Mission Adventures in Vanuatu

Crystal clear waters, beautiful sunsets It has been a very productive few weeks as we have continued with our work here in Vanuatu! Some have asked us what we do for fun. For workouts, there is a group of us who go walking in the morning and then play pickle ball. We do this 4-5 times a week and it's like playing pickle ball in a sauna. I'm thinking that all of the sweating has to be good, ha ha. We do have a great time. On Saturday's when we don't have other assignments we explore the island, go for hikes to waterfalls, find fun restaurants hidden away, and enjoy the ocean. There are many islands in the country of Vanuatu. We live on the island of Efate. We also have missionaries on the islands of Tanna, Malekula, and Santo. You have to fly on a (very small) plane to each of these islands. As we are in charge of the missionary housing and supporting the new construction, it can be quite complicated! Demolition of condemned buildings in Port Vila, Efate On Efate where w...

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...

We are settling into our assignments which have changed quite a bit. Our initial assignment was to help move the construction forward with new church buildings and missionary quarters that will be built on several islands here in Vanuatu. That is still a part of what we are doing, but have also been given the responsibility of managing all of the missionary housing for four islands which is very complicated.   Example, we need to find and rent a few new missionary quarters on the island of Tanna. Tanna is far from the island of Efate where we live, and purchasing everything for the new apartment has to come from here and then packaged and put on a ferry for 19 hours to be sent over. Logistically it is very involved. (beds, mattresses, kitchen stuff, stove top, refrigerator, etc...) Post earthquake, as you can imagine there have been issues with several apartments and we have had to move missionaries around, handle repair issues, look for new apartments, and work with landlords on g...