Final Goodbyes at Yehebi - Day 21

David

Day 21 0f 21: Tuesday 7/28 –  LAST DAY!

Thankfully, the plane was not coming quickly. It first had to travel up to the highlands to Mt. Hagen and then come down to pick us up.  Before testing the mower to make sure everything was put back together correctly, I wanted pack up, have our things weighed, and be ready to just get on board and leave.  We needed to get stuff into 3 piles: one to take home with us, one to leave behind (for Lord willing, our next visit), and one to give away to the people.  We were up at first light to get everything sorted out.  We were ready to go when the plane arrived.

Now we needed to double check the mower to make sure we got it switched out right.  We brought it out from under the old mission house where we’d worked on it and out onto the grass. 

We began pulling the cord...again and again. Hmmmm, it would not start. It would not even “catch” a little like it was going to start.  I checked the cables and the control wires to the carb – still nothing.  I tried carburetor adjustments, and still nothing.  I check the spark plugs, and that’s not the problem.  (I just heard that the plane is delayed and will be a little later then the scheduled time.  Praise the Lord.)

Nevertheless, I am not a mechanic, and I do not know what to do next.  I can’t figure out why it ran fine before and now won’t even act like it will start.  So, I decide to put the original carb on and take off the one from the mower that broke down.  Nope, still won’t start.  Now I am depressed – I went from having 2 running engines to none. I only have a couple of hours left to figure out the problem.  Today was the day that I was just going to walk around the village and say my good-byes to everyone – now everyone is watching me frantically trying to fix the mower. This is exactly why I wanted the gas in the beginning of our stay. It would give me time to figure things out if something like this happened.  

 

I asked the pastor to pray for David and me as we tried to figure this out.  Now all I could do was fiddle around with things as I really didn’t know what to do next.  I covered all the bases that I could think of.  I kept trying the same things over and over again…with the same success rate…zilch.  I keep thinking that I have to try something new – I just can’t figure out what.

Finally, I just got the spare carb and walked into the house with it.  I sit down studying it, praying for the Lord’s help, to give me insight to the problem.  I really am discouraged, and I don’t want to let the people down.  Their lives are very hard and having to cut a 2000 foot airstrip by hand with knives is something they don’t need. 

Well, I had no great flashes of wisdom.  I decide to pull the carb on the engine and look it over once again and clean some gasket material off of it.  This, I felt, was totally useless but, like I said, I didn’t know what to do...still nothing.  I decide to change spark plugs with the broken engine even though this plug had spark.  Then I try to start it again, and it starts right up – first pull.  It runs a few minutes and dies out.  I check the fuel shut-off valve and it is in off position from the last time I pulled the carburetor off.  I put it on and it starts right up again and runs like a charm.  I couldn’t have been more thankful.  I just hated to leave without getting the mower running.  What a blessing from the Lord, and we still had about one hour before the plane came to take David and I out.  We sent Gahi out to the airstrip to cut and make sure once again that it would stay running…not that I could do anything if it died. 

Then we sat out in the sun on the grass with the villagers all around and talked.  I wish the whole day could have been like that, but the Lord has His reasons for what He does, and we just enjoyed this time with everyone. 

Dafo & Selebadi, who many years before were so instrumental in helping us start the work at Yehebi.

Finally we hear the plane off in the distance and everyone is shaking hands with us to say last goodbyes.  Our things get carried to the airstrip.  Dafo’s wife, Selebadi, gives me a big hug, she hardly rises to my stomach, and holds my hand all the way to the airstrip.  This is very uncultural--especially for the bush areas--but she was very happy that we spent time with Dafo. He had shown no interest in the Lord for a long time, and he said that he wanted to get things right with the Lord.  I had written them a letter while visiting this time and they made the 7 to 8 hour walk from Honinabi to Yehebi to visit.  

Endless miles of thick jungle to reach the isolated Gobasi tribe

The 1900 foot long airstrip at Yehebi

Ready to leave

Flying with Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) is the only way in...unless you want to walk!

Anyway the plane landed and had to take us out separately because of weight limitations.  So I went first to another mission station, Mougulu, and then David came after.  Buried on that mission station is one of the first pilots to fly Carin and I around PNG in our early days there – Roy Hoey.  A few months after we had left PNG to come back to the U.S., Roy crashed and died, along with a number of passengers.  He grew up in PNG and Mougulu was his home.  His mother and father still visit and work in PNG, and it is an appropriate resting place for him. 

I get onto the plane with David on this much longer airstrip and we take off for Rumginae, having completed our stay with the Gobasi people of Yehebi.  What a blessing!