Still Sorting It Out...

Ca va mes amies? Bonne dimanche pour la conference generale.

It is 8:22 AM in Utah right now and you are all padding around in your pajamas thinking how nice it will be to settle in front of the TV and watch yet another Sunday session of general conference.  We hope you appreciate the convenience of all you have at home.  Here, everything is so much more complicated, but still possible, which is such a blessing.

The saga here continues.  With the huge influx of new missionaries, the American missionaries headed our way are now trained at the MTC in Ghana.  Ghana, a very small operation until now, is flooded with incoming/outgoing missionaries, all being trained for different lengths of time depending upon their language skills.  No more X number of weeks for training; if you can speak adequately (?), you are shipped out, which creates many difficulties.  We expected a group of seven missionaries to arrive on 4 September.  Every missionary companionship on our island would be affected and needed to be in St Denis (11/2 hour drive for some) on the morning of 5 September to meet their new companions, assist with the preliminary training, enjoy lunch together, and be taught by the President Adams.  Well, on Monday, 2 September, we found out that they weren't coming.  Yes, you are right, WEREN'T coming. Someone in Ghana had forgotten to purchase their tickets, so now they would be arriving on Thursday instead.  Everything scheduled had to be rearranged; the missionaries had to fill up a day they had kept free and cancel appointments for the day they thought they would be working.  The president had to reschedule his flights and a whole weekend of plans, and our heads were swimming trying to make everything work...but it did, they are here, full of enthusiasm and spirit, and we are loving watching them all sort it out together.  And then...

There was a sister missionary in Ghana who was scheduled to arrive 16 October.  Her language was great (five years of French and a summer in France with Study Abroad) so they said she would be arriving the middle of September.  Okay, we can do that.  She flew from Ghana to South Africa, where she was supposed to board a flight to Madagascar and then to Reunion.  When she got to Johannesburg, ALONE, she found that her flight to Madagascar had been cancelled.  SOOOOOO, when would the next flight be leaving?  No one knew; MAYBE tomorrow sometime.  She was in Joburg for 24 hours plus, was finally able to board a flight to Mauritius and then to Reunion.  She arrived, being a trooper about the whole ordeal, only to find that somewhere in all of this mess, her luggage hadn't made it on the plane.  I will spare you all the nightmarish details, but EIGHT days later, she still didn't have any luggage.  None of the three airlines she had flown with would accept responsibility and said it was "the other guy's" fault.  She was wonderful for about five days, but then she began to wilt, and, of course, we finally got to the conversation we knew was coming.  "If I am here to do God's work, why isn't he helping me find my luggage?  I don't think I can do this another day."  I looked at her, Brent was meeting with some local leaders that evening, and thought, "What can I possibly say to her?" because at that point I really didn't think she would EVER see her luggage again.  But we talked about why she was here, the fact that she could go home, the decision was hers, but did she really want a few things in a suitcase (three months of shopping and planning; you know how that goes) stop her from doing what she was sent here to do? We talked about how she got through Joburg alone and that she could do this too.  She still wasn't sure.  She went upstairs to bed.

The next morning I knocked on her door.  She answered, dressed (same outfit), with her name tag pinned on her shirt, and I knew she had crossed the bridge and would be staying...no matter what.  That night at 11:30 PM we went to the airport and, VOILA, after all those days, trips to the airport, phone calls, meeting with anyone and everyone, her luggage came sliding down the carousel.  You should have seen the smiles; it was a wonderful moment, but the BEST PART was HER knowledge that she had successfully sorted it out before the luggage arrived and had made her decision to see it through.  Moments which can't adequately be described.

Highlight of the week:  We have  new gecko!  Brent saw him scurrying across the wall two nights ago. We haven't seen him since, but we know he is here somewhere, our new apartment buddy.  Brent doesn't get to vacuum any more!

Lowlight of the week:  We came home from a particularly long day, I looked in the mirror, and noticed that one of my earrings was black and the other one was purple...not even remotely similar in color or style.  You tell me, how did THAT happen?  Funny thing; I didn't even care.  Just took them off and got ready for bed.

Photo Gallery:  YES, our computer is back!

A tiny street in our favorite little island village, Entre Deux (remember, between two?).

Mangez Ensemble (eating together) after sacrament meeting.  Brent's comment, "I've never had so much fun on a Sunday."  

Two elders were going home (front left and back right) and wanted to have "one more French repas", so they bought their favorite baguettes and cheese and stopped by to enjoy eating them "chez nous" (at our house) when their last day was over.  You can't believe just HOW MUCH bread and cheese those three consumed!  Great night.

A new arrival...VERY tired.

We told you about this.  He showed up for a training luncheon, and I saved him for a departure dinner that night.

Same great elders at their departure dinner. Still eating, but NOT willing to share their water with the cockroach.  I anticipated this moment all afternoon.

P-Day hike with President and Sister Adams.  We were high in the mountains, came around a corner and found a little family who lived up there.  They had a crate of oranges that were probably headed for the open market.  We bought some from them and were they ever good.  Fresh off the tree!

This is their home.  Very neat and clean; totally self-sufficient.   A huge vegetable garden, mango, papaya, banana and other assorted fruit trees, chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, even a solar panel.  A little corner of paradise,

We send our love to all of you at home.  A bientot!

The Castaways