Paul's PNG Mission Trip - Ep 06

[pandrews]

(February 1st, 2010)

Success!!! Thank you God!!! It has been a very exciting couple of
weeks.
Let me recap.

After I thought my paperwork was just about ready, it turns out that
the
fax from the Immigration office in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
tried
to push through my paperwork before the end of the year and sent a fax
to the consulate in Washington D.C.. However, the fax never made it
to
them in D.C., and because of the time difference, the offices are
never
open at the same time so they couldn't call to confirm receipt of said
fax.

Enter confusion. "We sent it, they should have it." "We don't have
it." "Send it again." "But we sent it already." He said she said they
said...

Ten days pass. Then, the message gets to the right person and a fax
is
sent, my paperwork is stamped, and I got my passport in my twitchy
little fingers on the 25th of January.

Plane tickets were the next item, and I contacted the travel agent to
book tickets. Reservations came back... for Anchorage. If you are at
all familiar with Alaska (I know, some of you are not) it might be
good
to tell you that Fairbanks is more than a six hour drive from
Anchorage.
Rebooked for Fairbanks.

To make sure my ducks are in a row, I email the Lutz's my itinerary,
to
which they say I should get a flight from Port Moresby to Mt. Hagen...
Rebooked.

The Bottom line: I have my tickets! I'm leaving the 9th of February
and
I fly through Seattle, Singapore, Port Moresby, to Mt. Hagen. Total
flight time: 30 hours... Total travel time: I don't want to think
about
it. Plus I'm all confused with the international date line in the
way.
Since I leave Seattle on the 13th, and land in Singapore on the 15th.
Very strange.

After a year of waiting I'm really ready to go. Whether we'll ever
know
what God's plan for the delay was is unclear, but it is truly coming
to
fruition. Now comes packing, storing, and good-bye(ing?).

A little contact information: Those that have my phone number should
know I'm not using it overseas. Call (253) 293-5631 instead and leave
a
message, but speak clearly as it will transcribe voice mails and send
me
an email. I probably won't have internet, or even fast access to
email,
so please don't send attachments, I may not be able to receive them.
Also, for the day-to-day rants (as I write them) visit my blog:
http://zloof.blogspot.com/

It's been a long rode just to get to PNG, so we'll see how convoluted
it
can be once I'm in country. I am thankful to God that He's letting me
get there now. The next email update _should_ be from PNG!

Thankfully in Christ,
Paul