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.
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