Sometimes in life our plan, no matter how positive the purpose, does not
match God’s plan for us. We were expecting to take a copra boat sometime
on Friday to Namu, however, just a few hours before we were to board the
boat they got a call from another island that someone was sick and
needed to be picked up. The copra boat went to pick up the ill person
and we thought that we had watched our last hope of getting to Namu fall
through. Pastor Tommy told us though that there was going to be a chance
of a smaller speed boat going early Sunday morning. Saturday night the
boat captains told that we would not be leaving until 9am (instead of
4am) so the boat could get more fuel and so conditions of the ocean
could be re-evaluated. Pastor Tommy came to us at 8:30 this morning and
told us the boat would be ready to leave 10am but it would take five to
six hours to get to name instead of the usually two hours due to the
conditions of the ocean. After talking it over and realizing that we
would be taking a fairly small boat to be out on the open ocean in some
rough we decided that we would not take the risk.

That means that there will be no Namu for us this time.

With that said, this trip has been a huge blessing and not a
disappointment at all. Friday, after we learned that the copra boat had
an emergency and would not be taking us we went down to the local market
to get some food for Sabbath. While we were there we ran into a young
couple from the church that we had met at the mid week service on
Wednesday night. When they heard that we did not catch the boat to Namu
and we may not be going at all the man told us that he had been to Namu
earlier this year and had taken some pictures and he would get them off
of his computer for us. After some further discussion we found out the
he had taken the pictures that we are using on the web site. While
standing there in the market the man was holding a box of granola bars.
He told us that on the island they were so expensive that they could
only afford every once in a while, but he liked them a lot. Back where
we were staying we had a bunch of granola bars. Paul told him that is he
brought the pictures to us we would give them a lot of granola bars.
After vespers on Friday night the young couple came over, and in
conversation told us their story about how they ended up on Ebeye. It
was very inspirational. Especially the way that they live. Many times he
does not get paid when he is supposed and he has nothing except for
faith. We interviewed on camera so we could share their story as well as
the stories of many other people who come to Ebeye as missionaries and
have their lives changed. We found out soon after we got here when some
of our flights and boats had been canceled, that telling the story of
Ebeye must have been what God had planned for us.

On Saturday we went to church which is held at the school here in the
island. It was a lot of fun to see the way that different people
worship. In ways it is similar to what I have experienced in the U.S.
and other ways they have their own traditions which was really neat to
see. It was a packed service even though it is just a classroom in the
school. I did catch myself starring out the window on several occasions.
It was so hard not to look out the window and be enthralled with the
ocean and the clear water splashing against the shore which is only
about 100 feet from the school. Usually it is an English speaking
service, but since their were several visitors yesterday, the pastor
translated in the local language as well. After church we had a potluck
lunch with the principal and missionary staff from the school. The mac
and cheese we brought came in handy. It is always nice when you can
contribute to something like that especially since they were not
expecting us to still be here for Sabbath. The Americans really
appreciated eating the mac and cheese even though it was the boxed kind.

After a nice nap we went back to the Church at 5:30pm for their youth
activity and sundown worship. It was a lot of fun. We worked in
crossword puzzles as teams and then played Bible tic-tac-toe. The school
and Church here on Ebeye really make an effort to have things for the
youth in the Church to do because there are not a lot of Adventists on
the island even though the school has a very good reputation.

Late last night, as we were sitting around wondering if we would leave
on the speed boat or not, Mel and I decided to go out and do some night
photography. When we were packing us and preparing to head back we ran
into a few guys and when we told them that we were Adventists that were
on a mission trip one of them said, “ohh SDA. Yeah that is the best
school on the island.” That was a cool thing to hear.

Thank you. Thank you for all of your prayers. As I have said, according
to our original plan things have not gone as scheduled, but we have been
blessed interviewing those here on Ebeye, and we all believe that we
were sent here to accomplish and assist in a different mission. We are
all excited about helping spread the word of the Ebeye school and how it
is in desperate need of missionary volunteers. We are not going to make
it to Namu and we are at peace with that, Now that we have some free
time for a few hours before going to interviews some locals here, let’s
go snorkeling!

-Joe