Many of you have asked us how you can help as we make preparations for returning to PNG in March. The Amdu Package Initiative is one way you can help. There are several means of transporting goods and supplies to PNG. We can send them on a ship in a container. Global Ministry Supply 10 is the container that some of our stuff made it on. It will take several months for that container to arrive in port. After that there is no way to estimate how long it will sit in port before it is cleared through customs. It could be days, weeks or months. That is the nature of things in PNG.
We can haul supplies as luggage as we travel to PNG in March. Weight is a limiting factor, however, and we are only allowed to travel with one fifty pound bag per ticket. That is a fair amount of space but not enough for what we are looking to transport.
The postal service is the final option. There is no more room on GMS 10, we have more than we can haul as luggage and so we’re going to have to send ourselves some packages. We estimate that we’ll probably need to send at least ten packages of things that we’ll need sooner than later as we get back into the swing of things in Amdu. The most important items are homeschool books. They are also the heaviest items. We sent what we could to the container but need to carry or mail the rest. Other items include batteries and battery chargers, bulk spices, generator maintenance kits, non-homeschool books and other items we didn’t have purchased before the container deadline.
The International Flat Rate with USPS is about $100 a box. We would like to send at least ten packages in the next two weeks. The Lord has supplied our needs abundantly this furlough, but as we have neared the end of our time in the States we have had to do some heavy spending to get ourselves prepared for the next three years in Amdu. Your help in this practical way will give us the freedom to finish up our preparations. If you would like to give towards this need click on the GIVE tab at the top of this page.
Benjamin and Missy