As the New Year begins (especially for those of us 18 hours ahead), I still can’t believe I am living on a ship in Papua New Guinea! After 39 hours of traveling, we finally landed in Wewak to board the Pacific Link Wednesday night. I’m not gonna lie, I was a little taken aback by how not-glamorous ship life is, but have already grown to love the people & crew I get to share it with! The boat was built for Chinese fishermen so it’s funny to watch our guys walk around hunched over because of the super low ceilings 🙂

The first day we “scrubbed the deck” – and the rest of the ship – but also got to go into the market to get a feel for the people we will be serving. Eye-opening is an understatement. One of the most heartbreaking parts is beetle nut: “chew” that becomes a habit starting as early as 5 year olds because of the nicotine properties + as an appetite suppressant, but rots & turns all their teeth red. The streets are literally covered with garbage & sewage, with hoards of people lining the streets & in the market, trying to make a living selling 30 bananas for 2 kina (about 60¢). There are 2 types of people: extremely kind & welcoming, so thrilled to be prayed for, meet white people, and hear the Gospel – and then the violent, dangerous, hopeless, drunks & trouble makers – almost no in between. In only a day, God gave me a heart for each of these people in Wewak.


Day 2 was a little slow. Cleaning the boat became frustrating & hours of planning for the sermons & ministries ahead made me anxious. But God came through. Midday, 8 of the most prominent pastors in the area came on board & I had the honor of teaching them how to assemble & use the water filters we will be handing out to each of their communities! We later had safety training, orientation, & an inside look into the navigation, which made us feel like a part of the ship. Found out the river we are going down is uncharted waters & we are prepared to face pirates (is this real life?) at the mouth of the river!! So crazy! Also, went on a run with the Captain through the remote seaside jungle village – a highlight of my year – being cheered on by hoards of people in the market, greeting every single person with “api noon”, and having kids run along side us! Felt like a scene from a movie!

Day 3 AMAZING LAST DAY OF 2016 started off with an impromptu church service in the town square! We sang songs in Pigen, I narrated the skit, & did a mini message that the people seemed so excited about! We got to pray for anyone that wanted it and hear some awesome stories! I practiced my Pigen & met some inspiring ladies. Then the Captain surprised us with an adventure! We piled into a giant covered bench truck thing & drove into the gorgeous highlands with breathtaking views to get to a hike to waterfalls you can slide down! The whole crew (Papua New Guineans + YWAMers) enjoyed jumping off cliffs & bonding over the insanity of this outing! When we got back to the ship, we brought in the new year with reflection, prayer, encouragement and then lots of charades, games, dancing, & old flares! THEN we went to the very top deck to watch the entire sky light up with – I kid you not – thousands of fireworks all around the bay. I swear every single person let one off! Most beautiful firework show I’ve ever seen, to say the least 🙂

We headed out on day 4 to a local church, where Marie & I gave the sermon!! After we sang songs & did a skit, we spoke on the value of life and how the 2 things that give us value is our origin & purpose – the God of the whole universe spent time creating you + the purpose of having a relationship with Him & His incredible plans for your life! The church was so full of life, wildly cheering after each point & even after our attempts to say the Bible verses in Pigen 🙂 Later we went to a church service for all the missionaries in the area & left full of inspiration and encouragement.

Day 5 was absolutely exhausting but for some reason so full of laughter! Only with God can you have joy while scrubbing the ceilings and polishing brass portholes! After a full day of cleaning, Captain, Ethan & I went for another run through the village – this time even farther into the mud & jungle and with 20 kids running with us laughing! It’s crazy how I can love the people this much after a few days!

I still can’t believe this is real life & I want you all to know I couldn’t have gotten here without your support. It’s been a rough journey, and it still is, but now is so worth it surrounded by the love & opportunities in Papua New Guinea! Hopefully I will be doing a blog post every Saturday, but with such frustrating/unstable internet, I can’t promise anything (hence this being posted on Wednesday)… Anyways, LOVE YOU ALL!