Mipela Winim Maunten! (We Beat the Mountain!)

 

 

At 14,793 feet, Mountain Wilhelm is Papua New Guinea’s tallest mountain. According to political geography, Mt. Wilhelm is considered one of the seven summits (the tallest mountain on each continent). Climbing to the summit was a dream Stephen had as a child growing up here. When he lived in Lae, during his teenage years, a group from Kudjip planned a hike up the mountain, but forgot about Stephen down on the coast J  When we returned to the highlands, Stephen was determined to cross this hike off his bucket list!

The base of the mountain is about a four hour drive from where we live. We left on a Friday morning, started hiking from the guest house around 3:00 pm and arrived at base camp at 6:00 pm. The group of hikers included the two of us, Scott and Gail Dooley (doctor and nurse), Earl Hartwig (hydro project engineer) and his sons Zachary and Caleb (Stephen’s new students), Quinton Schmelzenbach (a senior this year), my friend Veronica ( a scrub nurse), our friend Apa (works in maintenance), and Jonathan (friend of the Dooley’s). We had two guides who we hired to lead us, and since we had to bring all of our food, clothing, and sleeping bags, some of us paid porters to carry our packs to base camp (for the record, Stephen carried our bag the whole way!).  

Base camp is a small camp with three rooms for sleeping and a “kitchen.” We cooked our Ramen noodles in the cook house Friday evening for dinner. Traditionally, Papua New Guineans have a small house to sleep in and then another small house, “kuk haus”, where they cook their food over an open fire and tell stories before going to bed. Since we knew we’d be waking up early to hike to the summit, we storied with our friends until about 8:00 and everyone went to bed.  

Shortly before 2 am we awoke to the lovely singing voices of Apa, Jonathan, and Quinton! They were ready to start the hike, which meant the rest of us had to crawl out of sleeping bags, put on our layers of warm clothing, pack our bags, use the squatty potty, review the signs and symptoms of altitude sickness, and have a short devotion and prayer with Scott and Gail before heading into the dark mountainside! If you’d like to review the signs and symptoms of altitude sickness, as you prepare for your next hike, here is a short list of what we were looking for: nausea, dizziness, confusion, and respiratory depression! J Since Zachary was already experiencing mild shortness of breath at base camp, we decided he’d better stay with the Dooley’s and not attempt the summit.

Donning headlamps, hats, and gloves, the eight of us, and our two guides, Thomas and Willie, left base camp between 2:00 and 2:30 Saturday morning. We’d hike for 15 minutes, sit for a short break, and then hike another fifteen minutes. Every half an hour or so we’d ask Thomas and Willie, “Okay, where is the summit? Can we see it yet?” They’d ALWAYS answer, “Oh not yet; we’re close. It’s just on the other side of this mountain.” With the end NOT in sight, we carried on. Around 6 am we turned off our flashlights and headlamps and watched a beautiful sunrise. An hour later we spotted the watch tower, weather station, and then FINALLY the summit! At 7:45 we reached the summit!!! Stephen and Veronica were probably the most fulfilled as this is something both of them have wanted to accomplish since childhood. We “sat on top of Papua New Guinea”, taking pictures and taking in the view for all of fifteen minutes before we started the journey back!  On the way down we found ourselves, several times, saying “Oh, I don’t remember this…” Haha, not because we were lost, but because the mountainside looked very different in daylight! We made it back to base camp early enough that we were able to hike the rest of the way down to the guest house and drive home before dark. We had planned to sleep at a school near the guest house Saturday night and drive home Sunday morning, so knowing that we could make it home Saturday night, motivated us to ignore our tired and painful legs and press on!

Though climbing Mt. Wilhelm wasn’t a dream of mine, and I don’t particularly love hiking, making it to the summit does feel like a bit of an accomplishment. I’m grateful for the adventure I shared with my husband and our friends as we admired God’s glorious creation from the top of Papua New Guinea!

Our group leaving Kudjip on Friday

Hiking to base camp

 

 

Veronica and me at the waterfall before base camp

 

Gorgeous sunrise Saturday morning

 

A view of part of our trail

 

 

 

 

Sitting on top of Papua New Guinea!

 

 

(For our friends in Maine who’d like to join us, Stephen and I would like to hike Mt. Katahdin when we return home!)

Hydro Project Begun, My Part is Done!

Last week was my last week of official work with the hydro project. I spent 5 weeks supervising, instructing, and working along side my group of 42 guys. It was an enjoyable experience and I am glad that I got to participate in getting this project started but I am also glad I have free time again to spend more time getting ready for school to start.

It took me 3 weeks but eventually I was able to match every name with every face. Hopefully I can remember them all so that when I see them around later I can call them by name!

This project is about more than just building a hydro-electric plant (although that is the primary focus). It is also about building community relationships. We want the people that live around our station to be on board with the ministry of the hospital and to be supporters of the work we do here. That doesn't always happen so we are using this project as an opportunity to reach the community.

In order to help everyone in the community in a country that has 85% unemployment rate, we are hiring a new group of workers every month so every gets 2 pay checks then has to wait until their turn cycles around again over this 2 year project. When this very first group ended, we concluded their month with a meal and a discussion.

Our primary health care staff gave a lession on HIV/AIDS to all of the workers and their families. They concluded the lesson with a salvation message and a meal. I also had the opportunity to share my testimony with my workers. It was a nice time to celebrate the kick-off month of the project and to show the workers that we really do care about the community.

Pray for the community surrounding the hospital and for the many different workers that will help with this project. There is a new group of workers this month (52 this time!) and I don't know any of them. However, I know that from my first group, very few of them are Christians. I assume the same will go for all of the workers. Pray that God will work in the lives of these men and work through Earl Hartwig who is an engineer that will be arriving on August 8 with his family to become the project manager for the next 2 years.

Amy and I are headed into the "bush" for a week with no electricity, cell phones, internet, or any way to contact the outside world besides a radio. The only way to get there is a 4 hour drive followed by a 3 day hike over the mountains or a short plane ride. Needless to say, we will be flying! Our time there will be spent working on a mission house that is used by missionaries for vacation, various ministries, and often language study. We will be sure to tell you all about it and include lots of pictures when we return!

God Bless!

The workers and their families listening to the HIV/AIDS talk.

The workers in line for food.

The workers posing for a final picture before we end work for the first month.

Surgical Outpatient Department Update!

Hello friends,

Thank you all for your prayers and concern for our bone cancer patient, Naomi. We saw her in the surgical outpatient clinic at the end of May and sadly have not seen or heard from her since then. Several of you have asked about her and I have been holding off sending the update, clinging to the hope that on the next Monday or Wednesday she will be in line at SOPD. I still am hopeful that she will come back or at least notify us that she has sought treatment at another hospital. Thank you again for partnering with us in prayer for this young girl and her unfortunate situation.

On a typical Monday or Wednesday we see between 30 and 50 surgical outpatients. The patients first pay their fee for the doctor visit, about $5 for adults and $3 for children, then wait in line while Sister Vero, Sister Roselyn, or myself screen them. When Dr. Jim and Dr. Maggie are done rounding on the surgical ward, they come to the clinic and start seeing the patients we have screened. One of the three nurses will stay outside and continue to screen and call patients' names while the other two nurses assist the doctors inside with dressing changes, suture/staple removal, ultrasounds, pelvic exams, and casting.

The patients who come to SOPD are patients who have had surgery recently, have been discharged then come back to follow up with Dr. Jim or Dr. Maggie post-operatively for dressing changes, labs, or x-rays. We also have several "osteo kids" who come monthly for labs and x-rays. Osteo kids are children with chronic bone infections, usually in the tibia or fibula (bones of the leg) and are on long term antibiotics to control their infections. We check their vitals, take an x-ray, and check their CBC and Sed rate for signs and symptoms of infection, or worsening of their condition. We have a few patients who are on chemotherapy, usually Methotrexate, often for cervical or uterine cancer, and we check their labs on a monthly basis as well.

We admit patients on Mondays and Wednesdays who are scheduled for surgery either Tuesday or Thursday. We try to schedule 4-6 patients for each surgery day. On Mondays and Wednesdays we also schedule patients for our minor procedure room, or MPR, which are usually patients who need scopes, small hernia repairs, wound debridements, removal of a small abcess, or other minor procedures requiring little sedation or anesthesia. 

Below are some pictures of some of the sweet patients we see on a routine basis and my co-workers doing what they do best, to give my friends at home an idea of how I've been spending my Mondays and Wednesdays! Thank you again for praying for and loving the patients we serve at Nazarene Hospital!

A little boy with his walking stick waiting outside the minor procedure room for a right foot sequestromy (removing a piece of bad bone).

 Dr. Jim performing a colonoscopy in the MPR with the help of Sr. Vero and Mr. David.

Mr. Bosip, who helps with most of Dr. Jim's orthopedic cases, applying fiberglass to his POP cast (sometimes we get cool colors like green, red, black, and purple, but usually it's just white)! 

 Sister Vero screening an orthopedic patient.

 Julie, a patient with cancer, with her husband for a routine check up.

 Sister Roselyn performing a dressing change on one of our chronic osteo kiddos.

 Dr. Maggie, who is a rural registrar studying surgery (same as a surgical resident in the US), admitting a patient.

 Dr. Jim doing an ultrasound on Sendy. Sendy is a mother of four who has been coming to clinic for a few months complaining of reflux/heartburn type symptoms and has lab findings indicative of chronic pancreatitis. Dr. Jim is trying his best to treat her symptoms.

A cute mama with a fractured tib/fib waiting for a new cast to be applied (she ends up getting green fiberglass and liking the color so much she asks us to put a cast on her other leg!) :)  

Summer Work and Summer Fun

Amy and I recently went on a hike to a new place we had never hiked to before called Mt. Audugla. On top was a large boulder we could climb onto to get a nice view of the valley. It turned out to be quite an exciting trip as Amy got her first experience of semi-repelling down a waterfall. I always enjoy a chance to get outside and explore more of this beautiful world. Unfortunately this particular expedition was also the muddiest one I have been on!

View from the top of the mountain. Behind those clouds to the left is Mt. Gilewe, the 2nd tallest mountain in PNG.

Our group, Sean from MAF, and our 13 little guides.

Most of the hike was pretty dense jungle but it made for a fun time.

Since school has been out, I have been keeping busy in a number of ways. A few weeks ago, I was recruited to make trips into town (Mt. Hagen - 1 hour away) and during that week I went to town every day for 5 days in a row for various reasons. Normally we only go once every month to town.

I have big plans for next school year and am excited to have so much time to prepare considering last year I only had 2 weeks to prepare before school started. Any free time during the day I try to spend preparing lesson plans or other things to get ready for school. Unfortunately I haven't had much free time the past month.

For the past 4 weeks, I have been assisting with the supervision of our hydro project. As I have mentioned before, we heavily rely on government power which turns off frequently and worse, has huge power spikes that destroys hospital equipment. In the past, our hospital station has had a functional hydro-electric plant but it has been non-functional for years.

From generous donations and a grant from OzAid, we have the money we need to reconstruct our hydro plant and make it better so it lasts for 50+ years. We have an engineer who is coming to live here with his family but until he arrives, I have agreed to supervise this project.

We are now in our 4th week of work and so far we have been kept busy clearing out our old hydro canal which we just finished today. Next, we will need to dig out lots of dirt to get it to the proper slope before we line the entire thing with cement. We start digging tomorrow!

Pray for these workers as most of them are not Christians and pray that I and other leaders can make a positive impact on them. Also, there is always potential for unrest in the community any time we work on a project that is on the border of our station so pray for peace! The project is going well but it has barely begun and we probably have at least 2 years more work!

My current crew of 42 men.

Most of the canal was completely overgrown after years of not being used. Believe it or not, there is a canal under there!

We took areas like the above picture and made it look like this picture. The canal is approximately 1 km (5/8 miles) long and took us 3.5 weeks to clean the whole thing.

Thank you for praying for our Bible quizzing team. Last week they competed in the world quiz at Olivet Nazarene University in Kankakee, IL. They competed in 2 divisions, District Experienced and Regional (the highest division). In the District division, they were 1 of 44 teams at the quiz and did remarkably well for their first time to ever quiz against another team! After 4 days of quizzing, the team came out of the tournament in 6th place! Individual trophy winners included Lydia Radcliffe, 16th, and Josiah Radcliffe, 20th, out of 217 quizzers in their division.

The Regional division presented a bit more of a challenge to the team as every other team in the division was literally composed of the best of the best quizzers from each educational region in the United States. In addition, most of the quizzers in this division are very experienced quizzers and very good. All of our quizzers were rookies and had never quizzed before they arrived at Olivet. In the end, they placed 9th out of the 9 teams in the division but with a record of 2-6, they show that they were not completely out of place in that division. Hopefully it was a great learning experience for all of them!

Lydia Radcliffe, who is 13 and just finished 7th grade, placed 5th place overall in the Regional division. That is an incredible accomplishment and even earned her a $600 college scholarship. We are all so proud of how hard she worked all year round!

Our Quiz Team Left to Right: Susan Myers (Chaperon), Lydia Radcliffe, Ethan Myers, Josiah Radcliffe, Allison Dooley, Jessica Myers, Bill McCoy (Coach), Marsha McCoy.

Even though they were so far away, we were able to join them on this journey through the miracle of Internet! Some of the rooms at the quiz were being streamed on the Internet so any time our team was in that room, we were able to see them. Also, we were able to use Skype through the McCoy's laptop to see additional quizzes that were not in those rooms.

Due to the time difference, all of their quizzes occurred between 11:00PM and 8:30AM. Because of that, we were not able to watch the quizzes together live. Instead, I volunteered to record the quizzes for us on my computer so we could watch together. For 3 nights in a row, I stayed up most of the night to record quizzes at different times during the night. Then each evening, we had a quizzing party and projected the quizzes up onto a wall for everyone to enjoy.

Thanks again for your prayers and continued support! I know some of you have asked about Naomi from our last post but I will let Amy update you on hospital stuff since that is her area of expertise!

God bless you in your ministry where ever you are at.

The Amazing Meal: The High School's UN- Retreat

Every year the high school has an end of year retreat-- the students and their teacher usually spend a weekend away from station, often at another mission's guest house. A guest speaker will share and the students spend time sharing in devotions and reflections. This year, however, since the students are participating in General Quiz 2012 at Olivet Nazarene University, the high school decided to do the "retreat" differently. The parents and Stephen organized a surprise "Amazing Meal"-- this is a cross between a progressive dinner and the TV show, "The Amazing Race" (which is a favorite of many of the students).  The parents planned out which country each family would host for it's course in the meal and Stephen and I were in charge of coming up with clues to get the students from one house and one country to the next house and next country.
We started the event on Friday night with a quizzing party hosted at Dr. Erin Meier's house (Erin is helping coach the quiz team). We played Taboo and Pictionary with words, clues, and drawings only from Hebrews and 1 and 2 Peter. At the end of the evening we gave the students their first clue, which would lead them to our house for a PNG breakfast the next morning.

After leaving each house and/or completing each task, the group is given a new clue. Some of their challenges throughout Saturday included having to memorize and recite tongue twisters, work out mental puzzles, use what they had recently learned in history to solve a clue, buy food for an orphange, hand out goodies on the pediatric ward, and put to practice what they've been studying in Hebrews by starting conversations with guests and staff at the Highlander Hotel.

The students eating an Ethiopian meal at the Deuel's home.

Olivia, Gail, and Emma Dooley welcoming us to Japan!

Enjoying sushi at the Dooley's home.

Handing out toys, candy, toothbrushes and toothpaste on the pediatrics ward.

Solving a clue about American presidents at the Goossens' house.

Wrapping up the evening and the school year with an American dessert, gifts, and awards at the Schmelzenbach's home. Stephen has had a wonderful experience teaching the MKs over the last year and has already started preparing for September!

Aside from preparing for the next school year, this summer Stephen will be helping supervise our Hydro Project, joining our CBHC (community based health care) team for a few weeks to educate our rural communities, and helping to transport volunteers/visitors to and from the airport.

Please join us in praying for our high schoolers as they are currently in the States for Global Quiz 2012 at ONU! They will be competing in the district experienced division and the regional division. The tournament is the week of July 3rd.  They have worked so hard and we are so proud of them!

From left to right top: Mr. Stephen, Josiah Radcliffe, Ethan Myers, Quinton Schmelzenbach; bottom: Allison Dooley, Lydia Radcliffe, and Jessica Myers.

Friends and family,

I have a prayer request to share with you  all. On Mondays and Wednesdays I have been helping out in our SOPD (surgical outpatient department) clinic (I screen patients and then help w/ dressing changes and whatnot). Yesterday we had a young girl, about 16, come in with a very swollen right leg. Her name is Naomi and she had been in the week before for some blood work and xrays and was coming to follow up. Her family said the pain started in February and she is now to the point where she can't walk w/out assistance or bend or straighten her leg. Dr Jim (our surgeon) has told them this is bone cancer (I'm not sure which kind). Yesterday he did a chest x ray and liver ultrasound and found that it has not metastasized yet, but that if she did not have surgery to amputate that right leg witin the next few weeks, it will spread and then he can't do anything.

People in Papua New Guinea still have a hard time grasping the seriousness of CA and just how deadly this disease can be. I watched as one of our nurses explained to them in their local talk place what Dr Jim was trying to explain in Pidgin. Though they all had concerned faces, not one of them shed a single tear. (and I was standing behind Naomi trying to not to breakdown!) They were very quiet and smiled at Roselyn (the nurse) and me as we sat there with them. The father said they needed to go home to talk and pray about this w/ their village people before they could make a decision. Dr Jim asked Roselyn to tell them that he understood this was something to inform their extended family about and pray about but to reinforce the fact that this young girl needs surgery to amputate her leg and needs it soon. The family left saying they would be back to us in a week or two, but Dr. Jim and Roselyn are not convinced they really will come back before it's too late.

Cancer is not an uncommon diagnosis in our patients-- we see a lot of cervical, uterine, breast and mouth cancer but not bone cancer nor in such a young patient. I think this patient especially weighs heavy on my heart because this case reminds me of my mom's battle with cancer. Yes, my mom was a little older than a teenager and she didn't have her leg amputated, though the doctors thought they would have to, and my mom knew more about her diagnosis than this young Papua New Guinean, but I would imagine this girl and my mother felt some very similar feelings.

Please pray for this young girl and her family- pray that they will make the decision to bring her back to Nazarene Hospital for surgery and make this decision soon. Her family told our nurse they are Christians (though sometimes people tell us that since they're at a Christian hospital) so pray for Naomi's relationhip with Jesus to be strengthened through this time. Pray that she will put her hope, her fears, and her future (of living life in the highlands of PNG with one leg) in His hands. Also thank Him for our doctors and nurses, like Dr. Jim and Sister Roselyn, who serve at Nazarene Hospital so that they can tell our patients about the love of Jesus!!! Thank Him that even in the highlands of Papua New Guinea we have the technology to physically treat Naomi's body and that we know the truth of Jesus' ability to completely save her. And thank Him for saving my mother's life, both physically and spiritually, thirty- something years ago! We serve a great God and I trust Naomi's life will be a testimony of this!

Thank you for partnering with us in prayer for Naomi and her family!

Love,

Amy

Visiting Tamban Nasarin Sios



Members of the church take great pride in decorating with flowers!

 On Sunday we visited Tamban COTN with some fellow missionaries. Tamban is just a short drive down the road and is a church missionaries from Kudjip visit relatively often. Tyronza Pringle, wife of Dr. Scot Pringle, was invited to preach and Stephen was asked to translate. Though Stephen had never had the opportunity to "turnim tok" or translate, and was a bit nervous, he did a great job!

We arrived at the church early enough to attend Sunday school. At this church, and most Nazarene churches in PNG, adults and children do not go to separate, designated classrooms. Sunday school meets in the only room in the church, the sanctuary, and adults and children learn together.  To the left is a picture of Stephen with a man named Esila who Stephen recognized from when he was an MK at Kudjip. Esila was the head carpenter when Stephen's father was in charge of maintenance. Esila was very happy to see Stephen back in PNG. Esila currently has his own construction business and is doing well.

 Not all of the churches we visit have praise and worship teams, but Tamban had several people playing instruments and leading music. They had a few guitar players, a keyboard player, a drummer, and as you see on the right, children playing tambourines!

Scot and Tyronza Pringle are volunteers who were here for three months. Dr. Scot works in our maternity ward and the operating theatre as an OB/GYN; this is their second three month trip and they already have plans to return next February! Tyronza shared her testimony, about her life growing up as a pastor's kid and how she currently serves as her church's NMI president.

Tyronza was asked to speak at this church by one of the members, Isaiah. Isaiah is a young man who is attending Nazarene Bible College (NBC), about a forty minute drive from this church. The Pringles felt God leading them towards sponsoring Isaiah when they met him last year. Isaiah is a great blessing to the people in this area and feels God calling him to plant churches in remote areas of Papua New Guinea. We are thankful for NBC and sponsors like the Pringles so that young men and women like Isaiah can fulfill God's calling on their lives. 

Judy Bennett, wife of Dr. Andy Bennett also sharing a testimony

Members of the church socializing after the service.