Care Packages, Updated

First of all thank you for everyone who have sent us a package. It always seems to come at the perfect time to encourage our family. It is interesting how exciting and uplifting a package from home can be. The way it smells like america (target, wal-mart, etc.) and makes us feel loved and remembered. It is strange how you can feel so out of the loop over here but through Facebook and email we can stay a little more connected. So thankful for that.

Updated list of things we could use:

MISC

-Baby Wipes

-Anti bacterial hand soap (not the instant sanitizer)

-Children's Benadryl (off brand)

-Lactaid pills (i'm lactose intolerant)

-Cleaning wipes

-Tupperware* all sizes. we have to put EVERYTHING in GOOD quality, air tight tupperware to keep things from bugs.

FOOD (please put food in ziplock bag, so the rats don't smell/eat it)

-*Cereal (any kid friendly)

-Kid Snacks (cheez-it's, granola bars, chex mix, crackers, pretzels, etc.)

-Instant dinners (hamburger/tuna helper, rice/noodle sides, mac n' cheese...)

-Brownie, cookie, funfetti cake mix, pancake mix

-salad dressing mix (italian, fiesta ranch, etc)

-chocolate chips, toffee, pecans, walnuts, etc. (for baking)

-Drink mix (kool aid, lemonade, tea, etc.)

-Mayonnaise (in plastic jar, regular or light)

FUN

-Kids/Family board games

-Cards/Stationary

-Jar Candles (citrus & tropical fruity stuff)

-Crafts for the kids

-DVD's (used is great, too:Wonder Pets, Fresh Beat Band, My Friends Tigger & Pooh, anything really…. movie or TV series for us)

****Pictures of your family! We would love to show the kids who you are and to pray for you as a family.****

Please send to: Justin & Lauren Rees

P.O. Box 625

Wewak, ESP 531

Papua New Guinea

First PNG Christmas

Christmas morning we woke up to a beautiful rainy day! it was cooler than most days and stayed that way all day. It was a great way to start the morning; praising God for Him being that personal to give us some "winter" weather.

The kids woke up, we prayed as a family and then went to check out the tree. It was pretty fun since the kids really had no idea what was about to happen. I had ordered the kid's presents on amazon and had them sent over with a friend in october. And my mom sent some gifts over too.

As for Justin's gift it was 2 gatorade's, a 3.5 oz bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos, and a twix bar that i found in Goroka when Pax and I were seeing the Doctor. Things are different but it was fun to start our own traditions. Like cinnamon rolls fro breakfast and spending the whole day as a family, playing (dressing up! thanx grandma)and watching movies.

It was completely relaxing and we got to Skype with both sides of the family. No complains and looking forward to our next Christmas in the tribe!

Here is our friend who dressed up as Father Christmas for a local church.

Who would have thought...

Well our time in the tribe was amazing. God taught us more than we could have imagined through the Yembi Church and the Missionaries who have been there in the tribe for 8 years. I remember how nervous we were going into the tribe thinking “what if God shows us we can’t do it?”. Being on the other side I do think God showed us we can’t apart from Him and it encouraged our hearts to know that we are in this for Him and that is it! Now we have plenty to think about and pray through as we are planning to allocate to a tribe in the near future.

Here are some highlights and interestingthings I learned about life in the jungle.

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT…

-The jungle sounds like the city at night? Every night when I would get ready to go to bed I would hear the jungle come to life- and it is loud! I never knew that birds could make sounds like beeping and ring tones, sirens and horns. You know the sound on a school playground swing set, the one of the squeaky chain when a kid is swinging? Well yeah, that was out there. It was my favorite however at the same time the most terrible sound over and over! But they were all such familiar sounds that I found myself wondering, which came first: The technology that I know to be author of those sounds or the wildlife?

-Cockroaches Fly! Every night we would turn off all the lights except in the room we were in to conserve power since it is all solar/battery run. So whenever we would enter a new room and turn on the lights cockroaches would scatter into the cabinets, closets and anywhere to escape the light. It was gross but one night when I turned on the light I must have freaked one of them out because it totally came flying at me and landed on my shirt!!!! The only thing worst than that is when one runs UP your leg. (Know that from personal experience too)

-A Crocodile would be on my Table. Some tribalpeople caught a baby crocodile and we thought it would be fun to show the kids and take pictures with it. So Justin went and grabbed it from our friends and he put it on the table for the kids to find! It’s mouth and back legs were tied and the kids played with it like it was a dangerous as a kitten. (I think Justin wore it out before the kids got to it)

-I would miss my “city” ants. You all know my struggle with the ants. Tribal ants are just that- tribal! I thought my ants were bad but these took things to a whole new level! They were literally everywhere: on my tooth brush, in the bed, in the refrigerator, in the oven and even on the clothesline, so I would hang up my “clean” laundry when I took them down they had ants all over them! They were always ahead of my and knew that they could make me break (which happen once)! One night at dinner Paisley was praying “ Jesus thank you Brooks and Nina(the missionary couple in the tribe with us),For Oma and Pa. Thank you for food and cups. Thank you for salt and thank you for all the ants that came to our house.” She was just naming items she saw on the table and it cracked me up. I guess God wants me to change my perspective on the ants and pray for my enemies…

-The Meat Bink. Pax is still attached to his binky and the tribe did not understand his affection for it but figured out an alternative to his binky. There is a bird called a Cassowary that they hunt and eat. Someone gave some meat to us to try and it was so tough and has this smell that makes you want to run away that we passed on it. But one time when we were hanging out in the village someone offered this Cassowary to pax and he loved it. It was so tough that he chewed on that thing for about 3 hours! And threw it away because we could handle the smell of it on him anymore. So we declared it the MEAT BINK. (Here's a pix of a cassowary egg-kinda looks like a dinosaur egg)

- I lived out The Jungle Cruise. As I was paddling a dug out canoe with some tribal ladies on the Sepik River through “shortcuts”, it reminded me of the Jungle cruise ride at Disneyland. There was a beautiful canopy of trees over my head, parrots flying in the air, ducks randomly around a bend or two. Tree branches were sticking out of the water and were gently bob up and down just like the mechanical ones do in the ride! As we were on this adventure I asked the ladies if there were any crocodiles in the waters we were going through and they said yes, like it was obvious. I am thankful to report that in MY jungle cruise (PNG style) I did NOT see a crocodile. All that to say, it’s really incredible how well Disneyland has replicated a true jungle experience AND I can say that my time spent at Disneyland has helped prepare me for the jungle!

Thanks for reading and would love to hear your feedback!

2 More Days!

Well the count down has started, 2 more days till we are Tribal Bound.

Part of our ministry here has been discipleship with the local kids and youth in our neighborhood. Every week we load up a bus and take them to play soccer! It's great relationship building and language time as a family. Anyway, we went to the beach to play and guess who woke up the next morning with 58 sand flea bites on their arms alone!!!! ME. No one else got one bite- and we had 30 people with us! Oh man, i can not even explain how much these bad boys itch, so i won't. But they last for 4 days IF you don't scratch them, if you do- you are in for it-they spread! (Oh the thought makes me itch) So this experience has freaked me out that i am going to be eaten up in Yembi (that's the tribe). And Ruben (our language helper) told us to be ready for the leeches! I was like no way, but come to find out there really are leeches all over the jungle.

Tonight we found out that Yembi's air strip is flooded. We are going to fly into a neighboring tribe and then take a 3 hour boat ride up to Yembi...at peak malaria time! I am looking at it as an opportunity to get this malaria thing out of the way, then focus on orientation. So watch for my malaria post...

Paisley is growing up! (Funny story: Ruben called Paisley "Princess" one day and she turned to us and said with total excitement "how did he know?"...got to love these moments.)

Tribe or DIE?

Well we are into our 7th week here and it's been intense, let me fill you in.

About a week ago a missionary family from in a tribal work (Tim and Courtney Shontere) asked us if we would consider a house swap with them for 7 weeks. Justin and I would be required to go to a tribal location for 7 weeks to see the realities of church planting in a tribal context, finish up our national language study (this particular tribe is bilingual and all speak Tok Pisin) and to see if this is a ministry that we CAN do or not. This "Bush Orientation" typically takes place after you have been here in PNG for about 3-5 monthes...we have been here 2 months the day we will fly into the tribe!!

So why would we go so early? Let me share-

When we were approached, it came as an opportunity for the Church their in the tribe to:

1. Get to take us on as their responsibility to take on culture events, help us learn Tok Pisisn, and pretty much orient us to life in the bush.

2. So that this missionary family could work on translation of the new testament. He is hoping to translate what he has left of Revelation, 1 & 2 Corinthians, in 7 weeks of "focus" time out of the tribe. He will bring out his translation helper from the tribe with him to help.

Seriously- what would you do with an offer like that? We felt like we would do whatever we can to get God's Word in their heart language- even if it means we are going to a tribe a little early!

The sweet part about Bush Orientation is that they have you go into tribe post-Gospel so that we can ask tons of questions about their perspective on how the missionaries strategies were effective in communicating Christ and where there were obstacles. It is a unique opportunity and we ask that you would pray with us to take advantage of this time. (And that we won't die- just kidding, it is totally safe for people who do this all the time- but we aren't "those" people yet!)

***This is Ruban (Pax calls him Ruby), our main language helper.

After having our totally intimadating language check, we found out that we are actually in a great place, language-wise to go. So that eased my heart until i heard this....

-Justin will be going on serval all night hunting excursions with the men.

-We will be going on hikes

-Some of these "trails" will be through swamps that will sink in over our children's heads!!

-Dug Out Canoe rides (which is SO COOL) but over rivers with crocodiles in them!(probably sharks too, if google/shark week is correct)

-This tribe is one that does have malaria mosquitos

-Tons of bugs. Like they told us that our legs will be COVERED in bugs when we are out in the evening, yea!

- Not only that but some of the mosquitos "feel like a syringe".

So you see why I wrote Tribe or DIE!

We have all the responsibilities as a tribal missionary does:

Keeping the solar panels and gel batteries maintained, Sak Saking (which is the process of how they get their main food staple from a tree), Canoeing, Gardening with the people, Building relationships, Helping the Church grow and like meal planning for a month- what you don't plan for you don't have. So today I am working on the grocery list and cooking up some meals to freeze for those "OMG it's dinner time" moments.

I am definitely excited but nervous. Oh yeah another reality check- no Facebook, just emails. We hope to figure out a way to send a least one picture of us out at some point so you guys can see what we are doing.

Language Learning....

Let me start by saying language learning is a process. And I am one of those people, come to find out, that likes to gets things done quickly. If i'm hungry go pick up some Del Taco or Chick Fil-a, if i ask someone to do something and they don't do it at that moment- i do it. Hmm... as i write that out it seems that i lack patience...i'll pray about that. Anyway, language learning takes TIME! I haven't found short cuts or tricks to figure this thing out. But I have found this: you have to put in the time, effort, PATIENCE, humility and find someone to help you through it AND be able to laugh when they laugh AT you.

I have good days and bad learning Tok Pisin but all the same I am learning. Justin has made some good friends in the neighborhood and we have been having them come over one at a time to help us. I also have a woman named Meta come to the house once a week for a couple hours to help me with language and around the house. Today i taught Meta how to make tortillas and i almost spoke Pisin the whole time! (like a little little kid-but hey i'll take it!) This is a picture of the heart shaped tortilla Meta made for Pais. Pax like her too, he calls her "ma"!

We do take the bus into "town" once or twice a week as a family which is a great time to practice our limited vocabulary. And the kids like it-everyone here loves our kids. They spoil them! Paisley has 3 Meri Blouses (Mu Mu's) that ladies from around town have made for her and given to her. People love to give them bananas and candy, too!

***Pray for us to be learn this language quick!

"That is why we are here!"

The first couple weeks we were here there was a Translation Workshop at the base we live on. We got to meet a bunch of tribal church planters from all the areas New Tribes works in Papua New Guinea. The workshop was talking about translation for the Literacy course (in the tribe) as well as translation of the Bible and Bible lessons. The sweet part was that the missionaries brought with them their main language helper from the tribe. So we got to see the relationships that were built between these co-workers and most evident, friends.

One evening the whole base got together to have a potluck. Our family was eating and saw 2 tribal men starting to sit by themselves. I was easily able to sway them to join us and we made room. As we ate and talked (with very simple words and lots of body language since we didn't know much Tok Pisin at all) one of the tribal men said to us" The fellowship we are enjoying here now, is like a preview for what it will be like for all of us in heaven". (This was translated from one tribal guy to the other who knew more tok pisin and english.)

I was totally overwhelmed. I wasn't expecting to be so humbled and reminded of why decided to go to PNG anyway. It wasn't for adventure or challenge; to have an "experience" or see the world. It is all to bring His children back into right standing with Him, so that one day we can all be together praising God forever and ever. That is why we are here. I am thankful to have been motivated from the start by a tribal man to stay focused on the goal!

This is Paul. The one who did the Translating at the table. Paisley loved him. He was missing his kids back in the tribe and decided to love on ours in the mean time!