One of our translation team members out in the village came down with malaria last week.  She began treatment and soon was feeling better.  But along with the malaria came a case of cellulitis and blisters covered her legs.

The family takes a supply of medicines with them, and after consulting with a doctor by email (sent via their two way radio), she began a course of anti-biotics.  They only had enough drugs to get them through Thursday night, so more drugs were purchased and we began looking for a ship heading in their direction that could carry the package out to them.

A local dive company often takes divers to the beautiful islands where this family lives.  A phone call to the company office confirmed their plans to go to islands and their willingness to take the package. The ship was due to leave Thursday afternoon.

Yesterday I packed the drugs, a few veggies and their mail and took it to the dive office.  Later the woman called to say that the dive shipped planned on getting to the Russells on Sunday afternoon.  I thanked them, but my heart sank as I thought about Joanna’s blisters and the much needed drugs that would keep the healing process going.  What would happen if she didn’t have the antibiotics for two days?

This morning the office manager from the dive company called to say that the ship’s captain had called to say that they had changed plans and were now going to be in the Russell Islands THIS morning (Friday).  The captain said that if the family didn’t get word in time, he would leave the meds in the hands of the village chief and they could pick up the package from him later.

Wow.  The God who calms the seas can also change the direction of a ship full of tourists out on a dive tour. I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised, but oh, my heart is happy this morning.

After spending the morning in the office answering emails, at lunch time we headed to town to buy fresh produce for one of our village teams.  This family has not been getting many fruits and veggies from local sources.

Armed with a wish list that the family had emailed in, we headed into the market.

We stopped in a store for some empty boxes, packing tape and a marking pen.  We packed up the produce in old newspapers and packed them in a box with a block of ice.

We headed to the wharf where we found the ship that was heading out to the village where the Gebauers live.  Ship personnel were on the wharf selling tickets and collecting money for shipping cargo.  There was a big crowd around the table and I wondered how long it was going to take to get to table to pay for the cargo.

Luckily, one of the women pulled me to the table.  Soon some of the other people were insisting that they take care of the boxes we brought.  I was able to pay the fee (about $6 USD) and TIm passed the boxes to me and we were soon on our way.

Sometime tomorrow the boxes should arrive in the village and Gebauers will have their produce.