Cleared for Take off!

Today was a very exciting day in the Simmons Household.  About 11 o’clock this morning I heard loud banging on the door and jumped up to investigate the source of the interruption.  To my surprise as I opened the front door where a very kind looking gentlemen stood decked out in a Fedex uniform with his hands extended gesturing for me to sign for a package.  I looked at the parcel in his hands and my heart leaped with excitement as I my mind registered what my eyes beheld.  I hurriedly signed the electronic pad snatched the package out of extended hands, closed the door and began tearing into the Fedex envelope.  As I opened the parcel and peered into its dark depths I spotted 5 small blue booklets…Our Passports!  The PNG Embassy in D.C. had sent our Passports back to us…but were they stamped with our Entry Permits?  I fished one of the passports out of the envelope and fumbled through the pages.  As I flipped over the 4th page my eyes glimpsed a yellow peel and stick label with the the PNG bird of paradise on it that read and I quote “This permit entitles the holder to enter and stay in PNG until 07OC14.” A wide toothy smile of victory began to spread across my face as a huge weight slid off my shoulders.  This was the culmination of over 6 months of hard work that included countless copies, endorsements, waiting, expense, and nail biting.  Finally the waiting was over and we had our Papua New Guinea Entry Permits (Visa’s) in our hands.  I just sat there staring at them for a couple of minutes, holding them, caressing them, and pinching myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.  We now had the ability to purchase plane tickets at our leisure to Papua New Guinea!  Praise God!  Thank you Lord for your faithfulness.  So as you can see, this was a profoundly excellent day.  It’s all I really wanted for Christmas.  Thanks to all of you out there who prayed for our permits to come in, your prayers and mine were answered.  Now I have a new assignment for you, our faithful prayer partners, should you choose to take it! Please pray that God will continue building our financial partnership team so that we can be 100% supported, $8000 per month, by the end of January.  We are currently hovering around 70%, which means if 30 people will join our team committing to sacrifice $80 per month, representing 1% of our monthly budget, we will be fully supported.  Melody and I are confident the Lord will provide for our family in His good timing as always.  Thank you for all who have joined our team through prayer and financial sacrifice, we love you and pray that you share in the blessing of giving to the Lord.  Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.