Olfala i ded

That’s Bislama for, “the elderly person died.”  Unfortunately, that’s the text message I received from Alsen the day before we were to travel on to Malekula.  His mother had been diagnosed with kidney cancer late last year, and she had really taken a turn for the worse in the first few weeks of the new year.  We were glad to be able to be in the village during the funeral events.  Deaths are a communal event in Vanuatu, and we were glad to be able to provide some support to the family.

Of course, there are no funeral homes in Vanuatu, which means that the body has to be prepared by the family.  The first order of business to cut down a tree, mill it into planks with a chainsaw, and build a casket (traditionally, they just wrapped the body in woven mats).  With no preservative agents, the body has to be buried as soon as possible.  The “grave-side” service is the main similarity Vanuatu shares with western cultures.  You may recall that Flexon and Alsen’s dad is buried beside our house (we live on Flexon’s land), and now their mother has also been laid to rest beside him.

Beginning on the first night, friends and family members begin coming to visit the family carrying a kilo of rice. The women begin wailing as soon as they see one of the immediate family members on their initial visit to the house.  It’s eerily emotional to be surrounded by 20-30 people wailing.

To express gratitude and facilitate continued togetherness, the family prepares lunch and dinner every day for 10 days (traditionally, 30), culminating in the largest meal on the 10th day.  During those 10 (30) days, the male members of the family do not shave their faces to show that they are in mourning.  At the 10-day meal, the men all shave, drink a shell of kava, and then eat a plate of food.  The family killed two cows (one on the first day and another on the tenth), and cooked at least 20 bags of rice (50lbs each) during the 10 days.  Extended family members donated vegetables from their gardens, as the immediate family is not allowed to work in the garden while in mourning.

I was continually amazed at how everything worked together so flawlessly.  No one in particular was given a specific job to do, but everyone knew what needed to be done and when to do it, especially as it pertained to cooking (which was the main activity).  

Sadly, “Abu Davit” (grandmother) went to her grave without ever obeying the gospel, but two of her sons have changed the tide in their family - living godly lives and training their young children to do the same.  Please keep the family in your prayers as they continue to grieve their loss.

The men visiting before the next meal

Butchering the cow, island-style

The women "scratching" bananas and yams for laplap

One of many wheelbarrows full of rice

Huge pot of soup

10 days of growth before shaving (as they included me as a son in the family)

Hand-carved spoon for stirring huge pots of rice and soup

Cooking over the open fire

Etas Christmas Youth Camp

Upon our return to Vila after Christmas, we were very pleased to hear news of an activity that the congregation in Etas Village had participated in over the school holiday.  Sam came up with the idea to have all the youth come to his land to “camp out” for a week.  The main purpose of being together was leadership training.  He and his brother, Andrew, worked with the youth in regard to Scripture reading, song leading, lesson preparation, and visitation.  Their wives, Leimawa and Iagan, cooked and cleaned for the students while they were in their homes.  The students also worked together on a service project - preparing natangora leaf panels to be used as thatch roofing for the church building.

Isn’t it awesome that brethren are actively thinking of ways to encourage and promote leadership amongst the younger generation?  And best of all, the week was purposed, planned, performed, and paid for entirely by local brethren - we only even heard about it after-the-fact.  Please keep the brethren in Etas in your prayers, as they continue to strive to serve the Lord and His church.

The Etas congregation with the Bakers at the end of 2011 

Out with a bang

Our last major activity for the year, the tent meeting in Lembinwen Village (Southwest Bay, Malekula), proved to be a fruitful endeavor.  We had 28 of us from Tulwei Village, Mike from Santo, and Aiel's family of five Christians together for a week of fellowship and Bible study.

Mike and I taught each evening for about 45 minutes, and then conducted a question and answer session.  For two of those nights, the latter was heavily monopolized by Sabbatarians asking questions in promotion of their core doctrine.  It became somewhat of an impromptu public debate.  While not the design of the Q&A session, the outcome was that both sides were able to communicate their beliefs and everyone was able to make their own conclusions in regard to the truth of the matter.  I appreciated the opportunity to defend the truth in such a scenario.

We had a morning devotional each day, and then everyone enjoyed visiting, eating and working together for the remainder of the day.  A major job was going to the bush to fetch five bushels of thatch to roof a house Aiel is building.  It took seven of us half a day to cut down three trees, remove and bundle the leaves, and carry them back to the house - probably would have taken Aiel and his son two or three days to complete by themselves.  We were happy to help out.

We were grateful to have several visitors for the nightly studies, two or three of whom were regular in attendance.  We look forward to following up with them early next year.

Mission accomplished!

Tent meeting

The church was recently planted in Lembinwen Village (Southwest Bay, Malekula), and Aiel is keen on sharing the truth with others in the village.  He requested that we come and conduct a tent meeting (called an “open-air meeting” here) on his property, so that he could invite his friends and family to come and study the Bible.  He invited the entire Tulwei congregation to come and support the effort, and most of the Christians are planning to attend.

Each night of the five day meeting will consist of Bible teaching and a Q&A session.  Mike and I have chosen texts to study through each night.  Please be praying for the effectiveness of this effort, scheduled for December 10-15!

Nancy, Jansen and Aiel Massing in Lembinwen Village

Notice

After our first full year in Tulwei Village, it became apparent that we had saturated the segment of the population that were interested in attending public teaching sessions.  I began brainstorming for a way to reach those who were spiritually inclined, but for whatever reason were not attending our public studies (most simply assume that one church is as good as another, and they are content to be active only in their chosen religion without much thought to the possibility of change).  The Vanuatu culture is a very non-confrontational one, and people tend to shy away from anything that might make them uncomfortable or cause them to stand out (e.g. being a visitor).

I discussed some ideas with the local brethren and we decided that it would be most effective to install a notice board near the main road in the village, where we would post various materials in an effort to spark interest in Bible study.  I constructed a 2’ x 4’ sign with a tin roof, and Alsen and I installed it.  I would estimate that almost 100% of the village residents will pass by the sign in a week (most of them going to and from their garden), and hopefully it will grab their interest. 

There are several aspects to the notice board.  [1] I currently have an open letter to the community stating my intentions for coming to the village, and emphasizing that I have not come to “start yet another church” but instead have come to promote the spiritual unity for which Jesus prayed in John 17.  Denominationalism is a spiritual disease that has claimed the lives of the large majority throughout Vanuatu and the world, and our main goal as missionaries is to call people back to the truth of God’s word - no more and no less.  [2] We are offering an 8-lesson Bible correspondence course that is written in the local language of Bislama that I hope many will take part in.  [3] Each week, I plan to post a “question of the week” to deal with issues that locals are constantly inquiring about.  Hopefully we will have some submit their own questions for answer, but until then I will discuss questions that we’ve regularly received over the past 7+ years.  [4] We have attached a mailbox into which people can submit questions, request a Bible study, and deposit completed correspondence courses.  [5] I have written an overview of what Jesus says in the New Testament about His church - so many accept a traditional practice without ever considering the existence (or absence) of biblical authority.  I hope that this study will prompt some to consider Jesus’ plan for His church and to evaluate their own current practices and lifestyle.

After only a few hours, we’ve seen several stop in at the notice board to investigate.  I am really excited about this outreach effort, and pray that it will be fruitful.  Would you please join us in those prayers?

Alsen and I mixing concrete for the notice board posts

Notice board: Overview of the church, Bible correspondence
course offer, mailbox, question of the week, and an open letter

On the way home from the garden, this gentlemen
stopped to read and took an intro Bible course

New meeting place

The congregation in Tulwei Village assembled for the first time in their new meeting place on Sunday, November 25.  The new location allows us to accommodate everyone inside, unlike our former structure were many were forced to sit outside in the sun.  We were happy to welcome three non-Christian visitors that morning as well. The brethren were honored to have Caleb O’Hara from Ripon, CA preach that morning.  In light of the occasion, we ate lunch together after our assembly, and the brethren decided to begin having a fellowship meal on the last Sunday of every month going forward.  We pray that the new meeting place will serve to honor God as He is worshiped and His word is studied inside.

Three more Christians

We are pleased to share news with you of two new sisters and one new brother in Christ.  During our most recent trip to Southwest Bay, Aiel’s son (Jansen) and daughter (Lorenzi) were baptized into Christ.  Jansen was a part of our original studies with Aiel and Nancy, and Lorenzi recently moved back to the village from Port Vila.  Her dad has been promoting the church to her for months, and she had a long study with Shawnda during our visit.  The next morning as we were getting ready to depart, Aiel tearfully said that he felt like a mother-hen, now having his entire family (wife, sister, daughter and son) safe in Christ. 

The following week, Eva (in Tulwei) announced her desire to be baptized.  She studied with Shawnda for several weeks during our last trip to Malekula, and has been counting the cost of becoming a disciple ever since.  She is married to Alsen and Flexon’s youngest brother, Sam Pierre.  We are hoping that he too will become interested in studying and obeying the gospel soon.  They have two young boys - Samuel and Sylon.

Shawnda studying with Lorenzi

New sister in Christ - Lorenzi

New brother in Christ - Jansen

Aiel, Jansen, Lorenzi and I just before they were immersed into Christ

Shawnda and Eva, with her son, Samuel