three day hike

Last year, when I first saw the words "three day hike" in the handbook for our training course I immediately imagined the worst.  Isn't that a typical response.  What I could never have imagined was what a blessing these three days could be.  It's hard to capture everything that happened during three days, but this is an overview of some of the high or lowlights.

We ate lunch the first day by these rocks.

If I could describe the time in one word it would probably be: mud!  It rained every night before we walked and the ground was wet, wet, wet.  In the first hour of the hike I lost track of the number of times I fell down after about a dozen.  It was painful, disheartening, gross, and not the way I wanted to start three days. 

Muddy!

By day two, I was praying the verses from Psalms 66 and 116 that talk about God keeping our feet from slipping!  Thankfully, no one was seriously injured although we did gain some bruises, aches, and pains. I spent quite a bit of time walking barefoot as my shoes were caked in mud and not very helpful.  It's amazing how slick mud and clay can be.  I feel like I have a new appreciation for the word mire.

We saw a lot of beauty along the way.  This was right outside our host's house the second morning.

My pack ended up being about 30 lbs including some of the group food.  It didn't feel too bad, but definitely made scaling mountains a bit more difficult!  Once we got to a village we would be overnighting in, we set up our mosquito nets and sleeping mats, and then someone would lead us to a river to wash.  Some places have water close by, but the first place we stayed at was at the top of a small mountain peak or knoll.  Thus the walk to water was down quite a ways on a steep, slick path.  It felt pretty strange to not have anything on my back after a day of packing around the heavy bag.

The stream we washed in had a gorgeous scenic view and it felt so refreshing to wash mud off our feet and arms and legs and faces, but by the time we got back up to the mountain we were muddy again.  It was a new experience to bathe fully clothed in a river, with an audience.  That is essentially what we will be doing during our five weeks of village living, so it was good practice.

We had two guides who led the group.  They are both from the local language group and work here at the training center.  It was fun to get to know them better and have more interaction with them.  The first day, it was about 2pm and we were walking along when our guide in front stopped, waited for everyone to gather together and tells us that we have about five hours left.  We all stared at him in horror when he bursts out laughing and says that we're just minutes away. 

The first night we had the opportunity to share the Jesus film, based on the Book of Luke, in the local language.  Close to 50 people showed up!  Our host had set up large tarps for people to sit under, which was good because it rained the entire time.  The tarps were collecting water and leaking and so guys would shove the water off the tarps periodically.

At one point a coconut tree branch fell onto the screen, but didn't knock it over thankfully!

People sat on benches, bamboo poles, the ground, stood against the house and sat under the house.

Every time they checked the projector and equipment it was dry and by the end of the movie every spot under the tent was wet except for the projector and equipment!  Wow, what an answer to prayer!  It was such a wonderful experience to see people hearing God's Word in their own language.  A couple of the people who spoke the parts in the dubbed language were our Tok Pisin teachers.

There were super cute kittens in both villages we stayed in.  It made my heart happy to hold them. : )  It was tempting to put one in my pocket and bring it with me.

This trip was the first time that I used my filter and water purifier on water from a stream or river.  It worked well and we were all thankful that no one got sick from any of  water along the way.  The ladies in our group had the opportunity to help prepare the food with our hosts.  One of the things we made was coconut rice.  They had some kids climb the tree by the haus kuk (kitchen) to get several coconuts then they cracked them open and scraped all the pulp out.  We got to squeeze the shredded coconut in the water to "grease "it and then use that liquid to cook the rice.  It tasted amazingly wonderful! 

This is a house in the process of being built.

We stayed in this house the second night.  The roof is made from sago palm tree branches that have been sewed together using strips of bush rope (vines).  The walls are woven bamboo and the floor is either made from bamboo or a type of palm tree.  Most houses are built up off the ground like this, which helps with rodents, breeze, water, etc.

Part of the village where we stayed the second night.

The second night we stayed at the village of my Tok Pisin small group's teacher.  He and his family hosted us and we had a beautiful time of fellowship.  We storied, sang songs in three languages (Tok Pisin, English, and the local language), and prayed together.  What a blessing!  I think that was one of the highlights for most of the group. 

On Wednesday morning (our third day), we took pictures of the view from the second village we stayed in. 

This is one of the most well-defined paths we saw during our three days.  A lot of the time you couldn't see where you were putting your feet!

We also tried to get a group picture using a timer on the side of a hill.  If you immediately think disaster, you are correct. : )  I set my camera on top of my hat at the top of the path and pushed the 10 second timer.  One person suggested someone else push the button because we all know that I fall down a lot, but I was convinced it would be okay.  When I pushed the button and ran to get in place, it was like I slid into home plate . . . just about took out the whole group.  It was pretty funny.  And painful. 

Ignore how gross we all look.  Three days, lots of mud and sweat and recycled hair.

One of my favorite things of the hike was spending time with our hosts each day and getting to know them.  It made me pretty excited about being able to spend five weeks living in a village and getting to know the people there.