On Saturday, September 12, we loaded up a church van with our luggage and headed for Nashville. We stayed the night in a hotel, and then the next day we said goodbye to our family and hopped on a plane to Dallas, Texas. There, we met up with our partners, the Weldys, on their way to Vanuatu for the first time! We all flew together from Dallas to Sydney, Australia, which is the longest non-stop flight available right now, with a total flight time of 16 hours and 50 minutes! We landed in Sydney Australia with just 90 minutes until our flight to Brisbane would take off. We knew this connection would be tight, but once we got into immigration we found that there was a power outtage and that another very large plane had arrived at the same time as ours, causing a massive back-up. By the time we got through immigration and collected our luggage, our plane had already left. After getting through customs, we made it to the transfers desk and learned that although flights to Brisbane leave every hour, we would not arrive in Brisbane in time to make our flight to Vanuatu. This was particularly concerning, because the flight to Vanuatu only goes once a week!

After a whole lot of being sent back and forth to different desks, it was finally determined that the airline would re-book our family’s tickets for the next day, but that we would have to fly through Fiji, then through Vanuatu’s capital city, Port Vila, before flying to our home in Santo. Due to the way our tickets were booked, the airline was not responsible for covering any of our expenses but they did re-book the tickets at no charge. Because we would have to be back at the ticket counter at 4am, we ate dinner at the airport and stayed in the hotel there. Between the time change, the travel, and the stress of missing our flights, we were all asleep by 6pm. The next day’s travel went off relatively smoothly and although exhausted, we made it home to Vanuatu Wednesday night. In all, we arrived in Vanuatu one day late with about $750 in extra expenses due to the hotel, meals, and extra luggage fees resulting from our change in itinerary, but we did make it and so did all of our luggage! Praise God for safe travel and a relatively uneventful trip.

Although we were traveling with the Weldys on the same flights, their tickets were booked differently from ours and the airline was not as helpful to them. In the end, it was determined that their best option would be to go on to Brisbane and stay the week there before heading to Santo on the same flight we had originally booked, just one week later. A Christian family in Australia is hosting the Weldys and they are doing well. Another family even donated funds to send them to the zoo! Praise God for providing housing and fun experiences for the Weldys during their stay in Australia. Please pray that the week will be uneventful and that they will arrive without incident tonight here in Santo. Please also join us in praying for their adjustment to life in Vanuatu. On September 27, the Kopkes will be coming over for their first time as well. Please be in prayer for them also as they say goodbye, travel, and adjust.

The Good: When we landed in the capital city, some friends drove out to the airport just to see us for a few minutes. It was such a blessing to see their friendly faces! Then, when we arrived in Santo we were greeted by a huge group of friends and teammates, all eager to meet Josiah and give us a hand. We arrived home to find more friends waiting for us, who had cleaned up or house and had food waiting for us in our fridge and freezer! We couldn’t possibly have felt more welcome or more missed.

The Ugly: After our friends left, we were exhausted so we got something to eat and got ready for bed, and that’s when The Ugly struck! Craig walked into the bathroom and found 16 cockroaches hanging out in our shower! Combat ensued, resulting in the discovery that the rats and cockroaches had apparently had an epic war underneath Elijah’s bed during our absence, which is where we had stored the majority of our clothing. A rat chewed open the vacuum seal bags in which we stored our clothes, soiling many items and even chewing through a pair of Craig’s shorts. Many loads of laundry later, everything we own has been washed and we are beginning to regain some semblance of order! Besides our clothing, the rats enjoyed munching on some of the tupperware and ziploc bags we had brought over from the US. As far as we can tell no other damage has been done, but we still have quite a bit of cleaning ahead 

Finally, The Bad. While we were gone, the lubricant in the gears of our fans solidified, leaving a good bit of repair work to be done by Craig to get them running again. Saturday morning while working on one, a blade struck Craig’s hand between the thumb and forefinger. Luckily, we are very close to a clinic and so 2 stitches later he is sore but okay. Thankfully the blade that hit his hand was plastic, not metal, so the blade was worse off than he was. Also, thankfully fans are in stock right now, so we were able to purchase a replacement fan immediately! 

Despite the bad and the ugly, the good part of our homecoming was an overwhelming blessing. We are glad to be back in Vanuatu and so thankful that we are here in time for Craig to get adjusted to the time difference and be able to teach as planned in the upcoming VISTA module. Please praise God with us for all the many ways in which he has blessed our family through this trip to the US and home again to Vanuatu. The memories of the time we were able to spend with all of you are ones we will cherish for the next two years while we are gone. Also praise him for answering our prayers and yours in getting us home in time for VISTA. Please be in prayer for us as we adjust to being back in Vanuatu and also as we continue to adjust to being a family of four. God is good, all the time.