Reports are submitted, the ship has been back out on outreach, David’s parents have been out to visit, and we have an update on David’s visa!
Writing blog posts has never been something that comes naturally to me. A list of facts or a rundown of events I can do, but it’s often a long slog between the empty page and the moment I hit publish. To try and help with that I’m trying something new and working on writing from the angle of what I would want to tell you about if it was you and me sitting down over coffee. So, you, me, coffee, how have the first couple months of 2024 been?
LIFE IN TOWNSVILLE
2024 didn’t start with so much of a bang for me, but more of that whirring noise a computer makes when you have too many tabs open. In my world, January was all about helping get two 2023 reports submitted to two program donors. Once through the bit where it can feel like you’re waaaayyyy down in the weeds, I really like the perspective; it can be technical and written to specifications, but ultimately a story get’s put together, in words, with data, the occasional graph and picture, that tells a story of the work we do in Western Province.
I mostly work with the data when it comes to reporting, and it was really sweet to see the December stats roll in in early January and show that we, the combined efforts of local health care workers and partner organisations such as ourselves, are taking ground in some key immunisation coverage figures.
In practicality this means that more babies under the age of one are receiving these key vaccinations before their first birthday. It means they’re more on time with their vaccination schedule, meaning that an at risk population is more protected. It’s a win.
For David, he has been back leading the venue team this quarter, which means he’s responsible for general upkeep of our facility here in Townsville as well as the set up of events, and accommodation for visitors. Amongst the many day to day tasks, he’s been busy doing the yearly servicing of air conditioner in the accommodation on campus (53 so far!), helped prepare the base for one cyclone (thankfully it was much less damaging then expected), and set up for hosting two international rugby teams (about 60 kids) who were in Townsville for training camps.
STORIES FROM PNG
The ship (which is still on the market but in use in the meantime) has been back out in Western Province and has recently completed another outreach in the Bamu River. During this time the team was able to follow up with a baby that many of us have been praying for these past few months; our team first encountered the baby late last year, and the baby had been born prematurely (31 weeks) and was struggling. The team at the time was able to help coordinate transport to the closest hospital for care.
The tiny little bub is now a chubby bubby, back in the village with his family!
We also had another baby (only the second we recall in this ship’s history) born onboard recently. The family had jumped in the dingy with the expectant mother as they were concerned that the labour wasn’t progressing, and our ship was the closest medical care that day. Thankfully, with the assistance of professional help, a few hours later mum and a healthy baby girl were back in their dingy heading home.
These kinds of stories remind me of how God often uses our teams to be in the right place, with the right people at the right times. Sometimes we have the medical personnel to provide the solutions, sometimes the maritime capability to help with transport, but other times it is to help with logistics and the removal of obstacles between people and the care they need.
PERSONAL NEWS
David’s parents have been out to visit
David’s parents flew out to visit us in the middle of February! We had a fun week of exploring Townsville together, and were able to show them some of our favourite spots and visit some new-to-us more touristy ones together.
Some big news on the visa front…
David’s temporary Australian spousal visa was granted! It was granted just before Christmas, and much sooner than we had even thought to expect it. Preparing the submission for this visa was a big part of the second half of 2023 for us (I think we submitted 70+ documents as part of our application) and it was so good to see the grant notification in his emails. We’re very grateful for everyone who prayed, helped us put together documents, and completed documents for us as part of this process.
David will be on this visa for another two years before we submit some more paperwork to move him to the permanent version of this visa.
What’s coming up next?
David and I are still in Townsville, although hopefully we’ll be back in PNG sometime in the next few months. There are still a few things being decided on that front, but for the moment we are looking forward to enjoying Easter in Australia, something we haven’t done in a few years.
Thank you for all your support this past quarter. We hope you have a safe and happy Easter!
PS: If you have any questions about what we’re up to please reach out – we’d love to chat! If you would like to consider donating to help support us financially in the work we do here please check out this link for more details.