Our hosts in Australia

We were so privileged during our time in Australia to stay with our friends Phil and Lenna and their daughter Kristen.  They are fabulous hosts and we enjoyed being able to see them on the weekends and evenings.  Our friends Emmanuel and Marie Claire and their new baby Ezekiel came over several afternoons and evenings as well so we got to see a lot of them too.  They've been serving in Thailand and are now praying about whether to return or to head to another field so please pray for wisdom for them.

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I thank God for the time we had with these great friends in Australia before returning to Vanuatu!

Tiffani in DC

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

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!

Flip-flop friends

 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

Northern Minnesota

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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July friends pics

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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Pics with friends Summer 2011

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On the road again

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

Winter welcome

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!

A free slideshow design by Smilebox 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!

Bislama girls Bible study

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

new church pics

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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August newsletter

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Fred & Timo baptism

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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Some regular stuff (part 1)

 

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

Store opening

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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Opportunities with friends

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.

Magreth and family

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

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?!