Ruined for the ordinary

After 5 life-changing months in Australia and Papua New Guinea, I'm coming home. What an incredible ride it's been. This past week has been a roller coaster of hellos and goodbyes, smiles and tears. It blows my mind when I think back on all the experiences I had here and all the people who became my family, some of the most genuinely good people I will ever know. What were the most important things I learned during my time here? Most importantly is that God is good, all the time. The end. That's the truth; regardless of any circumstance that comes, He is always good. I also learned that it's not about me. At all. God has given me this beautiful life to love Him with all my heart and to love others as I love myself. It's really quite simple. I discovered the joy in serving others, putting aside what I thought was best or right or important in order to work with those around me for something that's much, much bigger than all of us. What else is there to say really? Whoever is reading this right now, let me tell you something. YOU ARE BLESSED!!!! YOU ARE IMPORTANT!!!! You better believe it!!! God has an incredible plan for your life, whether you believe in Him or not. Don't miss the opportunity for the adventure of a lifetime.
Well, I'm out to mentally prepare myself for a very long flight ahead of me. YWAMers, I'll see you when I see you. Thanks for the memories, and never forget what God has done for you in this time. Friends and family, I will be seeing you soon :)

PNG

6 weeks spent in Papua New Guinea. It won’t be possible to capture in full the absolute incredible time I had there, the amazing people I met, and the things I learned. It was a fantastic and eye-opening 6 weeks, with a lot of tough times, a lot of laughs, and a whole lot of hand shakes and bananas.

We spent the first week sleeping on the bottom floor of a church in Port Moresby, the capital city of PNG. We put on some programs in the open-air market place and at the church we were staying at. There were a lot of kids from the church around our age and just a bit younger that came around a lot and we got to know some of them pretty well. Our times together consisted of a lot of guitar playing and singing, with some games of cricket thrown in there. One night, we held a human trafficking seminar at the church. A man was there who was heavily involved with the government of PNG and was really moved by the things he heard. In PNG, there are no laws against human trafficking, therefore no kind of enforcement or prosecution happening. He wanted to get a report consisting of the things we had talked about that night so he could present it to the government and petition to get the laws changed. It was so cool to see people stepping up to see real change!

After a week in the city, we flew up to Lae, which is a bit more rural than Moresby. We stayed for a few days at a YWAM base there. During our stay, we did some market programs and I got to do a prison ministry, which was super awesome and something I’ve always wanted to do!

From there, we all squished ourselves and our bags into the back of a big open air truck and headed to a village called Wampit, which was about an hour outside Lae. It was our first real village experience and it was incredible!! We stayed in a hut and our days were filled to the brim with people, people, and more people. We had our fair share of socializing. It was fun though, there were heaps of kids in the village who were eager to hold our hands and teach us songs in Pidgin or Wampar, their native languages. The guys we stayed with were beyond hospitable and generous to us. During the day, we would do programs, hang out and bathe in the river, and help peel unripen bananas with the village mamas. Most nights, we would have fellowship time with people from the village. They would have massive worship times and I have never in my life heard singing like that before. Papua New Guineans just have a knack for music and singing. There would be hundreds of them all singing together in strong, rich voices with many harmonies in between, it was so beautiful!!! It was a great week where we made lots of good friends and ate lots of papaya.

The second village we went to was called Zumangurum. This week was quite the adventure. We slept on a tarp in a hut that had no walls which would flood whenever it rained. The man who was looking after us had 8 daughters and also called the 10 girls on our team his daughters as well. Half our team got really sick the whole time, so it was a pretty rough week trying to hold ourselves together for programs and such. But it was super beautiful and it taught me a lot about patience and keeping up a good attitude despite not so good circumstances.

After Zumangurum, we went up to the highlands of PNG to a place called Yonki. We stayed at a YWAM base there and it was absolutely beautiful. There was a massive lake right down the hill from our hut with greens hills in the background and trees everywhere. It was a smaller base with only a few staff and students and it had such a family atmosphere to it. It was so fun getting to know the base leader, his family, and the students on DTS. At night, we could see so many stars and we spent a lot of time laying on the grass staring at them and talking about life. Either that or sitting in the little kitchen hut around the fire, learning about the culture and life of PNG. We stayed at the Yonki base for almost 2 weeks, but spent 3 days village hopping. In one village, we stayed in this huge hut with a family. After our night program, there were about 40 villagers who came and just chilled in the hut literally all night as we slept, singing, playing guitar, and giving sermons in unknown languages at all hours of the night/morning. Quite the experience. Those 3 days blurred together because we were constantly on the move, but it was a fun time. We walked from village to village and our group was quite a sight to see. Barefoot and slipping on the muddy road with 30 pound packs on out backs singing songs and staring in awe at the scenery. We had a few more days in Yonki after our village hopping trip before we began our trip home.

We spent a night in Lae and nearly missed our flight the next morning to Port Moresby. I’ve never arrived at an airport 10 minutes before the plane is scheduled to take off. But we made it. In Port Moresby, we were reunited with the guys that were on the medical ship and the trekking team. I can’t even explain how good it was to see everyone again!!! We celebrated our reunion with pizza and ice cream and nearly barfed because all the unfamiliar food. But it was great. The next morning, very early, we headed home to Townsville.

And there you have it. Well, just a little bit of it. But I assure you, it’s a time I will never forget. The people I met during my stay there have some of the most beautiful hearts I’ve ever encountered and such a genuine joy. I learned that it’s more than possible to be absolutely content in whatever situation you’re in. Joy doesn’t come from things, but from people and relationships. Things suck sometimes, but it all comes down to the attitude you have in each situation. Life is good, God is good and He never fails us. I am beyond blessed to have experienced Papua New Guinea. Thank you to everyone at home and all over the world who have been supporting me along the way, you guys are great!! See a lot of you in a week!!