The Peterson Family is in PNG!

We made it to Papua New Guinea! What was suppose to be 36 hours of travel turned into 58 hours and on April 12th we finally arrived at Kudjip Nazarene Hospital and Mission Station.

Our journey here with 15 checked bags, 6 carry-ons, 1 baby and 3 kids was anything but easy. Thankfully God put a few angels in our path and yet again proved to us to be fully in control of all situations. The kids did amazing on all the flights. Adam showed great patience with them and helped me pull it back together when I just about lost it in Australia after a 16 hour flight with little sleep and baggage/customs problems. But like I said, God placed an angel in our path who took care of our luggage and ended up taking care of a major mix up that could have happened once we entered PNG with our US baggage allowances. God is good! 


Once we made it past that hurdle, upon landing in PNG, we found out our flight to Mt. Hagen was cancelled. God sent another angel into our path who allowed us to leave our luggage at the airport and the airline put us up in a decent hotel. It was a gamble leaving our luggage at the airport, but when we arrived the next morning it was all there and they even arranged to help us move and recheck it all.

We had a great teaching moment when the girls lost their portable DVD player and new movies in the transition from the hotel to the airport in Port Moresby. Adam went out of the airport, once we realized it was gone, asking all the shuttle drivers to look for it but he had no success. The girls were very disappointed, we prayed with them that it would bless someone else and we could see, after they had cried and asked about it all morning, that they had finally let it go. Hours later, as we impatiently waited for our flight, someone tracked us down in the airport waiting area and returned it. Not a necessity, but a blessing for sure!

Once we finally arrived in Mt. Hagen we were greeted by...no one! The airline had told the Mission Station that we were flying in at 2pm and we actually arrived at noon. Luckily, a local coffee plantation owner, who use to work at the hospital and is from Washington State, happened to be at the airport picking up friends who were on the same flight as us. He helped us contact the Mission Station and they sent our welcoming committee! Since my mom is probably reading this and is worried enough as it is, I won’t go into grave detail but this was not the best place on earth to be stranded with all our US necessities in 21 bags and with 4 small white children...some security risk, but, once again the Lord sent us help!

We had a beautiful welcoming. Most of the missionaries and the MK’s (mission kids) on station were at our new house as we arrived on station, with yes...ALL our luggage. It was very nice to finally meet our new mission family. Shortly after we arrived we crashed! However, for the next week, Adam and I both promptly got up at 1am, which is 8am in Oregon, thinking we were running late for something. The first week took some adjustments: mud, sugar ants, no water, cloth diapers, bug bites, chicken pox, cockroaches, shopping in Mt. Hagen, did I mention sugar ants?, bugs in the pasta, gas appliances, hang drying laundry when it rains each afternoon, and unpacking. Adam was such a help as I figured out things the first week; he helped fix the plumbing, cooked breakfast, took the morning shift of bug spray/sunscreen and even tackled a few cloth diapers!

Once we settled in...a day...they introduced us at Knox Church just outside the station gate, had a graduation party for the MK’s, went to dinner at several missionaries houses, finally met the Goossens (missionary friends who, through facebook, had been giving us tips and guiding us as we prepared for this journey), Adam toured maintenance, we met with our mentors, I had a meeting about school next year for the girls and my role in the field office. Then after being here a week we repacked our bags for our cultural and language study in Dusin. (That’s a whole other story to follow!) 

It has been a world wind of a month, with so many firsts! We are looking forward to getting settled here and finding out where our gifts and talents can be best used. The journey has only just began! 

Dressed up for spirit day at the MK school.