He left, they came, I'll leave, they'll stay

Scott left yesterday with the first wave. He is the pre-pre- team to survey the bridges and make sure that all 82 of us can get in. Dad and Elf surprised us this morning at 9AM. They had to come on a HUGE cargo plane because the normal passenger one does not fly on Saturday. Monday early AM I'll leave with the main body of students and Mijo and Nick will stay here. This will be the longest I have ever been away from them and the longest Scott and I have ever been away from them. It hit Nick the other day for the first time...he now hates OE but is still trying to figure out a way he can come.

This OE thing is quite the strategic nightmare. All of us and our 15 kilo's of luggage, food and cooking gear have to make it into Eipomek by 9AM. We have 2 MAF Caravans, 1 MAF Cessna, 3 JAARS Pilattus Porters and 1 JAARS helio. Some are going early to another airstrip that can handle the Caravans while the Porters which can land at Eipomek will ferry students and barang back and forth in a frenzy before the wind picks up and the airstrip shuts down. We had to all be packed and weighed by this past Wednesday so barang ( all our stuff) is already traveling to the different locations to wait for the Monday morning frenzy. For those who don't know airplanes..Caravan BIGGER and faster, 9 passengers lots of weight but limited to length of airstrip, Cessna smaller can land anywhere limited to 400 kilos and 5 passengers. Porters can carry 9 passengers or barang but not both but can land anywhere but slow. Helio..small, slow and the one I get to travel on. The earliest flight will leave @5:30 and then onward from there...it is about an hour away from Sentani, depending on the airplane you travel on. When we get there we will be digging out our facilities, making our showers by the streams, setting up our sleeping quarters, figuring out the kitchen situation, rigging our electricity and water supply.
During the 12 days...

We will be working on the airstrip, cleaning out a hydro pool, making fences, doing kids club, learning the culture and learning how to serve. All of us 8 leaders are in charge of 9 students. All of us will be in Eipomek for the first 4 days then we will divide into our teams and walk to 8 different villages, Scott's team is the farthest away (6 hours) , mine is the third farthest at 4-5 hours. There we stay with the villagers for 3 days ( this will be the roughest but maybe the most significant part of OE). In the villages we will have to figure out sleeping arrangements (huts), eating (what we can get) and facilities. We will be doing all of this with at least 10-15 people watching us ALL THE TIME. We don't know the language but hope that they will know some Indonesian.
Please pray for our safety..lots of people in the air
Health..close living conditions
Patience and Presence..I will be gracious when I don't want to be, winsome instead of sarcastic, glean from each moment and encourage all the time.
Good Sleep...a good defense
Nick and Mijo will be OK without us...
God will be glorified in all our feeble attempts to do so....Thank you.