Back from Santo

On Friday, August 17, we flew to the island of Santo.  It was once again, our last time there.  Every audit now, is the last one in that particular place.   President and Sister Duquette were also going to Santo for a zone conference with the missionaries.  There was also suppose to be a District conference that weekend, which is why we were going at that time to do the audits.  As I've mentioned before, we do audits during a district conference because the branch president from the other islands come in for conference and we do the audits at that time.    President Duquette informed us that he had cancelled district conference because of the volcano in Ambae.  He felt bad for not telling us, he didn't think to ask.   It wasn't a problem though because the members that were on Ambae, about 300 of them, have all moved to Santo.  When we got there, we were met by brother Toa, a member of the district presidency.  He took us to our hotel, and then to the audits that he had set up for that afternoon.  He is such a good man, he made appointments and had everything set up for the audits with the different branches for the four days we were there.   Greg was always hopeful that they would have an audit committee selected so that he could train them, but it never happened on his watch, so he ended up doing most of the audits.   The district presidents make the committment to do it, but they have a hard time following through, and when you are working with different islands and countries, you can't just drop in and see how it's going because there isn't the budget to make extra trips.  Technology is a very hard concept for these third world countries.  The younger generation is starting to get it, but it's harder trying to teach the 50 or 60 year old branch presidents how to use the computer, and how to even operate a mouse.  Imagine someone living in the bush, using a computer!  Progress is slow, but it's coming along.

The government planned for the people of Ambae to move to the island of Maewo, at the expense of the government.  Most all of our church members moved to Santo because many have family there, plus there are better resources there.  The government told them if they moved to Santo, it would be at their own expense.   I talked to a man from Ambae, and he told me the island of Maewo was getting ash from the volcano too, and that it wasn't that much better.  Santo is farther away, and just a better place to be.  You might remember me telling about the volcano in a previous post.  They evacuated  people in September of last year, when they had a big eruption.  Some of the families went  back after a while, but now it looks like it will be a final move.   By the time they do this final evacuation, they will have evacuated 10,000 people.  I've asked some of the people, if they had the chance, would they like to go back, and they all would if they could.  Most of the island is covered in smoke and ash, which makes it so they can't grow their food, and they're water supply is contaminated.  I can't tell you what an amazing experience this has been for us.  It's like being in the middle of a National Geographic documentary.

Vanuatu sits on the Pacific's "ring of fire," the arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes, cyclones and volcanoes are common.  The other day, I felt a slight jolt, and found out later in the day that it was from a 6.5 earthquake in Fiji.  Yikes!

I've mentioned the senior couple in Santo, elder and sister Ipson.  It was good to see them again.  She told me that they were going to a baptism on Saturday, and wondered if I would like to go with them.  Greg was auditing all day, so I was happy to go.  They picked me up on Saturday morning, and we headed to a baptism that would be done in the ocean.  We traveled for about an hour on really icky roads, way out in the bush before we finally got there.  We first stopped at a small water hole that they were planning to use, but there wasn't quite enough water.  It is spot of water that they normally use as a font if there's enough water, but since that wasn't going to work, we headed for the ocean.  When we  got there, we pulled off to the side of the road and walked about 1/2 mile through jungle terrain before we  got to the ocean.  It was so pretty to step out of the amazing jungle on to a beautiful beach!!  WOW!   We walked with the missionaries about a half mile down the beach to where a few members of the Jarailan branch were waiting, along with two adults that were to be baptized.  We had a quiet little service, with the ocean waves lapping at the shore in the background.  The baptism was sweet to witness as you watched the missionaries walk out into the beautiful ocean with each member.  There was a group of younger women there that were so fun to visit with too.  We took a bunch of pictures of all of us together.  They wanted us to some how get copies of the pictures to them.   I wish we could, they always want to see the picture after you took it.  Sooo sweet!

After the baptisms, we went to a village where some members of the Lolotinge branch were building a new bush chapel.  We watched women making sections of the the roof.  I'll attach a picture.  I sat down and attempted to help with the "pinning" of the leaves to the section that was being worked on.  It was facinating to watch the process, and see how it would be attached to the roof.  The people are always happy to see you when you come into their villages, as long as you have a purpose. It's funny, you will drive or walk by a pretty tough looking man with a serious face, but all you have to do is smile and say, "gud moning, or halo," and you get this big smile and a sweet response right back.  We will miss these sweet people "tumas".

When we got back from the baptism, alot of the young missionaries were there, so I got to see them and visit for a while.  Many of us have been here long enough that we're happy to see each other from time to time. I left Greg at the church and walked back to the hotel.  On my way back, I stopped by a handicraft shop to see what they had.  I had been there four months prior, and the same ladies were there.   They remembered me from the time before, so it was fun to visit with them again.  It was sad though to tell them good bye for the last time.

I'm tearful as I sit here writing about our experiences in Santo, it was such a sweet time to be there.  After sacrament meeting on Sunday, these two little boys came over to us and sat down between us, so Greg started talking to them, they were so curious.  Pretty soon, four, darling little girls that were about eight or nine years old, came right over to me.  I shook there little hands and said to each of them, "nem blo yu"  (what is your name?)  They told me their names, and huddled close to me.  I put my arms around them and told them how beautiful they were.  At that moment, I thought, these are my little sisters here in the pacific islands.  I asked them if they enjoyed primary, they said they did, so off they went to primary.   After sunday school, I was kicking myself for not going into primary to see how they were doing in the reverence department, hopefully better than in our ward!  ha ha!

Monday was zone conference.  Greg had audits for part of the day, so I went to zone conference without him, he came when he could.  Each mission president has their own style of teaching the missionaries.  President Granger had a little different style than President Duquette, but both are great mission presidents.  Greg got finished with the audits that day so we were able to catch a late flight that night and get home a day early.  While we were waiting for our 10:00pm flight, this group of native musicians came to the airport and set up these bamboo instruments and started to play.  They were amazing!  I think they were there to play for a plane load of people coming in from New Caledonia.  We all enjoyed listening to them.  I hope a little video I took can be attached.  Anyway, all in all, it was a great last trip to Santo. 

 The other day, Greg trained a new stake auditor  here in Port Vila by the name of  Nu Nu Mahit, a brother of our bishop.  He said he showed a real desire to fulfill his new calling as a stake auditor.  He was excited to see the progress.   Tuesday, we are off to Malekula for the last time there.  I hope it's somewhat uneventful compared to six months ago.  We don't want to experience anymore cyclones!  Our time is getting short in the mission field. We will never forget the experiences we've had with the wonderful people here in Vanuatu!  I'll get back to you when we get back from Malekula!  Ale Lukim yu (Good bye, see you later).  Love Greg and Ann