Tuesday, September 22

In between bursts of rain Team Choate finally loaded up the truck with our cargo yesterday afternoon.

This is the first time we haven’t traveled with our cargo, and it took a lot of faith for me to relinquish our food supplies for this trip, the girls’ school books, and my old Bible that has stuck by me for more than thirty years.

We drove down to the wharf to discover that the landing craft had changed its departure to Tuesday night, but we decided to go ahead and load and stick with our original program. The constant change in schedule over the last three weeks has really taken a toll on us, and we just wanted to get out to Marulaon.

The boat’s crew helped us quickly move everything from the truck, up the loading ramp, and underneath a tarp. Rain had begun again, and I was super proud of my girls, they didn’t slow down one bit.

We got home and finished all of those pesky last things before we fell into bed. Bright and early this morning, we said our goodbyes to SITAG and loaded ourselves into the truck. This is the first time we’ve tried to bring the cello along, and also the first time the family has taken a motor boat to get to Marulaon.

One of our colleagues drove us to Komibo, and our boat was already waiting. Faithful Belza brought along his wife as his crew, and once again we moved our cargo from one vehicle to another and set out for the last leg of our adventure.

Halfway across, we paused for the expected refuel. It’s always a team effort! We were sopping wet by this point, as the splashing waves leaped over the boat. We made great time across the water, and because we only had a few bags with us, we made it up the hill and into the house just before noon. We rinsed off all of the salt water that was beginning to crust over on our skin, unpacked our few belongings, and grabbed a bite to eat. Then we tackled mopping and cleaning up the grime that had accumulated.

Finally, we set off to say hello to as many people as we could while we still had some energy. I especially wanted to see the baby that had been born in our absence and named after Olivia. Having a baby named after you carries great privilege and responsibility, and our girl is thrilled to be honored in this way!