Two-weeks into Our Second Term

USA.

We have now been away from the USA for two weeks. These photos capture the warmth of new friends, happy family times and new experiences. Hope you enjoy them.

Our house group in Blacksburg gave us a great send off. The ladies prepared a favorite meal of ours (lasagne with all the trimmings) and a nice cake. After dinner they laid hands on us in prayer for our second term. This was a moving experience, one that we will remember for a long time. We felt like the Apostle Paul and his companions on the beach at Ephesus.


Part of traveling is schlepping luggage. We had six bags all together. The big ones could weigh up to 23 kgs and our two computer bags could hold up to 7 kgs. That sounds like a lot, but considering we were packing for two years, it isn't really. Nevertheless, dragging all those bags around is never any fun. Thank goodness we both got into better shape during our stay in the USA.

Of course all the weight (pun intended) was worth it, as we got to enjoy a fine family reunion in Monterey, California at a former YMCA camp called Asilomar. It was right on the Pacific Ocean. We had lots of tasty food, plenty of fresh air and we even got to enjoy the Monterey Aquarium. This photo to the right is of our eldest son with his firstborn wading in the surf at the beach.
While watching our nephew's stroller this guy in a wet suit decided to put on a show inside one of the large tanks at the aquarium.

The whole bunch got together to pose for a final farewell photo.

We got to celebrate our eldest son's 30th birthday, and we had another nice prayer time at our family Sunday worship.

In addition we had plenty of good food to eat. To top it all off, Sue' folks were kind to host us all for what turned out to be a great send off.

God is good!

Our departure day finally dawned on the 3rd of July. Sue and I posed for one last picture before climbing aboard our rented PT Cruiser for our drive from Sue's folk's house in Fresno to Los Angeles to catch an 11:30 p.m. flight to Fiji.


After flying all night for close to 11 hours, we had the joy of standing in some very LONG lines at Nadi Airport in Fiji. Instead of allowing us to wait in the transit terminal for our connecting flight to Brisbane, Australia, Air Pacific made us enter the country, go through customs, check into our Brisbane flight and go through customs again. On top of this our entry visas to Australia had expired, and we had to renew them. Consider it all joy ... James says regarding trials, but at the time they do not appear to be joyful at all. Nevertheless, God is still patiently trying to teach me (Jeff) patience.

We landed in Brisbane finally after another five hours sitting in the last row of the plane. It was worth it though. It is winter time now in Australia, but we had a great time on a Sunday afternoon enjoying sunshine and temperatures in the 70's. It was a great way to adjust to the time difference between this part of the world and the USA.

The picture is of a City Cat or catamaran. These boats are part of Brisbane's public transportation system. They are a bargain-basement way to see the city from the Brisbane River. For a total of $8.00 US the two of us could spend all day on the boats, buses and trains in the city.
This is picture taken from the City Cat as we were departing the central business district in Brisbane. It is a truly lovely city with much to do and see including these Australian ibises. They were all over the place at a city park at South Bank. The birds were there to enjoy all the people eating at outdoor restaurants, watching street performers, and shopping at a street fair.

On Monday morning the 7th of July we boarded a plane for Papua New Guinea. We stayed one night in the capitol city of Port Moresby, and then we took off the next day for the Highlands and the CLTC. There is more to say, but I am going to bring this post to an end.

Look for the rest of the story later.