Bed bugs

One of the things you have to deal with in third world countries are bugs!  We haven't really had issues with any except for tiny ants and milipedes, until now.  We live in a two bedroom apartment.  One of the rooms we use for storage.  Last week, we were waking up every morning with two or three bites each.  We could even feel things crawling on us while sitting on the couch, in the living room, but couldn't see them.  Bed bugs are a big deal around here, so we started checking for them.   We checked in the seams and folds of the mattress, on the floor in all the cracks and crevices for any evidence.  We even put the legs of our bed in peanut cans filled with permethrin.  Permethrin is a strong insect repellant that you mix with water, so it's pretty potent.  We didn't see any traces of them, but we treated everything anyway.  The young missionaries have to deal with bed bugs constantly because they live out in the bush areas.  They are hard to get a handle on if you don't clear them up right away.  Oh, the joy's of living in the jungle!  Stephen, the apartment manager, is wondering if the housekeepers could be transporting the critters as they clean.  They have been instructed to leave their supplies outside the apartments as they clean.   We always have tiny, little ants around.  I will be sitting on the couch using the computer and  one or two will crawl across the screen.  I'm sure we've eaten many, no big deal though, it's just extra Protein.

Poor Sister Tucker, she's "in trouble" again at the ward!  Ha Ha!  We were in primary last Sunday trying to keep the kids under control, and there was a little guy, who is only about two, that was causing all kinds of trouble.  He should be in nursery at that age, but they'll go where ever they want.  We were getting ready to say the closing prayer, he was just laughing and hitting and being a little stinker, so sister Tucker took hold of his arm and put him out in the hall.  His dad was out there, so no big deal right?  Well, later on that afternoon, while taking a nap, her phone rang.  It was his mama.  She unloaded on poor sister Tucker!  She accused her of putting him out in the hall crying and much more.  Sister Tucker couldn't get a word in edge wise to let her know what happened.  This gal speaks good english, so she knew what was being said.  She just yelled at her and hung up.  She called me up to tell me about it, I told sister Tucker that I would try to talk to her and hopefully smooth things out.  We're both good friends with her, hopefully she will listen.  

It's been a week now since the blow up with sister Tucker and the other gal in our ward.  Sister Tucker was worried about confronting her.  She got to church ahead of Greg and I.  When we walked into sacrament meeting, sister Tucker came over to us all shook up.   She said as she walked into the  church, she was confronted by her again, and she let her have it again, in front of everyone.  She was so humilitated.  I told her I would try to talk to her after sacrament meeting.  After sacrament meeting I was able to talk with her and help her to see that anger towards someone destroys your spirit and that forgiveness and understanding is the only way to work this out.  We had a real good talk.  She became very tearful and said that she was willing to forgive her.  I told her we would all get together after church and work it all out.  I let sister Tucker know that it was all going to work out, she was so relieved.  After church I got the two of them together and apologies were made .  The bishop called us all into his office to talk about it.  The problem was, we couldn't understand most of what he was saying???  There was a good spirit in the room though.  I think everything will be alright :)

I got my hair cut the other day.  Let's just say I can't wait to get a nice, professional cut.  Like I've said before, I'm sure they've learned on the internet, because I've never seen the techniques they use!!  I just close my eyes and hope for the best.  When I tried to style it the next day, I could see the sides weren't even.  I called back to see if I could come back in to be evened out.  Jamie, the hairdresser, wasn't happy to see me again, but at least my sides are sort of even!  

It's been raining for two days straight.  Our apartment flooded once, so we're keeping a good eye on the water.  It's winter here, so we welcome the cool air especially when we play pickleball!   It feels like fall in the U.S., soooo lovely!  It's nice, it's in the 70's.   I don't think I've ever attached  pictures of our apartment, so I will in this post.

President Granger just sent two missionaries home the other day.  One for being persistantly disobedient, and the other just didn't want to be here anymore.  It can be a hard mission here, especially for the young missionaries.  They have to be willing to live in some not so comfy conditions such as; no A/C, bed bugs, no hot water and more.   Most of them do very well though, I don't hear alot of complaints.  A couple of the young men that got transfered to the island of Merelava (verrrrry basic) were really excited.  They loved roughing it and didn't mind harsh conditions, they were  Americans boys.  I'm sure it was like intense scouting. 

President Granger asked me the other day if I would get more of his filing all ready to go for the next mission president.  The Granger's really want things to be ready for the next mission president.  When they came to the mission, they didn't have much to go on.  It sounds like they had to reinvent the wheel so to speak.  He and his wife did a fantastic job, we'll miss them.  The new office couple should be here in July, they are the Davidson's replacement.  I'll close for now, as always we hope everyone is well.  We love and miss you tomas (so much).  Love, Greg and Ann

Vanuatu happenings

Did I tell you about Carlos, the Chinese young man that comes to play pickleball with us once in a while?  We're wondering where he got the name Carlos.  The last five times or so,  he has been showing up just as we're finishing.  He's trying to learn English, but he isn't quite understanding when to show up to play.  He's taking an English class from the Collette's.  Today as I tried to talk to him, I think he was trying to tell me that he slept in??  I pointed again to 6:00 on his watch, and said come Friday.  He jabbered a bunch of stuff off,  I just smiled and knodded my head.    We'll see if he makes it on Friday.  So funny.  There are alot of Chinese in Vanuatu.  They  own most of the shops and restaurants.  They're even starting to build huge housing developments.   I know I've mentioned the big Embassy they built across from our apartments.  On the island of Tanna though, they aren't allowed to own any shops.   They are doing all kinds of road work though, just as they are in Efate (the island we live on), and Santo.  Makes you wonder what's going on???  They do hire the Nivan's to work, but they also bring in contractors from China.     

Greg and I have been helping with humanitarian projects while waiting for the audit cycle to start which has been fun to do.  Greg and Elder Collette did some electrical work the other day at Sister Veronica's school.  She's the woman that runs a little orphan school.  She has about 75 little pikininis.  They put some lights in her little school.  This is the same school that I've been helping to make uniforms for the kids.  I've been making little black gathered skirts that are so cute.  Sister Roundy came over this morning to show me a pair of little shorts she made for the boys.   The kids all wear uniforms to school here in the islands, and she wanted her kids to have them too.   You see the kids walking to school looking so smart, yet they arent' getting a good education at all.  They are being taught by teachers that hardly know anything themselves.  Many of them are high school kids.  By the time anyone wants to go to BYU Hawaii, they have a lot of catching up to do before they can qualify to go.  There are classes taught by the Self Reliance missionary couple who helps them prepare to qualify to attend, but it's hard for them.  They also administer the Pathway program which is working to earn a degree online through BYU-Idaho.  They don't have the Perpetual Eduacation Fund available to them because the people weren't paying it back.  

Last week, Sister Tucker called us from the mission office to tell us that a couple was there that had served as the auditors in the mission four years ago.  We told her we would be right down to visit with them. They were the William's from Seattle.  They had been on a cruise with family earlier, which took in the island of Efate.   After the cruise, they actually flew to a few of the different islands to visit with some of the people they got to know well, while on their mission.  This particular day, they flew here to Efate from Santo.  We went to lunch and had a really nice visit.  We talked about the different experiences we were having, compared to those they had.  We could see very small increments of change.  You can't change a totally different culture in a short amount of time as we all know, but each of us need to do the best we can to move the work along.  The people are trying.  We took them to the airport after lunch.

The people are very family oriented and closely knit.  They stick up for each other and protect one another.  Sister Tucker found that out last Sunday.  With it being Mother's Day, we have been working HARD to teach the primary kids a couple of songs to sing to their mothers in sacrament meeting.  I've mentioned before that Primary can be a trial beyond belief!  The kids are restless from the beginning.  It's not in their nature to sit still and listen.  It can be hard for us white folks from American to have patience, but you have to learn to.  Anyway, the bishop called the kids to come forward to sing.  We got them all situated in a cluster ready to sing.  The bishops daughter plays the electric piano for sacrament meeting, and agreed to play those songs for the program.  So when Sister Tucker knodded her head to begin to play, Paulina motioned for her to come over.  She told her she forgot her primary song book.  Sister Tucker showed her impatience and was a little short with her.  It was all on the sly, so people didn't know what was happening which was good.  She handed her her own book to use.  I'm sure she forget her book, but you do have to  get used to them not always following through with things, or completely disregarding what you ask.  Many times they just don't understand the task.  Luckily we had posters for them to sing from.  They did a pretty good job considering they didn't know the songs very well.  After primary, the bishop called sister Tucker into his office.  His wife and daughter were also there.  He gave her a bit of a chewing out saying that she had disrespected his daughter.  She had already apologized to Paulina, and felt bad that she got short with her.  A lesson was learned that day, me included.  

The last month or so, we've been waking up with bite marks!  We checked our bed for bedbugs, but can't see any evidence of the creepy little things.  The young missionaries deal with bed bugs all the time.  They have instructions on what to do, and get them taken care of.  I've talked to the other couples and they experience the same thing.  I think they're mosquito bites, which wouldn't be such a bad thing, but we don't want to get bit by the denge carrying mosquites.   Those little critters can make you very sick.  

We got an email from Sister Davidson the other day.  She made me laugh!  She said it so good to  be back home again, but that she was freezing to death, her lips were chapped, her heals were cracking, her skin was dry and she had a cold.  That's what you get when you go from a warm, humid, climate to a cold, dry climate I guess.  Can hardly wait!  ha ha! 

Well dear family and friends, we hope all is well at home.  We love and miss you all tumas (so much).  Feel free to email us at www.anr1027slc@comcast.net and let us know what's happening.  Lukim yu (see you) later.  Lovem, Greg and Ann XO

Institute class

Elder and sister Lindeman are the self reliance couple in the mission, but have stepped in to keep institute going.  Brian King, the coordinator for seminary and institute here in Vanuatu, has gone back home to the states.  He was here on a  three year contract with the church.  When he and his family left about 3 weeks ago, they didn't have a replacement for him.   The church was hoping to hire a Nivan, and have since found one to take over.  They hired bishop Kaun, a bishop in a ward here in the Port Vila stake, and until he starts, the Lindeman's have asked Greg and I to teach the class.  We are going to take turns teaching.  We've each taught one class, and are enjoying it.   There are only about five that attend, they start out strong and soon fizzle out and stop coming.  It's discouraging because it would help them so much.  But, we do what we can to help those that accept it. 

Elder and sister Collette are the couple that I told you about in the mission that have started a pilot program of the church called extra class.  They teach math and english to students that either don't go to school or go after school to try to help them keep caught up.   As I've told you before, school is not mandatory.  Parents don't have to send their kids to school and many don't bother to.  In addition to their calling, they are really going the extra mile.  They are trying to help Nivans to grow a business of their own.  Elder Collette has been teaching a family how to plant and grow tomatos to sell.   The first crop they got a little lazy and didn't water the plants.   They are doing much better though and actually had a nice little crop to sell.  Another venture has been to help a man set up a chicken business, to generate eggs to sell as well as chickens.  You might remember me telling you about the portable coops the people were learning to make so that they could keep track of the eggs.  Their chickens run free, so they don't always find the eggs.   That project hasn't worked out so well, the problem is they get hungary and eat the chickens instead of using them to get their eggs.  Anyway, Collettes have a couple of incubators in their apartment, and have been experimenting on hatching the eggs.  They bought about 100 eggs, a couple of times, and none of them hatched.  They think the place they got them from was not too trustworthy, so they found out about an egg farm in Malekula and sent for them. Finally, they now have 65 furry little chickies.  They are the cutest little things!  I guess they will now give them to this guy and see how it goes.

President and sister Granger have been in New Zealand this past week to a mission president seminar.  We're helping them to wrap up some of their last minute projects so the everything is ready to hand over to the new mission president in July.  I've  been working on a picture board that has pictures of all the district presidents in the mission.  This helps the president, especially a new president, to know and recognize them when he goes to visit them.  Greg's working on some new branches in Malekula, just like he did in Tanna.  He will be preparing paperwork and drawing the boundries on a computer generated map of the island, showing the new proposed branches and where they are to be located on the island.  He's hoping to take the map on the next audit to Malekula and have President Vanu help him draw the boundries.  There aren't roads or blocks to show boundries, it's just jungle terrain.  President Vanu will hopefully be able to show him where the villages are located that have members.  When the paperwork is finished, he will submit it to Salt Lake for approval.  It's a little harder to accomplish that here, than it is in the states!

Before the Davidson's left, they ended up training two young elders to run the mission office.  We are suppose to be getting a new office couple who are coming from American Somoa.   They should arrive in about three months.  

The last few weeks, we've had this cute Chinese guy, Carlos, joining us in pickleball.  He hardly speaks a word of English, so it's been a little challenging trying to explain the rules.  He does pretty well though, and is quite fun to play with.  There was also a man from Layton, Utah, that came here last  week doing some humanitarian work for the church.  He fits wheel chairs for people that need them, as well as training people here to fix them.  He was here working with the Roundy's, the Humanitarian couple.  He also joined us in pickleball.  He was really excited to learn how to play because he lived close to courts just built in Layton.  Another guy, Kelly,  has been here from Woods Cross, Utah, working with the translators here, to get the triple combination translated into Bislama.  We've had him out on the pickleball court too!  He absolutely loves it.  He was excited too, because courts had also been built in his community.  We're converting more and more to pickleball!  We'll leave it to the young missionaries to convert people to the church.  Ha!  Ha! 

Saturday we went to our favorite place, Hideaway, to snorkel.  I got brave and went out again in the deep to "the post office".  Greg wanted to just read on the beach, so sister Tucker went with me for moral support.  It's an actual underwater, small, dome shaped place where you can mail a letter underwater.  You have to buy a plastic envelope thing to mail it, plus spend money to mail it.  You also  have to dive down to it and put it in the slot (not me!).  It was scarey enough for me just to be on top of the water looking down at it.  It's obviously a gimmic, but a fun one.  The ocean is so beautiful, especially in the deep.  Although it was scarey for me to be swimming in water where you can't see the bottom, I just know that I will regret not taking advantage of this awesome opportunity to see the amazing creations in the south pacific ocean.  The ocean is the most beautiful color of turqoise that you will ever see.  The fish are just unbelieveable too.  They swim past you is schools of hundreds!  This one school of fish were as clear as glass.   Luckily they were outlined with a thin black line or I may not have noticed them.  There were bright orange and bright blue neon fish and many, many others.  It was like swimming in an aquarium, only 100 times better.  AWESOME!!  Not only are the fish incredible, but the coral and other ocean vegetation was so beautiful.  I saw bright purple, yellow, and green colored coral!  Elder and sister Sackley went home in January.  They sent us an email saying they had just returned from a cruise to the Caribbean.  They had a chance to go snorkeling, but it was nothing compared to what we have here in Vanuatu, and to take advantage, so we will.  They have a beach bar there where you can get fries and other goodies.  Elder Collette brought a cooler that had a container of catsup in it for our fries.   They only give you a tiny little cup of catsup with your fries.  Well, you know as well as I do you need LOTS of catsup with your fries!  Fry sauce would be even better, but we'll have to wait until we get home for that! Ha  We all had a great day.   The weather is finally becoming quite nice.  It's not so humid, we don't even need our sweat cloths.  Yahoo!  The humidity this time of year is at 73%.  Your humidity at home is at 30%.   Obviously we're adjusting, because 73% is high!  It's been nice not to have dry, itchy skin.  

Well dear family and friends, we hope all is well at home.  As always, we pray for you and think of you often.   Hugs and Kisses, Greg and Ann