Some days are looonng….

By Cindy

On the mission field, as with most people’s lives, some days seem very short (most of them, actually) and some days are long. And some days are very, very long. Like today.

Our truck is sick and in need of a visit from Dr. Mechanic, so as Monday arrived and our need for supplies was evident, Aaron and I decided that we would make our first try for going to town without the convenience of a truck and with the girls in tow. We were up bright and early, ate our breakfast, packed our backpacks (I made both girls wear a backpack so they could be of help in carrying back our food stuffs), and headed off to town at 8:00. The weather was nice, breezy and cool so it made our bushwalk somewhat pleasant. The path was mostly cleared of brush so that was nice. And our only obstacles were a large hill to climb (Aaron carried Melia up it) and a log bridge that left much to be desired by way of a “safety rail”. But, we made it to the main road (at Tuhu Secondary School) 45 minutes later with no injuries and cheerful dispositions all around. We couldn’t ask for much more than that. We had hoped that finding a truck to take us the rest of the way to town would be a quick occurrence…but an hour later we were still waiting. So, we said a prayer and decided that if we didn’t find a truck by 10:30, we would head for home. By that time there would be no point in going to town. To clarify, it wasn’t that there were no trucks to be found. It was just that all the trucks that passed were packed full with people and not willing to add four more to the pile! At one point while we were waiting we were able to provide free entertainment to about 20 boys who were on break from their classes at the school. They literally stood about 5 feet from us and stared at us, chatting amongst themselves, until we left on the truck. We said friendly hellos to them when they first walked up, but they were too afraid to talk to us, so they just stared. It was like we were a sitcom! Thankfully, at 10:20 a truck came by with just enough room for the four of us, so we piled on and were headed to town.

One reason that we were so anxious to get to town today was because we were to meet Mariana at the market. She has been studying with us in Loun village on Thursday nights, along with several others. She told us she wanted to be baptized, so we agreed to meet in town and go to the ocean to baptize her. When we arrived at the market she and two other women from Loun were waiting, as they had decided to be baptized also. So, we are pleased to share that we have three new sisters in Christ: Mariana, Kumei, and Martha (who happens to be Miswel’s wife). The beginning of growth for the church in Loun village and a new life for these three women!

After the baptisms, Aaron and I and the girls headed off to find some lunch at a nearby “restaurant”. After lunch we completed our supply shopping and then Aaron and Kaela went to TVL to do emails, while Melia and I walked to the roundabout to wait for them. By this time it was about 1:15pm. Melia and I sat down on the grass and made ourselves comfortable for our wait, doing our best to ignore the stares from the people around us. “White people” sitting on the ground is such a foreign thing to the locals here that they looked at us like they just couldn’t believe their eyes. Melia and I waited and waited and waited and finally Aaron and Kaela showed up about 2:30pm.

I figured we would soon find a truck to take us back to Lorakau, but there just wasn’t one! Many trucks were passing by, but they weren’t going our direction. So, we continued waiting. While we were waiting some men who knew Aaron wanted him to “story” with them about Osama Bin Laden. People here are very intrigued to hear about him and it is Aaron’s least favorite topic to talk to them about. I told him last night that he ought to say, “I will tell you about Bin Laden for 10 minutes, if you will let me tell you about Jesus after that.” Anyway, we continued waiting and FINALLY a truck arrived at 3:45 that was going our direction and had room to spare. We hopped on and rode back to Tuhu School where we got off and began our bushwalk back home. Thankfully, the sun was beginning to set, so it wasn’t hot. However, we were all laden down with our supplies and the bags got very heavy after not too long. But, we had to keep trekking! We finally made it back home at almost 5:00pm. It had been a looonng day. It was a good day, though, and we were both pleased that the girls did so well walking and not complaining. As for Aaron and I, after carrying the majority of the weight and all, we were thoroughly exhausted. We came home, took our baths before the sun set completely, ate a quick dinner of fried eggs and bread with butter, and fell into bed at 7:00. Good night, sleep tight and don’t let the earwigs bite!