Help Us Buy a Van

Hello blog friends! We are at it again, selling T-shirts. This time we are raising money to buy a van for our family to scoot around centre in at night. Matt travels some and that leaves Tiffany alone to walk around taking kids to activities etc. It's pretty unsafe here in the highlands for women and children to walk alone. And is especially awful in rainy season. 

Our friends are selling the yellow sub to buy a more respectable vehicle.

Isn't she something special?

It was pretty much love at first sight.

Tiffany has come up with a very special T-shirt design that will be available for just 2 weeks. February 12th is the last day to order. You won't find these anywhere else any other time. 

Go to: 

https://www.bonfirefunds.com/the-crosland-sub

to order your shirts today!

Thank you for your help.

XO

Help Us Send Another Child To School

We had a successful campaign with Tfund to get school fees for our daughter! Thank you to all who bought shirts or donated to help us! We have a very excited teenager who will be going to school for the first time in her life, thanks to you!!
We have now started a new campaign to get one of our sons in school too. Here are the shirts we've designed:

The front is a picture of a PNG man with his face decorated for a singsing.

The back is a map of PNG.

They are printed on fair labor certified T-shirts and all sizes are available. You won't find these shirts anywhere else. When the campaign ends on March 28 they will no longer be available to buy.

Go HERE to check it out  and get your shirt! At last count we still need to sell 96 more shirts in the next 24 days to make our goal.

Please share the link: http://www.tfund.com/croslands

Thank you for your help!!

Help Send an MK (missionary kid) to School

As many of you know, we have been very under-funded since our move to Ukarumpa. The cost of living is much higher here than in Madang. One of the things the children were looking forward to in Ukarumpa was being able to go to school with their friends. Unfortunately, that didn't happen because we just don't have enough monthly income to cover the fees. Because our oldest daughter will be entering high school next year, we decided that she should get the first opportunity to go to school
We have a fun way for you to help us get school fees for our oldest daughter to be able to go to school!
Buy a shirt and help send an MK to school!

By clicking on one of the links above you can order a cool PNG shirt and help us send our girl to school. We designed these shirts ourselves. You won't find any one like this anywhere else. The front has a picture of the Papua New Guinea national crest and the back is the PNG flag with our giving website address. The shirts will only be available until February 2nd so get them while you can and feel good about your purchase!

As always if you wish to give (without getting a shirt) and get a tax receipt you can go here and follow the prompts.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Love from PNG

Christmas Card

Graduation

     I (Matt) had a very interesting experience this week.  For the last 14 weeks of the building project we have had 3 students from a local vocational training school working with us for the practical portion of their course. I was a little concerned at first because this was the first time I have participated in this sort of program and I was not sure what their competency level would be. They were definitely green when we got them, but I was the same way when we started doing construction and you have to start somewhere. They all worked very hard and were open to learning new things. In the end it was a joy to have them, to train them, and watch them grow. They were an asset to the team and the project and I would be happy to have another set of students.
     But that was not the end of the story. The students and their teachers invited us (my foreman and me) to come to their graduation ceremony. As an expat and a representative of the largest mission organization in the country this is not terribly out of the ordinary. It is generally pretty hard for students to find places to do their practical training, and it is a requirement for graduation, so they wanted to express their gratitude to us and foster the relationship between the school and our mission.
     I have been to quite of few of these type of celebrations before, in other parts of the country, so I thought I was prepared. They are generally pretty long and it seems like everyone and their brother gets up and talks. But they are usually pretty fun.
     We arrived and were greeted by the construction teachers. They brought us into a waiting room with some of the VIPs (2 local members of parliament, the provincial inspector for vocational training, and several other government officials). At this point I still had not grasped the fact that I was one of the VIPs. They served us light refreshments (coffee and buttered bread) and then we were taken out. Some of the girls in the hospitality program were dressed in tradition clothes and lead the procession in. We walked through a line of men dressed in local traditional clothes playing a welcome song. In the past I was seated on the front row in these sorts of affairs but this time we were taken to our seats on the stage! As we climbed the steps there were another set of hospitality students putting leas on our neck (pictured above on the left). I sat down just behind the podium and realized that this was a little more than I was used to.
     The program began and they recognized all the VIPs ( I was one). I thought "oh that was nice." I settled in to watch the program. Speeches were made and money was promised by the members to support the school. They then began to recognize the outstanding students in each section. I was asked to come up and hand the gifts to the students in the plumbing and carpentry students. The program kept going and then it happened. I was just sitting there minding my own business and I heard my name!!!They just called me up to the podium to speak!!!!! I got up not quite knowing what to say but luckily I am rarely at a loss for words. I spoke for a few minutes about what great students we had and how proud the teachers should be of them and the training they had received and sat down. A few more speeches were given and it was time for the students to receive their certificates. They began to hand out certificates and called up various people to hand them to the students. One of the interesting things at this point was some of the students and their families were giving bilums, hand woven bags, to some of their teachers to say thank you. I was again called up to hand out the carpentry and plumbing certificates. When my 3 students came up they each gave me a bilum. I was overwhelmed by this act. When someone gives a bilum in this sort of situation they put it around your neck and you have to leave it there. So here is what I looked like after the ceremony was over :-)

After the ceremony was over we had a small meal and they gave me a tour of the carpentry workshop. There were only 3 power tools in the shop for all of the students. I am always impressed with how much Papua New Guineans can do with limited resources. What an amazing day. Papua New Guinea is truly "the land of the unexpected".

September 2014 Newsletter

 

 

 

May Newsletter

Amat Sparrow

 

 

 

 

A Beautiful Baby Boy

Amat Sparrow Crosland

March 17, 2014

7 pounds, 14 ounces

March Kids Newsletter

Want To Visit Us In PNG??

We have a unique opportunity for you to come be a part on our work in Ukarumpa! Matt is heading up this project to begin in June going all the way into March 2015. If you are interested or want more details, contact Matt at: matt_crosland@wycliffe.org

 

 

 

January 2014 Newsletter

 



What Now?

       The picture above is from the feast our friends made for us before we left Nobnob. If you look really closely you can see a pig hanging in the middle of the fire. They were burning the hair off the pig before it was cooked. I will write a blog post about the feast later. For now I just wanted to share my immediate feelings.
      I put this picture with this post because I feel a little bit like the pig today. When we arrived at our house we opened the door to find that every drawer and cabinet door was open and everything we have had been riffled through. We came up about a month and a half ago and brought some boxes up and all of the stuff we shipped from the US in the sea container had arrived. The housing department here was generous enough to let us go ahead and put everything in the house and leave it here while we finished up in Madang. While we were away someone broke into our house and stole a good bit of stuff. Myself (Matt) and the boys were the hardest hit. All of our good tee shirts and shorts were taken as well as all of my shoes. No one was left unscathed. Tiffany had some tee shirts taken as well as all of her wrap skirts (laplap). They also got her warm hats that she was looking forward to wearing now that she has had to cut her hair. Everything was rifled through. All the dry goods that were in our pantry were stolen as well as some of our pots, pans and dishes. Maybe the most painful was the 2 external hard drives that had all of our old pictures on them.
      We are all still feeling a little pained and numb from this. When you combine that with the fact that we just left all we know and all our friends for a place that is very different and a bit strange to us we are hurting (especially me). To top it off our friends who came up with us were supposed to go back on POC’s truck yesterday. They left in the morning and made it about 45 minutes away before having a flat tire. They then discovered that the spare was flat too. Fortunately, the truck they were driving has dual wheels on the back so they took one off the back and put it on the front and limped back to our house. I have to admit I had mixed feelings when I got the call that they were having tire problems. I was truly worried for them but I was happy to have them here again. I have some friends in the auto shop here so we were able to get in and fix the tires even though they were closed. By the time the car was ready it was too late for them to leave so they stayed with us last night. It was nice to have them one last time. They left early this morning and I got word just a little while ago that they had made it to the halfway mark.
     I know the numbness will fade and we will settle in to being here and we will make lots of new friends here but for now it is hard to do much but sit here and be sorry. Please pray for us as we adjust.

A Video

 

Here is a short video that our 12 year old daughter made (all by herself!) for our friends at Hub City Church. They just sent us the most WONDERFUL package for Christmas!! Thank you friends! We love you.

 

 

 

It So Hard to Say Goodbye, Especially for Me

  

(Election time on the Mountain)

Goodbyes are very difficult for me. I am never sure how to handle them. They always seem awkward and there is no good way to end them. I often try to avoid them all together. That is one of my many character flaws. There I said it, I hate goodbyes. For most people this wouldn’t be so bad but for me it is terrible. It seems we are always traveling or moving to a new place and we are always having to say goodbye to someone. Its not that I don’t miss them; its just that the whole business is clumsy and awkward and I‘m not sure what to do in those extended moments.
     Now, as we approach the end of our time here at POC we have so many relationships that need this closure that I am beginning to be overwhelmed by the prospect of it all. I have grown very close to a good many people here on the mountain, heck we even named one of our children after one of them, that I feel like I should start saying goodbye now but our lives are so intertwined that it almost seems absurd. How do you  say goodbye to people you will continue to see all the time for another month?
      Once, we started telling people we were leaving word spread pretty quickly and lots of people asked me if it was true.  Each time I say “yes” and then in good Papua New Guinean fashion we have to discuss the whys, hows, and whens. When all of this is done they mull it over a bit and agree that it is the best thing but they are so terribly sad to see us go. I guess in some ways this is a goodbye in itself, especially for the more casual relations we have formed. And in some ways this is easier on me than abrupt goodbye at the very end that seems to hang on an uncomfortably long time.
     For the people we have built deep relationships with it has been much more difficult on both sides. We have to discuss it more and the separation has to be dealt with much more solemnly. There are some other cultural elements that have to be dealt with as well. Papua New Guinea has several different broad cultural areas. The area we currently live in (and really feel a part of at this point) is the “lowlands”. This area is most of the costal regions (excluding the Sepik) on the north side of the island. Our folks (and us by extension) are a much more low key people. Life goes at a slower pace stuff takes time to be worked out and a discussion can go on for weeks without getting truly heated. People spend a great deal of time tending to relationships and making sure that they are in good order. Physical conflict is always a last resort. Of all of these lowlands people the people of Madang are the most steeped in this way of life.
     The area we are moving to is called the “highlands”. It can be broken into several broad cultural subcategories but for simplicity sake  I will treat it as one here. Highland people are much more aggressive. This is good in the fact that they tend to jump on a task and try to push it through to completion much more than lowland people do. They are also more entrepreneurial and seem to always have an angle they are working (good if it is channeled in the right direction). Unfortunately, they are much more quick to fight as well.  A dispute can very quickly erupt into a fight that involves entire families. The fights also tend to involve weapons and are much more deadly.
     These cultural elements add a bit of anxiety to our goodbyes as well. Our people are afraid of highlanders and so they are afraid for us. We have assured them that we will be ok, but they worry none the less. Please pray that we will deal well with goodbyes over the next 5 weeks and that people will understand that we will be back to visit.
Matt

November Update

 

 

 

 {POC as seen from the point}

 

 

 



Dear Friends,

                Due to our recent computer failures we are down to one last computer that does not have our mailing lists or outlook programs on it. As a result we will be communicating with as many of you as possible through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/mattcrosland2?ref=hl ) and the Blog (http://thecroslands.blogspot.com/ ) for the next month or so. Please, pass on our posts to anyone else you know who receives our newsletters.

                First I want to thank all of you for your prayers over the last couple of months. Our water problems have eased as rain has come again and the tanks are full. We are still working hard to add more holding capacity to the system for future dry seasons. A friend of mine from Ukarumpa (Brian Frey) came down last week and we got the generator running again, so our power situation should be stable for the time being. All of our students have been doing well in their village allocations and we will be going out to get them later this week.

                Tiffany has a tooth that broke shortly after we arrived in July. We are planning on taking the students to Ukarumpa on November 19^th so she can see the dentist before they go on furlough. Please pray for our safe travels and that they will be able to fix Tiffany’s tooth.

                As most of you are aware by now we are expecting our last baby in March. We will be flying to Cairns, Australia in mid February for the birth. We would like to ask for your help to make this possible. The trip is broken into two sections the first is a small single engine plane that will fly us between Ukarumpa and Port Moresby, PNG. The second is a commercial flight between Port Moresby and Cairns, Australia. The total cost round trip is $4,600. The small plane will be $1800 round trip. Fortunately, this payment is not due until we fly in February. The remaining $2800 will cover the commercial flight. We need to get this money as soon as possible. The commercial ticket prices are already starting to go up and we need to buy the tickets by this Friday (November 15). We have already received $300 toward reaching this goal. If you would like to help you can visit our secure page at the Wycliffe website: http://www.wycliffe.org/Partnership.aspx?eis=215582, as always all gifts are tax deductable. Please pray that God provides what we need to purchase our tickets.

 

Blessings,

The Croslands



Best Shoes EVER!!!!

     During our first term in PNG Tiffany’s sister sent us a package. I asked for a good pair of flip flops*. It is impossible to find anything other than the cheap plastic ones here. I had gone through a series of different ones from the States and though they had lasted longer than anything I had gotten here they still pulled apart and broke before they were worn out.

      We opened the box and among the various other prizes she sent were the flip flops pictured above. They didn’t look like this when I got them. I put them on and never took them off again.They are Quicksilvers, I’m not sure of the style. What I am sure of is they are the best pair of shoes (running shoes, boat shoes, etc. included) I have ever owned.

      Flip flops are the favorite shoe in PNG, especially in the costal area where we live. I have worn these shoes every day for the last two and a half years. They are my work boots, my hiking boots, my dress shoes, my beach wear, and my sport shoes. I do literally everything in these shoes (as you can tell by the shape they are in). The only time they sat unused for any period of time was when we were home (in the US) in the dead of winter and even then I wore them around the house.

     Sadly, I am going to have to retire them soon. They have made several trips around the world, been in multiple countries, been used and abused in ways that I’m sure the manufactures never intended and they are still in one piece. It pains me to think about letting them go but the time has come. I hope my next pair (what ever they are) can preform half as well as these have.

* For you native American English speakers- much of the rest of the English speaking world call this type of shoe thongs. In Tok Pisin they are called tongs.

Transformational Truth

       Part of my job this course is to go out to different areas in our province (Madang) and find villages where our students can live for 5 weeks. It is a long process that involves multiple trips and various checks on the villages. I get the chance to meet a lot of people during the process. I have lots of great conversations in the process, many of which turn to spiritual things.

       A couple of weeks ago I was going through the villages and doing my visits with a Papua New Guinean friend when we came to Bawak village. We sat down with Smith (first name of the waspapa)and began to talk (he is the man on the right of the picture). My friend started to ask about all the cocoa dryers in the village (you can see one just behind Smith in the picture). We began to look around as Smith pointed them out and there was one for every 2 or 3 houses.

      This was quite striking because they are just now building the second one on our entire mountain. These dryers are important because dry coca beans are worth a whole lot more than wet one. So if they have a means to dry their beans they can make a good deal more.

      My friend mentioned the fact that they were just now building the second dryer on our mountain and Smith told the following story:

      Not too long ago Bawak didn’t have a church and most of the people in the community were involved in “Cargo Cult”. (Basically this is the idea that there is a secret that wealthy people with lots of belongings know and they keep for themselves. If you can find out “the secret” then all these things can be yours. It is generally believed that all westerners “white man” know the secret. It manifests itself in many different ways but “the secret” is always involved). Then 2 churches moved into the village and a couple people started going. These people started to change; they were different than anyone else in the village. Others in the village wanted to know why they had become so different so they went to the church to find out. They too started to change, and so it went. It was not a quick process but eventually there was no more cargo cult in the village and everyone in the village was different. But it didn’t just stop with the people the village started to change too. There wasn’t anymore stealing, the teenagers were better behaved, and various types of development (the cocoa dryers, etc.) started to happen. All of this change was not because they had learned “the secret” or because  God was happy with their obedience and showered all types of gifts on them (health and wealth theology- western cargo cult). It was because the truth of God had reached into their hearts and change who they were and those changes were manifested in the community.

       My friend was blown away by this story. It was so simple and so true. They had become the “city on the hill”. God’s transformative power was not limited to some internal thing that only effects the spiritual realm, never to be seen. If you allow it to permeate who you are and flow out of you it can not only transform those around you but whole communities.

       My friend kept coming back to this story all day and for days following we talked about it and what it means. Sometimes he lamented that our mountain has had the Gospel so much longer than this other village and we are still so far behind. In the end we came to the conclusion that there is nothing we can do about the past but there is plenty we can do now. What was not immediately obvious to him is that these changes are already beginning; I can see them and I am honored to be a part of the community as they happen.

      God allow every person in this community to have the overflowing bounty of you truth. I know that it is building even now. Lord help us to be your catalysts, help us to make this community your next “City on the Hill”'. 

October Newsletter

Do You Ever Feel Like You Can’t Get a Break?

 

(Isaac at Rempi)

 

Yesterday we had a beautiful day down at Rempi. We loaded all of the students, the canoe, paddle board, food, water, snorkel gear etc. etc. in to the trucks and spent the day paddling around and floating in the gorgeous Bismark Sea. It was the first day since we’ve been back in PNG that I truly felt well and at ease. I even said to Matt on the way home “I just had my first really good day in months…”

Matt noticed a toothache coming on as we were driving back up the mountain and mentioned he thought he might need an antibiotic.

This morning when I woke up the first thing I noticed was that my face was burning. Evie came in and said “MOM! What is that red and white stuff all over your face!!?” I went to look in the mirror and saw an unsightly inflamed and infected rash all over my face- cheeks, chin, nose. Then I noticed it was down my neck and chest too. Further inspection revealed that it also is all over my back. Matt awoke and said his tooth was really hurting and he thought for sure he was going to need antibiotics. I went to visit our nurse, Verna, who lives here at POC with us part of the time. I showed her my skin and she said she thinks it’s not serious but maybe a reaction to something in the water yesterday, so she sent me home with Benadryl (the only thing I can take while pregnant). She said she is more concerned with the cough I’ve had for weeks. Our doctor down in Madang is out of the country until next month so really all I can do is wait it out and pray.

I came home to find that Matt discovered our water tank is completely dry. This is our only water to shower in, wash dishes, flush toilets, and drink. Later we also found out that our kitchen manager’s tank is also dry.

In the meantime Matt went to see Verna with his toothache. He was sent home with a powerful antibiotic to hopefully kill whatever infection is in his mouth. (Did I mention that I also chipped the back off of my front bottom tooth last month?) Of course the nearest dentist is in Ukarumpa (a 7 hour truck ride away). We won’t be able to make it up there until or students go to the village in October.

Please understand: We don’t make it a habit to go whining around with all of our afflictions and problems but it is becoming hard to bear. And for those of you who want to know how to pray- now you know.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray for rain!!!!!! And our health!!! Pray that the baby won’t be harmed in any way!! We are not without hope.

Thank you,

Tiffany

August Newsletter