By: Cindy
We arrived back in Tanna to gray skies and heavy rains on Monday, October 5th at 11:30 am. Unfortunately, one of our bags didn’t make it on the flight. We were faced with a decision to make. Now that we don’t have a truck (we’ve sold it already), getting around is a bit more complicated. Because of the heavy weight of our bags plus three boxes, we really needed to charter the truck to our village. The downside of the chartered truck is twofold. 1) The hill up to Lorakau is bound to be a muddy mess. We have nicknamed that hill “Will Hill”, as in you’d better write your will before going on it (don’t tell my Mom!). 2) The bed of the chartered truck has no protection from the rain. The truck is a single-cab and while the girls and I are blessed to ride in front, our bags and boxes are sure to get soaked in the back. The airport promised that our bag would be on the flight the next morning. So, we considered staying the night in town at Pbles and Ruth’s house, get the bag the next morning, and then head home. But, all of us are anxious to get home. Plus, staying the night with the locals is something I like to prepare for beforehand (as my overwhelming need-to-plan quirk kicks in!), not something I want to do on the spur of the moment, if it can be helped. What to do? Aaron and I talked and debated our options and finally decided it would be best to just brave the rain and “Will Hill” in order to get home in the shortest amount of time.
After a short stop in town to refill our gas bottle, buy eggs, bread and noodles, we hit the road with Sasen, the man who drives the charter transport truck that makes the trip to our village. Sasen, apparently, has no qualms about the muddy hill (or he has a death wish!) and basically barreled his way up the hill, down the slippery roads all the way to our front door. I sat in front with Kaela and Melia, shut my eyes on the hill, praying fervently that we wouldn’t slide off the side. Thankfully, we didn’t. God granted us yet another safe journey home.
Despite the downpour, it was good to be home and back to the familiar faces of our village. Tess and Harry and their kids were glad to see us, all except Baby Ron-Jon, who cried at the sight of us. I guess it will take time (again) to win him over. Our boxes and bags were thoroughly soaked! While the girls re-acquainted themselves with our house, Aaron and I set to work drying off some of our belongings and hanging others from the rafters to dry. We weren’t able to dry things properly until the rain stopped and the sun came out, which wasn’t for two days.
It has been nice to be back, see the people, and get started again on our life here. However, we’ve had frustrations too. It is now Thursday and our bag still hasn’t made it here to Tanna – in fact no one seems to know where it is. And honestly, the possible loss of it is making me feel sick with sadness. It was my bag and I had some invaluable things in it: my two most frequently used Bibles (the one I use for studying and the smaller one that I cart with me everywhere), my Bible studies that I developed specifically for women with hand-drawn pictures to aid those that I study with who are illiterate. I do not have a copy of those studies and they will be a great loss. It also contained the hard copy of the current book I’m working on complete with my notes on corrections that I want to make, and also the packets of Bible class songs and lessons that I copied and put together for the women here. Not to mention, a handful of home school materials and books for Kaela. There were other things too – all replaceable - and their loss is of no great sorrow to me. However, the Bibles and study materials I have wept over – that may seem silly to some, but I put hours of work into those study materials and painstakingly made notes in my study Bible. And I just ache to have them lost. Not to mention the sentimental value – there was something comforting and nostalgic about opening my Bible to 1 Corinthians chapters 12 and 13 and seeing the smudge of dirt on the page where I accidently dropped my Bible on the ground during a Wednesday evening Bible study in Etas way back in 2006.
I should probably stop writing about this. I’m depressing myself and maybe you, as well! I just wanted to share my sorrow over this loss.
The frustration of it all comes in that our efforts at locating this bag have been fruitless, thus far, as the airport employees would rather waste our time and phone credit passing us from one person to the next than deliver the bad news that my bag is indeed and officially lost! Customer service is a foreign concept here. In addition to that frustration, last week we put 10 boxes of Bible study materials, home school and household supplies, and food supply stock for the next two months on the ship to come to Tanna. We received word on Monday that the ship left Port Vila on time, got about halfway to Tanna, but had engine trouble so it turned around and went back to Vila. Apparently, they moved all the cargo for Tanna onto another ship that arrived on Wednesday. However, when Aaron checked on our cargo, it wasn’t there and is “supposedly” coming on the next trip. Responsibility taken for property on the ship is as sketchy and inept as the airport and we fear that these supplies will be lost, as well. They will also be a great loss to us and while most of it is replaceable in theory – it is only replaceable in Port Vila or the USA and most definitely not in Tanna! If the food supplies, particularly, don’t make it – that will cause us other problems, as any food we purchase in town has to be carried home on our backs each week.
I told Aaron this morning that “each day has enough trouble of its own” – and since this week each day seems to have about twice the amount that it should, then next week we ought to be smooth sailing!
Although we are enduring hardship right now, life will go on and we are putting forth the effort to make the best of it, so we can continue our work here in Tanna unhindered. In the meantime, we are fervently praying that we will see that bag and those boxes again soon!
