PNG May Day 1: "Eat and Greet"

I'm off to PNG again!  It's always hard to leave Auckland - my home, my family, my familiar, my comfort...  I know God will work everything out, but for some reason I'm more troubled this trip.  I cried out to the Lord and said, "what's wrong", and He said, "You're not trusting me to give you the words to say".  It's funny how I KNOW He promises to show me what to say, and I've seen Him be faithful hundreds of times when I open my mouth - But I still forget and run on my old fears.  So... here's my next adventure when I KNOW God will work!

This trip is different than most trips in that there is no event or occasion for me to lead.  My goals this trip are almost all people.  I have 12 people or groups that I will be having time alone with to discuss different things.  Our 2 girls (from Australian & USA) have arrived and I will spend time with them to make sure they're settling in okay.  I will also spend time with each of our PNG missionaries to make sure that they have a good plan for the middle of the university year (which runs from March to November).  Also, because Kaylynn & I are going to the States for 2 1/2 months in June, we're handing the oversight of the ministry to our colleagues Matthew & Tammy Anderson and I'll explain this to the group.  We also have to sort out a difficult situation with one of our missionaries - so a few of the conversations I'll be having will be difficult (please pray).  So, this could be why I'm more worried about knowing what to say :-)

First breakfast

Okay , on to the fun stuff: I had 3 breakfasts today!  My reward for having to get up at 2:45 in the morning (night?) is a Massive McMuffin at McDonalds. If I had a heart doctor, he'd probably be upset, but it's the only place I can get America breakfast sausage - 2 patties :-).  

Second breakfast (it's still dark)

Then because I fly a lot, I was allowed to go into the Air New Zealand lounge in auckland - which had lots of food - so I had a second breakfast (this one a little bit more healthy).  Then after my 3 hour flight to Brisbane, I went again into the Air NZ lounge, but because of the 2 hour time difference, it was still breakfast time.   So I had to get "my money's" worth" :-)

This afternoon, after I arrived in Port Moresby and settled into the guest house, I went to find the 2 STINT (Short Term INTernationals) girls.  What a great time we had!  I'm thrilled!  They are doing so well.  They are approaching their time here as learners and discovering this rich culture.  A few things they learned were that it usually takes about twice as long to accomplish any task, and that even when they're expecting a good group of people to show up, even more people will show up.  And social outings seem to take much more of their time (not a bad thing just different).  They're discovering many things about the ministry and culture that I didn't know because they are sitting down with the students and asking lots of questions.  I'll share more this week.  Their main goal this year is to help show the PNG students what a vibrant growing movement looks like.  Thanks for praying for them! 

Emily (L, from USA) & Danika (R, from Aust) - our help has arrived!