Trip to Goroka!

 At the end of January we headed to Goroka for a visit, doctor's appointments and dentist appointments. At first we weren't sure if we would be able to fly because our one NTM pilot was stuck in Australia after a medevac, due to a typhoon. But thankfully Wycliffe was able to fly us from Wewak to Goroka. And we got to fly in a Kodiak! This is the new missionary plane made by Quest. Wycliffe only uses Kodiak planes here in PNG and NTM is now raising money for their first here in PNG! If you would like to give money towards a Kodiak plane for PNG, go to http://usa.ntm.org/projects/kodiak-for-png

Jonathan loves watching the planes fly over us while we are at home. He gets all excited, putting his hand through the air, the sign for plane. :) But he wasn't quite sure what to think when we actually got inside an airplane. :)

 The Kodiak airplanes are more efficient, holding more people and stuff. And they are all electronic.We enjoyed our flight!

We are quite excited that God answered our prayers for more NTM pilots! A pilot and his family are due to arrive in PNG any day! Our one current NTM pilot is due for Home Assignment in May, so God's timing is perfect! Wycliffe and NTM will be able to work together a bit in order to train our new pilot on the Kodiak in PNG. And then there are 2-3 more new pilot families due to arrive in the next year or two! Plus we have two NTM pilots returning from their Home Assignments as well! So, thank you all for praying!! Please pray that God will raise the money needed for a Kodiak airplane for PNG!

 Jonathan experienced all kinds of new things in Goroka... he wasn't too sure about the slide at first.

 But after a few times down the slide, he started to enjoy it a lot!

 Jonathan enjoyed a real bath tub too!

 Jacob enjoyed a few games of chess with Phil, his old roommate from the NTM training days.

 And Jonathan did a good job of trying to distract dad!

 We were also able to drive out to visit our Bena friends, near Interface, where we used to work. This was fun but also very sad.

 Esta hadn't met Jonathan yet, so she was very excited!

 Jacob saw almost all the guys who used to help him in the workshop: Morobe, Kino and Samson.

 Peter, one of our former security guards, always called us his kids. So he was very happy to see his 'grandson'. :)

Sone was a good friend that helped me out at home. She was very happy to see Jonathan! And us too, of course. :)

 Momore had fun with Jonathan too... for those of you who saw our video while we were home last year, he was the man dancing in our video. :)

Sone made a bilem (string bag) for Jonathan... a fun 1 year birthday present!

Jacob, Momore and Unepa with two sleeping pigs, a dog and Unepa's child.