Coming up next...

We’re headed back to Malekula in just under a week, and I am really looking forward to being back there.  We sent a load of “stuff” (benches, tools, milk, rice, crackers, water containers, etc.) on the ship today, which means our departure is indeed imminent.  This is a rundown of all that we have planned for our next term in the village.  Lord willing...

The brethren have continually expressed their desire to receive more teaching from the Bible.  Looking back, I realize just how little in-depth teaching they’ve received over the past several months, ever since building/completing our house became our main priority.  That was a necessary distraction, but now that we are finished I look forward to teaching a lot more - it’s my favorite part of being a missionary.  It’s heartening to know that the brethren weren’t comfortable/complacent with the slowdown in teaching, and that they continue to be eager to learn. It was decided during our last visit that I would begin teaching each Sunday and Wednesday evening.  I will be teaching Bible Study Principles (context, commands, examples, necessary inferences, culture, keywords, expedients, etc.) on Sundays and Common Denominational Errors (the philosophy of denominationalism, Sabbath-keeping, unauthorized female leadership, instrumental music, organization issues, etc.) on Wednesdays.  We’ll be firing up the generator each night, which tends to attract several visitors.

We will continue conducting our Bible Club with the kids on Sunday mornings after worship, but will also be adding a Youth Bible Study on Fridays during lunch.  School is only in session a half day on Fridays, so this will be a good opportunity to get to know and study with these 9-16 year olds.  We expect to have 8-10 youth over to our house for lunch, followed by a period of Bible study (basic facts and principles) and Q&A.  Most of these teens will also be taking part in our regular studies as well, and so we hope that they will begin to build a strong biblical foundation in their lives.

As part of our evangelism focus for 2011, the congregation plans to host a “Gud Nius Miting” (good news meeting) June 9-12, in an effort to invite locals from three villages to consider the simplicity, uniqueness and importance of the Lord’s church.  In conjunction with the meeting, we have a group of teens coming from one of our supporting congregations (Perkins, OK).  They will be assisting the brethren with a concrete slab during the day, and will be assisting with the meeting in various ways in the evening.  We are really excited about this opportunity, as it will be the first group of its kind in Malekula.  We anticipate their visit to be a very productive one.

Though the date is still to be determined, we are planning a return to Rano Village (Northeast Malekula) sometime in May to preach publicly for a week, as requested during our initial visit back in early March.

Last, but certainly not least on our agenda, is a visit from “Mema and Papa.”  They will be spending a week with us in Malekula, and then three more in Vila.  It will be a joy to share “our new life” with them.  And of course the locals are very excited about the opportunity to meet “tufala olfala blong Shawnda.”

All said, I have 25 lessons to present, so April has been a busy month!  The opportunity to disciple and evangelize (Matthew 28:19-20) in Malekula is exciting.  Join us in praying that May and June will be great months for the Lord’s work there.  To Him be the glory!

Hallelujah for baby steps

I know we’ve been “off the grid” for a few weeks blog-wise, and we appreciate your patience.  With this entry, we should be back on track for once-a-week posts.

I received two phone calls from Malekula yesterday, independent of one another, both of which were very encouraging to a missionary’s heart.

The first was from Alsen.  We had a few unimportant things to talk about, and then he gave me the pleasant surprise of letting me know that he had decided to continue the Sunday kids’ Bible club, which we had started during our first term in the village (I had been leading it while we were there).  Alsen said that he wanted to continue it while we were gone, so that the children wouldn’t forget the songs and facts they’d learned so far. He said that he had continued teaching these young children the books of the Bible, having now completed the Old Testament (we were through Song of Solomon when I left).  I was so excited!  Before we returned to Vila, I had gone back and forth in mind on whether or not I should ask one of the locals to take the lead in this effort while I was absent.  Instead I decided I would just stay silent and see what happened.  I figured the best case scenario was that someone would try to maintain what I had taught, but Alsen went beyond that and taught them new information.

The second was from Jean Claude.  He actually called to discuss the ship schedule, as we are trying to send several things ahead of us for our upcoming time in Malekula.  We then talked about how things were going with the local church.  He said that during the previous night’s prayer meeting Williamson had requested prayers for the Bible study he had recently set up with his uncle and aunt.  His uncle is an elder in the Presbyterian Church, but had shown interest in the Lord’s church, and so they started visiting.  They then established that they would meet together every Sunday afternoon to talk about and study the Bible.  While I am quite certain that 100% of the Christians in Tulwei Village have talked about their newfound faith to at least a few individuals, this is the first “official” Bible study any of them have set up or conducted.  The fact that a denominational leader is interested is also very exciting (some of you may recall when I was called before the “Presbyterian Session” in December 2009 for baptizing Alsen - same group).

To some, these two instances may seem like baby steps.  If they are, I say “Hallelujah for baby steps!”  We are excited about this and other news that we hear on a regular basis from these brethren, and look forward to being back in Malekula May 3.  While these brethren probably expect me to “take over” these projects when we return, I have every intention of instead becoming their assistant in these efforts.  Please be praying that the work will continue to progress, and that God will be glorified in all that we do.

A Few Reflections

We’ve now safely arrived back “home” in Vila after our first (almost) two-month stint in Malekula.  Surprisingly, we were all a bit reluctant about returning to the relative hustle and bustle of “the big city,” as we had really become attached to our new life in the village.  But, after a couple of days with modern conveniences such as running water, refrigeration, washing machine, and a wide selection of goods at the store, we’ve decided that it is indeed nice to be back in Vila for awhile. 

Of course, the highlight so far was getting to worship with our brethren on Sunday after not seeing them for so long.  It is comforting to see how well the church is Vila is getting along without us.  It’s hard to put into words, but we can just sense that they’ve really begun to take ownership of their congregation.  They are cutting the grass and cleaning the building, they are locking and unlocking the doors on Sunday morning, they are calling for meetings, they are planning for Pikinini Baebol Klab, they are making the announcements, they are handling challenges as they arise.  It’s great that we are still here to assist, but not being relied on much at all.

As I look back at our time in Malekula, I am almost in awe of the relationships we’ve established - with both Christians and non-Christians.  It’s amazing how fast you can get to know someone in such a short time because of the close-knit community atmosphere.  We have purposely paced ourselves in this new work, trying our best to let the locals know how much we care before expecting them to care how much we know.  The village life fits our family surprisingly well, and we hope that God will be able to use us mightily there over the next few years. 

We will be heading back to Malekula in May, and will be starting several new works then.  We will let you know more about those plans in the coming weeks.  Please continue to pray for our family, our team, and our work!

Happy Birthday, dear Lexi-girl

We celebrated Alexis’ birthday island style on the 9th.  She got one present (a small kitchen set - we knew it was made in China because it was a cooktop, pots and pans and the only food item that was included was a lemon - not exactly something you can cook) and a chocolate cake (made on the stove-top, in the dutch oven).  We sang happy birthday at least 20 times during the day, and planned to take some cake to our prayer meeting that evening, but it was canceled due to a torrential downpour.  We’ll have a friend’s party once we get back to Vila.  Interestingly, as we have it scheduled now, all four of us will celebrate birthdays in Malekula this year.

Coconuts

A funny thing happened the other day.  I stepped into our “local toilet” (small house over a big hole in the ground) and was quite surprised to see a coconut sitting there (no, it wasn’t “using” the toilet - just sitting there).  I looked up and noticed a large slit in our black plastic roof (we will eventually put a thatch roof on, but since I don’t know how to weave it, I am at the mercy of the local Christians - maybe next week?).  Then I got to thinking: what if I had been “squatting” at the time of entry?!?

I brought the coconut in question over to Shawnda and asked her to guess where I found it.  When I told her the story, she started laughing and said, mockingly, “Sorry, Shawnda, how did your husband die?” - “Oh, he was in the toilet and a coconut fell on his head.”  We both got a good laugh.  The moral of the story - look out for falling coconuts at all times!

Why coconuts?  Because we live in the middle of a coconut plantation.  Back in the day, Malekula was practically a copra factory, and so the island is literally covered in row after row after row of coconut trees.  We had to cut down several to build our house (“why?” you ask - reread the first paragraph!). 

Coconuts are probably the most used “fruit” anywhere in Vanuatu. There is a use for it in every stage of growth. A green coconut (young, plucked off of the tree) is great for drinking the juice - the flesh is still very soft, but edible. We didn’t even know this stage of growth existed (since our experience with coconuts prior to moving to Vanuatu was buying dried, grated coconut at a grocery store).  The next stage (when the “meat” inside the coconut has hardened), it is split in half and “scraped” out using a round, serrated piece of metal attached to the end of a piece of wood. It’s then mixed with water and squeezed (coconut milk) over any kind of local food...e.g. laplap, kumala, simboro, manioc, taro, etc. Once a coconut has fallen off of the tree and lain on the ground for a while, it begins to sprout a new tree. The “seed” inside the coconut is considered a delicacy among locals (think coconut flavored angel food cake - consistency and taste). But, the most profitable use for coconuts is in the making of copra.

Copra is the dried meat of a ripened coconut.  Though the process is quite labor-intensive, it is once again also quite profitable.  Once the dry coconuts fall from the trees, they are gathered up by hand, split in half with an axe, the meat is removed with a small piece of iron, the pieces are hauled to a dryer (small hut with a raised floor - the coconut is spread out on the floor and a large fire is made underneath - it has to be stirred over 2-3 days until fully dried out).  Once dry, the copra is rammed into large burlap sacks and hauled to the buyer.  The copra is then exported and is ultimately used to make soaps, oils, lotions, etc. overseas.  Less than a year ago (if memory serves me) a ton of copra would win you 30,000 vatu (approximately US$300).  However, due to a recent rise in demand, the price is now flirting with 70,000 per ton (approximately US$50 per bag).  As you can imagine, the copra business is booming again in Malekula, because that is big money around here. 

If one person or a husband/wife team were to try and complete a round of copra, it would take them weeks.  Instead, they have formed co-ops in which 10-12 people work together on each of their small plantations until they’ve harvested all their copra.  The plantation owner has to provide lunch, but otherwise has no expense for the labor.  They usually meet once or twice a week.  With the co-op system, splitting/shelling out takes 1-2 days and drying takes 2-3 days.  The average person ends up with 4-8 bags of copra at the end of the process, thus 20,000-40,000 vatu.  Copra is the main source of income for the locals on the island.  They use their money to buy things like rice, sugar, tea, cement, mobile phone credit, clothing, and batteries.

It will soon be cacao season (from which chocolate is made), which I am looking forward to experiencing.  I will let you know what I learn.

Man Bush

In Bislama, “man-bush” is slang for someone who is out of their element and thus doesn’t know what they’re doing.  While it derives from someone who was raised “in the bush” not knowing anything about the modernities of city-life, it applies equally as well to this city boy living in the bush!

On Saturday, we ran out of gas for our stove.  The stores that sell refills are in town, and wouldn’t be open until Monday anyway, so cooking on the open fire was our only option.  Even during my limited camping experiences, someone else started the fire and cooked, so all I had going for me was a little common sense and few times of witnessing locals start fires (though I must admit I hadn’t really ever paid attention to how they did it). 

Wood is, of course, plentiful, so I gathered up some pieces that were dried out, as well as a few dead coconut branches (I knew those were perfect fire starters).  I got two cinder blocks and four pieces of re-bar to make a grill and we were ready to go.  Though it probably would have been beneficial, my pride was glad there were no locals around to help - my “man-bushness” would have been embarrassing.  It took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to actually get the fire started for lunch, but once we got it going we fared quite nicely.  And stir-fry on the open fire tastes great!

Alsen came by later that evening, saw the ashes and inquired.  I told him the story and he got a big smile on his face - “was it hard for you?” he asked.  Haha, I just told him that I was man-bush and he laughed.  I must admit that once I had a few episodes under my belt, I started to enjoy it, and by Sunday night I was pretty efficient.  The major downside was that the smell of smoke was everywhere, not to mention how time consuming cooking became.  We quickly determined that Monday would be our go-to-town day that week, so that we could replace our gas bottle.  But, it was a true village experience, and next time we’ll be more prepared.

Introducing Eric and Shawnda...

...of the ni-Vanuatu variety!  We were honored that two Christian families here in Malekula decided to name their newborn children after us “so that we will never forget you and the message you brought to us.”  Shawnda was born in January to Alsen and Annette, and Eric was born to Williamson and Massi in February.  We pray that they will grow up to be faithful servants of Christ.