What is it Like to Move in Country as a Missionary?
I believe in being real as a missionary so people can know what life is really like. So many times people either tell only the good or only the bad. The reality is, there is both! We have super high highs! We also have super low lows. Most days are mundane like anyone else's.
About 5 days ago, our family embarked on a journey to move from Mt. Hagen in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea, to Lae, a city on the east coast.
Everything starts before the actual move itself! We packed up our house in Mt Hagen. However, Regan, the Missionary Associate working with our team here in PNG, will continue to live in the house. So, I wanted to be sure she was left with some things that she would need. Consequently, my days were filled with decisions…what needs to for sure go into the container that’s being sent?….What can be left here for Regan to use?…What will I need to be sure to have with me in the Land Cruiser to use at the new house in case the container is not there when we arrive?…Do you think Regan would mind if we had to leave these few things behind until we come back in a few weeks?…Do you think the grocery store has any more ramen noodle boxes we can swipe to pack a few more things? (all of our moving boxes came from the grocery store and were about 12inx12inx12in on average)…And so on and so on…
We really don’t have very much, but when everything has to be packed into tiny boxes, it makes it look like so much more!
We rented a container (to do our best to prevent looting along the highway) and packed up our belongings with the help of some Bible School students and 2 of the boys from the village. A few days later we loaded our STL Land Cruiser (thank you again STL and the youth of SOMO!) with some clothes, bedding, a few dishes, some food, and went on our way! The trip was unremarkable and took less time than it has ever taken us, just under 9 hours. We celebrated our move with pizza at a local hotel restaurant and slept the best that we had slept in weeks. We have been beyond blessed with the house that we are renting. It is on the base of another missions organization. The landlord is a missionary and their family could not be more kind and helpful. Daniel has already found a BFF in their 9 year old son and they play together each afternoon. The house is larger than we need, but it will also be able to serve as a hub for new missionaries coming into the country, to meet and fellowship and learn to do life here in PNG. It will serve as a great place to host visiting short term teams. It can also be a place to host local friends for fellowship as we continue to learn language, the culture of this province, and figure out how we will be doing ministry here. Plus, we were able to get it the rent at a discounted rate, and all utilities are included! God has truly blessed us and we are so thankful.
We are now 5 days in, 7 days from when we loaded the container, and it has not yet arrived here for us to unload. That means we have been using the same 4 plates, 4 bowls, 4 forks/spoons/knives, 4 cups for each meal/snack/etc. We have been cooking all our meals with the 2 small pots and 1 small frying pan that I packed to come with us. I hand washed some clothes this morning in the sink because, to be honest, we ran out of clean underwear! We have been told that the container should be here at 2:00pm today. It is now 12:45pm. We will see what happens! We learn to just roll with the punches and make do with what we have!
Three days into our move, while David was in town trying to get some things set up for us, his phone was stolen. Today, something else was stolen out of our truck. We spent the majority of the day yesterday trying to get a new phone, getting a plan set back up, and filling out an insurance claim. Nothing here can be done quickly. Everything takes about 4x longer than you think it probably should.
We tried to set up a PO Box at the post office. “Sorry, the Post Master is not in.” We will have to come back. This is just part of life here. So we roll with it.
Even with all the hiccups and things that have not gone according to plan, we are so happy to be here in Lae. We live about 15 minutes outside of town, which is much more safe, especially when David is not home. We have a beautiful view of palm trees and mountains out our window. We were welcomed with open arms at one of the local churches this past Sunday and we look forward to building relationships with the pastors and church members in the local churches here. We are excited to see all that God will do here in Lae.
Please pray with us for this area. Pray for the people to come to know Christ in a real way. Pray for protection over our family and over our home and vehicle. Pray for traveling mercies on the road. Pray for the pastors who are leading the congregations here. Pray for them to have a heart for missions to go out to the people who have not yet heard the Gospel and to TELL THEM! We look forward to partnering with them in this. Finally, pray for a Holy Spirit outpouring over this area.
Blessings!
Amy
