How Not to Fiberglass: A Cautionary Tale

During our trip to Anguna this past fall, we found out that we would not be leaving when we thought we would be. Somehow our helicopter out of the village had not gotten scheduled. Elizabeth and I, of course, took this as a great opportunity to get some stuff done that we hadn't yet gotten around to. For Elizabeth, there were numerous chores of varying interest, but for me there was the boat.

Over the years that Martha had spent in Papua New Guinea, she had often used a fiberglass canoe to get up and down the river. During that time it had taken quite a few bumps and beatings, and as a result the canoe had developed cracks in its surface. Despite my being not so handy, Martha presented the repair job as a way that I could spend my time. At my hesitation, Martha insisted that I could patch these cracks much better than her and whip the boat into ship-shape! I had never done such a job before, but that didn't deter me in the least. So, with no instruction whatsoever and a hurried assurance that I would do fine from Martha, I stepped outside the house and began my first forays into the world of fiber glassing. The lessons I learned are cataloged here.

• Less is more - One of the key components of fiberglass is a hard polymer that is composed of two different liquids mixed together and brushed and dabbed into the fiberglass patches. It sort of acts like a glue that sticks the patch to the surface of the boat and hardens it. Seeing as how the patch I was working with was larger, I decided to mix a large enough batch to last me the morning. This was a bad idea. Whether on the boat or still in a plastic container, when the polymer decides that it should be hard, it becomes hard. So, one moment I was dabbing a liquid onto the top of a boat, and the next moment my brush was stuck in a rapidly setting container of polymer going through a chemical reaction. The reaction produced enough heat that the plastic container holding the polymer began to warp and melt. This was rather concerning for me, mostly because I was holding the container in my hand at the time. The rest of the week I mixed polymer 2 ounces at a time. 

• Haste makes waste - Since my first experience with polymer happened because I took too long to  use it, I decided moving quicker was more important than making sure everything was lined up properly. So instead of taking the time to sand everything even before putting down the patch, I just threw the patch over the cracks and poured on the glue. Turns out that if the patch isn't laid flat the fiberglass will form air bubbles over the hull of the boat. This isn't a good thing, as I realized after having to sand down the fiber glass back to where I started. It wasn't a complete waste of time though, because it taught me another lesson. 

• Exposed skin is vulnerable - It was hot in PNG. After all, it was the tropical rain forest. So, not only was I not wearing long sleeves, but I wasn't even wearing a shirt. For those of you who don't know, fiberglass is basically a sheet of small splinters that all are eagerly looking for exposed skin which it can impale. I itched for days. 

• Whistle while you work - Despite all these setbacks, I was able to finish a pretty good portion of patching on the boat during my week. I worked mostly in the mornings, and as the missionary house was more or less in the center of the village, I had my share of watchers. From the twenty or so kids who came and sat with me for hours, to the men who yelled out encouragements as they walked by, I rarely was alone. Often times the boys around me would whistle out tunes while they watched me. I would listen to them and then whistle it back and they would laugh with each other and with me about the clumsiness of my whistling. I never had to stop working to whistle back, and playing with them definitely made the time go by faster. 

• Slow and steady builds a boat - By the end of the week, I had actually gotten significantly better at my job. While the back half of the boat, where I started, looked like a lumpy mess, the front of the boat was smooth. I had broken off some of the more splintered areas of the boat so that I could start with a flat area, and had patched the boat in layers, so that it would be fairly smooth, and I sanded down the rougher areas. Once I had finished, the boat looked like it would float again without springing a leak, and, whats more, I felt that I had accomplished something. 

I still may not be an expert on fiber glassing, but I did learn a little that week. Work in the shade, protect your skin, sand down the surface, and don't overdo the glue. Still, the best part of the week was whistling with the kids and being encouraged by the men. On the mission field, we all have jobs to do, whether its the odd jobs handed to us, like fixing a boat, or its something bigger and longer lasting, like teaching people to read or giving them the Bible in their own language. Whatever the job may be, it is important that we find joy in it. It may take a week, or a year, or longer.

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On the road again...

After our week at Pioneer Missions institute, Elizabeth and I took to the road again! We have supporters all over this country, and keeping up with them is just so much more satisfying in person than it is over the internet. Since school is out for us for a few weeks we took the opportunity to come all the way to Phoenix, AZ to visit with some of our supporters who made our trip this past fall a possibility. Since getting to Arizona we have had the chance to sit down to lunch with some good friends, work as volunteers in a church nursery, worship alongside some awesome Christians, and help a member of the church to move into a new house. Not bad for the first day.

Since we are in the area, we also plan on taking a short break by going camping near the Grand Canyon. Neither of us have had a chance to see this wonder of nature, and being so close it would be a shame if we didn't make the trip now. And since we are camping, the trip itself is costing us surprisingly little! Both of us are rather excited to be seeing something so "Grand" during our relatively short break this year. It will be a very much so needed vacation. (see Elizabeth's blog article on vacations here)

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In Search of A Hobby

Since the very beginning of our relationship, my wife and I have disagreed on what a hobby should look like. In the past I've spent most of my free time either reading books, playing games, or catching up on the news, but Elizabeth insists that the internet won't work very well as a hobby once we get to a place where we won't actually have the internet.


With that in mind, I have been considering a number of different hobbies that could help me pass the time, even while I'm off in a part of the world where I can't access my typical forms of entertainment. I think I've finally settled on one (we hope), but it was a long and convoluted path to get me there. I submit to you here a few of my more interesting attempts at finding a past time suitable for jungle living.

• Knitting - Don't judge me. Throughout all the years of my college education, I was constantly surrounded by people either knitting or crocheting, whether in my classes or out on the front lawn of my alma mater. We even had a blanket drive for the homeless in Little Rock where the idea was for each of us to knit or crochet a blanket so we could give a more human touch to our charity. Let's just say there are quite a few scarves that were handed out that year. I, however did not try to throw my hat into the knitting ring until I discovered that my wife has a great talent for the art. For Christmas, she even knitted me a false beard to keep my face warm! (see photo) I figured worse case scenario, I tried and failed, and the knitting needles I used could be incorporated into a spear once I got to PNG. My wife showed me the first few knots I would use to knit a small square, perhaps to be used as a coaster....or something. I valiantly worked on this small square for hours and hours (or maybe, you know...minutes) until I threw down the needles triumphantly! One row was finished! I have yet to pick the needles back up to start that second row. Probably not the best hobby.

• Photography - Ah, the arts. I actually got to try this one out while we were in PNG this past fall. Who wouldn't love taking pictures of the beautiful landscapes and fascinating cultural scenes that surrounded us overseas? Turns out, me. I tried. If you go through the photos from our trip you can actually tell just by looking which ones I took and which ones my wife took. Hers are the ones where you can't help but see the beauty of this fair country. Mine are the ones where blurry figures are walking around without heads. 

• Writing - Which brings us to my current endeavors. Coming up this summer, one of my favorite authors is broadcasting his creative writing class over the internet as part of a Distance Education project. What this means is that I will have the opportunity to learn writing techniques from one of the best for free. Needless to say, I'm excited about this. I've never written a book before. I still struggle with keeping an up to date blog. But that's all about to change! I'm about as excited about starting to write as a hobby as I was not for knitting and figuring out which camera setting to use after having already missed my opportunity for a great photo. In conjunction with this, my wife has encouraged me to start a new blog where I can practice writing by recounting stories of conversations we have had over a variety of different subjects. Hopefully writing for that will encourage me to keep writing for this as well. 

Words are important to me. My main hobby of the past was reading stories. While I may not always have the ability to find new stories to read once I'm overseas, I will always have access to the stories I create, and the stories about life with Elizabeth. If I can't read, I might as well write! Here's hoping this hobby sticks!

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