Santa (and his elf) led the parade in town this week 🙂
It’s Hard to Get In the Christmas Spirit…
when it’s 90 degrees and 80% humidity. Did I mention we don’t have an air conditioner? Our Christmas tree is some branches from a Frangipani tree stuck in a blue bucket with sand and sun-bleached coral holding it up. It’s actually strangely beautiful. We’re having Mexican food for our Team Vanuatu Christmas dinner which is good, but still weird. There’s just no getting around that Christmas here will be really, really different than in the States. But with this first, hard Christmas, we are also finding ourselves asking some important questions….
What makes it feel like Christmas? What traditions do we want to continue and what new traditions do we want to start? How can we use this “stripping away” to find more of Jesus in Christmas?
We hope that all of you have a very Merry Christmas – wherever you are!
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Our First Trip to Malo!
Matt and I were able to go to Malo for the day on Tuesday once a strong thunderstorm passed. The island of Malo is pretty close to Santo but it still required…
…a 15 minute walk to meet the transport
…a 20 minute ride in the back of a transport truck to the “wharf” (ie. a sandy beach area)
…an hour across the ocean in a flat-bottom boat
…and a 30 minute drive in another truck to get up the mountain to the village.
We had barely stepped onto the rocky beach on Malo when Presley told us that we had already been adopted by someone in the village! He was intending to adopt Matt as his brother, but his aunt is a widow and lives near the church so she said she should get to adopt us. 🙂 So Nellie is our mama now.
Once we got to the village, we walked around to greet people and “storied” for a while. We also saw where we will sleep, cook, shower, etc (check out pictures on our Facebook page). The women made us lunch and then we had introductions. We told them in broken Bislama that we wanted to learn from them and we were “hapi tumas” (very happy) that they were willing to take us in as family.
“Lost in Translation” side note: We tried to ask Nellie if there was something specific she would like us to bring for her when we come back. She said mosquito nets. Okay, maybe hers is torn. Then she said solar lights. Okay, how many…. Then she said mosquito coils, toilet paper, soap, etc. How much stuff does this lady think we can bring her?? Then I realized she had misunderstood our question and was listing off all the things we needed to bring for ourselves!
Soon we were headed back down the mountain, across the chanel, and back to town. I’ll admit that although I am excited to get back to Malo, I am also nervous about how the kids will do, what we’ll forget to take, if we’ll be lonely or sick, and I’m sure I could think of more concerns if I let myself. So please pray for our family as we prepare our hearts and minds (and action packers!) to go to Malo.
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Financial Support
*If you would like to give a 2015 year end gift, please postmark your envelope by December 31st. You can also give online through the link below and choose Special Gift as your Donation Frequency. It will not affect your regular giving.
We have a new, EASY to use giving page! Check it out at:
www.PioneerBible.org/MattAndAngieWeldy
Thank you!
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A Tasty New Skill
Angie learned a new skill from a new friend this month – scraping coconuts! They’re cheap at the market if you’re willing to do the work of cracking them open with a bush knife, draining the water, and then scraping the meat off. Here she is sitting on her board that has the scraper attached to the front. It’s a little like zesting citrus since she is always checking to make sure she’s getting meat and not coconut shell!
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Language Blooper
It’s summer here in Vanuatu right now. Even the locals think it’s hot (which somehow makes me feel better!). I kept hearing store employees, taxi drivers, even church members say this certain phrase that sounded just like “it’s blessed hot.” It somehow seemed irreverent, especially since the favorite farewell phrase of church members after the service is “God bless you.”
Finally I asked. I couldn’t bring myself to start saying it was blessed hot without confirmation. Turns out they are saying “ples i hot” which means “this place is hot.” That makes more sense. 🙂 I’m just glad I didn’t walk around telling everyone it’s “blessed hot” outside!
~ Angie
**disclaimer – Even though I sidestepped this language landmine, I’m sure I’m actually committing many other blunders. Once I figure out what they are, I’ll let you know!
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Prayer Requests
~ Pray for our family as we prepare to live on Malo for 2 weeks. We will need to pack everything we need, including mosquito nets, sleeping mats, food, solar lights, water filters, etc. It will be a big change, even just from our life in town. Pray for the relationships we have started and that we will be a blessing to the people. They have already blessed us with their warm welcome.
~ Pray for our teammates the Kopkes who have gone back to the U.S. to spend some time with her dad while he is undergoing cancer treatments. We miss them and pray for them daily.
~ Pray for our kids as they continue to adjust to homeschooling. Our challenges include very slow internet, computer issues, and missing their classmates.
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Upcoming Dates
December 25 Christmas!
January 4-18 Our family’s village living time on Malo island
Febuary 5 Matt’s birthday!
February 15 VISTA module 5 begins – Matt & Angie will both be involved
March 6 Angie’s birthday!
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