The Chapman's in PNG

Cassie Alberson heads home after 3 months in Kudjip helping teach the MK students – math and science.  Cassie was a very good asset to the school.  She made science come alive for the students.  They applied what they learned in the classroom to projects inside and outside the classroom.  Cassie was a pleasure to work.  She is headed back to the United States to work and going to graduate school in a year.  We will miss her.  Thank you, Cassie.

The Brothwell Team Ladies put on a fantastic afternoon tea for the Mission Station Ladies. Carol Brothwell told us that she had been planning the tea for 2 years. We were served tea, lemonade, and scones. Everyone introduced themselves and visited. Heidi talked about all the different elements of the tea and how they relate to being a Christian and establishing a relationship with Jesus. We really appreciated the time and effort that the team put in planning and organization.

The team has worked very fast making up the time lost on the flight delays. Saturday finds the team putting up the last trusses by the end of the day, finishing exterior walls and interior walls. They are making great headway and will continue making progress. Mike has been keep quite busy making sure that materials are available and in place for the team. The beam will be delivered on Tuesday with more siding materials.

Dennis and Michael work to keep the guys in work during the day. Working in metric was a little mind twisting at first but Kendall converted fast.

While on site working Michael

The ladies are extremely busy preparing and cooking meals for the team of 25. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks during the day finds everyone with an assignment from Terry. Filling the ice trays and keeping the water filters full take an incredible amount of time. Keeping up on the ice is very difficult. The meals are being enjoyed by all. Each evening finds the team also preparing for one station family who has been invited to eat for the evening meal. This is a great time to get to know each other. Thank you, team.

First Day on the Volunteer House Project finds all the exterior walls framed standing. The guys worked hard and found that using hard wood is not that easy. All of Mike’s PNG men were helping with the construction. This morning the day started with a devotional from Pastor Dirye, who was the first District Superintendent of the Nazarene Church in Papua New Guinea. The maintenance department lead the music and sang in Pigin. There were 50 in attendance. The women went to town to grocery shop, purchase 2 sewing machines, and material for the window coverings.

It was a great day.

The Brothwell Team has arrived. Plane late from Brisbane into Port Morseby so they overnighted. We drove to the airport this morning to meet the team. It was great to meet everyone. I drove the ladies back to the station in the van. Mike drove the dyna (pickup) with all the luggage. Sam and Jeff drove the Land Cruisers with the men. We arrived on that station at 11:15 AM. We prepared lunch. Everyone enjoyed eating vegetable soup, salad, and fruit. They were ready for something other than airline food. The team had a tour of the station and hospital. The men went to the work site and started laying out walls and setting up a jig for the trusses. They are excited to get started Thursday morning. The women were getting their grocery lists together for grocery shopping Thursday morning in Mt. Hagen.

We are excited to have them here with us and the started framing of the Volunteer House. Ladies are sewing the curtains and closet closures.

Since the phones had been out all day Tuesday in the Mt. Hagen and Kudjip areas it was difficult to get information on the flight. But, the e-mail received from John on Monday evening said that they would be in on the 5:30 PM flight. We left the station at 4:30 PM headed for the airport. We watched the plane unload and NO TEAM!!! Mike checked with the ticket agent. He couldn’t tell if they had even left Brisbane. We headed home disappointed but will try in the morning. We were over half way back to the station when we received a message that the plane was going to land at the airport. We turned around and headed back to the airport. When we arrived everything was locked tight. We headed back to the station. We were 15 minutes on the road when another radio message came insisting that the plane would land. We waited at the agriculture school and watched the air for the plane. At dark we made the decision to go back to the station with a radio message staying that there was not a plane. It is difficult to drive in the dark because of all the people walking on the side of the road. I was glad to arrive back safely.

I don’t know why the team is. Hopefully in Port Morseby. Flexibility is the key.

Mike and the workmen (28) completed the foundation slab last night, Saturday, at 4:30 PM. Andrew was sick, so Mike was power troweling and screeding the cement . Noah, hospital construction supervisor, stopped to check out the pour. As he was looking over the pour with Mike, he said that there were two guys from the hospital project offering to help with the cement pour. Jacob and John were an answer to prayer. Both men know how to work cement. Mike had just been wondering what he was doing to do to get the finish work completed before losing it. Jacob took over the screeding and Mike ran the power trowel. Jacob offered to stay all night but Mike sent him home. Mike power troweled every three hours through out the night. Sunday morning, I went with him to the sight as he finished the final power trowel. We made sure water was on the slab all day so as not to dry to quickly and crack. Jeff and Jessica Meyers helped this afternoon watering the concrete. Thank You!

Received an e-mail from John Brothwell, the team is delayed in Los Angeles and will have to stay overnight. They are to leave on the 11 AM tomorrow. We researched online Quantus Airlines learning that the engineers had a strike May 29-30 in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. This strike caused 17 flight cancellations. We will wait for updates from the Brothwell team.

We had a busy day putting the final touches on the houses.  Judy Bennett is responsible for all the housing on the station for the volunteers.  Gail Dooley, Kathy Radcliffe, Mete, Lena, and Bette are on her team.  They have done an outstanding job.  Lena and I went through the kitchen making sure that she understands all the food preparation and cleaning proceeds.  She will be helping the ladies of the teams during the days.  Lena will also help them learn language and answering questions about the PNG culture.