Farewell beautiful Owena mountains! Sorry about the two colors in the entries below. Weebly isn't letting me change the color on part of it for some reason.
November 4. (written morning of November 5) It was quite a day! Praise the Lord for His grace and strength and presence with us throughout the day.
We were up before 6:00 to do last minute packing, have breakfast, do up dishes, and close up the flat. Jason and Melanie came around 7:15 to help us load things up in their vehicle and take us to the airport. Went through security check and then checked in baggage at the AirNiugini desk. Had to pay K278 overweight which wasn’t too bad.
We didn’t have to be there for the plane until almost 9:00 (flight was scheduled for 9:35) so we dropped Jason off at the MAF hangar (he wasn’t scheduled to fly today but had to work in the office) and went to their house with Melanie for a while. Jason found out, however, that the Hagen twin otter pilot was sick and they were wanting him to come to Hagen to fly. So when it was time to go back to the airport, Jason came along, too, to get a ticket with Airlines PNG to take him to Hagen. We had just been waiting a few minutes in the terminal again when we saw the worker erasing the time off the white board and writing in new time - ETA 10:10 and ETD 10:35. So now we had another hour to kill.
Said thank you and good-bye to Jason and Melanie. Left our carry-on bags with security. Then Jay and Mel went to Airlines PNG where Jason would fly from, and Daddy and I walked up to Papindo to get a drink. We thought we would have time to sit down in the café for a while, but the time went quickly so we drank our drinks on the walk back.
The Dash-8 300 arrived just about as scheduled - 10:10. We boarded as soon as all the incoming passengers had disembarked. It looked like there were about 50 seats on the plane which was only about 2/3 full. There was lots of space between seats, and we enjoyed having enough room to stretch our legs. They said the flight would be an hour and ten minutes, but we arrived in Moresby after just about an hour. Maybe there was a wind that pushed the plane along. Daddy was sitting by the window and was able to see Owena as we flew by. I couldn’t see very well and had the seat belt on because of turbulence. We flew through clouds almost all the way.
The scary thing was that wind was (or seemed to be) getting into the plane somehow, and every so often it would howl loudly and rattle the overhead rack near the entrance. The flight attendant didn’t seem to be too concerned about it, however. They served us a little snack of orange juice and cookies (no label on the cookies, but they looked and tasted like the Paradise strawberry crème shortbread cookies (PNG made). They taste good, but are quite sweet.
We had originally planned to have lunch at the airport in Moresby; but since our flight was delayed an hour, there was no time whatever for getting lunch or even a snack. By the time we disembarked, walked what seemed like a long distance from the plane to the baggage claim area, claimed our baggage, walked another distance to the international terminal (each of us pushing a cart of luggage), stood in the check-in line for some time and at the check-in counter just about as long, went and paid the overweight charge (K1000 this time), used the facilities, went upstairs to the immigration area and filled out the immigration card, went through security and immigration check, and got to the gate of departure for Brisbane, people had already been getting on the plane. Before boarding the plane, we had to give up our drinks at a security check point just before the ticket gate. Not allowed to carry drinks on the plane any more.
Flew on a 737 to Brisbane. Very narrow aisles. Very narrow spaces between seats. So crowded. Every seat filled. No room in the overhead for our carry-on bags so had to put them (except one) under the seats in front of us. We hadn’t been on the plane more than ten minutes, when the plane took off - about 1:30. I was hungry, tired, and very thirsty. They said something about giving us a meal so I thought I could wait a while. But they didn’t start serving for a long time, and then started at the front. We were a long way back, and we could see it would be quite a while before they got to us. Finally I had Daddy ask for a drink of water for me because I didn’t want to get dehydrated.
We finally got our meal - around 3:30 or so I think it was. I was so thankful. I enjoyed the fish (didn’t eat the white rice) and veggies. The dessert (orange cake or carrot cake?) tasted good but was too sweet so Daddy finished it up, and I finished up his rice pudding which wasn’t as sweet. Daddy had chicken. I had had a big piece of chicken for my lunch at Papindo yesterday, I requested fish. I had apple juice to drink with my lunch and another glass of water, I was so thirsty.
Felt refreshed after eating. The flight was about three hours long, and by the time I got out of those cramped quarters in the plane, I could hardly move. We were almost the last ones off the plane, and by then, my feet were quite swollen. That slowed down my walking quite a bit, and Daddy graciously slowed down to wait for me. Everyone else had gone way on ahead. A worker standing on the exit ramp asked if I were okay. I said I was okay, but just having a hard time walking. Told him that Daddy hadn’t thought to ask for wheelchair assistance when he booked this first lap of our journey. Bro. Schmidt booked the rest of the journey and has wheelchair assistance requested for us.
The worker on the ramp kindly offered to walk with us for a ways and then pick up a wheelchair for me. He said that is part of his job. We were very grateful. It was a loooooong way to the baggage claim area. When we arrived there, he had two other assistants waiting to help with the baggage. What a blessing! I wish we had some English tracts.
They took us from there on a short cut to customs. We had to open two of our bags, but there was no real problem, and the customs officers were very nice.
It was only a short distance from there to the exit doors so I walked the rest of the way, but the two assistants still helped push our luggage carts. Daddy exchanged the rest of our kina for American dollars, and then we went outside to meet the Turtles. It was a little after 5:00. We waited a while, and there was no sign of them. Just about everyone else was gone. After a while, Daddy went inside to call them on the free phone, but was told the cell phone number was disconnected. There was no answer at home, of course, because they weren’t there. Daddy tried twice calling the cell phone, and one of the workers tried twice, but same message.
Finally around 5:30, Norm and Chris pulled up. Daddy was still inside, but came out shortly. We were happy to see them. Their vehicle was a bit small, but they managed to squeeze all our luggage in. We enjoyed a nice ride from Brisbane up to a place called Redcliffe which is not far from the ocean. There is a nice breeze that blows here most of the time.
By the time we got here, it was 6:00. We worked a bit on settling into our room while Chris put supper on. It must have been 7:00 when we ate. I was so grateful for nice fresh veggies and for fruit salad for dessert.
“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20
November 5. Thank you, Lord, for a long night’s rest and a quiet restful day. Took a shower shortly after supper last night and then went right to bed after reading a few verses in my Bible. It was about 8:30. Got up once in the middle of the night (about 12:30), and it was 4:30 before I got up again. But I still went back to sleep for another hour after that. Sun starts coming up around 4:00 a.m. here.
After we got dressed and read Bible, breakfast was ready. For breakfast, we had cereal with banana. Daddy had a cup of coffee, and I had orange cinnamon rooibos tea. After breakfast, I set up the computer out on the back veranda in the nice fresh air, wrote a couple short e-mails, and started writing yesterday’s journal notes.
At 8:00, Chris was ready to go off to help in their church’s day care program so we walked part way with her. It was a nice walk up to the end of this road, across the cross road, and down a path to a walking/biking trail. We only went part way with her, sat down a few minutes on a bench to rest, and then came back to the house.
Then I turned on the computer again and finished yesterday’s journal notes. At one point, when I looked up, I was startled by a gray snake, about three feet long, starting to come onto the veranda. I hollered out, “A snake!” Daddy came outside and saw it before it turned and slithered across the grass into the flower garden. He went to get Norm; but by the time Norm got there, the snake was gone. Norm got out his camera and wanted to get a picture, but we couldn’t find the snake. He said they have seen snake skins around but had never seen the snake. We gave up looking and I was going back to the computer when I saw the snake a couple feet off the ground crossing from one bush to another. The men came searching again but could not see it. We didn’t see it any more after that.
When I was done writing journal notes, I studied my testimony notes for a while; but before I finished, I felt sleepy and went to lie down.
After a while, Norm called us and asked if we would like to go see the church/school where Chris was working. So we got up and got ready to go. It is quite a place. Has just about everything from 12-hour day care for newborns and toddlers, classes for all the school years, a huge auditorium for church services, and much more (six stories in the main building). The day care/nursery school was separate, and there was also a large area with retirement housing (independent living) and care facilities for those who could no longer live independently. They used to have a Bible college as well, but she said it isn’t going now.
When we came back to the house, I finished studying my notes while Chris fixed lunch. She made muffin-sized flan, and we had salad as well.
Took another nap, and a little bit later, they asked if we would like to go for a ride. We drove along the roads that go by the ocean and saw all the ritzy houses that people are building. Canals are being made from the swamp areas, and numerous housing developments are going up around the canals. We saw hundreds of huge yachts in the canals.
Stopped to visit friends of Norm and Chris. These folks are in their 80’s but still travel back and forth to Western Province in PNG where they worked for many years. They said they just recently completed a Bible in the language of the people they worked with.
For supper, Chris prepared fish, mashed potatoes, and fresh veggies. Fresh fruit salad with yogurt was served for dessert.
Later we played a game called Qwirkle in which we had to match colors and shapes in a certain order to get points.
“21But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Romans 3:21-26
Sunset in Sydney, Australia
RSS Feed
