Mission Adventures in Vanuatu

At the mission home for a Zone Conference It’s been a really good two weeks. Lots of positive things and forward movement going on. The initial reason we were brought out here was to help with the construction of new buildings… Church buildings, additions, and missionary housing primarily on the islands of Tanna and Malekula. As mentioned before, it’s very complicated because these other two islands are very primitive by American standards and there isn’t a local “Home Depot” that has everything all of the time. Logistics are a serious issue that slows the process of everything down. Throw the earthquake in there with the disruption of the supply chain and WA LA … an even more messy complication. Joe had two days of meetings with Dave Amende, who is a church employee based in New Zealand and the contractors. Several contracts were signed for 9 structures and 2 additions …   4 in Malekula and 7 in Tanna. Construction will start the middle of March. There will be a Senior missionary ...

It was a beautiful Saturday and we were exhausted from the week of handling a million things for the missionaries … research for solar systems, water tanks, contacting owners about clogged drains and air conditioners, moving missionaries, cleaning out apartments, getting an apartment load shipped to Tanna, trying to find things for apartments that don’t exist on the island etc. We were told there would be a baptism for a couple of people in the branch that we serve in (a “branch” is a church congregation smaller than a ward). My first thought was, wow I didn’t know there was a baptismal font at that church building!   So off we went. Putting all the belongings for a new apartment in Port Resolution on the Island of Tanna on the ferry We drive about 40 minutes away on the other side of the island from where we live to an area called Mele, which is where we have been assigned. When we got to the church building and asked about the font, and the missionaries said, “We baptize in the o...