I feel like we go through seasons as missionaries. There are good times that tend to always outweigh the bad but then the hard times come and you seem to forget about all the good. My previous entry mentioned trails and it had to do with Bellas arm. This one was a hard one for me…
This past Thursday ( Sept 12th) we were scheduled to leave our village to get picked up and return to Ukarumpa to get our supplies. The beginning of the week was beautiful weather, blue skies, sun, and a lovely breeze. Thursday we woke up to a light drizzle and low clouds. Weather in PNG can literally change within minutes so we walked down to the boat to get going at 6 am praying that the weather would clear enough for the plane to land around 10 am. Our airstrip sill has not been checked out to be officially opened so we were going to the airstrip that we have been flying in and out of for years now. As we were about 15 mins on the water, the rain just came down soaking us to the bone for the next hour and a half. Jersey was hysterical weaving in and out of our legs trying to find cover as well. We got to the village of Faia and made a huge fire so we could dry by it for a while. Caleb got about 36 men as workers to go and help us cut the strip so the plane could land later that day. Elijah wanted to help as well and as he walked away I yelled for him to stay in the middle of the strip because I am very fearful of the poison snakes that would be lurking about on the side of the strip in the thicker bush. I don’t know if he heard me or not but about a half hour into their work I decided to go and see what he was up too only to see him chopping a small tree down standing in the bush with his Crocs! I was so upset, you know mom style, where you want to go and just scream but there were so many workers around and I didn’t want to be a bad testimony. So I hustled down the strip to get to him and as I’m walking towards him there are a group of men huddled around something… A POISON SNAKE! They said that they had just killed three. Meanwhile Elijah was just in that area and could have been bit! I was really upset and actually think about it still how he was so close and yet the Lord protected him. After the men finished cutting the rain was really coming down and there was just no way that the plane was going to make it in at that time. Thankfully the pilot had written us via satellite text saying he would wait all the way up until 2:30 pm because he was stationed at another airstrip 65 miles from us. So many times throughout that day we prayed for the Lord to open up the sky for the plane to be able to come in. We just sat and waited for hours and all I had was this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach with worry. I confess one of my biggest problems is worry I am fighting this always because it clearly states in the Bible that we are not to worry.
Luke 12:22- And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.”
Philippians 4:6- Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and suppliction with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God
We heard the plane overhead for about 10 mins from various directions yet he was unable to get in. This is when we were not sure what we were going to do because it was now 3:15 we still had to walk back to the village towards our boat and were going to have to make a phone call to aviation to find out what we should do next. The walk back is about a mile away and as I was walking I was getting blisters on my feet because I was wearing rain boots with no socks, yes I know, not a wise decision. We made it back to village around 4 pm. making it late to leave the village knowing we would be on the water in the dark. We called aviation and they said they could pick us up the next day so we decided that we would stay in the village and wait this out. We were not prepared for this we had no food, no mosquitio nets, and nothing to sleep on. We told the kids this would be hard and it was the thing we thought best to do. Thankfully both of them didn’t complain and honestly just went with flow. We had 5 men from our village with us as well so they too were stuck. Thankfully Wacove’s family line was in this village and we were able to stay in two rooms of their house (think bare shed floor). We had no food and therefore at 7 pm just sort of made camp in the room and laid down. The Moka men made two fires in cut up 55 gal drums and we just sort of “slept” till it was light outside. Jersey chased a rat out of our room through the night and we had many laughs while lying there. I think if we didn't laugh we would have been crying. The next morning we waited to see what the weather looked like and it wasn’t that much different except that it wasn’t raining. We had to make the decision if they should send the plane or not because we were paying for it even if it didn't make it in. Caleb said that we call at 10:30am (8:30pm eastern time) and if it wasn’t raining, we could see a hole in the clouds with blue patches, as well as the mountain ridge was clear we would say yes. So at 10:30 our famliy walks to a different area to pray first and make the call. All of what I just said was visible so we said “yes” send the plane. Right after I hung up the rain came pouring down on us and big black clouds covered the ridge. At this point since I had no sleep and my stress was so high I started to cry. I thought we should call them back. Call it off. But that would mean going back to Moka with limited supplies and an unknown day of pick up. Caleb said no we made the call, God knows and we are moving forward. Everyone started to walk the mile back to the airstrip Caleb and I were last in line. My feet were literally bleeding in my boots and couldn’t walk, I was crying to Caleb because my faith was so weak and I felt so done. Caleb reminded me that in my weakness His power is shown.
But he said to me “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ then I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when a I am weak then I am strong. -2 Corinthians 12 :9-10
As I was attempting to walk all I could see was the darkness of the storm and no light. Caleb said He wanted to pray when we got to the airstrip to show the Moka men that God will open the sky and that He trusted the Lord to do what is good. These men all morning kept saying that someone is working magic against you and they are controlling the weather. No matter what we said that is what they truly believed. Caleb mentioned to me that in 1 KINGS 18 Elijah puts the ball in Gods court knowing that He would show his power. His faith was amazing just amazing that he even had the alter doused with water not once not twice but three times knowing that the Lord would show up. He looked at me and said Melissa “He knows. He will do what is good.” We got to the strip once again and we prayed. Aviation told us that the ETA was for 12:06 pm and at 11:35 the sky opened and cleared. Even enough for the sun to shine through. I later found out that many people were praying for us at this time in the USA and let’s just say he heard you! The plane landed at 12:06 and by 12:20 the darkness was back and the storm was even thicker than before. We took off to fly right through it and as we ascended the clouds were so thick and there was very little visibility. After we landed in Ukarumpa the pilot turned around and said I would have never been able to get down through that if I was just a few minutes later. GOD IS SO GOOD! I pray that the Moka men saw that. That They heard Calebs prayer that they saw his faith and that only by God was the weather changed! I praise God for this testing of my faith. I praise God for these hardships and I know that as he refines me as well as my family it will burn and it will hurt but in the end I will be more like Christ. ALL glory to him.
James 1:2-3- Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let the steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
This is where we stayed and how we. “slept.” Elijah was just laying on the floor