A Missionary's Best Friend

During my four weeks of living in a Papua New Guinean village, I discovered that there are several things that could be considered a missionary’s best friend. High on the list (which is not exhaustive by any means!) are: 

• Mosquito repellant, aka missionary perfume: the higher the DEET, the better. RID is the brand of choice, being the most readily available, although its efficacy is hotly debated among my colleagues and I. (Personally, I think it attracts more mosquitos than it repels…)

Here We Go Waswas

For the uninitiated, waswas is Tok Pisin for bathing. Now, you may be wondering why a whole blog post is dedicated to waswas…well, for starters, there is no electricity in the village; therefore there is no pump and no shower. There is, however, running water—in the truest sense of the word—a river. Every day we gather our things and go down to the river to waswas. So, for your reading pleasure, here are 30 steps to a successful waswas experience!

Where I Belong

Home…this word evokes a lot of emotion in us. We see a picture in our minds of a certain building, a place, or maybe a group of people. Where is home for you? Is it where you grew up? Or maybe it’s where you’re living now. Do you feel more “at home” when you’re with a certain group of people, even if you’re away from the actual building you call home?

Now We Go Wokabaut

One of the “big” deals of Pacific Orientation Course (POC) is the two day/overnight hike. Basically you hike out from POC until you arrive at the village you’ll be staying overnight in, then the next morning after breakfast, you hike out and catch a Public Motor Vehicle (PMV) back to POC. Well, that’s the short story, anyway.