Mission Vanuatu the Weldy’s – Dec 12 2016 – Closings and Combines
SUPPORT BIBLE TRANSLATION
You can make a difference – for the people of Vanuatu, our family, and eternity. God is using your prayers and financial gifts to further His Kingdom. Thank you!
Last month I shared how I thought this holiday season would be harder than the last. By the time I actually hit send on the newsletter, God had already encouraged me twice. Within the next few days He sent three more pieces of encouragement that this holiday season can and will be great – because God is with us. Immanuel.
I am so thankful that God heard my plea and sent people and events to encourage my heart this season.
I am thankful for you, too. You give and pray and e-mail and send packages. You are “home” to us. We really need that, so thank you.
Angie (for Matt and the kids, too)
Sunday School Spotlight
Summer break in Vanuatu is mid November through mid February. Schools, churches, and Sunday School programs all have “closings” to celebrate the end of the year.
We planned to have our Sunday School closing at Palikula beach 30 minutes away. The kids would all meet at the church at 9:00 a.m. and our family would get picked up at 9:30. At 11 a.m. we were still waiting at our house….and wondering if something had gotten lost in translation. Turns out we were supposed to get picked up with the first load (the kids) but mistakenly got picked up in the second load (all the food!) at 11:15. We always joke things are just happening on “island time”! 🙂
Top Left: It did this mama’s heart so much good to see Lauren talking and playing with the other girls. The culture and language barrier is usually just too much for her. Somehow this fun day bonded the girls in a way that nothing else has over the past year. (And they found over 40 starfish!)
Top Right: Kakae island style! Everyone brings food to share and your own plate, cup, and utensil. Pass your plate around and the mamas will give you rice, kumala, chicken wings, coleslaw, and sausages.
Bottom Left: Every teacher gave her students a small gift. The students responded with a kiss on each cheek. Afterwards, the teachers gave our secret friend gifts to each other with the kids watching and giggling. Then I spoke to the students about knowledge coming from school, their elders, etc and wisdom coming from God (2 Chronicles 1).
Bottom Right: After a fun day together, it’s time to get all 30+ kids divided up into the right trucks to go home! Everyone had a great time and our family made a lot of memories with the pikininis!
Speaking of Closings…
Our church here is part of a group of 7 or 8 churches that do a combined service on the last Sunday of every month. At that service in November every year they do a closing (we won’t have another combine until February).
A big crowd was expected so they moved the service from the church building that is in the village to the school building across the road. The services are always filled with a lot of singing and joyful worship. Each congregation is asked to present an item. Most of the time the items are a song or two. Sometimes, though, a mama or elder will stand up and give an encouragement of some kind. These are always very humorous, although for me some of the humor still gets lost in translation.
This year for the closing all the churches were asked to bring a few lap-laps. Lap-lap is the “national” food of Vanuatu. It is a steamed/baked pudding made from taro, manioc, yam, or banana. When someone makes one they create the packet from banana leaves and then put a whole chicken on top of the lap-lap while it cooks. Then they decorate the tops with the flowers that you can see in the pictures. There were 14 lap-laps at this service. That was the most that I had ever seen in one place at one time! Each one was presented to someone who is a leader in the churches. Some people took theirs home. Others opened them up and shared them right after we had all eaten the giant potluck meal.
Oh, and the bottom right picture? They spelled out “We Wish You All Mary Christmas & Happy New Year 2017” with flower petals! A labor of love for sure.
Matt
Prayer Points
~ Our budget for 2017 will increase by about $350 per month instead of $400 (our health insurance will only increase by 6% instead of 10%). Please pray with us that God will raise up additional support for our ministry.
~ Our team’s office/translation building flooded two weeks ago. The team did lose some items to water damage but it could have been so much worse and for that we are praising God. We are almost done getting everything clean, dry, and organized.
~ Matt has another boil. The constant pain wears on him while the boil builds up, typically for about a month. Please pray that God would give him relief and that we could figure out the best way to prevent and/or treat them.
