The time in the UK has flown by and Steve and Gerdine Stanley have their tickets booked to return to Papua New Guinea next month, and once again they find themselves in a planning phase for an upcoming journey. They face the same question, ‘What do they give/throw away, and what do they try and keep.’
Every move requires time for them to find their feet. Each member of the family needs to figure out where they fit in and where they belong.
There are certainly challenges to frequently moving internationally! As much as they have enjoyed their time on home assignment, their children miss PNG. They miss having neighbours their own age and playing outside with the neighbouring children.
Returning to their Kovol friends, showing them that they are still there for them, they didn’t forget them and stay home as they feared will also be a blessing for Steve and Gerdine. And then there is the excitement of being able to start a literacy class, working as a team to continue to translate God’s Word into their heart language.
After six months of living in their passport countries they are still amazed by the plentiful food, good health care, comfort, luxury, playgrounds and kids’ activities and access to God’s Word, compared to Kovol. Any little thing they can do to bless and help the Kovol people makes them glad.
The Lord has been very good to Steve, Gerdine and family. They have had and continue to have all they need. While they see the challenges of living and serving in PNG, they are simply doing the thing God has put on their hearts to do. When you look at it from some people’s point of view it’s not a normal thing to do, but it’s the most normal thing in the world when you look at it from God’s viewpoint.