Lists.

I love ‘em! Especially those like MK (missionary kid) Seth R’s Facebook enumerated observations which put life in a seldom seen hilarious perspective. My lists are never so entertaining.

They do convey lots of info with fewer words though so here goes…..

 

First six months of HA (Home Assignment) time –

  • America is a foreign country
  • Life & thoughts are centered on reunions with family and friends, catching up with folks who wouldn’t otherwise give glimpses of what is really going on in their daily lives 
  • Northern coast to coast travels reconnecting with my hearty winter wise friends and churches, with travels always slated to end before the snow flies. 
  • USA idiosyncrasies are a mere novelty to be endured. 
  • Papua New Guinea seems a stone age away, a different life, a different me.

Second six months of HA time – a shift occurs. Various incidents help bring it about:

  • America still feels like a foreign country
  • Ice, snow, sleet, freezing rain … then when it warms up – tornado warnings ….
  • The car odometer’s claim we’ve traveled more than 24,000 miles together already, including rush hour 
  • in LA (twice – once in the dark), Houston (worse than LA), Baton Rouge (15 minutes on the Mississippi River bridge), Chattanooga (more congested than Atlanta!) –and there’s still 3 months of HA time to go.
  • There were more Spanish radio programs than English on my southern coast to coast tour
  • Complaining Americans
    • In store check-out lines – the store doesn’t carry their preferred brand, or is out of some super sale item, or maybe the aisles have been rearranged.
    • In churches – when the ushers don’t stay perfectly in sync while collecting the offering
    • At hotels / motels (Of which I’ve seen way to many!) – guests whining that the establishment is “out dated,” or getting angry when the lone host(ess) at the front desk tells them they need to come and pick up the iron (or whatever) that’s missing from their hotel room

Suddenly the call of the wilds of PNG begins to lure me back that way!!! How soon can I begin to count the days???

Before that can happen though, there’s the current “to do” list to wade thru:

  • Comply with the IRS and do my taxes
  • Doctors’ appointments – Can they all be done in the next 3 weeks???
  • Dental appointments
  • Catch up on correspondence (okay – TRY to catch up ….) 
  • Set up the itinerary for Spring travels in Indiana, Illinois and Michigan
  • Get some weird car noises checked out before hitting the road again
  • Figure out what I need to purchase to take back to PNG and begin to collect the stuff
  • Book tickets for flights back to PNG!!!! 

Your prayers will be greatly appreciated as I pursue getting things done speedily and that my May / June return to PNG date can indeed come about! Please pray too that I don’t let anything fall thru the cracks!

I do greatly appreciate your part in the work God has committed to us among His people in Papua New Guinea. Please be assured that He has an ongoing agenda there, and you will meet people in eternity who have learned of Him, and /or grown in their love and knowledge of Him, or at least matured in their walk with Him, because of your faithfulness to support what God is doing to draw them ever closer to Himself. It is a privilege for me to be your representative to them. Thank you so much.

Co-laboring together with you for the King!

Hope Sharp

( Rush hour: one of the 2 things I “gave up” to go to PNG. Care to guess what the other thing was that I “gave up” to go to the mission field? If you guessed “punching a time clock” you’d be right!)