Month: December 2015

Here are a few of the highlights of our Christmas in Lae, Papua New Guinea.

Carols By Candlelight at the Salvation Army School

We have formed a friendship with the Australian couple serving as Business Manager and Curriculum Coordinator for the school.

Staff Christmas lunch

We put some of our staff social funds to  use.

Christmas concert and meal at our local church

The Pastor and his wife came to visit our Centre to make sure that we were coming. It was so encouraging to be included.

Wycliffe Australia shouted us coffee as a treat

The Christmas ‘traffic jam’

The main area for water taxis was full of people. Lae is PNG’s second largest city and many come to work here from surrounding coastal communities or from islands which can be reached by open dingy. There is no ticket booking office, so people come and wait for an available seat. Market sellers are on hand with drinks and snacks.

Christmas breakfast with a Wycliffe couple

Alan and Ritva Brown are translating for the Kovai language group on Siassi Island, and are staying at the Lae Guesthouse for a two week break over Christmas. We enjoyed a decadent treat with our poached eggs… real bacon!

We were also able to see and talk with our children over the internet. Christmas afternoon was spent swimming and playing a game with Australian friends.

During the pre-Christmas maintenance closure, our daily devotions included a traditional hymn, looking into what influenced the writer, and the theology behind the lyrics. The classic carol “Hark! The herald angels sing”, is often sung at Christmas events, but draws us to look beyond the manger to the cross.

“Mild He lays His glory by,   Born that man no more may die                                    Born to raise the sons of earth,  Born to give them second birth”

We rightly join the multitude of angels in singing of God’s glory at our Saviour’s birth. (Luke 2:14)

We all must proclaim the message of the cross as strongly throughout the year ahead.