September 13 and 14. I was sooooo tired last night, I only had one sandwich for supper. Then went and lay down, for a short while, I thought. But it turned out to be a long while. I don’t know what time it was when I lay down, but I got back up around 9:00, had an apple snack, brushed my teeth, unpacked my clothes, took a shower, read my Bible, and went right back to bed. I did not write in my journal. I did not write a single e-mail. I didn’t even read a single e-mail. Shortly after I went back to bed, Daddy came to bed. It wasn’t long before I knew that I was not going to get any sleep here — the bed was too small, the sheet wasn’t covering me, and there was boom-boom music somewhere in the neighborhood. I finally picked up my pillows and went to one of the single beds in the other room. Now I had space to move around until I could get comfortable, had enough covers to cover me, and could not hear the boom-boom. It didn’t take me long to get to sleep after that. And I didn’t gave any trouble sleeping the rest of the night. I am so thankful for that extra sleep.
Why was I so tired? After a very stressful day on Monday, the 13th was an EXTREMELY stressful day as well. People were at the door first thing in the morning again. I was finally able to eat breakfast and have quiet time. Right after that, I was determined to go ahead and finish the rest of the packing. Don’t know why, other than it must have been the Lord’s prompting. There didn’t look like any possibility whatsoever of our getting to town today. Daddy was out most of the morning trying to see if anything had come up as far as getting us to town some time in the next couple days. NTM still had no forward loading. We could charter, but that would be K1000 (over $300.00). We didn’t think we should spend that much money since we had plenty of other needs to use the money for. MAF had tried to work out something for us for either Wednesday or Thursday, the 14th or 15th, but couldn’t work anything out. They said to call back at 9:00 after they talked to the pilots. We finally decided that we would just wait until next week, unless they had already worked out something for Wednesday or Thursday. Then we found out from Carol that the only two MAF pilots in Goroka who could fly into Owena will be going on furlough next week. The new pilot is not checked out for flying into the Owena airstrip. And NTM wouldn’t be able to fly for us next week as they will be having school flights. Now what should we do? It looked like our only recourse would be to charter NTM. So we called them back, and they said they would have Brent on the way soon. They didn’t have any other flights scheduled. They are low on Avgas and waiting for some to come up from Lae. So they are having to limit their flying. We hurried to get everything ready to be carried up to the airstrip. About ten minutes later, NTM called back and said they had just had a call from EBC wanting to send cargo to Obura (except he accidentally said Owena so we thought he would be coming directly to Owena). So we wouldn’t have to charter after all. Praise the Lord! That’s why the Lord was prompting me to keep packing.
We got everything sent up to the airstrip, and soon we heard MAF twin otter land. They brought Kelly in, and then went on to Marawaka for a load of cargo. We took our time going up, as we knew NTM would have to wait for EBC to bring their cargo to the hangar, and then would have to get the plane loaded up. It turned out that we could have waited even longer before going up. We waited and waited and waited at the airstrip. Twelve o’clock noon came and went. Then the skies started turning dark. We saw how black it was getting in the northeast — toward Obura. That’s where our heavy rains usually come from. It got very windy and was spitting on us in Owena. We prayed and kept watching the clouds. Very black. We heard thunder too. But the Lord did not allow the clouds to cross the Lamari River. The storm just followed the mountain ridge on the other side of the Lamari. They moved into the area where the plane usually comes through from Goroka. We wondered if Brent would be able to get through.
In the mean time, MAF stopped at Owena again to pick up an important bag that had been accidentally off-loaded. While they were there, they took measurements up and down the airstrip. There was a visiting pilot from Australia on the plane, and he was checking things out for their records at headquarters. After they took off, Daddy called NTM again. Found out the plane was on the ground at Obura. That’s when we found out he didn’t realize he had told us the forward loading was for Owena, when actually it was for Obura. So in another fifteen minutes or so, the plane finally arrived to pick us up. I have no idea what time it was then, or what time we arrived in town. That’s because, in our hurry, I left my watch at home. It was some time mid-afternoon. But, praise the Lord, He had brought us here safely. We waited at the hangar a while, and then Brent took us over to CRMF. We had not had anything to eat so I was thankful I brought the leftover rice that had been in the pressure cooker. While Mike took Daddy to get Randy Smith’s car (praise the Lord for this provision of transportation while we are in town!), I warmed up some rice in the microwave. After we had a bite to eat, we went uptown for a few groceries. Many of the stores were already closed, and there weren’t very many people around. The post office was already closed too. We had a hard time finding things that we needed for immediate use. No peanut butter in town, except for little bitty jars that cost K5.90. (We did find the same kind today at New Century for only K3.90.) After we got back from town, we had a light supper. I was almost too tired to eat. So that was where the day ended for me.
Besides being a very stressful day, yesterday was very warm and humid. My face was really hot, and especially my eyes. And since we didn’t get to eat, I ended up with a big headache.
So that brings us to today, the 14th. About quarter to six this morning, Daddy came in and woke me up. It was time for a new day to begin. It would be a busy day, but not so stressful as yesterday. After breakfast and quiet time, I did dishes and made the beds. It seems like I did something else too, but that’s gone from my memory. Then we headed to the West stores. We wanted to get there early before the crowds. But the crowds had decided to come early too. We couldn’t even find a parking space in front of the store so went around and parked out by the road. We were happy to see a new supply of yarn as that is what most all the ladies want as pay for their work. We were also happy to see a new shipment of batteries as last time there were no batteries anywhere in town—D-cell batteries, that is. New Century seemed to be pretty well stocked today all around, better than any of the other stores, so we thank the Lord we were able to get quite a bit of shopping done there.
After that, we took stuff back to the house and headed uptown. It was quite warm and humid today too. It was very stuffy in the stores. Went to Papindo first—not much there. In the bakery section, we found some man-sized cookies for K2 each, even bigger than the ones Daddy gets at SVS. He got one of those to try. But he said they aren’t as good as the SVS ones. They are quite chewy. We did find some nice beef sausages.
Then we stopped at the post office, and there were two packages. Bintangor next. We found a number of things there that we wanted. They had some turkey legs so Daddy let me get one of those. I am looking forward to cooking and eating it. At SVS, we got a few groceries and a piece of barracuda. Last stop was Seng Da. Got a few colors of yarn there that New Century didn’t have.
It was after 12:00 when we got back to the house. Put some eggs on to cook for egg salad sandwiches. Then put away a few food items that we will use at the house. Opened the packages that the girls had sent. One of them had a broken bottle of Cranberry supplement. It all had to be thrown out. Boo hoo!
Finally lunch was ready. After lunch, I had a nice nap while Daddy went out to the banks. After drawing out some cash, Daddy came back to the house. Then he went shopping at West Goroka. Checked on generators at Brian Bell too.
After my nap, I prepared the veggies for supper. Then read the e-mails. Then started writing in the journal since I hadn’t written last night. Worked on that until time to put supper on. Fixed spaghetti tonight with beef sausage and tomato sauce. Veggies was carrots and broccoli. Power was out most of the afternoon, and the generator was on. The generator shed is attached to this little house so it is quite noisy here when the generator is on. I can tolerate that better than the boom boom though.
After supper, I got the kitchen cleaned up and dishes washed. And here I am back at the journal. And I believe this is the end for today.
“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” Proverbs 13:20