The Last Hurrah of Summer!

It has been a fun-filled summer for our kids. Of course, in PNG the temperature is always summer-like with only two seasons, wet and dry. For us , we use "summer" to mean the time of year when our kids are not in school, just like back in Ohio. This summer we had a lot of visiting young people with various activities and events for them, along with our MKs, to enjoy. The Lord has really blessed our kids through these opportunities.

As our summer here for the kids was winding up (they start school tomorrow, Aug. 23rd), we decided to have one last hurrah. Susan and I have talked many times about learning to scuba dive and in the past our conversations basically were, "Who can we take along to watch the kids while we learn to scuba?" Well, time has passed and the kids are now both old enough to learn and become certified themselves, so we decided to do it as a family. We took the last week of summer as a family vacation and headed to Port Moresby (POM) to learn to scuba. The final event before school.

We did go to learn to scuba but the Lord blessed us with some other fun too, it was a fun packed 5 days in PNG's capitol city. We arrived Sunday and Sunday evening attended the Nazarene church that is a part of the Bible College Campus. It was a nice time worshipping with our POM Nazarene brothers and sisters.

Monday morning saw us up and out the door at 8:20 and headed to the Aviat. The Aviat is a sports club where our scuba diving instructor is based out of. The first two days are spent in video and classroom instruction along with times in the swimming pool to go over and learn the various techniques used in open water diving. Our instructor was an Aussie who lives in PNG. Joselyn was great! We could not have asked for a nicer person. She was very helpful and was willing to do all that was needed to help us succeed. In fact, each person we encountered from "The Dive Centre" was super nice and willing to do all they could to make this a fantastic time. Tuesday night the Radcliffes were in POM on their way home to the US for Home Assignment. We joined them for dinner, a special treat! It also was our chance to say a final goodbye to Cilla Radcliffe as she is heading home to start college. On Wednesday and Thursday we hit the open water of the Coral Sea. For you history buffs, the Coral Sea was the site of a major battle during WW II, between the US and Japan. We were out just past the islands that are around the coast of PNG. On our way out the Lord blessed us with a pod of dolphins (10 to 15) that came up and swam with our boat for several minutes on our way out to the first dive site. The first site was a mound of coral and was basically to initiate us in diving while we practiced some procedures in the open water. Our second dive was on a sunken sail boat. It was neat to swim around, up and over and you could even swim down onto the deck. Our second day out and our 4th day of instruction, was I believe, aside from the dolphins, the families favorite. Even though it most benefited Daddy everyone enjoyed it. Our third dive was on a WW II Aussie, twin prop, two seater bomber. It was in incredible condition for being in the sea for 65 or so years. Even the tail section would still move with the currents of the water. The Lord truly blessed us on this dive because when we came topside again and were on the boat, Joselyn and Richard, a second Dive Master, both said that is the clearest they have ever seen it. We could see the entire plane and they said there have been times when they could barely see wingtip to fuselage. So I do thank the Lord, it was cool to see. Our final dive was on a sunken tug boat. It was sunk to help create reef around Lyon Island. This was our final dive and even though we spent a few minutes around the tug our main objective was to finish our checking out on the techniques needed to be certified. It was a great time and a great family memory. I also thank the Lord for allowing us opportunity to pray with some of those we met from The Dive Centre.

On Wednesday night we had Pastor David Gham and his family, (wife, Wendy, and 2 girls Sissy and Patti) over for supper. We are very grateful for Pastor David's work and service in helping us with the various government offices that we need to work with in POM. Then on Thursday night Dr. Becky Morsch was traveling through POM on her way to the Solomon Islands with CBHC (Community Based Health Care) and so we enjoyed dinner out with her! It is great to be a part of the family of God!!

Pic 1- Joselyn our Dive master and Instructor and her eager pupils.

Pic 2- The eager pupils at about 8 feet under the surface of the sea. (Jessica, Ethan, Susan & Jeff)

Pic 3- Our pod of dolphins we were blessed to see twice.

Pic 4- Us and the Radcliffe family at supper (Ela Beach Hotel)