By Jill Weatherhead

If you have been following this blog for any period of time, you’ve read of the various steps that take place in order to bring the Good News to the peoples of Papua New Guinea through Bible translation. My recent trip to PNG made me think of the travel of those who come from North America for the checking stage.

As I start to reflect on my trip to get here, I thought of what it takes for me to get from Calgary, Alberta to Madang, Papua New Guinea. The short way to tell my usual flight path is that I fly three airlines changing planes four times going through customs at least twice and security four times. From the time I leave my condo in chilly Alberta and arrive in the humid and hot Port Moresby, PNG (my first stop over) it is about 38 hours.  Each trip has adventures which include flight delays, tight connections, luggage staying behind (usually catching up at some point), flights cancelled, passport issues, and of course waiting at various stages trusting God to bring me to the destination. Before I left someone remarked on how much effort it takes just to get to PNG.

However, something interesting happened on Friday when I was invited to go along for the drive out the North Coast Road to take one of our housekeepers home.  The drive took us about 30 minutes each way. The road was in good condition and it was a pleasant trip. But I then learned what it takes for Augusta to get from her house to work each day. She gets up around 5 am to start a fire to boil water to cook for her daughter. They have to walk 20 minutes to the road and then wait and be hopeful that a public transport vehicle will give them a ride (often overcrowded). Rain or shine – she faithfully does this task so that she can come into Madang to her part in Bible translation – house cleaning.  Suddenly my 38+ hours seemed like nothing at all in comparison.

Jill is the wife of Norm Weatherhead, he is a Bible translator and a consultant.