My respect for the apostle Paul and his missionary journeys has increased since starting out on my own 10-day missionary trip. How can I possibly compare my mission trip to his?
I was thinking about this as Dan and I were once again winging our way to Papua New Guinea...sitting on cushioned seat with headrests...having a drink served to me...walking to the loo at the back of the plane that had a flush toilet, was relatively clean, and I was able to wash my hands with running hot water and lightly fragranced, foamy soap. Granted, I only got a couple of hours of sleep, as we had to catch the shuttle to the airport at 3 a.m....But I'm not sure Paul would have been impressed.
Then there was the matter of my lost suitcase. Never lost a suitcase before in all the times I've flown. Would Paul have felt sympathetic? (After all it was the suitcase with the chocolate bars for our friends here that went missing.) Probably not. I remember when he was blessed to escape a hostile crowd with the clothes on his back. Even though I, too, only have the clothes on my back, at least people around me are friendly and helpful...and I have a credit card. Eva was nice and took us to a small local store to pick up essentials.
But, even though I feel like a tired wuss... God loves me just as He loved Paul. Now there's a thought to lay my head down on and rest there!
Before Eva took Kaylynn clothes shopping, we visitied a conference centre where we should be able to have our summer project of university students from Australia come to help our UPNG students learn how to disciple. One of our main goals this trip is to set up this project for February next year and to "recruit" 15-20 UPNG students to commit to come to Port Moresby 1-2 weeks early to work with and learn from these Australian students.
Tomorrow we meet with the staff in the morning, and I hope to go to campus in the afternoon and see the students!]
So sad to hear about your suitcase!
ReplyDelete