Across the Ocean, the Final Chapter!

Leaving the Continental US we start the final leg of our journey home. Before we arrive in PNG we have one last stop to make, destination, Hawaii. Let me say right here that our visit to Hawaii was far better than we could have ever imagined! As our LINKS district they went out of their way to make us feel at home and make sure that we had a wonderful time. We spoke at Honolulu First Church and had a great time with the people there. They welcomed us warmly with greetings and smiles and the traditional Hawaiian Lea. We felt their love and support for missions. Sunday night we spoke again at Honolulu First but this time many of the 14 churches on Oahu were represented. Again it was a wonderful time of sharing, meeting new friends and seeing an old friend, Dr. Birchard, who has been a volunteer here at Kudjip Hospital. We thank the Lord for these wonderful people and the time that we could share with them what God is doing in Papua New Guinea. We really appreciate Pastor Rick and Vicki Power for going above and beyond the call of duty to help us have a great time in Hawaii and in opening their home to us! While in Hawaii we took in the sites and experienced a lot of firsts. For Jeff and the kids this was there very first time in Hawaii, Susan visited once on her way to PNG as a senior in college.

A special thanks goes out to Toby, from Honolulu First Church, who made Jeff's Hawaiian visit complete by knowing right where they used to film "Magnum PI". Maybe not so much for Susan and the kids, but for Jeff, he was excited. We saw the site of "Robin's Nest" the "Magnum Guest House" and the "Tidal Pool" the was used in the show. We even got to see where TC had his Island Hoppers office and where he landed his helicopter, cool! We also hiked up Diamond Head Crater to look around. What a fantastic view! We had a super view of Diamond Head Lighthouse and of Downtown Honolulu. We also visited Makapu'u Lighthouse. We made sure we had time for the sand and sea and had a blast with the crew of the outrigger canoe, as we rode the waves. The emotional high point was of course our visit to the Arizona Memorial. I believe that all of us left there with a sense of the sacrifice made by our men in the armed forces during the attack on Pearl Harbor. To all of our Service Men and Women, through the years to present, thank you for all that you are doing or have done to make our country the great country that it is!! We were also blessed to enjoy a 2 night stay at Waikiki Beach at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. It was beautiful and it was very cool to be able to walk out right onto the beach. We could go on and on because it was a wonderful time, a time to relax following the furlough trail and before we hopped on our next plane to continue our trip across the Pacific Ocean.

Alas, that time came, and as we winged our way from Hawaii to Australia our thoughts turned to PNG and our next term of service. We flew to Sydney, Australia and then on up to Brisbane where we spent the night before boarding the next flight to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. We arrived in Port Moresby, made it through customs alright and passed through the inspection of our luggage with minimal questions and moved along to the domestic terminal for the final flight home to Kagamuga airport, Mt Hagen, Western Highlands Provence. We checked in with no problems and sat down to wait for our flight to the Highlands, which took a little bit of time. Finally we are able to board our plane and we take off for Kagamuga. Normally this flight is about an hour long but when storms are brewing and doing their thing in the Highlands it can make landing an option, not a forgone conclusion. So when our hour was about up the pilot came on and said we are getting close and as we got closer he began to circle around the airport area. You see when there are storms in and around Kagamuga the clouds can obscure the airport to the point that the pilots cannot see well enough to land. The pilot came back on the PA system and informed us of this. Well, I would like to say that after you have been traveling for the final month of your furlough and living out of a suite case and in the last 24 hours have been in the air many hours the last thing you want to do is fly back one more hour to Port Moresby to overnight just to try it again the next day! So, I prayed earnestly "Lord, I don't want to go back, I want to land! Could you part the clouds just like you did for Moses and the Red Sea?!" We flew in circles and finally the pilot came on over the PA system and said basically, "We will make one more go 'round, if we can't land we will head back to Port Moresby." Some where in all of this I am thinking to myself, "I can't believe this, this is the second time this has happened to us returning to Mt. Hagen!" But just like the last time it took place, the Lord parted the clouds and we were able to land! Thank you Lord! We were greeted by Mike and Dianne Chapman. It was good to see familiar faces! We loaded up the Land Cruiser and headed out for our 30 minute drive back to our home on the compound of Kudjip Nazarene Hospital in the Western Highland of Papua New Guinea, where we will serve another 2 year term.