Greetings! Soooo much has happened since my last blog update that I'm honestly struggling with where to even begin. I'm pretty sure on the last update I told all of you that the team was going to Biem island for a side trip to see just how living in the bush looks and how a tribal church is planted. This my friends is where the fun begins.
On July 12th the Interface team was to wake up bright and early, load three boats (2 smaller ones full of food and boys, and one bigger one full of 10 girls), and head for Biem island. I was extremely excited for my first boat ride out on the ocean. I was sitting in the front of the boat riding against the crashing waves having the time of my life with 3 other girls. The weather started off great, and nobody was getting sea sick. We passed the boys' boat and were well on our way to Biem island (normally a 4 hour ride in the big boat). However PNG is the land of the unexpected and the weather turned sour and the waves got bigger and much more dangerous. The girls' boat got to the 3/4 mark, but had to turn around because the front of the boat was struggling to make it over the big waves. The two guys thought about trying to make it to a neighboring island, but because our boat was all girls, they decided for safety reasons to head completely back to Wewak. After a long 7.5 hours the girls' boat made it safely back to Wewak, and were greeted with hugs and hot cocoa. However this is where the plot thickens. Because the boys' boats were smaller they had much more trouble navigating the big waves. The Nationals that were driving their boats decided to head to neighboring islands and spend the night there waiting for the storm to pass. Somehow in the midst of the storm the two boats got separated and only one boat had a satellite phone and a a GPS tracker to let others know their location. Because of this everybody on the Wewak base was on their knees praying that the other boat made it to an island and that everybody was ok. Needless to say, God answers prayers and we received news that they were ok.
Now, let's make a long story short ( I have about 8 days of details here). Because of engine complications that arose when the girls landed back in Wewak we were unable to travel again to Biem and join the boys for the side trip. Us girls were stuck on the base for 4 days recovering from sore muscles and slowly becoming bored out of our minds. Needless to say, through many tears and prayers, us girls were finally coming to terms that we wouldn't be able to go to Maluamanda on the 17-19 and see a tribal church plant in action. I was beyond happy that God answered our prayers and sent us to Maluamanda. Not only did he send us there, but he even let me accomplish an item on my bucket list. The airplane pilot was very nice and let me ride as copilot for the flight out. Not only did I get to wear the awesome earphones and microphone, but he let me fly the plane for the majority of the flight (about 30 minutes). No worries Mommy, I will still go to school to become a teacher, flying is second in comparison :). When I got off that plane in Maluamanda, I felt like a million bucks. God was so good to us girls and we were so excited to meet the extraordinary missionary families that were serving in the beautiful mountain village of Maluamanda.
After our two days there, us girls loaded the plane and said tearful goodbyes to the amazing people of Maluamanda. As soon as we landed in Wewak one of the staff members told us that Matthias (an Interface student from Germany) was very sick with some sort of pneumonia. They took him to the haus sik (hospital) and got a chest x-ray and saw that 1/3 of his lungs were filled with fluid. My stomach dropped when I heard this news because that meant he would have to fly to Goroka to NTM headquarters to get proper care. When we got back to the base, we tearfully said goodbye to him. Please keep Matthias in your prayers. I cannot imagine what is going through his mind right now, but we all know God has his hand in this, it's just no fun to see a dear friend in so much pain.
Well that pretty much sums up everything on my end. During these next few days we are just having classes to help us prepare for life back in our home countries. I thought it would be a cake walk to come back home, but they are preparing us for reverse culture shock. Because of this please keep me in your prayers as this trip winds down. Please pray that I take note of the advice they give, and that I can take advantage of every last moment before coming home. Once home, I pray that I will adjust back smoothly with minimal problems.
Thank you again for all your support, when I have down days her I remind myself that I have a whole team back home supporting me and that makes all the difference.
With many thanks
Lyd
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