The Friesens in PNG!: April Showers!

Hello friends!
Well today was a busy day. We had our school's annual field day today, which is a fun day of games, events and competition! Tayah was the only one of our kids to participate, but we all went to the field to watch her compete in a variety of different activities. She ended up placing 1st in the obstacle course and the 3-legged race! She placed 3rd in the bean bag toss. Overall, she was thrilled to be able to climb the podium and stand at the very top! :) It was a proud moment in the Friesen family... :) Clinton also helped out with judging the shot put event for all the age groups. He loved shot put in junior high so he was quite pleased to help out with that event this year.
Yesterday we had quite the scare as the hangar received an SOS transmission from our helicopter pilot who was out in a very remote bush location. He is out there slinging missionary houses from one spot on the mountainside to another spot with the helicopter.
Because the location is so remote, they couldn't just call him to see if he was ok. After an intense few hours of not knowing what happened to him, the hangar received a radio call that said he was fine and the helicopter tracking device had malfunctioned and sent out a false alarm. Praise the Lord!!! This pilot is a young man with a wife and 3 young kids, they just arrived back in PNG about a month ago after going home to have their 3rd child. It makes you realize the danger that this country poses and how difficult it is to fly in. The mountains are so beautiful, and yet so very dangerous. It is a reminder to pray for our pilots.
Life in the clinic has remained busy, yet fulfilling and enjoyable for me. I appreciate the doctors and nurses I am serving with and the patients who trust us with their healthcare. Last month I flew a 10 year old missionary kid from our hangar to Australia as she was showing classic signs of appendicitis. She was quite sick and in a lot of pain which only worsened as we flew. It turned out that her appendix had ruptured (not sure when exactly) and was in surgery shortly after we landed. She is now doing fine and is back in the tribe with her parents. Her village is really remote. To get medical attention, her parents took her by boat for a few hours to get out of the village and to a landing airstrip so our pilot and one of our nurses could meet her there and fly her to our hangar to be assessed by our doctor. Overall, from her first boat trip to landing in Australia took 12 hours until she was properly treated. As a mom of young kids, it scares me to think how far away help can be for some of our bush missionaries. Their trust in God is an example to me and in this situation, the Lord provided the transportation and also kept that little girl safe. He knows all and is in control of all. It's a good reminder.
Tayah has continued doing well in grade 1. Her report card shows that she is completing all the required course work and doing well at it. We're very happy with how she is doing. Her reading is incredible! I don't know if I was reading chapter books in grade 1, but she does it effortlessly. Her biggest struggles remains handwriting neatness and math. Her last day of school is May 29th which is only a few days before we fly home to Canada! :) Yes, we are now just about 6 weeks until hometime, can you believe it? The time has been flying by for us here. We've been truly enjoying ourselves and these last few weeks. We want to finish strong and be a blessing to our fellow workers and our national brothers and sisters. We will miss alot of people here.
We have an appartment lined up at Steinbach Bible College as Clinton will be finishing up his pastoral degree this next year at SBC. He is both excited and nervous to be in full-time studies again. My plan is to continue working as a nurse in Steinbach once we return home. I do have some work to do in re-instating my nursing license in Manitoba. I have been fingerprinted here in PNG and I am awaiting my criminal record check which I need in order to re-instate my license back home.
How you can pray for us during these next 6 weeks:
-pray for my criminal record check to come back quickly so I can re-instate my nursing license in Manitoba
-pray for us to finish strong
-pray for us to get all our cleaning, sorting, selling, and packing done in time
-pray for us as we head into Wusarambya on a weekend trip with the Banmans next weekend. Pray for safety in flight and for a great time of fellowship with the national believers in the tribe. Also pray that my kids will maintain their sanity away from home in a bush location for 3 days and not cause their parents to go crazy! :)
We love you all and are truly thankful for your prayers and encouragement as we head into our final stretch here in PNG.
Love,
The Friesens