Another week has come and gone

Now I am amazed at how short a full-length week can be. I know, I need to just make up my mind already and be normal. But then, since when has there been anything normal about me?

This week has been good, and quite productive. I finished up (again) on the Islander, helped out with some turbine compressor rinses on both P2-SIA (the King Air) and P2-SIB (the Kodiak), sat in on run-ups for both of them, and did some work on P2-SIT (one of the 206's). I got to actually do the full engine run-up and then taxi over to the hangar in Tango (P2-SIT) - my supervisor was sitting right seat as I did all of that of course, but it felt good to be running an aircraft and even just taxiing around on the ground with it. Makes me miss when I was flying. Tango is now in for its 1000 hour inspection (an inspection that has to be done every 1000 hours of flight time) which has been going on for most of this week and is expected to take about another two weeks. One at a time, I pulled all of the wheels off of it, checked the brakes on the main gear, replaced the pads on one of them, and cleaned, inspected, re-packed with grease, and reinstalled both sets of bearings on each of the three wheels, re-installing the wheels when I was done. I was also tasked with removing the "Kodiak" decals from the front of the Kodiak, as they were both peeling off.

We also had a bit of excitement this week. Wednesday morning we got to work and we were informed that we were in the middle of a medevac - the patient was expected to arrive at 9:00 to fly to Australia in the King Air for further medical treatment than is available here in Ukarumpa. That was all that pretty much any of us knew. Flights were busily being shuffled, as the King Air was supposed to make two other flights on Wednesday, and both of those had to be taken care of by our other aircraft; annoying because the King Air has a high capacity than anything else we have. The aircraft was ready, and at about 9:00, Lee (the clinic manager) drove out on the ramp and parked next to the King Air. As several of us watched from the hangar, we say Tyler Weaver, an aviation employee, his wife and one of his sons, Addison, get out of Lee's car. I noticed that the other three kids weren't there, but, along with several of the others, was trying to figure out who was the patient, as nobody was unable to walk or anything. They took off for Australia, and then we found out that Addison had fallen off of his top bunk at about 3:00 AM. He apparently landed on his head, and he had a concussion. So they took him down to Cairns, Australia, to have a scan done to check for damage. Cairns is far enough away that the two pilots, and the medical staff overnighted, planning to fly back the next day. Usually this is what is done in a medevac, and then the family being medevaced has to pay to fly back commercially to PNG. Well, Addison's scan showed that everything was fine, and the Weavers were able to fly back on the King Air on Thursday, which was a blessing as that meant they were just coming back on the flight already covered by medevac insurance, and didn't have to pay out of pocket to get back. Most important, though, is the fact that young Addison is okay - Praise the Lord for that!

This week we also made plans for a group of us to go to Madang for a long weekend next month and see the city and do some snorkeling. We talked about riding up there on a PMV (Public Motor Vehicle) but decided that we probably won't, since it's about a 4 hour drive each way, plus the hour or so you can expect to wait in the PMV as they're driving around trying to get a full load. Instead we will probably fill up one of the 206's (they hold 6 people, counting pilot) and fly up there for the weekend, with the pilot staying up there, too. This would make the trip pretty affordable, and a 30 minute flight each way with friends sounds much more pleasant than 4 hours each way in a vehicle full of strangers. I'll report more about that after it has happened.

I am thoroughly enjoying my time here; the work is good, and the people are a lot of fun.

I have been hearing from some of you, but would love to hear from more of you and find out what's going on in your lives.

God bless, and may you have a great week.

June 20

It's amazing just how long a short week can seem.

I call this a short week, because it was only a four-day week, due to the Queen's birthday. Somehow, though, it seemed very long and drawn out.

Most of my week was spent doing inspections on life jackets. So far (we're not done yet) we've unpacked, inspected, inflated, and the next day checked the pressure, on about 30-35 life jackets. Not a particularly difficult job, but very, very boring. I also worked on the Islander again a couple of days. I have now thought about four times that I was completely done working on it. I have to put a piece back on tomorrow, then I should, theoretically (again) be done with it.

I did learn a lot of things about how LeTourneau used to be, as the man I've been working with on inspecting life jackets is an LETU grad. Learning different pranks that were done and such has been fun.

The big event of my week was yesterday (Saturday) when I went to a mumu. For those of you who aren't familiar with mumus, some mumus have entire pigs cooked, but this one did not. To make a mumu, they dig a hole in the ground and build a fire, with rocks. The rocks get very, very hot, and they take out the coals, but leave the hot rocks. Several layers of banana leaves are laid on the rocks, then the food is laid in (we had pumpkin, carrots, potatoes, kowkow, and several other plants and grasses, sausages, and chicken). Then more banana leaves are put on top, and usually this is covered with dirt, although they used a tarp instead of dirt on ours. A few hours later, it is opened, the food is pulled out, and there's dinner. This was quite good, and an enjoyable way to spend my Saturday.

Next week I may have more to post, it all depends on how interesting the week is.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

After a week of work

Greetings!

Well, I have now been working for a full week, and I enjoy it. Monday I spent eight hours doing required reading before I could start working, and for the first hour to hour and a half on Tuesday, I finished that up. Before being able to work here, I had to read (and in some cases, just skim) several hundred pages of government regulations and company procedures/organization. But I got that done, and was put to work right away working on the Islander, a roughly 30 year old twin engine airplane that we're getting ready to sell. After working on that for awhile, I was sent to go ride along in the Super King Air for it's Return to Service flight, but due to another problem, we weren't able to fly.

Wednesday morning I got picked up at 6:30 to go in so we could do that flight at 7:30, but the fog (or "snow" as they call it in tok pidgin) was too heavy until 9:00. We went and flew it then, and everything was good, and it was an enjoyable flight. Then I got put to work calibrating torque wrenches, which is a good workout, and very boring. Thursday we didn't have work int he morning because it was the Half Day of Prayer (a monthly occurrence) which means that there was a three hour prayer meeting in the morning, which was good. Went back to work and spent most of the afternoon working on torque wrenches, then was assigned to work on some lights inside the Islander. I worked on those for a while on Thursday, all day Friday, and didn't quite get it finished.

Church was quite good again today. There is a different speaker pretty much every week, and today the speaker was a Swiss man who finished doing his translation about 2 years ago, and has been working in the high school here. The graduating seniors got to choose who to ask to speak, because this is the last Sunday before they graduate, and many of them return to other countries. He spoke on integrity, and it was a good message.

Tomorrow I have the day off; it's the queen's birthday, so most businesses are closed. Tuesday I'll go back down to aviation, and find out then what I'll be working on.

This past week I heard from several of you, and I really enjoyed that. Please continue to be praying that this trip be glorifying to God.

Have a great week!

The end of my pre-work time

Greetings!

I am writing this on Sunday afternoon, and it is a beautiful day. It's overcast, but it has not rained, and I got to go to church this morning, which was very good. I had expected it to be unlike any church service I had ever attended before, and was surprised to find out that it really wasn't very different at all; the most different thing was that people's attire was more casual than I was used to.

Now, let me go back and fill in on the rest of my week. Thursday after buying groceries and such I just settled in at the house, did some emailing, took some pictures, and read for awhile. Friday I went down to the market, to learn proper market etiquette from Mr. Smith and to pick up some vegetables. It was interesting to learn the etiquette - things such as there is to be absolutely no attempting to talk down the price on any vegetables, but with handcrafts and such it is acceptable to ask for "second price". I found it interesting that one of the nationals was trying to sell two American $1 bills - for either 4 or 5 Kina each, I forget which. The current exchange rate makes one dollar equal to about 2.80 Kina - naturally, I decided to pass on the dollar bills.

Friday evening Daniel and I went over to the Weavers' house for dinner, two houses down the street. We spent about three or three and a half hours there, visiting with them and enjoying being with Mr. and Mrs. Weaver and their four young children.

Saturday morning a group of six of us went to Kainantu and visited the cultural center, as well as several stores. One of the places that Mr. Smith made sure to take us was the coffin makers; a hand-crafted coffin here sells for about 300 Kina - not as fancy as what you find in America, but much, much cheaper.

I went down to church, and it wasn't very full yet, so I found a seat about 15-20 rows back. I then later found out that, although others were welcome to sit there, I was sitting back in the area where all of the families with young children sit, so it was a bit louder back there, but I was still able to hear and focus on the message, which was very good. The speaker this morning graduated from the University of Southern California last month, and is back here where he grew up. He spoke on Ephesians 6:10-18, and it was a very good message.

After church I walked back up to the house, met up with Daniel Jezowski, the other Daniel already living here, then we went down to a single's pot-luck/auction. (no, they weren't auctioning off the singles.) Apparently these events take place when a single is going finish, or sometimes going on furlough. I could definitely tell I was not at LeTourneau, as there were 20+ people there, and three of us were guys. The auction was interesting, because it involves no money. Anything that the person leaving doesn't want to take, they "auction off" - everyone sits down on the ground, and when an item is brought up, if you raise your hand first, it's yours. Or, in some cases, if nobody wants it, if you open your mouth and say anything at all, or they decide that it should go to you, you get it - whether you want it or not.

Daniel and I just got back from the singles' auction a little while ago, and I think the plan is to just spend the rest of the day around the house. Tomorrow I will go down to Aviation with Daniel and start working - well, start into all of the reading that I have to do before I can actually start working. Daniel Holtz, the other aviation intern, who will be living with Daniel Jezowski and myself, should be arriving tomorrow.

Please pray that the reading and getting ready to work goes quickly for me, and that I am able to recall everything I read and get started working soon.

As always, feel free to email me at d.miller@ukanet.net - I would love to hear from you.

I am here!

Hello!

First of all, thank you for all of the prayers up to this point. I am now in Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea, settled into the house. Best I can tell, I start working on Monday.

My trip here was uneventful, which is good. Although a few of my flights left late, the only one that arrived late was the one into Port Moresby, which was my last flight except for the SIL flight out here to Ukarumpa, so that was a good flight to have late, if one was going to be late. I arrived in Port Moresby on Tuesday evening, got through Customs without a problem, and was immediately met by William, who took me over to the M.A.P.A.N.G. guest house, where I spent the night. The next morning, William picked me up, along with a dentist missionary named Dane, who was also headed up to Ukarumpa, and we went to the MAF hangar to wait for our flight up here. We found out that we would be traveling here in the Kodiak (okay, aviation people, please don't ruin your keyboards by drooling on them - the rest of you, if you don't know what I'm talking about, that's fine). The plane ended up being later than we expected getting there, and then it took longer than expected to go get the other two passengers, but eventually we made it up here, landing at 4:30 PM local time on Wednesday. I got my bags, and was met my David and Anne Smith, who showed me around a little bit, took me to drop off my computer so that the required antivirus program could be installed, and brought me up to the house. The owners of this house are currently on furlough, apparently, so it is being rented by Daniel Jezowski, and now me, and, as soon as he can get here, another Daniel (whose last name I can never remember, for some reason). By the time they left it was about 5:15, and arrangements had been made for me to go over to the Logans' house, some missionaries that the Hewitts know, for dinner. So I settled in a little, showered, and walked over to the Logans'. Dinner was wonderful, and the Logans are wonderful people; I enjoyed visiting with them until it was time for the 8th grade girls to arrive for Bible study, so I walked back up to my house, where I did a little more settling in, a little bit of reading, and went to bed, trying to get over the jetlag.

This morning Mr. Smith came back and showed me more of Ukarumpa, showed me where the places I might need to know are, took me to pick my computer back up and to drop off my passport so it can be sent off to get my Visa corrected, and brought me back to the house. I then set up my internet connection with my computer and talked briefly to my parents and Becky, for the first time since I was in Brisbane on Tuesday, as my phone card has not been working. After this I went and ate a meat pie for lunch, bought a few groceries, came back to the house and have been working on my computer.

If you'd like to get in touch with me, please email me at d.miller@ukanet.net, as this is the email that I can use for free.

Sorry for being so long-winded - a lot has happened in these past several days.

Thank you for your prayers, and please keep praying, that I be able to set into life here easily and quickly, and that, above all else, God be glorified.