In England

We're (almost) Ready to Go!

Greetings from Papua New Guinea!

With a day to go until we leave, life is busy.  We've been organising and cleaning our house, sorting and packing clothes, printing out tickets and travel directions, organising transport, arranging to visit people, working on furlough presentations, designing photo books, obtaining permission to visit Australia, finishing up at work, and having our photo taken:

As you can see, Levi is looking more and more like his Dad ;-).

Andrew has been building a workshop behind our house out of a shipping container so that he'll be able to work on projects from home in future.  I expect our children will gain mechanical experience of their own out there too.

Thank you for your prayers regarding our house and dog while we're away; we've seen some wonderful answers.

This is what our travel plans look like for the next few weeks:

6 March: Fly to the capital city, Port Moresby.
7 March: Fly to Brisbane, Australia.
11 March: Fly to Melbourne, Australia.  (We'll be visiting the friends we lived with at the time Levi was born.)
14-15 March: Fly to London and drive to Haslemere, Surrey.
19 - 31 March: Visit friends and family in Warrington, Cumbria, Sunderland, York and Leicestershire.
1 April: Move into our flat in Haslemere.

We have much to look forward to, but realise that the next month will also be very intense.  We would appreciate your continued prayer, especially that we will recover quickly from jetlag and for good emotional adjustments with the changes that are to come.

Dealing with Stuff

In five weeks we will leave PNG for ten months of home assignment. 

As well as making preparations for our time away, I'm working hard to get the house ready for others to live here.  One part of that is getting rid of items that our family no longer needs.  There aren't many recycling programmes in Papua New Guinea, but that doesn't mean that things get thrown away!

Some items are given directly to colleagues and local friends; these items range from used plastic food or drink containers, all of which will get reused, to clothes that our children have outgrown but which other children in Ukarumpa or around the country will appreciate. Boxed up items can be donated to the 'Everything Sale', an annual event run by the teenagers here to raise money towards their youth centre.  Some things are sold to colleagues; there is no Ebay here and the range of products available in local stores is limited so people appreciate the opportunity to buy things from each other.

It always amazes me how many lids I find with no containers to go with them.  Those, at least, will get thrown away if no matching container appears!

We would appreciate prayer as we enter this time of transition:

*Heidi is concerned about being away from PNG, from her friends and from our dog.  Levi was distressed when he heard that he'd have to pack up his bedroom before we left.  Eowyn has no memory of living outside PNG.  Please pray for all of our children as they face these big changes in their lives.   Of course there is a lot to look forward to as well.  They are most excited about seeing family.  Heidi also wants to see a giraffe and Levi is looking forward to visiting science museums.

*We are grateful for the opportunities that we have to connect with friends and churches back home.  It's been encouraging to see our schedule start to fill up:

* Please pray for Andrew and I as we work to complete many tasks that we want to get done before our departure on 6 March.  An added complication is that Andrew can't work on some of these jobs until spare parts arrive from overseas; he'd appreciate prayer for these parts to arrive quickly.

*We are thrilled to hear that there should be someone to live in our house and care for our dog from May onwards.  We are praying that someone would be willing to look after our dog in the first couple of months that we are away.             
  

We have Stories to Share!

When we are in the UK and the USA next year, one of our assignments will be to share about the Bible Translation work that's going on in Papua New Guinea.

 

       
This photo shows the 'furlough workshop' I've been attending; my goal has been to come up with interesting and helpful presentations.  Gone are the days of the 30 minute slide show!  We'll be aiming to share in a way that's relevant to each group of people, and which gives others a chance to see how they too can be involved.
        
Do you know of people who would like to hear how God is using Bible Translation to change lives in Papua New Guinea?  If so, please get in touch.  This might be in your church services, small groups, Sunday school meetings, children's groups or schools.  Of course we'd love to share with you in your own home too!   Even if it's too early to work out the specific details, it would be helpful to find out about possibilities now, for planning purposes.

Prayer and Praise Points:

* We now have plane tickets!  I'm keeping track of and updating our itinerary here.  We appreciate prayer for good decisions as we prepare for our time away from PNG and that plans would come together well.

* Please pray for good times of transition for our children.  They are excited about the upcoming travels, but the idea of spending a long time away from the place they know as home can be unsettling for them.

* We would appreciate prayer for wisdom in our work, and that we would use our time well during the next few months that we have here.

Thank you so much for your valued partnership with us, expressed in many different ways