"We will pay $1800 for your seat!"

The leg of our flight from L.A. to Sydney (about 15 hours) departed late Tuesday night;  90 minutes late.  At that point, we knew we would miss our connecting flight from Sydney into Vanuatu where we had actually planned a 3-hour time slot to claim luggage and go through customs.   It seems there were 285 passengers on the Boeing 787, and that was 14 too heavy.   After we were all boarded, AA asked for volunteers to give up their seats to the tune of $1800 per seat.   Fourteen people volunteered; we were thinking about our connection in Sydney!  The winds changed (what?) and that would aid in the short runway departure!  So, only two volunteers were needed.  Twelve came back and settled in.  We taxied down the short runway.  Just as we thought that perhaps we could make the connection, the captain announced that a passenger was ill and we had to return to the gate.  You can't blame an ill passenger, so we were towed back to the gate.  We realized that connecting was over for us.  We had to overnight in Sydney.  But caught the next flight to Vanuatu the following day.  A piece of our luggage decided not to follow us. 😒  It is Sunday afternoon now and no sign of the bag, which has the lesson plans/master copies for the college courses inside it.  Goodness! 🙏

 


Reflecting on your questions mentioned in the last blog,  there will be 12 students in our class, an even number of males and females.
We will teach 2,  3-week college sessions beginning Feb 5 and then March 6th.  We are excited about meeting these students during a meeting on Sunday at 3pm. 

We have a very comfortable 2-bedroom apartment about 1 mile from the Potters,  our host missionaries. Ceiling fans are a blessing in this heat and humidity, and our bedroom has AC.  As far as we are concerned, our jet lag is a memory!  PTL!
We walk with our backpacks on a crushed coral road to a nearby good-sized supermarket.  Beef is more plentiful here than chicken.
We decided not to "invest" in a whole frozen chicken that cost $12.00 here!  And, what they produce is expensive, too!  🥚🥚
For those of you who have asked, we have not found the beaches yet. ⛱  We have spent most of our time acclimating to this culture.  But, we will get there.

Our conversation classes begin Monday, and we hope and pray that we will get to meet and know much of the community through this opportunity.  We have all the materials for this. 

The language here is Bislama, which uses French grammar structure with English words.  In church this morning, we were able to catch the gist of conversations, testimonies, and the sermon.

Jesus asks all of us to step out of our boats, steamers, and cruise ships, but He does not ask us to walk on water; He asks us to trust Him.  Trust every detail to Him.

So far, He has led us on some really cool adventures, and this one will be another deeply satisfying one.

Thank you for reading our blog!
Keep Looking Up!
J:m and L:nda