Steve and Donell Trostrud Serving in Support of Tribal Missions A True Story…
…As much as you’d like to “turn the page” and see how this story ends, you can’t because the rest hasn’t been written yet. This story is about us!
There is vacancy in a ministry here in PNG that is crucial to the whole field. The position is the “NTM PNG Government Representative” and is conducted from the capital city of Port Moresby. The job needs to be filled by September and our mission leadership here has asked us to consider filling this gap, permanently. After we got over the shock, God began confirming this in our hearts in various ways and we accepted the position. In May we took a one-week trip to Port Moresby to look things over to know better how to pack for the move. Pray for us as this is a huge move on our part, way out of our comfort zone, but God likes to use us most when we have to rely on Him.
Our New Home - Click to view larger
We will move to Port Moresby the middle of August, and update you again after we settle in.
Back in PNG!
We arrived back in Papua New Guinea on September 16th and are in full swing in our ministries here again. Steve is back in the hangar, and Donell has begun learning a new ministry in the PNG Business Office.
Our son, Sean, was able to come to PNG for a couple weeks in October with a team from Hume Lake to help put on a camp for our junior high and high school kids here. He led the worship team for the weekend. It was great to see him once more here in his place of birth. He is back in the States now and has moved up to Idaho to live with his brother, Ryan & family there. Pray he settles in and is able to find a job there.
Donell has continued physical therapy here for her shoulder (praise the Lord for our therapist in PNG!). It is still painful at full extension, but she has most of her motion back since her surgery on August 30th. It will take more time and exercise for her to finally be pain free.
When one of out pilots complained of a problem while flying, our mechanic staff investigated. We quickly found a loose part, and began reinstalling it. Suddenly, I dropped a tiny piece of it, and it “disappeared.” All four mechanics helped look for the piece I had dropped. We were all joking “tongue in cheek” that God wanted to show us something more importantly wrong with the engine, knowing full well that God does that. Sure enough, in our searching for this tiny piece, we found a serious problem we hadn’t seen before that would have given us trouble in the near future. As soon as we discovered that problem, we found the tiny piece we had been looking for and replaced it. God sometimes uses our mistakes to direct our attention to greater needs in our lives as well as in safety.
Unexpected delay. . .
We have had to delay our return to PNG for a few more weeks. Donell had a sore arm/shoulder that continued to worsen, and after seeing a specialist and having x-rays and an MRI they determined that she has Adhesive Capsulitis, or a “frozen shoulder.” She is undergoing 4 weeks of physical therapy as well as at-home exercises, but if that does not take care of the problem then she may need arthroscopic surgery to deal with the adhesions. We are now planning to return to Papua New Guinea on Sept. 14th hopefully giving us enough time even for surgery if necessary.
“I once was blind…”
It is with joy that both Steve and Donell can say “I once was blind (more or less) but now I see” thanks to Lasik surgery. The two of us underwent this procedure so that we can see better in our ministries in PNG. Steve can now see up close without glasses to do his aircraft inspections whereas before he was not able to focus clearly on his work (and for an aircraft mechanic that’s not good). Donell no longer has to ship to PNG cases of eye solution and buy boxes of contact lenses for the years we are overseas. A big “Thank You” to the supporting churches and individuals who gave specifically for this need and for the many prayers given on our behalf.
Family Reunion
We had an event take place in December 2009 that hadn’t happened in 6 years…we had ALL of our kids around a Christmas tree! That is one of the many blessings of our Home Assignment, and we love every moment we can spend with our kids and grandson, Cannon.