Scripture App Builder

One of the challenges of teaching literacy in our context is the lack of good resources in the local languages. We have shell books, and whatever Scripture has been translated, but since the people live out in the bush, it can be difficult to get physical copies of these items into their hands.

Not only that, but in a tropical environment paper does not always last. Whether the weather, rats, bugs, or whatever, paper has a limited shelf life in the jungle. Enter Scripture App Builder.

Even in the jungle people take good care of their cell phones. While not everyone here has a cell phone, many do, and out of those some have smart phones. And with the ever decreasing cost of technology that number will only grow! Our friends over at SIL decided to take advantage of that fact by putting the Bible, and other resources, onto smart phones. But since they don't know every language in the world, they also released Scripture App Builder, a program to allow others to do the same.

I would love to say that I was the first one in my branch who did anything with this, but our IT guy beat me to the punch. Even so, I'm super excited by what I've seen so far. If you've been keeping up with us you will know that we are planning on taking a short village trip in August to the Akukem people group. While the main purpose of the trip is to test a change in the orthography, it just so happens that they already have the book of Mark both translated and recorded in their language. So, using Scripture App Builder I have made a Book of Mark app that will allow them to read it themselves, or will read to them while highlighting the words it is reading! Pretty fancy, and an awesome way to help people learn more about the Bible and about reading. I can't wait to see it in the hands of an Akukem National!

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What I've Been Up To

My wife is absolutely wonderful about keeping everyone up to date with what we as a family have been doing, and also with keeping you up to date on what she's personally been working on with PBT. I am not. But that doesn't mean I haven't been working! I suppose it's time to update y'all a bit on what exactly it is that I've been doing recently.

Since we aren't yet working with a specific people group, I've been looking into ways that we can help all of our projects on the literacy side of things. Mostly that means taking little ideas that might pan out and exploring them until something happens. With that in mind I have a few separate little projects that I've been rotating through. Because of my interests and general trends in literacy lately, most of these are technology based.

1. Books on Phones - Not very revolutionary for the English speaking crowd, but still a great idea. I've been looking at transferring over some of our shell books from Publisher to epub format so that people can read them on their phones. It's more time consuming than difficult, and currently only works with people who have smart phones in the bush, which is a small, but growing, number. I've also started looking into options for getting them onto feature phones as well. With the huge number of phones out in the bush this would allow people to have access to a large number of texts without having to worry about keeping the paper dry, and would be sustainable (hopefully) since the phones are already there. There still isn't a guarantee they would be used, but I think it's worth a shot!

2. Audio ebooks on Phones - One of the cool features of the Epub3 format of ebook is the ability to put an audio recording in the book so that your device can read to you. As it reads it can highlight the portion being read so that you can read along. For people just starting to read this can be a huge help in developing their ability, and for those who can't read being able to hear what's in the book without having to find someone to read it to them is great! This would need an app capable of dealing with epub3, though, so probably smart phones and computers only for this one.




3. Scripture App Builder - Not really one of my projects per se, but something cool nonetheless. Scripture App Builder is a program designed by SIL to take translated Scripture and package it in an Android app. Other smart people are looking at leveraging this for our translations, but in the future we may also use it to package up literacy materials into an app as well. In the meantime, I'm playing around with this a little to see what it can do.


4. Video Literacy Lessons - Again, probably not the most original of ideas. In fact, it isn't even mine! Another Literacy Specialist working with our branch is interested in making videos similar to ones that she had seen elsewhere, and I got copied on the email. That was enough to set me off figuring out how to make it work for us, and while I don't have a specific lesson plan yet, I'm working on making a short proof of concept video to get us started off! Eventually we may have some of our  teachers record lessons in their own language so that people in other villages can benefit from their training! We'll see.



5. Modified Keyboard - This is really just a side project for when I have some down time. I'm trying to figure out how to change the assignments of the numpad number keys so that they can type special characters like ñ, or ɨ without complicated work arounds or changing from the English keyboard. The system we have in place does typically work fine, which is why this is such a low priority, but I think it might be easier for our translators to have a dedicated button for all the letters they need whether they're typing in English, Tok Pisin, or their own vernacular. So. Side project.


Of course each of these projects have their own snags and learning curves which I'll have to work through to get them functioning, especially since I don't have a background in coding, but they eventually may be great resources for our Literacy teachers in the village so it is totally worth it. (side note: If you have experience with any of these things and have words of wisdom to impart, I'd love to hear from you)

 My job will look different once we choose an allocation, but for now I'm keeping busy!

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Learning to Sew Morota

One of the hardest things for me to come to terms with in the village was the simple fact that I don't have any trade skills. I am a sub-par carpenter, a mediocre mechanic, and there weren't all that many computers out there for me to tinker with. Not only that, but another student had come to the village years before me and, inevitably, I was compared to him. He was a pilot. And a mechanic. And a fat man the size of an elephant. (Being fat is a good thing here. It means you eat well and are strong because of it.)

Unfortunately this was a source of stress for me while I was in the village, mostly because I felt like I didn't have any of the skill sets that were respected in this culture, and the skills I do have, such as teaching literacy, take a long time to implement. So I did the only thing I knew to do. I learned. One of the things I had seen men in the village making before was a roofing material called morota.

Morota is somewhere between a thatched roof and a roofing shingle. It is made from the leaves of a sago palm sewn together around a long thin piece of wood. This wood comes from the inside of a buai, which is another kind of palm. They use a small vine called kanda as both the needle and the rope.

Since the workday was happening next door to the house we were living in, I was one of the first people to arrive. I asked my wasbrata (watch-brother. Essentially we were adopted into a family, and they looked out for us) to teach me how to make morota, and he quickly explained the three materials we would be using. He grabbed a stick, a vine, and a pile of the sago leaves and began. In Papuan culture, most teaching is down by demonstration and repetition, and so rather than explaining the steps, he simply began, saying, "Like this."

It was easy enough to pick up, and soon I was sewing morota on my own, though my leaves often looked uneven when compared to the ones made by the other men. When I had finished my 2, in roughly the same time it took Peter to make 4, we stacked them in a pile with some others to let them dry, and went home.

 Another day, I got to help Peter adjust the morota on the roof of our kitchen. There was a leak in one of the leaves, and so we had to lift some others up to give that area greater coverage. Each of the leaves is tied to a wooden rafter below it using more of the Kanda vine that was used to sew the leaves together.

 It was great getting to learn one of the ways that these people have used the resources available to them in nature to make the things they need to survive!

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Bargam Worship Songs

One of the wonderful people we've had the opportunity to meet in our time here is a man named Lazarus. Lazarus was one if the translators who worked on the Bargam New Testament while the SIL missionary lived here, and he is still a strong man of God in this area. One of Lazarus' passions is singing worship songs in his own native language, which is something that I whole heartedly encourage. One day, I asked him if we could listen to and record one of the songs they've written in Bargam. He excitedly agreed, and told me we could come over to his house later to hear one. Later became tomorrow and tomorrow became next week, but eventually we found ourselves at Lazarus' house with recorder in hand. He proudly decades they had picked out just a few songs to sing for us. Only 17 for us to record. Then he picked up his bush knife and began to tune his bamboo pipes. (This means cutting each pipe to a specific length so that it makes the correct note when he thwacks it with a flip flop.) Eventually a large group of assembled to play, including two guitars, the aforementioned bamboo tubes, local drums, a tambourine and a triangle. All in all, it was a pretty impressive set up. Lazarus called for silence. I turned on my microphone. And they began. I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to listen to men and women of God lifting up their voices in worship in their own heart language. It was truly a thing of beauty. Ideally, once I get to my computer, I will be able to edit my recordings a little bit and compile them into a format they can easily play and share in their village using radios and phones. They have these songs in their language, but we don't hear them in their Church. Only in their homes. My hope is that if they can more easily listen to and learn the songs for themselves, they might be more willing to incorporate them into their worship services. I don't know if it will with out not, but wouldn't it be cool?

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5 Great Apps for Baby-Rearing

One of the weirder things about me wanting to live out in the middle of the jungle for a goodly portion of my life is that I unabashedly enjoy technology. Not only do I enjoy it, but it plays at least some role in most parts of my life. It just makes things easier. Since October, and the birth of my son, there have been five apps in particular that have been making my life easier, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to share them with you, in hopes that they might make your life easier, too.

In no particular order, here they are:

Baby Connect: - Available pretty much everywhere. This app is used for tracking information that might be pertinent to your kid. It can be used for tracking everything from how many dirty diapers the kid has had in a day, and when, to weight changes over time, to which immunizations he has had. As long as you are willing to put in the time to input the data, it will keep it organized and accessible for you no matter what device you are using, and can be synced between multiple devices.

Simply Noise: - Available on the web, iOS and Android devices. We use white noise to help our kid to sleep better at night, though it can be used anytime you want to drown out other noises so you can focus in on a task. I used it while studying in grad school, as well. The web version is free, but requires a computer with an internet connection to use. You can also buy the app on Android or iOS to make it available in a more mobile friendly fashion, or download it to a computer for a choose your own price to make it available offline. While there are plenty of white noise options out there, this one is hands down my favorite.

Night Light: - Available on Android only. While I'm sure there are plenty of other night light options out there, this one works well for me since I keep my phone plugged in overnight anyways. Basically it just lets you adjust your screen brightness in order to give you a light for those times when you need to get up to take care of the kid. A simple touch will change the screen from black to white, and the brightness is adjustable from there. It also has the time showing on the screen, which can be helpful in its own way. Again, it is super simple, but it works for me.

Skype: - Available pretty much everywhere. Skype isn't necessarily a "baby-rearing" app per se, but it is most definitely useful. We use it for keeping in contact with the grandmothers so they can see their grandson while we are traveling. Skype is, of course, free for Skype to Skype calls, and it works well whether on the computer or on a mobile device. You can use it for other things, like calling a cell phone from your computer, but that costs a little bit. All in all, Skype is one of my favorite communication apps out there.

Baby Monitor: Available on Windows Phone only. Though my wife wanted me to point out that they are working on a PC to PC version. This app connects your Windows Phone to a PC's camera and microphone, essentially converting it into a video baby monitor. We have regular baby monitors, so this isn't our primary method, but it does work when we need something in a pinch and have a spare lap top to use it with. Again, you might be able to find something that works just as well or better, but this is what we've used. Shop around.

Runners up -
All the systems apps on my phone. It's amazing how useful a simple alarm can be, and my phone camera has been used to take more pictures since our son was born than the rest of the time I've owned it together. But since you're probably already using these apps, I figured I'd share the others.


So what great apps do you know of that makes the life of a new (or old) parent easier? Let me know in the comments below!

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Inept

I'm a Dad! Wow.

One of the things I feel in this new stage in my life is a sense of complete ineptitude. I've never been a dad before. I don't know what I'm doing. I tried to put the diaper on backwards, until Elizabeth stopped me. (Thank God for wives, without them kids wouldn't be possible) But here I am, with a kid, and a need to take care of him. A burning desire, actually.

I can't look at him without feeling overwhelmed. Not in the sense of, I can't do this, but in the sense of I am doing this, even though I don't know how. There's nothing as amazing as picking up my crying son and having him stop almost immediately. There's nothing as heart wrenching as him crying in his car seat in the back and me not being able to pick him up, or comfort him. That cry of his can break my heart.

It has been stressful, and wonderful, and a whole host of other-fuls, and I'm excited for more.

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Our Road Trip to Pennsylvania

It was a bright and sunny day... That's pretty much how most horror stories start out, right? No? Well, even so our weekend road trip to PA ended up being a little on the rough side. It really did start out looking like a great day to take a trip. Elizabeth and I both have spent our fair share of being on the road, from our families taking trips to grandmother's house, all the way up to our more recent journeys across the country as we travel for partnership development. We really didn't expect this trip to be any different, but it was. Possibly it was our expectation that it would be an easy trip that made it so bad for us, but either way, it was bad.


To start off the trip, we sat outside a restaurant for an hour, waiting to meet with someone from a church in that area only to find out that we had somehow missed him. Always a great start to a trip. From there it was a slog of a drive north over highways that are..... somewhat different from the highways we are accustomed to. Elizabeth later said that she experienced more culture shock from driving on the roads of Pennsylvania than from anything we did in Papua New Guinea. For one thing, the highways are composed of narrower roads, weaving through hills instead of long, straight, wide highways. Add to that an overwhelming amount of construction on these narrow, hilly roads, and a sprinkling of bad drivers, and we had a recipe for stress.


But what really brought it to the next level was our trip home. First, our air conditioning went out. Lovely. Then, a short time into the trip, we began to smell a faint sulfur smell, that grew less faint as time went on. Finally, Elizabeth pulled off the road and into a gas station so we could get some fresh air. I took the opportunity to look up what would cause such a stench. Turns out my alternator had gone bad and begun overcharging my battery. It was the boiling sulfuric acid from the battery that we were smelling.


All that got fixed of course. We replaced the alternator, and the battery, and got a new tire as well. I refilled the freon, and we were set to get back home. However, our quick trip up north ended up taking a lot longer than we would have liked. The road got long.


It seemed like it ended up being one of the longest road trips of my life. It was definitely one of the more stressful ones. Yet even so, while we were there, in Pennsylvania, we got to spend time with Legacy Church, and meet some great people. We also got to spend an afternoon with some of our good friends from Dallas, who had moved up north after graduating. Even on what we perceived as being a bad trip, there were a number of good things that happened.


Life sometimes offers up to us "long trips". Even when our journey looks straightforward and simple, sometimes stumbling blocks appear. Missions has been that sort of journey for me. I decided to become a missionary back in 2005, and while we are now so close to getting to the field (May 20015), it took quite a bit longer than I had hoped to get to that point. Even so, there have been so many good things that have happened to me during the journey. If the journey had been simple, and short, I would not have met my beautiful wife. I would likely never have joined up with PBT, and I would be doing something completely different from my current role. There have been ups and there have been downs, but that's just part of life, and like our trip to Pennsylvania, you have to take the bad with the good. Even so, I'm ready for the next part of our journey!

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5 Things I Won't Enjoy About Living in the Jungle

While I am super excited about getting to live in the Jungle, I also realize I have to be realistic with my expectations. Sure, we get to live in a tropical near-paradise, with scenic views and most importantly a complete lack of snow, but every place has its down sides as well. While I don't foresee any of these things becoming an actual problem, they very well may be annoying. Looking forward from where I am now, these are a few of the things that I'm really not looking forward to about living in the jungle.

1. Lack of Privacy-

While I do love spending time with people as much as the next person, I also know my limitations. I am an introvert. Every once in a while, I just need to pull back away from everyone around me and immerse myself in some alone time, just to keep myself sane. Here in the States that's fairly easily done, but in Papua New Guinea our walls will be thin. Actually, our exterior walls may end up being screens, since we'll be using the cross wind to keep our house cool. That means that I'll be able to hear whenever anyone walks by our house, which is just enough to keep me from feeling all the way alone. Add to that the fact that it's so quiet in the village that people on the other side will probably be able to hear any of our conversations, and you can see how someone could feel a little bit claustrophobic even in the bush.

2. Bugs 

Sure, we have bugs here in the States! And yes, they can be quite a pest. (I'm most definitely not a fan of fire ants) But there are two things that bug me about bugs overseas. Firstly, that they're just so pervasive, and secondly that they can cause a good deal of misery. I don't know if you've ever had malaria, but it is undeniably miserable. Granted, it is also fairly easily curable, even with fairly cheap medicines, but while you are waiting for the medicine to take effect it can still be a trial. Add on to that the large number of flies, spiders, and roaches find out in the bush, and you can see that bugs can be rather more of a problem than they are here in the States. At least for our first term in PNG I know we are planning on bringing our mosquito nets in order to create a little sanctuary from the critters, so at least there's that. 

3. Rain 

You'd think that I would have seen this coming, but it turns out that it rains a whole lot in the Jungle, especially during rainy season! Turns out, I don't like being wet! Still, simply being wet is one of the lesser inconveniences that the rains can bring. Even in the States the rain can cause problems, but in many parts of the world, PNG included, rain can do a real number on the roads. It becomes difficult to travel, and a trip that would only take a few hours in the dry season can become a real hassle. Rain does, of course, have its upsides as well. For one thing it is important for the gardens in PNG, which are how most of the people feed their families. That brings me to the next thing on my list,

4. Dirt

I don't like being dirty.  Not that out of the ordinary, I suppose, but still true. When I talk about the reasons I'm proud to be part of PBT, the fact that we are "down in the dirt" missionaries is one of the first things I'll talk about. I've seen it modeled for me by experienced missionaries, and I'm not afraid to get dirty myself when needed, but it can still be an irritation. Just a little thing, but those little things have a way of adding up, if you're not careful. All that leaves is my last item on my list, and probably one of the things I'm least looking forward to....

5. Chamber Pots

I hate for this post to simply become a poop joke, but really, at the very least for our first term, this is something I'll have to deal with. Until we build a more Americanized house, and a septic tank, chamber pots will just have to be part of our lives. And really, I'm thankful for that option, since being able to answer "nature's call" within the comfort of our own home could be a life saver. They are also the easiest way for us to avoid numbers 1-4, since outhouses would involve leaving our house every time. 

In all seriousness, though, I am extremely excited to get the opportunity to work as a missionary in Papua New Guinea. Yes, there are things that I will have to deal with that I may not like, whether it be sickness, irritations, inconveniences, or any number of other issues. And maybe I'm not going to win any awards for the most "normal" of lives. But I sorta like that. Besides, the opportunities we'll have and the things we'll be a part of will last for eternity, and affect the lives of people far beyond ourselves. So a little rain is worth it. Trust me. 

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My Moto X Mishap

Many of us have been there, I'm sure. That moment when you look down at your phone screen, a screen, mind you, that should be pristine, only to see this. 

I have no idea what happened here.

It's a pretty sad sight, to say the least. I've only had this phone since January of this year, and it has already served me so well. I've used it to take notes in class, to navigate to so very many places, to look up recipes, and to read blogs and books. The phone is a Moto X, and while I don't use it very often for phone calls or texts, I do use it for pretty much everything else under the sun. Which is why I was so disappointed when one day I pulled it out of my pocket to see the corner had somehow been broken. I had not dropped it. I hadn't done anything unusually strenuous. I really have no idea what happened. And yet it was broken. 

When my wife's phone screen shattered, we paid for it to be fixed. It took us awhile to get around to doing so, since the price to replace the screen was daunting to say the least. I definitely didn't want to do that again. And so, with much trepidation, and doubt I called Motorola on the off chance that I was covered by some obscure part of the warranty I wasn't seeing. As I explained my situation to the customer service guy, I knew it was hopeless, and he only confirmed it with his words, "I'm afraid that isn't covered by the warranty." But then hope! "But....." There was a pause. "Listen, let us do you a favor. We're going to go ahead and send you a new phone, and you can send us back the broken one. No charge, or anything, so long as you send yours back."

There was  much rejoicing! 

The story could end there, I suppose. But since I'm a missionary, I think I'll get all parable-y on you. 

I most certainly didn't deserve to get a new phone for free. While my last two phones have both been Motorola, that didn't mean I was one of their top customers, or anything. My new Moto X was a gift. 

In some ways, this is like God giving us our salvation. Sometimes we look at our lives and really truly understand that we are broken. There isn't anything that we, ourselves, can do about that. All we can do is ask God for forgiveness. And really we don't deserve it. Instead, forgiveness only comes from Christ, and it is a gift freely given. All we need to do is ask for it, and we accept it. How cool is that? 

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The World Cup

There is very little in this world as pervasive as soccer. The 2014 World Cup just finished yesterday, making this my third World Cup that I've watched, and the first one that I've watched while in the States. While I am (of course) a little disappointed that the US didn't make it farther than it did, I'm still rather excited to see us as a nation participating in a sport that does so much to help us come together with the international community as a whole. Even just here in the States, Elizabeth and I got into some great conversations with a Columbian, a Brazilian, and a Uruguayan. Turns out, we were all rooting for the States that game. And even though we were all disappointed, we had a great time chatting about each of our different countries. 

Another of the things I like about the World Cup is the commercials! 

I mean, that's just funny. Sure their just trying to boost their sales off of an event that has such a huge following, but I'm ok with that. It simply proves that the World Cup is a big deal. And because it is, we should be doing all we can to use the interest in the World Cup to help teach Literacy. (or other things too, I guess)

One example: The National Literacy Trust in England has a guy who is writing a Childrens Book for use in schools based around the World Cup. For each game he writes another chapter, and, if I'm reading the description right, the events surrounding the Cup effect what is happening in the story. That's just cool!

(you can read his story here)

While I think this is awesome, I really haven't seen much else promoting Literacy using all the interest in soccer. Still, my personal opinion is that motivation is the main key to teaching people to read. I would love to see more soccer based resources since it is such a wide spread phenomenon. 

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Looking Forward to Literacy

I start the final class of my Literacy training this month. 

The last couple of years have been a wonderful experience for me. I've learned a lot about language and how it works, and I've met some wonderful people here in Dallas, including my wife. Even so, I am super excited to start my Literacy Megacourse this semester and complete my training. 

When I first decided to do missions long term, literacy wasn't really where I thought I would be focused. Most missionaries that I've talked to over the years had been Church Planters, and with them as an example, I figured that was where I would end up. Yet it seemed that every area I visited had me focused on some sort of educational topic. I worked with English students in Peru and Bolivia, and helped with some classes on Sanitation and Health while I was in Africa. By the time I joined up with Pioneer Bible Translators, I had decided that missions, for me, was about helping people to have the ability to learn about God on their own, in their own language. At first, that meant giving them the Bible, but somewhere along the line I realized that giving them a book wasn't enough. I had to teach them to read it. That need was one that I felt that I decided to fill.

I don't know what all to expect from my class this Spring. Nor do I know what my job on the field will look like, exactly. What I do know is that in doing literacy I will enable people to access God's Word in a way that they have never been able to before. I will show God's love to people by helping them to access information that can change, and even save their lives, through learning about sanitation, or medicines, or even farming and water purification. 

I don't know every way in which God will use me to help the people of Papua New Guinea. But even so, I'm looking forward to Literacy.

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Nuclear Fusion

When it comes time to send out our newsletter, I remember that yet again I have neglected to write a blog post in the last month. I am not the most prolific of writers, so you would think that there would be plenty of topics for me to write on, and indeed my interests vary so much that there is an endless array of interesting tidbits that I would love to share with the world.

Like, there is this shark that just grabs a single small bite of its prey and then swims away. It doesn't really kill anything, just steals a bit of their flesh, and flees.

Or recently it was discovered that a certain lake on Mars could very well have sustained Earth-like conditions before, you know, it didn't.

Not the most useful things to know, but interesting.

But I never feel like writing about these tidbits, mostly because it doesn't really say anything about what is happening in my life, and the purpose of this blog is supposed to be to keep my friends, family, and supporters informed and involved in my life. But I'm afraid my life isn't extremely interesting at the moment.

I'm finishing up some readings for a class pre-requisite in preparation for my upcoming literacy course, and my wife is sitting on the other side of the room being crafty, because she's good at that. The Christmas tree is set up in our living room and is trimmed in blue and silver, mostly because I like that combination of colors. The bottom branches are starting to look a little bare because my cat enjoys eating pine needles. Since the weather was a bit icy this week, I was only able to go to work for 3 of my 5 shifts this week, and one of those ended early due to lack of guests.

And of course there are the topics I don't want to write about. Elizabeth did a great job at expressing all that happened this past week on her blog. If you want to read that article, it is titled My Miscarriage.

Needless to say, this week has been full of emotion, but we're doing fine.

And really, that's most of what is happening in my life. Our plans are still on track. Classes in the Spring, partnership development full time after that. And Papua New Guinea once we can afford plane tickets.

So I guess now you're caught up and the purpose of this blog has been fulfilled. And you got some bonus fun facts. So, let's call this a wrap and I'll see you next month!

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When This Boy Meets World

By now I'm sure that most of you have heard the wonderful news. My wife is pregnant! And while this is pretty much the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to me, it has also changed my outlook on a few different things.

Recently my wife and I found the complete series of "Boy Meets World" for sale, and decided to pick it up and take a stroll down memory lane. It is a show that everyone from my generation knows and loves, and growing up I identified with each of the different kids in the show at one juncture or another. But with this watch through, something odd is happening. With the knowledge of my impending fatherhood in the back of my mind, I find myself identifying not only with the kids, but also with the parents. As I've never been a parent before, this is coming as a kind of shock for me. It's also opening up a whole new level of understanding regarding what is happening in the show, and making all the more worth seeing.

It seems to me that this is true of many different things in our world, from Calvin and Hobbes, all the way up to the Bible. Only when you have reached a point where you can see a point from the correct reference can you really get at the core message. For this reason Paul said things like,

"I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready," - 1Cor. 3:2 (ESV)

No matter how much I may have thought I understood of this life, my understanding is about to change. But I'm looking forward to that change.

For the first time in my life, I'm going to understand what it is to be a father.

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Motivation and Self Control

Recently, I made a discovery. The discovery is this:

I don't like to work.

This is problematic, as most of my job tends to be, you know, work. Part of the problem is that I just don't feel like working that often. Its just so much easier to sit back and relax. Maybe watch some tv. Something like that. I mean, have you seen some of what they have on tv these days? Its fun stuff! Super heroes, fantasy tales, and pirates.

I love pirates. 

I'm sorta "hooked"

So why do I love pirates and hate work? Well, it's complicated. Work is what makes it possible for me to live in a house, provide food for my family, and generally keep me off the streets. Pirates, on the other hand, have scurvy.

But pirates are so entertaining that, were it an option, I might just sit back and watch pirates do their thing all day. Of course if I did that then I wouldn't be able to do other things, like go to Papua New Guinea and teach people how to read, and help people understand the scriptures, and cool stuff that not even pirates get to do. That stuff is important. Like, really important. So why is it so hard for me to do it?

It seems that it is a matter of motivation. 

Calling a hundred churches in a day just to get 100 voice mails isn't exciting. I want to do the things that make me feel like life is good. I want to travel, and see the sights and have a good time. I don't want to leave my name and number and a short message after the tone a hundred times.

This is where self control comes in. Self control is the ability to get yourself to do something, even when you don't want to do it, simply because it needs to get done. Its what allows me to turn off the TV and write an email, or go call potential supporters because that's the stuff that will get me to the field so I CAN go teach people the Word of God. Its also what allows me to do the dishes, or the laundry, because....well just because it needs to get done.

It's what makes me an adult. 

So why write this? Because it's a good reminder. A reminder that no matter how good that tv show makes the life of a pirate look, there are consequences to forgoing hard work in favor of chasing what makes you feel good. Like scurvy. And never getting overseas. And I desperately want to get overseas.

What things are you avoiding simply because you don't want to do them? Are you being held back by something "pirating" your time away?

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Reminiscing: About Custard

Some things just taste better when you are stranded in the middle of the jungle with no way out for at least another week, you know?

At least that was my experience with custard. If you've read through any of our stories from the bush, I'm sure you've already heard of our unexpected extra week in the jungle last year. It was a lesson to us to always make sure that you can get back when you first decide to go out. But that's not what this is about.

This is about custard.

This custard looks better than mine.

For some reason, custard doesn't seem to be very popular in the States. It's pretty much the same thing as pudding, except that it's egg flavored. But during that extra week in the bush, egg flavored custard was an amazing dessert. Martha had a huge bag of the stuff and she was glad I took a liking to it, since it meant that I was willing to man the stove and make a pot of it in the evenings. It was quick and easy and delicious.

Fast forward a couple weeks. We were back in Madang and had bought ourselves a big bag of custard mix! I dumped in the mix and some milk and set about heating it up. I added the sugar, making sure to stir just right so that it wouldn't burn.

Soon, I was ready to serve what we had already established as being one of the most delicious of the desserts to be found in the jungle. But something was wrong. Taking a big spoonful, I tasted the concoction and learned, to my dismay, that some things should probably stay in the jungle.

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(25) Things I Learned in the Jungle

(About Food)

Pretty much everything is different when you go overseas. From the kinds of animals you can see to the way that the seasons change it's just different. This can lead to some interesting interactions between people who are already in "the know" and those who aren't. Namely, me. This is a catalogue of some of the more interesting tidbits that I discovered during my time in Papua New Guinea.  

Check out my wife's post on this here.

1. Green coconuts are great when you're hot. Not so much when you're not.
2. Brown coconuts need specialized tools to open and eat. Seriously.
3. There are vegetables out there that I'm still not certain how to eat.
4. Shrimp goes well on pizza. 
5. Its way cooler to eat off a banana leaf than a plate. 
6. There are nuts that have the texture and flavor of bread.
7. Bread, though, doesn't always. Also, bread takes forever to make.
8. Tuna can come in pretty much any flavor. (Chili con tuna anyone?)
9. Sweet just means good. Don't turn down someone's potatoes just because they say they are sweet.
10. Fish fresh from a river tastes amazing! The bones of this fresh fish feel like small daggers that are trying to kill your gums.
11. You can boil anything. This does not mean you should. Roasted is much better.
12. Passion fruit should be avoided at all costs. Especially if you have a cut in your mouth.
13. Just because your spices are solidified by the humidity, does not mean that they won't make food taste awesome-er.
14. Ants are good protein. I'm not sure they're worth the effort though. They aren't very filling.
15. In America we use yeast to carbonate Ginger beer. In PNG/Australia, there is enough bacteria in the air to do it.
16. Trees are edible. It takes a lot of work to eat them, though.
17. Salt is candy.
18. Neither PNG or Australia know how to make a sausage taste good.
19. If an Aussie offers you a spider, they (probably) aren't offering you a bug.
20. There is a process to freezing vegetables. Follow it.
21. Bacon is a form of currency in PNG.
22. Custard is the best jungle dessert ever! Unless you burn it.
23. Coffee can be made anywhere. If it is Garoka coffee, it shouldn't be.
24. Pancakes make a great birthday cake. 
25. Fried chicken is a world wide staple. 

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5 Fun Things Do With Your Old Smartphone

If you're anything like me, you probably have at least one old smart phone not being used somewhere in your house. In my case its my old LG Ally, that I replaced over a year ago. I had been considering getting rid of it, but couldn't quite muster the ability to throw something out that could be potentially useful. So instead I turned to the internet to discover the best way to repurpose my old phone to give it some new life. These 5 things are what I came up with.

Mouse pad and Keyboard

I'll start out with my new favorite use for my old phone. As my wife and I don't have a TV in our house, we tend to do any of our movie watching on our computers. The problem with this is that we really didn't have much of a way to control the computer from the comfort of our couch. It wasn't a huge inconvenience, but since I had the phone out I decided to see what I could do. I installed the free version of a program called Unified Remote and made my Ally into a wireless mouse pad and keyboard for my computer. You have to have their software downloaded on your computer and your phone, and have access to wireless internet, but if that's not a problem this program will let you use your phone not only to navigate on your computer, but also as a wireless media remote for things like Youtube and VLC Media player. Pretty awesome.

Media Center

I like to be able to listen to music or watch tv while I'm cooking or cleaning in the kitchen, but we have a pretty small kitchen. My computer is just a tad bit bulky for putting on our counter, and I don't really want to risk it getting wet. so I decided to put my android device on our shared network and be able to watch our movies and listen to our music from my tablet. All I used to do this was ES Explorer (to connect to my network) and MX Player (to enable video streaming) It requires a bit of tinkering with network settings to make sure you are sharing your media on your LAN, but it isn't too hard, and is totally worth the effort.

Portable Gaming

One of the more popular uses for old Androids is to make it into a gaming machine. If you have any ROMs of your favorite old games it is totally worth it to load up an emulator for your Android and play them. Its even better if you also have a bluetooth controller that you can use. While I don't have one, the iMpulse controller recently caught my eye, mostly for its portability.



Camera

My wife has recently begun doing Youtube videos of some of her stories from Papua New Guinea for our supporters who would rather watch a video than read through a blog. But to get that started we had to figure out how to record video. We ended up using our tablet as a camera since it has the best resolution of any camera in our house, but the search for the best camera is what actually made me get out my old phone. It has a camera button on the side, and since I have it linked to my dropbox, it uploads my photos without being prompted so I can view them from any of my devices. You can also use photo sharing apps to do the same thing, but I use dropbox because its automatic and works with all of my devices.

Automated Household

This is one that I haven't actually done, but there are a number of people out there who have. Using Insteon products, or other like products, you can link up pretty much anything to your Android device. Some of the more popular uses are to link thermostats, lights and security cameras with your phone for easy access. If you're willing to go all out, this could be a fun project to do with your old phone. If not.....well, there's a reason I haven't done this.

Bonus! Flashdrive/Paperweight

I don't actually use my android for this. I do however use my old classic ipod for this. *shrug* I wasn't using it for anything else..... Anyways, hope you enjoyed!

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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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