PNG/Aussie Project - Day 15: "Aussies to Oz, we stay put"

Heidi checking in (Business Class???)

Note: I just uploaded a 16 second video to my previous post (Day 14) - if you are one of the 3 that has already viewed this post, you may want to go back to watch it.

We all got up early - except Alex, who got up 5 minutes before the bus arrived :-).  Most of us climbed aboard the bus with the Aussies (or got into a cab with me) and went to the airport (4 PNG students had to go to Uni as classes started today).

In my experience, Airports are usually either very happy places (when you're excited to go somewhere or eagerly waiting for someone to return home) or very sad places (when someone is leaving) - this was neither... or perhaps both.

Boaz and John (doing something??)

These people connected with our hearts and our minds and the main thing they taught us was how to MAWL: Model something, Assist as others learn, Watch others as they do it themselves, and Leave.  Today was the LEAVING part.  They had to leave or we would we not be forced into applying what we learned.  So we were excited for them to get back to the ministry God has called them to on their own campus - and we were excited to step out in faith and see God work through us where God has called us - but life seemed to deflate as they walked away (and John popped out of the Immigration area twice to fetch a flag that he dropped (on purpose, I'm sure).

Heidi, Lilly, and Shei -good friends!

Heidi, Shei & Danika squishing Adelyn

Who is this crazy group of people???

Planning the Alpha party for next Sunday (23rd)

After they left, we walked up the hill to catch the local bus back to Boroko & our guest house, as we heard the plane take off in the distance.  Since all the staff were already at the guest house, we had a short meeting to get planned for the week... but I found myself jolting my head once out of a doze only to find everyone else was dozing as well! So we decided to take maps :-)   [We did, however, decide to call those who lead discipleship groups "Movement Builders" - that will help them rem

ember what God has called them to do.

I woke up at 2:30, and we were supposed to be at the campus to meet the students at 2:30 - Elton was still asleep and Greg had just woken up.  We got to campus by 3:00, which was PNG-time for the 2:30 meeting :-).  The meeting was mostly with those who were on the project - to plan the Alpha party coming up on Sunday (when all the first year students are invited to learn about Student Life).  

We also spent a lot of time trying to find a new name for our "Monday night Fellowship" (yay), and in the middle of the discussions, Boaz said "It doesn't really matter what we call it as long as it describes what we do, Build Movements on campus" - good answer, Boaz!  We decided to call it "Splash" - making a splash on the campus as we make disciples, which will ripple across Port Moresby and all of PNG (and then the world).

Elton & John (not Elton John) & I

I asked Elton to stay 2 more nights so that we could talk (he works during the day).  He is so excited to join our staff and to work full time on campus!  He told me that last year he couldn't see how this project could work, and he thought it was a huge risk - but God worked it out!  He said, "I only wish more students could have joined us".  He then reached out his hand to shake mine and said "thank you".  God used so many people to make this project a success - too many to thank!