Prayer Letter - New Guinea News

December 27, 2004

Passports, Stickers and a White Christmas

In the United States renewing your passport will probably take a good few hours out of your busy schedule. Before I could have imagined waiting to see the right person, filling out all the paperwork and getting a little frustrated that the process was turning into hours rather than minutes. Now I would be grateful if it only took an afternoon.

A few weeks ago we got word that the American consular would be in a nearby town (relatively speaking) and if we went it would save us the cost of flying to the country's capital in a few months to renew the girls' passports. We hurriedly purchased plane tickets for Lori and the two girls to go from Kokopo to Hoskins and back. We arranged a guest house for them to stay in, and I prepared to boat to take them across the channel so that they could catch their plane. We had everything ready with a few days to spare. Then, the night before I was to take them over to catch their plane we got word over the radio that the new laws required both parents to be seen for the renewal of their children's passports. With only a few hours notice we had to pack for myself, close down the house so it wouldn't get broke into, try to get a plane ticket for myself, and find a place to keep our boat while all of us were absent.

We are thankful the Lord allowed everything to work out well. And even though the time and cost required to do these type of things in PNG is often much more, we are grateful for the opportunity to have up-to-date passports and visas and be allowed to continue to work among the Patpatar in Papua New Guinea.

On the other hand, there are some small rather insignificant things (by American standards) that can bring lots of joy in PNG. On Christmas day, we cut out nearly 1000 stickers, got in our truck and drove village to village passing them out to the Patpatar children. We were amazed to see what a half inch sticker did for the children. Their faces lit up, they swarmed the car, and held tightly to the sticker they received. For many it was the only Christmas present they received.

We were filled with joy seeing their faces, but also longed for the day when in their own language, we would be able to tell them of the greatest Christmas gift of all - Jesus Christ.

Because of the newborn King,

Aaron, Lori, Avalon, and Sierra

P.S. - I was just kidding about the white Christmas. However, on Christmas Eve it did rain and cooled things down to 72 degrees!