Our Time in Vanuatu

Cyclones Week  Here are some of the emotions we experienced this week:  We arrived at the airport Sunday night ( Feb.17) and we got a report from the area medical chief advisor who got there in the afternoon and saw the scans and spoke with the doctors in New Caledonia.  There is a lot more going on than what we were told when we left Vanuatu for each missionary, especially Elder Champoux. Okay time out.  We heard about a missionary struggling on another island, and we are also waiting to hear from some other missionaries concerning their health.   A million questions arise. The transfer in New Caledonia has to be rearranged.  What are we going to do? Where will they go? What now?  When will the injured missionaries come out of the hospital?  Are there anymore surprises with their health?  How are the people in the other car doing?  How can we help? And many more...Where to start?  We do not have answers.  ...

It was quite an emotional roller coaster this week!!!!!  It was a kind of week. It started great with Christmas getting here just three days before Valentine's Day. We received our wonderful Christmas gift!  It was transfert week which is always an emotional roller coaster.  It is also a busy week of training and having these missionaries over for dinner ( Tuesday leavers and Thursday arrivers)  Missionaries leaving to go back home. Missionaries arriving in the mission field.  Elder Papai looks like a bodyguard but he is a gentle giant. They are a great group of talented and excited missionaries and we are thrilled to have them here with us. And in the midst of all that excitement we have cyclone OMA to deal with.  So before, during and after the event, the mission president has to write an e-mail for the parents and on the Facebook page to keep them informed of what is happening.  And of course receiving report...

" The Lord is my light; He is my joy and my song, by day and by night He leads, he leads me along." Hymn 89  We started the week with this gorgeous view! We welcomed sister Lindsey on Monday.  She will be the mission's financial clerk.  The day we found out last year that the couple that had been trained for office work would not finish their mission because of health, we got an e-mail from sister Lindsey.  It was addressed to all the missions in the Pacific Area.  She was desirous to serve in the area and that her expertise  was finances.  It was an answer to a prayer not yet uttered.  When I told her about this, she said that we were the only ones that responded.  About 5 months later, she is here and we are very grateful.  Our Elder Ficklin serving as the financial clerk now did a wonderful job and while he is training her he is learning more about accounting.  His experience in the mission office h...

Gud aftanun famli blo mifala Friday night we went to get a pizza for dinner, because it's Friday right?  Across from the restaurant was this lighted boat going around.  It was simple but it looked so pretty and it caught our attention.  This picture doesn't do it justice.  It got me thinking that we, like this boat, can be little and very ordinary but when our light is shining we can bring more than a smile on people's faces.  We can show the way to true happiness.   It has been raining real hard this week.  So much so that it started raining in the mission home.  The roof was replaced last November.  We spotted two leaks a month later.  One was fixed completely but not the other one.  The one in the master bathroom was not sealed properly and we discovered another one in a bedroom.  I am thankful it was not over our bed.  So I woke up Thursday finding our bathroom floor a little wet.  I searched th...