Our Time in Vanuatu

I have to start the blog with the beautiful sites we have seen this week. And this little cutie at church today who just did not want to smile for the picture.   I just can't get used to Christmas decoration starting the week of Halloween. They do not celebrate Halloween here.   I have not started to exercise in the pool yet and this Monday morning as I was walking around the pool I saw this fellow.  This is a centipede or mille-pattes. I would not have exercised in the pool anyways.                                                         This week was the Pacific Area Leadership Seminar.  For the second time we are doing this by Zoom.  The lucky Mission Leaders of New Zealand were able to get together in person with the Area Presidency. We are still grateful that we are able to have a seminar together thanks to technology.  We did receive some nice flowers and a goodie bag that the Facility Manager put together with his wife in behalf of the Area Presidency for us.  We did enjoy s

It was a busy and wonderful week! Zone conference and the final preparations and departure of our Elder Masam who stayed in Vanuatu 30 months. His testimony for his last zone conference was touching.  I am amazed at the timing of the Lord and his nurturing and the growth of his missionaries.  Not only does He know us perfectly but He knows how to help us grow and polish us. I have seen the truth of President Eyring’s  message “Tested, Proved, and Polished” He said:  “The greatest blessing that will come when we prove ourselves faithful to our covenants during our trials will be a change in our natures.  By choosing to keep our covenants, the power of Jesus Christ and the blessings of His Atonement can work in us.  Our hearts can be softened to love, to forgive, and to invite others to come unto the Savior.  Our confidence in the Lord increases.  Our fears decrease.” What an amazing experience it has been to serve the Lord here.  It is not only an adventure,  it is a polishing episode i

  My companion went to the Island of Malekula at the beginning of the week and I stayed in Port Vila.   The mission home is a big house and it was even bigger with grand-papa not here with me.  There were no accommodations in the area of the island that he was because of a Council of Ministers that was taking place from the 11th to 16th of October.  The district president prepared a bed for him in the  building of the district offices.  That in itself was very nice and on top of it, the district president insisted he stayed also with grand-papa after all their meetings.  He himself did not have a bed. It was a great week of teaching with the missionaries and ...  also signing the lease for  a new home for our missionaries in Pango.  The landlord is a gem.  He put a brand new refrigerator and replaced the water heater. We found it driving back to the mission home after looking at some places last week.  There was a small sign to rent in the flower bushes.  It barely caught my eye.  We t