January 24 to 31

Monday 24th
Arrived in Lorakau and unpacked box…after box…after box of our books, cooking supplies, water filter, etc. All necessary life supplies, I guess, but wow, hot and sweaty work.

Tuesday 25th
Continued to unpack boxes, rearrange the house and get stuff set up so that the house is livable and our things are usable. I have a skin rash that is greatly aggravated by sweat. Try not sweating while on a tropical island, unpacking boxes. Yeah, right!

Friday 28th
This is a day I look forward to going to town. It’s about 40 minutes drive down the mountain to town where we get our supplies for the week: bread, canned tuna, fuel, ice, etc. The most important item, in my view, is the ice. Although I realize this item can be debated as a “want” rather than a, “need”, still a nice cold glass of anything on a hot day really hits the spot.

So as we’re in town visiting the fish market where they sell fish and, more importantly, ice, we are informed that their ice machine is broken and will not be fixed in the near future. If you want to see a grown man cry, tell him there is no ice on a hot day.

Possibly more important than having something cold to drink, was the fact that with no ice, there would be no refrigeration. As we have no fridge at Lorakau, we therefore have no way to keep food cool. This means no ready access to fresh meat, no way to keep our bread from molding by putting it in the ice box, and, again, no cold drinks. Sniffle.

I was pleased that my sending and receiving of emails and general internet access only took about 30 minutes, rather than the 2 hours I had anticipated. That was a pleasant surprise and welcome news to lift my ice-deprived spirits.

Other than our family all being incredibly hungry and, by extension, grumpy, we were able to buy all the necessary supplies we needed, although just moving to Tanna, we didn’t really know what we needed.

Over a plate of rice and fried fish for lunch, Cindy and I discussed how wonderful it would be if we could just get in a routine. Why does it really take so long to get in a routine? I mean, once people are in a routine, they call it a “rut” and then they want out. But, I want a routine and I want in one fast. Won’t it be nice to get up in the morning and know what you’re supposed to be doing for the day? While we’ve been to the villages before, we’ve never lived in one and this is definitely a first for our family.

Sunday, 30th
Today we drove (because of my skin problem) down to Loun village to worship. We piled Harry and his family into the truck w/our family and away we went. It was nice to see many people from the village whom I had met on previous trips there for worship as visitors. In all, there were 8 Christians present (counting Cindy and myself) as well as about 20 visitors who were family and friends of those Christians present. This will be our starting point from growing the church in Loun.

Last night proved tough as our family got sick. It all started with my stomach hurting fiercely, Kaela then throwing up, and Cindy’s stomach and head hurting all through the night. Between being sick and the noise of rats running back and forth in the house, I didn’t sleep well at all.

Even though Cindy stayed home from worship, it was an encouraging time and we all enjohed ourselves. Following the meeting, I met with the men to discuss how we can grow the church spiritually and numerically. It was actually a good meeting with a lot of participation, at least a lot more participation than one usually would get.

Monday 31st
Spent the first half of today building a bed for Kaela. We had been borrowing a single bed from the Lorakau school and now they needed their bed back. So, along with the various hats a missionary already wears, I can now add “carpenter” to the mix.

After lunch, I cut the lawn, but not in the way you would think. Here, we do it with bush knife. I discovered that Kaela and Melia could be coaxed to go get water from the water tank much easier if the grass was not taller than they were. So, I sharpened my bush knife and set to work whacking, chopping and cutting the grass any way I could. I did cut my leg, but it was only a minor flesh wound, so no harm there.

Gotta run. Need to go get water from the tank for baths. The big 5 gal. buckets are a little too big for Kaela and Melia to carry, so I’d better go do it. I’ll give them another week or two, then they should be ready for the work, don’t you think?