Why are we hiking, swimming, and building fires?

Have you wondered how our physical regimen of hiking, swimming and learning to cook outside helps to support the work of Bible translation in Papua New Guinea? In short, because it prepares us to serve and gives us a much needed, deep empathy and understanding of the people and culture here. We now have a whole new respect for the challenging lives many of the nationals live. We will hike for many kilometers, on steep, slippery bush trails to a village this week, cook supper, stay overnight, and hike back as part of our training. Our PNG sisters will do this every day as part of going to their gardens, from which they get almost all their sustenance, or to the market, where they sell their surplus produce. We strive to swim a mile in the ocean, to build our stamina, while our PNG brothers need to be strong swimmers if their banana boat ferry capsizes. We learn to cook outside so we can eat for the month we live in the village, but our wasfemilis will cook all of their meals over an open fire their entire lives. We have learned to admire the strength, ingenuity and perseverance of the people here, and their incredible faith. Our desire is to serve God and reflect Christ to the people around us even now as we are still new learners in PNG, the Land of the Unexpected.