With what feels like only a snap of our fingers, our family is again preparing to enter a time of transition and change. After a little less than a year in Mount Hagen, we are now getting ready -- both physically and mentally -- to leave the "settled" feeling of daily routines and comfort for many exciting changes!
We had the chance to explore Balimo recently, which is where we hope to make our new home when we return to PNG. In our six days there, it was great to get a feel for daily life in the hot and sticky... Or should I say the VERY hot and VERY sticky? Walking around town in the remote lowlands offered a completely different experience of Papua New Guinea than our current life; people are generally shy, quiet, and friendly, whereas the city is noisy with constant cat-calling and strangers are not afraid to test our confidence and knowledge of how things work at nearly every turn. We discovered what the Balimo market had to offer, getting the chance to try a new fruit (lychee) and learn how to cook a turtle, though we decided we weren't quite ready to take the step of buying the live turtle!
Brandon's time in Balimo was filled with flying. When he wasn't dropping off a health team or picking one up, he was performing other critical flights including two medevacs. "Work" and "ministry" took on a whole new meaning in the context of serving the people that live in the same area as we are living in. It offers the joy of being more connected to individuals by getting to know passengers by name and to hear their stories -- but it also means sharing in the grief and difficulties that are almost synonymous with remote village life. This time really reinforced our calling to serve in Balimo, which is situated in the most isolated and needy province of Papua New Guinea.
There are still a few steps for us to take before we make the move to Balimo, however. Our house in Mount Hagen is looking emptier and more bare with each day that passes. "Pictures? Clean up? Books? In Suitcase?" is Nova's way of processing the changes in her life, but she has yet to fully comprehend that we are scheduled to be on an airplane headed back to Canada in less than a week! We are all looking forward to seeing our family again (and meeting the new addition to our family soon, D.V.), but there are definitely mixed feelings circulating about what we know will be a whirlwind of a summer. It seems that regardless of how much we practice, transition and change are always unsettling.
Trying to embrace this feeling as much as possible, I am reminded of Moses, who I think often had similar feelings of chaos in the middle of change and uncertainty. In one of his conversations with the Lord, he begs God to show him the way that he should go so he can be certain he is following God's will regardless of chaotic and confused thoughts and feelings. The Lord's response to Moses in this time is something that offers peace for us now as well: "And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest."
