June 19 Friday. I got up, had breakfast and headed over to the Madang Resort and Nuigini Dive Adventures shortly after 8am. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to walk around unescorted for a change. I filled out my liability releases, while Yayo the dive instructor called The Dive Centre to verify I am certified. I had not had a chance to pick up my temp card and will have to make sure I do before I leave the country. That taken care of I got geared up, with a shorty wetsuit that just barely fit me. The boat dock is right there and within minutes we were heading out towards Big Pig and Small Pig island. Kar Kar island is visible on the horizon. We did two dives, one at Pig Passage and a second at Barracuda Point. It was beautiful, we encountered sleeping sharks at the bottom about 20 meters down, a couple sharks that were awake and moving around and thousands upon thousands of other fish. There were a host of variations of the little Nemo fish, each preferring a different type of anemone. There were puffer fish a foot long. There were giant schools of fish, tightly bunched together against the danger we presented (and the danger of the large grouping of barracuda that hovered on the outskirts of our vision). There were little yellow nudibranches on the sea floor, fields of mushroom coral, giant fan corals, brain corals, and so many plants and animals resembling a garden in full bloom. I had a thoroughly enjoyable time. During the hour and twenty minute surface interval between dives, I snorkeled around Big Pig Island.

In the afternoon, I decided to walk around on my own, so I took a route that brought me to the Madang lighthouse, along the golf course (beautifully landscaped, but no one playing; many groups picknicking though), zig zagging through town, to the outskirts, past the cemetary and eventually to the SDA church. When I arrived there, the sign board indicated that they had a Friday evening service starting at 6:30. It was 4:30, so I figured that gave me enough time to walk back through town, get some food for dinner and walk back for the vespers program. It took me a little more than 30 minutes to walk there, so it probably around two miles. Good exercise, but it seemed to surprise people when I told them I had done it. There was a nice program and a family gave me a ride back afterwards.

June 20 Sabbath: I had breakfast of cereal and bread & jam and walked through town out to the cemetery and the church. I arrived about 10 minutes early and the church was about half full, with those present already singing. A man named Willie Keng came and sat beside me. He shared his hymnal with me. It has been surprising on this trip that in many places, they simply call out a hymn number and the people know what it is with or without a hymn book. I have gotten to sing many songs I have never sung back in the States. I had left my lesson and Bible in my bags back in Moresby, so a boy on the other side of me shared his. I was not the only guest at church this morning, there was also an Australian man who had spent many years as a child living in Madang, and we also had the honor of three government officials, including the Minister of Environment and Conservation and the First Secretary Minister of Fisheries. All three are Adventist and had been in Madang for the groundbreaking of a new tuna processing refinery in the area. We were all introduced as guests and the service was a good one with the sermon adding on to the lesson about community. There was a meeting planned for later in the afternoon and both the Minister of Environment and Conservation and I were asked to speak as extra speakers for that meeting. So much for blending into the woodwork for me. I will continue to trust in God and His larger plan and if this is something He needs me to do, I will do it gladly. Willie Keng is apparently involved in politics in this province so he invited me to lunch with him and the three government officials. It was an interesting lunch spent discussing issues that are affecting PNG now and how the global changes are affecting things here. There is also a fine line between a view that the end of the world is getting nearer and the need to make sound long term decisions in the best interests of the people of PNG while we wait for that inevitable eventuality. After lunch they dropped me off at the Lutheran Guesthouse for a rest and would come back to pick me up close to four.

A side note: Madang is a city that is blanketed by flying foxes, they are in certain trees in large numbers, screeching away and at all times of day some are wheeling about in the sky. It is beautiful to watch their bat like wings against the gray sky and their large fuzzy bodies as they hang from the tree branches above.

A little after four Willie and Bennie, the Minister, arrived and we headed to the meeting. They thought we were late, but the meeting began at 4:30 and we arrived right on time (and to a full house of nearly 300). The Australian man from this morning spoke first and told a little about his travels and how Madang would always hold a special place in his heart from the years he spent here growing up. I spoke next, told a little about my trip and my goals for it, the things I had experienced in PNG so far, and told a story about how we influence and are influenced by everyone we meet and how God can use that in ways we may never know, but that they do work together for His good. The Minister spoke next and talked about the affects of Global Warming and the direct results visible in this part of PNG. At first it is a little disconcerting, like listening to a doctor with a southern accent, to here a high level government official speaking in Pidgin, but it the only common language they have and it works. He seems to be a very thoughtful man and I get the impression he is a good man to have in his position.

June 21 Sunday: I spent the day close to the guesthouse. Most of the stores are closed on Sunday; I did get some groceries at the one open supermarket. Willie came by and we agreed on when to meet tomorrow to visit his village overnight. He told me that the Minister had wanted to invite me to a dinner they had last night, but they did not want to disturb me. I feel honored that they would even think of including me. I read quite a bit today as well, finishing two books that were here in the Lutheran Guesthouse library and making more progress into a book I brought myself. A Japanese guy checked into the room I'm staying in and he is just finishing a year long trip around the world, so we talked about his trip and mine, compared some notes and looked at his atlas for a while. He had some interesting pictures of a tank located in the jungle near Madang and gave me the rough directions, in case I had time to explore, but I probably will not. I have yet to really explore WWII relics, but they are all around and surprisingly close by most of the time in this part of the world. As for my new Japanese friend, Cuba was one of his favorite places. He took a train through Russia, went through Poland, Germany Italy, Monaco, France, England, the East Coast of the US, Mexico, all of Central America, Columbia, Jamaica, Cuba, LA, Australia, and now is in PNG and running out of money. He is still hoping to get to the Philippines and Taiwan before he has to go back to Japan. And he is already planning another trip to spend more time in Africa and South America.

June 22 Monday:I had a leisurely morning, with breakfast and reading. At noon I called Willie to see when I should head over to the PMV depot. He said we should wait an hour before heading there, so I walked to the resort Fish Market and got a good lunch of sago, fried banana, and potatoes for less than 3 dollars. At one, I met Willie and we walked to the PMV point together. We met his uncle who had come into town for the day and was returning with us. The buses are marked 17A through 17K designating how far on the road north they will travel. We have to wait for a green bus going to 17F, one of two buses that belong to a man that lives in Willie's uncle's village. Normally it shows up by 2pm, but it is just our luck that today he doesn't arrive until almost four pm. Willie and I had already discussed and made up our minds that I would stay all day Tuesday and that we would have enough time to get back to Madang Wednesday morning for my flight. If I had left again on Tuesday in the morning I really would not have gotten to see anything up north. We arrived just before 7pm and it was already too dark to do much besides getting a bath from the wheelbarrow and having dinner. We went to bed at 10 after I had spent some time showing pictures of my trip so far to the family and gathered friends. Again, the whole time I am treated as an honored guest. They make it clear that while Madang gets a good number of foreigners traveling through, almost none of them ever attempt to go and stay in the villages as I am doing. That apparently makes me unique and it is intriguing to them. We spend a lot of time talking about my motivations for the trip and how it is that I can do something like this. Willie's uncle has a large house (with six bedrooms) and it is just out side of the main village here. He has another house in the village, but the family prefers the privacy and relative quiet of having their space.