Welcome to the Islands!

Our short-termer made it in time for the holiday!

We don’t get a lot of outside visitors on Clove Island.  We kind of live at the end of the world.  Over the years, we’ve had a few people on their way to mainland Africa suggest stopping in to visit us (thinking it would be simple), but once they saw the price-tag and amount of travel needed to get to us, they reconsidered. We don’t begrudge their decision. We wish it was easy to get to us.

But because it isn’t easy, we try to be prepared for visitors. We have a document typed up with all sorts of details and logistics for someone trying to travel to us, plus we often have a tentative back-up plan in case of a missed or canceled flight.

This past week we were anticipating our short-termer, coming to the islands for 2 months from the US. He was supposed to arrive on the big island on Saturday morning and would connect same-day to Clove Island. To be safe, we put him on the last flight to Clove island leaving at 4:30pm. It meant he would have to spend most of his day at the airport on the big island but our colleagues arranged for an English-speaking islander to go up to the airport to help him with logistics and to pass the time with him. By sunset on Saturday, he should arrive at our house.

On Friday evening we got word that his flight from mainland Africa had been cancelled. He was put on a later flight, arriving at 2:30pm. Now he would only have 2 hours to make the connection to Clove island (two hours which needed to include passing through immigration and getting his tourist visa). We called the local airline to check, but it looked like he might still make it.

On holiday with our neighbors

Then we found out that the inter-island flight was hoping to leave an hour earlier (at 3:30pm), even though they hadn’t informed anyone. So ultimately our short-termer only landed around 2:45 and was still finalizing his visa when the flight to Clove Island left!

But we had thought of this eventuality! Our island friend just needed to settle him into the hotel right next to the airport…But once they got there, they found out that the hotel had no electricity and no food!

Okay, new plan…our island friend and colleague will help him find a hotel in the capital (plus something to eat), and then they’ll help him to the airport the next morning to get him on stand-by for the first morning flight to Clove Island.

Unfortunately our island friend overslept and so they missed the first flight. All the others were completely full and no one on stand-by got on. Checking at the desk… the next day’s flights had no openings. It was now Sunday, so no offices were open. Would he ever make it to Clove Island?

Finally we were able to secure a reservation for him—on Tuesday—two days away. He was not keen to be alone in a hotel for two days, but housing options were scarce. In the end our colleague arranged for him to sleep on a floor with a bunch of guys from a short-term team passing through.

And so, it was on late Tuesday morning, after 7 days of travel, our short-termer finally arrived on Clove Island! He looked beyond-tired, but he is recovering well.  Travel to the islands—not for the faint of heart!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful that our short-termer made it and that he remained in pretty good spirits. We are thankful for our friends and colleagues on the big island who stepped up to take care of him. We spent the day after his arrival celebrating the biggest holiday of the year! We saw and hopefully blessed many island friends and neighbors on the big holiday! We are thankful for all the islanders that God has brought into our life. Ma Riziki, our old neighbor, burned her arm badly with hot oil. Megan helped take care of the burn with regular cleaning and bandage changes. We’re thankful for how well it is healing and also for the opportunities to pray with Ma Riziki each time. 


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for our short-termer.  He has been staying with us but last night he moved to his new place, staying with an island family. He has jumped into a world of culture and language that can feel pretty overwhelming.  Pray for his patience, understanding, and ability to communicate, as well as his stamina and strength.  Pray that he would be a blessing and be blessed by the family he is staying with.  With the month of fasting and the big holiday finally passed, we return to more normal life.  That means school and English classes.  Pray for our transitions back to these things.  We hope to start recording portions of a Great Book this week.  Pray that it goes smoothly.  Continue to pray for Megan and our daughter who continue to feel a bit under the weather.  There is a difficult situation with some fellow foreigners here that requires some hard discussions.  Pray for wisdom, patience, and grace for Tom and the group as we face this dilemma.