Coming Home, Part 2

When we arrived at the airport in Port Moresby, we were excited!  After leaving the airplane, we had to go through immigration and customs. As it turned out, the instructions we were given on board our last flight was not correct…they told us we only had to fill out one customs & immigration form per family…turns out it was one per person. Thankfully we had a very patient and sweet immigrations worker who really blessed us with her kind words and helpful attitude. After getting through that long line, it appeared that we would need to wait in another long line to go through customs.

As we entered the waiting area for customs, God blessed us again with a kind worker. The gentleman asked me if we were moving to Papua New Guinea, and I responded affirmatively. He then pointed to a doorway and told us to go and he welcomed to his country!  We never even had to go through customs!  

We loaded all of our bags onto Ismael's truck and began our short ride to our new home. Joy and I stayed and unpacked, while Tom and the teens went to town with a list of some necessities that we needed to settle in and be able to cook for the next few days.  I still have no idea how Joy and I stayed awake!  We were exhausted and I felt like I was sleep-walking. But I kept resisting the urge to lay down and nap. I just robotically unpacked one bag after another after another.... Boy did it feel good to sleep that night. I'm glad we all pushed through. It really helped with the jet lag.

(At the time of writing this,) we have been here two weeks, and have certainly had our ups and downs. Rather than progressing through the different stages of culture shock and acclimation, I feel that sometimes I go through them all in a matter of hours or a day!  I am so glad to be here and amazed at how God has worked on our behalf and blessed us so much. We still have needs, and stress over things, but we need to have faith that God will continue to provide for us.

We have made some sweet new friends. We love our neighbors! Yesterday I met a dear sister who lives down the road and has a heart for orphans and children.  I met another sweet sister at church Sunday, and I know many more friends are to come. I am excited to see God work everything together is His time as we minister to vulnerable women and children here in Port Moresby.

Written on Wednesday, May 2, 2018