thirty hours by boat

Thirty hours doesn't seem like a very long time, does it?  Well, it sure does when you are an introvert and you meet five completely separate groups of people and need to have conversations in a language that is not your first and ask questions about another language, which you don't speak at all.  However, thirty hours is also long enough to make some pretty incredible memories.

This is the boat the six of us traveled in for two days.

We visited five villages by boat.  Four of them on islands and one on the coast, although it is almost completely surrounded by water so it is almost an island.  The five villages represent three language groups, all of which have participated in at least one workshop over the past six years, but have not been involved in translation work other than that.  We asked questions about the language to see how it relates to surrounding languages.  And questions about language usage, do the kids learn it?, etc.  And presented details about the local organization for translation to engage interest. 

Meeting with a group in the first village.

And in the last village.

It was wonderful to see the interest that people have for translation, even if my detail-oriented brain was struggling to keep up with how the new translation group could expand to ALL the languages in the province, without lots of planning.  Thankfully, God's planning is better than ours and so I just kept reminding myself not to spend my time worrying about how God was going to work things out, but rather be encouraged by how he was already working them out.  It will be fun to see what happens.

We were able to walk around all of the villages and islands and see the local schools, churches, beaches, houses, etc.  It was cloudy and rainy the whole first day, but even though we were rained on . . . a lot . . . the downpours waited until we were under shelter and a tarp protected our bags in the boat. 

The first place we visited was the almost island.  

A local house.

Coral pathway connecting the village through the mangrove swamp.

A shelter in the mangrove swamp.

Kids in the local primary school.  They have up to grade six.  We were asked to sign their guest book.

Aren't these gorgeous?  Outside the school.

As we walked around the village, we gathered friends with us.

The second place we went, the first island, has a sand pathway around the entire outside of the island.  It's set in from the beach so you have trees on both sides and they maintain it well, with drainage ditches so the sand is not washed away in a high tide.  It takes about thirty minutes to walk around the whole island.

From the main path to the beach.

The local church.

And a local house.

Some boys with homemade boards for the waves.

The third place we visited is where we stayed the night.  It is a long, narrow island.  About a mile long, but you can walk from one side to the other (on the narrow side) in less than five minutes. 

Beautiful water!

Frangipanis . . . they smell amazing!

The path that crosses the island

Friends who helped me find pretty flowers and the sea toilet and anything else I needed.

Cute puppy!

Local church

The house we stayed in.

Scribbles in the sand.

Looking back the length of the island.

They have sea toilets on many of these small islands and along the coast of the main island.  These are quite an adventure.  This is a video showing how you walk out to the sea toilet. 

The second day we went to the fourth place, which is another small island.  It too, you can walk around in less than thirty minutes.  It was named after Hawaii during World War II and is quite beautiful! 

Coming up on the next island.

The water was really clear.

I saw a bunch of bright fish from the boat.

A brilliant baby hammock with a mosquito net, over a sandbox. :)

Gorgeous orchids tucked away in a tree.

When the kids saw us they decided to follow us as we toured the island.

The local church, being rebuilt.

A local house.

And the beach next to that house.

Cute puppy!

And then the fifth place we visited was another small island.  Another long and narrow one, but not quite as long and a bit wider than the third place we were at.  A large portion of the island is used for coconut trees and the women on the island make coconut oil and take it to market in the province capital to sell.

Coconut trees do provide some shade! :)

These are the boats they use for fishing.

We beat the rain on day two!

On our way back to the main island, we stopped at an uninhabited, tiny island to swim for a few minutes.  You can walk from one side to the other in any direction in about three minutes.

A crazy tree!

It was a wonderful trip, although I was completely exhausted by the time we were done!

The first time we got in the boat, I was clutching onto the side until my knuckles were white and I was praying, "Lord, thank You for making dry land!!!"  However, as the trip progressed, I was able to let go of my death grip, at least somewhat! :)  I'm thankful for safe travel and minimal waves, even though when they came they were enough to turn my stomach.