Jim leaves for the Solomons February 26th

          As we backed the car out of the garage at 4:30 in the morning we met the lady delivering the newspaper.  She offered for us to take the paper but our minds were more on getting to the Pasco airport to try to beat the crowd at the check in counter.  Yes, at our small community airport, which is only about 10 minutes from where we are living, there is quite a rush between 5 and 6 am as many of the regional flights take off early morning to hub destinations like Seattle, Denver, and San Fransisco.   Jim was hoping to get his luggage book from Pasco straight through to Honiara and he knew that would really hold up the line.  As she had to look up the codes for 4 connecting flights, the check-in clerk commented on the "unusual" places he was heading for;  Nadi, Fiji and Honirara, Solomon Islands.

Jim at home making sure his bags aren't overweight.


I intended to send this post out 3 days ago but had trouble downloading this photo of him groggily waiting at the Pasco airport.

           With hours of layovers in San Fransisco and again in Los Angles, Jim had plenty of time to call me several times and even Jeffrey and Emily to say one last goodbye.  The flight from LA left at 9:30 pm and while he slept, he "lost" his Sunday and arrived in Fiji on Monday morning.  Although he had a couple of "travel experiences" in Fiji, Jim eventually got to Honiara only an hour late.  He said he had the normal reaction on arriving from winter in very dry, eastern Washington to the heat and humidity of Honiara - like walking into a suana! 

          Twenty four hours later he got on another smaller plane and flew to Munda.  While in Honiara Jim had done banking and shopping, met individually with our translator, Rev Bea, the Bible Society consultant, and our SITAG director, sorted stuff from storage and washed the musty linens, and enjoyed the fellowship of other translation families over meals. 

         Now he is trying to settle into a very basic living situation and get back to translation work.