July 8. Although we saw the moon and stars last night, we knew when we got up this morning that our flight to Aiyura would not be early. There was some sunshine, however, and the fog seemed thinner than usual. And even though there were several layers of fog, the plane made its first round around 9:00. It was 9:45 before he headed back to Aiyura with a plane load of coffee. He said he would be back in an hour. We were all ready. Just had a few last minute things to pack. Washed up the few dishes from breakfast and yesterday evening’s snack. Answered the door a few times. Swept the floors. Had quiet time, of course, and walked and prayed some more. Daddy tried calling the SIL guest house again and was finally able to get through. Praise the Lord there were accommodations available. He also had to call back the clinic and move my appointment to afternoon. The plane was back right after one hour, just as Christopher had said he would be. After he landed, we shut up the house and walked to the top of the landing strip. He was just about done unloading people and cargo when we arrived. Shortly he had us board the plane so they could load the coffee in behind us. It was a little before 11:30 when we left Owena, and we landed at Aiyura about ten minutes later. We were met by several Owenians—Nuanda, Matthew, Philemon, Jokabet, Wilson (never would have recognized him—he has become a big muscular guy). Jokabet and Philemon were waiting for the flight back home. Daddy paid for our flight out; and right at noon, the hangar staff were ready to go back to the base for their lunch hour. So we hopped onto the P2-Bus with them. The bus dropped us off at the guest house. After checking in, we walked down to the kai bar at the store and got some lunch. Daddy had a hamburger, and I had a quarter chicken. The chicken tasted sooooo good. We have not been able to find any good chicken to buy in Goroka so had not had chicken for a long time, other than chicken salad at Papindo Cafe. Matt and Rebecca Crane were just leaving the store when we got down there. Enjoyed a little time chatting with them before they had to hurry off to pick up their kids and head back to Goroka. Rebecca said that Jennifer is now renting a house on the SIL base and is working with several churches around the area. When we finished our lunch, we walked around the store and looked at all the things we would like to buy to take back to Owena. They had apparently received a new shipment of goods on the recent ship that brought other people’s cargo as the shelves were stocked full of all kinds of things we can’t find in Goroka. Then we went to the shipping department to see about our cargo from the states, but they don’t have a cost figured for us yet, and we can’t pick it up until it is paid for. Please continue to pray about this. Thank you! After that, we walked back up to the guest house and had a 45-minute nap before getting ready to go to the clinic. My appointment was at 3:15, and we got in pretty much right away. It was a blessing not to have to fill out tons of paper work too. Nurse Debbie saw me first. Took vitals (we were quite surprised that my blood pressure was somewhat high—160/100; my weight was a surprise too – down to 70kg from around 82 so have lost well over 20 pounds since being back in PNG), wrote down symptoms, chatted as we waited for Dr. Tom. He came and got us when he was ready. He was quite concerned about the symptoms, but upon checking the eyes, saw no signs of glaucoma, cataracts, or retinal deterioration. There is also no loss of my field of vision. He did, however, detect inflammation of the retina in both eyes. He said the high blood pressure is actually a symptom of something going on, along with my other symptoms, but he didn’t have the equipment to do any further testing. He has no idea what is causing the inflammation. He said I should see an ophthalmologist or other eye specialist right away. So Lord willing, we will start in Goroka. Dr. Tom gave us a couple contacts for there. I guess we weren’t thinking when we came out with only enough personal belongings for a couple nights at Aiyura, thinking we would get care and go right back home. So now we have to fly back to Owena and pack more clothes and other personal things first. Dr. Tom said we should see the ophthalmologist this week, and there is still a possibility we may have to go to Australia. So we will have to be prepared for that. Dr. Tom spent a good bit of time with us. The only thing he could recommend for the inflammation was steroids (prednisone), just for four days, to see if it would make a difference. It was 4:15 before we had paid, left the clinic, and walked back up to the guest house. We unpacked a few things (that’s all we had with us) and then sat and talked and looked at books until supper time. Supper was at 6:00. We were the only two for supper. The worker just warmed up leftovers, far more than we could eat, and out of those, we only ate salad, broccoli, and lasagna. Other guests came in as we were finishing our meal—several men with CIC (Coffee Industry Commission) are here for a meeting tomorrow. CIC is the organization that is subsidizing Owena’s coffee sales (among other people’s) as the income for coffee is quite low right now. After supper, we sat and talked a while again. Looked at some books for a while. Then went to the bedroom so we could get ready for showers before the evening got too cold. The rest of the evening, I worked on writing journal notes. July 9. Up a little after 6:00 this morning. Heard people up and around at the breakfast table by 6:30 so decided we would go to breakfast too. All the CIC men were there eating or wanting to eat, but they didn’t know that the bread and milk were in the fridge. If the worker hadn’t told us last night, we wouldn’t have known either. After everyone helped themselves to breakfast and sat down at the table together, we enjoyed some interesting conversations. Most of the men know English very well, and a couple of them had a broad range of knowledge. They were all interested to learn about BIMI’s Bible distribution program, and they all were of the opinion that religious instruction should be a compulsory course in the schools. After everyone else left the table, we had the opportunity to ask one man who stayed about his relationship to Jesus Christ. He had mentioned several times about the importance of living out our faith so we wanted to ask him about his faith. He said he had been saved under an AOG mission in his home area of Maprik. The men all left for their meeting as soon as they were done with breakfast. I had quiet time and finished writing yesterdays’ journal notes. Daddy was supposed to go down to the hangar to make arrangements for getting out to Goroka, but he was given the wrong time for bus pick-up so missed the bus. After several futile attempts to get in touch with the flight coordinator by phone, Lynette, the guest house manager, helped by making calls from the guest house business phone. We appreciated her helpfulness. (Lynette is from Buka and has been at Ukarumpa seven years, helping in the passports and work permits department. She still works there in the afternoons, but works at the guest house in the mornings. She and her husband are expecting their first child in September.) Anyway, the flight plan for tomorrow is to take us back to Owena and then pick us up Thursday morning for Goroka. After getting those arrangements made, Daddy started calling Goroka eye clinics. All the numbers we had been given were out of commission. So Daddy called the SIL clinic back to see what our next step should be. We were given a general number for the hospital, but there was no extension number for the eye clinic, and the lady at the information desk didn’t know anything about their services. So Daddy called the clinic back again to see if they know of anything in Lae or Moresby. This time Dr. Tom told us that... his best recommendation is Cairns. Next we called C&C to let them know what is going on and have them ask people to pray. It was good talking with them, but we couldn’t talk long. Daddy had other calls to make, and there were other things to do. He needed to call people to try to get loading for our trip to Goroka, but nothing worked out there. At 11:00, we left for the clinic to pick up the information Dr. Tom was having printed out for us. From there, we walked over to the store again. Daddy talked to the one in charge of shipping, but it looks like it will be a while yet before they have our account figured out so we can pay and have our cargo released. After that we bought drinks inside the store to go with our lunch before going outside to buy chicken at the kai bar. Enjoyed sitting out in the fresh air and sunshine for lunch. When we finished eating, we went inside to do some shopping. Our purchases would be delivered to the guest house later so we walked back up to the guest house and had a nap. Shortly after nap, we had a visit from Pastor Matthew and medical worker Jonathan (from Owena health clinic). After they left, I started writing journal notes. For supper, we enjoyed coleslaw, whole wheat rolls, carrots, nice tender pork loin chops with tomatoes, onions, and peppers, which made a nice broth to go over rice (of which I had but a very small scoop because it was white rice), and peach cobbler for dessert (of which I ate a very little piece because it was too sweet). In the evening hours, I read a little until my eyes got too tired. Then we talked with another worker for a while. Then I just sat and relaxed a bit while Daddy was reading. A little after 8:00, I took a shower and finished writing journal notes.
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