Actually in PNG at last!

It is very exciting to tell you that we are actually in Papua New Guinea! After all these years of talking about it we are here and it's incredible. After some last minute changes to our plans, we travelled straight to Ukarumpa in the Eastern Highlands Province where we hope to be based for the next four years!



The view from our flat

Ukarumpa is situated in a valley at about 5,000ft. Rain in the afternoons is common at the moment, but the temperature feels lovely after the sticky humidity of Cairns.

Our front door

Inside the flat - a little bare at the moment, but give us time :) 

We have had a wonderful welcome from people here and are gradually finding our feet. There is a store where you can buy an amazing range of things and market happens three times a week on centre. There are lots of super and encouraging cooks here, so Tru is beginning the long process of turning into a domestic goddess with help from some of the lovely ladies...she has made lemon cordial and is going to try yoghurt next. Pray. A lot.

Our biggest challenge at the moment is trying to learning the local language, Tok Pisin. Smiling broadly, shaking hands and saying 'Good Morning!' seems to go a long way, but there is only so long that will last for! We are told that the best thing to do is have a go, so that is what we are doing and so far we have had nothing but encouragement (accompanied by slightly bemused smiles!) Here is some of what we have learned so far:

Mi nupela.....I'm new
Mi no save (sav-ay) gut long Tok Pisin. Mi lainim...I don't understand Tok Pisin very well. I'm learning.
Mi amamas long lukim yu...I'm happy to meet you
Lukim yu...see you later

We start work this week and hope to update the blog more regularly now we are here. So keep practising your Tok Pisin, people! Lukim yu!

Hello Australia!

We have made it to Cairns! Hurrah! Snow in the UK and in Tokyo (where we changed planes) meant there were a few delays, but we have ended up where we wanted to be and pretty much on schedule. As Craig Revel Horwood would say: A-MA-ZING!!!

Obviously, as true Brits, we must now discuss the weather: it was rainy and overcast when we landed at 5.50am but the temperature was already 24 Celsius and very humid. It's 1.43pm now and certainly feels very hot. We are trying to resist using the air conditioning to help us get used to the heat more quickly. There is method in our madness....

We are staying in a lovely guesthouse run by missionaries here in Cairns and are looking forward to a few days R&R before the real fun begins next week! Thanks so much for all your good wishes. We mostly feel numb and keep looking at each other saying things like, "We're in Australia!" and then again, "We're in Australia!" Hopefully we will eventually take it in so that our conversation can move on. Until then, we're in Australia (!) and feeling pretty thankful to be here.

Sweet Sorrow

Goodbyes are not much fun, but they have been tinged with sweetness because so many of you have told us that you love us. Sweet sorrow is an oxymoron and Trudie enjoys a good oxymoron, especially when Shakespeare wrote it. It also perfectly describes the very thin line between total joy and stinging sadness that we feel as we say goodbye and prepare for hellos on the other side of the world.

This morning our church bade us farewell in what can only be described as an overwhelming, but delightful final surge of encouragement and kindness. They prayed with us and sent us out with a true sense of partnership that we will treasure.

There is not much time left. We have exciting jobs to do like preparing the car for a long holiday in the garage (I say 'we' but this one means Duncan!), tidying up after all the packing, a last hoover and closing up the bags. There are also two more goodbyes to be said to much beloved mums, but they are for tomorrow.

Everyone keeps telling us we will have an adventure and now that it is truly about to start, it looks like something close to climbing Mount Everest barefoot...but in the Bible, God says: Whether you turn to the left or to the right, I will be right behind you saying, 'This is the way - walk in it!'

And so we will.

Packing

Duncan is a master at packing. It really is true. We are preparing stuff to be shipped to Papua New Guinea and today he is filling the bread maker with underwear and is delighted by how much you can get in! Who knew... I am just typing the packing lists as he does the real work of actual packing and marvelling at what it must feel like to have good spatial relations. (I really don't!)

I wonder if we will see any of this stuff again...I wonder if we really need it all anyway. The truth is we probably don't, but it is making us feel happier right now!

Somehow things are fitting together and we are getting closer to actually going. We'll probably wish we had brought all sorts of things but most of all I'm glad that I'm taking Duncan, that he is taking me and that God has gone before us both.

Visiting

We are just back from saying hello and goodbye to some friends and family from where Trudie grew up. Everyone was so lovely and the most common question was about the bug life we will encounter in PNG! Tru's response was:"There are no bugs in PNG!" Denial is working well so far...

Being serious for a moment, it really was great to see people we love. We will miss you so much! Everyone should consider holidays in Papua New Guinea. Seriously. We hear it's brilliant...

In other news Duncan is trying to whip Trudie into shape in preparation for Pacific Orientation Camp. We are doing a mix of aerobics, running and even went for a swim this morning. Well done us! Not sure if it will make any difference in such serious heat, so good thing God will be with us.

Now we are back to paperwork, packing and panicking followed by praying. Tru's new description of our feelings is reverent terror. Not long to go now!

The picture is of Tru with her lovely mum and Aunty Joyce : )  

Paperwork and People

It would seem that moving abroad involves a great deal of paperwork. We knew that before, but now we KNOW that! We are getting there, but much more slowly than we would like. Things keep distracting us. For example: burst pipes, cars that won't start because the air-conditioning pump has stopped working and agas that won't stay alight for more than a few hours. We could go on, but it's boring.



He is trying to smile...

We have also managed to break away from the laptops and spend some time with people. Going to our church again was wonderful and we have also had the chance to speak to our house group, youth group and church friends about our experiences in America.

Overall, time feels short and it's a bit overwhelming. The goodbyes have started and so has the sadness. We are truly in the land of the inbetween and it's disorientating when that place is home.

Thanksgiving

We are home and feeling full of thanksgiving for an amazing trip to the U.S.A. It really has been brilliant.

We will always remember (in no particular order):

Swing-dancing, listening to Blue Grass music, attending an auction, laughing A LOT, meeting new people all the time, swimming in a lake, dancing in the rain, writing on stones, reflecting, eating Southern food, discovering 'moose tracks' ice-cream, engine-off landings, autumn colours, flying down the longest runway in the world (together), seeing manatees and porpoises, meeting Mickey, driving in Dallas and L.A., the Blue Ridge mountains, going to a rodeo and seeing REAL cowboys, meeting up with old friends, going to an American football game, flying with an under-slung motorcycle, Moriah's smile, off-roading, tour guiding, singing new songs, e-mails, meeting Chuck Swindoll, experiencing constant hospitality, Egyptian Ratscrew (card game), the Bunn mobile, Josh's English accent, white-water rafting, sharing our story with 190 young men recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, arriving at church in the helicopter, learning to change a nappy, skype, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, apple pie, lying on a bed of nails, packing, contra-dancing, blue jelly/jello, Chimney Rock, flying across 4 states in the Helio, learning some Pidgin, aviation wives, Jeff's prayers, art galleries, sleeping in the hangar, Darcy's videos, seeing fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, eating scrapple, a few tears, new friends who touched our hearts, people thinking 'Duncan' is spelt 'Dunkin' (as in Doughnuts!), ordering blue shirts, getting THE helmet, flying in the mountains, seeing family, going out for breakfast, the satnav 'recalculating', Starbucks, Rodeo Drive, the PNG bugs' case, JAARS day, Missions at the Airport trip, the 'A' rock, meeting MKs, Jonathan's stories, 'jazz' in Charleston, Trudie's Minnie Mouse hairband, farkle, goodbyes, Crowell 3, doughnuts, the sound of crickets and the not so crystal lake.

We could go on and on, but there is something we havent mentioned - the reason we went to America was not to eat ice-cream or visit tourist sites. We went to prepare for the next step. We thought Duncan was going to learn jungle flying skills and Trudie would learn about missionary kids and how to serve them - we did those things, but something else happened too. God poured His love into our hearts through the words and actions of strangers. We saw Him work amazingly in our lives and in the lives of others around us. As our new friend, Carrie would say: God has really shown off and THAT is truly awesome.



The JAARS helicopter




Arty shot of the Helio - can you spot it?




Every couple needs matching JAARS caps!




Wings with Josh (left) and Jonathan (right)



The Crystal Lake at JAARS



Us with Mickey and Duncan's sister, Katrina