Week 2

Hey Everybody!

So last week we finished out our time camping in the Outback. And I'm happy to say we saw many kangaroos!! Our time with Reef to Outback turned out to be quite God ordained. The teaching topic for the week was Unity and Common Purpose and Vision. It was quite powerful for both our team and the Reef to Outback team. A perfect segway into our next adventure, Papua New Guinea. We arrived in the capitol, Port Moresby to find out our connecting flight to the highlands was cancelled due to an absent pilot. To our surprise, the airline put us up in the nicest hotel in the city. It was quite a treat after camping for over a week. We each enjoyed our own rooms and A LOT OF FREE FOOD!

The next day we arrived in Goroka and were greeted by our incredible contacts, and were quickly introduced to driving in PNG. General rule of thumb...you never stop for anything, even if you hit a human being. You have to drive quickly and always be on the lookout for highway hold ups by the local "rascals". We safely arrived to Ukurampa, the home of the SIL (Wycliff) base, which happens to be the largest missionary base in the world tucked in the middle of nowhere in a very remote mountain valley. In this valley is where we will be focusing the majority of our ministry efforts. Even though the valley is home to the largest missionary base inthe world, it is still a place of much need. Only in the last couple years have the missionaries really begun to reach out to their neighbors due to the incredible amount of work the challenge of translating the Bible into over 800 languages creates.

We had our first ministy time this morning. The guys went to a prison camp and the girls visited a high school boarding school and participated in a church service for them. It was a very powerful time for both the boys and girls. I feel we are here at a crucial time for the valley which is home to different warring tribes. Right now for the first time the different churches in the valley have begun working together in a never before seen show of unity. The different groups have expressed their excitement for having out team with them. Please be praying for us as we seek to encourage and be a blessing during our time here in the beautiful, mountainous, and diverse nation they call PNG.

Salutations from Jacob, Hannah, and the amazing ATW team.