Some of you may have already seen this and if you who haven't don't have time to read it... I don't care but I thought I'd put it up anyway. And right after I might put up a shorter report. How does that sound? Here goes...
20th - Wednesday:
We are aboard Fly ; flight IE701 bound for Honiara.
The trip up to Brisbane was boring and no hassle. We even found Kylie and Andrew’s place pretty easy. We met Kylie's two sisters who live next door and of course, little cute Amiliya. We were sold!
Got up this morning at 4:30am and proceeded to cram everything back into our bulging suitcases. Kylie fed us a big breaky and at 4:55am we were off. First stop was the Cuthbert’s were we repacked into Leanne’s van and dashed off for the airport.
Once there, Grandma hustled us inside were the four of us (Dad, Dave, Rob and I) met the rest of the group to check in.
Once we checked in we lounged around for a bit too long and we had to rush downstairs to go through security. Here the adventures really began.
I forgot to mention that while we were in the process of checking in we had a bit of a scare. Dave began frantically searching through his luggage looking for his passport. All who knew I’m sure started praying - I sure did! Thanks to God and a bit of help from Grandma, we found it in the end and breathed a prayer of relief.
We managed to scrape through with ten extra kilos of weight so that was also a blessing.
Anyway, back to security. Dave and I had just made it to the scanning place and were unloading all our gear when I noticed that Dave still had his pocket knife on his belt. Oh no. So we come to the guy and he says that Dave will have to take it back to Britney who was back upstairs. The guy was really helpful and suggested that I take both of our stuff through while Dave runs back. So I did, no problem except that two backpacks, two computers, a laptop bag, a camera bag and various other things is kinda difficult and awkward, not to mention heavy!
Just in time I made it to a bench were the security guy had said I could wait for Dave.
Pretty soon Tina came through and asked what the trouble was. I explained and she and Josh waited with me. It wasn’t long before we saw a tall brown akubra bobbing above the crowd and the security guy waved Dave forward to the front of the line.
Soon all four of us were moving (slowly) through the customs line. Just as we were about to make it to the desk, we heard our names called over the loudspeaker. We covered out nervousness in laughter and RAN! The people at the boarding gate were not happy and shot a few harsh words our way before sending us running down the ramp. Whew! We made it - just!
We found our seats and sat and waited. We taxied all the way up the airport I guess then had to wait till the traffic jam was cleared. No joke, there were like five airplanes lined up waiting to take off!
Finally we took off and now we are flying over guess what? Clouds and water… Surprise, surprise!
We arrived in Honiara around 1:45pm (that was when we were supposed to arrive anyway) and made our way down the isle.
As we stepped out the door, the heatwave hit us. Bam! Actually it wasn’t so bad as I remember it from ’09. Maybe because the plane had been warmed up a bit or maybe just because I was expecting it but the heatwave didn’t come as quite as much of a shock as last time.
We strode across the tar mac and quickly found our places in the customs/immigration line up. It was pretty long. I don’t remember there being as many ‘other’ people in ’09. Maybe cause our group was over 30!
Once through the formalities, we were met outside by Lawrence and Bennett, our two bus drivers. Our stuff was piled in and we climbed on top of is.
When we arrived at the SDA mission headquarters in Honiara, we quickly unloaded all the gear into the Transit House.
Then we decided that we wanted to take a trip into town, but first Dad and Tina gave us ten minutes to get ready while they went over to the mission offices to talk to the president.
We were soon ready and the ten minutes were soon up but still we waited. As we sat in the coolest patch of shade we could find, waiting, I could literally feel myself slowing down. Relaxing into Solomon Time.
Finally “ten minutes” were up… and we got Lawrence and Bennett to take us first to the Panatina shopping centre. Here we withdrew Solomons Dollars and went shopping in their “Woolies”! Here are a few of the prices:
Kellogg’s Rice Bubbles 490g $86
Kellogg’s Rice Bubbles 490g $86
Sanatarium Marmite 250g $35
B/G Green Olives 800g $48.50
B/G Stuffed Green Olives 800g $61
Saxa Iodized Table Salt 750g $27.50
Solomon Blue Tuna 185g $6
Fantastic Noodles 70g $22
Master Foods Sage 180g $326
Master Foods Basil 160g $288
We found some interesting food items too. Quail eggs in water which were $39.50 for a 200g can and ‘Fish Tofu’ Now why they would want an alternative for tofu, don’t ask me. But yeah, it was there and it’s main ingredient was fish meat. No soy in it al all!
From Panatina we made our way to Kuru? Markets - a collection of little road stalls manned by poor ladies who spend their whole day shooing flies away from whole fish or pre-cooked goods they have set our to buy.
Just as we were about there, Jonathan discovered that we had already used most of our Solomon Dollars. So we dropped off some happy shoppers to look around, then our drivers took us back to Panatina so Jono could get some more money. Then it was back to the markets to buy the foods we needed.
Finally we made it back to the Transit House to settle down.
We just hung around for a while, totally zonked.
Grandma, Betty, & Tina chopped a yummy tea of island fruit and after that we took a bit of time just to do a bit of planning.
At 7:00, it worship time so we all gathered around and Dave shared on the fact that we need to make our personal time with God our priority because we can’t give what we haven’t got. When worship was finished we had a bit of sharing time which was good because I really had no idea who was doing what.
And now… Oh wonderful moment: It’s time for bed! It’s been a long day.
21st - Thursday:
I slept on the wooden floor last night - it’s cooler a bed. Sometime this morning however, I woke up cold and had to put a jumper on!
Worship 6:30am (Wake up at 5:30) and then breakfast at about 7.
We are spending today in Honiara because Dad and my boat/truck things didn’t work out for today. When the internal flights between Honiara and Atoifi were booked, Dad and I were late and by the time we got there the little plane was full so we have to take alternate transport.
So after breaky Dad, Dave, Josh, Jono, Grandma, and I went down town to do some shopping. We caught the local bus from Burns Creek (just down the end of the road that the Mission is on) and paid our fair of $3SPD. We got off at the bank in town and sent Jono to wait in the long queue while we did some exploring. We picked the shops we wanted to return to when we had some SD’s and then went back to the bank where we saw Jono standing outside. He was looking a bit uncomfortable, carrying so much money. So we went in search of a quiet place to sort the money. Finally we found one - the parliament grounds up on a hill behind the city. At the gate there was a guardhouse with a police man manning it with one shoe on and one shoe off, chewing beetle nut.
We asked if we could go up and have a look. He said that if we wanted to go in we would to make an appointment. We made it clear that we just wanted to sit outside and enjoy the breeze and the view. So he radioed someone at the top and told us we could go.
We were met on the lawn outside the parliament building by another policeman who I guess was there to make sure we just sat outside.
Oh it was lovely up there sitting in the cool shade with the breeze chilling our sweat! And while Dad chatted to the policeman, Jono counted out the money with our own personal security guard nearby!
When we were finished there, we said goodbye and ‘tank you too muss’ (thank you very much) and made our way down the steep hill.
Now we went shopping. Altogether we got 6 bushknives, a file and a few other things like some ‘slippers’ (thongs) for Dave, Steve and myself. Then we went to central markets. We wandered around with Grandma in the lead and slowly the bags filled up.
Just as we were finished and looking for him, Dad turned up and we joined the crowd at the bus stop. A few busses later we cambered aboard one.
I love the busses. I’m not sure how clear my discription will be but I’ll try.
The ‘bus’ is 14 seats altogether, but of course there are no limits. There is a driver and a helper who opens doors and takes money. The bus will stop and you just climb in and find a seat. You always go as far back as you can so that other people can come in after you. When you want to get out you signal the driver with a soft kissing noise. Everyone in front of you gets out to let you out and then they all climb back in and the bus is off. The fare is $3SBD no matter how far or near you go.
Once we got home we were famished and exausted so we flopped down and lazed around until Tina had lunch ready.
Lunch was great! She had used all island veggies I think and man it was ‘good fella kai kai’ (good food).
After lunch we did a bit more of the morning’s lay activities. Just sat and chatted most of the time. At about 3:30pm we had a visitor. Aunty Joy, a friend of a friend, is a medical missionary lady who runs her own natural remedies clinic in her home village. She came over and spent sometime telling stories and experiences with us.
At 4pm, we had an appointment to meet with Wayne, the president of the Solomon Islands SDA Mission (I think). His office was air-conditioned and he’s a really nice Aussie bloke so we were sorry when he had to rush off to another meeting!
When we got back to the transit house, Aunty Joy was still there! She stayed until nearly tea time. Just after she left, two locals, Rachael and Iris came bringing some cassava and other bits and pieces. We insisted then stay and we had a lovely meal together.
22nd - Friday:
Today is Friday and Dad woke us up at 4:30 this morning. Devotions, worship and breakfast were done in a rush and we were just doing the dishes when Lawrence, our trusty driver, turned up spot on 6am.
We hustled our luggage into the bus and headed off to the airport.
Here we dropped off everyone else off while Dad and I jumped back into the bus and Lawrence took us to the wharf.
Just as we were leaving the others, Tina admonished us to “speak to strangers.” We laughed a little and drove off.
The wharf this time was no where near as scary as last time. Maybe because last time was at night but I have been feeling allot more confident all round this time.
We got our stuff unloaded and Lawrence left us to wait on the wharf. Pretty soon a well dressed lady, a well dressed man and a bunch of neat looking kids plonked their stuff beside us. They were the kind of people that you can just tell they are SDA’s, it’s pretty easy over there anyway… you know they are different when their teeth are shiny white instead of red and they are clean and neatly dressed. The lady asked us where we were going and we talked to a stranger! And if it wasn’t to that kind stranger, we would never have made it on that boat.
Soon two men came around and looked at our luggage and charged us $80SBD, gave us a receipt and took our luggage aboard. We were amazed! $80 was so cheap for two tickets on the ‘fast boat.’
Just before boarding time one of the crew called out and said that if anyone didn’t have a ticket, to go to the ute behind the crowd and get one. Our new friend asked us if we had our tickets and we confidently showed her of receipt.
“Thats not your ticket!” she yelled and, grabbing our money for two tickets rushed over to the ute. By this time there was a crowd, a mass of people three or four deep yelling and reaching for tickets. Apparently our friend knew the girl selling tickets and she plunged right in yelling and reaching over the frenzy. In just a moment she emerged triumphantly and we took the tickets with many thanks. We were especially thankful when she told us that there had only been twenty tickets left. There had been more then twenty people pushing and shoving there.
Anyway it turns out that this lady’s brother Robert and some of the kids are going pretty much the same place we are. As the gang plank was lowered onto the wharf, the crowd around us pushed and shoved but our friend managed to get the kids, Robert and I on near the beginning of the rush… Dad was a few people behind us but we were on.
We got on the boat at 7:45am and believe it or not, the boat left on time! Explanation: owned and run by a kiwi.
The ‘cruise’ was wonderful! The boat was so fast that there was even a wake behind us! What a contrast to 2009!
We made three stops before we arrived in Auki. The first of these was a half deserted looking town with a proper concrete. Robert told us that this was the old Solomon’s capital. During the war, the Americans built all their stuff in Honiara because there was more flat area and so when the war finished, everything was in Honiara so they just moved the capital there.
After this first interesting stop we traveled on making a few other stops. One of these we just stopped in the middle of nowhere and were met by a little boat and a wooden canoe who picked up a few people and we were on our way again. Another stop we went right in and beached ourselves on the sand!
Finally we made it to the dock at Auki were we disembarked and Robert told us to wait near the boat to collect the freight and he went to find our truck. He did and while Robert and his boys ferried the gear, we stayed with the rest of the luggage until the very last trip when we followed them towards the truck. Just as I caught sight of the truck, some one stepped out of the sea of brown faces with a smile on her own pretty one. It was Dr Janella who we met in Atoifi in 2009. How nice to see her again! After talking a bit to her we said goodbye and climbed aboard the Eastern Chariot and drove into the centre of town. We stopped in the main street and they told us to get off while they went to get petrol and more luggage. Robert didn’t seem too worried so we took our ‘hand luggage’ and leaving everything else at the mercy of Auki we sat down on the step outside Sunflower Store and I waited with Robert’s kids and nephews while Dad and Robert wandered around, buying among other things a new volley ball for Gounasu’u.
Finally the truck returned - refueled and replied. All of our group scrambled for a seat on the edge. People kept
on until it seemed the truck would hold no more but we drove around town and more and more luggage and people were piled on. The more people we could fit on, the more money for the driver. Finally the springs cold handle no more and two boys had to get off leaving their luggage on the truck for us to drop off.
Now at last we could go. I was so thankful for the breeze. It was very cosy, snuggled between between Dad and Solo (one of the kids traveling with Roberts) and if it wasn’t for the breeze, I’m sure I would have been cooked.
Some time during the trip we crossed over the highest bridge in the Solomon Islands. I’m glad I’m not scared of heights - it’s an interesting experience going over a bridge with no sides with your legs hanging over the edge of the truck.
I really enjoyed the truck ride. We were really traveling as the locals have to every time they want to go to Honiara. It’s either that or walk.
Many hours and much sunburn later we arrived in Atori. Everyone jumped off and the truck was unloaded in next to no time. Soon we were in a little fiberglass boat driven by Riddly. Lina, Robert’s daughter jumped in with us bringing her two fish to cook for Roberts tea. He had to wait back at Atori for the second truck to come with his sons on it.
There was also another old couple sharing the tinny with us. That is another interesting story. While we waited on the wharf in Honiara, a stranger handed a phone to Dad and said that James wanted to speak to him. James Asugani from Atoifi. Dad knew him so when the phone rang again, Dad answered and spoke to James. Apparently James’ wife Rowena’s parents were also getting on the boat to go to Atoifi. Rowena’s Dad had had a stroke and James was just asking that we keep an eye on them and make sure they got on the same truck as we did. It was a bit strange, two foreigners being asked to look after two locals. Anyway, they were on the boat with us.
As the salt water splashed lightly on my sunburnt face and the sea breeze blew through my already messy, small tears made channels on my dusty face. Happy tears. A song played through my mind and memories danced before my eyes. “Coming home...I’ve wandered far away from home...Now I’m coming home.” I felt like I was coming home.
First stop was to pick up Jabeth who had climbed a mountain to his Uncle’s farm and brought back a heavy bag of pomelo for us. Yum yum!
Next stop was to drop off Lina and her fish. The wharf at Atoifi is so changed. They have built it up with wire blocks of stones. The hospital boat was there too. Atoifi was only a quick stop to drop off James’ Mum and Dad in law and soon we were on our way down the mangrove passageway watching the bush slip by. What excitement when we reached the Gounasu’u ‘dock’!
Kids came running out in scores, Josh, Dave and Tina close behind them. It was great to see them, white faces and real English!
They had just finished opening Sabbath so we went into the house, after many handshakes and greetings, to settle in and eat tea.
So good to be ‘home’!
23rd - Sabbath:
Started the day this morning with the cock’s crow! There were about five of them ‘singing’ together. Then next sound I heard was the clang of the village bell telling everyone to et up and ready for morning worship.
Tina took worship this morning. For morning worship, the whole village goes through the Sabbath School Lesson every morning.
After worship we returned to our house which really belongs to the Chief’s son, Eric, to have team worship and then breaky. After breaky we we got ready for church and then following the bell’s instruction, we filed into church.
Seeing as we will be doing stuff with the kids, Dave and I each went to a children’s Sabbath School. As we walked over to the Sabbath School ‘room’ - seats under the raised houses, I was asked to tell the little ones a story. Eeek… I’d never told a children’s story before to English speaking kids let alone ones that don’t understand me. So I quickly racked my poor brains and made up a really short, really simple story to tell them. We sung a few songs and that was that.
Rob preached I think, then we went and had some lunch which the locals had brought over for us.
About four pm, the bell rang for AYs. Good, fun program. Closed Sabbath then hung around in the church for ages before going home.
24th - Sunday:
Had an easy morning relearning the island ways. Jono went up the mountain to the village’s water supply to unblock the source. By lunch time we had running water in our house.
In the afternoon we played fake volley ball (without the net) with the kids. Lots of fun. There is a polish man, Eurek staying in the village until tomorrow and when he came over we invited him to play with us. He agreed but changed the game! We played poison ball and then some relays.
This evening was the start of the Steps to Christ evangelism series. Dave and I are running a kids program during the sermon. First Dave told a children’s story in the main church, then we took all the picanniny over to our house and started by singing lots of songs and then Dave told a bible story.
Now came the bit the kids had been waiting for! Time to open their coloring packs.
At home in Australia, Dave had drawn eleven coloring pictures of Australian animals and we had made thirty coloring packs complete with pictures, activity books from 3ABN, pencils and stickers. Dave had given them out at the start of the kids time and excitement was very high. We had the kids color and echidna and showed some photos on the computer and shared some facts. They had a great time! They were extremely hyper when they left. Satisfied.
25th - Monday:
I am liking this island routine! We have pretty much the whole morning to relax and prepare. The kids are at school and some of the ladies are at the garden so we just hang around as a team.
Tina, Dad and Rob paddled over to Atoifi in a local canoe this morning. Tina and Dad to see Pr Baxton to organize some outreach at Atoifi and Rob to see a doctor about a swelling in his mouth.
We ran our first kids club this afternoon. Had all the children in the church. Sang songs, told a story, bible lesson and we were supposed to do an activity but we didn’t have the equipment so we went out and joined volleyball with the adults instead.
Evening program went well again. Nice and short! Thanks Steve!
26th - Tuesday:
I woke up in the middle of the night last night to a very heavy downpour. Oh great. If this continues, the boys won’t be able to go on their hike.
Still raining in the morning, lots of water laying around in puddles.
By afternoon it was still pouring. We decided not to do the kids club because the kids were absolutely hyper owing to the fact that one of the village families had just returned from Honiara and it would have been extra hard because we would have to yell over the sound of the rain on a tin roof.
Josh and Jono made an inroad with hydrotherapy and natural remedies. It started with a hot foot bath for a headache on Enemi and ended up with a hot and cold contrast foot bath and a kumera poultice on Chief Lenty for gout! The entering wedge!
Had a answer to prayer today. We were praying that the rain would ease up so it wasn’t so noisy durning the sermon. We realized just as we began the kids program that it wasn’t raining at all.
Kid’s program was awful tonight. The were so restless and inattentive. Quite discouraging. If nothing improves tomorrow we will have to do some serious thinking.
I’m going to the markets at Atoifi tomorrow.
27th - Wednesday:
Woke up to Grandma’s voice this morning. Hurried to get dressed and ready to go for the markets. When I got out in the main room, Eric and Grandma were fixing the front door. Apparently it hadn’t locked properly last night and Beverlyn, Eric’s wife had noticed it blown open and had awakened Eric. He had come over and started fiddling. Grandma heard him and got up and I heard her and got up. I had thought that it was time to go but I wasn’t going to let them know so I covered by helping them fix the door. We went back to bed at 12:57. I didn’t bother to get changed again so when Dad re-woke me at 5:00, I was up in a flash.
Soon we were down at the inlet, bailing water out of the canoes and pushing them out into the stream. The paddle into the wharf at Atoifi was lovely. It was still dark when we left Gounasu’u but by the time we got to Atoifi, it was well and truly light. There weren’t many people there at first but as we wandered up and down and back and forth, more and more stalls appeared and the crowed seemed to grow.
We saw Dr Gia, a friend from Australia and her friend Tamsin as Dave and I wandered around looking for Nahli Nuts. They will be staying over tonight at Gounasu’u with us and spending Thursday with us.
Josh, Dave and I also made a pilgrimage up the hill to the hospital store to try to get some money changed. The store was closed so instead we took Josh on a very brief tour of the hospital (just a stroll up the breezeway) then we went back down to the wharf.
So many memories. Yet Atoifi has changed so much. There is a hight fence all the way around the town and security guards are stationed day and night at every gate. It feels just like a prison.
The paddle home was uneventful. The tide was right out and we kept getting stuck so one by one we all got out to lighten the load.
We got back just as the others were starting family worship. Betty spoke on Hannah and her total surrender. After this was breaky. Coconut rice and fruit - our usual morning fare.
More natural remedies going on this morning. Tina and Grandma did some hydro on Rebgeka’s Mum who has RSI in her elbow and Josh continued treating Chief Lenty.
We did kids club again this afternoon. It was good. Aunty Betty told the story: Mother’s Hands, and the kids were really listening the whole time.
The evening program went a lot better too. Yeah, I”m happy!
Dad arrived with Tamsin and Gia just before the meeting and they joined the others in the main church.
It’s funny you know. In the 5 days we have been here in Gounasu’u, we have been able to witness to two Europeans! First Eurek and now Tamsin.
Tamsin is a very English lady, Buddhist. She sat in on all our meetings and worships! Hehe…
Steve and Rob had quite a chat with Eric tonight. Apparently he was quite touched by this evening’s ‘Confession’ message and was really able to open up to them. God is working here!
28th- Thursday:
Today is Dad’s birthday and festivities are in the air! Lunch preparations began early in the morning. Eric made taro pudding, I made spaghetti and by the time lunch came around, food was pouring into the church.
The pews had been rearranged and the ‘tables’ spread with banana leaves and food spread out on it in chunks all over the leaves. When all was ready, everyone was called in and we all sat down. Eric made a bit of a speech to the end that they had never celebrated a birthday in Gounasu’u before. It was really nice. They gave Dad a gorgeous bouquet of jungle flowers and Lenty gave him a little subi. I had made a card for him and got the team to sign it and Tamsin had made some water color paintings of Eric and his wife Beverlyn making Taro pudding. Finally it was food time! How much un it is to eat everything with your fingers! Especially the spaghetti! Lea Lea!
We didn’t start eating until well after four pm so by the time we were finished, it was past time to get ready for the evening program.
The kids were pretty good, they just love the songs that we are teaching them. We were just about to start coloring in when Steve came to get me to sing the appeal song.
The song went really well. ‘I surrender all’. I could really cense the spirit moving during the song and after, while Rob was making his appeal. Wow, God was there!
I wanted to stay until the meeting was finished but I heard some kids outside so I went to make sure Dave wasn’t letting the kids out. He wasn’t, just two of the boys had come back from Atoifi and were making noise.
There is a possibility that Dad could be going home early for a few reasons… We are praying about it.
29th - Friday:
Just as I was about to go to bed last night, Eric came up to chat. Found out this morning that he is really struggling and kicking against the pricks. He wasn’t in village worship this morning. We are really praying for him.
I helped steve make some Samoan Traditional dish this morning. I sorted taro leaves and Dave made coconut cream and we all worked together to wrap the cream in the leaves then wrap that parcel in some kind of leaves used to cook in, then tie it off with a bit of natural string - the spines of the cooking leaves.
Kids club again this afternoon. Topic was prayer and it seemed to us to be a complete failure. Kids didn’t seem to be listening to the story nor the lesson and neither of the games we tried worked either. So we all joined in the volleyball again.
I had the kids story in church tonight and I was feeling quite agitated about it. Then God must have impressed Tony to announce a time of silent prayer and the same God told me to pray about the story I was about to tell. Suddenly I seemed to have peace and when I got up it all seemed to flow. Praise God!
“It Is Well” - THe song, wen’t well too. It’s pretty cool to see God working.
When the special item was over, I went out to the kids thing. God must have known we needed encouragement because the kids were wonderful tonight. Everything seemed to flow and it just went really well. More and more of the kids are starting to trace and draw their own pictures off Dave’s. So happy with tonight’s program.
Now we are sitting in the lounge room listening to Dad tell yarns.
Josh just got back from giving a treatment to Nelson who has boils.God is really opening up amazing doors!
Dad also presented Silas with a whole stack of books for his ministry. Showed him how to use the concordance.
Rob and Jono just got home from Atoifi where Rob took vespers. As you can see, our team is really starting to spread out and God is using us in many different communities.
30th - Sabbath:
I slept in a bit this morning. Got up close to the second bell. Jono took worship this morning - really good. He just read through Isaiah 58 slowly with many pauses and it was really touching.
Sabbath School and church went well. I had to tell a story in kids Sabbath School and that was terrible as usual but oh well.
Dave preached a really good sermon on contentment that spoke to us all, black and white.
Probably the most eventful event today happened in the afternoon when Tina, Dave and I decided we wanted to go for a paddle in a canoe. It was meant to be just an innocent, quiet Sabbath afternoon paddle but alas, all the kids were swimming. So we pulled the canoe into the water...all good...Dave stepped in...all good...I climbed in the middle...wobble wobble…all good. Now Tina climbed in...wobble wobble SPLASH! There were three extra having a swim swim. Oh no!
We were understandably surprised so the kids emptied the canoe for us and we tried again. This time I tried sitting up the front on the high seat. It was all good until we started to paddle, then suddenly we were fish again.
By now Junior and some of the other boys had a big canoe out and were calling to me.
“Kate, come inside.”
When I shook my head they tried:
“David, come inside.”
But we were determined to do it ourselves, so we climbed in a third time.
One of our paddles had been confiscated by the little girls so I sat in the bottom up the front to paddle, Dave drove from the back and Tina sat like a queen in the middle. We must have been a very funny sight judging by all the giggles going on!
What a fun canoe ride! We had almost every kid in the village skimming around us, sometimes they dogged us, other times they purposefully ran their noses into our sides.
Many many were the laughs laughed at our expense.
Not being experienced in the canoe business, we were quite the professionals at running into the mangroves. During the times we were actually on course, it was lovely.
Finally we made it out into the open bay but we still couldn’t make the canoe go where we wanted it. SO after a little while of going in circles, we set our sights for home. This time we did a bit better.
Just over halfway back probably, the kids started yelling in Kwoia and looking at me. Finally one of them spoke in English.
“Kate, your dad.”
I looked around and sure enough, there was a big canoe speeding up behind us. Dad and Jono returning from Abitona where they had taken the Sabbath morning program. They soon zoomed past us and disappeared into the mangroves. I am so thankful we didn’t make a fool of ourselves then.
But there was one more tricky place to navigate. A bunch of the village’s young guys were grouped on a stone wall which we had to go very close to between it and a tree. Great were the possibilities of running into either the wall or the tree but thankfully nothing happened there either. We made it home safe and happy if dripping wet.
As we walked up toward the house, Dad called from the veranda.
“Did you fall in? I though you looked a bit wet when we went past!”
Of course this sent us into fresh sets of giggles and soon everyone knew about our adventure.
Of course this sent us into fresh sets of giggles and soon everyone knew about our adventure.
By the time we got back we had to hurry to get dry and ready for AYs. This time we played a heap of bible games, sung songs, and laughed allot.
After AYs they wanted to see some pics of last year’s mission trip, so we rigged up the projector and other gear and ran picture after picture for them.
So tired by the end.
31st - Sunday:
Picnic day today. The original plan was to take a boat around to the picnic area on the sea side but we got word this morning that the boat wasn’t working too well so we decided to walk. But first we had to canoe to Illanunu village. The tide was very low so from Gounasu’u’s second spring we made our way down through the mud to where the canoes were.
In one canoe we had Steve, Betty, Dave, Jabeth and myself! Granted it was a big canoe but the edge came very close to the water. Also because the tide was so low, we often bottomed out going through the mangroves and Jabeth had to get out and push us.
After much wobbling we arrived in the SSEC (South Sea Evangelical Church) village of Illanunu. From here Jabeth found a woman to guide us over the mountain to the sea side. Dave and I went ahead with her while Jabeth waited with Aunty Betty and Steve. The walk was quite easy and seemed very short. There was only one section going down a creek-bed where it was very slippery and our guide was going so fast!
This lady couldn’t speak English so we were just following her in blind faith that she would lead us to where we needed to be. It wasn’t too long before the road led through a beautiful avenue of tall straight teak trees and we were in a lovely little village built on glarey white sand.
This was another SSEC village and they were all on their way to ‘loto’ (worship) or church. Our guide disappeared and we were surrounded by a crowd of smiling men and women, boys and girls who all wanted to shake our hands. The man who seemed to speak the best English asked us if we were going to stay but we quickly explained that we were just waiting for Jabeth and we were on our way to the ‘side sea’ as they called it. This man then invited us to “take short rest under small fella tree.” So, accompanied by an assortment of kids, we sat down in the shade of an ‘apple’ tree to wait. (They call Lilly Pillies apples.)
It wasn’t long before the others caught up and we continued on our way through some very muddy mangroves, then the start of a sandy, corraly beach. This didn’t last long, we soon came to a rocky point and here we rested for a while. Some of us went exploring in the seaweed mud flats and found all sorts of interesting creatures. Such as the eel Jabeth killed “so no one would step on it.” He had to turn over a big rock to find it… go figure!
We continued around the point until we came to the beautiful picnic beach. The tide was still way out so while some played games on the beach, a group of us swum out to play in the water. This was heaps of fun. Most of the ocean bottom was covered in sea weed but there were big patches of sand where the water was oh so clear and blue.
I have no idea how long we were out there but I do know that it was awesome just relaxing and hanging out with each other and the kids.
When we came back in it was lunch time. There wasn’t much in the way of lunch because we had had to carry it all so there was just a bit of fruit and some lovely green coconuts.
After lunch there was a game of volley ball (of course) then it was time to start for home. This time, Rob, Dave and I walked over the mountain with Silas. The way we took back was allot quicker and easier and in no time it seemed we were back in Illanunu. Dad wasn’t far behind and we soon put off in a canoe for home.
What a fun day!
1st - Monday:
Josh and Tina went to Abitona today to teach the people there some hydrotherapy another natural remedies.
Dad also left this morning. He went over to Atoifi this morning with Chief Lenty to see if he could get a flight home. An emergency has come up and as a group we prayed about it and Dad decided that if the flights were available and everything fell into place he would return to Australia. So we waited. Mid afternoon Lenty returned, so Dad was gone.
When Tina and Josh came back, Tina’s eyes were shining. They had had a great time and it showed.
3rd - Wednesday:
Grandma, Dave and I went to the markets this morning with Sula and Beverlyn. The paddle in to Atoifi was beautiful. The quiet dip-dip, splash of the paddles, the soft morning breeze and the sining, twinkling stars overhead all lent themselves to a peaceful reflective mood. As we approached the wharf, voices started to float across the calm water. Ah I love canoes!
The markets were Ok. Not much different to last week. We saw Tamsin and said goodbye to her. We also saw some of the American doctors, that was a bit strange.
This afternoon I spent some time with a few of the little girls. They are so sweet! Little Rhoda snuggled up in my lap while big Rhoda brushed and plaited my hair. They all wanted to play with it and kept exclaiming about how soft it was. It was fun just to hang out with those sweeties..
4th - Thursday:
Today, Tina, Josh, Dave and I went to the SSEC village of Na’au. It is like the biggest village on Malatia.
Yesterday when Tina and Josh came in to Atoifi for Tina to preach during market time, they were met on the wharf my a man who they though wanted to sell them something. He started asking what they were doing and the conversation ended up as an invitation to teach the health stuff we had been teaching in other villages in his SSEC village.
The four of us plus Wycliffe paddled to Atoifi where we were met by Adam, the man who had invited us and another man from a different village.
From Atoifi we walked down the length of the runway to the village of Na’au. Right at the entrance we were met by a young man who was said to be a chief of some kind. He led us all up the cobbled path to the Na’au guest house. This was quite a nice affair with a lockable veranda and three ‘carpeted’ (Lino) rooms.
At first we just hung around on the veranda but soon Josh was showing some of the local men some simple stretches and exercises. Tina and I had nothing to do yet as none no women had come and it seemed that every time the kids made a noise they would get yelled at. So we settled down to sew some ‘charcoal pillows’ for toothache.
Then our first patient arrived. Tina gave this dear koko’o (grandma) a knee ‘press’ (massage). It seemed that she must have broken her leg at sometime because there was a big boney bump right on the knee. There was also allot of fluid around her right knee. It seems nearly everyone here in the Solomons has problems with their right knee and lower back.
Tina’s next patient had really bad circulation. Her upper lip and feet were literally blue! Tina gave her a leg massage.
Next was a young woman who Tina gave a back massage on the floor of room 3. At this time JOsh had given a hot foot bath of some kind and was giving a massage too so I became the coconut oil ferry.
The time really seemed to fly! Tina did two massages and it was like past 1pm and they were already cooking lunch for us so we stood around waiting for a few minutes chatting to a few of the local guys until it came.
After a quick lunch we walked back to Atoifi where we took a detour to drop Josh off and for Tina to try to make a phone call. From there we paddled back to Gounasu’u.
Tina, Cassie and I sang a special item a cappella tonight. It was good once I found the right key!
5th - Friday:
The plan for today was for Dave to draw another Australian animal coloring picture as we ran out last night.
Then we were going to have to trace it 20+ times. Well, Dave drew it and traced it once and that idea was off. Too hard.
So we just spent the day getting ready for Sabbath.
6th - Sabbath:
Sabbath today. Spent time after breaky working on a slide show about Australia for this evening. Got cut short before we finished for Sabbath School. I had to tell another story in kindy SS. Ok.
The children’s Sabbath Schools finished long before the adults so we all congregated under Lenty’s house and the small kiddies took turns singing special items for us. They were so cute. A bunch of little three to four year olds singing songs like “Lord, I Give You My Heart” and “I’m Forgiven”, adorable!
Church was good. Jono took the sermon. It was all about praising God and he got people to share testimonies from the last couple of weeks. Very moving.
We had a very good lunch. Left over rice, taro and cassava pudding, taro leaves and plenty of fruits.
AY was good….they get very competitive. The winners from last week’s AY - the men and boys - had to get up and sing a special item for the rest or us. They sung “Jesus is the Winner Man” pointing to themselves and the second verse, “Satan is a Looser Man” pointing to themselves. Hilarious!
Tina led out in a funny bible game. She got three people from each side who liked to sing to come up the front and we had to sing a random bible text to a random tune. For example, I had to sing the first couple of verses of Ecclusiasties 3 to “Jesus Gave Us Paw Paw”. That was heaps of fun!
The evening program wet well. As we were setting up, Dave reminded me that I was his backup if his voice died. So I prayed! I didn’t want to get up there and talk through the photos. And his voice held up!
7th - Sunday:
Sunday today, farewell feast preparations took up most of the women’s day. Of course in the afternoon, time was made for volleyball. The ball had been punctured by a nail so it was pretty flat but they still played anyway and did remarkably well considering the circumstances!
Tonight’s kids program was heaps of fun. We did near the normal program minus one story until coloring time. Excitement had been building and finally the time had come to give out the gifts. For each child we had prepared a personalized card with a small note, four colored balloons and twenty rubber bands. Small price, great joy!
It was all we could do to hold them in until the adults were finished, they were literally bursting with excitement. Out the doors they dashed only to run back again to get us to blow up another balloon or just to be near us, then off again.
Finally they calmed down a bit and the farewell began.
First they called our names and got us to line up a curtain way, then one by one, they presented us with their lovely gifts.
Once everything had been handed out, Tina, Rob and Dave had to make a speech, then, while the ladies ladled out the feast foods, we took lots of pictures.
At last it was time to eat! We were so hungry. It was such a fun evening!
8th - Monday:
No rush this morning. Same old village worship, breakfast and team worship. At team worship Dave handed out thank you cards to our wonderful support team.
After worship we hung around waiting for the three travelers to get packed. Then we spent some time with the kids.
Nearly the whole village turned out to say goodbye to Tina, Rob and Dave. There were many handshakes and hugs and Tina shed a few tears before the three canoes disappeared around the mangrove bend.
Life went on pretty normal fro the rest of the day.I cooked, washed, sorted and hung out with the kids for a while during volley ball.
Jono shared his testimony for the program this evening. The main Steps to Christ series is over and thus the organized children’s program, but to break up the sitting time for the kids, Steve and I took them during the health talk and sang some songs with them for 15 mins or so.
9th - Tuesday:
Steve took worship this morning. After worship we got breaky ready and then had team worship. After we had eaten we had a team meeting to discuss some things mainly about when we get home in Australia. We arrive in Brisbane Friday evening and our team has the Sabbath School Prelims and the Devine Service at Eden’s Landing SDA church on Saturday.
I scrubbed the pots this morning. We cook over an open fire so every time the pots are used, the bottom and sides go black. The women here keep their posts shiny new looking so we endeavor to do the same. Actually it’s not too hard if you do it every time the pot is used. A bit of steel wool, and elbow grease and wollar… beautiful!
I had just set some washing to soak when Steve called me over to go and watch some of the boys make a bamboo gun. They are really cool. For ammunition you can use mangrove flowers or small berries and when you ‘pull the trigger’, it makes a loud pop! They are quite powerful.
When we got back, I did my washing while Steve, Josh and the local kids had a full on war. Then it was time to make lunch. I made a creamy pasta with thickened fresh coconut cream, seasonings and eggplant that tasted something like mushroom saucey stuff. We also had some let over sweet potato and some fresh cucumber. It was a good lunch.
I’m not really sure of the order of my activities this afternoon. In time I played with the kids again, scrubbed pots again and did some photo organizing on my computer. I have taken over 1000 photos so far!
This evening after the program Steve and I spent some time playing with the kids. Lots of poking and giggling. The rascals! I’m gonna miss these kids!
10th - Wednesday:
Went to the markets again this morning. I have been every week. I really enjoy it. Every aspect. I love the canoe ride in with Shirley, singing songs, telling stories or just being still. I enjoy wandering up and down Atoifi’s wharf where the markets are held, looking at the different things for sale and buying that which we need. I LOVE watching and being with people from near and far. Nodding ‘hello’ to this one and ‘usugani’ to the next, spotting people I know and just being in with the locals, being one of them.
The tide was very far out as we winded our way through the mangroves on the way home. So low that we ended up all having to get out and walk it as far up as we could. From there we ferried all the food the last little bit to the houses. All this, getting in with the people, doing it how they do it, creates a feeling of real belonging. Most of the time, especially when I am doing something like we did this morning, I feel totally accepted and very special. I am really going to miss this place.
I spent most of the morning writing and also, being tired, reading some kids story books I brought over. Then I helped cook lunch.
During the afternoon, Aunty Betty, Eric and I sorted and distributed clothes into piles for each family. I din’t know how stressfully and tiring that could be! So I went and played volleyball with the kids. Now I love to watch volleyball but I’m really bad at it and I don’t really enjoy playing it at all so I left the game to go and sit with some little girls. Helina was preparing a drinking coconut and surprised me by giving it to me! Well I couldn’t say no!
Just as I was finishing my coconut the swim bell rang and the kids asked me to go to the spring for a bath. At first I was reluctant but then I thought “why not?”. So I wandered down to the second spring with them. What a great decision! It was quite shallow and when I first stepped in I wondered how I was going to have my bath in that but that was soon sorted out. A big water fight! Boys against girls. Ah, that was the best shower I have had in a long time!
11th - Thursday:
I saw something really special last night. I was playing around with the kids, late at night and the boys were getting silly. One of them must have said something mean because all of a sudden, one of the girls, Rhoda was crying. At first, one of the boys told me that she was crying, and I was wary. I didn’t know if I could trust him or if they were just pretending so I just watched for a moment. Sure enough, she was soon sobbing loudly. As soon as they noticed her, all Rhoda’s girlfriends gathered around here, stroking her, comforting and trying to find out what was the matter. Vaelyn started talking to her in Kwoia and went through a whole list of boy’s names. Of course I couldn’t understand all of what was going on but when Rhoda nodded her head at the name ‘Jerrick’ all the girls uttered a cry of indignation and stormed over to where the unfortunate boy was sitting. I guess he must have denied it because Vaelyn was back and went through the whole list again and when Jerrick got the blame again, the whole performance was repeated.
He must have apologized this time because all the little comforters seemed satisfied and we all just stood around Rhoda, waiting. By and by, Enemi, the oldest boy and obviously in sympathy, grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. Soon she had calmed down and we said ‘logo le’a’ (goodnight) and went home.
All this brought to mind another incident that I witnessed a few days ago. We were sitting up on the veranda ‘sharing stories’ (chatting) with Eric and watching the kids play. Suddenly one of the littlest kids fell down and started crying loudly. Now you know kids, especially these little 3 to 5 year olds, they don’t really notice things like this, well, these kids were typical and just continued playing their games. Eric, seeing this, stood up and started yelling at them. All of a sudden, two or three little ones ran to their little hurt fried and lifted him up off the ground and the games went on as before.
We asked Eric, “What did you say to them?”
His answer really stuck in my mind. It showed me a glimpse into the family oriented culture and it can teach us a massive lesson.
“Lift him up, he is your brother.” How true is this.
When Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” He told the story of the good Samaritan. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ and it is our duty and privilege to lift one another up.
Seeing as I am in the mood for writing stories, I will also share a story about Joseph Rufu. Joseph is a lay worker in Foibyeta and Fui. He is like a bible worker who has basic training in a bit of health and so is able to run small clinics to minister to the people’s physical needs. Recently he had to leave his mission field to work on a ship to earn some money to put his kids back into school after getting far behind in school fees. He was very dissapointed to have to leave because he was having bible studies with quite a few people and he loves his work for the Lord.
He was gone for maybe a week and when he got home we began visiting up his contacts. Sunday morning he turned up at a SSEC member’s home and was surprised to see him with a bush knife in his hand, on his way to the garden.
“Why are you going to the garden? Sunday is your Sabbath.” Joseph asked him.
“Oh no,” relied the man, “I am a Seventh Day now.” Praise God!
Today was the day for packing. Morning was spent between packing and organizing to pack and sharing stores with the many visitors that dropped in.
I also spent some time organizing photos for a slideshow tonight.
I feel bad to say it but I’m looking forward to going home. I actually can’t wait for tomorrow to come.
12th - Thursday:
Grandma got up extremely early this morning and in the process she woke me up too. I tried to go back to sleep but with her torch casting weird shadows on the walls it was impossible.
Anyway as I mentioned, it must have been quite early because as soon as it hit four am, Grandma came in.
“It’s four o’clock, time to get up.” She said.
Of course, it was probably too early to get up but as I had been laying awake for ages already and I had some things to do anyway, I got up, dressed and finished packing.
As it was, it didn’t take me long at all to complete my task and I ended up just hanging out with Steve and Eric, telling stories.
Yesterday, Eric arranged with Riddley, his cousin, to pick up in the boat at 5:30am and we sent the money to pay for the fuel. $100 SBD. Well, this morning, 5:30 came and went. Our gear was all stacked under Lenty’s house near the water but no Riddley. At 6 o’clock, the women took matters into their own hands and hurried to get the luggage and us into canoes. We said goodbye to the ones not coming with us to the airport and waved goodbye to Gounasu’u.
Over halfway across the harbor was spotted Riddley coming out from Wyforlonga. Apparently he had woken up at 5:20 or something and then had troubles starting the motor.
By the time we reached the wharf at Atoifi, we were late and quite wet from the light drizzle. As I stood to get out of the canoes, I realized my leg had gone to sleep and it gave way under me. Thankfully there was someone behind me to catch me because I had absolutely no control or muscle function. Embarrassing! I had to get out though and once I was standing on firm ground, it didn’t take long to come back to normal.
Our luggage had gone before us with the ladies and when we got to the wharf, they had already taken it up with them to the hospital so all I had to carry was my camera.
Once at the hospital we climbed the stars to the small administrative/reception office that also serves as airport check in. The ladies and all our gear was there but the receptionist was not. So much for us being worried about being late!
After checking in we went back downstairs and did what? Sat around waiting for the hospital’s tractor to come pick us and our luggage up.
Well, that tractor never came so, once again the ladies hoisted up our bags and we walked!
It was a great walk. One thing that made it so great was that little Renel insisted on holding my hand most of the time. What a sweetie!
Thankfully, after a short wait, the plane actually arrived!
When we climbed aboard, I realized how small this plane really is! I can easily reach both sides at once and it is quite snugly.
Last night’s ceremony was heaps of fun. First we gave our gifts. A pile of second hand clothes for each family and a guitar, a set of bible story books and some blankets went to the church.
The blankets were ones which Josh’s mum’s class at home had knitted squares for to send over to Africa. These two had missed the boat so to speak and probably literally too. When Josh’s mum heard he was going over to the Solomons, she sent them with him. We presented them to the church because Eric thought they would look nice on the tables up the front of the church!
The people were so appreciative of our girts. Once again, something that seems so small and worthless to us can make such a difference to so many people in our world.
Next was the speeches. Thankfully there weren’t as many and they weren’t as long as I remember them from 2009.
Finally came the food but there wasn’t very much to eat and I wan’t really that hungry for any of it so it wasn’t a big exciting feats like the past two.
It could have been a very sad evening but thankfully there was allot of laughter. Especially after tea. We were taking group photos and just mucking around and having fun together.
When we said logo le’a and went back to the house, a bunch of kids followed us and we ended up hanging out with them for quite a while and taking a heap more photos.
When we got into Honiara we had to get from the domestic airport to the international. It’s quite a hike so we called over two taxis and loaded into them and made our way over to the international airport.
Now we have a 6hr wait so we have eaten a very small fruit breaky and Josh and I ware about to head into town to do some shopping and bring back some food for lunch.
We had a good trip to town. We caught a ride with James the taxi driver. Our first stop was the petrol station to ‘top up’. James can’t afford to fill up in one go so he runs on nearly empty all the time. I mean, at $11.66SBD per liter, who could afford to fill up?
We had told James where we wanted to go and a few of our purchasing goals which other then food included lava lavas (sarongs) and a bush knife for Dave.
Now there is an interesting story behind this need. You will remember that when we were in Honiara three weeks ago, we brought five bush knives. Three of them were destained to belong to Baileys and the other two were Josh and Dave’s. When Dave left for Vanuatu he left his knife with us and on the last day, Josh decided to give his knife away to one of the village men, Jabeth.
He did, but to the wrong one. Apparently one of the Jabeths had come and asked for the knife but it had been accidentally given to the wrong Jabeth. So when the first Jabeth saw the knife in his friend’s possession, he came and asked why. So Josh settled it by giving him Dave’s knife and now we are getting Dave a new one.
James took us straight to the central markets where I though I had seen the lava lavas I wanted. It turns out they weren’t but James had agreed to wait so Josh and I crossed the busy road and browsed a few of the chinese shops. It didn’t take me long to find and purchase four beautiful lava lavas and we also managed to get a 24” knife from the same shop. We also got some bananas from the market for lunch and Josh bought some gifts for his family too.
Next and last stop was Panatina where we added rice crackers and peanut butter to our lunchtime fare. It’s horrible buying food over there: everything is so expensive.
When we got back to the airport we paid James $160SBD and said goodbye and ‘bau lea’ (Thank you). He is a SSEC man from a village close to Atoifi and his wife is from Na’au. When I said bau lea he seemed delighted. It’s amazing the people God puts in front of you to meet.
We ate out little lunch, and a satisfying lunch it was too. After not having peanut butter for over two weeks, we devoured it with relish. The whole jar!
Then it was time to check in. Tina had given Aunty Betty the tickets so she dealt with them, then everyone handed the guy their passports and he did up their boarding passes. He started handing them back but he still hadn’t done mine. When everyone else had their passports and the man was about to tell us where to go next I shoved my passport in front of him.
“YOu haven’t done mine yet.” I said.
Thankfully he didi it quickly with no fuss and we could proceed to join the line up to go through security. As we were waiting, Wayne surprised us and came over to say goodbye. He also introduced the leader of a group of young people who were on their way to brisbane for a youth conference.
Once through to the ‘lounge’ we spent some time browsing the two duty free souvenir shops and spending the last of our Solomon Dollars. Then we waited.
Finally it was time to board our plane. The moment we had been waiting for was here at last!
We had a great flight over, it went pretty quick. I met an older gentleman, a journalist from Christchurch, NZ, who had been doing a tour of WW2 sites on Guadalcanal. He was quite talkative and shared a little about NZ and I was able to share with him what we had been doing, a bit about Australia and other bits and pieces. Quite a nice man.
Once we arrived in Australia we had to get through customs. What a rigamarole! Actually, it’s not that bad itself, it’s the long, slow queues that really get to me. IT wasn’t that bad I guess.
Once through customs we rounded the glazed glass screen and were met by familiar faces: Britney and Tangi. Soon we were all assembled except for Josh. Where could he be?
Finally he came out and we could begin the long walk to the cars.
Finally he came out and we could begin the long walk to the cars.
We are staying at Ross and Heather’s place in Brisbane tonight. When we got there they had tea ready and waiting for us. Pumpkin soup and real bread!
13th - Sabbath:
The service at Eden’s Landing went well I think. We had 20 mins in prelims to give a mission report, we ended up going ten minutes over time...whoops! There is so much to tell!
Steve took a good sermon: The Harvest is Great, THe Members are Many, but the Laborers are few. “You are either a missionary or a mission field.”
After a combined luncheon it was ADRA appeal time. Josh went out but Jono, Grandma, Tagi and I spent a short time in a lovely sunny park then headed for home where we spent the arvo looking at mission trip pis and sharing stories.
After a combined luncheon it was ADRA appeal time. Josh went out but Jono, Grandma, Tagi and I spent a short time in a lovely sunny park then headed for home where we spent the arvo looking at mission trip pis and sharing stories.
14th - Sunday:
Took it pretty easy this morning. We had breaky and left around 8-9 probably. Got home around 7pm.
What a great 26 days this has been! God has given us marvelous opportunity to be a blessing to our brothers and sisters in Gounasu’u, Honiara, Atoifi, Na’au, Abitona, Wyforlonga and other villages too. He gave us this time to grow closer to each other as a team through trials and triumph. But most of all I think He has drawn each of us closer to Him as the one that is Ruler of all the earth and all the ways of men and angels. Glory be to God!
Sorry no pictures.... I can't be bothered!
BTW, not all my posts are that long so if your getting scared... please venture on a bit further!
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