Jerry and I accompanied Wycliffe President Bob Creson and his wife Dallas to Papua New Guinea (PNG). PNG is just north of Australia. You can find some info and maps here: http://geography.about.com/library/maps/blpapua.htm. We flew from Orlando to LAX and then took a 15 hour Qanta flight to Sydney followed by Air Nuigini flights to Brisbane and Port Moresby arriving Saturday afternoon. We are now 10 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time. Pt Moresby is very hot, humid, and tropical. We spent two nights there at the guest house of the PNG Bible Translation Association (BTA). They don't have air conditioning so we sweated a lot but were so tired that we slept just fine anyway.

On Sunday we went to a Baptist church. The primary languages in the cities and government are English and Pigin (Tok Pisin). So it is pretty easy to get around and communicate. We enjoyed the contemporary church service and learned some songs in Pigin. In the evening we were all hosted at a potluck dinner by the BTA where we met their leadership, their board, and a group of PNG church pastors/leaders. There was a lot of good food and conversation. Pictures are below.

We visited the BTA office Monday morning and met with their director and staff (more pictures below). In the afternoon we took a SIL/JAARS plane up to Ukarumpa in the highlands. It was pretty cloudy and thunderstorms but managed to land just before one hit.

Ukarumpa is a beautiful place in the mountains about 5000 feet. There are tropical plants everywhere including lots of bananas and pineapple. But there are also cool weather crops like strawberries, broccoli, asparagus, etc. They are going into dry season here but it is still quite rainy and has been very cool. Good thing we brought some sweaters and jackets--who would thought in the tropics!

Our first week was full of meetings with the directors and leadership of the SIL-PNG branch. We both learned a lot about field operations and the needs and work of the branch office. I won't bore you with too many details.

Take a look at the photos. We'll post some more later. These are thumbnail photos--click on the thumbnail to see it full size with explanation.

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