Hello from Papua New Guinea!  It is beautiful here. Prettier actually than sunny California (gasp!).   I’ve never seen so many flowers (and large spiders) everywhere. Here are some pictures of God’s handiwork in creation.





Of course more loved than the earth itself are the people. The native people quite shy, indirect and mumble a lot, especially when they are talking to someone in authority. (hey, they are like me!) This has been a small challenge for the medical missionaries here, since it can make medical communication quite difficult. In more urgent and critical situations, when you need to collect information faster, the more soft spoken and indirect the patient becomes. Oi!

Thanks for praying for traveling mercies. God definitely heard your prayers. God bypassed me through a situation in which a customs officer asked me for a bribe and at first was not going to allow me pass security. Another was letting me sit next to a PNG pastor who helped me significantly while trying to understand the chaotic calls for flights at a PNG airport going into the highlands (my final destination).

The long-term missionaries are wonderful. They are gracious, hospitable, full of joy and humor, and very hard working. On Sunday, one of the general surgeons went in to make prayer rounds and have “word evangelism” with his patients. It reminded me of what Bruce Steffens, another medical missionary wrote, “More unreached peoples will go through our hospitals than our churches.”

Please continue to pray for me as I try to learn the local pigeon. I hadn’t realized what a barrier it would be and wish I had tackled it before coming.  Please pray also I would be able to connect to the local people despite this, and also that I be a blessing here for the long term missionaries.

Medically: choramphenicol for everyone! Lots of malaria and worms. Pig Bel, clavicle fractures, endometritis, convulsions, and hysteria of unknown etiology.

My first day on rounds, we had a sad case of a 2 year old child with severe pneumonia. He was ICU status (without an ICU), tachypneaic, very poor air movement, retractions and head bobbing. In the middle of a neb treatment, mother started crying hysterically. We lifted up his shirt and sure enough, he had stopped breathing. After chest compression, bagging, a trial of intubation, and 2 rounds of epi, he was gone. This is the first child death I have ever seen. His mother wept, like Rachel weeping for her children and would not be consoled.  Be thankful for the hospitals you have back at home, for most of the world does not have what you have.