October 19. It didn’t take as long as I expected to get everything in order for all the items that are to be shipped. I am thankful those items are ready. And I was thankful for Dallas and Bonita looking after the door today and helping with some other work too. They glued pictures of trees, grass, flowers, and food into scrapbooks to go with Sunday school lessons on creation. Dallas helped Daddy take nails out of plywood he had taken off the walls for Tomas to buy, and then Dallas cleaned all the dust off the back of the pieces of plywood. Dallas and Jonathan (who was here for other things) helped Daddy weigh the items for shipping, and later Dallas and Bonita washed off all the suitcases and the foot locker so no PNG mud or dirt will be on them when they are shipped. This afternoon, Dallas erased all my pencil marks out of the teacher’s copy of one of the readers we used this year so now that book can be sold.
Lots of people came and went during the day. Some people carried boxes up to the airstrip so the boxes could go out to SIL on the plane that was supposed to come today. But the plane never came so we guess the boxes are stored at Tomas’s house. They weren’t brought back here.
This afternoon, I did some reorganizing of our travel suitcases and will have to finish that job tomorrow. Daddy and I finally got the big table in the office all cleaned off, and I straightened up all the papers in the scrap box and threw out most of the small pieces.
Daddy was sick with a bad case of vertigo this afternoon when he woke up from nap so it was good that he didn’t go up to the airstrip. (He usually goes up whenever the plane comes.) He is still not feeling well this evening. It makes me feel sad and lonely when he is sick, besides having the burden of doing extra work. I do hope he doesn’t get sick when we travel.
“3Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb: 4And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. 5To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? 6They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship. 7They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.” Isaiah 46:3-7
October 20 and 21. Today is Wednesday, October 21. I don’t know if I remember much of what happened yesterday, other than the fact that it got to be after 10:00 last night, and I still hadn’t had time to write in my journal. But I was much too tired by then and went right to bed after washing up. I remember that it had been a long hard day. So many things to do. Would we ever be ready in time to leave? The first thing we did was laundry. I was thankful that there were only two loads. After that it was cleaning and packing, cleaning and packing. Sunny and Peninnah spent the day looking after the door and doing a couple work projects for us.
In the morning, Phinehas came by. I had hardly seen him since school was out so I talked with him a while. Daddy was busy talking with Amos and David. Daddy said it looks like David and Amos are going to make a good team. They are spending quite a bit of time together and striving to work together in unity.
Before Phinehas left, he had talked with the two girls, and the three came to us with a special request. They wanted to know if the school students could all come and spend the night since it would be their last time to be with us. We didn’t see any problem with that so around 7:30 or so in the evening, the students (except Esau) and a number of other youth started arriving with their blankets, etc., ready to bed down for the night. We enjoyed hearing them sing while we were busy working. How I will miss hearing them sing!
We woke up to their singing this morning too. Then they wanted us to come and shake their hands one last time before we left. After they sang the farewell song again, Daddy and I went out to shake hands with them, although it was more hugs and weeping than handshakes.
After lotu, Esau came in and hugged me for a while, and we talked a bit. I sought to encourage him to keep his eyes on the Lord and do the work that God has called him to do. I have gone through many trials with Esau over the past few years which has created a special bond with him. Have praised God for the changes seen in his life this past year. He is a very tenderhearted young man, but also weak when a fiery trial comes along. He kept saying “Yes, Mommy” as I talked to him.
While lotu was in progress, Daddy and I rushed around doing the rest of the packing, taping up, locking up suitcases, weighing up, cleaning up, whatever needed to be done. The house was left in a bit of a mess. Around 9:30, MAF called and said the plane was on its way. We got people busy carrying cargo up to the airstrip before we ourselves went up. My back and legs were in a lot of pain today. Apekio was on my left hand and Silvia on my right, holding my hands as we walked and wept together. We walked very slowly because of my legs and back.
It was a little before 10:00 when we got up to the top of the airstrip. I was thankful for the foot locker to sit on. The sun was very hot. I held the umbrella up for a while for a little shade. It must have been after 10:30 when the plane finally arrived. Then the pilot had a long wait while there were more handshakes, hugging, and weeping. Dallas had taken the camera before we left the house and took quite a few pictures. He was the last one to hug me after he gave the camera back before we left. He, too, kept calling my “Mommy.” I wouldn’t be surprised to see Dallas in the ministry one of these days. He truly has a heart for serving the Lord.
How I will miss my twelve special grandchildren! I said good-bye to the beautiful Owena mountains too. But how beautiful heaven will be! And we’ll all be there together – no more good-byes.
Just before we boarded the plane, David prayed, thanking the Lord for our bringing them the Gospel and asking God’s blessing upon our travels. The pilot, Remi, waited very patiently while everyone said “Good-bye” to us. My last memory is the sad face at the window opposite my plane seat – Esau saying his final good-bye.
It was about 11:45 when we arrived at Aiyura and going on 12:30 when we got to the WA (Wycliffe Associates) center where we are staying for a couple days until we get papers taken care of for shipping our goods.
Even though we were late for lunch, Yara (manager of the WA center) had held some lunch for us. I was utterly exhausted and took two naps this afternoon. Daddy just had a short nap and then went over to the shipping center to see Tai about getting the papers we still need in order to ship things.
When Daddy came back (after my first nap), we went for a little walk together to the store to try to find something to snack on. It was a very slow walk as my legs are very weak today. All I could find at the store to eat that was somewhat affordable was a package of rice crackers. Bought those, and Daddy got a can of iced tea. Then we stopped by the fast food area and got an ice cream cone - coffee flavour. Tasted good.
When we got back from our little walk, we worked on filling out the shipping forms. After that, I was ready for my second nap. Slept until almost 6:00 - supper time. We had rice with beef stir fry for supper and also salad. Little cheese cakes were served for dessert. Enjoyed meeting the other guests - James who works with Fuji-Xerox; Fabian who goes around to different villages and does gospel recordings, and Fiona from Australia who has spent a short time here helping in finances.
After supper, I took a shower. Wonderful! The first shower I’ve had in almost a year. Now I’m getting tired again so will probably make it an early-to-bed evening.
“The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.” Isaiah 50:3