?afta?: Welcome, Caleb

We are always excited when an overseas Christian states his intention to come and visit. This month we were happy to have Caleb O’Hara (from Ripon, CA) spend a couple of weeks with us in Malekula. Much encouragement is realized from such short-term mission trips: resident missionaries, visiting missionaries, local Christians and non-Christians are almost always edified by the time together.

The theme of Caleb’s trip was definitely “delay”. First his flight from Fiji to Vanuatu was delayed, which caused him to miss his domestic flight on to Malekula and meant he was delayed in Vila overnight. On our way to Southwest Bay we were twice delayed - once for a couple of hours at high tide when the truck couldn’t cross the river, and again for almost seven hours while we waited at the wharf on the captain of our boat to return from town. Last but not least, his Fiji to Los Angeles flight was delayed which caused an unscheduled overnight stay in Nadi. Despite all these delays (which in actuality gave him a very realistic view of life in the Pacific!), we still had a great time together.

Selfishly, my main goal for Caleb’s visit was visiting/studying together with him. He and I were a year apart at the Bear Valley Bible Institute, and I have respected his spiritual wisdom since then. I thoroughly enjoyed talking about various topics throughout the two weeks, and felt like I was sufficiently “sharpened” as a result of our numerous discussions (Proverbs 27:17).

We made a week-end visit to Southwest Bay to do some prep work for our upcoming “tent meeting” that is scheduled for December 10-15. The entire Tulwei congregation is planning to travel there for that weeklong study. We built a place for washing dishes, dug a new outhouse toilet, mapped out post holes for the “tent” (tarp on bamboo posts), cut tree limbs to use as posts, and planted two gigantic posts (tree trunks) for a new sleeping room. Caleb preached a lesson on “Evaluating Traditions” during our Sunday assembly.

Back in Tulwei, Caleb conducted a three day seminar on Church Growth, emphasizing God’s view of spiritual growth (primarily from Ephesians 4). It was a very relevant study for the congregation, and hopefully it will serve as a spring board for the upcoming year’s events. He preached a lesson from Nehemiah on “Overcoming Discouragement” during the Sunday assembly.

The remainder of our time together involved sharing meals with local Christians, various work projects, visiting, and sharing our village life. Thanks for coming, Caleb!