This is a picture of the land negotiations on Sunday, March 30 at Suwatua. Matt and Luke Naudi are sitting in left center, in the trail; the opposing parties regarding whether the land should be given for a church building are sitting on opposite sides. The opposition group, sitting on the hill on the right, would not agree for the land to be given in the same area where the group at Suwatua has been meeting. Another man, Steven, chief of Kemu village, offered land a little further down the trail behind me. (Note, a little further here doesn’t mean within visual distance…it means you can walk there within an hour or two 🙂 ) Doesn’t this look like a government negotiation to you?
Driving the “puppy truck” from the airstrip back to Lae is a forty-five minute trip, unless your truck overheats. Lae is about 100 degrees at least, plus nice sticky humidity. Looks like the anti-freeze needed changing, so it is in the shop in Lae overnight for vehicle inspection and a radiator flush. Hopefully we can get it registered tomorrow and drive it up into the mountains near Wau. From there, it will be lifted by helicopter to Kotidanga. When that will be, I do not know.
Here is the truck just before it overheated. Matt was following me with a rented truck and took the picture. Lae has smooth roads between the town and the airport, but in town it is almost like a bomb zone with all the big potholes. This road is actually easy to drive…except that everything is on the wrong side!
Things are being sorted on the ground as we unload from the container.
Container Mayhem. Things are being sorted on the ground as we unload from the container. The container open on the right side of the picture is Matt’s old 20 foot container, into which exactly half of our things were loaded. The one we were unloading is behind the containers, back where the “puppy truck” is parked. We used carts, manpower, and a lot of sweat.
Total time to unload and sort, including weighing 1/2 of the contents to be flown by light aircraft: 5 1/2 hours.
Total manpower: 10
These men from Victory Baptist Church did the unloading and sorting.
These men from Victory Baptist Church, Lae, PNG did the unloading and sorting. Then we took them to “Big Rooster” (PNG’s only fast food place) for supper and a big ice cream cone. This picture was taken when we finished and locked everything up. From left: Matt, Peter, Bobby, Taiya, Lukas, Daniel, Tony, and Kipas.
Lots to move!
Shipment broken down into three flights. Beyond Matt along the back wall of Missionary Aviation Fellowship’s shop are two of our first three shipments. The green bucket divides the two shipments. Plans are (Lord willing) for the first two flights to go next Tuesday (weather willing) and the third flight to go on April 22. After that, everything has to be carried over the mountain to Kotidanga, and that could take several days per flight. Lots to move!
God bless everyone on both sides of the pond for all they gave and did to make it possible!