Day 1
The team has arrived! I write in first person, but there is a group of us. There’s Elroy who represents the largest supporting church of the Bible School. He is a farmer and can fix anything. Dr. Alison is a family practice doctor. He’s been to Hauna before and will be working with Clinton and the nurses and planning for a future medical trip someday. He might also keep us healthy. Clint is a pastor and is also well versed in construction. Tony is a pastor/theologian. He’s originally from a village in Liberia and has a unique understanding of theology and village culture. His insight and teaching will be invaluable. Alin is a pastor in foreign missions but also specializes in IT and communications. He is originally from Romania, and has recently spent time in Ukraine during the war and is a world traveler. What a group!
It’s always a challenge getting a ticket on a single itinerary from home to Wewak. We try to do this to maintain the high bag weight limit all the way there. Otherwise, that last Air Nuigini flight will make you pay a lot for the extra luggage weight. The only way to do this coming from three different cities was to fly everyone with their two full bags and overnight in LA.
Given Southwest’s recent debacle and just traveling in winter, that first day is pins and needles for me. One missed or delayed flights messes with everything from then on. But everyone arrived as scheduled.
We each repacked our suitcases being careful to get the valuable stuff, like machine parts, laptops, and ink cartridges in so the less valuable stuff, like American cake mix would go in last to take us to the limit. We got it all in!