April 19 Embassy Flight

The following is from Garth

Hi,

Well, today has been quite the roller coaster of a day. 

Three weeks ago, our province of Papua shut its doors to any passenger traffic.  The airport and seaport were only functional for cargo.  Two weeks ago, the local authorities put a 9:00pm curfew in place and only allowed businesses to be open from 6:00am until 2:00pm.  Just yesterday, the government has announced that starting tomorrow (Monday), there will be a strict 2:00pm curfew.  NOBODY is allowed on the streets between 2:00pm and 4:30am.  Word on the street is, people will be caned for any infraction of this curfew.

During all of this, the US State Department has reached out to Expats living in Papua to see if there was any interest in getting back to the US.  Many families responded affirmatively and that got the ball rolling to send a plane to get them.  This coming Thursday (April 23) is the departure date for that flight.  The State Department has told people that the flight will only get them to Jakarta since there are still several flights leaving from Jakarta that can reach the US.  They will be on their own to get to the US from Jakarta.

Early on in the development of this plan, we were asked if we would like to be on the flight.  All four of us agreed that we would like to stay and take our chances that things would open up by the end of May and we would leave Papua then.  Our original plan, before Covid-19 broke out, was for Emma and Wyatt to fly back here in the middle of May, attend Sophie's graduation, and then all 6 of us would have said good-bye to our Papuan home for a final time together as we returned to our other home in Williams Bay, WI.  Well, with all the travel restrictions, those plans have gone out the window.  We still held out hope to return at the end of May, but that plan took a twist this morning.

Up until this morning, I didn't think it was that urgent to leave Papua earlier than our date of May 29.  But our field leadership called me this morning and said that they "strongly recommend" we be on that flight.  That call changed our outlook drastically.  With leadership urging us to go, we decided that we would follow their recommendation.  That meant that we had to pack everything up in 3 days.  And, we had to tell the kids.

We had already planned a zoom call with Emma and Wyatt to "celebrate" Emma's birthday.  But this news really put a damper on things.  This news sounded the death knell to any possibility of them coming back to say good-bye.

As we started thinking through everything ahead of us, Rachel mentioned that she hadn't been feeling good lately and wondered if that might impede our travel.  So she called one of our Expat nurses here in Sentani and talked with her about it.  After talking with Rachel, the nurse said that she had six of the seven symptoms that are asked about at international airports.  The nurse then came over to examine Rachel and said that we weren't' going anywhere.  We needed to quarantine for the next two weeks.  Whoa!  I'm getting whiplash here.  One minute we're staying until the end of May, the next minute we're packing up to leave in four days, the next minute we're quarantined for two weeks. 

So, all that to say...we're here for a while.  We've heard rumors that travel won't open up from here until maybe November.  We are hoping that that's not true.  I'm pretty sure that no one knows for sure exactly what's going to happen and when.

All I do know at this point, is that we are exactly where God wants us right now.  There is nothing that can happen to us that He doesn't allow.  And I'm good with that.  I've put my trust in Him for my salvation, is my trusting in Him to take care of me and my family during this time harder than that?  My trust is not based on my circumstances, my situation, or my location.  It's based on the fact that He is my refuge and my fortress.  He will save me from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.  He will cover me with his feathers, and under his wings I will find refuge; his faithfulness will be my shield and rampart.  I will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.  He is my rock and my redeemer.

You are our friends and family and we want to thank your for caring for us.  We covet your prayers and we know that He answers. 

We love you,

Garth