The time finally came for us to leave for our furlough. We had to pack away a lot of our things in a spare room in the house. We then left for Jos on the first leg of our journey. After arriving in Jos, we got word that our ship was delayed for a couple of weeks. The mission then asked us to go to Miango, and help out in Kent Academy with supervision of the kids. It was while we were in Lagos that Charlotte took her first steps.

We boarded the Norwegian Motor Ship Talisman Sunday afternoon on May 15, 1949. We arrived in Accra, Ghana where we were for 3½ days loading 12,000 bags of cocoa beans, and 100 mahogany logs. Our next stop was 200 miles away in Takaradi, Ghana. We waited four days in the breakwater before we could get to the dock. We did a lot of loading and unloading, and finally left for New York, arriving around the 10th of June. The ship was very clean, and had 13 passengers. Five were SIM’ers, 3 were Baptists. We had a great time with the passengers. We were treated, and fed well.

We did some sightseeing in Accra. I got a haircut there by someone who came aboard, and called himself a ship’s barber. After arriving in New York City I went in for a haircut, and the barber said, "Who in the world cut your hair?"

Phylis was seasick a large part of our trip, and I had to wash by hand in the bathtub, 1,000,000 [sic] diapers. I was up early the day we were to dock in New York to do some ironing for Charlotte. A missionary lady traveling with us saw the miserable attempt I was making, and offered to do the ironing. The offer was accepted with gratitude. Her only child was an 11-year-old boy who was traveling with us. The lady said she always wanted a girl, and loved to iron little girls’ dresses. She did a beautiful job.