Greetings,

We left the house on Wednesday morning before 6 with Elizabeth screaming "I want to stay home". But she cheered up once we got to the airport. Both kids behaved very well during the flight. It was about 3 hours and there were only 5 other people on board, and they let us bring our 13 items of hand luggage and baggage.

We have started to settle in already, getting practical things like computers and internet set up so we can keep in touch with people, and try to ignore work emails for the first couple of days of being here. Patrick is officially starting work on Monday.

We are enjoying the house (kum road #1 for those who know), and occasionally reminding ourselves to be thankful for the blessing of a house already set up that has what we need while we wait for the rest of our stuff - and trying not to see the negatives all the time - like the 400 watt kettle that has allowed me to get this whole email written while waiting for it to boil !

We have also started the challenge of keeping Elizabeth entertained without lots of organised activities - fortunately we are on a compound with several other families, and straight away Elizabeth has taken to playing with "the kids" whenever they are outside, and there is some playground climbing equipment she has been tackling in her white spotty dress.

The next few weeks will be busy so would appreciate your prayer - we are starting 40 days of community on Sunday across MAF PNG; we are all going to regional conferences to be held in Telefomin, Hagen and Goroka; and Patrick has to organise getting the annual budget for PNG done.

Lukim yu [=See you]

Patrick, Alison, Elizabeth & Matthew