Camera Found!!

My camera was found by another person on-center and turned in, thus finding its way back to me.  That means MORE PHOTOS!!  These shots were taken over the Pacific Ocean flying down to Cairns Australia.  It shows the magnificent glory of God's creation.

 

 

This photo was taken in a restaurant called The Hog's Breath in downtown Cairns, Australia.  The guy in front of me and next to me are pilots for SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics).  The other guy is named Martin and he's my Go-To guy to get stuff in Australia, then get it to me here in PNG.  He's also known as "Da Man.." by me.

Life here in PNG goes on... this morning the thermometer inside the clinic was reading 62 degrees.  Dr. Helen wears a T-shirt (she's been there over 20 years), the Nationals who work there are wearing thick winter coats.

Only three more days and we can move out of Translator Lodging and into our new home.  To Celebrate, I bought a 2L bottle of Coke and will crack open my last tin of smoked oysters that I brought from NC.  Jenny, on the other hand bought some Crocodile at the store.  Sometimes we're as different as night and day!!  The girls just want to MOVE IN!

Our new house has a wood burning stove in the living room with water pipes inside that can help to heat water.  Amelie took a nice long delicious warm shower two days ago and we've been out of hot water ever since.  When the sun comes back to PNG, so too does our access to hot water.  These cold showers are nothing compared to the sacrifice Jesus made for me, it's the least we can do for Him.

This coming Saturday I'll be driving the family and a new friend to Goroka (2nd time there in a week) because our new friend has to pick up her pastor at the airport and doesn't drive.  She's going to rent the van and take us to lunch.  That should be a fun trip.  Maybe this time I can get some photos of the roads and the holes.

We got a cell phone when I was in Goroka last Friday.  So far we've gotten two text messages!!  Both were from the mobile supplier (DigiCel) trying to get us to buy more minutes for our phone.  Our Number is 7097 8998.  If anyone is brave enough to try and figure out how to send us a text message or call us, give it a whirl.  What are the country calling codes...?  Ummm....

This photo was taken on the way to Goroka last weekend.  This is the way some of the Nationals get around in PNG.  We received an email from a fellow ex-pat yesterday warning us against taking public transportation to Madang for our POC course.  Without any other means to get there, we finally broke down and signed up for a flight on a Kodiak. We didn't want to go this route as it costs considerably more, but my family's safety is top priority, so off to the airstrip we go on August 18th.

Jenny has a birthday party planned for me next week on August 4th and it'll be a combo Open-House party as well.  I'm ready to embrace my 51st year of life.  How many more will you give me Father?

We walk everywhere on center which is getting us in great shape.  Bring on the POC course, we're ready!

Elisa made a new friend at school today (a boy named Joshua), Amelie seems to be spending much of her spare time with her friends.  Boy she adapted faster than I ever expected!!

Anyone wanting the original-sized photos shown in our blog, feel free to email us at our new email address:  t-j.bunnow@sil.org.pg.  Anyone wanting to mail us a letter, send it to Tom & Jenny Bunnow
PO Box 1 (5)
Ukarumpa E.H.P. 444
Papua New Guinea.

Things the girls would like:
1. http://www.amazon.com/Hardy-Boys-Nancy-Drew-Mysteries/dp/B0007CNY54/ref=pd_cp_mov_1/187-0954616-1253727
2. http://www.amazon.com/Hardy-Boys-Nancy-Drew-Mysteries/dp/B000NQRV8U/ref=pd_cp_mov_2/187-0954616-1253727
3. http://www.amazon.com/The-Hardy-Boys-Season-3/dp/B00A4Y62JU/ref=pd_bxgy_mov_text_z

And me?!
1. http://www.amazon.com/Heaven-Real-Discs-Blu-ray-UltraViolet/dp/B00KDK63HG/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1406617620&sr=1-1&keywords=heaven+is+for+real%2C
2.

Land Cruiser!!

 

 

Tell God and show God you love Him today.  His love has no end...

 

Till next time!

 

Tom



Since our last blog we learned that all blogs need to be reviewed and cleared to ensure they are culturally appropriate.  Also, the camera with our photos has gone walk-about, but I'm sure it'll turn up soon.

 

Since our last post, I’ve been out of the country.  While talking to a mom in the local grocery store about her sick son at home, it became apparent that he likely had acute appendicitis.  I had her leave the store and rush him to the clinic where I met him and confirmed his diagnosis with blood tests and an examination.  Within 2 hours we were on a plane bound for Cairns, Australia.  We had an uneventful flight and landed safely to a waiting ambulance who rushed him to the Emergency Room.  A short time later, out came his appendix.  It was not ruptured, so we got him there in time to avoid a lengthy and much more serious infection.  This photo was taken about 1/2 way between PNG and Australia.

 

Due to regulations, we’re not allowed to fly in the single-engine Kodiak over the ocean to Australia unless it’s an emergency, so we have to fly from Australia back to Port Moresby commercially, then we get picked up by a Kodiak to fly back to Ukarumpa.  I discovered that if I complete an Emergency Water Egress class then I’ll qualify to fly back to PNG bypassing the Port Moresby stop.  I’ll get that training as soon as possible, but it may not be until our furlough in 3 years.  Don't make it public knowledge, but once we got out of restricted airspace after taking off from Port Moresby, I got to fly the plane with the autopilot off all the way to Ukarumpa with the pilot taking over only when it was time to descend.  Talk about a thrill, I've flown a B-52H before for short spells, but this thing is FUN to fly!!!!!  Someone tell Joe Carver that I flew a Kodiak turbo-prop for close to an hour...

We have started the move into our new house just down the street.  We won’t officially move in until August 1^st, but it is nice to see progress being made.  This is our third move this year, but we still have three more moves total before we’re settled in for the duration.  The next move is August 17-18^th as we move to Madang at the coast for our Pacific Orientation Course.  Then we move to a village for a month during the course, then back to Ukarumpa.

The girls have started school, Amelie was up and ready to go at 0630 the first day of school.  You’ve got to admire that kind of dedication!  Elisa is doing well in school too, and is very happy that her best friend will live right across the street from us once we move.

I've obtained my PNG driver's license and have already been out driving around in a rental vehicle that another doctor rented.  He drove us to a town called Goroka (about 100km away) where he bought a used truck so I drove the rental truck back.  The roads off-center are mostly paved, but have some pretty bad spots.  We'll be driving back to Goroka next week Saturday to pick up a fellow member's pastor who's flying in.  I think my small camera was left in the rental vehicle, hoping it was turned in at the Auto shop yesterday...  Tomorrow morning we continue our orientation to the clinic.

The following photo was movie night "Spirit" with Eli's best friend Annika (to the right) and Ami's good friend Zion (to the left).

 

 

Guess who just lost another tooth about 10 minutes ago?!  She's  now struggling a bit when pronouncing her "S" sound.  Boy is she proud!!

 

That's all for now, more photos if that camera turns up!

Our first trip off the Uka Center!!

Ukarumpa has a photo contest weekly around a pre-named theme.  This week's theme was TIME.  Today was the last day to submit a photo to UkaWeb and I had an idea to find a baby, a mother, and a grandmother all from the same family, shoot it in black & white, and call it Timeless.  I  called one of my friends here, he advised it was NOT a good idea to take a bus off center with a DSLR camera, not even knowing how to talk Tok Pisin.  (Thanks James Ernandez for saving my bacon!!).  So instead we just walked a few blocks off center to find a subject.

Well, in case you don't know, many of the people here in PNG chew "Beetle Nut" which when mixed with a leaf and a strong base (so I'm told), it turns the teeth and spit blood red.  Well, as we were walking down the dirt road, the girls started seeing splotches of bright red on the ground that looked alarmingly like fresh blood.  They started getting scared.

When young men started walking past us carrying knives, Ellie and Jenny were ready to turn back.  Ami and I (the less cautious and probably more foolish duo) wanted to go on.  We rock/paper/scissored and Ami and I won so we went on about 20 feet before Elli started crying, so we turned around and headed back to the center which was a whopping 200-300 yards away.

We walked across the center to the other side where a bridge separates Ukarumpa from the road that is off center and goes about 2km to the Aviation hanger.  It was there that we met a subject that would have to do for my photo.  It was of a man called Papa Ken.  He works at the training center and one of his many jobs is to ring the bell after break.  I snapped a shot of him and his wife.

Public affection such as holding hands here in PNG is not done .  He was reluctant to even stand next to his wife for a photo, but she encouraged him, so he did and I got the shot.


This is a photo of our girls at the Orientation course being entertained by one of the local teens on center who "babysits" the kids while the adults are in class.  I snuck out to shoot the photo.

The last photo was taken during the walk home.  As usual, it was raining...  praise God for the rain, it fills our water tank next to the house and gives us fresh water to drink (we're not filtering it, but drinking it straight from the tank) and to cook with.

We also get RAM water from the local river which has the sediment filtered out, but is brown.  This is the source for our hot water (heated from solar panels on the roof), bath water, and laundry water.  When we fill our tub (which holds about 5" of water) with water, it looks as though 3-4 people had already bathed in it.  With all the mud around here, I won't say what it looks like when they're done!

Praise God for bringing us to paradise!  Thanks to our partners for your support.  Next week we start our mission in the clinic.  Watch for updates.  Remember to go to church tomorrow and feed your soul!!!

We've arrived!!

Our family arrived in Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea last week Wednesday.  We had a 5 day layover in Fiji which was very helpful in adjusting to the 14 hour time difference from Waxhaw, NC.  Then it was goodbye Fiji, hello Air Niugini.  We were all celebrating when we landed, thinking we were in PNG, but it was actually a stop in the Solomon Islands.  It was another 2 + hours before we finally landed in Port Moresby.

 

 

 



Once we arrived in Port Moresby, we boarded a Kodiak turboprop and climbed to 12,000ft to get over the mountains and weather enroute to Ukarumpa.

Once we landed in Ukarumpa, we were greeted by our good friends the Dishmans and the Ernandes.  Pardon my gaudy purple Fiji shirt!!

We settled into an apartment in the Translator lodging area.  It is small and cozy.  In the morning when we get up, it is in the low 60s and sometimes 50s inside the apartment.  Hard to believe it when we're so close to the equator.  It warms up to the 70s most days.  It rains most every day, sometimes a small drizzle, sometimes angry Ghana rain.  So far, no thunder or lightning.  This is supposedly the dry season (winter).  I can't wait to see what summer will bring!

There's a small store here on the center, but things there are pretty pricy as expected.  We do a lot of shopping at the local market where you can buy fresh vegetables and fruit to include avocados and strawberries.  So far, we haven't seen any mangos.  Apparently they're out of season in this perpetual spring location?!

Not wanting to spend our partnership funds on monthly rent and staying in the translator lodging forever, we set out to look for a house to buy.  There was several that we looked at, but only one stood out.  As soon as I set foot on the property, my whole soul screamed, "HOME!"  This was before we even looked inside.  We all felt it was the right house for us, so we're now in the process of purchasing it with personal money we saved up just for this purpose.

One month from today, we head to the coast for the Pacific Orientation Course.  We were going to fly the girls there, and have Jenny and I take a bus to try and save money, but we discovered this afternoon that the flight only has one seat left, so we ALL may be taking the bus on the 8 hour bumpy adventure to Madang.

The girls are making friends, Amelie quite quickly, "I already have 7 best friends!", while Ellie struggles with her shyness around strangers.  They both have friends coming over tonight for movie night.

Jenny and I have been taking an orientation course for the last three days, it continues next week Monday and Tuesday, then we start working in the clinic on Wednesday.  This morning we went to the clinic and met most of the staff, some simply amazing selfless workers abound.

So, in this time of transition, how are we holding up?  It was difficult for me to switch from mostly diet soda to just plain water.  How boring.  Jenny found some Tang in the store, and my daily cup of Tang has become my culinary delight!  The girls had to transition from whole milk to powdered milk.  It only took a day, no further comments from the princess gallery.  Jenny misses talking to her sister Sandy daily, but they email often, so that's better than snail mail I guess.

I wake up each day and thank God for bringing me here to this rainy paradise.  The exotic bird calls, the pineapple growing just outside our front door, bananas growing a 1 minute walk away, the delightful locals who smile warmly when you say hello, this is the wonderful life we live in this wonderland called Papua New Guinea!