September 10, 2001

Friends and Family,                                        

 To start off this last week, I (Aaron) hitched a ride into town about 40 kilometers away.  My task was to pick up a few items from town and try to get my PNG drivers license so I can drive on the wrong side of the road from the missionary base to the town using the mission’s car.  After trying my best with English, Tok Pisin, and sign language to communicate with the man in charge of giving me a driver’s license, he told me I had to get some paper work from the Police Station.  So, after wandering around a while I did find the police station and managed to tell them what I needed.  The officer they put me with spoke no English and we had quite a time since he was supposed to ask me questions and I was supposed to answer.  One of the last questions he asked was for my height.  Well, I haven’t figured out my height in centimeters and knew that is what he wanted, so I told him I only knew my height in America.  This baffled the poor fellow, so I pulled out my American license to show him my height in feet and inches.  When he looked at my license he seemed pleased and wrote down a number.  Later, as I looked over my license, I realized he had written down my weight for my height.  So now I am officially 165lb centimeters tall.

 It has been a good week in language study, although it can be frustrating at times.  In addition, all three of us got a cold this week, and has limited the amount of time we could spend in the villages.

Language blunders is something we are supposed to expect, but that doesn’t make them less amusing when they happen.  This week Lori was talking with a 12 year old New Guinea girl who has befriended her.  Lori was on her way home and tried to tell the girl, “I am going home to cook some lunch for my daughter.”  But what Lori actually told the girl was, “I am going home to cook my daughter for lunch.”  It wasn’t until a ways down the road; Lori realized why the little girl had gotten a confused look on her face and suddenly left.  Later that afternoon, Lori took Avalon back to see the little girl and explain what she really meant to say.

 Each of us has had a unique experience in the language this week including Avalon.  She said her first Tok Pisin word which also happens to be her favorite PNG food.  Last night Avalon said, “Popo” as she reached out for some more papaya. 

We have received several emails, but some of you have mentioned that you keep getting them back.  The town power from where we get our phone service is run off of a generator. At night the generator gets shut off and sometimes just won’t run because it is broken or out of gas.   Because of this the phone signal is fairly weak and the power is sporadic.  So it would be helpful if you did not send general forwards as well as large emails or pictures to us.  But keep sending us emails, just make sure they are not too large and be patientJ!

 Thank you for your continued prayers as we learn the trade language of Papua New Guinea.

 For His Glory,

Aaron, Lori and Avalon Luse