General Blurbs
• We thought we would be taking a small campaign group (maybe 10 or 12 of us?) to Yatekun. There ended up being 30 of us all together! 10 from the Etas congregation came on the ship, 16 from the Lorokau/Loun congregation, plus our family of 4. What started out as a campaign trip took on more the feel of a family encampment. Good thing that in Vanuatu it is “the more the merrier”!
• The classes Aaron held each morning were excellent. And I was amazed again at how reasonable the Bible is when you study it. Heavy topics that are often confusing such as the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit today versus the 1st Century, are so easily understood when you apply basic logic as you study them from Scripture. I can see why the book of Acts puts a lot of emphasis on how Paul “reasoned” with people to bring them to an understanding of the truth.
• Our diet was basically the same for five days straight. Tea and crackers for breakfast, Rice and cabbage soup for lunch and dinner with either simboro (like laplap cabbage rolls) or a boiled root crop on the side.
• We were blessed with beautiful weather the whole 5 days of our trip! And every afternoon we were able to walk to the river to bathe (that water was COLD!) and to wash our clothes from the day before.
Wednesday Blurbs – Day 1
• For me, the best surprise was finding out that three of the women from the Etas congregation came on the ship to join us on our trip to Yatekun. I was absolutely thrilled (to tears) to see Leimawa, Nipina, and Iagan again!
• Back to Yatekun village means back to the “short” drop outhouse (I SO wish it were a long drop!) which was, again, a most unpleasant aspect of our visit due to its overpowering odor. As Aaron says, “The stench is like a punch in the face!”
Thursday Blurbs – Day 2
• After the Jule Miller DVD video one night, Aaron showed some pictures of our families back home in the USA. One of them was of my sister, Jill, and me. It happened to be a pic that made us look very much alike, enough that the people had a hard time telling us apart. I was touched when they finally figured it out and said, “The one on the left is ‘blong yumi’ (ours) and the one on the right is ‘blong olgeta’ (theirs).” There was something touching about my local friends taking ownership of me in that way, saying that I belong to them. I’m not sure if that makes sense to you all back home, but it put a lump in my throat just the same.
• On this night Kaela woke me up with the most urgent need to go to the toilet. I’m not a big fan of trips to the outhouse at night, but since she was nearly squirming with need, I had to go. However, in our haste, I forgot to grab the toilet paper. Now, on the cement floor of the outhouse there are coconut husks that have been broken open. Here’s an education for you…the locals use them as TP. Here Kaela was asking me what we were to do about TP and for some reason I thought picking up that coconut husk was a good idea. Only I had no clue how to use it as toilet paper! Which got me giggling to the point that I was laughing so hard I was crying. Kaela didn’t find it very funny, but as I tried to explain to her…I didn’t have the slightest idea how to use a coconut husk for TP on myself, let alone on her! Oh, the situations we find ourselves in sometimes! Hahahahaha!!!
Friday Blurbs – Day 3
• Great news! Tom (who Aaron has been studying with for several months) and his wife, Margaret were baptized this afternoon! The beginning of the church in Yatekun village!
• Sam (from the Etas congregation) impressed both Aaron and I in how much he has grown in the last year (and in the last 6 years). He did an excellent job of encouraging the people in Yatekun to listen to the message of the Word and obey it. He was a great evangelist!
Saturday Blurbs – Day 4
• This afternoon we had a wonderful and encouraging women’s program with devotional talks given by Mariana (Loun), Leimawa (Etas), and myself. I was most impressed with Mariana as this was her first time ever to speak to a group of women. She has only been a Christian about a month and she not only volunteered to give the talk, but also took the lead in giving the welcome talk – a responsibility that I was certain that would fall to my shoulders. I was delighted at how well she presented the material that she and I had worked on together (about the various - and many! - works of women in the church) and her willingness to step up and try something new!
Sunday Blurbs – Day 5
• Another great Lord’s Day! Miriam (who is married to Tom’s brother) was baptized after worship today. She has impressed me with her interest in studying the Bible and her desire to follow Christ since the time that I met her on our last trip in June. We are praying that it won’t be much longer before her husband, Antwan, decides to give his life to Christ, as well.
• Tess (Lorokau) took on the task of teaching the Children’s Bible class this morning. She and I had several talks as she was planning what she was going to teach. She hadn’t taught a children’s class for several years and was feeling a bit nervous about it all, but still willing to take on the job. She ended up doing a marvelous job and was very inventive in her visual aids – using a coconut with a face drawn on it as Goliath - because you can’t break the skin of coconut with a knife (similar to Golaith’s armor) and she used a susut (or gourd) as David because the skin was soft and easily damaged (like the young David). Very creative!
Monday Blurbs – Time to leave!
• We only had one particularly bad thing happen on the whole trip and that was that Sunday night Melia got sick (in our bed!) in the middle of the night and continued to vomit and have diarrhea through the night. Kaela came down with it Monday night after we were home. I got a touch (thankfully, just a touch!) of it on Monday night, as well. But, the girls have been battling the stomach flu for the last three days. Finally, things are beginning to dwindle down and hopefully we are on the road to recovery!
• We are praising God for the three souls who were saved in baptism during this trip to Yatekun. And almost as wonderful was the impact this trip has had on the members of the church in Lorokau/Loun and in Etas. It has drawn them closer together as a family and to the new members in Yatekun. It has pushed several of these young Christians to step up and teach and lead for the first time. This trip was an encouragement to all – making the stinky outhouse, the stomach flu, and the monotonous diet, well worth the time we spent there! We are thanking God for the increase!
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