Farewell Interns…plus Ambae & Pentecost Trips
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Dear Reggie,
Our family grew by FOUR this summer! Or at least that’s how it felt. The interns – Josh, Ryan, Amy and Angela –  spent a lot of time with our family. Over the course of 7 weeks we quickly went from meeting them for the first time to coming to love and appreciate each of them. Our family feels blessed to call them friends. Our kids especially loved having new people to hang out with. Ethan played frisbee with the guys, Aidan showed off his mad card tricks and drawing skills, and Lauren invited the girls over for a sleepover!

It’s hard to say hello and goodbye to so many people in our lives as missionaries. I tried to remind the kids (and myself) that there are now four more people in the world who know and love us and that’s pretty cool. Yes, it’s hard to meet new people and ten times harder to say goodbye to the ones you come to care so much about, but we can trust God to take care of us and them if/until we get to see them again. We feel the same way about all of you. It’s hard but it’s beautiful, too.

Check out the pictures below to see glimpses of our time on the islands of Ambae and Pentecost with our teammates and the interns. Matt went to Ambae to help the team and took Ethan and Lauren with him. Because of airline problems, Ethan and Lauren got to take their first solo flights without parents but at least they had each other! Matt was at the other end waiting for them and the flight was only 30 minutes long so it wasn’t too hard to let them spread their wings (see what I did there?). The next week I went with the team to Pentecost to help them and also to co-lead twoSunday School Teacher Trainings. We had about 25 people and a ton of kids attend the trainings. That is a definite praise considering there was a death in one of the villages and miscommunication about when we were coming in the other one. Some women found out at 8 a.m. that we were there, dropped everything, and walked 30 minutes through the bush and gravel roads to come take part in the training!

We are often humbled by the people we meet here and by your support to make our ministry possible here. Thank you.

Angie (for Matt and the kids, too)
Top: The Literacy Workshop participants on Ambae along with Jordan Kopke, Team Vanuatu’s Literacy Coordinator, our summer interns, and the three members of the Weldy family who attended.

Bottom: This is Pastor Christopher, one of the Mother Tongue Translators from Ambae. He has completed many workshops in his 70 years, but receiving a certificate written in his own language was a highlight of his life.

If one document made this big of an impact on him, IMAGINE what the BIBLE in his language will mean to him and the others in his village!
Top: Yes, I’m teaching in my bare feet and this is my only hairstyle in Vanuatu. Here I am teaching about one of the nine points of a Sunday School lesson.

Middle: Look at those faces! I love teaching the mamas but also love getting to play with the kids! Two interns, Amy and Angela, showing how to use a towel and breadfruit leaves as a makeshift flannel graph.

Bottom: One of the best aspects of our Teacher Trainings is that the kids get to have a fun “day camp”! We teach the mamas (and a few men) how to use games that teach, songs that support their lesson, and how to make learning memory verses engaging for the kids. Meanwhile the kids are getting a sneak peak of what Sunday School might be like from now on – and they love it!
What Do Our Kids Think of All This??
 
I could just say the kids will miss Vanuatu but are also excited to see friends and family in the States. That’s true, but I thought it would be more fun to ask the kids to share in their own words, so here is what they think about moving back to the States in 2 months… 
 
Lauren: “I’m really excited to go back because I get to see all my friends. I’m excited for the plane ride, but I will miss Vanuatu and one of my best friends in the world.”

Aidan: “It’s gonna be weird. Vanuatu was fun while we lived here. I’ll be happy to see my friends in the States and perform card tricks for them.”

Ethan: “I am going to miss Vanuatu for sure. I hope that the relationships I made here can remain and continue to grow during our family’s 2 year departure and beyond. Having said that, I personally will have mixed emotions going, especially in the first couple of days, perhaps even weeks. Sure I will be happy to see family and friends, most for the first time in 2 years. It will be a very “interesting” return.”

I should have known Ethan’s would be the longest! 😉 The kids are excited to return to the same school they attended before we moved to Vanuatu. This is a big praise because it is a charter school that always has a waiting list and our kids won’t start until 2 months into the school year. Despite those things, the school has agreed to hold their spots. There are 4 other PBT families that also attend the school which is an added bonus! We hope to stop by the school to do paperwork a few days after we fly home and for the kids to start the next week…if we can get over jet lag that fast!

Thank you for caring about our kids as well as our ministry. You all are a blessing in so many ways!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Four individuals have given “Welcome Home” gifts. Thank you! 
 
You can also help our family transition well back to the States by giving a special gift. Our family will incur at lest $13,000 in expenses over the next 3 months (5 plane tickets – $6,000…1 vehicle – $5-7,000…partially refurnishing our house in Texas – $2,000). If you would like to give toward these one-time expenses, please go to our giving page.
 
Thank you for welcoming us home!
Prayer Points

~ We are each processing the upcoming transition differently. You might think we would all be overjoyed to go “home” but this is home now, too. Please pray that we can each process our thoughts and feelings in a healthy way and give each other extra grace along the way.

~ Team Vanuatu has a lot of changes coming up. We are all making some sort of transition over the next few months. We are also trying to make plans for how Matt can be an effective Team Leader from Texas and how he can share some finance responsibilities with teammates in country. Please ask the Father to give us wisdom in decision making and an abiding love for one another even when we are on different continents.
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