Our Time in Vanuatu

  Beautiful sights of Vanuatu This week the bushes on the grounds of the mission home got a trim.  When I saw the beautiful hibiscus on the ground, I thought I could let them live the rest of their lives in a vase  and bring their beauty inside.  That is until, up close,  I saw all the ants crawling.   Instead, I put them on the table on the patio where I can safely see them without being bothered by the ants.  This little hermit crab was outside our door last evening.  We saw those on the islands of Santo and Tanna.  It was the first time to see one outside our door. \  I saw this sleeping beauty at the end of a busy week pondering the next transfers.😏 This week we visited the sisters in Freswota to join them in their companionship study. I would like to share one comment that was made about their studies of 3Nephi 11:2-3  "...they were also conversing about this Jesus Christ...while they were thus conversing one with another...

The theme of this blog this week has to be the importance of families. This is the bishop, Honore Tiansinal and his wife Mary, in the ward we attend .  Today was his last Sunday as the bishop of our ward because he is moving to another part of the island (in Paonangisu). It was also his birthday today.  His family participated in a musical number by presenting a song he wrote (words and music) entitled Hear Him! It was a touching moment.  After the closing prayer, the ward family sang : "God be with you till we meet again." One of his cute grandsons All the girls in the family had a home made dress and the men and boys had a tie made from all the same fabric.  It was beautiful to behold. The relief Society Presidency made a cake for him to enjoy together with the ward family  after Sunday School. These two sisters from French Polynesia returned home this week and were greeted by their families with much joy and flowers. Our missionaries are like our children....

 Perfect weather to study outside in the morning with the birds signing and a nice breeze to wake you up.  I love this time of the year and time of the day.  Driving to the Mission Office Monday morning,  I started the day thinking about family.  It was the letters on this license plate that did it. We attended a district council (Pango District) on Tuesday morning which we always enjoy so much. It felt like a typical transfer week (even though it was not officially a transfer week) One missionary starting and 11 missionaries going back home. 6 missionaries in the Solomon Islands returned home to Tonga And 5 missionaries in Vanuatu, flew on the same flight coming from Solomon Islands to Tonga. There was so much preparation and last minute demands.  For the first time, Vanuatu did a COVID-19 test and we were told in the evening of Thursday that the missionaries and also the students returning to Tonga from Vanuatu had to get that test the next day.  We ...