Unexpected blessings [8.9.11]

[Originally intended to be uploaded on 8.9.11]

Isn’t it great when God does something in your life that makes it better?  We’ve experienced two such “somethings” in regard to our work in Malekula, and wanted to share them with you in an effort to encourage you to think about all the little ways God works in your own life.

Our first story actually starts with another unexpected blessing: up until the last year or so, the internet has not been available outside of the two main cities in Vanuatu - Port Vila and Luganville.  Would you believe that Telecom Vanuatu decided to place the country’s first two outer island internet cafes in Malekula and Tanna (where are co-workers, the Baker family, are now living and working)?  One day during our first trip to Malekula as “island residents,” I went to the internet cafe in Lakatoro (about an hour’s drive from our village) with Titus and met a man named Howard.  [There’s a running joke that if you want to meet a westerner that’s in Malekula, chances are you’ll run into him in the internet cafe.]  We exchanged the normal pleasantries, and then Howard invited us to lunch at his house.  We certainly didn’t have anything better to do, so I accepted his offer.  We set up to meet at his house at 12:00 (even though I had never met or even seen him before, I already knew which house was his - Lakatoro’s a small place!). 

Howard’s wife, Jacqui, fixed us a lunch of beef sandwiches and grapefruit.  It was nice to have some “western conversation” - not to mention it being in English!  I learned that they were from New Zealand, and are in Malekula as volunteers with a group similar to the US Peace Corps.  Howard is on a two year contract with the Malampa Province Tourism Office - trying to promote Malekula and its fellow Malampa islands as tourist destinations.  Jacqui is fluent in New Zealand sign language and has a real heart for the deaf.  As you’ve probably already guessed, they are an extremely hospitable couple.  In fact, they told us that we were welcome to make ourselves at home any time we needed their place - including showers, beds, etc.

The next time our entire family went to town, Shawnda met Jacqui at the market (again, they had never seen each other, but “recognized” each other nonetheless).  In fact, Shawnda even had to borrow 20vatu (20 cents) from Jacqui so Lexi could use the public toilet - talk about fast friends.  Though we didn’t know if they’d be able to handle all four Brandells at once (we’re a pretty boisterous crew!), we went ahead and took them up on their offer to come and “hang out” at their house until the transport was ready to return to the village... and have been once a week since we’ve been in Malekula.

This all may not sound like a big deal to you, but to us it is HUGE!  You see, weekly “town day” means that we wake up at 5:30am, get everything together and walk out to the road to catch a truck.  There are usually about 3-4 trucks that go to town each day from our area.  We ride in the back of the truck, holding on for dear life, along with 20 of our closet friends :o).  We arrive in town by 7am or so.  All said, we have only about an hour’s worth of things we need to do in town (internet and groceries).  Problem is, the trucks only make one round trip per day, and they usually head back to the village at 3pm at the earliest (sometimes as late as 5:30).  That means we have to find something to do for 6 to 8 hours.  Before using Howard and Jacqui’s, we would just hang around the market (sitting on the cement floor, with everyone staring at the white people).  Obviously, this quickly got very boring for Titus and Lexi, and thus no-fun for mom and dad.  Thus, being able to be at the house gives us the opportunity to enjoy great company, a toilet and shower, and even a bed for Lexi to get her afternoon nap in.  What a difference these simple pleasures make!  We now feel that our town visits are more enjoyable and less stressful.  We are glad that we’ve been able to return the favor by hosting Howard and Jacqui in Vila a few times.

Second, we are blessed to have come into contact with Brad and Amber (and their three beautiful daughters).  We actually first got to know them when they sought adoption advice from Shawnda and me a few years back.  They are in the country as Bible translators, and subsequently found themselves in Malekula.  As part of their plan, they are spending a year in the United States, and were kind enough to allow us to “babysit” their gas-refrigerator.  And let me just tell you... what a difference refrigeration makes!  We’ve only had it for a week now, but we’ve already fallen in love.  We can now have fresh meat a majority of the time, instead tinned meat (e.g. “SPAM” and corned beef).  What’s more, fresh meat is actually cheaper than the processed stuff.  We also appreciate being able to save leftovers instead of having to throw them out for the dogs.  And I won’t lie - a cold Coke every few days certainly doesn’t hurt my feelings!

And so, as you can see, our lives are getting easier in the village.  And believe it or not, those conveniences actually make us that more effective as missionaries - sort of like a lumberjack sharpening his axe.  Thanks to Howard & Jacqui and Brad & Amber!

Howard, Jacqui, Eric, Shawnda, Nancy, Mike (Shawnda's parents) enjoy dinner together in Vila

Us with the Jones clan - Brad, Amber, Zoe, Piper & Lola

Fridays are still fun

I vividly remember how excited I always was about Fridays when I was younger. Everyone was excited about the weekend, the 5th graders sold suckers for a quarter, and I looked forward to pizza and Friday night television (Full House and Family Matters!). As I grew older, it meant spending a few hours playing basketball at the Simmons Center, and eventually High School football games.

Interesting that all these years later, Fridays are still fun. It doesn't really have much to do with the weekend, but rather the activities we enjoy on this day each week in the village.

Our youth group meetings are held at our house at lunch. We eat, sing, study and play together each week. Yesterday was especially good as we had a record attendance - 15 teens (9 of whom were visitors). I was impressed by how well they all paid attention to the study, since they are joining in the middle of what we started months ago. Hopefully they will keep coming, and perhaps will begin attending our worship services as well. I introduced them to kickball yesterday, which of course they loved (and I'll admit that I had fun too). It's so great to get to spend time with these young people, and I hope that we can have a positive influence on their lives for the Lord.

We also conducted our second "movie night" on Friday. Several of the teen visitors came to this event as well, as did a few other visitors from the community (though not as many as last week). We're watching the Gospel of John, which acts out the text word for word, with no additional commentary whatsoever. It's gone well so far, and I've been especially pleased with the questions that are asked afterwards.

A lot of effort goes into set up, cooking, cleaning and tear down, and by the end of the day we're all exhausted, but it's a very good sort of tired!

Technical difficulties :(

It was bound to happen, and now it has! No Internet in Malekula. It's actually a double-whammy. The Internet cafe is based on a password system, and you get that password by purchasing a small scratch-off card. Problem is, they ran out of cards four weeks ago. But, even if I had a card, TVL's server has been out this week.

How am I posting this you ask? Well, our cellular provider now offers a prepaid data plan, which I am trying out. It's nice, but I don't want to have to type an entire blog post on the cellphone.

So, we have entries ready to post, but no avenue to post them just yet. Thanks for your patience, and hopefully you will all enjoy getting caught up when we have access again. Until then...

Looking forward

We’re busy gearing up for another trip to Malekula, set to fly out tomorrow.  We’ve spent the month preparing, and are looking forward to being back in our village home.  We will be continuing the ministries we’ve done in the past, as well as adding some new opportunities.

Our Sunday and Wednesday night Bible studies are scheduled to continue.  I will be teaching a course entitled “Luksave Sin” and “Christian Marriage.”  Luksave means ‘recognize’ - and we will spend our time together considering actions that have become acceptable to the culture, but that are still abominable to our Master.  In the Christian Marriage class, we will talk about biblical principles and their associated practical applications, in an effort to strengthen marriage relationships and prepare the unmarried for the future.

We will also continue conducting our youth meetings every Friday.  After lunch together, we will build on last term’s studies of the Old Covenant and begin studying the change over to the New Covenant.  I continue to very much enjoy teaching these classes, because they remind me of the simplicity and completeness of God’s plan.  I am hoping to secure a solid biblical foundation in each of these young people’s lives, that they can build on for the rest of their lives.

The brethren and I tentatively planned to conduct a Good News Meeting during each of our visits to the village, but we did not nail down a specific date or topic for this time.  I am prepared to teach a series of lessons on baptism if given the opportunity.  These lessons are very simple and straightforward, and I look forward to presenting them at some point.

We will also continue conducting a Bible club for the younger kids after Sunday morning worship.  To date, we’ve been teaching them songs, the books of the Bible, and some basic Bible facts (how many books, the common divisions, who wrote the 5 books of Law, etc).  This term, I will be using a flip-chart Shawnda made to tell the “one Bible story” (in Bislama).  I am planning to tell that same story every Sunday for the eight weeks we’re there, and expect that the kids will practically be able to recite it themselves by the end.  Such an understanding provides a great foundation for placing more in-depth stories in their overall context.

We also look forward to including a couple of new items this trip.  First, we borrowed an idea from the Bakers’ playbook and we’re going to start conducting a movie night once a week, in which we invite the public to come and watch a series of Bible-based videos.  This trip will be the gospel of John, which is a video that basically speaks and acts out the gospel narrative, with no additional commentary at all.  The videos are in English, but I think they will still serve as a very appealing activity to many, including some that we might not otherwise be able to reach.  We will watch 3-4 chapters each night, after which I will teach some high points from the text.  We will then open up for questions pertaining to the section covered that evening.  This scenario has worked well for the Bakers in Tanna, and we look forward to implementing it in Malekula.

Second, Shawnda has made copies of several issues of “Yumi Ol Mama”, which is a series of newsletters she and Cindy worked on for a couple of years.  They are designed to present a biblical approach to common issues ni-Vanuatu women face on a regular basis.  She will also be meeting with the women once or twice a month for fellowship and Q&A.

Please keep us in your prayers over the next two months as we continue our work in Malekula.  Lord willing, we’ll return to Vila on October 5.

We look forward to continuing our studies with the youth in Tulwei Village.

Another look at the congregation that meets in Tulwei.

Sounds easy enough

NOTE: I have wanted to share this type of story with you before (there are loads of them!), but have always refrained for fear of sounding as if I am complaining or degrading Vanuatu.  Hopefully you all know me well enough to know that neither is the case.  I just really want to give our readers a clear sense of what things are like here, and these two episodes occurred recently.  With that caveat out of the way, here we go...

There is a popular song here in Vanuatu that contains the lyrics “Oh my Vanuatu, beautiful Vanuatu, mi laekem yu (I like you).”  Our team has come to borrow the opening phrase whenever we have an “oh my Vanuatu” experience.  Allow me to share two with you.

Since our mission team spread out to focus on outer island work, we have to rely on each other in unique ways.  In fact, I think Mike might have started screening my calls because every phone conversation I initiate with him begins with, “hey, can you send me...”  We’ve been in Vila in June, which means we’re the go-to people for “stuff” you need from the capital.  The Bakers and Mike have certainly taken their turns, and we are glad to assist them as well.

A few weeks ago Aaron called and asked me to purchase an 1,100L water tank and ship it to him in Tanna.  Sounds easy enough, eh?  I went and withdrew the money from the bank, and headed to Fiberglass Vanuatu (“FGV”, which also goes by the name Pacific Polytanks, for some reason).  I was assisted immediately, made my order, paid my money, and the deal was done.  I asked the sales assistant what ship we could put the tank on to get to Tanna.  He looked at his board and said, “MV Malekula.” There were four different phone numbers written beside the ship’s name, so he tried one - wrong number.  Second one - wrong number.  Third one - wrong number. Fourth one - you guessed it, wrong number.  I inquired as to where the MV Malekula office was, and he said that they don’t have one.  Perfect.  He said there was a new ship servicing Tanna, that normally contacted him before they departed to see if FGV had anything to send.  He didn’t have a phone number for them (would it have mattered anyway?!?), but said he would put the tank on if given the opportunity.  He said that if I heard anything about the MV Malekula schedule, to let him know. 

A few days later, I stopped back by FGV, and thought I would give the MV Malekula phone numbers a try (they’re written on a dry erase board, that has been erased no less than 486,753 times, and never once cleaned, so it is a bit difficult to make out the numbers).  I had luck on the first try!  I asked the man when the ship was going to Tanna, and he said “Sunday morning.”  Great!  Only problem is, FGV only delivers Monday-Friday.  I told the lady at Fiberglass Vanuatu what I found out (of course, my original sales assistant wasn’t there), and asked her to pass the message to him.

I ran into the sales guy at a wharf a few days later, and he had actually received my message.  He said he would have them deliver the tank to the MV Malekula on Friday afternoon (this was Wednesday).  Putting it on there that early isn’t ideal (not much security, and no guarantees), but it was the only option.

I called him on Friday at 2:30, just to make sure our plan was still a “go”, and he said “oh, you want us to deliver it today?”  Yes, please.  A few minutes later, the driver called and said that the MV Malekula wouldn’t take the tank (he didn’t give an explanation), but that there was another ship at the wharf that serviced Tanna, and asked if I wanted him to try and put it on that ship.  Yes, please.  He said he would call me back with info.  I waited almost an hour with no call, so I called him.  “Oh yes, I put it on the ship.”  I asked when it was scheduled to depart and he said Sunday morning.  I asked him the name of the ship and he said something to the effect of “Tuaraken.”  “What?” I asked.  He repeated himself two times, but I never did understand what he was saying.  I said thanks, and hung up.

I was little concerned.  I didn’t know what ship the tank was on, nor was I certain that they had actually written “Aaron Baker” on the tank (such tagging is really as sophisticated as Vanuatu shipping security gets - it’s a wonder more things don’t get stolen).  So, Titus and I headed out to the wharf to scope out the tank.  I found the ship clearly marked “Tuaraken” (pronounced too-uh-rockin’ - sounds fun, eh?), and asked if I could board the (severely overloaded) vessel to make sure my tank was on there and that it was clearly marked.  They obliged, and sure enough, there it was.  It was even marked, though it did have my phone number on it instead of Aaron’s - minor adjustment. 

And would you believe that Aaron called the next week and had possession of the tank?!?  Even though “things are never easy in Vanuatu” (another one of our team’s favorite sayings), it is amazing that they almost always work themselves out - never in the way you hope or expect them to, but work out none-the-less.

Story number two is similar, but different.  A few weeks later Aaron called to ask for a truck part (his clutch had gone out).  Sounds easy enough, right?  A side note to the story: the Bakers have cell-phone coverage at their place in Tanna, but it tends to be a bit sketchy.  He called and wanted to explain what he needed, but our connection was bad and his voice was very “digitized” - sounded a lot like the digitization of a person on The Matrix.  It was frustrating for both of us, and we agreed that he would just text the info.  Got it!

As soon as I could, I went to the Mitsubishi place in town and relayed the information to the parts salesman.  He punched some things into the computer, disappeared behind the shelves for a few minutes, and then came out and said, “we have the part, but our computer system is down and so I don’t know the price.  Give me your number and I will call you when we’re back online.”  I saw the same salesman at the bank an hour later, and asked if the system was back yet.  “[In Bislama] Uh, yes, and, uh, I was going to call you, but, uh, the phone was no good” (translation: I forgot to call you).  He then said that the part was $90.  This surprised me, as Aaron had said it should be no more than $30.  I voiced my concern, and he just shrugged his shoulders.

I went back by the Mitsubishi place to talk to him again, and he said he realized that the $90 priced item was the “old reference number” and there was indeed the same part with a “new reference number” that was only $30.  However, the $30 ones were out of stock.  Same part - different reference number - $60 difference.  Got it.

Then, he suggested I try Pacific Autronics, a rival autoparts store.  I always have to chuckle when a store employee tells me where to buy their items for a cheaper price.  And it’s happened numerous times over the past six years.

Pacific Autronics had the part for $21.  Sold!  I boxed it up and got it on the plane the next day.

[As I re-read my accounts of these two events, I realize I haven’t really done them justice.  At any rate, you at least have an idea what it’s like getting things done in Vanuatu.  I’m not complaining, I’m just saying!  Talk to you again soon :o) ]

Tankyu tumas

 Near the end of June, we hosted a “kakae” (meal) to say “tankyu tumas” (thank you very much) to those who helped us with the construction of our house.  Such is a common practice in Vanuatu, so we wanted to show our appreciation in a culturally appropriate way.

We purposely chose to have the kakae while Shawnda’s parents were with us, so that they could also join in the festivities.  We hired a string band to play and sing Vanuatu-style for a couple of hours, which definitely turned out to a great idea (would have been kinda boring otherwise).

Being Vanuatu... [1] we were scheduled to start at 5pm, but most people showed up at 6pm or later; [2] though we invited less than 40 people, we ended up using all 100 of our paper plates and even ran out (lights + live music = come one, come all!) - oh well, the more, the merrier;  and [3] every crumb of food was consumed.

We also presented gifts to those who sacrificed a lot of time and effort to help us.  We presented them with a heavy-duty cooking pot to say thanks for all the meals they cooked me, an umbrella to say thank you for providing our shelter, and a solar lantern to say thanks for showing us the way to do things in Malekula.  They were all very thankful for the gifts.

Last but not least, the kakae gave us an opportunity to socialize with several non-Christians in the village, and it’s our continuous prayer that we’ll be able to reach them with the truth.  Keep praying!

Q&A

We’ve learned over the years that one of the most effective ways of teaching in Vanuatu is to offer a time for questions and answers in a public setting.  So, following each night of our gospel meeting, we took an hour or so to answer the inquiries that had been submitted to our question box.

Like those that Jesus received during His earthly ministry, we received genuine truth-seeking questions as well as “trying to trip you up” questions.  I actually enjoy both types.  The former obviously give you a glimpse into what the people are interested in learning about.  The latter are usually an attempt to support a false doctrine, and while I don’t have much hope in convincing the questioner, I do take it as an opportunity to teach the non-biased amongst the crowd the truth about the matter.

Something that I have always tried to practice (whether in a formal Q&A setting or not), is that of quoting/reading Scripture as a part of any answer.  I am amazed by groups who conduct similar sessions and quote experience and illustration without so much as mentioning a verse in support of their practices.  And truth-seekers usually take note.

The village SDA Church submitted some questions on the last day of the meeting, and also formally offered to set up a study with me to teach me the truth about the proper observance of the Sabbath Day and Jewish food laws.  I look forward to meeting with the leaders of their church when we return to Malekula in August, and hope that we will be able to base all of our conclusions on a proper understanding of God’s plan for His church.  Would you be praying that such will be the case?