Back to PNG

We fled from the bleary dreary Minnesota winter weather the day after Easter, and our plane ride wonderfully took us to the radiant sunshine and beautiful beaches of Honolulu, Hawaii.  And it just so happens that my parents live there, and so we enjoyed a fabulous week eating Grandma’s delicious cooking and playing in the sand and waves along the many gorgeous beaches around Oahu’s coast.  We saw sea turtles and dolphins, savored Dole Whip from the Dole Plantation, rode waves on body boards, and toured historic Pearl Harbor.

Unfortunately, our time in Hawaii came to an end, and we were ushered onto another plane and flown away from paradise.  We flew through Manila, and then on to Port Moresby, the capital city of Papua New Guinea.  After a short respite at the New Tribes facility in Port Moresby, we boarded our final plane and made the short hop up to the city of Goroka.  Now we’re settling into a house on one of our mission’s centers here in the Goroka valley.

Despite my earlier allusion to the fun and beauty of Hawaii, we are thrilled to be back in PNG.  Soon, Maggie will return to homeschooling the children, and I will get back to translating the New Testament into the Pal language.  We do not have plans to move back into our bush house among the Pal people at this point, but I will have the wonderful opportunity to pop into the tribe for a couple days by myself in early May.  I’ll take that opportunity to encourage the Pal believers and work with a few on some translation work.  Our plan is to live here on center for a couple months and then evaluate how things are going for us, and whether or not we’re ready to move back into the bush.

Continue to pray for strength and healing for Maggie, pray for wisdom for us when we do start seriously considering a return to the tribe, pray for the translation work, and pray for the Pal believers as they continue to learn and grow in Christ.