In the driving rain, the ladies struggled uphill through the oozing mud toward a small village.
This was not the trip home that Jane Housley had planned.
She and her husband, Jack, were on their way to the USA after 30 years of service in Papua New Guinea. First came a stop with their son Bill and his wife, Kelley, who work among the Inapang people. And then came the complication: Mechanical problems grounded the helicopter that was going to take them from the village to the airport to catch their flight. They'd have to take a canoe and a truck instead.
Before the journey Ankonegai prayed. The Inapang believer asked for wisdom, safety and strength. Then Jack and Jane, Bill and Kelley and their two girls, and six Inapang men set out. It was an uneventful six-hour canoe trip thanks in large part to recent rains that had produced higher water than usual. No one really minded when it started raining again with only one more hour to go on the river.
For the second half of the trip they met missionaries Andrew Murray and Geoff Husa at the road. However, "road" is a generous description in the best of conditions. And these were not the best of conditions.
Driving rain had turned the steep, twisting potholed track into a rutted muddy mess, albeit a somewhat scenic mess with miniature waterfalls cascading down the ruts.
As Andrew guided their four-wheel-drive truck up the first hill, it slid from one side of the road into the ditch on the other side, where it stuck fast. The Inapang men, Jack, Bill and Geoff got out and started pushing, and Jane, Kelley and the girls squooshed up the road to get help from a nearby village.
Working together, they were able to free the truck and guide it over the hill.
Everyone got back in the truck and breathed a sigh of relief. Until they went around a curve and saw another hill that looked worse than the last one.
Again Andrew got them halfway up. Again the truck slid into the ditch. Again the ladies squooshed, and again men from the nearest village helped push the truck to the top of the hill.
The process was repeated at least ten more times. A couple of times everyone had to sit on the left side of the truck so it wouldn't flip over. One time the truck got stuck on the differential with all four wheels in the air.
It was stressful, it was tough, and it was worse than dirty -- it was muddy. Everything was muddy. Everywhere was muddy. Everyone was muddy. But through it all everyone had a sense of peace. A sense that God was giving them the wisdom, strength and safety for the journey.
Isn't God supposed to take care of His children? He does, and He did. And some day, Jane Housley will tell her other grandkids about having to walk uphill through the oozing mud in the driving rain, over and over again.
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