Back in PNG

It took a total of 80 hours from the time we left our apartment in Alhambra, California, until the time we arrived at our house in Papua New Guinea, but we are finally home. We flew on Qatar Airways from Los Angeles to Doha, Qatar, where we had less than a two-hour layover before getting on another Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We arrived in Malaysia in the morning and spent most of the day at the hotel inside the international terminal before departing at about 1:30 a.m. to fly to Papua New Guinea. The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Papua New Guinea was a charter flight of the United Nations World Food Program, operated by Malaysia Airlines. For all intents and purposes, it was like flying on any other international flight. As we entered the boarding area, however, the gate agents were taking everyone's temperature, and I got nervous about what would happen if one of us had a fever. Would we be stranded in Malaysia? Thankfully nobody in our family and nobody among the dozens of others from our organization who were traveling with us had a fever, and so we were able to board the plane. After flying to Papua New Guinea and arriving in the capital of Port Moresby, we were taken to a hotel, where we spent the night. The next morning we flew to the Aiyura valley on a Kodiak airplane, which seats ten people. From the airstrip, we were transported to our house in Ukarumpa, where we were quarantined for the next two weeks, even having our property closed off with yellow caution tape to remind people not to get too close to us, and to remind us not to leave our property.

Asher visiting at a safe distance with his friend Judah during quarantine

After three weeks of intense preparations to return to Papua New Guinea, followed by 80 hours of travel, spending two weeks in quarantine didn't sound so bad. Martha and I even tried to view it as a vacation of sorts (even though I resumed working after a few days), and it was nice to have some down time. Of course, coming back to a house that had mostly sat empty for 15 months had its challenges. Our toilet was leaking, our water pump died a few days into quarantine, birds had taken over under the eaves of our house, our stove was barely functional, and of course we had the regular ants, geckos, and roaches—but we know how to get by here in PNG. Quarantine was probably more difficult for the kids, who, after fifteen months of being away, were longing to spend time with their friends again, and not just for a few moments at a distance, separated by yellow caution tape. So when our quarantine ended at precisely 8 a.m. on October 27, we were waiting at the tape, ready to break out. As soon as the clock struck 8, we cut down the tape and enjoyed our newfound freedom.

Crossing the tape at precisely 8 a.m. on October 27

We are now transitioning back to normal life in Papua New Guinea, which, like everywhere else in the world is not quite so normal because of COVID-19. Nevertheless, for reasons that are not quite known, the death toll from COVID-19 seems to be much lower here in PNG. It is difficult to estimate how rampant the spread of the disease is throughout the country, but, for the most part, the area where we live does not seem to have had any measurable increase in respiratory diseases or deaths. And while the missionary community in which we live is being cautious and seeking to minimize exposure, in many ways life here feels far more "normal" than it did in Los Angeles. Asher is already back in school—in a real classroom! Things are a bit more difficult for Jacob and Bella because they have to wait until the start of the new semester in January to return to the classroom. As a result, they are finishing up their current semester online through NorthStar Academy. I (Adam) have returned to working in a little cubicle, and Martha is preparing to teach an English class at the high school next semester. Due to COVID-19 there is a shortage of teachers, and so Martha has been asked to help.

We continue to make great progress on the translation work, and, Lord willing, we should finish all of our checking requirements for the New Testament by the end of 2021. Please pray for us as we transition back to life in PNG, and please pray that we would continue to make progress on checking the New Testament. Thank you, as always, for your prayers and your partnership with us in this work.

Departing October 10!

Last month we informed you that we had purchased tickets with Air New Zealand to return to Papua New Guinea on November 15. A few days later, those tickets were canceled. So we rebooked for the next available flight, which wasn’t until January 19. A few days after we rebooked our flight, New Zealand completely closed its borders, so that even transit passengers like us could not switch planes in Auckland, New Zealand. So we began to resign ourselves to the thought that we would not be returning to Papua New Guinea anytime soon. But a week or two later, we received news that a United Nations World Food Program flight would be flying to Papua New Guinea from Malaysia on October 13. To ensure we had space on the flight, our organization went ahead and reserved us seats. The flight was then promptly unpublished, and we found out that our names had never made the reservation list. But a few days later, the flight was published again, and we now have confirmed reservations. Once the World Food Program flight was booked, we purchased tickets on Qatar Airways from Los Angeles to Doha, Qatar, and then on to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. So, Lord willing, we will be departing from Los Angeles on October 10. We are hopeful that this route will indeed bring us back to Papua New Guinea as four couples who serve alongside us have already successfully navigated this route, returning a few weeks ago. Please pray that we will all test negative for COVID-19 when we get our official tests on Oct. 6.

We have also received permission to complete our two-week quarantine at our own home in Ukarumpa. This is a much better option for us than having to quarantine at an expensive hotel in the capital city in Port Moresby. We are thankful for Josh and Becky Harber, friends of ours in Ukarumpa, who will prepare our house for us and make sure that we have all of the groceries and other essentials that we need during our two-week long quarantine at home. 

 

The four couples who have now made it back to Papua New Guinea

Translation Progress
During our extended furlough, we have continued to make great progress on the translation. We have now finished consultant checking the books of 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and Galatians. That means that 78% of the Enga New Testament has now been checked by a consultant. Not only that, but we have consultants lined up for nearly all of the remaining books. Lord willing, we should finish the checking process within the next twelve months. After that we just need to make an audio recording of the New Testament and then prepare it for printing.

Learning to Surf
Over the past month we have had the opportunity to do a bit of traveling, visiting churches and friends in various locations. On September 17, we drove down to San Diego, where I recorded a short message for Pacific Life Church. During our trip to San Diego we saw many of the people who had come to visit us on short-term missions trips back in 2017, including two men named James and Derrick who had become something like “instant uncles” for our kids. Back in 2017, they told the kids that they would teach them how to surf when we came home on furlough. COVID nearly squashed that dream, but James and Derrick held true to their word and did indeed teach the kids how to surf. Each of the kids was even able to stand up on the surf board. In a time when there have been so many disappointments, it was nice to experience a kept promise and a fulfilled dream. Even as I think about it, my eyes well up with tears knowing just how many disappointments our kids have had, not only over the past six months, but over the course of their entire lives. Being a missionary kid is not an easy life as there are constant goodbyes and disappointments. Back in 2017, as James and Derrick were heading home at the end of their missions trip, Bella wrote Derrick a letter in which she said she couldn’t wait to visit San Diego on furlough and learn how to surf. Little did we know that Derrick had saved that letter and scanned it to his phone. He then read it back to Bella when we saw him again. It was very meaningful to us that he had kept the letter and remembered what Bella had written to him. Thank you, Derrick and James, for keeping your promise! (By the way, if you want to see a 48 second video of surfing highlights, go to tinyurl.com/y356cyol.)

Bella learning how to surf