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Update on Shannon's health

Thank you all for your prayers. We're so thankful that God answered the way he did. Shannon's pain began to subside last night about 6.30 and she was able to sleep through the night. Her pain and her fever are gone this morning. She's just a little bit achy still, but a HUGE improvement over yesterday. She said it was the worst pain she's ever experienced! Still not sure exactly what it was, but we're still thinking kidney stones accompanied by an infection. We're so glad to see her up and smiling this morning.

Haven't heard for sure from the doctor, but we're guessing that there will not be a medevac today. Seems safe to give it another day since we already have the helicopter scheduled for tomorrow to take my brother and sister (Lauren and Neal) out to town.

Thank you all for your prayers. We'll let you know if anything changes.

Geoff

urgent prayer request

Please be praying for Shannon's health. She's got a lot of symptoms that seem like she might be passing a kidney stone, but other symptoms (ie. fever) that are concerning the doctor enough that he's talking a medevac in the morning. He's had us change antibiotics and wants us to update him via email in the morning. Unless there's significant improvement he'll be ordering a medevac in the morning.

To compound the difficulty of the situation our radio is not working for talking to other people. We don't have internet or phones out here in the bush. A working radio is a very key component in handling big-deal stuff like this so we're having to handle all this over email on our HF radio. We're extremely thankful that even though we have this limitation on our communication we were still able to get a hold of the doctor quickly.

Meanwhile, Shannon is in a great deal of pain. We would appreciate your prayers tonight as we try to get through till the morning. We'll keep you posted as we have opportunity.

Thanks!

Geoff

Husa update

Sorry for the lack of communication so far but we have been having a lot of trouble getting our e-mail to work.

Well, we arrived in Mibu on Tuesday morning just as planned. There were only 2 Mibu people up to greet us because no one knew what day we would be returning. After hearing the helicopter several more came up to greet us though. It was so great to see some of our dear Mibu friends again.

We got right to work putting food supplies away which took a couple of hours and then we started to unpack our clothes, both from our suitcases and things that we had in storage. We felt like we really made good progress until the evening came and we discovered that there was a huge ant nest in a trunk of clothes and that Geoff's chocolate protein powder that he brought from the states had exploded all over EVERYTHING in our suitcase! It took a while to clean those messes up and a huge pile of laundry started to pile up. In addition to all the bedding left by visitors and all the clothes that smell of mold and mildew. We have hardly had any sun since arriving so we have been very limited as to how much laundry we can do. Also, some rope that we use to hang clothes under the house in rainy weather is missing so we are limited as to how much we can hang up and have had clothes hanging from the railing on our porch and loft. Wednesday felt like we didn't get a whole lot accomplished. Probably because we were all so tired from the day before. We did get a little bit done though, but with the house such a wreck and so much more work to do the stress was mounting. Thursday Lauren and I finally got started painting the girls new room and were able to get it completely finished. Yesterday was Maddie's 3rd birthday so a lot of time was spent preparing for that as well as trying to work on different projects around the house. We did manage to have a fun celebration though amidst the chaos. After the girls' naps we had cake and opened presents in their new room and then we ate pizza and watched a movie. The girls were so thrilled that they got to eat cake on the floor and pizza in the living room. It's the little things:) Yesterday was also a very rough day for me as I discovered I have a very serious bladder infection. Luckily we are armed with the necessary medicines and I was able to start treatment since I was having bad pains in my kidney and stomach. This morning I was feeling feverish and achy and still having some pain but I am feeling much better now so hopefully I will still be able to hike down to Mibu tomorrow. Upon arriving we discovered that our radio is not working so we have not been able to communicate with anyone out in town which is pretty frustrating. We can hear them, but they can't hear us... for some reason when we talk it's not transmitting. We are just praying that nothing serious comes up before we can get it fixed. We have arranged to get a loaner radio in here on Wednesday and send ours out to be fixed.

Although, there has been much chaos and it seems like every day is one step forward and two steps back things are starting to look up. The main house looks a bit better every day, the girls' new room is finished and ready to move into now and Geoff and Neal have made a lot of progress on the new storage closet in the new addition. We are really hoping to get a lot more done before they leave in 4 days though. We must have told Geoff's brother and sister about 100 times how glad we are that they were able to come back with us and help us out.

The kids have adjusted fairly well. They love being back here and running around outside, especially in the rain. Maddie is very afraid of the people though and both Maddie and Abby have been waking up several times a night. I'm sure it is just jet lag and the complete darkness here so hopefully they will fully adjust soon. They are also very deprived of mommy and daddy attention since we have been so busy so I'm sure that plays into it as well. It will be so nice to get our house in order and start a normal routine.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers for our family. We appreciate it very much as we adjust to being back in Mibu and the changes and sacrifices that come with that.

Love,
Shannon for the Husas

Safely in Mibu

Just a quick note to let you all know that we're safely in Mibu. Got lots going on trying to get situated (including some email probs) so we'll just keep this short.

Geoff for all of us

Arrived safely in PNG

Well it's Monday morning (the 18th) and we just got in this morning... a day later than we had originally planned. All flights went really smooth. Connections went well. Kids were better behaved than they've ever been on flights and slept about 1/2 of our 14 hour flight to Brisbane! It was a great trip, until we got to Port Moresby.

It was in Port Moresby that we boarded what was to be our final commercial flight, which would take us to the town where New Tribes Mission guesthouse is. This flight was just one hour after our arrival from Brisbane and so after clearing immigration and customs, we had to RUN with kids in tow and all our carry on luggage from the international terminal to the domestic terminal. We ran as best as a family laden with goodies can run, and because of the heat and humidity typical of the tropics we boarded the plane heaving and sweating. Whew! The disappointment came when after closing the doors and starting the plane, the pilot announced that they were having a problem with a cabin pressurization problem. Long story short; our flight was cancelled, they put us up in a hotel with meals, and we stayed the night. This morning we came back to the airport about 5am to re-check all our 13 heavy bags only to find that a mistake had been made and none of the passengers from the cancelled flight had been re-entered into the system. But finally, after switching lines 3 times (still hauling all our luggage to each one) we got checked in and were off to await the boarding call for our flight. Fun adventures, right? All is well now though and we're in Goroka where we're scheduled to fly in on the helicopter to Mibu tomorrow. Can't wait.

My brother and sister, Neal and Lauren, both came with us to help with the kids and luggage and to help with some other projects in Mibu. It was so great to have them on our flights and helping with the kids. We're so excited to have them here with us! We'll have to have them write an update or two during their stay! Always good to get the perspectives of others!

Now, many of you have asked how in the world we would take 3 young kids, all our carry-ons and 13 pieces of luggage across from the domestic to the international terminal in LAX. Here's the picture that answers that question!

Thanks for all your prayers through our travels!

Geoff and Shannon and 3 jet-lagged girly girls

9 days and counting

Organizing... Prioritizing... Packing... Last minute errands...

That's the mode we're in full time right now; actually more than full time. We're getting ready for our scheduled departure date on October 15th (less than ten days away!) when we're planning on returning to our home and our ministry in Mibu. We can't believe that a whole year has gone by already. But I can tell you that we needed it. Most prominent in our mind as far as things accomplished this year is that we were able to connect on a deeper level with our church family here in AZ as well as make many new personal connections. We enjoyed the chance to strengthen the excitement level and sense of partnership in the Mibu Ministry. It's so so good to go back to the field feeling the blessing and support of others who are excited to see God continue his work in Mibu! That was our number one goal for our time home this year.

We've also been prayerfully at work to try to get our regular monthly support levels up to 100% of what is recommended for our family to serve most efficiently in Mibu. We've definitely seen some growth in our support base, but we're still about $1500 a month short of 100%. All that to say that we're still looking for financial partners in the Mibu Ministry. If you feel like you might like to support this ministry by helping with the financial side of things your help would be greatly appreciated. Just go to https://www.ntm.org/give/1089 and you can donate right online. Or for other methods, please check out the details at http://mibu-ministry.blogspot.com/p/give.html

We are feeling rested, energized and so very ready to be back in Mibu. We can't wait to get re-integrated into our friendships and life there, get a routine back for our family (this year has been awesome, but far from having family routine in the mix :) and continue to be a part of nurturing the growth and maturing of the church in Mibu.

Thank you all for being a part of our lives. You're such a blessing to us!

Geoff and Shannon Husa
...and the girls