January 2011 newsletter

 

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Geckos

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

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

Digital collage generated with Smilebox

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

December newsletter

office stuff

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.