Dear Friends and Family,
We have been busy this week with more preparations and are getting
more excited by the day. Nine weeks from now, to the day, we will be
getting on the airplane at PDX for our 3-day journey to the highlands
of PNG (Papua New Guinea)!
Today we began making reservations for places to stay in-transit to
PNG. We are planning to stay at a wonderful accommodation co-owned by
Wycliffe and Missionary Aviation Fellowship during our layovers in
Australia which is known as Tree Tops Lodge. They have an interesting
story about how they got started at their website. We are also
looking for a place to get some sleep in Auckland, New Zealand. If
any of you have some tips on a nice and affordable place close to the
airport, we are still looking. After the thirteen-hour flight there,
we will more than likely need nothing more than beds.
I also filled out all 18 pages of the Australian transit visa
applications today. Whew! And those are only good for 72 hours or
less! I'm glad we aren't planning a permanent move there! After
getting another round of passport photos, those will be in the mail.
We aren't expecting any trouble with them, but it always makes me
nervous to put our three passports in the mailbox.
We are also getting ready to share at our church about our trip. It
is exciting to let everyone know what we are doing, and how God is
working.
These preparations seem so mundane until we really think about what we
are doing. We receive regular newsletters from Wycliffe Associates,
the major support structure for Wycliffe. (Recently the water supply
to Ukarumpa was completely shut off for almost a week... that's where
we're going! Imagine what you would do if the water at your house
suddenly quit flowing for a week. No showering, no flushing
toilets... the compound which normally uses almost 60,000 gallons a
day was down to the small amount of water they are able to store on-
site. A local land-owner hired men to damage the supply pipes which
are on public land, and then these pipes were guarded by men with bows
and arrows until police intervened!
On the other side of the coin, serial number eight of the new Quest
Kodiak airplane is on its way to PNG, and expected to arrive in
September! I am very excited to be there as this plane is being
brought on line to begin replacing the Cessna 206 piston aircraft, for
which fuel is becoming unavailable. Check out their website for more
information on this wonderful aircraft, designed with missionary
aviation as its primary objective.
As you can see from these two stories the missionaries we are going to
support are living with hardships and using every resource available
to spread the Good News. They are on the front lines, literally. We
are really looking forward to joining them! Please continue to pray
as we continue preparing.
Thank you,
-Dustin, Sarah, and Abby
Note: If you check back on a regular basis, you can see daily updates
about the small things happening being posted to the right under
"Current Status:"
Related websites:
http://www.treetopslodgecairns.maf.org.au