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F O L L O W on F A C E B O O K
F I N D out M O R E
E M A I L
 
Our family is quickly approaching our 1 year anniversary of moving to Vanuatu. We left Texas September 13, arrived in Australia September 15, were stuck for a week, and finally arrived in Vanuatu September 22. Thank you for holding our family up, especially the past year. We are grateful.

I (Angie) just got home from a week-long trip to the island of Ambae. I experienced several “firsts” and came home with lots of stories. Of course there were the regular bush toilet mishaps, waiting for transport to show up, and Bislama / English / lanwis communication issues. There was also a very sweet mentally challenged woman who gave me a back massage, an old man with a flower behind his ear rolling cigarettes at the airport who gave me his address, and kids who told me I would talk better Bislama if I would just pull out all my teeth!

Probably the most “exciting” story revolved around getting to the second church. We heard there was a death in the second village and couldn’t get ahold of the translator there to see if we could still come. Our training was running late, but the transport (if it even came) surely wouldn’t be on time, right? Of course it was. So we finished quickly, threw all of our things into bags, and waved goodbye to our new friends as our truck rumbled down the road. An hour later it was dark. We came to a river where the driver said he would need to drop us off and we would hike the rest of the way. I should have known it was a bad sign when the people who were with us suggested we take a “shortcut”. Did I mention it had rained…a lot?

So here I am with a solar light that was fading fast, following some guy up a muddy trail, and my feet are slipping in my shoes so badly that I am actually sliding backwards! The unknown man in front of me not only took one of my bags but every time I started sliding I would look up to find his hand stretched out to help the white lady up the hill. I eventually took my shoes off and fared better the rest of the way walking barefoot. Muddy and skinned up we finally arrived at the small plateau that is Ambanga village. We sat down at the table with the translator and his wife and ate breakfast crackers and drank tea for dinner — and we slept really good that night.

Angie (for Matt and the kids who survived while I was gone)

 
 

 

Angie’s Week on Ambae Island

Clockwise:

* Cristy Yan and I received leis at every church where we taught. Each one was a different style just as each village had a different feel.

* Looking intently for the first time at a cell phone app with pictures and audio in their own lanwis. This was the story of Cain and Abel.

* I love seeing these little hands work together to put together God’s Word. Each workshop was like a day camp for the kids as they tried out all of the games, songs, skits, and ideas we shared with the teachers.

 

National Translator Christopher
 
Pastor Christopher and his wife Madeline live in the second to last northern village on Ambae. It was wonderful to spend two days of our trip with them and their church family. Christopher is the voice people hear on the Ambae app from the photo above. His wife is a sweet servant of God, feeding extra people at almost every meal.
National Translator Aram
This picture exemplifies Aram’s fun nature as he falls down laughing after trying his hand at puppetry. The kids loved it! In addition to being one of the translators for the Ambae Old Testament project, Aram and his wife are the adopted kastomparents for two members of Team Vanuatu.

 

Angie’s Week on Ambae Island

Clockwise: 

* This is Rachel. She is over 100 years old (though they aren’t sure exactly by how much) and she goes up the mountain to her garden every day! She also made a packet of kumala and greens for Cristy Yan and I and came to our welcome church service. Wow!

* Our students were so creative! This is David complete with a bag of stones and a sling shot. After we cover how to make your own Sunday School lesson, we ask the students to break up into groups and put into practice what they have learned. They use natural materials to make the visual aids for their lesson.

* Look at that face! One leg of our journey required a 5 hour wait by the ocean for a small banana boat and then 2+ hours in the water to get to the other side of the island. Halfway there this little guy helped hold the boat in place so a family could unload 25 bags of cement and their newborn baby at their village. 

* This trip was my first experience on a small twin otter plane (19 seats) and using a grass airstrip. We experienced quite a bit of turbulence each time but I was too busy taking photos to care! 🙂

 

Prayer Points

~ We were able to finish and submit the grant proposal that will hopefully renew the funding for the VISTA program for the next two years. Please pray for favor with the funding organization.

~ Praise God for a great trip to Ambae for Angie and her co-teacher Cristy Yan last week!

~ Please continue to pray for our teammates the Kopkes as they return to Vanuatu September 13. We are so excited to have them back with us soon!

~ The next VISTA module begins September 19. Pray that every translator will be able to make it here without delay and that the module will take place without any significant distractions (illnesses, deaths, etc). 
 

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