Our New Mailing Address...

Scott & Kathy Watson
P.O. Box 1 (172)
Ukarumpa, EHP 444
Papua New Guinea

Oh the Wonderful Cross...

We sang with our Christian brothers and sisters at sunrise; many nationalities worshipping the one true God and thanking Him for Jesus, who is Risen, that we may have Peace, Purpose, and His Promise of Eternal Life (John 20: 19-30).  

“And the angels sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and with Your blood You purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”  Revelation 5:9 

“Na ol ensel i singim wanpela nupela song olsem: “Yu inap tru long kisim buk na rausim olgeta gris kandel i pasim buk. Long wanem, ol i bin kilim Yu i dai, na long blut bilong Yu, Yu bin baim bek ol manmeri, bilong givim ol long God. Yes, Yu baim bek ol manmeri bilong olgeta lain man, na bilong olgeta tok ples, na bilong olgeta kain skin, na bilong olgeta kantri.” Kamapim Tok Hait 5:9

Arrival in Ukarumpa!!

We arrived in Ukarumpa yesterday at 2:00 P.M.; some 91 days after coming to PNG.  We are now getting settled in, meeting new people and familiarizing ourselves with the layout of the centre. 

Our trip to Port Moresby was uneventful and the embassy personnel were exceptionally helpful. We now have the notarized documents in the mail and hope that we can expedite the closing of our home in Dover. 

We feel blessed to have arrived in time for Easter and look forward to jumping into our ministries. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement.

Prayer Alert!

In our previous post regarding our village living experience, we mentioned prayer for baby Skot. We recently learned that he has passed away. Please lift up his parents and the the entire Aufan village community as they try to make sense of his death. Please pray that they would seek the peace that only comes from Jesus Christ.

Village Living and the final week of POC

We just returned from living in the village of Aufan for the last four weeks. We are now in our final week of the Pacific Orientation Course.  We depart from Madang on Tuesday and fly to Port Moresby, where we have an appointment at the U.S. Embassy to get some paper work signed and notarized so that we finalize the sale of our home in Dover. We should arrive in Ukarumpa on Thursday, just in time for Easter weekend!

We have been very blessed by our ex-pat and national teachers as well as our fellow students and all of you who have been praying for our ministry. The village living phase of the course was especially enlightening.  Not only did we get to see first hand what it is like to live without electricity, running water, a stove or the internet, but, more importantly, we got to see the love of Christ expressed through our village wasfamili and others in the Aufan community. 

When we arrived in Aufan March 12th the entire village came out to welcome us. Over the next four weeks, we greatly enhanced our language skills, attended and spoke at the local church and elementary school and helped our wasfamili work in their gardens. Wasfamili is the Tok Pisin word for ‘host family’ who has the responsibility for caring for us.  ‘Was’ means ‘watch’ in this case.  Other family members are then called ‘wasbrata’ (host brother), ‘was susa’ (host sister), etc. We cooked our dinner over an open fire, gathered water from local spring, bathed in a nearby river and spent many, many hours “storying” with our Papua New Guinean brothers and sisters. 

Here are some brief highlights:

* We visited numerous relatives and friends of our Waspapa and learned first hand about their lives, perceptions of the world and local history. 

* One of our wasbratas named his child after me. This child was born premature and, as a result, has serious health issues. The week before we left Aufan we took a PMV (Public Motor Vehicle) into Madang and visited the child, his mother and father in the hospital. Please keep baby “Skot” in your prayers.

* On the aforementioned PMV ride, the driver happened to be a Pastor and when he heard that we were missionaries he spoke to us the entire way into town about the importance of missions. The cost of the PMV was 12 Kina (6 dollars). When we arrived the driver handed each of us a10 Kina note and refused to accept payment for the ride as he wanted to donate to our mission. 

* We took a trip up a nearby mountain where we visited relatives of our wasfamili, saw two Cassowaries (a very large prehistoric looking flightless bird, similar to an emu) and were presented with two hand-made Bilums ( a traditional Papua New Guinea string bag) that easily took over a month’s work to complete.

* We were present for the annual taro festival (akin to our Thanksgivng). Our wasfamili and their extended family killed and cooked a pig in our presence and served it with taro grown from their gardens.

* Kathy taught people how to make bread and cake over an open fire, as well as introducing them to pasta and curried rice dishes. We weren’t sure how the pasta and curry would go over, but they liked it and requested that she make it again and again. 

* We attended the local church each Sunday and saw first hand how our brothers and sisters in PNG worship. On the first Sunday we were asked to introduce ourselves , which we did in somewhat broken Tok Pisin. On the last Sunday, we were thankful that our Tok Pisin had greatly improved, because just before church started we were asked to give a thirty minute presentation at the end of the service. My mind instantly went blank, but the Holy Spirit told me what to say. I spoke about our call to missions, read the parable of the talents and then related how God can and does prepare people for His work. We finally encouraged the local congregation to use their God given talents to further the work of His Kingdom, all in Tok Pisin. 

* We visited and spoke at the local elementary school where we saw first hand the challenges faced by the two teachers who, with very little educational materials and minimal facilities, are teaching over one hundred students. 

* Our wasfamili killed a chicken a few nights before we left, cooked it with taro and coconut milk, and had a large gathering to say good bye to us.

* We had plenty of opportunities to talk about our different cultures and, more importantly, the common thread that binds us together as brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Some prayer requests:

* The continuing improvement of health for baby Skot, strength for the family and wisdom to the medical staff.

* The Aufan elementary school teachers, who, despite having little resources, are dedicated to their mission of educating children.

* Our wasfamili and others in Aufan who so graciously opened their homes and their lives to us over the last four weeks.

* The Church in Aufan; that they would be strengthened and blessed as they bring the Gospel to more and more people.

* Our travel to Port Moresby; that we would have a safe and productive trip, so that our house could finally be sold.

* Our travel to Ukarumpa and getting settled into our new ministries.

We have approached village living and all of the Pacific Orientation Course as learners. It is as if we became small children again for a while to learn how Papua New Guineans view the world. While there were some difficulties adjusting to a new culture, we have come away with a deep and abiding respect for our brothers and sisters in this part of the world. We are thankful that God, in His mercy and grace, chose to send us here and look forward to starting our ministries in Ukarumpa.