move out to Kawito in the Western Province where we will be based.

We sure have appreciated your prayers as we have prepared for service here in PNG! We could not have done it with out your help!

We would like your prayers for the following:

1. Josh & Morgan’s homeschooling as they always have a tough time getting back into routine
2. Our language study
3. Settling in and building good relationships with our coworkers
4. Rich has had a cold which has made getting a good nights sleep difficult to get

Please let us know about any prayer requests you may have!

# posted by Ebel's Blogmail @ 4:02 AM 0 comments