The rain is pouring down, but the umbrella is useless since
I need a stick in my hand so that I don't fall all the way down the mountain. I
give the umbrella to someone who is more sure footed. Now drenched, slipping and sliding and falling
down the mountain in turn, I reflect on the reason I went up the mountain in
the first place. My husband and son are
in Port Moresby for a supply run. Our
cell phone service is out so I go up the mountain to try to get high enough
to reach a different tower. I miss
talking to my husband, so I do something that
I would not ordinarily choose to do!
That day at the top of the mountain, I was to be
disappointed. The call would not stay
connected for more than 15-30 seconds. It was hard to get it to connect again, only to be disconnected after 15-30
seconds. After trying for an hour in the
pouring down rain and only talking a minute or two all total, I give up and head back home. I at least know that he is safe and he knows
we are fine.
Two days later, still no signal so I repeat the trip up the
mountain. This time instead of rain
dripping off of me it is sweat. As I
climb, hardly able to catch my breath, I think this thought, Love is a strong
motivator. Right behind that thought the
verse, " ..The Love of Christ constraineth us.." 2 Corinthians 5:14.
This leads me to think of why we are in Papua New
Guinea! To win the lost at any
cost. Though climbing the mountain does
not directly link to leading a soul to Christ, it does give me a little insight
into these people's lives. They climb
mountains every day. They live on the
sides of these mountains. They go down
to the market with heavy loads of fruits and vegetables, never slipping and falling as I did with
nothing in my hands or on my back. Maybe
just the fact that I attempted such a feat might bring someone out to church
which could lead them to Christ. To be
honest though, I was doing it for more selfish reasons than that. I wanted to talk to my hubby!
At the top of the mountain this day, I was again to be disappointed
at first by the repeating cycle of the previous trip. At least it was sunny on this morning. Samuel, my 12 year old son, volunteers to climb
the beetlenut tree to see if he can
reach a stronger signal than I could. It
was pretty funny as he is climbing a
tree that has no branches. He has the
phone in his cargo pocket. He has dialed
it and he is climbing. Mark
answers. So I start talking to him from
underneath Samuel. Samuel is able to
stand on our national PNG helper, Sidon's, shoulders. I talked this way for several minutes before it
cut out. I was able to get more
information about what he had been doing and what time the flight was scheduled
to leave the next day.
As I returned down the mountain, I was so thankful in my
heart that God allowed me the chance to talk to my mate. We really function best as a team. It is difficult to be apart, but we learn
different lessons every time it happens.
It was a great blessing when just a few hours later the
service returned to us at our house.
Best of all, Mark made it back safely and is here with me again. I so enjoy working side by side with my love!
