Mission Adventures in Vanuatu

Preparing a traditional greeting for Elder Bednar, his wife and the Meurs May through October is winter here in Vanuatu, or as they call it the “dry season”.   That means it is about 82 degrees with 75% humidity instead of 90 degrees with 95% humidity. The summer or “wet season” is November through April. During the summer, “wet season” we get rivers of water/rain on most days, and the winter, “dry season” we still get rain but it’s much less intense. We are grateful for the cooler breeze and cooler days! On our morning walk seeing the beautiful sunrise at the ocean. Things have taken a turn with the construction Joe was originally going to participate in because of some policy changes. His role will be more observatory, as the eyes and ears of the mission regarding the new builds. They are building new missionary quarters as well as chapels. One of the huge struggles here is the maintenance of all existing properties. The humidity, and other harsh conditions coupled with the cultu...

Our trip to Malekula was a little easier this time, but definitely had plenty of adventure and crazy stuff while seeing 8 properties and staying at a bungalow. It’s one of those things that no matter how I try to describe what it’s like, unless you actually experience it, it’s pretty unimaginable.  Malekula is one of the least developed islands in Vanuatu. We have to take a flight on a very tiny propeller plane and then pray, ha ha. There are no hotels, only small stores that sell what they can get or grow. With mostly dirt roads, villages, churches, and schools are sprinkled through out the island. There is massive amounts of rain 7 months of the year, and of course dirt and water make mud…. LOTS of it! Driving in the mud up mountains without addresses or landmarks makes for an extremely bumpy sometimes scary exciting all day ride. Every time we would head out with our driver he would say, “OH, roads, very bad! Will take two hours”. So off we would go with our peanut butter sandwi...

Adorable Ni-Van children. "Ya gat hamas yia?" (How old are you?) They don't know...  Our 5 day trip to Tanna did not disappoint. We were able to visit 8 missionary homes and 2 additional locations where we are setting up new housing. They actually have a nice resort on the beach that the older missionaries stay at while visiting this island. It is beautiful and peaceful, especially after a day of dust, mud, wild roads, and whatever else comes up. This is one of the nicer homes on Tanna. It has a toilet and shower inside. Tanna Island is big and the villages are spread all over so it was a lot of 4-wheel driving through mountains, gulleys, rivers, and many spots that I wasn’t sure we were going to get through.   We always have someone to drive us and someone who speaks English so we can go where we need to. On all of the Vanuatu islands they do not have addresses, so you literally stop along the way asking “Yu save wea ol misinari oli stap?” (Where do the missionaries live...

Dinner at our Chinese friends restaurant with Joes daughter and family. We had a great time. It has been a flurry of activity around the islands! On March 17th, we celebrated the 183rd birthday of the largest women’s organization in the world — The Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Over 500 women gathered together in this remote part of the world and celebrated in song and local dance. The party was on a Monday night and lasted almost four hours! There was a huge BBQ put on by the men. The women in each church unit (ward or branch) had a “presentation” of speaking and dance that was so fun. I remember thinking how remarkable it is that a women’s organization that started with 20 women in 1842 has now reached over 7 million and here I was in a distant “island of the sea” at a celebration with hundreds of women of faith. It was pretty cool. Women were inside, outside, everywhere! Some had traveled over an hour from the other side of the island to be there...