Tuesday 1 April 2014

A princess and her farm boy

Once upon a time there was a princess Stephanie, who also happened to be a missionary doctor serving in the bush of PNG.  She was introduced to a handsome "farm boy" named Andy.  The farm boy thought the princess was pretty cute, too, so he followed her to the end of the earth.  And there they fell in love.

The princess and her farm boy went on an adventure to a far off place called Dusin.  They climbed castle Rock, a mountain formation on the edge of the most beautiful valley in the whole wide world.  Seriously.  Can you guess what comes next in the story?  He asked.  She said, "Absolutely!"

In keeping with PNG tradition, the princess's lain (D-ward staff) held a bride price ceremony.  They killed a pig and cooked it in a mumu.  'Cause you can't have a bride price without pig meat and a big chonk-o-grease for the groom to be ;).  The princess was decorated with feathers and face paint.  She was presented in all her finery to the farm boy and his lain (the hydro guys).  Thus the engagement was official in both cultures!

The farm boy had heard about this thing called bride price.  He arranged for a rather generous one to be delivered to the princess's parents back in Ohio... 54 pigs, 12 chickens, 3 cows, 2 zebras, and 1 giraffe! There are animal balloons floating around their house to this day.


Dokta Steph and Andy Diehlmann will be beginning the biggest adventure of their lives on April 19th--marriage!


"See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland."
~ Isaiah 43:19