Heart Check

 “Karibu” I said, “Welcome,” as my friend Muki and his son came to my house and sat down for a chat on my porch.  Muki, is my good friend.  I’ve known him for years.  But his son, Mtsa, I had only met a few times and I wasn’t sure about him.  He had a glint in his eye that I didn’t like.  The sort of guy you look at and think, “He’s up to no good.”  I served them some cold water as is my habit with guests.  Mtsa quickly let me know that he preferred hot water not cold.  I think it was a not so subtle hint that he wanted coffee.  When Muki comes to visit me in the morning I serve him coffee, but not in the afternoon.  No, this was confirming something I already suspected—Mtsa was here for what he could get.  It wasn’t long before he was asking for something.  Could I bring him some boots from America—and not just any boots—heavy duty, steel-toed, military grade boots.  It was a pretty big thing to ask for and for the sake of my friendship with Muki I made it happen, but I didn’t like it—and I didn’t like Mtsa for asking me while having no relationship with me.

Seeing people after travels often means giving gifts

When we got back from America Muki and Mtsa were soon at my door, that same glint in his eye, eager for his boots.  I gave them to him with as much positivity as I could muster.  He seemed happy with them.  Then he asked me if I had a phone for him too.  I told him I didn’t, and my dislike of Mtsa went a little deeper.

Last week Muki and Mtsa came over in the morning.  It was morning so I gave them both some coffee—Mtsa seemed very pleased.  Then, as is our habit, Muki and I began to study together.  Mtsa sat with us a sort of half-willing participant.  I thought to myself, “I bet he sees this as paying his dues for the boots.”  But he sat and listened and made at least one small comment.  When we were finished he showed me his phone which had a broken screen and asked if I could get it fixed for him next time I travel.  I said “We’ll see.” And felt my dislike for Mtsa grow a little deeper—I don’t trust this guy farther than I can throw him.  He just sees me and sees an ATM.  The less I see of Mtsa the better.

I was telling my team about Mtsa—looking for sympathy I suppose.  When I was suddenly aware of what I was doing.  My heart had become hard towards him.  

Suddenly it struck me—had I forgotten whose son he was?  While we were in the States, I told a lot of people about his father Muki.  I start the story by telling them about how I had this neighbor who I didn’t trust at all. I knew he just wanted to be my friend for the things he could get out of me.  But, he kept coming by and eventually we became friends and eventually we started to study together.  Should I expect Muki’s son to be any different???
Then a second thing struck me—hadn’t I been hoping, pleading that my meetings with Muki would grow beyond the two of us?  Wasn’t I hoping that others would come and join us?  Wasn’t I hoping that Muki could be a light to his family?  And here’s Mtsa sitting and studying with us—what am I grumbling about?

As if to show me just how stupid I was being, that same morning Mtsa and Muki came by and Mtsa asked me if I could put the app on his phone that would allow him to listen to and read the things we were studying!

Now I’m not suggesting that Mtsa has had a change of heart.  I don’t know if he wanted the app because he is actually interested, or because Muki wants him to be interested, or because he feels he has to appease me in order to get free coffee.  I don’t know.  But that really doesn’t matter so much now.  As much as I want his heart to change, mine was the one that needed to change first.  Am I still suspicious of him?  Yes.  But am I willing to love him anyway?  Now, yes.  Mtsa may only be in it for what he can get, but now my heart is softer toward him.  How thankful I am for the One who opens my eyes, shows me the hardness of my heart, and softens it in ways that only He can.  Mtsa, I don’t trust you farther than I can throw you, but you are welcome to my home, my love, my friendship.  Karibu!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We’re thankful that Muki keeps coming by to study and for Mtsa to join the group.  We’re thankful that our teammate was able to get her visa for another year.  We’re thankful for the visits and time spent reconnecting with friends here, especially as one friend recently lost her husband.  So glad that Megan and our teammate were able to sit and visit with her and encourage her.

 

PRAYERS REQUESTED

Keep praying for the situations of rice (still too expensive for most), politics (still volatile though the president is recovering from the attack on his life), the medical team leader’s house electrical woes (it was working and then it wasn’t again), for our teammate’s hospital work authorization (these things go slowly) and our new people still adjusting to island life and learning language (it’s a marathon, not a sprint).  Keep praying for our sister from the little island who was taken to court by her step father who is trying to kick her out of the house.  The judge has given her 6 months to either change her ways or move out.  We are thankful for the six month reprieve, but pray that she would be able to find a new and affordable place to live. There is a workshop happening for the translation project across all three islands— pray that it would go well and all the participants would gain a lot from it.

Sights and Sounds of the Island

 When you first arrive in a new place, everything feels different.  The sights, the smells, the sounds—your senses are bombarded with new.  But over time, new becomes old and different becomes routine.  It can be difficult to remember the things that once affected you so vividly, but it is not impossible.  Sometimes it just takes some time.  If we sit and we look and we really observe, those things can come back to us.  Or sometimes it takes someone else seeing and pointing out to us the things that we have stopped seeing.

Our son on the roof

Our youngest son had a homeschool assignment this week.  He was meant to sit and observe his surroundings, to take notes and then write a short essay.  The result is below.  We think it is a good reminder of the atmosphere of our island home and we wanted to share it with you:

The humming of a generator comes to me one evening, as the calm wind blows and birds are chirping.  In the sky, the sun is blazing, the clouds are moving, the birds are flying and crows are cawing.  

Above the street where I am sitting, junk is lying around, leaves are swaying back and forth and curtains are fluttering in the wind.  Rebar wire sticks out and wires hang from here to there.  A spider is skittering.  Pebbles are everywhere.  A door is opening.  

Out of nowhere the call to prayer bellows.  Flies tickle my skin.  My clothes are heating up.  Shadows drift and my notebook papers flip.  

Down on the road, people walk, engines rev, pots clang, cars honk and people shout.  Then I get up and leave the roof.

View from our roof

Many times when we travel to the US people ask if it’s good to be home.  Really we have two homes.  We love and appreciate both our homes.  (We dislike things about both of them too.)  The funny thing about home—you even learn to appreciate the not so pretty parts.  We think he captured the mix of noises, heat, beauty and movement we so associate and love about our island life.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Rice has arrived!  Praise the Lord, but see more about it below.  We had our first week of home school (as seen above) and it went well!  We are thankful for a week that had us feeling more settled and enjoying the reconnection with friends and routines.  The medical team leader now has electricity in her home (after over a month of living there without)! Pray that remaining issues be resolved soon.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Rice has arrived, but difficulties continue.  The government has opened the doors to sell unsubsidized rice from other countries.  This means there is now enough rice, but many don’t have the money to buy it, and it will probably take some time for prices to stabilize.  In the meantime, many poor people continue to suffer.  The politics of the islands continues to simmer with rage under the surface resulting in a recent attack on the president.  He is recovering.  The attacker was killed in prison.  Pray for peaceful avenues for change on the islands. Keep praying for the new family adjusting to island life.  They are only a few weeks in and the first months can be the hardest!  Pray for an island sister undergoing threats from her father on the little island.  She is standing firm, and her neighbors have even come to her defense!  It is still unclear what her father will do— pray that she would remain encouraged and that he would soften. Pray that our teammate can get authorization from the hospital to continue her OT work there.

100 Years

 Islanders don’t keep track of birthdays much. I have often asked a mother how old one of her kids is and had her struggle to come up with an age or had her giving me an age that does not seem accurate. Celebrating birthdays is just starting to become more common, so this may change, but most islanders and especially older islanders don’t have a good sense of how old they are.

If you want to say someone is really, really old, you say that they are 100! At first, I thought this was their literal age, but then someone in their 30’s told me that their mother was 100. After I clarified that they were talking about the woman who actually gave birth to them (since ‘mother’ can be used for a variety of maternal figures) and heard other people exclaim about their 100 year old relatives, I realized that this was more an island way of saying that someone was near the end of a long and full life.

100th birthday photo tribute done by Megan's dad

Well, in December, my (Megan’s) grandmother turned 100 years old (literally). An entire century of loving, serving and ministering to others (including 75 years of marriage and 40 years of prison ministry). Just over a week ago, she passed away.  Grammie was a godly, kind woman. She leaves behind 3 kids, 8 grandkids, and 16 great-grandkids who can rejoice in a life well-lived and in her making heaven that much sweeter.

This morning, I went downstairs to greet our local island grandmother, the matriarch of the family whose house we rent. She is old enough that it is not insensitive to say that she is old. She has grandchildren who are grown and married. She can’t see well. She is very thin. She can’t get out of the chair on her own anymore and mostly stays sitting either in her living room or the open corridor in the back of the house where they have put a bunch of pillows on the tile bench for her benefit. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of her grandkids say, “She’s 100!”

As I sat with her, I told her about Grammie and how she had been ready to go and be with God. I told her about how Grammie had the hope of heaven and so there was nothing to fear about death— in fact there was joy at the idea of being with God and being reunited with those who had gone before. Islanders talk about the judgment that comes with death and it is accompanied by lots of uncertainty and fear. There is none of that in Grammie’s passing and I wanted our island grandmother to hear that— that you can come to the end of however many years and welcome the presence of God with peace and readiness. Grammie was a friend of God and she has the pleasure of resting in His presence forever.

Welcomed at airport on Clove Island

We’ll see her there one day. Until then, rest well, Grammie!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We thank God for Grammie’s life and ministry on earth and that Megan’s mom was able to be in town with her in her last week.  We made it back to Clove Island— all our flights went smoothly and all of our luggage made it (something we don’t take for granted). We were welcomed warmly and found our house ready to go with new roof over the bedrooms and all rubble/debris cleaned out. We are thankful for a good time connecting with all the workers on the big island as we passed through. Our daughter did fine with the first week of injections, no significant side effects so far. The one island wedding of a local brother went well and was almost followed by another impromptu wedding of an island brother and sister. Thankfully (from our perspective) this was called off so that the potential bride and groom could think and pray about it more and not rush into marriage without proper preparation. The new family of African workers have all arrived on the big island after months of delay and are starting orientation. We have already gotten to see many of our island friends and neighbors, and also moved back into our house enough to start into normal routines this week. 



PRAYERS REQUESTED
Islanders are really suffering. The continuing lack of rice and the rising prices of other options means that people look skinnier to us and we are hearing stories of desperation. A neighborhood in our town saw a conflict burst into violence and destruction, and many think people were so angry because they are hungry. Pray that corruption and mismanagement would stop and that this rice shortage would end. Pray that inflation woes would stop, that the poor might find relief. Pray for the new family undergoing orientation on the big island— may both parents and kids start learning local language well and adjust well to island life. Pray for the medical team leader’s house— she has continued to have problems with electricity and now some plumbing issues. Pray that things would be fixed and function properly. Pray for us as we start homeschool with our youngest son this week and get back into life— that we would establish good routines and healthy patterns. Pray for our kids in boarding kids to have good dorm communities and to adjust back into school rhythms quickly.

Persevering

 Today we leave mainland Africa for our onward flights to the islands.  We had a wonderful time in the US, but the time was short and we didn’t get to see everyone we would have liked.  At the risk of sounding a bit repetitive, we thought we would dedicate this blog to sharing the things we were sharing with all those we did get to see, so you might be up to speed on where we find ourselves, our hearts and our work.

Final family breakfast in the US

In trying to give an update on the past two years, the word that came up again and again—becoming a theme of our sharing—was the word “perseverance.”  Perseverance defined by google is “persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.”  The definition draws out two paths of perseverance that we see.  There is perseverance through difficulty—like the Olympic marathon runners using their last ounces of strength for a final kick to the end and then collapsing over the finish line .  And then there is the perseverance through long delay—like the years and years of practice, day after day, month after month, year after year, it took those same Olympians to get to the games.

We have known both kinds of perseverance in our years on the islands, but in thinking over the past two years, we are thankful for the fruit of perseverance through long delay.. It is not a plodding perseverance we wanted to share, but rather a hopeful one.  We are seeing and sharing the answers to many prayers, many of which have been long in coming.

Traveling through Doha

We are thankful for fruit of perseverance among the island family.  In the past two years we have seen them take steps to identify themselves as a community and commit to regular meetings, offerings, and prayer.  What a wonderful thing to have happen.  Moreover in the past year we have seen the fruit of the long hard road of translation, resulting in actual physical books to read!  Neither of these things came about quickly, but required many years of patience endurance.  But neither is this work finished.  One small group, one small book, is not the goal.  Our hearts yearn for much more and so we know that the call is to continue to persevere.

Another area we see the fruit of perseverance is through our personnel.  In the past two years we have seen many of our long-serving colleagues called away to new fields, but we have trusted in God to provide new workers to come and join us.  He has done so abundantly and we hope to welcome this year as many as 9 new workers including from three different African nations.  So we persevere through these changes and remember that God will provide.  But it will not be easy with all this change and the multiple cultures to integrate, respect and love.  This too calls for perseverance going forward.

In his new dorm room

Parenting is another area that takes perseverance.  In the past two years, we have watched, rejoiced, prayed and grieved as our two older children have gone off to boarding school, far from our island home.  It is not easy having our kids so far from home, but we see both the fruit of our years together and the fruit of allowing them to be guided and mentored by others.  We are so thankful to see them thriving at school and growing into a man and a woman of God.  But there are many years of school ahead going through adolescence and now battling illness. This calls for continued perseverance.

Lastly, there is our island home and community.  Here we experience both types of perseverance.  We are thankful for the ways our long presence there has meant many deep relationships— relationships that continue to deepen and hearts that continue to open.  But we also see the need to hang in there.  The islands have suffered greatly from global inflation, seeing their hard lives made that much harder as the little they have does not go as far as it used to.  We hear far more stories of people not being able to feed their families than we used to.  The political and economic situation continues to decay through poor governance, corruption and laws and practices that hurt growth and industry.  There are more shortages of everything from rice to electricity.  The ecological toll of over-farming, tree removal and pollution have seen a vast loss in yearly rainfall resulting in water shortages.  In short, the islands can be a difficult place to live.  But in this too, we persevere, knowing that good news is not just hope for the soul, but for the community and that these big problems can turn around when people join together in unity.  So we persevere and ask you to continue to persevere with us.  Change comes slowly, but it is coming!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our final days in the US went well and we felt like we got the needed things done. We made it back to mainland Africa with all our bags (with God seeing us through a short connection). Our daughter and Megan didn’t have significant pain during the travels. We saw our daughter’s rheumatologist and have an updated treatment plan to hopefully get rid of the remaining disease activity in her joints. We had a nice afternoon at our kids’ boarding school, settling them into their new dorm rooms and meeting their dorm parents. The school has lots of great people serving there and we are very thankful for them all.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for our remaining travels back to Clove Island, still 3 more flights to go! Pray that we could reconnect well with colleagues on the big island as we pass through and ultimately for our readjustment into life and work on Clove. Pray that our house is ready to receive us since they have replaced the roof/ceiling in our absence. Pray for our older two as they start a new year at boarding school and adjust to new dorms and roommates. Pray for our daughter as she begins injections two times a week for her rheumatoid arthritis— pray that she would tolerate the medication without side effects and that it would clear up her remaining symptoms. Pray for our time reconnecting with island friends and neighbors. We will see a lot of people this coming week, pray that we would have the energy we need and be lights back into our island community. Pray for the marriages of our island brothers and sisters— there was a wedding just this weekend on the big island- pray for this new union. At the same time, we have heard that another marriage is falling apart, pray for God’s grace and guidance for the family involved.

Rejoice Always

 Today’s blog comes in the midst of packing.  Our flight leaves tomorrow (Tuesday) so today is dedicated to rounding up all the odds and ends and hoping they will all fit into our allotted luggage allowance.  It’s never a fun time.  We always manage, but there is something against nature to shove everything you have into a bag or a box.  It takes time and always feels rather stressful.

Back in our old VT stomping grounds

So we thought, in the midst of that, we could take the time to be thankful for all the ways, big and small God has blessed us over our last six weeks.  Some of these things may seem mundane or even silly, but sometimes it’s the little things that count:

• We are thankful for getting to see so many friends in such a short time, and yet generally not feeling overwhelmed.  You have all been so gracious and understanding in giving your time or making time for us.  We’ve been able to visit in person or zoom with friends from MA, ME, NH, OH, NC, DC, PA, and CA.  You have been a great encouragement to us.  Thank you so much!
• We are thankful for the Lord working out the timing so that we could attend the wedding of our teammate and friend—which even included getting to see Dr.  and Mrs. Komo from the islands!  What a special time.
• We’ve gotten to do some fun things this summer like help with a VBS in the Boston area, see the sites of London, get caught in a thunder storm in NC, see the Statue of Liberty, go on rides at the Santa Cruz board walk, ride the waves of Hampton Beach and pick blueberries. 
  

  

  Beautiful weather to see sites
  

• A little thing, but one we appreciate—we had quite a bit of domestic airplane travel.  It went extremely well and easy—few delays and no cancellations and kind flight attendants.
• Related to that has been the weather.  We’ve had so many beautiful days—even when it was scheduled to rain on us—like when we went to Hampton Beach, VT, and NYC, the rains miraculously held off long enough for us to really enjoy the beauty of the places we saw and often rained only after we had moved inside.
• In the midst of joy, there is always sorrow and in sorrow there is often something to be thankful for.  We are still learning about our daughter’s arthritis diagnosis, but we are thankful for the ability to see the rheumatologists at Boston Children’s Hospital.  (Not something to take for granted when waiting to see a specialist can sometimes take months)  They were kind, informative and helpful.  Their understanding of both the disease and our international situation was a great comfort.
• Here’s a funny one, but still something we thank the Lord for—finding the right luggage.  We wanted to buy some new luggage and had a plan to buy some, but on our way to VT, stopping to get gas in NH, we had some time and went into the chain store there only to find the luggage we wanted with better colors and a better price!
• We are thankful for rest when we needed it.  Six weeks is not a long time to be in the US and do all the things we want to do.  We’ve had to say “no” or “next time” to a lot things.  But we are thankful that in the midst of our busy schedule there were times of rest, times to just be a family, times to sleep in and have fun.  
• We are thankful that life goes on without us.  Before we left the islands we handed over most of our duties.  Others have carried out those responsibilities well allowing us to concentrate on our time here with the reassurance that things were in good hands.
• We are thankful for the reminder from friends here, even as we shared about our struggles and pains on the islands, times of loss and saying goodbye to many friends and fellow workers—that God has been at work on the islands and there is much to rejoice about!
• We are thankful for J.R.R. Tolkien, whose books have made our car rides quite enjoyable—even something to anticipate!  What will happen to Frodo?  Will the fellowship stay together?

Enjoying the cold water on a lovely day

Lest this sound like we have had the perfect time, let us say that it hasn’t always been good.  There has been pain—especially for our daughter—, and stress—from packing and preparation and sharing with large groups.  There is loss, knowing that there were still many we did not get to visit with and many whom we may not see again for 2 years or more.  There are friends who are sick or grieving here and we have only been able to walk alongside them for a moment, which is not enough.  But the Word says to rejoice always, and trust that even in the pain, there is hope.  So rejoice with us for the Lord’s goodness and be encouraged, no matter what the circumstances.  

PRAYERS ANSWERED
As you see above, we have so many answers to prayers and things to rejoice in. God is good. Our trips to VT and ME went well, with good conversations and chances to reconnect. We also had some nice time with family and friends in the Boston area when we weren’t traveling. The teammate for the medical team arrived safely to Clove Island. Another family that has been waiting to move to the big island for months, is finally on their way (the final member arriving on Sep 3rd). Dr. Komo and his wife made it safely to France on their way back to the islands.  

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray that our packing could get completed without stress. Pray that our travels would go smoothly and that all our bags would make it. We have an appointment with our daughter’s rheumatologist the morning after we arrive in Africa and we hope to discuss a new treatment plan for her at that time. Pray that we aren’t exhausted for that appointment and that she could start a treatment that will stop the disease without side effects! Pray for us as this coming weekend we will have to say goodbye to our oldest two kids at boarding school. Pray for our hearts and our transition as a family to being apart again. Pray for the medical team back on Clove Island— pray that electricity would be fixed at the team leaders house and for the homestay experience of their new member. Continue to pray for the islanders— there is currently a taxi strike and continues to be rice shortages.

Islanders in the US

 It is an experience that we have never dealt with, despite living on the islands for 15 years and coming back to the US several times for extended visits. We’ve never met an island friend in the US. We’ve actually only have a handful of island contacts that have gone to the US during our 15 years and never when we were also in the US.

For most islanders, going to the US is unattainable on two fronts— the possibility of getting a visa with an island passport and the possibility of finding the funds to finance such a trip. Both of these are out of reach for most islanders.

Megan & daughter with Mrs. Komo at wedding

But for our friend, Dr. Komo, both of those were not an issue. He is a wealthy man, so buying tickets is no issue, and he has French nationality, so he can get a visa to visit the US for up to 3 months easily. So that is how, in very island fashion (with last minute planning and highly valuing wedding attendance), he was able to decide with less than a week’s notice to attend our teammate’s wedding in the US.

Tom picked them up from the bus station near the rural wedding location. “Why would you want to live in the islands when everything here is so beautiful?” Mrs. Komo asked him.  We sat with them through the wedding and reception.  “It’s just like you see in the movies!  Very different from a French wedding.  And just one day—so different from the islands!  This is better—so much cheaper.” The day after the wedding we picked them up at the hotel, walked around a park and took them to the bus for their onward journey.  They had lots they still planned to see:  Washington DC, Montreal, Boston and New York City.

But, our walk around the park was enlightening. Rural coal-country PA is not an area we know well, but we know a bit of its history.  So we tried to explain to Dr. Komo and his wife about the nature of coal and the ups and downs the industry has seen historically. All around us were reminders of the industry that had brought so many to this part of the country at one time.  The very park we wandered through was established over an old coal mine, with coal cars and rails still running through it.  There is no coal on the islands, and learning about this energy industry was obviously new information to our friends. Despite being well educated and well-traveled, their experience is primarily France, Senegal and the islands, so they had never heard of a rock that you could burn for fuel and marveled to see an old mine shaft and to read the memorial about the miners who died there. It was a part of the world and of history that had never been on their radar.

Tom & Dr. Komo

On the flip-side, as we walked around, our island friends were passed by Americans who have no exposure to the islands and no concept of the life and culture there. Both the islands and coal-country in rural PA represent centuries of history with lots of ups and downs, but they will know nothing of each other unless by chance their spheres intersect. In this unlikely situation, these two pockets of humanity get to learn and marvel at a world previously unknown to them.

All it took this time was a wedding and an island friend with the ability to attend.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Thank God that we were able to connect with Dr. Komo and his wife while they were in the US— may it deepen our relationship with them when we meet again on the islands. This past week’s rheumatologist appointment brought better clarity on our daughter’s condition and was overall encouraging. She has had less pain the past couple weeks which has been nice. We had a full week and got to reconnect with several friends and groups of people. We also got to complete some pressing, time-sensitive parts of our to-do list. The country where our older kids go to school opened up a 5 yr multi-entry permit (rather than having to apply for a single entry every time) that will make life a lot nicer for our travel back and forth. We are thankful for our anniversary this past week and our 21 years of marriage (and family that could be with our kids for an evening).

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for our final week in the US— we have visits to VT and ME to make and still some items on our to-do list. Pray that it would still be an encouraging time and that we wouldn’t feel tired leaving the States. We have heard that rice shortages continue to plague Clove Island— pray for this staple to come back in abundance to the island so that the prices can go down and the poor no longer suffer.  Pray for the settling in and orientation of the new teammate to the medical team this week. One of our island friends just lost his brother and reached out to us in his grief— pray that we could speak words of comfort to him. Continue to pray for our daughter’s health and healing, and for us as communicate with the rheumatologist in Africa and her school health staff about her continuing care and the recommendations from the US doctors.

Small Airports around the World

We recently flew out of a small airport here in the US—one terminal, six gates, three airlines.  Having a lot of experience with small airports on the islands,  we thought it might be fun to compare the experience of small airport travel in the two countries.

Maximizing carry-ons for travel

Similarities:

• Cancellations and delays:  It may be just me, but it seems like cancellations and delays are more common in small airports.  Perhaps smaller planes are more susceptible to weather conditions?  (I’ll have to ask my pilot friends if this is the case.)  We were thankful that our flight was not cancelled and only delayed, but it seemed like every flight there was affected.
• Flight information boards:  A few years ago they put up flight information monitors in our little island airport.  They aren’t very helpful.  Often they are just blue screens or carry the wrong information.  To our chagrin, the little US airport had lots of working monitors to look at, but they either didn’t carry the right flight information or held contradictory information.  One monitor said we were leaving from gate 4 (which was correct) but the monitor over gate 4 was from another airline announcing a delayed flight to TX (not our destination).
• Boarding: You would think that when the airport is small and there is only one runway for planes to take off from, that boarding times could be staggered to reflect that, as a simultaneous boarding time could confuse passengers.  But, perhaps confusing passengers is part of what brings excitement to the day!  Last week, as passengers to Atlanta and Houston were boarding through the same door at the same time, they were careful to check our tickets before we hit the tarmac, sending some of us left and the others right—that felt just like the islands.  
• Passenger camaraderie:  Something about these peculiarities of small airports draws the passengers together.  You find yourself giving total strangers advice on which counter to go to or sharing a bit of information you may have learned.

Differences:

• Food and water:  In US airports there is always food and water.  The food may be expensive, but it is available—and there are water fountains!  What a luxury a water fountain is!  There is rarely food available at the island airports and what there is is scant.  On occasion you can buy water, but they remove the lids (as a security measure?!?) and there are no water fountains.
• Bathrooms:  US airports seem to always have nice bathrooms.  They are clean, and well stocked.  You hardly have to touch anything as almost everything is automated and motion activated.  Island airport bathrooms…let’s just say you’re lucky if the toilets flush and you always carry your own toilet paper.
• Information sharing:  On the islands, if a flight is delayed or cancelled, you will rarely be told by airport staff the reason for the delay or cancellation.  Apparently this is not information that needs to be shared.  How different from the US!  The announcer shared with us details like, “The plane is currently being cleaned and the cleaning crew will be exiting the aircraft in the next five minutes” or “One of the flight crew has not arrived yet as she has a connecting flight from Dallas which should be arriving in 6 minutes.”  I found the level of detail simply wonderful (but maybe that’s just my culture—we Americans like to know things, right?)

Our 12 yr old with a birthday treat

Having lived in the islands so long, we’ve grown accustomed to the need for patience and flexibility when it comes to travel.  In our memory, US travel was streamlined, shiny, automated ease.  So it’s funny to be hit with the reality, “Oh yeah, things don’t always go to plan here either.”  And some things, perhaps small airports, have a culture all their own, no matter where you live.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful that storms didn’t not bother our travel this past week and that we made it safely back to the east coast. We are thankful that we got to celebrate our youngest son’s 12th birthday and that we got to participate in the wedding of our dear teammate and friend. It made for a full week with many blessings. The wedding was a beautiful, God-honoring event. The couple from the islands also made it to the wedding and with the help of several different people they were able to find transport and enjoy the wedding. It was nice to see them and share that experience with them. Our teammate made it safely back to Clove Island!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Tomorrow we have an appointment for our daughter with a rheumatologist in Boston— pray that this appointment could bring clarity in how to proceed with her treatment, and continue to pray for full remission! We only have 2 weeks left in the US, but it still seems like we have a lot of people to see and things to do. Pray that we would enjoy the rest of our time, use our time well, and not become too tired. Pray for the medical team on Clove Island as they prepare to welcome a new teammate— pray for a smooth transition for the teammate and the whole team!