Today was a Papuan holiday celebrating the day that the Gospel entered the province. Apparently there were quite the festivities down town. The kids had the day off school today. After I took Christiaan to the dentist (there is an American dentist here and he is great!) we hung out at the pool with some other moms and kids for 4 hours. As it was an overcast day I did not put sunblock on the kids… oops, a couple got burned anyways…

This morning as we were coming home from the dentist and driving up our hill, a burly Papuan guy with longish dreads and holding a very large machete was standing in the middle of the road. So I stopped the car a little shaky inside wondering what he was going to do with the machete. He approached my side of the car and made the international sign for money rubbing his fingers together. I replied,”Untuk apa?” Meaning, “What for?” We repeated this exchange another time and then he waved me on. What was that about? Although I'm thinking some imbibing may have been a factor...

Big news, Pak Nuel's wife had a baby yesterday. Their sixth child. I haven't talked with him yet so I don't know if it is a boy or girl or any other important details.