Taking Time for Family

By: Cindy
This weekend (or rather, the last five days) Aaron and I, and the girls had the pleasure of visiting our teammates and Christian family who live in Malekula and Santo islands. We were up bright and early Friday morning to catch our flight out of Port Vila to Malekula to spend a few days with the Brandells and the Christians in Tulwei Village, where they live. We flew on a puddle jumper with a roaring engine and large windows, perfect for seeing the islands and water below us. It was my first time on such a small airplane (only about 10 seats) and I have to say I prefer the larger ones. At any rate, we landed safely at the snazzy-looking high-class Norsup airport…oh, wait…just kidding. Norsup airport looked exactly like I had seen in previous pictures – a decent size structure, but with no roof, no windows, and fire damaged walls. Off to the side there was a small tin structure that served as a ticketing and baggage counter. And that’s it. Apparently, there is a land dispute regarding the ground that the airport is built on. Since the two families can’t seem to come to an agreement on who it belongs to they feel it best to punish everyone coming in and out of the island. They just solve their disagreement by burning the building down every time someone tries to move forward. And thus, Norsup airport has been in a state of disrepair for about 10 years now with no obvious plans to resolve the situation. Oh, my Vanuatu…

Anyway, we were also greeted at the airport by Eric and a very excited Lexi, who was the immediate recipient of exuberant hugs from Kaela and Melia. We hopped a truck to town where we met Shawnda and Titus and from there set out to do some food shopping, eat lunch, buy meat, find a transport back to Tulwei village, etc. The four kids were especially happy to be back together and we were constantly having to remind them to lower their voices, calm down, pay attention to the trucks passing, and such. What great fun for them to be together again and so entertaining for the local people! There aren’t a great many expats that come through Malekula so it was natural for our group to draw attention. However, you would have thought the circus had come to town with all of the staring and pointing and whispering and exclaiming by the locals! And never have you heard such noise as the childlike happiness displayed by Kaela, Titus, Melia and Lexi! They were just so happy to be together again – it brought a smile to all of our faces, even as we tried to encourage them to not be quite so loud.

We finally made it to the Brandell’s house after an hour long bumpy ride in the back of a truck. By the time we arrived my backside was complaining and I had the beginning of a bruise on my lower back where a metal bar attached to the truck bed kept ramming into me every time we hit a bump. Good times! That is just part of the “Vanuatu experience” and you can’t experience Vanuatu to its fullest without the adventure that the roads themselves provide.

It was interesting to see the similarities and differences of our lives in the village – the Brandells in Malekula and we Bakers in Tanna. You would think that village life in Vanuatu would be pretty much the same where ever you go, but it is not. We find it interesting how much things differ from island to island as each island displays its own individual culture. Yes, there are some similarities in the way the people live life over all, but the details are often different, family relationships and housing are not the same from island to island. It is interesting and educational to observe.

As for our own individual families our lives on those islands are different. While Aaron and I are blessed to enjoy some of the opportunities and amenities that Tanna has to offer simply because it is more of an island for tourism, Eric and Shawnda have less available to them when they go to town to get supplies in Lakatoro. Lakatoro only has a handful of stores, while Lenakel (in Tanna) has quite a few. We have about 6 different places where we can buy fresh meat in Lenakel, where as the Brandells only have 2 options (from what I can tell). However, when it comes to our respective villages, the Brandells are blessed to have their “own” land and space in which to spread out in. They can store things outside their house and on their veranda. Where as, for Aaron and I, because we live in a borrowed house on school property, we have no room to spread out. And due to the amount of students and traffic that comes and goes near the RTC, we cannot leave anything outside overnight and everything – clothes and dishpans and all – must be brought into our house for the night (which can be a bit of pain). So, it was interesting to see their home and have a better understanding of what their life entails in Malekula.

The highlight of our visit was two-fold. 1) It was great to be able to be together again, talking and spending time together and most of all watching our kids just soak up the fun that comes from playing with “cousins”. 2) It was an incredible blessing to be able to meet our Christian family in Malekula. The people there were amazingly dedicated and it was wonderful to finally be able to meet them.

On Saturday afternoon Shawnda and I went to her “adopted” parents house (the next group of houses down the trail). Their names are Jean Claude and Leisandei – truly wonderful people. We were helping Leisandei to make a laplap for our dinner that night and a thought just hit me. I thought, this is it. This is very likely my only chance to see and meet with the Christians here in Malekula. We know that we won’t be back to Malekula this year (due to lack of time and cost of travel) and next year we go back to the USA. Yes, we will come back to Vanuatu in the future to help with the work here (Lord willing, many times), but island hopping is costly. Will we ever come back to Malekula? I do not know. I realized at that moment that I may not see Jean Claude and Leisandei again this side of heaven. And that thought brought tears to my eyes. Here were two people who in the matter of two days time, I had grown to love and appreciate. While I would love to be with them more, I cannot. I may never see them again. But, they are my family. How precious is the bond we share in Christ! That knowledge made our time together with the Christians in Tulwei even more special.

And I know it was special for them too. It isn’t often that visitors from other countries make it to Malekula and worship with the church. I can tell you from our experience of working in Vanuatu, that it is a shot in the arm for the Christians here when someone from a different country comes and takes the time to worship with their brothers and sisters in Christ. I think sometimes too often we, as Americans, feel that when we go on vacation or on a business trip that we are “on a break” from having to go to worship. We convince ourselves that it doesn’t really matter, that it is too much effort, and that it won’t make a difference to the local people wherever we happen to be visiting. But, it does matter (because our loyalty doesn’t simply lie with our local congregation, but our loyalty lies with Christ who calls for us to gather with His church and worship Him wherever we might be). It might take some effort, but that effort is worth it because it makes an incredible impression on the local people! In America we are blessed to have many mid-size to large congregations. Come Sunday the pews will more than likely be full. But, for smaller congregations it is harder. In other countries where the church struggles, it is harder. And I can promise you that whenever those local Christians in whatever country have the blessing of meeting their brothers and sisters that live in a different place, it makes a difference in their spiritual lives. It gives them encouragement to stay faithful. Christians here in Vanuatu and worldwide struggle when their numbers are down (for whatever reason) and too often Satan is working to convince them that they are fighting a losing battle. It becomes easy to forget that the battle belongs to the Lord. They need that encouragement that comes from seeing that the church is thriving and carrying on all over the world. They need the encouragement that comes from seeing that they are not the only faithful ones. And you and I, as Americans, have the opportunity to give them that encouragement in person! If we will realize that it does matter, if we will make the extra effort to find the Lord’s church wherever we are visiting, then it can and will help our Christian brothers and sisters to stay faithful until death so that they, too, can receive the crown of life (Rev 2:10).

So, that is the short (?) version of our time in Malekula from Friday until Monday morning. On Monday bright and early we made our way to the fabulous Norsup airport again and caught a flight to Santo island where we visited Mike. It was great to see him again and the girls were overjoyed to spend time with their Uncle Mike, effectively wrapping him around their little fingers. He did all the right “uncle” things: played ball with them, carried them if they asked, bought them juice boxes and ice cream, and all that fun stuff. Our time with Mike was short – we spent the rest of Monday, stayed the night, stayed most of Tuesday and caught our flight back to Vila at 5:30pm on Tuesday evening. It was a good two days, though. First order of business once we arrived in Santo was to get something to eat and some COFFEE! The Brandells don’t drink coffee (crazy people!) and I didn’t think to take any with me so we went 3 days without it. Which was very sad for me. Ha! We had only had bread for breakfast that morning so by the time we got into Santo we were in need of some “real” food and a cup of coffee. We had a good time chatting with Mike about his work in Santo and were even able to meet a few of the Christians and some of the people who have been visiting worship services. That was very good – to put names with faces. We were even able to see one of the local Christian women named Primrose. We had met Primrose back in 2003 when we first came to Vanuatu and had not seen her since (as she lives in Santo). So, it was very nice to see her again. My heart goes out to her as she has endured some hardships in her life in the last few years and is just now beginning to get her life back together. I encouraged her to stay faithful so that the next time I come to Santo (Lord willing) I will see her again and know she has been standing strong in the faith for all these years. We also got to see Leimawa’s sister, Martha. She is married to a man from Santo and I only met her for the first time about six months ago. But, it was a delight to see her again – she and Leimawa are so much alike – so cute! She brought me two island dresses right before we left that she had made – one for me, one for Leimawa. Her thoughtfulness touched my heart. I tried to encourage her to visit worship sometime (as she knows Mike too) and I hope that one day she will do that. I know it would bring Leimawa untold joy if one of her family was baptized – as of now none of them are Christians.

We caught a flight back to Vila on Tuesday afternoon and were home and in bed by 8pm. We were beat, but very thankful to be sleeping in our own bed! Aaron and I got the girls to bed and then we didn’t last much longer. It was a long weekend, but it was fruitful, fun and encouraging in so many ways. Now, it is on to the next endeavor! We leave for Tanna in five days! We have five days to finish up buying any supplies we need, pack up, and get going on phase 2 of our work in Tanna. And not to mention five days to eat some good “American” food before it is back to island kakae most every day! But, we are ready! It has been a good month here in Vila, although very busy. Aaron and I are ready to get back to Tanna – there is much work to do. On top of that we can’t wait to see our Tanna Christian family again!