Climbing Matafao

By Stan M. Carter

As a volunteer teacher in the Samoan islands, author Stan Carter could see a line of volcanoes through his classroom windows. Inspired by Robert Louis Stevensons Treasure Island as a child, he finds himself drawn to the volcanic mountain known as Matafao, despite the warnings of his students that no one ever goes up there.

He sees the volcano daily from his school, and before long his desire to climb Matafao in search of openings into its interior becomes an obsession. When three of his students beg to accompany him, he decides that it is time to act on his desire to climb the volcano. But as they trek up one of its arms in an attempt to explore a volcanic vent, the trip goes awry when one of the boys mudslides into the neck of the volcano. The four of them then battle a jungle of caves and waterfalls, facing numerous dangers and obstacles in their struggle to escape Matafao.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inspiring Voices
• Release date: Jan 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9781462405282

Stan M. Carter

Stan Carter, as a seminary graduate, discovered that he had somehow lost his passion for reading his Bible and ministering to church members, who seemed frozen in the pew. He didn't blame them for his lack of faith, because he realized that the real problem stemed from his own unwillingness to set aside a special time each day, to listen for the voice of his Lord. Then, when he could go no further, he made a decision to stand on the words of John: "But the anointing which you have received of him, abideth in you, and you need not that any man teach you. But the same anointing teaches you all things; and is Truth, and is no lie! And even as it has taught you, you shall abide in Him." Those words of promise made all the difference; when each morning, the scriptures filled with a new breath of life. Chasing after Paul, the mystery of the gospel seemed to beat within his heart, as he read each of his letters. For the first time, the simplicity which is Christ, brought the rest, and the wisdom, he so desperately needed. Now, with "eyes that see and ears that hear," he seeks to open that same window of understanding for all those of whom Christ said: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me!"

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Copyright © 2013 Stan M. Carter.

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ISBN: 978-1-4624-0527-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0528-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013901858

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 2/2/2013

Table of Contents

Beams of Hope

Preface

Chapter 1 Investigating Volcanic Vents

Chapter 2 Surviving Slippery Slopes

Chapter 3 Creating Courage out of Catastrophe

Chapter 4. Which Way Waterfalls

Chapter 5 Running the Ravine

Chapter 6 Caving In and Antics Out

Further Readings

Postscript

Surviving Rip Tides

Glossary of Terms

For Misty Marie, my best friend, companion, and wife, without whom, this book would never have been written! We’ll always have the Moon!

Beams of Hope

Oh, moon so pure and bright,

With captivating face,

Your stories bound in space,

Stir love within, this night.

Beneath consoling skies,

As mind and orb embrace,

The heavens precipitate,

With tears of love denied.

The mighty become weak,

When caught within your spell,

What stories would you tell,

If lips were yours, to speak?

Did Galileo’s Scope,

Gaze upon your strength,

Or comprehend the length,

Your beams do shine in hope?

Climbing Matafao

"A man should stop his ears against the paralyzing terror, and run the race that is set before him

with a single mind." Robert Louis Stevenson

Preface

Jules Verne’s account of man’s Journey to the Center of the Earth by climbing into a volcanic cone in Iceland became a big screen epic in 1960. Kids in theaters everywhere crawled into the screen with Pat Boone and James Mason to explore the Earth’s interior. My boyhood fascination with such explorers sparked an imagination that demanded answers, led to a career in science, and precipitated my acceptance of a teaching position on a small Pacific island. Surrounded by volcanic peaks in a tropical paradise, the jungle soon entangled me with adventures. Climbing Matafao recounts the dangers faced and obstacles overcome while trapped on a volcanic mountain with three of my students in the Samoan Islands. A story written at the request of my students, and at last, recorded for young readers everywhere.

1

Investigating Volcanic Vents

"Oh-h-h! Oh-h-h-h! Oh-h-h-h-h!" The cry from behind yanks my head around, as it becomes more and more faint against the waterfall’s roar.

Where’s Joey? I yell, turning to TJ and Sean. Eyes bulging from disbelief, ghostlike they turn and look down the slope of the mountain into the jungle. My head swims in a pool of fear as I quickly move to the site of a fresh mudslide.

Joey! Joey! I scream over the now monstrous roar of the waterfall. But as I listen intently, the green envelope of darkness below echoes only the scream of silence.

What if Joey’s unconscious; what if he’s broken an arm, a leg, his neck? Oh God, what if he’s dead! I gasp. How will I get down there; how will I get him out? What was I thinking, bringing kids on top of this volcano?

What causes a person to fearlessly climb a precipice until it has him entangled in its snare? Is it a throw-back to some kind of primal curiosity? Consider the octopus that climbs into a jar, but refuses to abandon his discovery, even as he is reeled into an outrigger by the noose around the jar’s neck. Or perhaps, it’s the way a person is nurtured, always being dared to attempt the impossible, until the daring voice is inside their own head.

Having grown up in the Ozark Mountains, the grandson of men who pursued their fortunes mining beneath the surface, I was no stranger to forest or danger. Many times, as a boy, I had crawled into the earth’s darkness as a spelunker of caves, or lost direction while following deep Ozark ravines. Such adventures, a seventh grade book report, and perhaps a special feature at a little hometown theatre may have fueled this drama atop a volcano six thousand miles from those hills.

Could a captivating watercolor in a small plain hardbound book in seventh grade really have inspired such