I just wanted to take a minute and blog about how our trip to Samiri went.  These are just the broad strokes of how the trip went, as I don’t go into much detail concerning the area, or what our plans will be in the future.  This was just our first trip, and I pray that there will be more to come.  As time continues along, I will send out more information, and how you can specifically be praying for them.

WOW!  What a trip we had.  Just a quick note on the name.  In earlier communications concerning Samiri, I spelled it SamiLi.  When people pronounce it, it sounds much more like SamiLi than SamiRi, but it is spelled Samiri.  Well, we left my house at about 6:30 am to head for Megabo.  This is the closest place you can drive, on the highlands side to get to Samiri.  Megabo is about an hour and 45 minutes drive from my house, depending on the road conditions, i.e. has it been raining a bunch or not.  We departed Megabo very shortly after arriving to make the most of the time we had.  Our “plan” was to arrive at Samiri late on Monday, or sometime in the morning on Tuesday.  And to depart Wednesday morning, with the outside chance that we would be returning Thursday morning.  HAHA.  We finally arrived at 7:00 pm on Wednesday evening, somewhat alive.

The first day we hiked from about 8:15 am to 5:00 pm.  We hiked up mountains, down mountains, over streams, over log bridges, and anything in between.  “Hiked” could be a combination of both walking, and sliding, if it was down the mountain.  If it was up the mountain it would include a combination of walking, and grabbing whatever root or vine we could grab to help us go up.  Inside the jungle, the canopy is quite thick, and therefore the sunlight doesn’t penetrate, and so it is just wet and nasty.  It seems like it is perpetually dusk.  Around 5:00 we arrived at a village called Matausa.  This was approximately 10 miles from our starting point.  We ate some rice and roasted some breadfruit on the fire.  It was quite tasty.  To me it tasted somewhat like a roasted peanut, just not as hard.  I was grateful for the food and the fire, that kept me mostly warm that night.

We departed Matausa the next morning with the hopes of making it to Samiri by dark.  Well, again this was the plan but since we didn’t really have a clue how far it was all we could do was go by what the guide told us.  He seemed certain we would make it by dark.  HAHA.  No chance.  We stayed the second night in a 1-hour bush house.  I call it a 1-hour bush house, because that is about how long it took the guys to build this house.  We had 2 bush knives (machetes) with us, and they went to town cutting up trees, both for the house, and for the fires to keep us warm at night.  We didn’t eat any dinner on the fire this night, we just ate crackers and whatever we brought for snacks.  It was really great to be able to lay down and rest.  I can’t say I got much sleep, but the fact that we were able to not hike was a blessing.  My feet at this point weren’t doing too well, as I had some pretty nasty bloody blisters.

The next morning we woke up around daybreak, and hit the road about 7:00.  We didn’t eat breakfast proper, we just ate whatever snacks and crackers we had in our bags.  This third day of hiking seemed to be just like the first 2, only the mountains seemed to be steeper, and for a large majority of the third day we went down hill.  We went down, down, down until we reached a point where 2 rivers met in a valley of the mountain.  We then climbed down a very steep portion of the “trail” to the water.  It felt as if we were trying to climb down a waterfall.  Perhaps this is because there was a waterfall about 20 feet away.  We criss-crossed this river a few times until we came to the point of going up, up, up the mountain.  A couple of hours later we finally made it to our destination.  The small village of Naombia inside Samiri.  It was close to 7:00 pm and dark by the time we arrived.  We walked through the village until we came to the house we were staying at for the night.  We ate some rice and kaukau for dinner, and got some well needed rest.  The next morning we had a chance to sit down with several of the people who had fellowshipped with the late Pastor Heti.  Pastor Heti is who went here to church plant back in 2005 and passed away in 2007 of malaria.  We were able to spend several hours talking with them, and also visited the grave of Pastor Heti before we had to move along.  We had only brought food for a 3-day trip, and since we were now into the 4th day, we had to keep moving along.  Even though the visit was relatively short, I was able to gather some much-needed information during this morning visit, which was a blessing.

As we moved on down the trail we passed by several of the small villages that make up the larger area of Samiri.  At nightfall, we came upon Temiapa.  This would be the last place we would stay.  We finished the last bit of food we had in our bags, and made a plan to head out at daylight to try and make sure we had enough time to make it home the next day.  On Friday morning we hit the road at 6, and began our way to the highway.  Our journey home, thank God, would not be the same way we came.  We came in through the mountains of the highlands, and we would go back through the kunai grass of the Ramu valley.  We were able to make good time through the level ground, and found ourselves meeting the highway right at 11:00.  This was, of course, after we had to make our way through 2 fairly fast flowing rivers.  I am grateful that it is the dry season, because I don’t think I would have been ready to cross these rivers if they were flowing any faster than they were.  After a few PMV (public motor vehicle) rides we found ourselves in Goroka late in the afternoon on Friday, only 2 days after we thought we would return.

Overall, I think the trip was a big success.  We learned a lot about what a recon trip in the bush looks like.  We learned a lot about what we would do differently, after all this was our first trip of this kind, and well we really didn’t know what to expect.  I was reminded to be content with my circumstances even if they were less than desirable.  I think at some point during the bloody blisters, and the leeches sucking the blood out of my feet, I thought why in the world am I doing this?  I must say, the ONLY reason I would be doing this is because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is worth it!  For me it was simple.  There is a group of people in Samiri who have no church, and no witness for Christ, and someone needs to go and make disciples of these people.  Some people hike through difficult terrain just because they think it is fun.  Well, I am not in this category.  Perhaps 10 or 15 years ago I would have fit into this category, but 10 years of marriage and 3 kids later I have different ideas of what “fun” is.  I praise God that I was able to go on this recon trip, and I pray that in the upcoming months and years, we will be able to find a way to reach the unreached people of Samiri.

As you think of them and have time, please pray for the people of Samiri.  Please pray that God would send laborers into this field.  Please pray that God would save many people in Samiri.  Please pray that God would receive all of the glory as he moves in the hearts of those people.