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!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
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!
• 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!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Some days are looonng….
By Cindy
On the mission field, as with most people’s lives, some days seem very short (most of them, actually) and some days are long. And some days are very, very long. Like today.
Our truck is sick and in need of a visit from Dr. Mechanic, so as Monday arrived and our need for supplies was evident, Aaron and I decided that we would make our first try for going to town without the convenience of a truck and with the girls in tow. We were up bright and early, ate our breakfast, packed our backpacks (I made both girls wear a backpack so they could be of help in carrying back our food stuffs), and headed off to town at 8:00. The weather was nice, breezy and cool so it made our bushwalk somewhat pleasant. The path was mostly cleared of brush so that was nice. And our only obstacles were a large hill to climb (Aaron carried Melia up it) and a log bridge that left much to be desired by way of a “safety rail”. But, we made it to the main road (at Tuhu Secondary School) 45 minutes later with no injuries and cheerful dispositions all around. We couldn’t ask for much more than that. We had hoped that finding a truck to take us the rest of the way to town would be a quick occurrence…but an hour later we were still waiting. So, we said a prayer and decided that if we didn’t find a truck by 10:30, we would head for home. By that time there would be no point in going to town. To clarify, it wasn’t that there were no trucks to be found. It was just that all the trucks that passed were packed full with people and not willing to add four more to the pile! At one point while we were waiting we were able to provide free entertainment to about 20 boys who were on break from their classes at the school. They literally stood about 5 feet from us and stared at us, chatting amongst themselves, until we left on the truck. We said friendly hellos to them when they first walked up, but they were too afraid to talk to us, so they just stared. It was like we were a sitcom! Thankfully, at 10:20 a truck came by with just enough room for the four of us, so we piled on and were headed to town.
One reason that we were so anxious to get to town today was because we were to meet Mariana at the market. She has been studying with us in Loun village on Thursday nights, along with several others. She told us she wanted to be baptized, so we agreed to meet in town and go to the ocean to baptize her. When we arrived at the market she and two other women from Loun were waiting, as they had decided to be baptized also. So, we are pleased to share that we have three new sisters in Christ: Mariana, Kumei, and Martha (who happens to be Miswel’s wife). The beginning of growth for the church in Loun village and a new life for these three women!
After the baptisms, Aaron and I and the girls headed off to find some lunch at a nearby “restaurant”. After lunch we completed our supply shopping and then Aaron and Kaela went to TVL to do emails, while Melia and I walked to the roundabout to wait for them. By this time it was about 1:15pm. Melia and I sat down on the grass and made ourselves comfortable for our wait, doing our best to ignore the stares from the people around us. “White people” sitting on the ground is such a foreign thing to the locals here that they looked at us like they just couldn’t believe their eyes. Melia and I waited and waited and waited and finally Aaron and Kaela showed up about 2:30pm.
I figured we would soon find a truck to take us back to Lorakau, but there just wasn’t one! Many trucks were passing by, but they weren’t going our direction. So, we continued waiting. While we were waiting some men who knew Aaron wanted him to “story” with them about Osama Bin Laden. People here are very intrigued to hear about him and it is Aaron’s least favorite topic to talk to them about. I told him last night that he ought to say, “I will tell you about Bin Laden for 10 minutes, if you will let me tell you about Jesus after that.” Anyway, we continued waiting and FINALLY a truck arrived at 3:45 that was going our direction and had room to spare. We hopped on and rode back to Tuhu School where we got off and began our bushwalk back home. Thankfully, the sun was beginning to set, so it wasn’t hot. However, we were all laden down with our supplies and the bags got very heavy after not too long. But, we had to keep trekking! We finally made it back home at almost 5:00pm. It had been a looonng day. It was a good day, though, and we were both pleased that the girls did so well walking and not complaining. As for Aaron and I, after carrying the majority of the weight and all, we were thoroughly exhausted. We came home, took our baths before the sun set completely, ate a quick dinner of fried eggs and bread with butter, and fell into bed at 7:00. Good night, sleep tight and don’t let the earwigs bite!
On the mission field, as with most people’s lives, some days seem very short (most of them, actually) and some days are long. And some days are very, very long. Like today.
Our truck is sick and in need of a visit from Dr. Mechanic, so as Monday arrived and our need for supplies was evident, Aaron and I decided that we would make our first try for going to town without the convenience of a truck and with the girls in tow. We were up bright and early, ate our breakfast, packed our backpacks (I made both girls wear a backpack so they could be of help in carrying back our food stuffs), and headed off to town at 8:00. The weather was nice, breezy and cool so it made our bushwalk somewhat pleasant. The path was mostly cleared of brush so that was nice. And our only obstacles were a large hill to climb (Aaron carried Melia up it) and a log bridge that left much to be desired by way of a “safety rail”. But, we made it to the main road (at Tuhu Secondary School) 45 minutes later with no injuries and cheerful dispositions all around. We couldn’t ask for much more than that. We had hoped that finding a truck to take us the rest of the way to town would be a quick occurrence…but an hour later we were still waiting. So, we said a prayer and decided that if we didn’t find a truck by 10:30, we would head for home. By that time there would be no point in going to town. To clarify, it wasn’t that there were no trucks to be found. It was just that all the trucks that passed were packed full with people and not willing to add four more to the pile! At one point while we were waiting we were able to provide free entertainment to about 20 boys who were on break from their classes at the school. They literally stood about 5 feet from us and stared at us, chatting amongst themselves, until we left on the truck. We said friendly hellos to them when they first walked up, but they were too afraid to talk to us, so they just stared. It was like we were a sitcom! Thankfully, at 10:20 a truck came by with just enough room for the four of us, so we piled on and were headed to town.
One reason that we were so anxious to get to town today was because we were to meet Mariana at the market. She has been studying with us in Loun village on Thursday nights, along with several others. She told us she wanted to be baptized, so we agreed to meet in town and go to the ocean to baptize her. When we arrived at the market she and two other women from Loun were waiting, as they had decided to be baptized also. So, we are pleased to share that we have three new sisters in Christ: Mariana, Kumei, and Martha (who happens to be Miswel’s wife). The beginning of growth for the church in Loun village and a new life for these three women!
After the baptisms, Aaron and I and the girls headed off to find some lunch at a nearby “restaurant”. After lunch we completed our supply shopping and then Aaron and Kaela went to TVL to do emails, while Melia and I walked to the roundabout to wait for them. By this time it was about 1:15pm. Melia and I sat down on the grass and made ourselves comfortable for our wait, doing our best to ignore the stares from the people around us. “White people” sitting on the ground is such a foreign thing to the locals here that they looked at us like they just couldn’t believe their eyes. Melia and I waited and waited and waited and finally Aaron and Kaela showed up about 2:30pm.
I figured we would soon find a truck to take us back to Lorakau, but there just wasn’t one! Many trucks were passing by, but they weren’t going our direction. So, we continued waiting. While we were waiting some men who knew Aaron wanted him to “story” with them about Osama Bin Laden. People here are very intrigued to hear about him and it is Aaron’s least favorite topic to talk to them about. I told him last night that he ought to say, “I will tell you about Bin Laden for 10 minutes, if you will let me tell you about Jesus after that.” Anyway, we continued waiting and FINALLY a truck arrived at 3:45 that was going our direction and had room to spare. We hopped on and rode back to Tuhu School where we got off and began our bushwalk back home. Thankfully, the sun was beginning to set, so it wasn’t hot. However, we were all laden down with our supplies and the bags got very heavy after not too long. But, we had to keep trekking! We finally made it back home at almost 5:00pm. It had been a looonng day. It was a good day, though, and we were both pleased that the girls did so well walking and not complaining. As for Aaron and I, after carrying the majority of the weight and all, we were thoroughly exhausted. We came home, took our baths before the sun set completely, ate a quick dinner of fried eggs and bread with butter, and fell into bed at 7:00. Good night, sleep tight and don’t let the earwigs bite!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Kaela’s Birthday
By Cindy
We celebrated Kaela’s 7th birthday this past Tuesday. Aaron and I knew that, compared to her fancy birthday party in the US last year, this year’s celebration might not seem as spectacular. We tried to “gently” prepare her for that ahead of time. At the same time, we wanted to try and make it a special day for her. So, Monday night after she and Melia had fallen asleep, Aaron and I hung some balloons and decorations to surprise her when she woke up in the morning. This was no easy feat to do quietly since she sleeps on the top bunk and her bed is about the same height as the dividing wall in our house. Kaela can basically peer over the wall at any time and see what is going on in the other room. And since we were hanging decorations about three feet from her, we wondered if she might wake up and catch us at our decorating. But, she didn’t!
Sure enough, she woke up on Tuesday morning surprised and excited over the decorations we had put up, especially the High School Musical napkins that were sitting out on the breakfast table. We let her open one of her presents at breakfast, some clothes and a little activity book from the Brandells. One of the dresses looks very much like a ballet dancing dress. Kaela loved it immediately and has worn it every day since her birthday. Soon I will have to confiscate it for washing!
On Monday, Abu Philip “Security”, had informed us that he and his wife wanted to come eat lunch with us and celebrate. I knew I could expect anywhere from 2-5 guests for lunch. Fortunately, I knew they would bring food with them, so I wouldn’t have to worry about cooking for an unknown number of people. With the knowledge that Abu Security and family were coming for lunch, Aaron and I had to forewarn Kaela that they would likely make her a laplap and bring it as a gift. To say she was dismayed by the prospect is an understatement. Kaela tolerates laplap, but doesn’t love it the same way Melia does. Unfortunately, we had to tell her that she ought to expect a laplap or similar gift from anyone she had told that her birthday was on Tuesday. It is a difficult concept for her to understand. The idea that if she tells someone that her birthday is coming in the USA or in Port Vila she might be blessed to get a toy or some clothes for a present. However, in Tanna, things are different. People don’t have the money to run out and buy a little gift at a store and a trip to town is more complicated than simply hopping on a bus for 10 minutes to get to the store in which you want to go. So, people give food for gifts, more often than not. Therefore, we had to prepare Kaela for what to expect and remind her that even if you receive a gift that isn’t something you particularly like, you still have to receive it with a thankful heart and a smile for the person giving it to you.
Well, lunch time came. I prepared our lunch and not long after, Abu Security and his wife, Abu Yesweh, arrived with two of their small grandchildren. They brought some susut and noodle soup and a taro laplap. I dished up the plates for us all and we had just began to eat when another Abu woman (I can’t recall her name) arrived with her granddaughter and another taro laplap. So, I dished up their plates, as well. About 10 minutes later Tess arrived with Kowia, baby Ron-Jon, Sandy, and Patu…and some goopy-looking banana laplap. Needless to say, we had a lot of laplap! So, I dished up plates for all of them. Lina, our housegirl, and I kept having to run outside and wash plates and silverware because there wasn’t enough go around. Finally, the people had finished arriving. You recall that I was expecting 2-5 guests and we ended up with 11! Ah, such is life in Vanuatu! Even though I had shared some of the laplaps with our guests, there was still more left than I knew what to do with…and I really didn’t want get stuck with it (not that I wanted them to know that)! So, I quietly enquired of Lina what I ought to do with all of the extra laplap, since there was so much of it. She suggested that we divide it up and share it with those who had come to eat with us. So, I did and I am happy…no thrilled!...to tell you that I managed to give away every bit of that laplap! Aaron and I agreed that we really dodged the bullet on that one!
When lunch was finished, I brought out Kaela’s birthday cake. I had baked it down at Harry and Tess’ kitchen on their fire. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate-peanut butter frosting and it turned out quite tasty! It was only a 9x9 inch cake and I had to cut it in 20 pieces to make enough for all of us present (there were 16 of us), plus for several who were unable to make it to the party. So, you can imagine the size of the pieces! They were all quite small, but at least we each got a taste and I let Tess clean up the cake pan and all the crumbs. She was as delighted as a child over that prospect. Chocolate cake is a rarity in the bush and Tess loves chocolate cake, so I knew she would be very happy to clean up the pan!
We waited until after rest time (long after our guests had gone home) to open presents. Kaela was thrilled over all of her gifts. She most loved a small backpack she got that is black and white with butterfly designs all over it (all in white). The bag came with a set of 5 permanent fabric markers so she could color it any color she wanted. She loved that and set to work on it immediately. She also was happy to get her very first Bible. She loves to sit and read her Bible while we are holding Bible studies and such. She most loves the stories about Ehud and Aichan (for some reason) and has read the books of Esther and Ruth all the way through.
It was a good birthday for her and a nice day all together. It might not have been the most “conventional” birthday party for a 7-year-old, but she didn’t seem to be the least bit disappointed. Aaron and I were very proud of how well she just took it all in stride and ended up with a lovely birthday. As for Melia, she is already letting us know that her birthday is coming very soon, even though it is still 3 months away. She is just sure her turn for presents is right around the corner!
We celebrated Kaela’s 7th birthday this past Tuesday. Aaron and I knew that, compared to her fancy birthday party in the US last year, this year’s celebration might not seem as spectacular. We tried to “gently” prepare her for that ahead of time. At the same time, we wanted to try and make it a special day for her. So, Monday night after she and Melia had fallen asleep, Aaron and I hung some balloons and decorations to surprise her when she woke up in the morning. This was no easy feat to do quietly since she sleeps on the top bunk and her bed is about the same height as the dividing wall in our house. Kaela can basically peer over the wall at any time and see what is going on in the other room. And since we were hanging decorations about three feet from her, we wondered if she might wake up and catch us at our decorating. But, she didn’t!
Sure enough, she woke up on Tuesday morning surprised and excited over the decorations we had put up, especially the High School Musical napkins that were sitting out on the breakfast table. We let her open one of her presents at breakfast, some clothes and a little activity book from the Brandells. One of the dresses looks very much like a ballet dancing dress. Kaela loved it immediately and has worn it every day since her birthday. Soon I will have to confiscate it for washing!
On Monday, Abu Philip “Security”, had informed us that he and his wife wanted to come eat lunch with us and celebrate. I knew I could expect anywhere from 2-5 guests for lunch. Fortunately, I knew they would bring food with them, so I wouldn’t have to worry about cooking for an unknown number of people. With the knowledge that Abu Security and family were coming for lunch, Aaron and I had to forewarn Kaela that they would likely make her a laplap and bring it as a gift. To say she was dismayed by the prospect is an understatement. Kaela tolerates laplap, but doesn’t love it the same way Melia does. Unfortunately, we had to tell her that she ought to expect a laplap or similar gift from anyone she had told that her birthday was on Tuesday. It is a difficult concept for her to understand. The idea that if she tells someone that her birthday is coming in the USA or in Port Vila she might be blessed to get a toy or some clothes for a present. However, in Tanna, things are different. People don’t have the money to run out and buy a little gift at a store and a trip to town is more complicated than simply hopping on a bus for 10 minutes to get to the store in which you want to go. So, people give food for gifts, more often than not. Therefore, we had to prepare Kaela for what to expect and remind her that even if you receive a gift that isn’t something you particularly like, you still have to receive it with a thankful heart and a smile for the person giving it to you.
Well, lunch time came. I prepared our lunch and not long after, Abu Security and his wife, Abu Yesweh, arrived with two of their small grandchildren. They brought some susut and noodle soup and a taro laplap. I dished up the plates for us all and we had just began to eat when another Abu woman (I can’t recall her name) arrived with her granddaughter and another taro laplap. So, I dished up their plates, as well. About 10 minutes later Tess arrived with Kowia, baby Ron-Jon, Sandy, and Patu…and some goopy-looking banana laplap. Needless to say, we had a lot of laplap! So, I dished up plates for all of them. Lina, our housegirl, and I kept having to run outside and wash plates and silverware because there wasn’t enough go around. Finally, the people had finished arriving. You recall that I was expecting 2-5 guests and we ended up with 11! Ah, such is life in Vanuatu! Even though I had shared some of the laplaps with our guests, there was still more left than I knew what to do with…and I really didn’t want get stuck with it (not that I wanted them to know that)! So, I quietly enquired of Lina what I ought to do with all of the extra laplap, since there was so much of it. She suggested that we divide it up and share it with those who had come to eat with us. So, I did and I am happy…no thrilled!...to tell you that I managed to give away every bit of that laplap! Aaron and I agreed that we really dodged the bullet on that one!
When lunch was finished, I brought out Kaela’s birthday cake. I had baked it down at Harry and Tess’ kitchen on their fire. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate-peanut butter frosting and it turned out quite tasty! It was only a 9x9 inch cake and I had to cut it in 20 pieces to make enough for all of us present (there were 16 of us), plus for several who were unable to make it to the party. So, you can imagine the size of the pieces! They were all quite small, but at least we each got a taste and I let Tess clean up the cake pan and all the crumbs. She was as delighted as a child over that prospect. Chocolate cake is a rarity in the bush and Tess loves chocolate cake, so I knew she would be very happy to clean up the pan!
We waited until after rest time (long after our guests had gone home) to open presents. Kaela was thrilled over all of her gifts. She most loved a small backpack she got that is black and white with butterfly designs all over it (all in white). The bag came with a set of 5 permanent fabric markers so she could color it any color she wanted. She loved that and set to work on it immediately. She also was happy to get her very first Bible. She loves to sit and read her Bible while we are holding Bible studies and such. She most loves the stories about Ehud and Aichan (for some reason) and has read the books of Esther and Ruth all the way through.
It was a good birthday for her and a nice day all together. It might not have been the most “conventional” birthday party for a 7-year-old, but she didn’t seem to be the least bit disappointed. Aaron and I were very proud of how well she just took it all in stride and ended up with a lovely birthday. As for Melia, she is already letting us know that her birthday is coming very soon, even though it is still 3 months away. She is just sure her turn for presents is right around the corner!
Monday, July 11, 2011
Pics from So. Tanna Trip
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| Our family at the beautiful black sand beach in SW Tanna |
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| Kaela and Melia enjoying the waves crashing on the beach |
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| Kaela and Ron Jon during a ceremony to celebrate Ron Jon's ability to sit up on his own. |
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| Our envoy to SW Tanna to preach in Yatekun village: L to R - Sam, Miswel and Iata |
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