HAPPY HOLIDAY’S

I trust each one of you had a special Thanksgiving with family and friends and took time to reflect on God’s goodness to us. I know I often take my blessings for granted even when I am surrounded by poverty. I have so much for which to be thankful for! Holidays are one of the times we miss “home” and family the most. In the mission field your fellow missionaries become your new family. We celebrated a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with the wives creatively putting together a very traditional meal in spite of “missing ingredients.”

I confess that the longer I remain here the more difficult it becomes to blog. Mainly because life becomes routine and there seems nothing new or of interest to report on. At yet I am sure that there must be many things of interest that happen around me on a daily basis. It has just become too familiar.

Probably the biggest event going on in the past month has been the Union and Mission Sessions, which take place every 5 years. The week long Union Session was held here at Kabiufa so we had a lot of visitors on campus. We enjoyed hosting two delegates from Australia in our home and making new friends.

Now the Mission Sessions are all taking place and our pilots have been flat out busy flying delegates from here to there. Once the Sessions are over there will be the big job of flying mission personnel, pastors, teachers, and their families to their new assignments and homes.The year-end is always an extremely busy time for AAS.

Several weeks ago I had the privilege of attending the baptism of some friends from the Asaro village. (The mudman tribe) It was held down by the river – a beautiful location.

I have always loved the custom here of showering the baptismal candidates with flowers.

These children wanted a front seat view so they joined the candidates in the water.

This spot is obviously a favorite swimming hole of the children. I found it amusing that as soon as the baptism was over the children leaped in for a good swim and cooling off. It looked terribly inviting but I decided to refrain from making a spectacle of myself.

Roger and Carol Millist’s night watchman and wife were among those baptized.

This is the lovely little Asaro village SDA church where the baptism took place.

Recently Bill flew a Fly-and-Build team from Australia out to the village of Kamako to complete work on a clinic they had started before. They were also building a house for the clinic health worker. They received the traditional welcome dance upon arrival.

The villagers all eagerly helped carry supplies up to the clinic sight.

Even a small pharmacy and limited clinical skills can still make a huge difference in saving lives.

Briana and I returned to the states on December 13. Bill will follow in January after the heavy flying schedule is completed. On our last Sabbath in PNG Bill flew our team out to the village of Maimafu to spend Sabbath with our church members. This was a bit of a home coming for Briana and I. Almost 9 years ago, the girls and I spent some time living in this village in an attempt to learn the language. This was our first time back!

Maimafu is perched on the side of a mountain and has incredible views.

This little boy delighted in demonstrating to us his skill on stilts.

The humble little Maimafu church.

Dalena and Shelley had Sabbath School for the children.

Bennett bravely preached a sermon in Pidgin. After only being in PNG one year I was very impressed with his ability.

These church members rarely get outside visitors and were so excited to have us join them for the Sabbath.

After church we all had a potluck lunch together.

Briana and I enjoyed catching up with old friends. When we lived in this village they gave the girls and I new names. I think they found our English names difficult to pronounce and remember. We were touched that they all remembered us and greeted us by our PNG names. (Tiruba and Tenepone)

Daniel and his wife, Wemoni, were our host family years ago.

My friend Tiruba, whom they named me after.

It was a lovely Sabbath and fitting end to our second term in PNG.

I want to introduce you to our newest members at AAS. Kyle, Shelley, and their children Nova and Cameron, joined us in August. Kyle is our new A&P mechanic. We are really happy to have them on board.

Little Adella Grace joined the Spencer family and our AAS team on September 29, Bill's birthday! She is a little beauty and joyful new addition.

It is so good to be home again with my children, parents, and many good friends. I am eagerly counting the days until Bill can join me. We want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Kabiufa Students

Today is graduation at Kabiufa. A happy day for many young people. The past couple of weeks have seen all kinds of activities here at the school as the school year comes to a close. One such project as been the creation of a music DVD featuring various Kabiufa musical groups. The DVD will be sold as a fund raiser to help buy new sound equipment for the church. They asked Bill if he would be willing to help with the audio recording, which of course he agreed to do.

Several weeks ago the school held a competition with 23 groups participating. Bill was on a panel of judges who helped select the 12 winning finalist that will be featured on the DVD. Ever since then he as been busy holding recording sessions down in our basement. To say it has been a challenge is probably an understatement. But in the missionfield you quickly learn to make do with what you have. I think Bill has done a marvelous job producing some quality sound considering what he has had to work with. The school is thrilled with the results and that is what truly counts.

At the end of every school year a special banquet is held for the senior students. Last weekend we got an official invitation to “Host” a table at the banquet. Because the school runs on such a tight budget, they have come up with an innovative way to afford these banquets. All the staff and special guest are asked to host a table. As host you are required to provide a white tablecloth, the table place settings, table decorations, and certain foods. This year the hosts were asked to bring fried rice, a salad, a vegetable, and ice cream. The school provided the main dish. Each table hosted 3-4 students. It was an interesting and enjoyable evening for us.

(Bri helping set up)

(Our finished table)

(A gorgeous flower arrangement in the middle of the room)

(The students that we hosted)

(Banquet hall)

One of the senior students, Henry, has been part of Bill’s Praise Team. Right from the beginning Bill noticed that Henry had some unusual talent on the guitar. He is very bright and would watch Bill’s playing skills with an eagle eye, imitating every thing he saw. Over time we realized that Henry did not have his own personal guitar but was just borrowing a guitar from a friend. Bill and I talked it over and decided we would like to see Henry have his very own guitar. So we hired him to come and work in our garden and told him we would match every Kina he earned towards a guitar. While on mid-year break in Cairns, Bill spent hours researching every available guitar and ended up buying what he felt was the perfect guitar for Henry. Let me tell you, when Bill handed that guitar over to Henry for the very first time you have never witnessed such a huge grin! Every few minutes he would stop playing and just hug the guitar close to his chest in great joy. His joy was contagious and we found ourselves feeling as happy as he felt!

Hint: If you want to find happiness, look for ways to bless others. There is nothing that compares to it.

Mid Year Leave

Two weeks ago my brother, James, and his wife, Debbie, came to visit us in PNG. For 6 months we have been excitedly looking forward to their arrival and now, before we could hardly blink an eye,  they have come and gone! But our time together was very special.

We spent a week together in PNG where both James and Debbie got to experience some extreme bush flying with Bill. On Sabbath we took them out to a remote village for church...

 ...and then an afternoon trek through the jungle to a gorgeous waterfall. 

However, the highlight of their PNG experience was overnighting in an Asaro mudman village.

When James was a little boy he saw a National Geographic featuring the Asaro Mudmen of PNG. It made a huge impression on his young mind. How could he know that some day he would actually have the opportunity to visit a mudman village? 

(James and I pretending to be mudmen!)

We spent the day hiking around the area, exploring a cave...

Enjoying two traditional dances performed in our behalf ...

And watching the different stages of a mumu being prepared for our supper.  (A mumu is a hole dug in the ground and layered with rocks. A fire is built on top of these rocks to heat them up. Then the food is placed on the rocks and covered with leaves and dirt to bake)

 We slept that night in a traditional hut. It was all great fun and I highly recommend it!

Our second week was spent at Mission Beach in Australia. This was our jump off point for our various activities. On Sunday we drove down South to Wallaman Falls. At nearly a thousand feet it is the highest waterfall in Australia. It was quiet impressive and definitely worth the 1 1/2  hour drive to get there.


Along the way we passed this extremely quaint post office that is still in use.

Monday was another high point of our trip as we made the 1 ½ hour trip by boat out to the Great Barrier Reef for a day of snorkeling. 

We could not have asked for a more perfect day and the reef was absolutely fabulous. It is hard to describe the incredible beauty of the underwater world.  The immense corals and bright colorful fish in the Barrier Reef are some of the best in the world. 

(Eddy Reef where we snorkeled)

(James and Deb getting geared up)

(The girls and I getting ready to brave the cold water)

(Bill was delighted to have the opportunity to go scuba diving again after more then 25 years since his PADI certification!)

Unfortunately I do not have an underwater camera so was unable to capture some of the spectacular sites, but we were delighted when this sea turtle poked his snout up out of the water for some air. 

The water was so clear that you could stand on the boat and look down and see the fish swimming by.

Tuesday and Wednesday were rainy days so were pretty much just spent reading books and exploring the stormy beach.

These beautiful designs on the beach are created by crabs that throw little balls of sand they have dug up outside their hole. Use your imagination and see what you can see. Kind of like gazing at clouds.

(This looks like an eagle landing on his nest to me)

(This looks like a flower)

Thursday was another perfect, sunshiny day, so we took a water taxi out to Dunk Island to spend the day on the beach.  

Bill and I tried our hand at snorkeling once again.

After lunch we hiked to the top of Mt. Kootaloo where there use to be a radar station during World War II. The view was awesome.

Briana and Betsy enjoyed trying their hand at sea kayaking.

Friday we sent James and Deb up on the skyrail to Kuranda village where we met them for a picnic lunch. 

After enjoying a river tour on an old WWII Army Duck - it can drive on land like a jeep and go on water like a boat - they headed back down the mountain by train.

Sabbath morning, as an early birthday celebration for Betsy, we went to a bird sanctuary where they offer “Breakfast with the Birds.” A huge enclosed canopy/screen forms an artificial rainforest environment where the birds can freely roam.  It was really interesting.

My absolute favorite was the baby stork that had recently hatched. He was about 2 feet tall and as a baby was way larger then most any other bird around other then the emus and cassowaries. 

There were some other residents as well such as the fearsome salt water crocodiles...

Cuddly Koalas...

And fuzzy little wallabys...

....as well as kangaroos.

In the afternoon we drove way up north to the Daintree rainforest which is a World Heritage site. To get there we had to cross a river the old fashioned way – by ferry boat. 

I have always been a lover of the dense, green rainforest. The Daintree Discovery Center has an elevated aerial walkway and a 76 foot tower you can climb to get a canopy view of the rainforest.  I really enjoyed this as it gives you different perspectives of the rainforest that you can’t get just from walking along the forest floor. It was pretty awesome.

Anyone else want to join us for our mid year break in Cairns?