Into the Villages

All 8 groups have gone to the villages surrounding Ibele The groups left Ibele yesterday (Friday) morning and return on Monday. There is a stomach bug going around, and some of the kids also have malaria like symptoms. Five kids had to stay in Ibele to be cared for while the groups went to the villages. The kids that went to the villages will return to Ibele on Monday to finish their week in the area

Friday's weather was beautiful – until all groups arrived at their villages – then it started to rain. This was good as the Adams' needed water. We are thankful for a great AIDS seminar in Ibele. There are lots of people that have come to the village because of all the activities. These people are staying in the village for the week and waiting for the groups to return on Monday to see what other activities will happen. The health care is having a huge impact on the people. They are feeling loved and well taken care of. Dr. Miguel Lopez is having a great ministry through dentistry. He will return to Sentani on Tuesday. Ben Bogle is also having a great ministry through medicine. He will stay until the end of OE.

Yagorobak or Bust

The following blog is put together from various student accounts about their trip interior, setting up, and then starting their projects. Katherine’s group of nine will be heading to the village of Yagorobak. (Good luck looking it up on a map, I can’t find it!)

Once we arrived in Wamena, a bus took us out of town and dropped us off on the road as close as we could get to Ibele. Four Groups travelled together and then the bus went back to pick up the other four groups. The hike took about 1hour 50 minutes and in between we stopped for a 20 minute rest to eat lunch and swim in a very cold river.

The first project we worked on was to get the water source set up. We took the 30 KGs of hose (didn't know how long it was, just that it weighed 30kgs!!) and brought it upriver. It took us a while to find a good spot to get enough pressure and where the water would run through it with out having air issues, etc. We had planned to bury the hose, but it runs along a path, over fences and little hills and along the river bed. The result – we have running water right into the kitchen!! This is being used for washing dishes and filtering it for drinking water!

After supper, we had the first meeting in the church (which is beside the girls sleeping house). The Senior guys led worship. Uncle Todd Adams spoke on Attitude. It was a good beginning to OE. After breakfast this morning, we had another meeting. The speaker was Uncle Virgil Adams. There was also a time of worship. After the meeting, everyone was given time to journal.

The girls (about 45) are sleeping together in the Classis Office building (which is beside the church). Many are in the main room and others are in the smaller rooms. It is working out well. I am sleeping in one of the smaller rooms.

Last night the boys washed in a river on one side of the village and the girls washed in a river on the other side of the village. But from now on the boys will wash in the same river as the girls – but down river. The other river will only be used for drinking water. The boys are sleeping in the newer school house that is close to the kitchen. The kitchen is the old school building that is falling apart.

Tuesday night, we listened to the testimony of Pak Daud, a man who is also about 80 years old and the first Christian in the area. He explained how life was before the gospel came to the area. There was a lot of tribal warfare and each time some one was killed from one tribe, there was revenge to kill someone from the other tribe, and it never stopped. After they received the gospel, they could finally stop the revenge killings and wars. They did many things to make their ancestors happy but now they know that they can't please/serve the ancestors, they can only serve and please God. He suffered a lot during his early years as a Christian. His house was burnt down, his first wife died, he was stabbed and cut during warfare, etc. But he stayed firm in his faith and God blessed him for that. He can quote so much of the scriptures, it is amazing! All their lives have changed so much because of the gospel.

The Baliem Valley

So where exactly is Katherine and the rest of her classmates? Here is a description of the area where she will be for the next two weeks.

The picture was taken at the airport before they left "civilization" and headed to the jungle.

The Baliem Valley, also spelled Balim Valley and sometimes known as the Grand Valley, of the highlands of Western New Guinea, is occupied by the Dani people. The main town in the valley is Wamena. The valley is about 80 km in length by 20 km in width and lies at an altitude of about 1000 m, with a population of 100,000.

As far as the outside world was concerned, the discovery of the Baliem Valley and the unexpected presence of its large agricultural population was made by Richard Archbold’s third zoological expedition to New Guinea in 1938. On 21 June an aerial reconnaissance flight southwards from Hollandia (now Jayapura) found what the expedition called the 'Grand Valley'. Since then the valley has gradually been opened up to a limited amount of tourism.

The Baliem Valley was once dubbed Shangri La and it is easy to see why. The Valley is incredibly lush and fertile and is surrounded on all sides by towering peaks of 2,500 to 3,000 metres. The fertility is such that the valley has been farmed for 9,000 years but it was only discovered by westerners in 1938! There are three mains tribes inhabiting the Baliem Valley: The Dani in the base, the Lani to the west and the Yali in the south-east. Each tribe has a distinct culture.

O.E.

(John's Note: The following is a description of O.E. - the two week adventure Katherine is starting Monday morning, January 26th.)

The photo shown is from: photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3878019&size=lg this site as several pictures form the area where O.E is going to be located this year.

Outdoor Education, marks the most looked-forward-to event of the year. Its on-paper purpose is to expose high school students to various parts of Papua, provide a small taste of anthropological and linguistic study, and to serve and appreciate the indigenous people.
However, students soon find that the hypothetical purpose of O.E. doesn’t come out the way it seems.

During the two weeks they are overwhelmed with spiritual life-building sessions, community development projects, hikes, field trips, and teaching kids’ clubs. It stretches, stresses, and strengthens them, but at the same time brings amazing people and renewal into their lives that would not have come any other way.

Generally the areas are remote, accessible only by plane, boat, or hiking. If the location is in the interior of the province, all the local small plane services provide transportation. Flying in these small planes means that students must pack light, generally around ten kilos (22 lbs).

An example of Interior work done is the past: the students dug a ditch for a water pipe running from a spring to the center of a village a couple of miles away. More details will come in following blog postings.

School Started!

It's Tuesday and my first and second days of school are great! Here's my schedule:

1) Art 2
2) Doctrine
3) Study hall
4) SR. English (Brit lit) (John's note: the picture is what K sees when se looks out her English class window...good inspiration, huh?)
5) study hall
6) Painting
7) independent living (all seniors are taking it)
8) TA for yearbook

It's a really good schedule, and I'm always starving by my study hall (5) so I eat then.

Yesterday and today my stomach has been hurting on and off and it's really annoying, because I'll be totally fine, and then bamm, it's killing me. So that's not fun, but it's probably just a stomach flue type thing.

Me and Zoe are bonding really well. We're exercising together and talking and it's been really good. I still don't know where I stand, with life, but I've had some really good talks, and I'm going to start reading A Sever Mercy...soon, after OE.

OE starts next Monday (Feb 2)...so I wont write for a while then. I'm really excited about it. I'm having so much fun...

I can't remember what I did after Kali Biru...I think that I went surfing, and then yesterday went into Jayapura to get finger printed. It was fine!

Then today I went to the pool with Mik, Steph, and Hannah. I'm getting tan!! Hurray! And I’m going to hang out with Caleb soon. Then tonight all the girls are going out to dinner, and we'll watch a movie or something!

Tomorrow me, Zoe, Steph, Mik, and some Papuan guys that Zoe is friends with are going into Jaypapura for a concert! It’s going to be way fun. I've been hanging out with Zoe and these guys a lot - they're really cool. They’re a part of team Joshua...next door, and they're helping me with my Indonesian!

(John's note: Team Joshua is an outreach, pictured above, for the Papuan youth. Their property is two doors down from where the Wisley's live.)

The internet is really bad at the Wisley house, sorry I’m not writing much. I will once school starts. And I never check my yahoo email, right now at least.

Chillin'

Hi. This will be short. Yesterday I went with a group of people to Kali Biru...it was really fun. I hung out with Max and his friend Jeremy. It was good! I'm getting tan!

Today I think that we're just going to chill here and soccer tonight. I will watch.

(John's note) Soccer is played by several different groups. The MK's will get together to play, there is a local Paupan girls team, and there are guy teams. This picture was taken in '07 with a gruop that Katherine would hang with a litte. She is hoping to connect more with these girls this time around.

Finally - in Sentani

(Photo taken at the "front door" of the Wisley home in 2007)

Hey. So I tried to get on like a million times and the internet is really bad right now. So this is what I wrote the other day:

(Friday)
Hey, so I’m writing you from the infamous Wisley computer. When I got into Sentani Zoe was waiting out on the tarmac for me. When I got into the airport there were some other people there too. Not too many. But it was good b/c it would have been way overwhelming. Max and Caleb were there, and that was good. Bert, Marla, Kelsea and Kolbe were there too. We came home and when I walked in the door I could smell “our house”. Hannah D. was at the house. We went in and cleaned our room and unpacked. Hannah C, Mik, and a girl I didn’t know (Elisa) came over. We all sat in the room, talking, drawing. Caleb was there too. I guess a lot of people went to Kali Biru, but Caleb is a little sicky so he stayed home. Anyways so he was there too. Oh and he gave me my Christmas present…there were 2 shoes (pink) they fit and are cute so that’s good. He also gave me 2 really cool journals and pens. My journal is almost finished so it’ll be good to have a new one! OK so then me and Zoe went to the pool. Working on my base tan! The Maxey’s spent the night with us on they’re way home. We all went to soccer and I saw Mark and Ben! I didn’t play, obviously…I just talked with Ben. It was good. He’s much more grown up and talkative… more a person so yeah that was good. Came back, and went to bed I was so tired.

(Saturday)
This morning we hung around for a while and then me, Zoe, Will and Lena hiked up to middle falls! It was fun, I’m so out of shape…not good. Zoe wants me to run with her…not going to happen. But I’ll run on Sunday nights and I told her that I’ll jump rope and do sit ups and stuff with her. So yeah, ok back to middle falls. Everything is different from the flood. It’s still beautiful, just different. I was so hot, I thought that I was going to die of heat aghast…but I didn’t. The water was cold and wonderful. On the way back down I almost walked right into I humongo spider. It was as big as the I sent you a picture of last time. Ewww. There was a spider web and I backed away after my face was like 2 inches from it, then I saw the spider. Yuck. We can back and showered, took a nap, and made dinner. Now we’re going to go to the new mall (barf) and get some stuff. We were going to go into Jayapura tonight with some people, but tons of people went to the beach today so we’re going to try and do that tomorrow or in a few days. Tonight we’re going to chill and watch a movie with people I think.

But anyways, that’s what’s been happening so far. It’s so weird being here. Good, but weird. It’s like it hasn’t hit me yet. Part of me feels like I’ve never left b/c everything seems so easy and normal, but then part of me is like, “wait I haven’t’ seen these people of been here for 2 years”. Yup. Oh and this year OE is the second week of school… OK well I’ll write soon. I’m having so much fun, and I’m so glad that I’m here. All day the yesterday I kept just randomly smiling b/c I was surrounded with people I love and yeah I was just so happy. OK I love you all!

(Sunday)
Today was church, it was good. I saw more people. Zoe's friend from 5th grade is here, she's spending 2 weeks. It kind of stinks b/c Zoe doesn't really want her here, b/c they're not super good friends anymore, and it's weird trying to include her. I don't know, she seems nice, but not crazy like me and Zoe. It's been really good with Zoe! I love her, and she loves me. OK well I'm off to soccer soon. I think that I’ll just talk with Max. Caleb is sicky right now. I love max. I was with him all day today at church. He has a girlfriend (kind of) so I hope she doesn't like hate me already.

Bali

OK so...I’m in Bali. So my flight got in fine, it was confusing getting through the visa place and getting my bags, but then I got outside and the heat made me happy! I started sweating right away...so I went over to domestic and got my ticket...then I went to go inside but they told me that I could only go in 2 hrs before my flight. I almost started to cry right there. I forgot how creepy all the guys standing every 2 feet are yelling, "taxi miss'. ewww.

So yeah - I was soo close to crying but then I saw a place called "quiet lounge" and it cost $4.50 to go in. There’s food and a computer and chairs and it doesn't close till 11:00 PM. So then I’ll only have an hour to wait before I can get into the airport, which isn't bad. But it's going to be dark, and I’m already scared about it...remind me NEVER to be in Bali alone at night, or for long periods of time.

So yeah that's the new update. Max is online so I’ve been talking to him for a while. But I’m sooo tired so I think that I'll go to sleep till they kick me out. I smell really bad. It’s grossing me out.I love you all! Dad you'd better be reading or showing these to mom and the boys. I am really scared about the hour wait before I can get into the airport. It’s rainy and scary here. Please pray for me. I love you all!

p.s. all the bags are with me and they're fine! LOVE YOU ALL!

Just arrived in Singapore

HI! Well I’m in Singapore right now. my brain feels like mush. I'll start from the beginning...

I sat in that chair that you and Liz left me in for about and hour and then boarded the plane. I sat next to a son and father who were from CA. The kid shared his head phones with me and we made small talk. When I got off in MPS. I was checking my flight to make sure that it was on time, when an old man walked up to me and said "Nyack"? I told him that I don't go there.. long story short...he and his wife are missionaries in Bandung...we spent the rest of the day together and when we landed in Japan they helped me around.

Then I got on the flight to Singapore. it was fine. it went by fast. and now I’m here. it seems like I’ve been traveling forever, but not really at the same time. weird. so now I have like 7 hours to do nothing. the watch is confusing...I’ll try to figure it out. I want to shower I smell.

The Day of Departure

My alarm went off at 5:00 AM and with it the reality that "this was THE day." After much anticipation, preparation, and discussion - Katherine was really getting on that plane. No, correction, THOSE planes! She would have FIVE legs to her journey: Chicago to Minneanapolis to Narita (Japan) to Singapore to Bali (Indonesia) to Sentani (Papua, Indonesia). She'd leave Tuesday morning at 9:00 AM and not arrive until Thursday evening!

Her good friend, Liz, was going to join me in taking her to the airport. Alex, Ben, and Deanna said their good-byes at the house.

While checking her in at the ticket counter I got talking to one of the agents about my daughter spending this last semester of her high school year in Papua. She helped us get checked in and then asked if I'd like to accompany her behind security. Wow! Yes! she said this wasn't normal, but would get us a special pass.

So Katherine, Liz and I found ourselves sitting at Starbucks sipping our drinks, laughing, taking a picture of their matching undies (long story), and saying our good-byes. I remember at one point looking at what she was wearing and asking her why, of all the T-shirts she owns, she choose to wear the one she was wearing. She said because she really liked it and it was comfy. Only later would we see God's hand, even in a T-shirt selection.

We walked to the departure gate, said our good-byes, and left a smiling Katherine!

Visa? What Visa?

You need a special visa if you are going to be in Indonesia for any longer than a few weeks. We had applied a few months ago at the Indonesian Consulate in Chicago, but found that we needed a special letter of invitation from the country. After a long wait it finally came and we got it to the consulate. A few days later we got a call from the consuslate asking for a special letter of permission from her parents. And although two years ago she did not need this, apparently it is now a "requirement." So four days before her departure I'm faxing off this permission letter! Because of the holidays and then a special Muslim holiday they said that it would be ready to be picked up on Monday (5th) in the afternoon. Now keep in mind Katherine was due to leave Tuesday (6th) at 9:00 AM. Needless to say we had to let this be a matter between God and the Consulate!
Jonathan, my brother-in-law, was the one doing all these consulate runs, as he works down town, so once again he made his way to the consulate and with baited breath approached the counter. God was smilling on us and they presented us with her passport with visa enclosed!