photo maxpixel.net Note: Long post January 3 (and probably January 4, but there is no telling when and where it began, and it ended abruptly when we crossed the international dateline) and January 5. (There has been no opportunity to write in my journal for a couple days so the following notes may or may not be 100% accurate, especially since we haven’t caught all up on sleep yet so the brain is somewhat foggy. So first back to January 3.) When we left the girls’ house last night, we said tearful good-byes to Christy as we knew we wouldn’t see her this morning. She would be gone off to work by the time we got there. I didn’t even bring my computer back to the apartment last night. It had been a busy day, and I was too tired to want to do anything else on the computer. We just got ready for bed and went to bed. It was still a little after 10:00, I believe, before we settled down. This morning, we were up at 6:00. Washed and dressed and started right in doing all the last minute packing and cleaning up around the apartment, eating breakfast and reading Bible in between tasks. Then we went to say good-bye to Monte. He wanted us to check out the books in his store and take some to read. After we said good-bye to Monte, we went over to “G’s” apartment and said a quick good-bye to him. Then we were off to the girls’ house and arrived there a little after 9:30. Got the car unloaded and put away some items we were returning or giving to C&C. Finally got to make a smoothie. Had only had a small breakfast and was getting pretty hungry. Time to look at and write an e-mail or two. Then I put away the computer and we had an early lunch, thinking we would get an early supper at the airport before boarding the plane. Following our early lunch, we had a short nap. We were glad we had made it short as Stan J arrived early. He and Daddy loaded up his car with our baggage. Then we shared another tearful good-bye with Connie and were off to the airport. On the way there, I received a call from a friend. I was surprised, but thankful. I didn’t know how she would feel about my having written her a letter, sharing the gospel with her. (We had hoped to do that in person when we visited a couple weeks earlier and had prayed much about it ahead of time. But for some reason the door was closed as she was waiting for her daughter to pick her up, and that was all that was on her mind. She didn’t even have an empty chair in the house for us to sit on—every chair had something in it– and she didn’t offer us a seat. She just kept us walking around until we finally left.) “R” didn’t know we were on our way to the airport, but she seemed glad she had called before we left the country. She called to say thank you for her birthday card. It was hard to hear her well in the car traveling down I-85, but I did catch most of her words. When we reached the airport, Bro. J helped us unload the luggage from the car, and we said good-bye and thank you to him. A worker then tried to help us check in at the curbside check-in, but for some reason things wouldn’t work. So he took us inside and helped us check in at the main check-in counter. Then he left us, and we waited for wheelchairs. We were thankful for that service as it was a long way to our departure gate. The wheelchair assistants left us there to wait for the plane. We thought we would have plenty of time to get a meal and relax before boarding the plane, but the time went very quickly. We thought we could get a good meal at the airport, too, but couldn’t find anything healthy and yet filling. Most of the shops just had pastries, sandwiches, and other bread-type items. There were some small cups of fruit or yogurt parfait, but no veggies to buy. Daddy bought a piece of fried chicken with mashed potatoes and a biscuit from Bojangles. I guess I could have gotten just mashed potatoes, but didn’t think of that at the time. The meals we could have ordered for the plane were similar; but, not knowing that, we had opted to get something at the airport. I did finally choose a turkey and cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread, but ate less than half of it. We had just about enough time to finish what we wanted to eat, and then it was time to board the plane. By then I was quite tired as I hadn’t slept well the night before. I just wanted to sleep, but did you ever try to sleep sitting up in a box? 😊 No room to stretch the legs. I asked the Lord to help me relax and be as comfortable as possible. He did. The plane was ten+ minutes late leaving Charlotte which would shorten our time getting from the domestic area to the international area, and, according to our schedule, we only had an hour as it was. I prayed, Lord, please push the plane so it will get there on time. I knew the Lord was more powerful than the plane or the wind , and so I left the matter in His powerful hand. Praise God, He not only got us there on time, but He got us there early. How thankful we were! There was a lot of turbulence along the way from storms, especially in the central and mid-west parts of the country. The winds were so strong that the plane shook, jumped around, and rattled constantly. Being tossed around interrupted rest as well. Once again, in San Francisco, we were thankful for wheelchair assistance. We never would have made it without their help. It was a very long way to the international terminal to catch our flight on Fiji Air. We had to go outside and up and down elevators, across roadways, a couple treks on the airtran, and they were already boarding the plane when we arrived. The wheelchair assistants took us right down to the entrance to the airplane. This flight was the longest one—10 1/2 hours. By now I was quite hungry since I had had very little to eat since Thursday noon. I was thankful that a small meal was served on this flight, and early Saturday morning, breakfast was served. I was also very, very tired and desired sleep; but sleep was not to be had, no, not in a box. I believe I dozed now and then, and I prayed that the Lord would help me to relax. Had a lot of pain in my legs and feet. Was thankful for every little amount of dozing off. I watched the hours go slowly by, one by one. We were thankful for a safe arrival in Fiji. There was no wheelchair service waiting for us there. Somehow it did not get added onto that lap of our journey. Daddy was able to get someone to get a wheelchair for me, but there were not enough wheelchairs available for him. We could see that they really were short on wheelchairs and wheelchair assistants. So Daddy had to walk, but that was okay as there wasn’t as far to go in this small airport. It was raining when we arrived there, and they gave me an umbrella to hold while they took me to another entrance and Daddy went inside a small entrance and up a set of stairs. We needed to move our legs anyway, and I tried to get up and move mine whenever I could as they were getting quite weak. When we arrived inside the terminal, we discovered that we were supposed to have filled in customs declarations. They told people on the plane who were in transit to another country that they didn’t have to fill out a declaration. But when we got inside, we learned that everyone had to go through customs in Fiji. We were told by our travel agent, by American Airlines in Charlotte, and by Fiji Airways in San Francisco that our baggage would be check all the way through to Port Moresby, PNG. But that is not true. Everyone has to get their baggage and go through customs in Fiji, whether staying or going on. While Daddy was taking care of the paper work with the customs officials, I had a few minutes to talk with the young wheelchair assistant about her relationship with Jesus Christ. She opened the conversation by asking what we would be doing in PNG and asking if I were a Christian. She said that “everyone” in Fiji is a Christian. She is a Christian but doesn’t go to church. I told her that the answer to her needs is not “going to church” but having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “I am trying to learn how to do that,” she said. I was sorry that there our conversation ended as Daddy had finished the paper work, and we had to hasten on. After going through customs, we were quite a while at the baggage check-in because, for some reason, they didn’t have Daddy’s bookings recorded in their computer. We were thankful that we had our e-tickets showing that he was booked, and they were finally able to straighten it out. We finally made it to the departure lounge, praise the Lord! There wasn’t much time left before the plane left for Honiara. It was still raining when we left, and we had to go out in the rain just a short distance before being under the covered walkway. It was to be another three-hours of sitting, now on Air Niugini. On this lap, the “boxes” were the smallest yet. It was all but impossible to get in and out of the seat. But the plane wasn’t full so, once we were in the air, we were able to move to other seats and not be so cramped. Another small breakfast was served on this flight. There was to be no sleep, just the shutting of the eyes and relaxing as much as possible. We did not disembark at Honiara. And we had to return to our original seat assignments as forty more people boarded the plane and filled it up. Then we were off for Port Moresby on the same plane. This lap was just about an hour. They did have wheelchair assistance for me there too. At first I thought maybe I wouldn’t need it, but by the time we had picked up our baggage and gone through customs and through the international terminal, unsuccessfully looked for and then made a claim for lost luggage (yes, one of our suitcases did not show up in Moresby), exchanged dollars for kina at the currency exchange window, and gone outside and down the walk to the domestic terminal, rechecked baggage and got boarding tickets, gone through another security check, and entered the domestic lounge, a great deal of time had gone by. It would have been very difficult to have been on my feet all that time. Praise: In answer to prayer, the airlines did find the suitcase and had it returned to Dad and Mom. We had several hours to kill in Port Moresby. Having had very little to eat over the past 24 hours, I was ready for something tasty and nutritious. There were several food stands in the domestic lounge, but they all had only bread and pastry foods. I thought maybe if I went back out into the baggage check area, one of the food places there would have some kaukau (sweet potato, similar to the boniato). So Daddy gave me K20 (20 kina), and I started that direction. I hadn’t gotten out of the waiting area yet, and a worker from the food stand near the exit asked me if I were looking for something. I told her I was hungry and was hoping to buy some kaukau. She asked what was wrong with the food at the food stands. I told her I couldn’t eat it. She said that none of the food places in the baggage check area had anything different. However, she herself was on her way to the food court outside the terminal, and they have kaukau there. They have a meal with kaukau, kumu (greens), and chicken. I told her I didn’t want the chicken, but the kaukau and kumu would be nice. So I gave her the money and waited for her to come back. It didn’t take her long to return with a container of food, but it was kaukau and bananas with a wee bit of kumu and onion on top. She said they were all out of kumu so she got bananas. I said that was fine. I was just happy to have some real food. The food wasn’t very warm so she went and warmed it up for me in the microwave at her food stand. Real food! How good it tasted! Thank you, Lord. There were two pieces of kaukau and two bananas. A little less than half was enough for me, and Daddy ate another portion of it. I was sad to have to throw the rest away, but we just couldn’t eat it all. While waiting in Moresby, we had a little time to talk with another Fijian. He, too, said that all Fijians are Christians, although he seemed to have a bit better understanding of Christianity. I believe he said he was from a Brethren church. He said the Fijians used to practice cannibalism before the early missionaries came; and he told how, when the missionaries came, they knew they might die, and many of them did. He also said they have a King James Bible translated into Fijian. We didn’t get a chance to ask him about his salvation before he was up and gone. At last the time came for our flight to Goroka, the last leg of our long journey. This time we were on a very small plane, an old Dash-8. There was more leg room on this plane than on any of the others we had flown on. A little over an hour and we were on the ground in Goroka—tired, hungry, and in need of a shower. Brad and Michelle arrived shortly to pick us up. It was good to see them. We waited for our luggage and then headed out to the car. With the new airport, they can’t park inside the fence without paying a yearly fee so the Ventor’s vehicle was parked outside across the street. For our first week in town, we are staying at MAF guest house. We are grateful to Michelle for doing a little grocery shopping for us ahead of time. She also had made a nice chicken noodle soup with veggies for our supper. It was the perfect comfort food for weary bodies. After we ate, we had to do some unpacking to find things we would need for the night and for the next morning. “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” Luke 1:37 Another reminder and confirmation of God’s omnipotence.
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