Home Sweet Home

We are home. I keep telling myself this, and it’s hard to believe. We are home! It’s a strange home… far different than any Western city. The sights, sounds, and smells are all so different. But it is home.

In front of our new house!

Currently, we are living on a mission base with 5 other new missionary families. We have our own 3 bedroom house, complete with electricity, running water, a fridge, stove, and washing machine. No AC, but overhead fans keep the air cool in this tropical environment. 

The kitchen and hallway in our new house

Right outside our front door, we can see palm trees and a small inlet of the Pacific Ocean. Beautiful.

It’s so green here. Trees grow like weeds, and many of them produce fruit. We have a banana tree right beside our house. No bananas yet, but I’m sure we’ll snack away when they grow big enough!

Clint enjoying some fresh coconut milk (behind him is the banana tree!)

Man, we are so incredibly excited to be here! Yeah, it’s been stinkin’ hard saying goodbye to family and friends. It’s been hard getting over jet-lag and dealing with a little guy who doesn’t understand all the changes in his life. But it is so, so, so good to be home. Finally home!

Headed Out!

I always feel so strange on the last day before a move. So many last-minute details. So many memories that will be left behind. So many goodbyes and tears. So many "lasts". 

I can hardly believe it... we're leaving today. Our hearts are excited, our minds are prepared for travel, and our eyes are full of tears. It's a bittersweet day.

Later this evening, we'll be flying down to California, where we'll spend a few days with my (Ashlyn) grandparents. Can't wait for them to meet their great-grandson! Then we fly out to Papua New Guinea on Monday, July 27.

We would really appreciate prayer as we head out! Here are a few requests you can keep in mind.

• That we would have safe travels with few luggage hassles or delays. You never know how things will go when you travel internationally!
• That Kyler would travel well. On Monday, we have a 14 hour flight to Australia, so we're hoping for a happy boy rather than a fussy one. :)
• That we would find comfort and strength in God as we leave family and friends
• That we would be able to get settled in on the New Tribes base and get ready for our orientation which starts August 3.

Thank you so much for your prayers! We are excited to finally be going, but we will miss all of you! We'll definitely make sure to keep you updated on our journey!

What to Bring...And What Not to Bring...

Ever tried fitting all your belongings into 5 suitcases? I'll let you in on a secret... it's pretty tough!

 

So how in the world are we fitting everything we'll need for the next 4 years in just 5 bags? Well, we actually aren't. New Tribes Mission recommends that we bring mostly clothes and personal items. Since we'll be living on one of the mission bases for the first 5 or 6 months that is near a pretty big town, we won't need to bring any household items, toiletries or furniture with us. That helps a lot! And then when we move into a more remote tribal village and build our own house, we can purchase anything we'll need from the bigger towns or ship it over from the US.

 

Even though PNG is a third-world country, the bigger towns actually have a lot of stuff that we have in America because they can import it from Australia. The quality may not be as good, and it's usually 2-3 times the price, but at least it's available! :)

(Yeah, we're already up to Bin #14 of stuff to store...)

It's been a whirlwind week packing, sorting, and getting rid of stuff we don't need. But it's another exciting step towards PNG! Starting our journey in just 6 more days!!!

15 Days And Counting!

I can't even describe the intense range of emotions we're feeling right now. The most overwhelming is elation. We are so, so, so excited to finally be close to actually leaving for Papua New Guinea!!! But we're also experiencing some fear and sadness as well. It's scary leaving everything you know to go live in a country that's unfamiliar. And the thought of saying good-bye to our friends and family in Oregon nearly brings us to tears already. But overall, we are excited, and really feeling ready for this new chapter to start!

When we arrive in Papua New Guinea, we'll spend the first few days getting over culture shock and adjusting to our new home on the New Tribes Mission base in one of the bigger towns. Here's an ariel shot of the base

Our orientation program starts August 3 and will run for several months. During this time, we and several other families be learning the trade language (Melanesian Pidgin English) and the basic culture of PNG. We'll get to spend lots of time with native language helpers to help us get immersed in the trade language. We'll also have some class sessions with veteran missionaries. We're really excited to begin this next step towards reaching an unreached people group!