December 9. Up around 6:00 this morning. Didn’t have to rush to get to the hangar like we usually do. That was nice. Had time to read e-mails and even write a couple short ones, as well as do last-minute packing, before we took off for the hangar. We were supposed to report there at 8:30, but it was going on 9:00 when we got there. We saw the plane take off for its first flight just before we arrived. When we saw the clouds and rain this morning, we figured that flights would not get off very early today. We got everything weighed up and waited for the plane to come back. Our flight was supposed to stop at Marawaka first, then Owena. However, it was raining at both places, although starting to clear a bit at Owena. The pilots decided to do a Karimui flight first, so we went off up town to roam around and then have lunch. Got a piece of pizza for lunch at SVS. Got back to the hangar a little before 12:30. Plane returned from Karimui around 1:00 or a little before. Unloaded and loaded up quickly and took off around 1:20 for Owena. They had a lot of work to do yet. We thank the Lord that the weather had cleared up nicely by then, and the rest of the afternoon and evening has been rainless. Humidity felt pretty high when I was walking down from the airstrip. Opened up doors and windows as soon as I got to the house. It was really stuffy inside.
Nuanda and Aina went out on the plane.
Spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking. There is still a bit left to do. Had supper, and then fell asleep in the recliner for a while.
Wan said he caught four rats while we were gone — two at once in the wire trap. Three young rats and one big one all together. I guess the time to get the rats is when they are young and haven’t gotten trap smart yet. So we’ll just keep the traps ready.
There were no glue traps in town this time, but we still have rat glue, so will spread some on cardboard and put it out for those that will still go for it. One of the guys at the hangar was telling Daddy that the hangar cat has caught all the rats, and there have not been any more rats around for quite a while. Before the rats destroyed a lot of people’s cargo, but not now. Now they are having to buy fish to feed the cat.
December 10. Rain during the night. Cloudy but warm this morning. The first time in a long time that we did not have a fire going in the wood stove. We had asked Jokapet last night to have Serah come a little before 8:00 this morning, or whenever she heard the generator starting. Serah was here at 7:15. Daddy and I were just getting ready to pray and have Bible study together. I wasn’t ready for the generator on to do printing yet. We gave her her new watch so she could keep track of the time and asked her to come back in a half hour. Then I thought, she can go ahead and get the veggies prepared. So I put her to work on that job, and Daddy and I went ahead with our Bible study time before he started the generator and took off for Bible school. It was good that she came early, as she had a long work morning. There were three loads of wash today. So it was 10:00 before or so before she was done hanging them out. The only things left to do were dishes and cleaning the floors. I gave her the option of spot treating the muddy spots on the floor or washing the whole floor. She chose to wash the floors and even went the extra mile and washed the benches too.
I reprinted the meri bung lesson for tomorrow night and scanned in some pictures to print out for meri bung also. (They were pictures from the little book that show the different stages of the growth of a baby in the mother’s womb.) Spent most of the rest of the morning working on visuals and going over the lesson. There were lots of interruptions, not just this morning, but all day. However, I did finally get the rest of the clothes and personal things unpacked late this afternoon. Also got my hair washed before supper.
Kennedy came early this morning and cut firewood most of the morning. Filled up the wood box.
The men had a test today in Bible school, and most of them did very well. Even those who didn’t get all the lessons did pretty well.
Only three of the men worked on the house addition today — Wan, Gibson, and Tony. Gibson came late and left early, but he said that Taro is still not doing well.