The First Weekend: Day 3-5

                                                           The Church at Yehebi


Day 3
We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches again at breakfast. We need to eat the bread before it goes moldy (with no refrigeration). So that was our breakfast and lunch - except we had a papaya to add to lunch.

The first job of the day was to look at and try to fix the village water tank. The Gobasis have to walk 20 minutes to get water down at the end of the airstrip...and then back again carrying as much water as they can. There are six sizable holes in the tank, and I brought steel epoxy hoping to be able to fix it. We cleaned and applied some to each hole with a friend, Mode, on the inside of the tank to spread out the epoxy a bit. Fixing the tap on it wasn’t as easy; it was worn out and loose and leaking badly. But this is only a temporary fix as I’m sure the tank will break out with new holes before too long.

After lunch, I take a look at the lawnmower. I need a number of things to fix it, but we have no radio contact to get any supplies. I then realize the radio battery is the same one from our last visit nine years ago! We can hear others transmitting because of the solar power, but we can only be heard by others during midday when the sun is powering the radio. By 6:00 there is no power to transmit.

David decided to go out tonight with a few guys to look for some crayfish. He did come back with some for us to eat. I overcooked them, but they still tasted nice.

Day 4

Today was a bit slow. We woke up with the sun, and I don’t remember what we ate for breakfast! We then waited for Sefasui to come, and he faithfully did. We talked about special services that we wanted to hold. I will do Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday meetings, and David will do Monday meetings with the kids/teens and also play sports with them. Then I asked a few other questions about buying food and paying for the outhouse they built for us. I then told him we would like to visit again in the future, but only if we could – no promises.

Nine years ago in 2000, we had brought the village a recurve bow as a gift. I decided to try and fix that because one end of it had split. I didn’t have the right type of glue, but decided to give it a try. We glued it and will try it out tomorrow. In the picture David was initially cleaning away old glue and dirt while we were at Rumginae - where the people had sent it to try and get it repaired - without success.

By this time it was lunch. I had another peanut butter and jelly sandwich on stale bread, and David had Weet-bix cereal with powdered milk.

After lunch someone brought me the under-the-house room key. I was hoping to find plumbing parts, tools, etc, but ended up being disappointed. There was nothing useful in there. I began to get a little discouraged that I wouldn’t be able to help them get anything fixed on this visit. But I did manage to fix the tire pump. I am still not able to get anyone to hear me transmit on the radio so I can request parts - glad I'm not snake-bitten, or that there is any emergency happening.

Hoyo came by today to visit. I hadn’t seen him since I arrived. He was pretty excited to see me. He had walked in from the bush, and his Motu (trade language) is so clear and simple that I understand him quite well. In the early days at Yehebi Hoyo shot a dog straight through with an arrow for eating his "sago." Later he tried to shoot our first Community Health Worker with arrows because he was angry with him!  He has since calmed down a bit.  Sesiai also came down from Nomad and was happy to see us, too.

David cooked, and I cleaned the dishes. I got all the way to the river to wash them before I realized I had forgotten the soap! Ten minutes and down a steep muddy hill. So frustrating! We brought water back from the river and washed them on the steps of the house.

Here is a picture of the little house we stayed in that used to be the home school room for our kids with a guest bedroom in the back. It was pretty small, but fine for David and me. The community health worker was now living in our old house.

Day 5

The day started with hearing the 6 a.m. prayer bell. David and I walked over on what is now a much muddier trail because of the widening of a stream. The little bridge we’d built years before was mostly covered with water. Not many came to prayer time. That was disappointing.

Afterward, we went back for breakfast and then went for the church service when the next bell rang. The people gathered more slowly than I remembered. I am pretty sure more came than usual, but I didn’t ask. After everyone gathered, I gave a brief overview of our life and family in the US. Then I spoke on John 1 and Revelation where it talks about the vision of Jesus (and much more). I wanted to focus their eyes on Jesus.

After church, we clarified speaking times for David and me and then talked with everyone for awhile. We met a young man, Tou, who was only a boy when we lived here. He is now fairly well-educated. His command of English is very good. He is hoping to get more training soon to teach school at Yehebi next year.

Going back to eat lunch, we then had an early evening service around 4 p.m. It started closer to 5 p.m. once everyone gathered. The ladies’ side filled up pretty well, but the men’s showing was weak. I shared on confession of sin and talking to God. It seemed to go well.

Returning later than usual to the house, we just cooked up Maggi noodle soup for dinner. Then we went to bed at 7:30 to read for awhile by flashlight. (Carin can testify that I never, ever go to bed that early! But what else is there to do when there is no lamp or lighting?) Sleeping proved to be pretty rough. The air mattresses weren’t comfortable; they were noisy every time you moved, and the air seemed to be slowly leaking out. Later on we realized that the mattresses were still stretching out and after awhile did not lose air.