First Days in the Pacific Rim

Hey Guys! Merry Christmas!

I am going take a brief respite from 2011 in Review to update you on my latest adventure. Don is currently here for seven months doing research for his dissertation. However , for the next couple weeks we will be spending some time together in prayer and in conversation with others looking to see if we will serve with Wycliffe or Pioneer Bible Translators (PBT) long term. I will try to give you an update on the last few days while keeping it brief.

The last week and a half has been a whirlwind of activities and get togethers with people from Wycliffe Bible Translators.

After arriving in country last Saturday, we spent a couple of days in the capital city waiting for a flight to Wycliffe’s base. On Monday, we took a nice little Kodiak plane to get here. We flew in the midst of some pretty bad thunderstorms including pounding rain, lightning, and significant turbulence. It was a really nice introduction to small airplanes for me. :)

Since arriving here at the base, we have gotten to meet lots of different Wycliffe members who have served here in different capacities. Don got to meet with Rene van den Berg to find out how he might be able to serve in linguistics in the future. And, I met with the CFO and member of the strategic planning committee, the current Director of Language Affairs, and a performance manager to talk about what kinds of opportunities there might be for me in administration of the linguistic side of the translation work. We were really blessed by the conversations we had. It was really good to hear more about where the organization is and where they hope to be in the next few years. It was also good to see the ways that we might be able to serve with them in the future.

Aside from meeting in professional settings, we have also been able to fellowship with a number of current missionaries over dinner and coffee. When Don came here a few years ago, he met the Penningtons who are in their first term doing linguistic fieldwork. They invited us over for Christmas Eve dinner, and we have been blessed to spend much of our free time with them getting to play with their two children (under the age of two!) and getting to hear about what life is like here. Regardless of what organization we serve with, I can already tell that they will be good friends.

After church on Christmas Day, the Ambroses (we flew with them to get here from the capital city) invited us to dinner at their house. We hadn’t made plans, thinking that we would just be by ourselves for Christmas eating spaghetti. It was such a wonderful surprise to get to have a full Christmas dinner with other people! It made the holiday feel a little more special even though we were away from home. We also got to play a Canadian game called krockinol (sp?) and Racko, which were both filled with lots of laughter. We really appreciated their hospitality, and given that their children are all grown and live back in North America, they really enjoyed the company as well.

In the midst of all of the meetings and fellowship, I have had a few firsts: my first time eating sugar cane, my first time at a local market, and my first time baking chocolate chip cookies without chocolate chips! :)

I wish I could post pictures of all of this, but unfortunately, the internet is really slow and expensive. I had better get going for now. We leave tomorrow morning at 6:30 to head by public motor vehicle (PMV) to go to PBT’s base. Then, I will be out in a village living for two weeks! Miss and love you all! Hope to post again soon!