With MAF PNG celebrating sixty years of service this year, I really wanted to post some historically posts, including this one. This video was made in 1969 for MAF by Pilgram Films, Sydney and is a gem of MAF history. Sadly it was almost lost forever, but saved from being thrown away and later converted to DVD (thank you Petra!). This film stars some famous MAF greats, enjoy.

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On Becky’s last night in Cairns while we were sitting in a Mexican restaurant, I realised we had missed out on a great opportunity the day before. We had been on Green Island on the Great Barrier with my family, where we could have had our engagement photos taken, as both my Dad and Sister are professional photographers. However we had been caught up in the moment and had not even thought about it. But at least we had some nice photos taken the day after our engagement.

1. Mike doing his thing

On arriving back to PNG, having engagement photos taken made it onto our long “to do” list in preparation for our wedding. We thought of our friend Mike who is serving at Kudjip with his wife Diane. So yesterday we spent the day with Mike having our own photo shoot, ranging from photos taken on station, down by the Hydro and at Avi Gardens. It was hard at first as we were not being culturally appropriate for the first time. It was a special day and we were both pretty tired that evening. We really appreciated Mike’s willingness, effort and joy in taking our photos, which we are really happy with. But we were also very thankful for the fact that we could have our photos taken in the Highlands of PNG where we met and have courted. Our location was unique and holds more meaning to us than anywhere else.

Engagement photo shoot

Our engagement photos taken in PNG by Mike Chapman.

34 Photos

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Every doctor serving and living at Kudjip is on a call schedule. This puts them on call one to two nights a week, which can involve work in the Wards and the ER. If on a weekend, it sees them on a twenty four hour call period. The first time I visited Becky and had lunch, she was on call. That afternoon we rushed down to the hospital, for her to treat a dying patient. I have been privileged to see her at work in different situations. The other weekend Becky was on call on Sunday. She rounded in the morning and through out the day had phone calls from the hospital, lead the English church service in the afternoon and had to go down to the hospital several times. That evening I had thought of the possibility of having a quiet and restful evening together. In the evening however, she spent five hours down at the hospital. I managed to go down to the hospital after a birthday party, spending three hours with her.

1. Becky & I in scrubs

One lady in labour was having difficulties, where she got to a stage called “failure to progress”. This means she got to a point where she couldn’t push anymore, so a C section was required. I had witnessed my first C section performed by Becky on Easter Sunday evening. It was a desensitizing experience, a first for me, (somewhat unnatural seeing a baby pulled out of a woman’s stomach). As I was spending the evening with her as she treated people in the ER, I was willing to witness another.

2. Dr Andy & Becky performing a C section

After treating some patients in the ER, we headed to the OT (Operating Theatre). The OT team had been called together earlier and were in final preparations. I think the worst part of any operation for me is the incision, but this time round it was quite normal. Getting the baby out is normally pretty quick. This one seemed a lot more dramatic than the previous one I had witnessed.  The Uterus is cut open, which is filled with amniotic fluid, which is filled with meconium (Baby’s poop). It spurted out strongly under pressure, which is brown in colour obviously. Which also ended up on Becky, but I didn’t remember seeing this in the first operation, so it was a little dramatic. Due to the very thick meconium, the baby required resuscitation. Becky and Dr Andy (who was assisting) spent most of their time stitching up the uterus, which was bleeding a bit. After some suctioning, the baby was healthy and a boy! A little guy.

3. Becky with baby boy

The operation finished up around 2230 and we were both pretty tired. I had expected a quiet evening, after Becky having a busy day. You just never know how the day will go. It does make it hard for the doctor’s as they do not know when they may be called in. But to make the most of our weekends together, sometimes means me hanging around at the hospital.  I am very grateful for Kudjip hospital and the Doctors there.  Something that I learned early on in our relationship, is different ways I can support Becky when she is on call. I am also very grateful for the skills God has given Becky and the call she has been given to World Medical Mission and to be serving presently at Kudjip Hospital.

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In the first weekend of July, we had our annual MAF PNG conference. Helping celebrate our 60 years of service in PNG, conference this year was on the coast in Madang at Jais Aben.  I was desperately hanging out for conference in the lead up, as I had two weeks of mid term break straight after conference. It was having this in sight that helped me keep going in the last six weeks before my break. It was not until I was on the Twin Otter on our way to Madang that I realised how stressed I was and how much I had pushed myself to keep going, it was a little concerning.

1. On the way to conference – our first MAF flight together (Becky looking good after a crazy night on call)

Becky was on call at Kudjip hospital the night before we traveled. But somehow she managed to round early in the morning and get to the airport right on time when we were aiming to depart, it was perfect timing. It is always a blessing having our own fleet of aircraft to transport staff all around the country to one location, even though it is a logistic puzzle for some to work out and work for our Pilots. We flew in one of the Twin Otters with other staff based in Mt Hagen and was a bit of a reunion meeting up with other staff at the Madang base upon arrival. Before lunch almost everyone had arrived at Jais Aben.

2. Jais Aben Resort

This year’s conference would be a little different. We would have one session in the morning and then another in the evening. In between these two was free time and optional activities if anyone was interested. This generated a great opportunity for everyone to fellowship, relax and worship together. This year’s theme was “Trust in the Lord” from Psalm 28:7, we had the blessing again of having our guest speaker Pastor Phil and his wife with us from Australia. Becky and I were able to go snorkeling and relax amongst other activities. I did not have enough sleep the week leading up to conference and didn’t get enough sleep over conference. As Becky and I were up each evening talking, while others went to bed at missionary midnight (2100/2130).

3. MAF PNG Families & visitors

My highlight from conference besides the main thing God spoke to me about, was our 60th celebration dinner on the Sunday night. It was a blessing to be gathered together and celebrate what God has done through MAF over sixty years in PNG. With a lot of reflection and celebrating during the evening, there was also looking to the future. And that was what really encouraged and excited me, what God will do in the years to come. Come the Monday morning we started our trip from Madang heading to Cairns. It was a real blessing to be at conference, being all together in one place and a short refreshing time (feels like a long time ago now). It was also a big blessing to have Becky there too, also for others as she was the Doctor for conference. But especially as it was an opportunity for her to meet the MAF family and for them to meet her.

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Bible Faith Outreach’s July newsletter is now available. Click here to view or download. Please make some time to read about the things that are happening in this ministry. It is an exciting time to see this ministry continue to grow and development, especially as Aunty Rosa is now full time with BFO and the way God is working. If you are interested in supporting an Orphan or a specific need at BFO, please check out Orphanlist.org.

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Before Becky returned to PNG, I wanted to get some maintenance done on La Bestia (my 80′s Landcruiser) that I have been wanting to do for a long time. Making the ride out to Kudjip and back a lot more comfortable (& safer). The main thing was having the leaf springs reset in town, replacing the bushings and u bolts, after changing the shock absorbers previously. A job that I had not done before, but thought it would be a good learning experience. I also wanted to try and rebuild my engine, even though it is fine. As I have had a rebuild kit sitting in the shed for a few years too. But knew that I just had to see how i would go with the leaf springs.

1. The Landcruiser on bricks with all leaf springs out

My first task was to find some cinder blocks to chock up the vehicle with, so I could remove all four leaf springs at the same time. Asking around I found one place in town that made them and was able to purchase close to twenty of them one Saturday afternoon for K4 each, this was back in February. Finding and making time to do the job became the next thing, weekends were hard to make time for the car. I was able to take one Friday off work with built up overtime, starting work the night before on Thursday. I managed to get quite dirty as I removed one leaf spring and worked out how to support that part of the vehicle.

2. Arrival of new parts from Australia

After the progressive learning from the previous night, I was encouraged by what was still left before me. I only had to remove three more springs, I really thought it would not be too long. Starting in the morning, I had only the other rear spring removed by lunch time, things were not looking so good. Come six o’clock that evening the last front spring was out. The main time restraint on getting them out was getting the vehicle up on cinder blocks that were not the same in height. So I had to improvise with scrap bits of old wood lying around the compound and cutting them to size to level out the car. Plus removing the exhaust for access, which was installed in a way that it would not be easy to remove (steal proof). In all this I got really filthy, working under a car that had accumulated twenty six years of dirt and mud in PNG. If I was not being covered in it as it fell, it was sometimes landing in my mouth or in my eyes despite wearing my glasses.

3. Support from Becky & Vida

The next morning on Saturday I was able to deliver the springs to a steel works place in town that could reset them. I thought I was all set, I had already purchased new u bolts and bushing almost 18 months prior. Put as I looked over all the other parts and hardware, I realised I had to replace other parts. I tried as many places in town as I could to buy parts without success and ended up buying online from Australia. The springs were reset and ready for pickup come the Monday. But the parts ordered would not reach Mt Hagen until Becky arrived back into PNG at the start of April, which was a problem. Weekends are the only time we have to spend time together, some are spent at Kudjip and some in town. Plus there are already other essential things that are required to be done. So during that time I was catching PMV’s to and from Kudjip, while Becky coming into town would be able to get a lift at times or I lease and drive a MAF vehicle. Fortunately in all my traveling, I only had to pay to use a vehicle twice.

4. Almost finished

Amongst all this, I was studying for an Engineering exam as well. Once the exam was completed, I committed to working on the car each evening for several hours. If I was not battling a viral infection, I was battling with tiredness from work and sleep deprivation. You would think everything would now go smoothly, having the parts and making time. But as normal for working on my car in PNG, things did not go smoothly. I had several issues as the suspension went back together that I had to overcome, sometimes making do with the parts and tools I had. What I thought would take a week, took several weeks. I managed to get the car back on the road  in the end and re-registered it in the first week of June, almost two months after Becky had returned. It was a big victory to have the car back running and a tiring season of the year I would not forget quickly, my service offering to Becky.

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Becky’s August Newsletter is here. You can click here to view or download it. Praise the Lord for the way God is using Becky at Kudjip Hospital. Also for His work in our lives. Please continue to pray for Becky and for Kudjip Hospital.

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I filmed quite a bit in my first few months in country. But since then it has only been to make specific videos. I have a heap of footage from POC and especially my week of village living back in June 2008. I spent my week in a village east of Madang called Dogea. I actually saw it from the air when we flew from Madang to Port Moresby after conference last month. My last night in the village was a special one. There was a sing sing and other activities in the village. But amongst all that I also gave my waspapa (guardian) and wasmama another cultural experience of mine, eating mint slices. They were my favourite biscuit for many years, but since then I have converted to Tim Tam’s being my favourite. This was possibly the last packet in  all of Madang, they were pretty melted by the time we ate them. I did well living off rice and can meat for a week, not to eat these in advance. It is encouraging to see that my Tok Pisin has developed since then. Anyway you can see them experiencing their first mint slice.

Click here to see a post from my village living back in 2008.

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Last month I had the privilege to meet a special old man from Kudjip. I was sitting out in Becky’s carport one Saturday afternoon, which is quite normal when she is inside her house. Becky had told him that he and I must stori (sit down and talk) sometime.  She also had informed me about him. As I was sitting there, this short old man walked up and asked if we would like to buy any asparagus. I had no idea this was Papa Wapi. He was a work boy for the Australian Defence Force during WW2. He served in different areas of PNG, including the Western Highlands during the war. He was only roughly eleven at the time. Also he was an ambulance driver for Kudjip Hospital in the 70′s and 80′s (I think I have my dates right). But beside that he has been growing and selling asparagus for over fifty years. Which is sold at Mt Hagen market, to different missionaries and even down on the coast. I think it is the best produce of asparagus I have  ever seen. It was sometimes hard to understand his tok pisin, but we had a good time storytelling together. He is a sweet old man, with a funny laugh, but the thing that struke me the most about him. Was his joy and living hope in Jesus, which was a real encouragement to me. Afterwards I asked him if I could get a photo taken with him, he was more than happy and he made sure we posed with his asparagus. He also wanted to have a photo with Becky taken, even though she was in her scrubs, being on call that day. I look forward to seeing Papa Wapi again sometime to stori more with him, if not in eternity.

1. Papa Wapi & I

Click here to see Becky & Papa Wapi

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Last week both Becky and I were able to confirm our leave dates for our wedding. Since our engagement God continues to lead us, bring things together and provide for us in big ways. Everything seems to be falling into place each day and feels like we have accomplished a lot already. We are really grateful for the support and prayers from many people during this exciting time. We are planning to have our ceremony and reception here in PNG, followed by receptions in Oregon and Sydney (& attend my Sister’s wedding) after our honeymoon. To celebrate the countdown I have setup a countdown timer in the sidebar until our special day on the 22nd of October. Thankyou for all your support.

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