Easter. A time of reflection. A time of joy. A time of thankfulness. A time of praise.
Easter here in Lae, PNG, was a very different experience to 'regular' Easters I have at home. For one, I did not see any (and I mean, any!) Easter eggs - unless you count the ones that I saw in Australia in January before I left..... here - the stores had chocolate but no Easter eggs. It was quite refreshing to celebrate Easter and to focus on the one, true meaning.
Good Friday morning I went to church. Pastor's Ian's message really reminded me how we, as Christians, need to focus on living holy lives, letting nothing in this world distract us from our service to Him. We were God's enemies but through the great sacrifice of our Saviour's blood we can be 'wanbel' with God. Wanbel is a pidgin word that literally means 'one stomach' or 'one heart' but in this context the best way I can explain it is that we can be one with God, that we can be part of His family. Oh what a blessing that is!
In the afternoon I chilled out before heading off with most of the families here at 11 Mile to go out for dinner. Yes, you heard it, go out for dinner!!! We headed off early to go to one of the local hotels that serves really nice food - the Lae International Hotel. Out the back there they have a few animals for the guests to look at - tree kangaroos, cockatoos, hornbills, fish, turtles and some other birds. We had a great evening with plenty of delicious food and it was especially cool to be out after dark - for once :) We were safe because we had a few men in tow!
On Saturday I went to the market and did some shopping before spending the afternoon marketing at the gates of our compound. Over the Easter weekend the United Church held a youth conference at Lae City Mission, on the fields in front of our houses. They had speeches, singing, games and all sorts. There was huge attendance -with 350 coming here for it. The boys from Lae City Mission joined them so there was close to 500 people altogether. People here LOVE doing everything loudly so the singing, speaking, praying and everything else was done at full speaker volume! They would start very early in the morning (5:00am) and continue until late at night (11:00pm). They had a bit of a siesta in the afternoon, but apart from that there was plenty going on and I'm telling you, it was LOUD. We used the opportunity of having so many people right at our doorstep to do some fundraising for our church by setting up a market selling drinks and snacks (more about that in a future blogpost).
On Sunday we had another special service at church and all of the school families were invited - most of the parents of the school children wouldn't attend church on a regular Sunday. Along with the usual members, church was full, which was really cool! I love it when church is full, because the singing is so much louder :) After the service a lot of people had prepared items and performances to share. We (from 11 Mile) performed a song called 'We Will Dance On The Streets That Are Golden, with actions and instruments. There were a lot of really great performances and it was really cool to see how talented many church members are. We also had a communal lunch, which made the day even more special.
Monday was a fairly regular day. I worked for the most part and did some blogging too :)
Easter here was a time I'm very thankful for. To celebrate with His people from all tribes and nations was a wonderful blessing. Praise God for sending His Son so that we can be set free and be called His children!
Good Friday service
During the service it rained! It cooled the church building down so beautifully and it was so peaceful hearing the rain on the tin roof. It brought some much needed relief from the heat.
From Heaven He Came; a song that captures the wonder of Easter. We sang this in church and it was so beautiful hearing the voices blend together as one.
The church building.
In honour of the youth camp held at Lae City Mission, the boys decorated the entrance gate. Isn't it beautiful?!! I love the loveheart in the middle. So creative!
Some of the boys with their handiwork :)
Heading out to town for dinner! All piled in the car.
The kids took the opportunity to dress up in their nicest clothes. It was super cute to see how much effort they all put in.
Our market stall. It was a super hot day, hence the sweaty faces :)
You can see some of the youth camp attendees sitting under the tree listening to one of the speeches. The stage was beautifully decorated with bright purple and colour materials.
Just a few of the people who camped. Lots of others stayed in dorms, which would have been really squishy no doubt! Lots of these campers got rained out, so they dragged their beds to our front verandahs and slept there.
Jerry and Annie
Baptism of Jerry and Annie's youngest daughter, Anna-Rita.
The Prep B children sang, 'There is a Redeemer'. It was so beautiful. It's one of my favourite songs and I loved hearing these kids sing it - it was done in typical 5 year old fashion - loud, false and out of time. That's just the way I like it :)
Some more school children singing a rhymed version of Isaiah 53.
Jeremiah played guitar and sang some songs I hadn't heard before. He is an accomplished guitarist and he has an incredible voice! The MC joked, 'Jeremiah has set the standard here! Now, is there anyone else who would like to perform?'
Tono sang a tok ples hymn - which is a hymn in his local village language. There are over 850 different languages in PNG!
Grace and a her family
Yoni performed a dance to a song that she had learned at school. I thought it was really gutsy for her to get up in front of such a big crowd and do it by herself! What a star.
Jeffrey and Monica sang, 'O, What a Morning.' Monica used to teach at the school but is not teaching this year because she has been quite unwell.
The youth campers playing soccer in the drizzling rain. Nothing can stop these guys! There's a beautiful backdrop, hey.
The girls were on the sidelines watching :)
