Prayer & Praise
- Smooth transitions as we begin our new roles.
- Peace for the people in the community around the hospital as there is a land dispute that could lead to violence.
- Wisdom as we look for how to serve.
- Thankful for safe arrival - all of our bags got here and we made all of our flights!
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Hello from the other side of the world! We have arrived safely to our new home in Kudjip, Papua New Guinea and have been settling in over the last week. Joshua made a little video from our travel pictures, here is a link!
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Asher lost two teeth during the two days of travel!
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We hope you all had a Merry Christmas as you celebrated the birth of Jesus. We arrived here just 3 days before Christmas, which means we exchanged a very white Christmas for a lush, green one. It is tradition here that experienced missionaries have new missionaries for dinner the first few days after arrival to help ease some of the demands of settling in - so while it was unplanned, we were on the receiving end of some pretty stellar Christmas treats! Additionally, our house was set up with a Christmas tree and lights - which was so special for our family! On Christmas Eve the missionaries gather and go caroling in the different hospital wards and hand out gifts to the patients who have to spend their Christmas in the hospital - we loved getting to be part of that!
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After Christmas, we were put to work with language learning. Here, I will be practicing medicine in Tok Pisin. Our language tutor, Pastor Apa, is coming to our house daily for 2 weeks to help us learn more. We are enjoying getting to know more about Pastor Apa and the culture here.
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On Tuesday, we drove into Mount Hagen to do our monthly shopping trip. This is what is meant by the phrase “shop ‘til you drop.” Boy howdie, what an experience! Thankfully, I think we got what we needed, but shopping for a month at a time definitely has a learning curve to it. Our mentors, the Crouches, were saintly patient and helped us through it. One lesson I have already learned: when moving to a new country, avoid the discounted cheese the first month. You have been warned and can now make better choices. That is all I will say on that subject.
On Wednesdays, a few of the missionaries and a bunch of the missionary kids play soccer. You can only imagine how thrilled our boys were!
Also on Wednesday, word was out that a family with kids lives in our house to all the neighborhood kids. Our front lawn has functioned as a soccer field since that time. The boys are making lots of new friends and Judah’s Tok Pisin is quickly outpacing mine since he’s been motivated to use it so much to organize soccer games.
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"He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household"
- Ephesians 2:17-19 NIV
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Today, I had an orientation with the medical director, Dr. Erin, at the hospital. I will be starting on Monday and look forward to growing and serving in my new role here. The boys will start at the MK school on Monday as well, they are excited about that. Joshua will be settling in to homeschool the girls for the remainder of their kindergarten year. We appreciate your prayers as changes keep coming and we find our place here in Papua New Guinea.
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