village living - week two

The moths are so varied here!  We've seen more than a hundred different types!

Village Life and Schedule
These five weeks have many purposes.  They are to help develop meaningful relationships with people in PNG, improve language skills, and can serve as practice in applying language training in a village setting similar to what I might be working in eventually.

Hopefully, by this second week I will feel comfortable in the area, know where things are, where people are, and who is related to whom.  One of the things that can be overwhelming about village living is being surrounded by people who are from a different culture and language at almost every moment of the day.  My goal is to be able to find a way to carve out small pockets of time to rejuvenate myself by being alone as well as have meaningful quiet time with God.  

Assignments
During these five weeks there are several academic assignments to tackle.  This second week I will be working on documenting cultural observations, drawing a kinship chart for one person that covers three generations, and begin recording and transcribing at least one story to use for language analysis. 

Goals
Each day I will continue to read from my Tok Pisin Bible (Buk Baibel).  I hope to have learned more words in the local language and also a few phrases.  My plan is to ask my host family to teach me how to use fire effectively to cook so my goal is that by this second week I will be catching on to the technique.

Prayer Points
*  Pray for opportunities to have time alone without offending my host family who is going out of their way to mentor us.
*  Pray that there will be mutual respect and understanding between my host family, my roommate, and myself as we are coming from three different cultures.  Pray for grace as we are all learn about the others' culture and perspective.
*  Pray for protection during these five weeks.  Protection against sickness, loneliness, major injuries, danger, spiritual warfare, and misunderstanding or culture clash.
*  Pray that I will have opportunities to shine God's light to the people in the village.  Pray that I will look for ways to serve those around me. 

Highlighted Bibleless People Group
Urimo in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea.  Would you pray that the Urimo people would have God's Word in their own language?  www.wycliffe.net