Taking the Boat

Boats at the dock on the big island

Moving to Clove Island means doing things we’ve never done before. That includes going to another island by boat.  We had heard of people going from island to island by boat, but the service was so unreliable and even thought to be dangerous, not to mention so time-consuming that we never considered it for the short trips we were making to visit the neighboring islands.  But this time we have all our stuff we were bringing with us, including the stuff we had left behind on the islands (all our kitchen pots and pans, dishes, silverware, sheets, towels, mosquito nets, books--we had left many things behind.)  To move all these things to our new home  the tiny island-hopping airplane allowance of 15kg per person was not going to cut it.  So that meant the boat.
The adventure began right from the start.  I walked into a couple of agencies asking about a boat to take me (Tom) and our stuff to Clove Island.  The first place had little information to offer.  I couldn’t seem to get any sort of prices out of him, or times or dates of travel.  So I went into a second place.  There I was referred to a man who said he would come to the house and take a look at our bags and quote me a price.  So I thought I would give him a try.  He came to the house, he gave me a quote and told me the day we would leave: Thursday morning--he would come with a truck take all our things and off we would go.  The price seemed reasonable and the situation sounded good.  Maybe this wasn’t so hard after all...But then on Thursday, we called and changed the day to Friday.  Friday I waited all day for the man to come.  I called many times and kept getting pushed off.  Friday evening he finally showed up.  Thankfully some of my island brothers were there too.  They got to the truth--actually, the boat wasn’t leaving until Saturday...Actually it was going to stop at another island...Actually it wouldn’t be arriving at Clove Island until Monday!  Monday!

View from the boat, big island getting smaller on right

With that my island brother took me back to the agencies and we found another boat.  He arranged the details and the next morning me and my stuff were on the boat.  It’s a lesson I’ve learned before but it never hurts to learn it again: “Always ask island friends for help.”

The boat ride itself was pretty uneventful.  Calm seas.  The boat looked like it was in good shape.  It wasn’t overloaded.  Everything went fine.  In fact, they had 3 flat screen TVs and anyone was welcome to watch film after film of incredibly violent Hollywood B-movies!  Megan and the kids took the airplane and arrived at midday on a flight that took about 30 mintues.  The boat ride took more than 7 hours and we got in in the evening.  I was happy and surprised to find my landlord’s husband at the docks.  He was there to pick me up.  Unfortunately we couldn’t get our stuff off the boat.  They just weren’t unloading that evening.  So after a night off making do without plates, silverware or mosquito nets, we went this morning (Sunday) back to the port. Ba Fado and I went down together (notice--I learned from my last mistake).  It took some doing, but Ba Fado managed to get things off the boat.  They had docked the boat to another boat which was in turn docked to another boat which was in turn docked to another boat which was lashed to the dock. Thus they had to carry all our bags over one boat after another until it made it to land.  But, by 10:00am we had all our bags in our new house and we were unpacking.  Let the adventure begin--oh wait, it already has!

Our daughter on the big island

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We’re so thankful that we all had safe travels and that despite the hiccups, we and our bags have all finally made it to Clove Island.  We’ve finally arrived to our destination.  It feels like it’s been a long time in coming.  It may have taken us a little longer to get here, but we used the time well on the big island and had some very good visits with old friends, former students, and even meeting some new people.  Lots of people helped us get here safely, from helping Tom on the boat to helping Megan and kids at the airports. We are thankful also for our new home and for the kindness of our landlords, Ma & Ba Fado.  Pray for a growing and deepening relationship with this family which has been so welcoming to us.


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Now we begin the process of settling in--but not just settling into a house.  Settling into a community, learning language, and figuring out the ins and outs of life here.  We have already felt some warm welcomes from our neighbors who appreciate our ability to speak some of the island language (even if it is the wrong dialect).  Pray that in the coming days we would be able to get to know our neighbors, find people willing to help us learn language.  Pray that we can also find all the things we still need for our house (we currently have no appliances of any kind and no way to cook food or even heat water).  Lastly, we still have to figure out getting our long-term visas this week.  Pray for grace in dealing with government officials.  Many of you have been praying for our daughter. She continues to be healthy.  She had a bit of fever the other night, but it had disappeared by morning.  Please continue to pray for all of us that we would stay healthy.