We sure have had our share of March and April showers! It has been a very wet last few weeks. (Photos taken by
friends, wish I could take credit! To enlarge photo simply click on it.)The other day I drove some ladies into town to pick up some supplies and on the way we got hung up in some ruts and had to dig a bit to get out. But we made it relatively easily. The highway is about 5 mile away and it takes a good 25-30 minutes to get there.Once in town, everything went well. We were able to get our shopping done and on the way back were able to swing by our mission's store. They stock some American brand items there, which make for a nice treat. Once finished there it was time to head back to ITF (Interface). In the morning on the way out I had made the comment our way back will be nice, "we shouldn't get stuck, the sun will be out and the road will be dry." Just before we got onto the road to ITF, I made a similar comment.
One the way out I noticed a BIG hole in the road, and thought that will need to be fixed. Well on our way back I made just past the big hole, and what do you know, stuck! Well I managed to get unstuck just to get stuck again and again. I guess I was never unstuck, getting free is one thing and unstuck another. So finally I humbled myself and called for help. After I talked with the folks at ITF, we just waited around. I took advantage of the wait to check out that big hole I had noticed. This whole was massive big enough around to park a vehicle in and about waist deep! I was telling the ladies about it and one of them said, that she got a close up look at it as we drove by, she said that angels were holding the vehicle from falling in!
As time went by one of my national friends was coming out on a PMV (I am pretty sure it stands for People Moving Vehicle). This can be any kind of vehicle, in this case it was a flat bed truck with about 20 people on back. He rallied the people to help me and they started pushing and freed me just to get stuck again. So I surrendered the wheel to him, he has more experience driving in this kind of muck. Well he wiggled the vehicle around and couldn't get very far. Then I got the tow strap and we hooked to the bumper and all of us guys began to pull it out of the mud. It took a few times, but it worked- there were about 12 of us guys pulling. This is the second time that I was part of a crew pulling a vehicle.
Seconds after getting out, my mobile rang- it was the folks that were coming to pull us out. I answered with "we're out, we're out", their reply "good you can come get us out!" Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of all this.
Since then we have had a few dry afternoons and work has been done on the road, it is in much better shape than it had been. Praise God for holding off the rains for us to work on the road a bit.
Here is a portion of my latest newsletter:
".... returning form Australia I stepped into a very busy 2 weeks. The day I returned we began hosting the Highlands conference. About 120 men women and children, all missionaries from our region came to the conference. This was a time to be updated on what has been happening in other works in our region as well as a time to malolo (rest, in pidgin), fellowship, and of course eat! I believed everyone left encouraged and full. This group left on Monday, then Tuesday and Wednesday I went to to town to pick up supplies for the next conference- this one would be for about 200 manmeri (people, in pidgin). Thursday was staff meeting and I also moved into a vacant house here at ITF, one that has a bathroom in it! :-) And then on Friday the preparation began again.
For this conference we catered the lunch meals, which means we transported all the food in a big truck to Lapilo, our PNG headquarters. It is about 10 kilometers away (6mi), takes about 30 minutes to get there-on a good day. On Monday, as we were heading out a truck was stuck in the mud- blocking the road. All of us guys tried to push it out, it was hung up on the under-carriage. Then we tried pulling with our truck and us 
pushing! NOTHING. Then our driver went around the truck, a brave move. By this time I began to think that we will need to call Lapilo and have them come and get the food. (We have done the relay thing with our school kids. 
We go as far as the road allows and then someone comes from the other side for the 
pickup.) Well we made it out and tried one last time to get the other truck out, between the truck pulling and us guys pushing, we got them out." PNG is the "Land of the Unexpected". But the more time I spend here the more I expect the unexpected.
Thanks for your Love and Prayers!
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