Travel Surprises

 Travel can be hard.  Like all travelers, we are at the mercy of the weather.  A bad storm is just as likely to strand people in Chicago as it is on Clove Island.  But we are also at the mercy of unreliable services.  Not that services in other countries are never unreliable.  They might have the occasional strike or maintenance recall that will cancel flights and suddenly leave people stranded, but generally they can depend on reliable services.  While flights get delayed and cancelled on occasion, the airlines will usually help you find alternative routes.

Preparing to leave Clove Island

Back in 2020, we remember flying home just as countries were closing their borders.  Despite cancelled flights and rearrangements, the airlines worked hard to help us and many other passengers get to where they were going as best they could.  If only you could expect such service and help on the islands…

Wednesday morning we left for the airport and the weather was beautiful.  It’s a thirty minute flight from Clove Island to the big island.  Our international flight to mainland Africa would be the following morning. After waiting around for about an hour, one of the airline workers came out to announce that there would be no flight today.  She also gave no assurance that there would be a flight the next day and no offers to help us find a solution.  

That puts us in a pickle.  There was a time when there were a multiple local airlines running on the islands, and if one was unable to fly you could often jump over and buy a ticket with the other airline.  (Good luck getting your money back from the first airline.)  But recently only one airline has been running.  Why wasn’t it flying today?  A maintenance issue had come up.  Where other companies in the past have had 2 planes flying, the current company has only one plane.  So if we wanted to make our connecting flight on the big island the next day, we were out of luck in terms of flights.

Halfway- arriving on the small island

That’s when we heard a man (not an airline employee) announce to the crowd—that there was a boat going today that hadn’t left yet that might have 10 spots.  We quickly let him know we would be interested in that option as we and our fellow airline passengers hurried toward the taxis that would take us across town (the port is on the other side of town from the airport).  

As we rode in the taxi, we tried to prepare ourselves mentally for the trip ahead of us. We’ve already told you of our adventures taking the little boat to the the small island.  But we’ve never taken the little boats all the way to the big island!  This would be a first for us— one leg to the small island and then a second to the big island.  Thankfully, the preparations are about the same.  Not having planned on boat travel, we quickly went and bought a bunch of large plastic bags and packing tape to put around our luggage. Then we bought some seasickness meds at a pharmacy near the port, and lathered up in sunscreen.  (Despite our best efforts, my  backpack still got pretty wet, my journal taking the most damage.)  

By 10:45am, we were loaded onto a boat—sitting on slightly padded benches with no back support, exposed to the elements except for a canopy to shield us from the sun.  

 A good deal of spray comes into the boat, so depending on your seat and the wind, you may be quite soaked by the end of it.  Imagine being relentlessly doused with sea water over and over again for a few hours and you get the picture.  There is no bathroom.  There are no complementary food and drink services.  When you get out to the open ocean between islands, the waves get substantially higher, which causes the boat to slap against the water as it breaks over each wave.  On the first leg of the trip to the small island, there was an island woman with a small baby who was absolutely terrified when the boat started rising and dropping. (Remember, sitting on a bench, there is nothing to grab onto.) Thankfully the weather was good so we had relatively few of these back breaking drops and the terrified young mother got out at the small island so didn’t have to endure the second leg.

Arriving on the big island

The two legs of the boat ride took about 5 hours. We arrived on the big island in the early evening, tired, wet, and covered in a thin layer of salt, cramming into a taxibus for the hour ride up to the capital. We had made it! Our connection the following day would not need to be changed!  

It was a long, hard day, but we could see all the provision…Our flight was early enough that we were able to switch to the boat option before they had left.  There were spaces available on the boat.  We had recently taken the same boat to the small island so we had a fair idea of what to expect.  We had enough cash on hand to pay for the boat tickets, the weather was good, and the sea was mostly calm!  We do not know why it was we were meant to take the boat this time, but we see God’s hand watching over us all the way.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We made it to the big island and then to mainland Africa! Our youngest son who had to travel with us was a trooper and didn’t complain. We are proud of him. Our daughter continues to be doing better and is back to her baseline. We went to the rheumatologist today and she was encouraged to see how she has improved from the latest flare-ups.  Our older son did a great job performing in his school drama performances this past weekend. We are thankful that we got to connect with several of our colleagues on the big island and for one that just got recently engaged (his fiancée is visiting the islands now).

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for our appointment at the US embassy to renew our kids’ passports. Pray that it all goes smoothly and that the new passports come without significant delays. Pray that we would use our time in mainland Africa well while we wait for the passports— we will be focusing on administrative tasks and online meetings mostly. Pray that Muki and Mtsa would keep coming together and studying in Tom’s absence. Pray that we could encourage islanders to keep growing even while we are off island— islanders use WhatsApp and Messenger a lot, so we hope to stay connected. Continue to pray for our island colleagues as they face medical challenges and needing to find a new house. Pray that electricity on Clove Island would improve, the power cuts have gotten long and unpredictable.

Overcoming the Language Barrier

 Language is a complicated and beautiful thing. We earnestly believe that learning to speak and communicate in another language is a deeply humbling and edifying process that everyone should experience.

Tom with teachers overcoming the English barrier!

At our last women’s gathering, three women joined us for the first time. One was an islander and the two other were women from other African nations. We have worked really hard to encourage the women’s gatherings to be in the local island language, and usually it is, but there is the tendency that when there is a foreign visitor that the educated women switch into French out of deference for the visitor, but in the process end up isolating the lesser educated women who can not follow the conversation in French. But this time it was more complicated than that, because although the two women were foreigners, only one of them knew French, the other spoke Swahili, so actually she was able to pick up more words from the local island language than the French (the local language is a Bantu language like Swahili). How do we bridge all these language without detracting from the study?

As I passed through the big island some weeks ago, I heard how the international group in the national capital overcomes the language divide. They encourage whoever is speaking to speak in whatever language they are most comfortable in, but then they have several translators avalailable— some people ready to go between French to English, or English to Swahili or Malagasy to French to make sure that everyone is hearing the message in a language that they understand. But the complication is that they only have people with certain combinations of languages, so if someone speaks in French, there is no one who knows both French and Swahili, so it first has to be translated into English and then from English it can translated into Swahili.  I didn’t get to witness it, but it is a lot of work and I am sure it makes their gatherings longer, but it is what they have commited themselves to in order for everyone to be connected to what is being shared.

Enjoying nature doesn't require language!

Back at the womens’ gathering, we didn’t have an established way of how to proceed.  We just went ahead with the study— primarily in the local language but with some translation given in French and some responses in Swahili (which those of us who speak the local language could get the gist of if not the entire meaning). It was a interesting and lovely time of study, because  although I don’t know that either of these women followed everything, they were engaged. There was a feeling of camaraderie and connection despite the language barrier. We were all reading the same story in our languages so even if we couldn’t understand each other perfectly, we were all engaging with the same source and finding lessons in it together.  

I was proud of these two women. It can be easy as a language learner to check out and disengage, because staying engaged takes energy and willpower. They stuck with it. Ultimately they both hope to learn the local language, but it will take time. Meanwhile, we rejoice that even with language barriers we can find community and unity through the One who understands every language!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful for this group of women and their commitment to meeting together and to one another.  May they continue to grow and encourage one another.  We are thankful that our daughter’s health continues to improve. We are thankful for good timing as Tom was able to finish up a class and go to an English ceremony over the weekend, leaving him more free to travel this coming week.  We’re thankful for Muki and Mtsa who continue to come and get so much out of their study times.  This week has had some particularly good times together.  We are thankful for a door getting installed in our office with minimal trouble and for the opportunity this might give us for new uses of our group office space going forward.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We travel on Wednesday and Thursday.  Pray for the travels to go well and smoothly.  We are hoping to connect with some of our colleauges on the big island as we pass through, pray that flights would be on time to give us the opportunity to make those connections.  Continue to pray for our daughter’s health.  The powerful prayers of our island sister for healing have been answered.  May it be not just be for a few weeks!  Pray for our son who will be performing in a drama performance this coming weekend (which we will get to attend!)  May he and all the other actors have some great performances.  Pray for a family from our group on the big island who have had a rough year with lots of medical emergencies.  Soon they will travel for yet another medical reason and they also received news that their landlord has given them their two months notice to find another place to leave.  It just seems like one thing after another for them. Pray for healing and grace and perseverance for their whole family.

Listening and Not Listening

 As we sat reading together, which now adds up to over the hundredth time,  I asked the first of the same 7 questions we always discuss after we read, “What do you like in today’s story?” 

Tom at the opening of a new English Center

Muki answered as he often does, “It’s all wonderful!  Great stuff!  I like it all. It’s great for learning wisdom.”  Which is true, but kind of misses the point of the questions.  In fact, generally Muki misses the point of the questions all together and just wants to talk about whatever strikes him.  So I decided to try once again:

“We ask the questions because we want to understand the story deeply.  We don’t want to read it and then go away and forget.  We want this story to enter our heart and change our life.  So we need to read it carefully in order to find the wisdom inside.  But we go slowly.  The first question, ‘What do you like in this story?’  is an easy one, but it helps us to enter in.  And then we keep going and keep going until we find the wisdom and truth of the passage.”

Even though I had told them these things more than once before, this time it was the proverbial lightbulb turning on.  You could see the understanding appear on their faces, the glint in the eye, the raising of the eyebrows.  It all suddenly made sense.

Homeschool botany lessons

“That’s why you’re always asking us about today’s story,” said Mtsa with some excitement.  “We’re trying to find the wisdom that today’s story is telling us.  So we shouldn’t just talk about any story, or politics or something.  We really want to learn today’s story.”

“Amen,” I replied with a genuine, if slightly exasperated, smile.  It goes slowly.  It is taking a while, but these guys are listening.

On the other hand there is my friend, Fakhadi.  He is bright, well-educated, and well-read for an islander— quite a contrast to Muki and Mtsa.  But all he wants to do is argue.  He does not want to listen. He says he does, but truly he doesn’t.  A few weeks ago, Fakhadi wrote to me with a proposition.  “You pray your way and I’ll pray mine and we’ll see who gets an answer.”  Could this be an opening in Fakhadi’s heart? We prayed for each other to have a dream.  Yet neither of us had a dream.  I’ll admit I was disappointed.  Isn’t this the classic sort of power encounter we read about?  Isn’t this the time for the truth to be known?  But nothing…no dream…nothing…

Our youngest makes breakfast

A few days later, Fakhadi tried to engage me in a debate via Whatsapp.  In his reply, he wrote that he would never agree with me—that he would hope to die before ever agreeing with me about these things.  And it occurred to me, “Perhaps that is why there was no dream.  Even if there was a dream, he would reject it.” So I told him, I didn’t want to argue with him, that it was not fruitful.  I think that upset him, but I truly believe our continual debating is just a waste of time.

Some listen and are slow to understand.  Some are quick to understand but refuse to listen.  For my part, I’ll take the former.  Moreover, I’d rather be the former too— to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Thank you so much for praying for our daughter. The flare-up of her rheumatoid arthritis has passed and she is feeling much better. She even felt good about how her AP test went. The women’s gathering went well— it was a good-sized group and good discussion. We are thankful for normal weeks here, visiting neighbors, studying with men and women, teaching English classes, doing homeschool and being home for a time.  Megan had a good conversation with Hashiri and was able to give her resources for studying together in the future-- may it lead to good listening and learning.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for us as we navigate who to spend our time with, to have that wisdom and discernment about where to go and whom to see and whom to invest in.  Soon enough we will be traveling again, this time for passport renewals (it can’t be helped) so this week will mean we are again letting people know we will be away for a time.  Our island friends are used to it, but I don’t know that they like it any more than we do.  Pray that we can make the most of the time before we travel again.  Pray for our daughters’ health.  One of the sisters here prayed in a powerful way for her healing.  May it be so! 

Worth the Visit?

 How long does it take you to go 70 miles?  Usually an hour or two.  If there’s bad traffic possibly longer.  When we stay in the Boston area we regularly commute from the North Shore down to Metro West.  It’s about 35 miles.  And we could do it in about 45min on a good day.  If there was traffic, it could take a whole lot longer.  But imagine if it took 7 hours… going on average 5 miles per hour the whole way…

Settling in for long, slow overnight boat ride

Last week, we (Tom and our youngest) took the boat to the neighboring French island.  It is about 70 miles away.  There is no direct flight.  There is only a boat, and it takes all night to get there.  70 miles at 5mph…

This is the second or third time we’ve taken this boat.  It is not a pleasant ride.  Not only is there the extremely slow rate of travel and all the passengers who get seasick, but added to that is a great deal of time for baggage handling, immigration, and unknown reasons for delays which can take hours.  So you are already tired of traveling by the time you step on the boat.  And you know that the same sort of hassle will meet you when you arrive on the opposite side…

But it’s worth it.  There is nothing like being in a place, being with your friends in their home, in their neighborhood, in their life, to give you a proper understanding of their situation and how to encourage them.  We are thankful that our organization realizes this and helps us find the funds to travel to each island during the calendar year to do these in-person visits.

Their beaches are still fun!

While there, we were able to go with our friends to their jobs, to see where they work.  We met many of their friends and acquaintances and we got to spend lots of fun time with their kids.  We ate meals together and talked as we did the dishes.  After the kids went off to bed, we drank tea and ate chocolate and talked some more.  There isn’t anything I can think of that can replace that sort of time together.

Our friends on the French island have been through a lot.  Their island was devastated by a cyclone last year, and the island as a whole is still finding its feet.  Our friends are living in a small apartment while they wait for their home to be fixed.  Their home lost its roof.  Nearly everything was damaged.  We joined them in that small apartment.  It was cramped.  Their 3 kids shared one room, and our son joined them.  Tom slept on a mattresses on the living room floor.  We don’t think the apartment could have held one more person!  But I’m glad we did it that way, their good friends after all, because we got to see what their life is really like.  How they have found new rhythms in their small apartment and found ways to make it work.  They long to move back to their old home, but what they have right now is serviceable.  We don’t think we would have had such insights if we hadn’t been able to experience it for ourselves.

When we walked around town, our friends were able to point out all the damage we might not have noticed and some of the repairs that have happened and how it is affecting their life right now.  At his place of work he showed me how things seemed to be running smoothly on the first floor, but if you climbed up to the second floor, you saw the unfixed devastation of the cyclone.  These things hit home like words and pictures simply can’t do.  Even as I write this, I know we are giving you a very poor impression of what we saw.

Damaged buildings with tarp roofs

But these things add up to new understanding.  Our friends’ stories take on new color and detail.  We’ve seen firsthand the people they’re talking about, the places they go, the things they do.

We live in a time when face-to-face time seems almost unnecessary when we can video chat now—is there need to actually go?  We say, “Yes!”  It’s worth it.  The time, the trouble, the expense—it’s worth it.  The expensive boat tickets, the slow boat ride, the hassle of baggage and immigration going and coming—it’s a lot, but it was worth it. But maybe only once a year…

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are back together on Clove Island. Tom and our youngest made it safely back first and were able to jump back into life and homeschool. Megan’s travels went smoothly as well and we’re thankful that she was also able to travel with some more of our daughter’s special medication. Praise that Tom continues to have men showing interest in studying— we pray for the follow-through on that interest. Our colleague on Clove Island was able to make it home and spend a week with her ailing grandma before she passed away. We thank God that He opened up that timing for her to travel.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
As we feared, the illness last week led to a flare-up of our daughter’s rheumatoid arthritis this week. She made it through the SAT but she was confined to bed the rest of the weekend. Thankfully she was better enough to attend half her classes today (Monday). Please pray for a quick resolution to this flare-up, especially as she has an AP exam on Wednesday (which is also her birthday), and continue to pray with us for her complete healing. Pray for the Clove island women as we have a women’s gathering on Wednesday— pray that it would be well-attended and that the women would be encouraged by the study and by each other. Tom and his friend met and prayed for each other that they would have God-given dreams confirming the true path— no dreams so far but let’s keep praying that God would reveal the truth to this friend. An old worker from the islands is back visiting all three islands— pray that his visit would be encouraging and that he would know whom to try and see and that God would speak through his interactions.