Friday, January 11, 2013

Wow, it's been a long time since I have blogged!  It's a new year now and as I look back on 2012 I am amazed at all we have experienced.  Never did I think growing up that I would become a missionary, move to a foreign land and learn another language.  I don't like creepy crawly bugs, snakes, spiders, being dirty, living like your camping, eating unfamiliar foods, etc. but things didn't happen over night. God knew I was going to be a work in progress! LOL When we finally decided to take the leap of faith and go to PNG we had a peace about going but many "unknowns" started filling my head. Nothing could or can prepare you fully until you just trust and go.  God did not allow me to know more before coming over because this is where He was going to work on me.  Many times when I look back on my life I think...if I had know this before hand I would not have gone, but that is the great thing about walking with the Lord because He knows what you need and when you need it. We often miss out on the very thing God wants to teach us because of fear or stubbornness. I would not trade 2012 for the world and I am excited to see what 2013 holds. Travis and I are still in our language learning and will be until we leave.  It has been neat to see progress but we are not at a teaching level so we continue to push forward as we would like to have more in depth conversations with our village friends. We have had a lot of rain lately and although it is good for the gardens it has been to much at one time.  Many of the people are loosing their gardens, all their hard work and only source of food is being washed away. There are many people in our village who depend on their gardens not only for food but to sell at market and make money to buy other things they need. Please pray as we face this together with them and help each other out. Today we are going to work in our garden and see if we can salvage any food we planted to give to those who lost theirs. We are also dealing with a huge tree that fell over in our back yard due to all the rain. It not only was uprooted but when if fell over it broke a fence and landed in one of our village friends gardens taking out several of his banana trees. Travis and the guys started cutting it up a few days ago but Thomas (one of the German interns) cut his leg with his machete knife and so he was taken to the Dr. to get stitched up.  There never seems to be a dull moment here but that is ok, I think it is what keeps us going!