Supply Runs

My luggage did indeed arrive on Wednesday as scheduled. The short term missionaries here had been very generous with their clothes, but it was definitely nice to have my own things again. The boxes that I shipped ahead of time have been trickling in as well, so I feel like I am really setting up housekeeping here.

 

Last week was a fairly normal week with clinic Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; church Sunday and Wednesday; outreach Tuesday and Friday; and prayer meeting on Saturday. I am seeing 20-25 patients on each clinic morning. They come from villages as far as several hours away. It is good to be able to try to help them with their sickness and also know that they are hearing the gospel, maybe for the first time.

 

Randy Smith, the senior missionary, made a trip to town last week to get supplies. The pilot for the helicopter we usually use is going on furlough soon, so we really stocked up this time. There were six flights in with the fuel, food, and other supplies to keep all of us going for the next several months. When you think about supplying 12 people (7 Smiths, 4 short termers, and me), it takes quite a bit of stuff. We are hoping to keep supply runs to a minimum during the pilot's six month furlough, as the helicopter we will have to use instead is much more expensive.

 

The Smiths left today on the helicopter's last trip to go to Port Moresby, the capital. Their children's passports are expiring February 9th, so they have to go to the US Embassy to renew them. They will also take a short vacation there, and so will be gone for two weeks. Please pray that all will go smoothly in their absence. Erick Duprey (one of the short termers) and Silas and Paul (our preacher boys) are splitting up the preaching responsibilities while they are gone.

 

Thanks so much for your continued prayers and support. What a blessing to know that the Lord is in charge of all things and will work them out for His own glory when we depend on Him to do so.

Another Week

Another week has started here in Kiari. Last week was a busy one with the special services for the church opening. The Lord really blessed as 10 people made professions of faith, and many Christians made decisions. We didn't have clinic on Wednesday because of the services, and had rather a small group on Friday.

 

Thank you so much for your prayers for my luggage. After many phone calls, my luggage was located in Port Moresby and sent on to Goroka. There another missionary was able to pick it up from the airport. It should reach Kiari on Wednesday via helicopter. Yet another blessing from the Lord.

 

I am really enjoying being involved once again in the ministry here. There is a definite satisfaction in knowing that I am right where God wants me to be. 

 

Please continue to pray for the ministry here and the for the growth of the baby Christians.

Safely Here

It seems like it has taken me a bit to post an update but things have been rather busy. I landed safely in Papua New Guinea on Monday. My only issue with the flight here was that my luggage didn't make the trip with me. It apparently was left in Los Angeles. It has made it to Port Moresby (the capital of New Guinea) now, but I am still having some issues with customs. Please pray that we will be able to work it all out. It isn't a huge deal, but it would be nice to get my belonging, especially as I was carrying some things for the other missionaries.

 

Other than that, everything is going great. We landed in Kiari, the village where I live, on Wednesday. The road from Goroka (the nearest town with an actual airport) has been closed for over a year, so we get to our village either by helicopter or on foot. It was wonderful to be back in Kiari. It was good to see some of the people I remembered, and I was pleased to discover that I remembered most of the Pidgin (their language) that I had learned.

 

We have had clinic twice so far. On Friday, we had 36 people. That is the most since the clinic was reopened in November. (A short term nurse has been here since July preparing the clinic for my arrival.) Monday was a smaller group of 10.

 

Also, this week we are having special meetings to celebrate the opening of our new church building. People were invited from 13 sister churches all over the province, so there are a lot of people here. Some of them walked for two days to get here, as the closest Bible-preaching church is about a six hour walk from our village. We have two guest speakers here to preach, and are having two services and two Bible classes each day.

 

In many ways, I feel like I never left, but I am thrilled to be back. Thank you so much for your prayers and support.

 

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I'm Off!

Well, the day has finally arrived. I leave for Papua New Guinea today. It's hard to believe the time has actually come since it has been anticipated for so long.

The last few weeks have been busy with various activities and last minute details. I have enjoyed catching up with friends and spending time with my family. It's hard to imagine how different my nephews will be in four years, considering how fast they are growing up.

I fly out of Atlanta at 5pm today, headed to St. Louis, then on to Los Angeles. From there I have a fourteen hour flight to Brisbane, Australia. Then I fly to Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, and then on to Goroka where I will be met by Missionary Randy Smith and his wife. If all goes as scheduled, I should arrive at 1:05am Eastern Time on Monday, January 5th, making it a 32 hour trip! We plan to spend a couple days in Goroka, then travel by helicopter out to our village of Kiari.

I will not have internet access in Kiari, but hope to continue to update the blog via email. Thanks once again for your prayers to this point, and please continue to pray as I enter this next phase of the ministry.