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November 11, '14 ::: We spent our first week of outreach in Cairns. While we were there, plans were made and changed on a daily basis. One of these plans was that we would do a program at an age center/nursing home. I don't think any of us really knew what to expect. We walked in, all 11 of us plus a few leaders, and easily outnumbered everyone we could see. Slowly, as we went to talk to the people who were already waiting, more people came out and sat down. After a while we started our program. It was the usual song and dance routine with a testimony thrown in. What I remember best though is the second time we did Umbaio, our Cook Islands dance. We played it up and just had fun. Some residents came to dance with us and some of our group went out to dance with them. We moved out of our lines and broke all the rules. But you should have seen their faces! The joy there was incredible. And I know without a doubt that we made a difference that day.
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November 16, '14 ::: They're running around the house, through the yard, under the house, up the steps, up the trees and sliding down playing taps. They're sitting cross legged in pairs clapping hands and singing. They're gathered around white skinned girls with long straight hair, plaiting and pulling to their hearts' content. They are dark skinned children with huge white smiles stretched across their faces. Their joy is contagious. In the kitchen Mama is teaching excited young women to cook island delicacies. The veranda is full of people simply enjoying fellowship. Cheeks hurt from smiling and eyes are squinting from sun, but that's ok. If you close them, you will hear the joyful sounds of people loving each other and enjoying spending time with and learning from the other. And suddenly you know that anywhere you go in the world people are simply people. They want to be noticed. They want to be cared for. They want to laugh. They want to be loved.
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November 22, '14 ::: We started walking out from the house to the beach. The tide was out, but coming in. Even so, it took about 10-15 minutes to walk to the water's edge. From the time we left the gate of the church grounds where we had been staying, children started to surround us. By the time we were halfway to the water, there was a large group. Once we arrived there were over 100 children, laughing, shouting, running... They gathered in large groups playing games and in smaller groups around each individual member of our team. The sun was setting and the water was coming in over the black sand. We each met our friend sister for the time we were in the village. We all went back that night with one to ten children hanging onto each of us. Laughter and smiles all the way. Shy girls began that night to come out of their shells, like the small creatures scattered along the sand. They would often still run and hide, but as the time went on they became more confident and secure. Friendships grew over the week and we began a trend that would stick for the remainder of outreach--make friends and say goodbye, exchange shyness for heartbreak, and unknown faces for sisters who will never be forgotten.
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November 25, '14 ::: We only spent 2 days in Lalaura. We walked down to the beach the day we got there. I walked up and down the shoreline searching for shells to pocket. They were interesting...all dark purple or black. The group left where I was and headed around the point and I followed. As I continued looking for shells I happened upon a woman standing there on the beach. She was a deacon in the church we were visiting. We spent some time chatting. She was one of those people I just "clicked" with. We laughed and talked until the team called me away. The next day I saw her again though. We sang and danced together in church and said goodbye again after. That night we had a program again. I was looking for my friend and didn't see her anywhere. She suddenly appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, with gifts she had made. Then she took my hand and pulled me out to the center where everyone was dancing. We talked a bit more and laughed a lot. It's hard with relationships ending each day, but it was a blessing while it lasted and I'll remember her each time I see her gifts, and maybe she will remember me when she looks at mine.
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November 30, '14 ::: We have been extremely blessed. From the very beginning of our outreach when we were provided with a place to sleep, food, and toilet paper in Port Moresby, to Viriolo where we were given food and pillows, Lalaura where we were given food and pillows and showered in gifts, Kupiano where we were given food, gifts, and spent hours singing with friends before we even met. Many tears were shed leaving the sisters there. Wairavanua greeted us with traditional dances, silk flower leis, banquet tables laden with dinner and refreshments, and once we were ready to retire, they also provided pillows and mattresses for all and washed all the laundry while they were at it. In KK they were dancing in the streets as we came in. The youth performed island dances for us and we were blessed with food and drink from the very start. Gifts were given before we said hello. When we came to Ega'a Launa they showered us again in gifts, fresh plumeria leis, hand woven hats made of palm branches, and a coconut apiece. We were again fed, given mattresses and pillows, and again our laundry was collected, washed, hung, and returned.
We are so blessed in every village we come to that we feel like we couldn't be made more welcome or be blessed any more, but in every village we visit we are blessed more than we could imagine or expect. We have been given water, fed and clothed, given beds, and welcomed as family though we had never met any of these people. We came to be a blessing, and have been blessed more than we could have hoped or imagined.
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