Trip to Santo

Thursday night my team parted ways and the 14 of us going on extended outreach said goodbye to the half of the team staying in Fiji. We packed up and left for the airport around 7pm for Vanuatu. We arrived Vanuatu around midnight and drove to our sleeping quarters. Once our luggage was offloaded, we had a team meeting where we found out we were leaving at 5am for a 10 hour boat ride…that would have been nice to know in advance…but so would have the next few days. We got up at 4:45 and left around 6 and waited at the dock from 7 until 9:30 and then about 60 people loaded on with all their stuff onboard a 30 foot catamaran. The seas were a little more lively than our last boat ride and on a MUCH smaller ship.

We arrived Santo around 8pm waited for half an hour to load our things on the truck, then jumped on the bags and rode to our sleeping quarters where we dropped our bags, then left for dinner. We didn’t get back from dinner until midnight and we waited for half an hour for the director to look for a second room because it’s not kosher for boys and girls to sleep in one room together…but after that mission failed, the girls slept on one side and the boys on the other. So 50 of us slept in a huge cement room that echoed a lot(with the snoring and the children in pain(one with pink eye, one with boils, and a few with diarrhea.)) with the lights on all night to keep the centipedes out of the room(they are poisonous), using a water bottle as a pillow since mine disappeared and we were awoken at 5:30 to eat our 1/3 beget for breakfast before loading into the back of a truck to ride an hour ½ to go to a presentation all day long. Once we thought it was done, we drove downtown and it just continued downtown until about 9pm and then we ate dinner, got back around 11pm because we had to wake up at 5am because our truck was leaving at 6am. This time the journey was 2 ½ hours, so the 50 of us loaded in one truck bed because we were going to go take vans…but the vans were gone, so we rode like that for the whole time…I stood up the whole time with 5 other guys who didn’t have room to sit…both ways.

We got back the second night about 10:30 because our boat was leaving at 4am the next morning….but we were late and it waited for us…thank God! This time we were on a little bit bigger one hull boat, but the seas were BAD! We were avoiding 2 weather systems and the swells were on average 4-5 feet the whole way. In some of the bays it went down, and on occation we had some swells over 10 feet! After 17 ½ hours of this grueling part of our journey, most of the people on the boat threw up more than once…(luckily I was sitting on top of the boat with the crew so I got a lot of air and water for most of the journey…but it was really slippery. There were a few times I thought I was going to fly off the boat…God kept me safe and my stomach calm. By the end of the trip, I could see the salt crystals on my skin.)

Our whole team was physically and emotionally exhausted from the journey so we all stayed in a motel for the night. It is really expensive here. The ride from the dock (half a mile) for one van to take 2 trips was $30 US and its $90 per room per night here. We arrived the motel at 1:30am and unpacked and showered…OH the GLORY of a hot shower!!! I hadn’t showered since I left Fiji, and it has been almost 2 months since I’ve slept in a bed. So today I’m checking my email for the first time in a week, resting, reading, swimming in the pool, and I’m going to go to town and buy me some good food…It has been a week since I have actually had a meal. I’ve eaten a grapefruit here, some rice there, and an occasional cookie or cracker.

In this journey, I encountered a few men of God that were such a delight to meet. Two of them are locals to Santo and knew everything about the area. One of these two (Pastor Ben) had been there for his whole life and knew everything about everywhere and everyone. The other (Lester) was a graduated college student and one of the highly esteemed intercessors for the island. I learned a lot from these two and if I ever go back, they will be the first two I look for. Another powerful man I met was actually on the stage as an official guest to the ceremony. He sat a few rows behind the president and prime minister of Vanuatu. He challenged my faith very strongly and I will be keeping in touch with him.

Through these travels, there were certain specific times of the day that I felt some of you praying for me. It has been happening more and more. So either your prayers are becoming more and more powerful, or I’m just sensing the prayers that you’ve been praying for me this whole time. I can not tell you how thankful I am for your prayers. They have sustained me through this time…I don’t know how I would have survived without you fighting by my side this last week. Thank you all so much for being a part of my life and my adventures.