In Ukarumpa, every other year, the middle schoolers go on a field trip to Lae. They tour around various factories, like the factory where they prepare much of the chicken we eat here in PNG and a factory for making Gala Ice Cream which is a magical, interesting version of ice cream that even those with lactose intolerances can somehow consume safely 🙂 (Our store also graciously brings in ‘real’ ice cream sometimes and we have the option to make our own if you can buy cream in the country – which isn’t always possible or affordable – or if the cows we have on centre have produced some cream which we can buy in the store).

While the 7th and 8th graders were on the trip this year, the ‘House Captains’ (think – igniters of fun and school spirit) decided to have a big school lunch to give the 6th graders something to look forward to. The school provided ice cream and the House Captains provided the fun.

One of the things that we love about teaching here in PNG, is the emphasis on relationship. Students here are regular students, who face regular struggles, worries and fears. They still have access to internet and are connected to the outside world but they also learn how to interact with others as, so often the media that both informs and connect us has an equal ability to disconnect us and that media is just much more slowly accessed here. In the meantime, they learn how to make their own fun and be with each other in the present and I truly think that is one of the greatest gifts of this missionary kid life that our kids will experience. 

This school lunch and the fun and creative games that ensued after the ice cream are great examples of imaginative fun constructed by students who may or may not realize that their focus on relationship is a priceless gift of living this equally challenging life of back and forth. 

Please keep praying for these students. Pray that God would continue to pursue each one of their hearts. Pray that they would feel His presence in the hard things and experience His joy in the good things and that their eyes would be opened to see His love through it all. 

Thank you!!