A Village Christmas

I sit here in the airport of the largest city worldwide only accessible by air with its 1 runway, 3 gates, and 1 baggage claim. All its supplies, from food to housing necessities, are flown into this tiny airport. Welcome to Wamena.

Dozens of planes of all sizes fly in and out constantly. The steady whine of engines and the gentle milling of people allows me to reflect over the past 2 weeks. Spending most of the Christmas season in a village was not how I imagined this Christmas going. Then again, I'm not sure what I was expecting. I knew well enough that I would not be spending it with family but that doesn't mean I was without loved ones. 

A mission team flew in from the states, which included: Seth and Sarah Hill, Nicholas Wilson, Jordan Madrigal, Natalie Boswell, and Tiara Hebert. I was acquaintances with most but after 12 days interior I'm happy to call them all friends. It always amazes me how close people from all different backgrounds can get when they work together with one goal in mind, especially when that goal is Christ centered. 

We went to a village called Heberima (approximately 45 minute drive outside of Wamena). The plan was to finish building a church that Pastor Darron's seminary students had been working on for a few weeks. But in true mission fashion we ran into a few stumbling blocks (quite literally). 

I arrived on the job site expecting to see a flat foundation ready for cement and the metal framing. Instead, I saw a sloping mud hill with a few trenches. I wish I could say that I was I unafraid and fully trusted God would help us finish on time, but doubt filled my heart. 

Everyday we worked hard, easily pulling 9-10 hour days. But one thing that made this construction site enjoyable was the weather! The Wamena area is nestled in the Papuan Highlands. At about 6,000ft elevation, I traded 90-degree days with 90% humidity for highs of 80’s and very low humidity.  Heberima sat even higher on the surrounding mountain ranges.  The scenery was absolutely magnificent! Whenever I became worn out with moving the thick clay-mud, or mixing cement (by hand) I had two options.  If I turned one way I could look out over the valley stretched wide below us, or if I turned another way I could look up to the peaks of the hills towering above us. Either way, I was in awe of God’s beauty and felt rejuvenated.  To add to the beauty of this place, there was usually a stiff breeze that brushed up the steep hillsides. At night, that breeze was down right chilly and would howl against the district office building we called home.  It was even cold enough that we would crave hot drinks and I couldn’t wait to put on a jacket and snuggle into my sleeping bag.   

The entire first week was spent attempting to level the ground. By hand! The process was extremely slow and at times discouraging. No matter how much mud and clay we moved there always seemed to be more and the deeper we dug the larger the rocks we found. Thus, came our stumbling blocks. These were not just 50-pound rocks; these were monsters that easily weighed 1,500 - 2,000 pounds. What would’ve taken a jackhammer 20 minutes took 10 men with crowbars and shovels most of the day to dig out the boulder and then muscle it up and out of the trench. 

There were still other boulders that were too big to even attempt to move with just sheer manpower. But the mountain villagers of Heberima have become accustomed to living and working in this rocky terrain. They built a large bonfire over the mammoth and added a few tires to ensure it stayed burning over night. The following morning it was still putting off puffs of thick, black smoke and radiating heat. They then splashed cold water onto charred rock, forcing it to crack. However, even with cracks running down deep into the earth it still required 6 men rotating blows with a sledgehammer before the boulder gave way... Slightly. Even after fire, water, and pounding we never did completely level that particular boulder. At the end of it all we decided to leave it and let it eventually give support to the stage. 

The second week was similar to the first.  Hard days followed by chilly nights. Thankfully, we began going vertical with the church the last few days there! But the higher you build here the greater the risks.  Wood is extremely hard to come by in Wamena, due to de-forestation, which means latters are also hard to come by, and cranes are out of the question. The solution?  Build your own scaffolding of course! They called it “kuda-kuda”, which translates to horses.  Quite literally the locals went out and found some used and abused pieces of wood then nailed them together.  The result is a very tall but wobbly platform with nail heads sticking out.  It was as scary as it sounds. So with a special prayer of safety we all began climbing up either on the metal church framing or on the kuda-kudas to begin working on putting the trusses.

However, even with the scaffolding the peaks of the trusses were too tall to reach.  So the lightest people got the thrill of a lifetime (if they so volunteered).  The brave-souls would spider up between two trusses with nothing but air under them. While up there, they would measure the space between the trusses and screw in extra metal supports. Obviously OSHA is nonexistent here, but thankfully God sent extra angels and we had no accidents.

       In addition to working on the job site, we also had to prepare our own meals.  Originally, we planned to eat lunch with the locals. That way we would only have to make 2 meals a day. So we packed enough food our mission group of 16 (including the Boyd family and 3 SM’s) for 2 meals a day. But again, mission work has a way of turning everything on its head.  When we arrived on site we found out the locals were not going to feed us lunch, we were now feeding up to 20 people, AND the boxes we had packed and sent up early with most of our kitchen supplies was missing (pots/pans, bleach, dish soap…).  Stress, frustration, and doubt reared their ugly heads in my control-freak heart. But God had a lesson to teach me through the mess.  Never once did we go hungry. Never once were we left wanting.  Everyday different village ladies would bring us fresh veggies and fruits from their gardens.  At the end of 12 days we actually had to leave food behind because there was so much.  Just like there was extra after feeding the 5,000, there was plenty left over.  God always provides.