Six Years in Paradise

.
Today is the sixth anniversary of our arrival in PNG. On February 11, 2003 we landed in Port Moresby and flew to Mount Hagen, where we were met by Verne and Natalie Ward and Nikolai Yunge. Verne was then our Field Director, and is now our Regional Director. Nikolai was from our home church in Marysville, Washington, and was serving as the teacher of our elementary school at Kudjip. She is now Nikolai Balin, having met her MAF-missionary husband Brad in PNG, and married him in our front yard. The first photo shows Natalie Ward and Nikolai when they met us at the airport.

The second one shows obviously jet-lagged Judy, Amy and Sam, with an alert and cheerful Nilolai, crammed, along with all of our luggage, into the back of a land cruiser for the ride from the airport to Kudjip Station, which has been our home ever since.

The other photos are of the sign on the front gate of the station when we arrived, and the four of us on the porch of the house where we stayed for our first few weeks, while our house was being readied for us.

It's been an eventful 6 years here. We completed our job of raising Amy and Sam here, and they are both building their own lives. PNG had a huge impact on both of them, as well as on Judy and me. We have made hundreds of new friends, learned a new language, seen both tragedy and triumph, and received love in ways that we never could have imagined before coming here. PNG has really become our second home. We continue to love PNG, and to feel privileged to serve God and the church here.

COMMENTS