psalm96three

Loading the container

2012-02-06T08:04:00.000+11:00

Monday, January 16 we loaded our container that is heading to Vanuatu. It then made its way to Vancouver to be cleared through customs, and then ship out over the Pacific. It was scheduled to leave January 25 but the carrier was delayed so as far as we know, it headed out Friday, Feb 3. We're happy with it arriving later than scheduled (March 23) in Vanuatu so we have more time to prepare for its coming! I want to thank all of you who gave toward my Outgoing account over the last few years to make it possible to pay for this shipping and all the items inside and a HUGE thank you too to all of you who helped with loading it. The truck driver heard what we were loading and imagined it would take us all day, even though he mistakenly thought we'd done this many times before! By God's grace the container was loaded and ready to head out to Washington in only 5 hours 5 minutes. It was a COLD cold day so I am especially thankful that all our loaders from Grace Bible stuck it out and were such a huge help to us. We thank God for you!!!

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Container prep and sending off

2012-02-06T06:36:00.000+11:00

January was a crazy month getting last-minute things shipped to us in preparation of packing up our container to send to Vanuatu and taking care of all the paperwork for shipping. We are so grateful to New Tribes Mission and Friends in Action who put together a solar system package for us and got it shipped out just in time for us to pack up! Our solar batteries arrived damaged but they were great and quickly sent out new ones that we got in new condition on the very last day possible. Whew, thanks God!

Apparently what happened is the trucking company packed some sort of rod of iron later after all our stuff was on its way that fell and managed to make connection with every single terminal in addition to busting through the cases! Fortunately, we and the organizations we bought this from aren't responsible for the damages!

A lot of our boxes got beat up too, but fortunately the items within them are ok so we didn't have to have any of these re-shipped to us.

Praise God, the panels made it safe and sound!

We packed the container with heavy-duty totes for our small loose items and then for larger loose items, Houghton and my dad spent several days making 4x4 crates. Having these allowed a much easier and faster pack up since there were fewer loose individual items to go in the container.

Praise God for the donation of this 4-wheeler and the extra parts put on it! This will be SO useful to us in Vanuatu, especially in getting our items from the cargo boats that'll bring our things in shifts to Ambrym island and drop things off about a 45 minute walk from our village.

Crating this made it possible to pack it right up close to other items and also to pack things on top of it.

The crates for all the other loose items.

We are also thankful for a milder winter than last year that allowed these things to be built for the container.

The trailer this is sitting on is what the 4-wheeler will pull with all our items inside once we're on Ambrym!

Grace Bible Church in Miles City gave us a great sending off. We were given both morning services to share in and an evening service to show pictures, answer questions, and give updates on what God is doing in the ministry in Vanuatu. We are so grateful for all our supporting individuals and churches and for our main sending church, Grace Bible!

They had just put in these new screens the few days before our presentation so it was great to have such a high-tech way to show off what God is doing!

The church board prayed for us as we go back to Vanuatu again. It's a huge blessing to have you guys behind us in prayer. Thank you so much!

Dad and Clyde showing off the new t-shirts. :) We love the shameless advertising.

Christmas, Si's birthday, and a partridge in a pear tree

2012-02-06T05:29:00.000+11:00

Jesiah celebrated his 7th birthday in December!

We had his celebration at my parents' house and also had Christmas Eve with them. Hought and Gretch and kids were in Terry for Christmas so just my parents and I hung out Christmas day. It's been great celebrating holidays with family and enjoying quality time together.

Addy got sea monkeys so my parents will babysit them and report on their progress while we're away. :)

Here's some more pics to add to posts from before (kids programs and canning).

And then there's some other random events.

Dad putting my nightstand together.

Me typing Sunday School and Lay Bible Institute notes for my mom when she had carpel tunnel surgery. Please pray for her hand to heal fully, by the way, she's having some problems with it still.

Gretch and I were able to sing together at church one Sunday, which was a lot of fun.

Dad drew up plans for our duplex in Vanuatu so that we were able to purchase the appropriate building supplies to put in our container.

Houghton doing surgery on my ganglion cyst. :)

which of course draws a crowd

Jesiah at play...his last few weeks at public school for several years!

Our work these days

2012-01-13T14:01:00.000+11:00

The last few months we've spent purchasing items for Vanuatu, packing, and doing lots and lots of paperwork and admin for exporting everything overseas. On Monday, we have what's called a "live load" of our items to the container we'll be shipping to Vanuatu. A semi will come in the morning and we have 2 free hours to load, then when we've finished, the driver will haul all our items to Vancouver, where they ship out a few days after US customs clears everything, Lord-willing. It has been quite a learning curve to do this but if anyone needs to ship a container overseas, let us know because we'll be experts by the time this is all done! Please pray as there are some outstanding items to be resolved still for everything to come together.

Houghton trying out a mattress sample at Costco.

Piles of paperwork.

Organizing more paperwork!

Packing the crates that will go in our container. Hooray for Houghton and my dad for building these and making just enough so it all fits good!

When we were inventorying everything and packing the crates, Gretchen needed warmer feet so she put on my gloves... :) She reported that they did the trick!

Outings

2012-01-13T13:10:00.000+11:00

We've had a few fun family things this winter. First, I went with Hought and Gretch to take some family pictures for them at the river.

One of the sleepovers I had with Gwen, my mom had one night to use up a free blizzard at Dairy Queen so she treated us - yum!

All year I've been wanting to go to a basketball game so we went to the high school boys game. Honestly it was a terrible game, but we still had a good time. Gweny was transfixed by the cheerleaders...

My nieces and nephew had Christmas programs for their schools so it was fun to see them with their classmates singing and quoting poems.

Hanging out with my mom.

Canning take 2

2012-01-13T12:33:00.000+11:00

We got another opportunity in December to practice canning again before packing our stuff for Vanuatu. This time we tried some new recipes and to can meat too. Haha, look at us, apparently we're all coordinating! I'm just really thankful for my mom and her expertise and help with this stuff and her servant's heart in doing all this with us!

Spiced apples and beef roast.

Roast and hamburger. It looks disgusting but it tastes awesome!

God's faithfulness throughout generations

2012-01-12T14:34:00.000+11:00

I've had graduation pictures of my grandparents and parents for years and always wanted to do something with them so I finally followed through this year. Unique Creations in Miles City did this awesome job for me!

My dad, me, Gretchen, and my mom.

I had this plaque put in the middle as a testimony to God's faithfulness throughout the generations of my family. All my grandparents are/were Christians, my parents are Christians, and my sister and I are believers too. I am thankful for the witness each generation has been to the next of our Great God! I can only pray that Gretchen and I are as faithful in passing on the knowledge of God to the next generation.

Paternal grandparents: Jim & Betty Lou Thulesen.

Maternal grandparents: Marvin & Eunice Benhardus.

Thanksgiving

2012-01-12T14:05:00.000+11:00

For Thanksgiving we got to celebrate with my dad's side of the family in Sheridan, WY. The whole crew stayed and my uncle Mike and aunt Libby's. We had an awesome time hanging out, doing crafts, and eating of course! We also got to see our friends Rollie and Bev for the first time since we went overseas, which was great!

Uncle John & Aunt Karen, Grandpa & grandma, Uncle Mike & Aunt Libby, Dad & Mom, Me, Houghton, Gretchen, Addy, Gwen & Si.

Good snow for snowmen!

Aunt Karen & Aunt Libby playing a jewelry game with the kids.

At the Christmas stroll.

On the hayride.

My Aunt Libby (2nd from R) is in a bell choir and played at the bank so we got to go listen.

We made jewelry together.

Turkeys and deer abound in Sheridan and were walking around in people's yards!

Florida training 10-11

2012-01-03T15:56:00.000+11:00

In Florida in October, we did orientation with Wycliffe. We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know others who attended with us and hearing their stories of how God led them to be involved in missions! Two families are headed to Vanuatu, praise God! And we learned that Vanuatu is in the top 20 countries most needing Bible translation, so we can use you too; come on over!!

All the attendees. Their largest group yet!

Presenting the ministry.

All those going to Vanuatu, Lord-willing!

The Team

Displays about Bible translation issues in what they call the Discovery Center.

Various words for "to carry" in a language. They're all different based on what you're carrying and how - just imagine learning all of those!

Displays of John 3:16 in various languages with translated New Testaments around the world. You can see the verse in each language, hear it read by a native speaker, and see a model of a real person from the language group.

All the languages of the world - the language tree.

The founder of Wycliffe.

Houghton's solar training

2011-11-16T16:48:00.001+11:00

Gretchen made this smilebox with pics from Houghton's time in Colorado in Sept (while she and I were in N Carolina learning terrifying medical skills). This stuff is so useful for us for sustaining ourselves in the 'bush' in Vanuatu. So go Houghton for learning all this! :) Here's their pics that I stole, I mean borrowed, off their blog...

Tiffani in DC

2011-11-10T12:24:00.000+11:00

After hanging out with our friends in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, I took the bus to DC to stay a few days with my friend Tiffani. She's an awesome accountability partner and we were able to in person finish out a Bible study we've been doing over the phone all my furlough. I got to meet a lot of her friends from church, share about Vanuatu with her youth group, and attend a very edifying home group. It was a spiritually nourishing trip.

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Some of the pictures in the smilebox didn't show up well so I put them in the body of the e-mail here. Sorry so many are blurry!

East coast travel

2011-11-04T02:30:00.000+11:00

We had the fantastic opportunity last weekend of seeing some friends who also have hearts for missions. Casey and Val (and Steve) hosted us in New Jersey and we also got to meet people at their church and some friends, Brad and Elly, who are missionaries in Africa also home on furlough.

I was also able to see my friend Carla, who attended linguistics school with me in Australia in 2010. I never would have dreamed we'd be able to see each other way over in Pennsylvania. What a blessing!

Team Vanuatu interview

2011-11-04T01:30:00.000+11:00

The Pursuit in Boise is one of our awesome supporting churches. They made this video for us this summer.

Houghton and Laura from The Pursuit on Vimeo.

Haircut

2011-10-24T05:39:00.000+11:00

I got my hair cut this weekend to donate to the American Cancer Society. Unfortunately, my hair is so thin it'll be a very small donation, but it was fun to do and I think I'll grow it out and do it again! Vanuatu was very hair-growing friendly so shouldn't be a problem to grow it long again when I get there. :)

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Thulesen family home on the range

2011-10-17T14:03:00.000+11:00

We had a Thulesen family get-together (minus my Uncle Dick, who visited a few weeks later) in September and went out to see the ranch that my dad and his siblings all grew up on. Gretch and I had never been out there so it was a great opportunity to see a bit of the Thulesen family history in person. Now the deck that my parents are building has rocks incorporated from this homestead since they brought some back into town.

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Carving Pumpkins

2011-10-14T09:04:00.000+11:00

My parents grew a nice big garden to share with us since we were around this year. And that meant pumpkin carving! :)

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36 years!

2011-10-14T08:49:00.000+11:00

My parents celebrated their 36th anniversary this week. We took them out to a new Chinese place in town for a family lunch. Congratulations to them! :)

Canning

2011-10-07T09:17:00.000+11:00

Today my mom taught us canning and we also tried out a nifty juice extractor to can some apple juice! We did pretty much everything wrong with the pressure cooker canner (a new thing for all of us) but mistakes make the best teacher, right? We'll try again next month maybe making soup or canning meat, but for now we have a few pints of green beans and apple juice, and a couple quarts of apple butter to eat. Yum.

Missionary Medical Intensive

2011-10-06T09:21:00.002+11:00

Gretchen and I just got back from a medical intensive designed for missionaries ministering in rural areas who may not have medical help accessible in an emergency. We trained with a group in North Carolina in their program called Missionary Medical Intensive. Click here to check out the organization Originally it was meant for EMTs and nurses, but they've dumbed it down some for us laypeople. :) It was hands down the best training I've been to in a decade. They were very God-focused, hands-on, practical, and had excellent, humble, relational teachers (doctors and nurses). The other students were great to get to know as well. I had a fantastic roommate, Erika, and our friend Christina who we met in Vanuatu came the same time so we were able to have some time with her as well! Here are pics.

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I also thank God for good health during the time!

Also, the 2nd week we were gone, Houghton was able to go to a solar/water/septic training as well to help fill in the gaps of understanding in those areas. We are so thankful for these opportunities to be better prepared for our long-term ministry in Vanuatu!

Vanuatu Bible translation video

2011-09-17T06:23:00.000+10:00

Our friend Mendy made this video highlighting local Bible translators in Vanuatu. Here it is and well worth a watch!

Baptisms 8-11

2011-09-07T14:33:00.000+10:00

Some of my friends got baptized recently and what an honor it was to get to witness it! Here's pictures of these Christians, demonstrating publicly, in obedience to God, that they have trusted in Christ as their Savior from sin. Praise God!

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Family vacation 8-11

2011-09-07T14:13:00.000+10:00

Because of my parents generosity and planning, we were able to vacation in Rapid City, South Dakota on our way back from the Minnesota family reunion! Here's pics from our fun time together.

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Flip-flop friends

2011-09-06T16:25:00.000+10:00

Another awesome part of being in Minneapolis is that we met a new friend, Janet, who has been praying about Vanuatu for several years. We met up with her and her girls and they bought a whole bunch of flip-flops for us to give out in Vanuatu! They were also a great encouragement to us and prayed for us. Pretty cool how God arranges divine opportunities!

Hannah, Julia, and Janet

Benhardus family reunion

2011-09-06T15:56:00.002+10:00

After our time in northern Minnesota, we got to go to Minneapolis to spend time with my mom's family and have a family reunion there. It's been a long while since we've done that! We arrived a few hours too late to see my cousin Heidi and family but everyone else was there other than my cousin Dawn, who's serving with the Peace Corps in The Gambia (West Africa). Here's pics from our get-together.

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Northern Minnesota

2011-09-06T14:24:00.000+10:00

Here's pics from our visits to Marcell and Duluth, Minnesota the beginning of August. These churches have some great friends of ours and of Vanuatu and it was great to catch up with them again after 4 years away! Here's a few pictures from our visit. WOWzers, the intro on this Smilebox is painfully long, sorry about that! I promise, there really are pictures in there after the intro plays itself out.

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A few preliminary pics

2011-08-30T07:53:00.000+10:00

I have loads of pictures to get from Gretchen and my mom to have a real post about our time in Minnesota and S Dakota, but here's a few fun preliminary shots in the meantime! The first few are our 1st 2 stops in MN seeing our supporting churches and friends there. Sorry, I left all the family photo shots to my mom and Houghton so have to get those on here later! After that it's family vacation in S Dakota which was super fun!

Hanging out at the lake at the Steinbrenners. What cool friends they are!

Already missing you, Faltynskis!

Family vacation shots in S Dakota.

This contraption with the slide rocked! My mom had a bit too much fun on it and hurt herself but when we were chiding her for going too fast her response was: "it was totally worth it!" Wow, now that's dedication. :)

Impressive Idaho

2011-08-01T09:14:00.000+10:00

Here are some pictures in and around Boise, and then of western Idaho from my drive up to eastern Washington and then on up to western Montana.

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July friends pics

2011-08-01T08:24:00.000+10:00

Here are pics from friends I got to see in July, mostly in Boise but some on my way back to eastern Montana. Furlough is great for catching up with friends after 3 years away!

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August 2011 Newsletter

2011-08-01T06:36:00.000+10:00

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July 2011 Newsletter

2011-08-01T06:33:00.001+10:00

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Pics with friends Summer 2011

2011-07-08T15:00:00.000+10:00

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Montana flooding 2011

2011-07-08T13:50:00.000+10:00

Here's some pics of Montana in it's flooding time - end of May, beginning of June. Sorry, the Smilebox intro is REALLY REALLY long and I couldn't make it go faster or be shorter. So bear it, and you'll see some pretty scenery and the flooding pics after it.

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Easter

2011-07-06T09:51:00.009+10:00

On Easter, we had the privilege of worshiping at our home church. Gretchen sang in the choir and Houghton's family came over after. We had a nice walk in the hills behind my parents' house to work off the Easter lunch. :) It was great celebrating Christ's gift to us in his death on the cross and his resurrection by sharing the day with family.

On the road again

2011-05-14T09:50:00.000+10:00

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Here's some pictures from our church visits the last few months. Enjoy!

May '11 newsletter

2011-05-14T09:49:00.000+10:00

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A few of my favorite things

2011-04-07T09:19:00.000+10:00

I was a tad bit excited to come back to not only see family and friends, but to a few of my favorite things...

Tortilla chips and all Mexican ingredients - yum! You guys kept me well-supplied in taco seasoning and chocolate so I didn't have to miss those, thanks!

My Denver mattress is hands down my favorite possession. The feather bedspread comes a close second...

Comfort of carpet (and couches and chairs and...man, I never knew how comfy America was before I went overseas!)

And getting to wear jeans and pants - wahoo! I don't mind skirts but having to wear one every day does make one yearn for pants. :)

Oh, and no picture for this one, but high speed internet is wow, nice!

Family visits

2011-04-07T08:51:00.000+10:00

What fun to come back and have quality time with family. I missed playing with my nieces and nephew while I was in Vanuatu a few months longer than them!

Si and Gwen - our first hug in 2 months. :)

Gwen, Addy, Si and me.

My Grandma Thulesen and below, Grandpa Thulesen in S Dakota.

March '11 newsletter

2011-03-07T03:58:00.001+11:00

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Winter welcome

2011-02-22T09:37:00.000+11:00

I got quite the welcome coming back from tropical (hot and steamy) Vanuatu with a blizzard in Montana. Here's pics. Great to be back to see friends and family! And I'm sure I'll adjust to the dry and cold at some point!

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Meanwhile, in Vanuatu, they got the wind force of another cyclone of the season. Fortunately, sounds like everyone's ok as the cyclone wasn't as devastating as expected. Here's a news story about it: Vanuatu cyclone Atu Thanks for your prayers for my safe travels. Looks like we'll be going to interested churches and groups within a few hours' drive for the next few months, then hit the Boise area in June, Lord-willing!

February 2011 newsletter

2011-02-08T22:13:00.000+11:00

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January 2011 newsletter

2011-01-07T18:34:00.001+11:00

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Geckos

2011-01-04T16:54:00.001+11:00

I was grabbing a banana out of my fruit basket the other day and found 2 round white things nestled in with the bananas. My first thought was: "gross, spider nests" so I dug them out and threw them away. But they weren't soft, they were hard like an egg so then I got to thinking..."maybe they're gecko eggs!" I looked up gecko egg pictures online and sure enough they're a match (I hope). I fished one back out of the trash and am keeping it to see if/when it'll hatch. Not sure if they were laid by a gecko in my house or if they came with the bananas, but I hope a baby gecko comes out eventually! I'm keeping it on my outlet in the meantime. :)

Earthquake

2010-12-26T15:49:00.000+11:00

Vanuatu had another decent earthquake (7.6) hit after midnight sometime here. All is well with no damage I've heard of. Here's an article if you wish to know about it.
http://thenewschronicle.com/76-earthquake-strikes-vanuatu/1226010418/

Thanksgiving pics

2010-12-24T20:45:00.000+11:00

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Bislama girls Bible study

2010-12-19T00:52:00.001+11:00

This year I had the privilege of running a Bible study for some ni-Vanuatu girls. It was quite an age spread (or would have been for a Western group but they aren't quite so age-divided here) with the girls ranging from 14-29, most in their early 20's. We studied through 2 Timothy but also did some foundational Bible teaching with storying through some of the major stories throughout the Bible. They had homework to learn the stories and share them with family or friends and most did, which I was pleased about of course! :) For our last Bible study I assigned 2 stories to each girl to have ready to share at study. Below are some videos from them sharing their stories as well as other items from the study. Please pray for these girls that they would remember what they've learned from the study and be reminded to put it into practice in their lives.

Link to this is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlyCat246zE Gretchen leading the girls in a song she made the tune for of 2 Timothy 2:15 (sorry the girls aren't near the light and aren't easy to see).
Link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rx2J-y4JZ0 (Me) storying 2 Timothy 1:9-10.

Link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyQKVKQs-74 Frida storying about original sin and it's consequences in the Garden of Eden.
Link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxD3H9bPWZ8 (Me) sharing about God creating angels and about Morning Star becoming Satan.

Here are links to the others if you are REALLY bored. They are dark and unclear and difficult to hear, as well as in Bislama so like I said, if you are REALLY bored... :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OrLRpuO5oM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2zcZzFUWYg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je20ozDt79c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXXKQCu7Nu0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob1Dd-4_bvE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOSibAS0UtI

December newsletter

2010-12-11T16:15:00.000+11:00

office stuff

2010-11-10T20:21:00.000+11:00

I've been volunteering 3 days a week doing finances for the Bible translation group that houses us. It's been a blessing to help out and I've learned a lot about Vanuatu and bookkeeping both in doing it! :) Plus, it's great fellowship as well. Here's some of those who work in and around the office to support Bible translation in Vanuatu. In a few pics you'll see some who worked here in the past as well but just came back to visit.

storying

2010-10-31T21:40:00.000+11:00

Learning Bible storytelling methods in Australia has turned out to be useful in a few settings. I've been able to story in a woman's expat Bible study, at the Bislama girls' Bible study I'm currently leading, and also at a training for teachers and Sunday School teachers for ni-Vanuatu in Vila. I'm thankful for One Story trainers and Backyard Bard trainers for passing on their skills! Praise God for these opportunities to share God's Word creatively!

new church pics

2010-10-31T20:48:00.001+11:00

I attend a ni-Vanuatu led, Bislama speaking church here in Vila. Here are some new pics from there! Also, one of my friends from church, Innette, a dear lady who was only 40-something, just died this last week, reportedly from asthma. Please pray for her family and also for my friends here who don't know the Lord! Medical care and accessibility just isn't here what it is in Western countries and people die here of things easily treated in the States. That gives an urgency to sharing Christ and to communicating clearly in language and culture!

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Sleepovers

2010-10-20T21:15:00.000+11:00

Saturday nights Jesiah, Gwen, and Addy rotate between sleeping over at my house. I pick one up in the afternoon, we hang out until bedtime, do a few activities in the AM, then go to my ni-Van church and then back to the Richards for lunch. Then I usually spend a few hours of the afternoon with the Richards on Sunday before heading back home.

It's been a fun routine and I really enjoy the one-on-one time with the kids. We've made salt-dough creations, kazoos, paper chain people, napkin angels, and paintings in our times together. Sometimes Si and I watch cartoons or dance clips from You Tube together too.

Poor Addy's salt dough snakes burnt to a crisp since I forgot them in the oven... And apparently I need to take some pictures with Addy! Sorry girl!

ni-Van family times

2010-10-13T20:59:00.000+11:00

My parents got to experience going to see my friend Magreth when they were visiting. Here are pictures from that time. Also, Houghton helped me last month with some issues with Jaen's arms and legs and recurring sores she has so the last pics are from that.

The homes on the way.

Heading down the road.

Another house

Papa, mom, Magreth, Mama Rupi, Jaen's daughter Morina, dad

Being given an island dress.

And hugs. Mama Rupi is good at those. :)

With Jaen and her 2nd youngest, Kalo.

Meet the parents.

Showing postcards of Montana.

Enjoying one of Rupi's great hugs.

One of the cooking houses at Magreth's.

The gate at the boundary of Magreth's family's ground.

Neighbor's house.

Homes of others living nearby.

Below are pics of Jaen's legs (a bit graphic so if you're squeamish, don't look). She's had a swollen right leg for a few months now. :( If you know anyone with an extra diabetes tester and test strips that wants to send it this way, let me know! In the meantime, praying she'll be willing to go back to the hospital or if it be God's will, that He'd heal her!

The black spots are old scars from old sores. She's had these just on her arms and legs, for years, recurring in the dry season.

Below is Houghton putting iodine on her sores after she's soaked them. Prin is the teen on the left - Magreth's firstborn of her 3.

We convinced Jaen come with us to the local hospital to get some blood tests to rule out diabetes or some other cause of these, but our first try was unsuccessful due to the hospital (socialized medicine here and VERY lacking) and the doctor being unwilling to take her blood at this time and the doctor's disinterest in her situation. She was not interested in going back and wasting another full morning trying again (understandably) and has since gone to local workers of leaf medicine which did give her some reported relief for a few weeks but the sores and swelling are back and not going away. :( Please pray with me for her.

October newsletter

2010-10-13T16:46:00.000+11:00

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September newsletter

2010-09-13T18:43:00.000+10:00

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Dances and songs

2010-09-03T18:10:00.000+10:00

One of our touristy activities when my parents were here was going just across the Vila bay to Iririki island. We got froofy drinks and watched the sunset, then got food. We coincidentally went on their Melanesian Feast night so although we didn't pay the big bucks for it, we got to watch all the entertainment, which included a string band playing and doing custom dances. Pretty cool!

Custom dance number 1! They told us the names for all these but I neglected to write them down and have since forgotten. So mom and dad, if you remember, help a daughter out! :)Here's the link: Fatuna custom dance 1

Fatuna island men play bamboo and glass bottles, along with string band instruments. Sorry for poor quality video and lighting. Or get from this link: Glass bottle song

Fatuna dancers dance 2: Fatuna dancers 2

Link: Fatuna custom dance 3

Kenners made it back!

2010-08-12T18:58:00.000+10:00

Our teammates, the Kenners, made it safely back to Washington state to stay with family as of today, praise God! If you read an earlier post, you know it wasn't without a few complications...like an earthquake canceling their flight. :) But they flew yesterday AM to Fiji and caught a night flight out to the States. Thanks for praying for them! They'll be chilling for a while with family, then start heading around to churches to complete their sending support team (financial/prayer/encouragement support). If you'd like them to share in your church or with a group at your home, please e-mail me at psalm96three@gmail.com and I'll get you in touch with them.

Tania has also recently made a great new post on life in Ambrym, so check that out at: Life in Ambrym pt. 2 - Tania's

We continue to have smaller earthquakes and tremors - actually just had 2 more just now. We're all ok though, no real damage done in any of these, praise God!

Walking on hot rocks

2010-08-11T19:54:00.001+10:00

Another video from our time of learning at the mock custom village. Here's the link if this doesn't load well: Walking on hot stones

Earthquake update

2010-08-10T23:11:00.001+10:00

Usually I'm amazed at how fast people find out about earthquakes here. And half the time people write and ask if all is well and I haven't even known there was an earthquake. We get little ones all the time here, but today was the biggest I've ever felt. It was a 7.6 lasting 15 seconds (which felt like forever!) with the epicenter about 30 miles NW from where we live on Efate island. I was working in the office at the time and things definitely got shaken around and tipped over. We have some friends who were mildly hurt, but everyone is ok. A few taller buildings have been moderately damaged, but fortunately the 2 story building I live in is fine. Here are some links about the earthquake. This one: Fox news article is a bit dramatic and this one: Australian Broadcast Co article is probably more realistic. Seven plus hours later though, we're still getting aftershocks, crazy!

Our teammates, the Kenners, were scheduled to depart at 4PM today to head back to the US. They were late leaving, waiting on the runway for a latecomer. As they were taxiing to go out, the earthquake hit and shook up the plane. An engineer was called to look it over and said it looked fine, but the pilot was uncomfortable taking off. So about 6:30Pm everyone was kicked off the plane and the flight was canceled. The airport officials spent the next several hours calling hotels here to find rooms to put up the 100+ passengers. I took the Kenners to their hotel around 10PM. WOW, great place to stay, too bad they couldn't have more time there! :) I have all their luggage so they have to sleep in their clothes, but tomorrow AM I go pick them up early to go back to the airport and they fly on to Fiji. In Fiji, the airline will have to put people up yet again as flights only go a few times a week from there to LA. So pray that they will be able to sleep, relax, and enjoy these times in these great hotels and not worry about all their luggage! Pray too that they'll make it back to the US safe and sound, in God's timing. :)

Custom dance

2010-08-08T22:36:00.000+10:00

A custom dance the Fatuna islanders demonstrated for us on our around-the-island (Efate island) tour. Here is the link if the above doesn't load well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCAanmfB7PM

Around the island in a day

2010-08-08T20:06:00.000+10:00

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We convinced my parents to let us be tourists with them a few times. One full day we got to travel around the island we live on (Efate). We learned some historical and cultural things on the tour and got to see more of the beautiful place where we live. What an opportunity - thanks mom and dad! :)

Family pics

2010-08-08T17:32:00.000+10:00

Tania, our resident photographer, did a family photo shoot for us while my parents were here. Great to have new family pics!

August newsletter

2010-08-05T19:41:00.000+10:00

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Fred & Timo baptism

2010-07-31T13:28:00.000+10:00

Our friends Loui & Monique live right near Houghton & Gretchen. They have been a great help to us with language and cultural acquisition and it has been great fellowshipping with them as ni-Vanuatu believers. Their boys, Fred & Timo, were baptized while my parents came to stay and we were all invited to the service and the following feast that night. (Be aware that some of the following pictures are graphic.)

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Tryin' all the new stuff

2010-07-31T10:36:00.000+10:00

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It was fun to have mom and dad here and get to show them things that we thought were crazy and new when we first came and see their reactions to everything. Alas, I was unable to convince my dad of the amazingness of soursop. He couldn't get over the texture. So here are some other first experiences for my parents during their time in Vanuatu. Enjoy.

Visited by the parents!

2010-07-29T19:08:00.001+10:00

Well, I imagine anytime you are far from home and have a visit from someone from home, it is lovely. And so much more so when you've been far from home for several years! My parents came for a nice, long 3 weeks of visiting. Here's the first batch of pictures from our time together.

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July newsletter

2010-07-21T10:36:00.000+10:00

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Ambrym pics and commentary - from teammates

2010-07-04T20:19:00.000+10:00

Hey friends, check out Gretchen's first batch of Ambrym pics and commentary: http://richardsroad.blogspot.com/2010/07/our-north-ambrym-trip-volume-1.html Enjoy!

Also, Tania has a new post taking you on a tour of our "accommodations" in Ambrym you can read at: http://kennerupdate.blogspot.com/2010/07/grand-tour.html

I have more pictures now since I got over my Dengue fever and ventured out of my house again. :) The Richards and Kenners got some great shots, so I'll add more when I have a chance as well.

Learning how to live in a village

2010-06-25T17:25:00.002+10:00

Jim and Houghton have had a few tries at learning how to live in a village. Gretch and I were in a village overnight on Santo island back on our first survey trip in 2007, and Tania and I spent a few nights up on northern Efate (the island where Port Vila is, where we live now) in a village, but really us girls have had very little opportunity to learn about village living. The women of Rambwe taught us how to cook creek-grown cabbage, (reminded us how to cook) laplap and scratch coconuts, wash clothes on a board, and luckily we were smart enough to figure out on our own how to use a squat toilet, do bucket showers, and rig up mosquito nets. We also got good at pumping purified water, doing the buddy system for night toilet runs, standing around in the dark together for brushing our teeth, swatting each others' mosquitoes, and waving moths off the lantern and each others' food at night and flies off each others' food in the day. Unfortunately we didn't get experience cooking over a fire - that'll have to be next trip.

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Island kakae (food)

2010-06-25T17:24:00.000+10:00

The people of N Ambrym went all out in their preparation of food for us. For what is available this time of year, we were given good variety of foods and were certainly never hungry. If anything, there was continually far too much for us to begin to eat everything, which was a bit of a dilemma. They were very concerned that we like the food so we continually ate to bursting to prove we did indeed, enjoy it. Mornings meant hot water and baked little bread rolls made by John in the village. Lunch and supper were divided between 5 groups in 3 villages so sometimes Rambwe cooked, sometimes some from Ranon did, and sometimes a group from Lonbwe did. My favorite was going to someone's home to eat, which we did 3 times. It meant being able to eat just until full (as they'd be finishing the rest) and enjoying storying with them for awhile, as well as sometimes being able to help with prep or clean-up. Our main foods were taro, yam, manioc and rice. Quite often we had minute noodles with a bit of canned tuna thrown in. Also pumpkin/cooking banana laplap (see pictures) was common, as was island cabbage and cooking bananas. I LOVED getting the island cabbage and also fairly often some pomplemouse (sweet grapefruit). Every so often there was some local chicken and a papaya. Once someone brought freshwater prawns enough for everyone to try one. YUM! And of course, there was the wild pig we had on our way out which had amazing flavor. Local butchering is pretty different than in the States as pieces are just cut wherever they go and all parts are eaten. And of course wild meat (including chicken) is somewhat tough, but the pig even without seasoning was worth the gnawing it took to eat. I've put pics of the pig here but please be aware that they are graphic shots so don't watch if you're squemish or don't want kids to see.

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Hangin' with the villagers

2010-06-25T15:37:00.000+10:00

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Ranbwe was the village we stayed in the vast majority of the time, although we did head into Ranon (across the creek) a few times and up the mountain to Fanrereo (an hour and a bit hike up) one Sunday. Most of these pics are of our friends from Ranbwe, who were the main ones feeding us (along with some from a few surrounding villages) and who made sure we had a place to stay. They were very generous with us, friendly, and always willing to story-on. We very much enjoyed the time spent with them! On our way back to west Ambrym to fly out, we stopped in at the hotsprings again and the guys ran (wild) pigs and speared one. Mmmm, fresh roasted pig is tasty!

On the way to Ranbwe village

2010-06-25T11:16:00.001+10:00

To get to Ambrym island, we took a little plane (they had to upgrade the plane size to fit all of us) from Port Vila to the west coast of Ambrym, a village called Craig Cove. See Tania's pictures on her blog for that leg of the trip at: http://kennerupdate.blogspot.com/2010/06/day-1-getting-to-north-ambrym.html

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At Craig Cove we hooked up with Sandy (a guy) who runs a boat between the north and west of Ambrym. At the halfway point (about an hour & 1/2 in) we took a break at a freshwater hotspring. Sandy and a teacher we were riding with went and dug scrub duck eggs for us and we swam a bit and headed on. God gave us BEAUTIFUL calm waters and I felt absolutely no motion sickness, hooray! What a pretty place, hey?

June Newsletter

2010-06-04T14:28:00.000+10:00

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Some regular stuff (part 2)

2010-05-31T21:44:00.000+10:00

Three days a week I volunteer in the office of the local Bible translation organization. Here's me with Melody in the office.

Jesiah's turn for a sleepover on a Saturday night. Well actually Sunday morning before church - hence the snazzy island dress I'm wearing...

Helping Magreth in their co-op store up at her place.

Me, Jaen & Lee.

Jaen & Lloyd

All the kids.

Ambyrm pics

2010-05-24T17:42:00.000+10:00

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Pictures from the guys' Ambrym survey trip have arrived!

Guys are back!

2010-05-19T18:32:00.000+10:00

Well, Houghton and Jim surprised us all and returned yesterday, over a week early from their Ambrym/Santo islands trip. I'm in the process of getting pictures from them to post soon, but as a quick update, it was a very successful trip in the sense that they made some great connections with ni-Vanuatu in the language group in Ambrym, got all of the language data they hoped to, and some good logistics information on Santo. Thanks for praying for their safety. They got some great documentation of the trip and we are excitedly planning now for our time as families there next month. Pictures to come!

Some regular stuff (part 1)

2010-05-15T20:18:00.000+10:00

There are a number of things here that are pretty regular in my schedule. I realized recently that I don't usually think to photograph the regular stuff. So here's part 1 of some regular things that happen on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. I'll post a "part 2" when I get pictures of the other "regulars".

Grace and I learned Bible storytelling methods in Australia and get together weekly to practice old stories, craft new ones, and prepare for sharing them with others. We shared the resurrection story with her youth group on Easter weekend.

We've just finished Luke 9:28-62 so plan to share that in a few weeks. Starting next week we will begin learning the stories from this passage in Bislama to hopefully share with ni-Vanuatu friends in the coming days!

For a couple months now, Jesiah and Gwen have rotated Saturdays coming to my house in the evening, staying the night, and going to church with me in the AM. It's fun to hang out with them one-on-one and as I've told Gretchen, having them over gives me motivation to cook real food and clean my house! Addy had her first sleep-over at my house this weekend.

Every other Thursday morning Tania, Gretchen and I have team women's prayer time together. It has consistently been a huge encouragement and a great time for us to catch up on how things are going in each other's lives, have accountability, and connect as women working toward the same goal!

A not-so-regular thing is meeting up with expat friends. I got to hook up with my friend Anna last week and see how big her baby Simon has grown. He was born in Vanuatu very very premature so was life-flighted to Australia but as you can see is doing well now! She and I used to get together for Bible studies, Scripture memory, and prayer when I was here in 2008. We also went to an exercise class together. But she's on an island up north now so I see her just every few months.

Even in the regular stuff in my life and yours, may we be working for the Lord and not for men, and glorifying Him in the day-to-day!

May newsletter

2010-05-10T18:29:00.000+10:00

Store opening

2010-04-18T15:55:00.000+10:00

Magreth's family just opened a tiny store as a co-op up on their property. I got to be a part of the opening ceremony, which was a great privilege. I'm SO thankful she's got a regular job there now, that's a big deal for her and great for her family to step out on this new venture. Thanks for your prayers for her family and continue to pray for them.

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April '10 newsletter

2010-04-10T14:30:00.000+10:00

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Opportunities with friends

2010-04-10T14:22:00.001+10:00

My friend Magreth lives in a small community with most of her extended family. I meet a few more family members every time I hang out with her. Most of them live right within a few feet of each other, but others live a few minute's walk away. Her parents own the land that she and the rest of her family live on and are among those who live within a few feet of her house so I see them regularly. Her mom, Rupi is often sick. She has more recently been having issues with her spine, experiencing pain and loss of movement to the point that she is unable to even sit up, much less walk around in the morning. She sleeps (and has always slept) on a mat on a cement floor so it isn't hard to imagine always being sore from a lifetime of this, but this is the plight of most ni-Vanuatu. Anyway, her pain is great and I asked Magreth what she does to treat it. Magreth explained that she won't go to the hospital for medical issues, but rather uses what she called custom leaf medicine in combination with having people from various churches come pray for her. I told her I wanted to pray with her before I left, but was leery of creating any misunderstanding that I was offering a treatment to be trusted in rather than what I really wanted to do, which was to show her love and point her to the One who created bodies and who, if He so chooses, can bring healing. Because of this fear of being misunderstood, I shared both with Magreth and Rupi that the Bible talks about suffering and sickness being in the world due to the world being tainted by sin, which was first introduced by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. I shared that sometimes God allows these things to bring him glory, to show God's work in our lives, and to draw us to Him, as with Job, the man born blind (John 9:3), and Paul (2 Corinthians 12:7). Also, living in an imperfect world gives plenty of opportunities for us to look forward to our true home in heaven (Hebrews 11:13), where we will forever enjoy fellowship with God and where there will be no more pain (Revelation 21:4). However, Christians are also to carry each others' burdens and to pray for the sick, so I prayed with Rupi that God would heal her if it is His will and that He might take away her pain (Psalm 103:3, Galatians 6:2, James 5:15). I sat next to her and hugged her while we prayed and she shook and cried and sat and hugged me a long time after. She kept saying "God is good, God is good, thank you so much, thank you so much." Please pray for this dear woman for her salvation and for her physical healing as well. (Rupi is the one on the left pictured here.)

Also on my visit, Magreth's sister-in-law, Lloyd, who I believe to be a solid Christian woman, shared with me that she is struggling and would like prayer. She shared that when she and her husband first married, they were very involved in their church, helping with youth, fellowshipping with other Christians, and growing in their faith. She said that she's facing a hard time now because since they moved about 2 years ago to live up with the rest of his family (just a few feet from Magreth's house), the family has been a bad influence on him. The situation has degraded to the point that he is unwilling to go to church, to allow her to go to church, he only hangs out with friends and family who are involved in activities and behaviors she sees as negative, and he has stopped getting together with Christian friends. She said "you come up here a lot, but you don't know everything that is going on so I wanted you to know so you can pray for me to be a good witness here and pray that God would turn my husband back around." She said he didn't want her to tell anyone and would be angry with her for talking with me, but she said she needed to tell someone what was going on. Please pray for this family and especially for Lloyd for wisdom in her actions and words as she desires to see her family living for Christ.

VBT and Ambrym meetings

2010-03-31T08:12:00.002+11:00

We recently got to be a part of the Vanuatu Bible Translators meeting (VBT- a national organization chaired by ni-Vanuatu men). Our friend, Pastor Peter, who went to Summer School with us last year in Australia, is the chairman so it was great to get to see him again! We learned a lot seeing how the VBT is organized, and we had an opportunity to meet the new members who were appointed this last year, and have a chance to share with them our vision and leading for ministry here in Vanuatu. They were very welcoming and the committee member in charge of the province that includes Ambrym island, where we are praying about serving, was willing even to go with the guys in May to further survey Ambrym. He was interested in giving advice concerning land disputes and talking to local leaders about our coming. It's exciting what VBT is doing in the country to reach Vanuatu with God's Word!

We also had a chance the last few weeks to reconnect with our friends Philip and Sophia. Philip is our main contact from Ambrym island and he and Sophia were in town for a preaching conference. The language group organized a committee with representatives from each village in N Ambrym and the chairman of this committee was also in town for the conference. We had a meeting together to get to know one another and to answer each other's questions. We also had several days to hang out with Sophia in particular, storying with her and getting more help on our Bislama. She's a gem for that. :) They've all headed back up north now, but we enjoyed our time and look forward to all being together again in the future!

BMW Vanuatu

2010-03-30T12:07:00.001+11:00

Here's the whole BMW crew that all work in Vanuatu! We had a chance to get together a week or so ago for fellowship, which was great. Steve and Jane's friend who came to help fix up their house is on the far left, then the Kenners, Richards, Jones' and Gibbs and the whole troop of kids in front!

Identify that fruit

2010-03-29T22:51:00.000+11:00

Here's a little game for everyone - who can identify all the fruit in my basket? I'll be super impressed if you can. :) And here's a dried out breadfruit (that was a bit moldy - not sure if that's supposed to be the case or not) from Mota Lava, an island way up in the north. It was called "biskit blong bredfrut" or like a breadfruit cracker. It didn't have really a taste at all other than just a bit moldy and maybe a slight smoky taste. :) Apparently drying these out helps with preparation for cylcone season when other crops may be wiped out, but it's not common except in the islands in the far north of Vanuatu.

Magreth and family

2010-03-16T15:50:00.000+11:00

Magreth was a good friend to me when I was here in Vila last time and we've been hanging out, usually about once a week or so. Here's some pics of her and her girls, Lin and Sava along with her sister Jen and two of her kids, Kalo and Lee.

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Onesua

2010-03-14T15:53:00.000+11:00

Currently I live in Port Vila, which is the capital of Vanuatu. This city is on the island of Efate. Last weekend, I was invited to go along with Elder Ann (see earlier post) to a commissioning service (seemed like a "starting the year off and encouraging you to do well" kind of deal) for her daughter's school. Her daughter goes to a secondary school in a village called Onesua up on the north-eastern side of Efate. Incidentally, 3 women in charge of the women's groups for their individual islands (the islands of Tanna, Malakula, and Santo) came along with us, along with Elder Ann's older daughter and her friend. We all piled into her truck and drove on the western route around the island. Vanuatu was a recipient of the Millennium Fund from the US so a project was started back when we were here last to pave the road that rounds the island. The road has made it around to just past Onesua so it took us only about an hour to get around. In 2008, Tania and I went around the east side and stayed in a village called Ekipe so as of now, I'm just about 3 miles short of having gone on every bit of the road around Efate. It was a considerably different experience this time around going on a paved road as opposed to the hours of whip-lash and jostling last time on the coral/mud road on the other side of the island... Thanks America for the great road! :)

It was a beautiful drive, great fellowship, and a great chance to learn more Bislama and culture. I also ate duck (they call it dakdak) for the first time. Unfortunately, I was too much of a chicken to ask for pictures of the ladies I was with, but I did get a few of the view from the beach we ate lunch on. In the distance are a few other tiny islands. Whew, beautiful, huh?!

Last few Aussie pics

2010-03-14T14:54:00.000+11:00

Here's some last pictures I hadn't posted yet from Australia. In the few months between school and coming back to Vanuatu, I helped Lenna with getting a church library up and running. And her daughter, Kristen, and I hung out a bit too, which was fun. Miss you guys heaps!

Our last Sunday at church in Australia was a good but emotional one. We hope to stay in touch with friends from there for many years to come but it is always hard to say goodbye to the physical part of fellowship. We were prayed for before the church and sent off with love.

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March '10 newsletter side a

2010-03-02T20:25:00.000+11:00

Here's my March '10 newsletter, side a. Please click on the image to enlarge it to full size.

March '10 newsletter

2010-03-02T19:53:00.000+11:00

Newsletter side b. Please click on the image to enlarge it.

Girls purity conference

2010-03-01T15:40:00.001+11:00

Last Sunday I got to see my friends Madeln and Bali again. (See this post for picture and story Madeln-Bali post). We didn't get to chat long though, so I hope to see them again and get their phone number this coming Sunday! I also met a new friend, Elder Ann, who is the head of womens' ministries for her denomination throughout Vanuatu. She lives on the way from my house to Gretchen's so I saw her again later in the week and she invited me to come with her to a girls' purity conference she was speaking at over the weekend. Saturday night I attended with her and enjoyed meeting and fellowshipping with ni-Vanuatu women who had come to share with the girls. It was a great opportunity to be among Bislama speakers. I met one ni-Vanuatu woman who is single and older than me...that's a first for me for here! So we had some good discussions about singleness and serving God. I believe her name is Lelinau and I hope to run into her again at some point. She went to Talua College (Presby Bible school on Santo island up north) with Sophia, my friend who went to Equip Summer School with us in Australia last year and whose husband invited us to translate the Bible in his language in N Ambrym. Here's a picture of the girls having an opportunity to "wake up" again by singing Father Abraham with actions. :) Pray that these girls will apply what they've learned from this purity conference as the temptations are great in Vanuatu as anywhere.

First days back in Vanuatu

2010-02-23T22:54:00.000+11:00

Riding in the back of the truck.

Pretty centerpiece Tania hooked my place up with! Mmmmm - frangipani's smell so good!

Jim pushing Addy in a...trike/stroller thingy.

The Kenners neighbors let us use their truck to run around.

All the kids back together again.

Not real sure what was going on but we went back for a picture cuz it was so.... Vanuatu.

On my balcony on my 1st morning back in Vanuatu.

We're back in Vanuatu!

2010-02-23T21:47:00.000+11:00

Wednesday we made the (not so long) trek from Australia to Vanuatu. Wow, what a difference to only be in the air a handful of hours and arrive on the same time zone! Makes for pretty quick adjusting...to the time anyway. :) There's still the humidity to get used to and that's going to take awhile. But it is awesome to be back. Our friends Phil, Lenna, Kristen, Don, and Joel accompanied us to the airport, picking us up at 4:30 AM. Troopers and true friends, that's for sure! I thank God for them!
Because God provided our visas right at the last minute, THE DAY BEFORE OUR FLIGHT, it was smooth sailing through all the check points. Praise God for that! The kids did their best ever on the flights and it was a blessedly uneventful day of travel. Our friends the Gibbs and teammates the Kenners picked us up at the airport later that afternoon and we started moving in to our new places. The Kenners treated us to a yummy supper and hooked us up with breakfast in our refrigerators. We have been so blessed by the help of the Kenners and Gibbs with our visas and again, praise God for His timing on those!

Also, one of my last posts was called the importance of team. Wow, did that ever play out big time here. The Kenners had not only fixed up transport for the airport and spruced up our rentals with food ready for our arrival, they arranged for transport for the next day so we could run around town getting all the basic essentials. We didn't have to try to load up a bus here with sacks of flour, mops, spices, toilet bowl cleaners and detergent. They've learned some great tricks while they've been here the last 2 months without us for quick cooking with food available here, where to get the best deals, and the low-down on all the new stores. We had a great day in prayer together, then doing our errands, catching up with them and fellowshipping. They are helping with all the run-around too to get the boxes we shipped over. We've visited 2/4 of the offices needing paperwork and signatures to get shipments in and will hopefully finish up the beginning of next week and get the rest of our stuff! I'm thankful for God's provision of visas, health, team, relationships to be sad about leaving in Australia, relationships to be excited to return to here in Vanuatu, and for my own place to stay - wahoo! Thanks for your encouragement along this crazy journey God has us on.

Hanging with the Richards

2010-02-22T17:50:00.001+11:00

I had some really nice times with the Richards in the months between school and coming back to Vanuatu. The kids and I had some quality time when Houghton & Gretchen spent a weekend in Sydney. I've been trying to practice my Bible story-telling skills at random times. So, we practiced one of the stories I knew from a workshop about Philip and the Ethiopian from Acts 8. Jesiah loves hearing stories and is pretty good at remembering them and then asking lots of really hard questions about them. :) He's a good kid and really interested in God.

So to go along with our storying, we also made sock puppets and acted out the story. The goal was to practice the story and be able to share it with Hought and Gretch when they returned. The kids did great. Addy held the chariot's horse for us, Jesiah was Philip, Gweny was the angel and held the water for us, and I was the Ethiopian. They remembered quite a bit to be able to tell the story to their parents.

Several days after H & G returned, we packed up a bunch of camping gear we'd borrowed from friends, and went camping at a place that had come highly recommended to us. It was at the southern-most tip of Australia way out on a peninsula - a beautiful place called Wilson's Promontory. Here are some pictures from our 2 days spent there.

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More December-y things

2010-02-22T16:17:00.000+11:00

The Richards hosted our church's New Year's party at the house they were house-sitting at. It was really nice fellowship, although everyone did poop out pretty early! I was invited to a nightclub party by some guy at the post office but did decide to turn that invite down.... :)

Because of being done with school, we had a lot more time the last few months in Australia to connect with friends from church too, which was really nice. It did make it that much harder to leave at the end, but such is the beauty and pain of relationships, isn't it! Here are our friends John and Joanna on the right here and Emmanuel and Marie Claire, who are just gearing up to be missionaries as well. We talked them into going to Summer School at Equip to get the basic language and cultural acquisition skills we learned there. And they hope to head out to Thailand to work with abandoned and orphaned kids next month, Lord-willing! They have a nice website if you want to check it out at www.ricefields.com.au

Christmas Eve pics

2010-02-22T15:35:00.000+11:00

Christmas Eve I hung out with the Richards. They made super tasty food so that was a treat! And it was fun to see the kids open their presents and get excited. :)

Christmas day was our fun day with breakfast at the church, lunch and the afternoon with friends, then supper and the evening with other friends. See older posts for pictures from that.

Housing

2010-02-21T09:00:00.000+11:00

I was so fortunate in my months following school to have housing provided by friends from church. I house-sat for my Lebanese friend, Amira for about a month while she and her daughter family in Lebanon. She has 3 cats I fed while I was there, 2 of which were around a lot and very friendly. It was fun to have cats around again. They were very sweet. Once she returned, I stayed with a Filipino friend, Joy (also from church). Houghton & Gretchen were staying there as well and the last few weeks another family of Joy's stayed with us too. Praise God for His provision of housing for the full time we were in Australia. I thank God also for the opportunity to learn about several different cultures as a result of the multicultural mix of our church in Melbourne! What an opportunity to have fellowship with Christians of all different backgrounds. And they were so generous to us in opening their homes and hearts to us. Thanks, friends!

Dandenong walk with friends

2010-02-17T18:51:00.000+11:00

Back in Australia, some of our friends, Lee, Janet, and Aurore took us out to Dandenong National Park in Australia several weeks before we came to Vanuatu. It is a beautiful park so enjoy the pictures!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

See below for new posts from Vanuatu. I'm just catching up on Australia ones now that I have regular internet. :)

Jan/Feb '10 Newsletter

2010-02-02T20:52:00.000+11:00

Please click on the newsletter for it to expand to full size.

The importance of being a team

2010-01-30T16:11:00.002+11:00

I definitely miss having my entire team around to serve and fellowship together since the Kenners headed over to Vanuatu in December. Gretchen and I were recently asked to assist some fellow missionaries who minister to Turkish Muslims here in Melbourne. They are an older couple retiring later this year and have always served just as a couple. They mentioned the value of working as a team, seeing that as a team they could have done so much more, especially to reach out more to children when they have family outreaches. Gretchen and I were enlisted to share the Christmas story with the children and we did other activities while their parents heard a message. I am thankful for you, my team of givers, pray-ers, and encouragers and I am thankful for the Richards and Kenners and the opportunity to glorify God together as a team, sharing His message and hope.

Here is a Turkish single woman I've been able to get to know a bit through the ministry of our missionary friends here.

Christmas

2010-01-07T17:18:00.001+11:00

Our Christmas this year was a special one even though we were away from all our family. Our church does a Christmas morning breakfast so we started the day with that, then went to hang out with friends Lee & Janet, their daughters Aurore and Amelie, and Janet's dad. Lee is quite a chef so we enjoyed tasty and perfectly arranged food at their house. :) Plus we had a lot of fun hanging out and talking. That evening, we spent time with friends Phil & Lenna, their kids Andrew & Kristin and another family connected to the church. After eating with them, Kristin engaged us in a rousing game of Bible Pictionary... using a knife and tub of butter for her creations. Very unique game and very fun. :) We left their home late after singing Christmas carols together. God has provided some very special friends for us here in Australia and I am thankful.

Team Shots

2010-01-07T17:13:00.002+11:00

Just before the Kenners ditched us for Vanuatu :) (don't worry, Lord-willing, we'll be joining them soon) we got some fun new team shots. Here's Bush Team Vanuatu!

Christmas program

2010-01-07T17:06:00.000+11:00

Prior to Christmas, we celebrated Christ's birth so many years ago, with a progam at our church. I was able to be in a chimes group, playing hand chimes I'd never before seen or heard. Gretchen and I had quite a learning curve on these instruments so we took them back to Kangaroo Ground to practice a few times. I was also in the choir and helped with one of the presentations of the toddler-age kids. Anytime you have kids in a program, there are chances for laughs so it was fun to see them share what they'd practiced and memorized and to have multiple reminders of why and how Jesus came to earth.