Monday July 18th - Goodbye for now, Sumba!

Got up early - got to airport at 6:00am.
Masta got a call from David that Casper's mom had died at 4pm the day before! We couldn't believe that he didn't tell us - he knew when we passed his house, (He could have had us stop to get his things for the journey to Roti island) he knew as he looked for a long time for a place open to eat supper and then sat through a long meal, very quietly. He also knew as he helped us look through the dark streets of Sumba for Ikat and peanuts and then walked us back to the hotel. He could have been taking all of that time to go back home (a couple of hours back towards Baing) to gather his clothes, but instead he stayed and took care of us. We were very humbled by this quiet, sweet servant of our Saviour who put aside every sorrow and need of his own to help us.

Surprise - there was no one at the airport but a man at the guard shack! We waited and waited - Masta tried to make some calls to find out what had happened. After a long time another man came and he told her that if a flight is canceled that no one shows up! The flight from Bali to Sumba is made in country by an Indonesian as the price is much less that way, and our itinerary that David had printed out said that we were to leave at 7:30, and there was no change when we left Bali for Sumba only 4 days before!
We went in the airport and there was not a flight scheduled on Merapati Air that day! It was like it didn't exist!
We did see that Batavia Air had a flight scheduled for later that day.

In the midst of our quest for a flight back, Casper showed up at the airport! He was looking for a flight to Kupong, East Timor island, then he would take a ferry on to Roti island. The flight to Kupong was 2,000,000 rupiah - about $200 US. That is a huge amount for a struggling pastor - he didn't have the funds but had just come in faith to see if there was a flight out.
Almost simultaneously the team started pulling out personal $$, and some team members gave an extra portion to provide for the remainder of the journey and incidentals. Casper had been such a willing servant of Christ and such a huge part of the project - we wanted our Indonesian brother to have one less worry. It was soo worth it to see the concern on his face immediately vanish and be replaced with peace. He left the airport to go back home to pack his things for the journey.

Masta was finally able to reach the travel agent in Bali that they had used to purchase our in-country tickets. He told her that there were seats available on the Batavia flight - that we would have to pay for those tickets, then get our refund from Merapati in Bali. We had left remaining funds with CFTIW to complete the project in Baing, so we were reluctant to pull from personal funds in hopes that we would, in fact, receive that refund in Bali, plus the tickets were more expensive than the original airline.
He instructed us to go across the street to the Batavia Air office and get our tickets. After a long wait and many calls back and forth from their office, Masta and the travel agent, a miracle occurred - Merapati somehow worked it out with Batavia to purchase our tickets for us! No paying in advance and trying to get a refund later!

David and Masta are very warm and personable people, and also wonderful servants of God, so they have friends (And brothers and sisters!) all over Indonesia. This was becoming so valuable for us. David was able to call (from Baing) to a contractor friend, Danny, in Wainapu. Danny sent 2 cars for us.
They took us to a restaraunt - it is supposed to be the best restaraunt in Wainapu, and it was very good and very reasonable, but when we got up to pay Masta told us that Danny had paid for us! What a blessing! (It ends up that in 2008, it was Danny's fish house that we were invited to for a meal as well!)

When we finished, they told us that we were going to Pastor Mangi and his wife, Sui's home! Gary and I had stayed at their home the last time and had such an incredible time with them that we were saddened that we weren't going to be able to see them this trip. Pastor Mangi and his wife have helped to raise many of the pastors children as they travel in their ministry, plus have taken in orphaned children to raise as their own. They are wonderful people and we felt that we had forged a strong bond between us, their daughter Vonny, and the other ladies helping at their home.
We were so excited, and also excited for the rest of the team to get to meet them.

We went to their home and it ended up that Casper's wife, Sarah, and son, Naldo, were living with the Mangi's during the week while their son went to school. We had met them all in our 2008 trip! It was a wonderful reunion for Gary and I and the Mangi's. We asked them many questions through Masta and it was a blessed time.
Pastor Mangi had left while we were visiting - he came back and had gifts for us - probably just purchased especially for us - he gave everyone on the team an Ikat. We were so touched. What sweet and giving people are our brothers and sisters in Indonesia!

We went back to the airport and to Batavia Air. We found out that Casper would be on our flight! We first flew to Kupong, East Timor, where we said goodbye to Casper. Then we flew on to Denpasar, Bali.

Wow, we have traveled far and a lot has happened since we were in Denpasar on the 13th!
We were only here for a small portion of the day before we left for BATI. Masta has pulled another rabbit out of the hat for us, and a huge blessing. We had stayed at the Puri Mango originally, and it was nice, though it was an older hotel and had a lot of mold due to no bath ventilation sysytems. Masta had a friend who has a newer hotel - this one beach front, and because she was Masta's friend, gave it to us for the same price as Puri Mango! It is very nice and no mold!
We were elated to find that it had a cabana style restaraunt at the beach - no more walking long distances to find a place to eat! The prices were extremely reasonable with a buffet breakfast included! We are purposefully not showing pics as our supporters would think that we were spoiled, and we were! We just didn't have to pay any extra!
Most of the team did some transition eating - club sandwiches - stayed and talked for a while - then were off to a very good rest.