Papua New Guinea

On February 15th Paul packed up and, with 6 other guys from the school, made the 30-hour trip to Papua New Guinea for some on-the-field training. He had a great time and learned so much! Right now he is 6 days a week in dental training, while working on a update letter/e-mails, studying...etc....etc......etc..... Although he could do a much better job at relaying the happenings of the trip, I will do my best to get our 11 faithful blog readers up to speed! :)

(sorry for the last two posts.....I'm not sure why the first post didn't take.)

An aerial view of the jungles of New Guinea

Above Paul's group is packing canoes for the trip to Chambri island. On a good day it will only take two and a half hours to reach Chambri Island (the canoe part of the trip anyways).

Chambri Island: straight ahead.

Paul was the designated camera man for the trip.

The picture above is the spring where Paul was able to bathe.

Paul preaching as David Sitton translates. The language they speak is called Melanesian Pigeon. The whole language consists of about 5,000 words and is a mixture of English and, I think, German. Paul said that by the end of the month-long trip he was able to understand a lot of what they were saying.

Paul had a lot of fun with the kids that he met. One afternoon he was coming back from a teaching session and saw a group of boys playing by the water. He ran and jumped in the middle of them into the water and they thought it was funny. He then took a running start and did a flip into the water and they all laughed even harder. After he got out of the water, he picked up one of the boys and threw him into the water. The rest of the boys ran away.

Above is a picture of an Albino from the village of Chambri

Many of the villages had a mumu when the group came to visit (see video clip above). This mumu, not to be confused with the moo moos your grandmother may wear, is a feast where the villagers cook a pig and vegetables in an oven made of sticks and banana leaves covered in dirt. Paul said that the pork was some of the best he's ever tasted. These feasts are a big deal to people who don't have much. Here's more info. on a mumu, if anyone is interested.

This is the hut of Machete Bob, where Paul stayed while in the villiage of Chambri. Long story made short, this is the man who went after David Sitton with a machete years ago, but by the grace of God, has been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

Above is a woman named Prisca and her husband, John, and their son. Prisca was one of the first believers of Chambri. After believing she suffered persecution many years both by her husband and other men of the village before their eyes were opened to the Truth. Paul said her face shines with the joy of the Lord despite what she has been through.

Here is a video clip of what Paul was greeted with while at a village

Paul with the mud man from Asaro

Which one is which??

A church building in the villiage of Nupeha

Alex and Paul showered with gifts from the people of Nupeha

This picture was taken in honor of the teens at Faith Baptist. We love you guys!!!

Here Paul is standing with Fred and Reg, two men from New Zealand who met joined Paul's group when they landed in New Guinea. Paul really enjoyed getting to know these great men and hopes to keep in contact with them. Here they are lifting Paul up so that he would be in the same picture with them (they are both over 6 feet tall) ;)

This shirt is based from a song that the people of Goroka sang together, "God is good all the time; all the time God is good" Not that these people don't have their spiritual struggles, but what a challenge it is to me that people with horrific backgrounds who have been brought out of the darkness and into the marvelous Light can say that about their God! We have that same God and no matter what He allows into our lives, good or bad, He is working it together for good to those who love Him...ALL the time! Please remind me of that!

Paul had a great trip and, again, I apologize for the sketchy job explaining his trip. If you have any questions for Paul concerning more of the details of the trip, or if you are interested in getting updates from us, don't hesitate to e-mail us at pkpoppe@gmail.com.

Oops!

I'm not exactly sure what happened with that last post. I actually posted a blurb and all it saved was the title.....twice. Thank you for the comments as I had a good chuckle over them.

Time Passes

She Sits!!

A Weak Narrative of Our Day at the Zoo

Last weekend a bunch of us went to the local zoo with our kids...13 kids to be exact, ages 9 and under (I don't know....we probably looked like we belonged at the zoo). We had a great time, even though by the end of the day we were all in sensory over-load! As usual I didn't get many pictures, but I will share what random pics I have:

Twiggy and her friend Luke acting like Monkeys.

A monkey acting like Paul when he's relaxing on the couch after a long school day (I had permission to write that).

Here are alllllllll 13 kids. The alligator is not real.

Here's Frankie enjoying her favorite part of the zoo.

3/4ths of my clan.

The moms early in the day......cool, calm and collected.

Rocky: I'm not sure if he's preparing for tribal missions or just imitating his mother (wink, wink)

*Twiggy and Daisy want all their friends to know that if they come for a visit they can go with them to the zoo for FREE!

Announcement....

In honor of our sweet Wisconsin family and friends I officially declare today a SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah!

We are thinking of you and love you all so much! We are praying for your safety in this weather.

P.S. My Minnesota friends....this SO includes you!

Culture Shock

This week at the Center for Pioneer Church Planting(CPCP) we've had two guest speakers from the missions department at Southern Seminary, Dr. David Sills and Dr. Herschel York. Today in class Dr. Sills focused on culture in missions and specifically what it's like for a missionary to try to survive culture shock. The only culture shock I've had to deal with so far was on our honeymoon to Spain. We stayed right on the Mediterranean in the tourist town of Roses. What we didn't know is that it was a tourist destination for people from Europe. No one spoke English there. I can remember our waiter getting so frustrated with our lack of Spanish that he had someone else come out and finish our order! When I came back from Spain I understood what it was like to want to kiss the ground.

I am so thankful that the God who has called us to get the gospel to the nations is the same One who transcends culture. He created people groups at the tower of Babel. He can give us the grace and love to adapt to another culture so that we can share the gospel. Will you pray for us specifically in regard to the challenge of adapting to a new culture? Does anybody else have a culture shock story?

Update from Southern Tex.

Well, my desire to update the blog every week is not off to a good start....but here I go anyways.

Paul is entering his third week of training and he is LOVING the teaching he is receiving (which makes me a little jealous that I have only been able to hear it from his mouth so far...I hope to sit in on a couple of classes in the very near future). This next week two men from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary are coming to teach, so in a way, I feel like a piece of my brother is coming down with them (Hi Jason--I will ask them to give you a hug and kiss from me, okay?). I am hoping that soon Paul will post on the specifics of class and what the Lord has been teaching him (hint, hint).

We are now beginning to get into a routine around home. The kids are getting to know the kids of the other students (which is a huge answer to prayer). We are back in full swing of homeschooling, which Twiggy has been able to tolerate knowing that her new friends are in their apartments doing the same thing. I am starting to realize that I am not on vacation and I'm getting back into the mode of preparing menus and grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, etc...etc..... I am enjoying getting to know the other students' wives and I'm seeing different things that I could learn from each one of them. They are a fun group of women.

As for the near future; Paul will be headed to New Guinea in about a month where he'll do hands-on training with To Every Tribe. When he gets back, we will have a week of spring break and then, Lord willing, both Paul and I will be taking a course in dentistry where we will be learning how to clean teeth and fill cavities without the use of electricity--very intense! We've been told that when you get out into these remote areas of the world often times the people there will request a dentist even before they will request a doctor or a nurse because the dental needs are so bad. We are looking forward to using these skills, along with my nursing skills, to show the love of Christ to these people with the hopes of one day sharing with them the eternal healing that comes through faith in the Son of God!

More posts to come.....hopefully sooner than later. Thanks for faithfully checking!

Dear Mommy,

I was wondering if you noticed something.....something very serious......

I do not like carrots.
At all.
When you put them in my mouth....I spit them back out at you.

I would rather eat my bib.

Give me cereal or give me death....

....but, please, no more carrots. They make me gag.

Love, Frankie

P.S. Don't worry, you're still my favorite person.

Get Out Of Debt

This is a great reminder for the Christmas season. "Godliness with contentment is great gain."

What is going on???

We've had a few people in our small circle of blog readers who have little to no idea of what has been happening in our lives for the past few months so I decided to use a post to get everyone up to speed. For those of you who know the ins and outs of the changes going on at Plans and Providence, bear with me for a post or two....

We have currently re-located to a big town (well, relatively speaking) in Southern Texas where we will be spending the next 8 months to a year in training that specializes in getting the gospel of Jesus Christ to people who have never heard. This decision was not come by quickly or easily (especially on my part) but one where we have seen our God work in such a way that we have no doubt in His direction of our lives thus far.

In February of 2006, Paul went to the Bethlehem Conference for Pastors in the cities, where the topic of the conference was "How Must a Pastor Die? The Cost of Caring Like Jesus". The topic caught Paul's attention right away, especially living in the American culture where it's easy for us to want to be called Christian, as long as suffering is not included in that calling; a great weakness I see in myself as well. One of the speakers was a man named David Sitton who shared his burden for the unwanted, unreached, sometimes hostile people groups around the world who God has promised will be praising his name around the throne one day (Revelation 7:9-10). The Holy Spirit began to move in the heart of my unsuspecting husband and he prayed with his friend sitting next to him that the Lord would give him direction and clarity as to God's purpose and will.

Paul came home from the conference and very cautiously shared with me the details of the conference and his desire to maybe someday down the road in the distant, distant....distant future look into the possibility of persuing missions to unreached people groups. Immediately I thought of sending my children out to play, worrying that they would be eaten by cannibals and my heart was very closed to the idea. Paul made no mention of it over the weeks that followed, but in my mind we were talking about it pretty much 24/7. Then one early morning as Paul was sleeping (peacefully, I might add) I was awake crying and stubbornly arguing with God, thinking about every reason why it would not be a good idea for us to go into missions. I was foolishly asking God how He could ask us to do this thing, when He asked me, "Keri, do you love Me more than anything?" and I could not argue with Him anymore because He had revealed to me the condition of my heart. That night I gave up arguing with my all-knowing, all-powerful God, and surrendered to the idea of going into missions training. From that point on I cannot tell you what specifically happened in my heart to get me to the point I am now, but He has brought me from being reluctant and unwilling to where I am excited for the training we will receive and for the plans the Lord has for us.

Although we had pursued other areas of possible missions training, those fell through, and the Lord kept bringing To Every Tribe Ministries to Paul's mind. Nothing much was said about it throughout the next 10 months until February 2007 when Paul called David Sitton. He said he was going to be at the Bethlehem Conference for Pastors again this year and would meet with Paul there. To make an already long story shorter, Paul and David Sitton met and we went down to Southern Texas for a visit in April. In May Paul resigned his position as youth pastor at our church in Chetek, Paul finished his last day on the first of June, Frankie was born the beginning of July, we put our house up for sale in August (and had an offer on it within a week), and sold the house and moved in with my parents in September. We lived with my mom and dad until December 4th when we headed down to Texas, which brings us to the present time.

I am not going to lie to you and tell you that everything has been easy-going this whole time. I cannot tell you the depth of the lonliness I feel for my family and friends back home; much of my time has been spent in tears (not that that comes as a shock to those of you who really know me), but I have no doubt of the Lord's leading and because of that I can say that this time is good.

I should go for now, but if you have any questions for us, please don't hesitate to leave a comment or e-mail us at pkpoppe@gmail.com.

Child, you have no idea.....

I overheard the following this morning between Twiggy, who is six-and-a-half, and her friend who spent the night last night. I was getting ready for the day and Twiggy had picked up and was entertaining Frankie. Frankie spit up on Twiggy's arm and as I was handing her the burp rag...

Friend: Ewwwww! That is SO disgusting!!

Twiggy: (with a roll of her eyes and a sassiness in her voice) Well, WELCOME to motherhood!

Eight Years!

Eight years ago today I married the sweetest man in the world!

Above is a picture of us in November of 1999...

And here is a picture of us now (except he is on the left and I am on the right). What he has lost in hair I have gained in weight so it all evens out, I guess. ;)

Anyhoo...I love you, my sweet man! Thanks for never leaving me wondering whether or not you loved me!

Misc. Pictures

Rocky in his "dude glasses"

Where's Frankie???

Jumping in the Leaves

Princess Daisy

Any Takers???

They book birthday parties, weddings, and in this case, 4th of July celebrations.

Craziness I'll Never Understand!

I always knew that my husband was a sports maniac, and football season is no exception. Since Fantasy Football has become a major part of the season, however, Paul has taken his insanity to a new level, which never really affected me until yesterday. Those of you who are Fantasy Football "coaches" (or wives of these crazy men) know what I'm talking about when 8 o' clock (central time) on Tuesday morning rolls around and those football free agents suddenly become "available".

For some reason a guy named Earnest Graham was the coveted player. I personally thought there was nothing special about him but, nonetheless, Paul was determined to "pick him up" (which I thought was a dating term, but...okay). Unfortunately Paul had to work yesterday so our morning went something like this:

5 am! Paul woke me up: "Hon, do you mind if I take the computer to work today?"

me: "Well, we kinda use it for school. Don't you have to work?"

Paul: "Yes, but there's this free agent that I have to pick up"

me: "When are you going to have time to pick him up?"

Paul: "Well...maybe you could do it for me..."

me: "...........okay?"

Paul: "--GREAT! I'll get the computer set up so all you have to do is press the "pick up this player" button.......but if for some reason the computer needs to be reset, let me show you how to get where you need to be."

He proceeds to take me through the detailed layout of the Fantasy Football website along with the list of possible "pick-ups" if I fail my attempt to pick up Earnest...by this time I decided to get ready for the day and camp out close to the computer since I was wide awake in fear of forgetting my crash course in Fantasy Football 101.

7:39 am My cell phone rings. "Honey, are you awake?"

"Yes. I never went back to sleep."

"Oh........okay, just checking. Love you! Bye!"

7:42 am Cell phone rings again. "If you can't pick up Graham, first try Adrian Peterson, and then Jesse Chapman, and then whoever else is on the list. And don't forget to drop Ted Ginn, Jr."

7:56 am (I'm not kidding) Ring, ring! "Hey! I also wanted to tell you to to go by the clock on your cell phone. That's real time."

GRRRRR!!! By this time I'm sweating bullets, and my heart rate is actually rising! There I am at 7:58 am staring at this page that I would've never gone to of my own accord and I am once again feeling like I did in high school just before the gun sounded during a cross country meet...

7:59 am My finger is on the mouse, my eyes are on the "pick up player" button. I quickly glance to make sure I have the right player...10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1... click........

silence

Okay, you know what? I didn't get the player. Because some MANIAC COACH beat me to him!!! Not only that, but when I went to find out who had stolen this Earnest what's-his-name, there were 4 or 5 more maniacs scurrying around like ants on candy picking up their "coveted players"!

....craziness I will never understand....

The Gift of Worship

Seems like the Lord is reminding me of this a lot lately. Thanks, God's Daisy, for sharing!

P.S.

Does anyone see anything odd about this picture (I mean, besides the poor quality)?

This is a sign we saw while on our excursion in Illinois. Girlie Girl was thinking that maybe the Bud "Family 24 Pack" comes with a nipple for the baby...only in Illinois...okay...and maybe Wisconsin.

Our Weekend With Branching Out

Okay, so I am a little late on this post--I can't believe a week has gone by--but we had a wonderful weekend last weekend with the fine couple over there at Branching Out (pictured below).

You graciously allowed seven of us invade their home and, I must say, your hospitality exceeded our expectations (you even had Coke in the refrigerator and Sunday night popcorn)! We had such a good time catching up with you; hearing how the Lord has been working in your lives and reminiscing about our days together at camp...not to mention our weekend at that...well...ritsy golf resort with Jeremy and Brina! We loved getting to know your sweet boys; we were excited that Rocky finally had some boys to play with (as I type this he is being coerced by his older sisters to play "wedding" with them). Going out to eat with you on Saturday night was such a treat (many, many, many thanks to WeeBecca) and we left wondering why we don't keep in better touch with you!

This post may specifically be for Branching Out...I know I am not that swell at putting my thoughts into words--and I know this post does not do it justice--but you were a huge encouragement to our family last weekend, probably more than you will ever know. We love you guys!

Where to start?

I can't even count the number of times I have started to post on my blog and then stopped thinking, "Is this really blog-worthy after being a non-blogger for so long?" Tonight I have decided that is does not matter, I'm just going to post with high hopes that blogging will just get easier from here on out (does anyone understand what I mean...the first post is always so hard after being away for a while).

So much has changed since August 15th. The biggest change being that as of August 31st, we have been homeless and living with my parents. We are thanking God for doing the impossible by selling our house in less than a month; if that wasn't a push, I don't know what else could be! Closing day was an emotional one for all of us (including "Frankie", our newborn, who cried through the whole signing process). I am especially missing my sister who lived just a block away--now she lives 5 minutes away! Although they are so excited to live with Papa and Mimi the kids miss "going home". We are very thankful for Papa and Mimi allowing us to live with them even though I'm sure the house gets a little louder and a little messier than what they are used to!

The kids are doing well. Twiggy is now in first grade and loving it so much more than Kindergarten (as am I). Her reading is getting so much better and I can tell that she's really starting to enjoy the challenge of picking up a book and sounding out words she does not know.

Daisy is equally eager to learn and enjoys sitting in on school lessons. Her favorite thing to do lately is to sing and color at the same time and I love to listen to her sweet voice.

Rocky is all boy. His two new passions in life are Thomas the Tank Engine and driving his older sisters crazy! His younger sister, however, can do no wrong and he is SO protective of her. The other day at church he came crying to me, "Mom, those kids are watching my sister!" As a two-year-old, he is almost as tall as his four-year-old sister!

Frankie has obviously done the most changing! She smiles a lot and LOVES her brother and sisters...and is maybe a little spoiled! We are all thoroughly enjoying watching her grow and change!

Paul and I are doing well. While we our hearts ache at the thought of leaving here in two months our urgency grows as we get closer to moving. We are looking forward to this next chapter in our lives as we prepare with To Every Tribe Ministries, but are longing for God to teach us and grow us during this transition time as well. I am amazed already at how specifically God has proven Himself to be the almighty, all-powerful God who can do anything!