To Kiribati with love

April 1st of last year Sister Teweia's kabahays (roommates) with the help of her companion, Sister Taketi Reo, decided to play a prank on her.  They went onto her keypad phone and took their names off the contact list and changed it to say it was the Assistants.  They then sent a text from their number, telling Sister Teweia she was to immediately pack because I was coming to pick her up right away; she was going home that day.  Sister Teweia's scheduled departure date was April 8, but with all the craziness of evacuation due to Covid, anything was possible.  Both Sister Teweia and Sister Taketi Reo are from Kiribati, and the Church had hoped to evacuate them from the Philippines when most foreign missionaries were evacuated.  As we were amassing the missionaries to headquarters in Cauayan for evacuation, word came that missionaries from Kiribati and Samoa were not to evacuate to Manila and home because their countries had already closed their borders and their evacuation was not possible at that time.  No one here at that time expected the pandemic to drag on as long as it has so it was a plausible prank.  Poor Sister Teweia; she first cried and then began to pack.  The kabahays could not control their laughter, so went into the next room.  As she was packing, Sister Teweia had some questions, so she called the Assistants number...........and then heard the pranksters phone ring on the table in the kitchen.  The trick was up!  There was a chase and threats and a lot of laughter. 

It has turned out that the prank was on all of us.  No one could have imagined this pandemic could drag on as it has.  On the 8th of this month, Sister Teweia celebrated 28 months in the mission field.  The prank has also been on Sister Taketi Reo, who will tomorrow celebrate 24 months in the mission field.  The original plan for these two Sisters was that they would conclude their missions after 18 months.

This pandemic has laid waste to a lot of plans.  Some missionaries planned for 24 months and only served 17 or 18 months.  One of the great learnings from all of this is to be flexible and to let God prevail.  He is in charge of all, so perhaps we should stop fighting Him and let Him control things.  Some missionaries would have a persecution complex after having their missions extended  by 6 or 10 months.  Not these two sisters.  They have impressed and inspired me over these difficult months.  I assume there were some tears and some sad lonely nights but I never heard about them.  Each time I would talk to them they smiled, giggled and said "I am doing fine". or "I am happy to serve as long as God wants me to".  No complaints, no slacking off, no tears.  They just kept working harder and harder.

As we did the last transfer, we were trying to choose some new trainers for our newly arriving missionaries.  New missionaries are trained for 2 cycles, or 12 weeks.  This is one of the most important assignments a missionary can get; to be trusted to train a new missionary.  New missionaries need to get started right.  If they start right they stay right.  We asked ourselves: should we have Sister Teweia train a new missionary?  We had wanted her to train for a some time, but for a very long time we did not get any new missionaries because of travel restrictions, then when missionaries started arriving, we always considered it, but thought she would go home any time, and didn't want to disrupt training for a new missionary.  This last transfer we agreed to have her train anyways.  Sister Taketi Reo was already training.  Sister Craig actually said,  "Lets have her train.  Maybe that is what we need to do to get them home."  I thought to myself, well given the Lord's wonderful sense of humor it could happen.  It would be really inconvenient, but I would be so happy if it happened. 

Late Friday afternoon, two weeks into this cycle, Sister Craig's phone rang.  Would it be possible to get medical clearance and travel authority for Sister Teweia and Taketi Reo?  A flight to Fiji was being arranged for Wednesday, and they would need to be in Manila Monday morning to undergo RT-PCR testing.  That would mean they would need to leave Cauayan Sunday morning.  40 Hours!!  The standard drill to get missionaries ready to leave with all documents ready is 3 or 4 weekdays.  Weekends everything closes.

This morning at 10:30 AM our good Sisters from Kiribati boarded a plane for Manila to travel home.  I may or may not have cried when Sister Craig and I called them on Friday night to tell them they were finally going home.  There were plenty of tears on the other end of the call as well.  

They will spend 2 days in Manila getting medical clearances and travel permissions.  On Wednesday they will fly to Hong Kong for a lengthy layover and then on to Fiji.  They will quarantine in Fiji for 14 days then fly home to Kiribati. If there is a problem getting into Kiribati then they will just continue their missions in Fiji until travel can be arranged.  

To say, "Well done!" does not seem like enough.  My life is forever changed from watching these two Sisters cheerfully continue to serve their best as they waited (and waited and waited) patiently to return home.  No complaining, no tears, no slacking off.  They just kept serving and loving the people of the Philippines.  When they came here they needed to learn Tagalog and English; but they did it.

They go to Kiribati with our love and deep admiration.  The best part of this experience is these magnificent missionaries.  Not just the ones from Kiribati.  Also the ones from the Philippines and from the United States and from Australia and from Papua New Guinea, and from New Zealand, and from Tahiti, and from Fiji and of course from Canada.  They are wonderful and fill us with joy.