Today Becky and Angela Jordan (volunteer
CRNA) left to head back to the USA. Becky was scheduled to leave today and Angela joined her after breaking her leg. Angela was heading home early to get her leg assessed in the US and to possibly have surgery on it. Angela's journey started out eventful as she had to hop up on her bottom to get up the stairs of her Mt. Hagen to Port Morseby flight. Thankfully Becky will travel with her all the way to Houston and will be able to help her out with luggage and airport transfers and things. Continue to pray for their journey as they head to Singapore and Tokyo before getting to Houston, and for Angela's healing.
CRNA) left to head back to the USA. Becky was scheduled to leave today and Angela joined her after breaking her leg. Angela was heading home early to get her leg assessed in the US and to possibly have surgery on it. Angela's journey started out eventful as she had to hop up on her bottom to get up the stairs of her Mt. Hagen to Port Morseby flight. Thankfully Becky will travel with her all the way to Houston and will be able to help her out with luggage and airport transfers and things. Continue to pray for their journey as they head to Singapore and Tokyo before getting to Houston, and for Angela's healing. Jeff Myers had to take a vechile into town to get fixed, so I got to followed behind in our regular Land Cruiser. As most of you know, I haven't driven a stick before, much less on the L side of the road. Today was my first time to leave the station driving - it was interesting. Praise God all went well. Jeff did a great job keeping me in site and watching out for me. There are many challenges of PNG driving - the road conditions, the pedestrians, and the PMVs. 
The road conditions - the road isn't maintained as we are use to in the US. They do it just before elections, and then don't do it afterward. As a result, there are many potholes and other large holes that must be avoided. This often requires frequent down shifting (at times I couldn't find the right gear and we slowed down quite quickly). It also requires you to frequently drive in the other lane of the road. This usually isn't a problem unless someone is coming toward you. Obviously you either go faster to get back in your lane or slower so you don't hit the pothole going too fast. It is a case by case decision. The pedestrians - there are numerous pedestrians walking along the road or on the road. Often it requires a loud honk to get them to move out of the way. The last thing you would want to do is hit them, but when they are walking on the middle of the road it can be challenging not to. The PMVs - the public motor vechiles drive around and are like a taxi or a bus picking people up along the road and driving to a certain town to drop them offn. They often stop quite suddenly to pick someone up. Thankfully I was following Jeff so this wasn't too bad of an issue for me, but something to always be thinking of. There were a few times my heart was racing, but Praise God we got to the mechanic in one piece. I was very thankful when we got to the car place and I could be a passenger in the car again.
The road conditions - the road isn't maintained as we are use to in the US. They do it just before elections, and then don't do it afterward. As a result, there are many potholes and other large holes that must be avoided. This often requires frequent down shifting (at times I couldn't find the right gear and we slowed down quite quickly). It also requires you to frequently drive in the other lane of the road. This usually isn't a problem unless someone is coming toward you. Obviously you either go faster to get back in your lane or slower so you don't hit the pothole going too fast. It is a case by case decision. The pedestrians - there are numerous pedestrians walking along the road or on the road. Often it requires a loud honk to get them to move out of the way. The last thing you would want to do is hit them, but when they are walking on the middle of the road it can be challenging not to. The PMVs - the public motor vechiles drive around and are like a taxi or a bus picking people up along the road and driving to a certain town to drop them offn. They often stop quite suddenly to pick someone up. Thankfully I was following Jeff so this wasn't too bad of an issue for me, but something to always be thinking of. There were a few times my heart was racing, but Praise God we got to the mechanic in one piece. I was very thankful when we got to the car place and I could be a passenger in the car again. 
