Notes from the Week

By: Cindy

• There has been a lot of wind this week. Things have cooled off again after a warm-ish week last week. However, with the wind comes the volcanic ash, and there is a layer of ash covering every available surface of our house. If I leave a paper sitting out, 5 minutes later it has a light sprinkling of little “gritties” all over it. My duster is really getting a workout!
• My morning cup of coffee is oh-so-satisfying now that we are enjoying cool temperatures! A nice change from the drink-sweat-drink-sweat routine in the hot season!
• The RTC school has been out for the entire month of July and we have been enjoying the peace and quiet that comes with all the students being gone. Now I know how the town of York, NE felt when York College classes let out for the summer and we students left town!
• We found out this week that one of the first men Aaron studied with in Port Vila recently died from a heart attack. This sad news was compounded by the fact that this man saw the Truth, but was unwilling to go against his family in order to follow Christ. A tragedy in so many ways…
• I bought a dozen eggs last week only to find out that every single one was rotten. 600vatu ($6) down the tubes. What a waste! At the risk of looking like “the crazy white lady”, this week I took a cup with me when I went to buy eggs, filling it with water, and methodically testing each and every egg to see if it was good or bad. (Bad eggs float, good eggs sink) Thankfully, the man who owned the store was intrigued by what I was doing rather than offended! And I got me 12 good eggs for my effort!
On the way home Aaron and I were talking about the trick of putting eggs in water to tell if they are good or bad. He made the comment that it would make an interesting lesson to see how water is often used to separate the good from the bad. It was water that separated (and saved) Noah and his family from the evil people in the world, and water that is used to tell good eggs from bad, and water that is used to tell good seeds from bad seeds (the bad seeds float and the good seeds sink). And to take it one step further – it is water that God uses to wash away our sins as we touch the blood of Jesus in baptism. It is no wonder 1 Peter 3:21 says we have to “sink” to become Christians!