Madang and a 3-hour hike. All in a day's work...

Today's adventures consisted of a shopping trip to Madang where Jenny bought the girls some second-hand clothes, and I bought the girls ice cream cones.  POC appears to be all about the girls?!  Fitting 36 people into this vehicle was really pushing it, the staff said they'll never do that again.

Anyone want a genuine Ellie-head balloon?

We saw giant fruit bats flying around overhead while near town, someone said they were spooked by a hawk...

At the market we found a guy selling beetle nuts (they're the green seed-looking things on the table).  During a hike later in the day we discovered the trees that they come from.  They are very tall and very slender trees that wound not support the weight of an adult.  Our POC staff member said they send the little kids up the trees to get the nuts so they can sell them in the market.

That was our morning.  This afternoon the class was separated into groups for a hike.  Our group had several very young children so the pace was a relaxed one, but 1/2 way through the hike, the littlest kids were taken back to the center and the rest of us completed a 3-hour hike.  It happened to be a hot and humid day today.  To prepare myself for the more spirited hikes yet to come, I took along a fully-loaded back pack.  Here's some photos from the day's hike starting with this one which shows what we were hiking through.

This shot was taken as we approached a village..

Here's Elli crossing a small log bridge..

Here's a mug of me.

This last shot was of Jenny posing in front of a building in the village..

Please continue to pray for us!!