Mission Adventures in Vanuatu

A beautiful evening before the earthquake A Christmas season like no other. It was a week before Christmas and in my mind, we live in a perpetual state of “August”… Until we would go into a restaurant at a resort decked out with Christmas decorations and music playing “I’ll be home for Christmas” in the background. Although, hearing “Riding in a winter wonderland” and “Sleigh Bells”, was a little weird with beaches, blue aqua water, palm trees, and warm island air.   December 17th, at 12:45 we were in our apartment. I was in the kitchen and Joe in the second bedroom where an office has been set up. We both heard this sound that kept getting louder so I walked over to the door jam where Joe was and the earth started rumbling, then it started shaking and becoming more and more violent by the second. Joe was thrown, as well as his desk and computer. I braced myself in the doorway and really thought our second floor apartment was going down. It was a 7.3 earthquake. Soon after it stopp...

It’s hard to describe what we saw…. It started with a 16 seater flight from where we live, Effete island, Port Vila to Malekula Island. We arrived at an “airport”, (I use that term loosely) with a tiny blacktop runway and metal shack where you don’t even use a ticket. They literally weigh you and your stuff because the plane is so small.  Malekula airport Our objective was to go see a list of 9 sites in two days. Assess current buildings, as well as land for new ones and new missionary quarters. We saw women of all ages with machetes cutting the brush, grass, and trees back from off the road (in skirts), barefoot naked children playing in mud holes in the middle of the road. We drove through 3 rivers and the 4th was too deep so we had to turn around. They check the depth by walking into the river to see how high it goes on their body. Our driver stopped to pick up about 10 women and children on their way to a wedding, so they all got in the back of the truck on the bumpy, muddy roa...