To ship or not to ship - oh, if we only had that option!

The month would not be complete without a shipping story. It is our least favorite duty in the office but it has to be done. Materials are needed in the far off islands and shipping is the only way to do it. (Remember there are no addresses here. So if the Church doesn't have a PO Box on an island - and they only have them on two islands - then you put boxes on boats labeled with a name and a telephone number and hope for the best.) It was just six boxes. Nothing big and only going to the next island, Fogo. That means it goes on the Fast Ferry. You pay in the morning to make sure there is space but you can't actually give them the boxes until the Ferry arrives. So you come back in the afternoon. You are then supposed to put your boxes onto a truck - but the truck has never been in the same place twice. And if you think you can ask someone in the place where you paid just where the truck is - well that window is closed. So we went back in the afternoon with 6 boxes and no truck and no help. Just Elder Mathews at a point of impatience that turned into grit determination. After being told we could not just drive our van though the gate to the boat to unload - we absolutely had to have a truck, he looked around at the dozens of trucks  and the many people loitering around and began asking questions. Finally he found a guy who said he could help us. He wasn't an official but just a good Samaritan, who spoke more Creole than Portuguese. The next thing I know Elder Mathews is pulling up next to a truck that is parked right outside the dock gates. The guy helping us starts putting the boxes into the back of the truck. The truck driver starts yelling, but the guy at the gate, who had just turned us away, apparently tells the driver to let us put the boxes on his truck. The driver didn't look happy but they were on. I notice then that a lot of people were standing behind that truck looking on as anxiously as we were to the things now piled high on the truck. Then the driver pulls through the gate and everyone starts rushing after him. So Elder Mathews and I did the same. The truck stops by these bins and it is a free for all with people trying to pull stuff off the truck to put them into the bins that eventually go onto the boat. Unfortunately we did not completely understand the rules - or the lack thereof. And even with the help of the poor guy trying to help us, we managed to only get 4 boxes off the truck before the driver peals away. For a half a second we stood there in shock and then realized the driver wasn't going far. He just went back through the gate and made a U-turn, putting him exactly where he was when we met him. Then he starts putting a tarp on his truck. Apparently it is against the rules to do that beyond the gate and he apparently wanted the tarp on when he drove his truck onto the Ferry or whatever boat he was driving onto. So Elder Mathews collecting his senses, and I think his patience, rushed back through the gate with the guy who was trying to help us. But they couldn't take the boxes off the truck. All boxes have to come through the gate on a truck. Of course, that makes perfect sense! So while he stood there just staring at the truck, I picked up the other four boxes and got them into a bin. Then swoosh the truck comes rushing back in but this time he goes beyond the bins and we don't know where the heck on the long dock he is going to stop. I start running after the guy trying to help us. He jumps on the bumper of the truck and - literally - throws a box at me. And even crazier is the fact that I caught it. Then he grabs the last one and jumps off a moving truck with it. Then with his help we managed to get the two boxes into the same bin as the other 4 boxes. His determined help came with a reward. I assure you Elder Mathews has never give a better tip!
Somehow I knew as we stood behind that truck with all those anxious people that something crazy was about to happen. I pulled out my camera. Oh, how I wish I had a video of this! But these pictures will have to suffice. Here is Elder Mathews catching his breath and looking down realizing we only have 4 boxes after the stampede in back of the truck.

That is him in the distance standing by the truck as it is being covered with a tarp and wondering what the heck is going to happen to those other two boxes.

And these are the bins we eventually got them into to make their 3 1/2 hour voyage on the boat behind them.

So Brother and Sister Benedict, I sure hope you are enjoying those boxes in Fogo. I'm not sure when we will have the guts to attempt another shipment. :-)