Rats, Sickness, and God’s Goodness

So I know you’re all dying to hear about our latest outreach in Mount Hagen (or rather just dying to see pictures, I ain’t judging). Boy, let me tell you, it was a wild ride. Not just because we spent hours riding in land cruisers four-wheeling to remote villages on crazy mountain dirt roads. We slept in rat-infested cabins, we sped by tribal fights along the roads because of the election happening (don’t tell my mom that part), and almost all twelve of us got sick with a gastrointestinal vomiting/diarrhea illness. Honestly, it was a challenging outreach.

But despite all those things, God’s goodness and protection was so evident throughout the entire time. Mount Hagen is beautiful, with amazing, loving people who are so incredible and generous. But you can also sense a lot of spiritual warfare, like the darkness is desperately trying to hold onto something it doesn’t actually have at all, because Jesus has already won the war. But the enemy definitely has a foothold, as there is a lot of violence and domestic abuse that happens, and I felt really challenged by God to actively engage in prayer while we were there.

It was really cool because through all the trials I mentioned in the first paragraph, none of it really mattered to me because I knew God was in control. I got this really stubborn attitude where I decided that all the bad things that were happening were because the devil was trying to break our spirit and I was like “nope, not today. Hit me with anything you want, because God has me here for a reason and He’s more powerful than you”. Maybe that’s why I got sick twice, but hey, it was worth it. 

We partnered with the local health authority, and over two weeks, we were able to visit 7 different villages, and provide dental care, physio sessions, immunizations, wound care, glasses and cataract screening, general doctor visits, and general health education. Oh yea, and spread God’s love to the remotest villages of Western Highlands Province! 

It was truly an outreach full of blessings, and we’re really excited to be able to partner with the Western Highlands Province again and have several more outreaches planned there before December!

What’s Next: On August 23, I’m headed back up to Mt Hagen, and we will be operating an eye surgery outreach, where we hope to restore sight through cataract surgery to 200 individuals over two weeks!

Prayer Points: 

• We have a lot of logistics to iron out before we leave, as well as logistics for upcoming outreaches. Please be praying for favour with the airline when it comes to excess baggage fees
• I have to make a total of three round-trip flights from Port Moresby to Mt Hagen this year, each one costs approximately $450, totalling almost $1400. This is a large added expense that I did not account for. Please pray and consider donating towards my flight expenses so I can continue to serve this region of Papua New Guinea! (Hit up my “donate” page for more info on this)
• For the ship’s maintenance to remain on schedule! We are trucking along on our engine maintenance, but there’s still a lot to finish if we hope to sail in January.