Tanna

Gud Moning ol Brutas mo Sistas, 

We're back from the island of Tanna and what a great adventure that was.  We traveled with the Grangers once again.  They are so amazing, not only do they teach and train the missionaries, they also take every opportunity to spread the good word.  When we got to Tanna, picked up our luggage and tossed it into the back of the usual transport, a pickup truck, and BUMPED on down the road to the White Grass branch, where we would attend church that day.  On the way there, President Granger started talking to the driver about the church.  He is a great missionary and knows how to approach people without being overbearing, yet powerfully testify at the same time .   As we traveled down the road,  we saw these huge natives with long braided hair, faces painted, both carrying big bush knives, and on horse back.  They were scary looking, and glared at us as we passed by.  I wanted so badly to stop and take a picture.   Later, I thought about what a great picture it would have been of me handing them a pass along card.  On the other hand, I value my arms too much, so I'm glad I didn't do it.  It was definitely a National Geographic moment.  Sooo cool.

When we got to the church you could hear the saints singing.  They were waiting for us. They were looking out of the windows and waiving.   I immediately got a kleenex out of my purse, (which I know is no surprise to those who know me well), I was so overcome with emotion.  It's even hard to write about.  President Morgan, the District President, met us outside, with this big smile on his face.  One of the senior missionaries refers to him as the Sidney Poitier of Vanuatu ( from the movie, To Sir With Love).  He is a nice looking man, and does look a bit like Sidney.  He informed us that we were the program.  President Granger,  Sister Granger and Greg were to be the speakers, and I would give the closing prayer.  We then went inside and sat on the stand. They know many of the hymns, and memorize them in English.  There isn't a hymn book in Bislama, and I wonder how much they understand.  I'm sure they don't see to many white faces, especially the little pikininis (children).  Of course the meeting was conducted in bislama, but when it was time for the  speakers, President Morgan translated for them.  I recorded Greg's talk.  I also recorded them singing.  They don't have a piano, so its all acapella.  They have beautiful voices and harmonize quite well.  

After sacrament meeting sister Granger and I went to relief society.  The sisters are so shy, but so sweet.  They gave a lesson and I could even understand a little bit of what they were saying.  They asked sister Granger and I to say a few words.  I told them how wonderful it was to meet my sisters in the South Pacific, and how lovely they are.  It's amazing when you are doing the Lords work, the spirit is so strong.  We love the people here in Vanuatu and will never forget our experiences with the people.  I guess they have sunday school "sometimes." It depends on if the teacher shows up or not.  We didn't have it that day.

Sister Granger asked me to sit with her as she talked with the prospective missionaries and reviewed their applications.  The health questions portion wasn't filled out on any of them.  It's no wonder, I could bearly understand some of the questions!  I can't imagine what they were thinking.  She just told them to do the best they could.  She also goes through some of the other questions to evaluate their English.  Not only can they speak pretty good English, but some can speak French.  They also have their native tounge.  The Granger's have talked to us about helping the members prepare to go to the temple as we travel to the different islands.  We are going to talk to them about what documents they need to gather together to be able to attend the temple in Fiji.  They want the people to not only get married in the temple , but have their children sealed to them.  The family is responsible for getting passports for everyone in their family that's eligible to go.  The church will pay for airfare and a place to stay.  It sounds like there are many that are preparing to go. 

The mama's and their little pikininis were sitting out on the grass visiting and eating lunch that they had brought.  Like I said, some come a long way and start out early to get there.  Sister Granger brought a bag of suckers and taffy with her.  She gave them to me and had me pass them out to the kids.  I guess they haven't had suckers before because they were sucking on them with the wrapper on, so I took the wrappers off for them.     We just sat around on the lawn with them and visited.  Like I said, we can understand enough to communicate with each other.  It was so lovely.  

After visiting for a while we said farewell.  Several members climbed in the bed of the truck and off we went to take them home.  The terrain here is different than Port Vila.  Port Vila is developed and has lots of Chinese shops, banks and markets.  It's developed because it has a little bit of tourism.  Cruise ships make stops there from Australia.   The people in Vila live in shacks of tin and wood. They tend to have junk piles around.  In Tanna, there aren't a lot of shops.  It's really green, lots of trees and the people live in thatched huts and  keep their property very clean and tidy.  It's like night and day.  The only tourists Tanna sees are individuals or groups that fly in to see the active volcano that is there.  There are a few resorts around for those people.  That's where we stay.  They are really nice places.  The vacationers are usually from New Zealand or Austrailia.  We do see a lot of Chinese traveling as well.  When we got to the resort it was about 6:00 pm.  We met the Granger's for dinner.  They were leaving to go back to Port Vila the next day, we were staying until Wednesday.

Monday morning we met them for breakfast and said good bye.  Our driver, John, picked us up at 8:00 to go back to the church, on those nasty roads, to do two audits.  As I sat and waited, a couple of guys who were returned missionaries came by.   One of them, Sam Matsu, had only been home for a couple of weeks.  He served in Provo, Utah.  He knew our bislama tutor from the MTC in Provo.  Jansen, if you're reading this, he really thought a lot of you.  Sam is a sweetheart, he had a saying that he kept using, "amazing grace."  While I was waiting for Greg to do audits, I visited with different people that came by.  President Morgan unlocked the door to the chapel so that I could get in out of the sun.  When I went inside, I was followed by a couple of little boys.  I'm sure they don't see too many white faces and were probably curious.  I pulled out my Apple Ipad and opened it to the computer game, "angry birds."  They quickly sat down by me and watched as I played.  I handed it to them and they took turns playing.  You should have seen their faces!  One of the boys reached up and touched my hair, he could see that it was a different texture than his was.  Pretty soon, three other little boys showed up and they all took turns playing this fun game.  They were having a BLAST! It was so fun to see the joy in their little faces.  I wanted to talk with them, but they spoke French and didn't seem to know any English.   I will always remember those cute little guys.  You can see a picture of me and two of the little boys on the post before this one. 

When Greg finished the audits there at White Grass, we all got back in the truck and headed to a branch called Green Point.  John and President Morgan sat up front, and Greg and I sat in the back with one of the counselors of the district presidency, who was also the chairman of the audit committee.  He was asking me if I knew the hymn, "Come of Thou King of Kings?"  I didn't know it by heart, but was familiar with it.  He was pretty easy to communicate with, but there was still a little bit of a barrier.  He wanted to know if  I would sing it for him!!!  What?!  I told him I was sorry, but ("luckily") I didn't know most of the words.  Sam and the other missionary, who was also training to be an auditor, hopped in the back of the truck and came with us.  After an hour of BUMPY roads later, we arrived.  I thought my teeth would shake out of my head by the time we got there!   The Chinese are there on Tanna as well as Port Vila.  They are paving a few of the roads for them as well.  Sure hope they're finished with this road the next time we go back, in six months.  

We were met by two branch presidents and their auditors at a bush chapel.  It was on a really nice piece of property, you could see  beautiful view of the ocean.  

Sam and I sat around and talked while the audits were being done.  There was a family that lived right next door to the chapel.  I noticed they were building a fire.  We walked over to see what they were doing.  They were preparing to bake their "lap lap."  We've not had it yet, but everyone makes it here in the islands.  It is made by pounding breadfruit, taro or yam roots into a dough.  The dough is then cooked in an underground oven, with fresh coconut cream and and some pork, beef or chicken.   Some say it's nasty tasting, while others love it.  We'll have to find out sometime.  If you go on line, you can see how they make it.  They wrap it in big palm leaves, put it on hot coals, put leaves on top and a cloth, followed by more hot coals and leaves and let it go for a couple of hours.  It was fun to watch them prepare it. 

On the way back, we came to a piece of road where a bull dozer was rebuilding the road.  We had to stop and wait before we could proceed.  The counselor was still wanting to have me sing that song for him.  YIKES!  I remembered that we have the hymn book downloaded on the ipad, so I pulled it up.  The two of us were the only ones in the car at that time,  everyone else was out looking at the construction on the road.  We just sat their and sang the song together.  It was so sweet.  Pretty soon Greg came back to the truck.  He wanted all three of us to sing the song again.  So we did.  He was so thrilled to have the three of us singing that song together.   The bulldozer wasn't finished with the mound of dirt he was moving, but he let us climb over it in the truck.  SCARY! The dirt was loose, and they were working by the side of a cliff SHESH!  It becomes a long day when the roads are as bad as these were!  We were ready for bed that night!   

They picked us up again the next morning.  Sister Morgan came with us that morning.  She knows very little English, so it was hard to visit with her.  We drove out to a branch that was located at the base of an active volcano.  It's a big tourist draw for them.  They take tours to the top that let you get right up close to the mouth. You can see the red burning lava.  We're going to go on the tour the next time we're there.  In order to see it in all its glory, you need to go in the evening.  You can feel it rumbling though.  The last two audits were done that day.  While we waited for one of the branch presidents to come, I went inside the church.  I walked into one of the unfinished rooms and there on the wall was a hand made poster of the young womens theme and moto.  Talk about a "kleenex moment."  It definitely brought tears to my eyes.  It was the sweetest thing.   

When the audits were finished, we got back in the truck to take some of our travelers home.  We drove through the jungle toward the base of the volcano and all of the sudden the scenery changed DRAMATICALLY!  Not a stitch of green to be found.  It was just volcanic ash.  It looked like a shot of the moon.  As we drove across this desolate land on the volcanic powder, it was hard to see where the road was.  Then, all of the sudden, we were back in the green, green jungle again.  AWESOME!  We drove a little longer and stopped at the side of the road.  The travelers that we had in the back of the truck hopped out.  Sam was one of them. He was traveling with us these few days in order to get a ride back to his village. They still had about an hour hike to their village. These are hardy people! 

As we traveled along, we came to a town that had a school.  There was a  bunch of kids out on the field running relay races, and many people from the town were sitting on the grass watching the games.  There isn't a lot going on so any excitement draws them together.  President Morgan pulled over.   We all got out and walked over to a little stand that had island food prepared by the locals.  He asked us what we would like to eat.  Since we didn't have a clue of what most of it was, we had him choose for us.  We each had a chunk of TARO (ick), a chicken wing, slice of  papaya and this square brown thing that we had no idea what it was.  Before we took a nibble we asked what it was.  It was intestine!! We were all of the sudden too "full up" and gave it away. PHEWWW! Soon, we left the festivities and headed back to our hotel.  It was quite the experience here on the island of Tanna.  

President Morgan and all of the church leaders here were so good to us.  We told them how much we appreciated all of their help. They took us back to our hotel and we said our good byes.

We were finished with the audits, but weren't leaving until the next day at 4:00, there is only one flight a day; so we had a little time to kill.   We weren't sure how long the audits would take.  We now have a good idea.  The manager at the resort let us hang out there until it was time to go to the airport.  When we got to the airport, there was a group of people with WELCOME HOME ELDER signs.  President Morgan was there also.   They were welcoming two elders back from Papua New Guinea.  They were both very shy and seemed very serious.  Papua New Guinea is a dangerous country to be in.  They don't let white elders and especially sister missionaries serve there.  We are witnessing first hand that the church is world wide and so wonderful.  

Again, we love and miss you all!  We are having an amazing experience here and wouldn't trade it for anything.  We're glad you are enjoying the adventures with us through our blog.  Again, we love you.  

May the good, good Lord bless you all.  Love, Elda and Sista Robison XOXOXOXO!

Hard life

Dear Family and Friends,

Wednesday night was our returned missionary class.  We never know how many, or who will show up to the class that we hold on being temporarily and spiritually self reliant.   This week we had two new students, Sam and Moses.  William is always there, he really wants to learn.   He has a good job at the Toyota dealership in town as a car salesman.  He also has a property here on Port Vila, and in Umbi, a little island where he is originally from.  As he sits in class, he takes many notes on the things that we talk about.  This week we talked about what it takes to make a living, and how to get a job. So we talked about the steps they needed to take.  We then started talking about marriage.  There are so many stumbling blocks here in the islands.  For instance:

Bride Price:  If a young man wants to marry, he has to pay the father of the bride for her.  Most of the time it's in money, and can be in the thousands.  It could also be in animals; pigs, chickens, cattle...Most of the time it's impossible to come up with what it takes, so they end up living together.   That includes members of the church.  It's hard for them to break tradition.  These are tribal people, and usually have a chief in their village, and things are done his way.  

If the young man wants to marry a girl from another tribe other than his own, many times, the couple would be required to give up their first born to replace her being taken from the village.  

If you are driving in a car and you have an accident that kills someone outside of your tribe, then you have to replace that person with someone from your tribe.  There are many unusual things that go on.

We usually take someone home after class.  That night we took Sam and Moses home.  Sam just returned from England on his mission three weeks ago. He speaks quite good English.  You can tell that he's wondering how to proceed in life after that experience, he is a very quiet young man and so sweet.  They do have a junior college here, and some go away to BYU Hawaii or to Somoa.  We're going to do our best to keep an eye on these young men and help them the best way we can.  In order for the church to help them with college, there are classes they need to take to help them qualify for college.  The Lindeman's do a great job with that.  

When you drive someone home, you usually turn off of a main road onto another road that leads out into the jungle.  Sam had us pull over to the side and let him out.  He said that we wouldn't be able to get to his home.   I don't think he wanted us to see where he lived.  It made me want to cry.  When we took Moses home, we felt like we were in a national geographic documentary.   We drove down this dark dirt road that our truck could barely stay on.  We had to drive slow because the pot holes were so deep.  The tin shacks on both sides of the road were close together and lots of people had their fires going to make dinner.  We could hear alot of ranting and raging, Moses laughed and said that was the Seventh Day Adventist preacher.  People were sitting around  a fire listening to him.   It was a very uneasy, evil feeling and we couldn't wait to get out of there.  When we pulled into where he lived, his parents were there and smiled and waived to us.  Moses got out of the truck and thanked us.  They are so used to all this, it doesn't phase most of them.  It's just unbelieveable to witness.  We are so thankful for EVERYTHING that we have been blessed with, especially to be born in AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL!  Greg said, "when we get home to American, and I walk in our house, I'm going to cry like a baby."  Me too.

One thing that is a real problem here is kava.  Kava is a drug that is made from the root of a plant.  They make it into a drink.  It calms anxiety, but can also make you high.  They have kava bars all over the place, and you can hear them whooping it up every night.  It's not a good thing.  It's actually a problem in the church.  Customs and habits are hard to give up.

On Saturday mornings Greg and I drive down town and park on the water front.  We walk for exercise and then have breakfast at a little cafe by the water.  They have really made it nice down there.  They've made it very presentable for the tourists who come off the cruise ships.  As I've mentioned, the Chinese have a million little souvenier shops where they sell trinckets from China, but say they are made in Vanuatu.  

After we got back from our walk, we got ready for our weekly snorkeling trip with the other couples.  We went to a place where we got to see giant clams.  These clams were the size of a suit case.  It was a site to behold.  WOW!  Anyone that says, that there isn't a God, a supreme creator, is not a rational human being.  I just can't explain how incredible those guys were to see.  They were really pretty colors too.  We are seeing things that most people will never have the opportunity to see.  This is an experience we will never forget.  We are so blessed to be here.  Tonight we are going to a Chinese restaurant with everyone.  We all order a different dish and then share.  It's quite fun.  As I said in the last post, we are off to the island of Tanna tomorrow morning.  We'll be gone for three and a half days.  I'm not sure if the internet is there,  but when we get back, I'll besure to catch you up on what happened.  

For now, we love and miss you all.  We'll check back later!  Love Elda and Sista Robison

Malekula

We're back from our trip to Malekula.  As I mentioned before, Greg and I were called as Assistant Area Auditors.  Our trip to Malekula was to do training and the financial audits for the church on the islands.   I'm going to go into a little bit of detail on our accommodations in Malekula because it's quite comical.  

On July 4th we tried to book where Pres. and Sister Granger was staying.  We were told it was full, so we booked at a place called Lokatoro Lodge. The night before we flew out, which was Friday the 15th of July, a woman called from the booking agency telling us that Lokatoto Lodge was full, but there was space available at the Malekula Holiday Vilas.  We were pretty leary, but booked it.  The rest of the story is coming.

When we got to the airport on Saturday morning we checked in.  They didn't ask for any ID, nor did they check for guns, knives or liquid amounts. As a matter of fact, you could bring whatever you wanted as long as there was room and it didn't exceed the weight limits for the plane. They did weight us and our luggage.   When we got on the 20 seat plane, my phone rang.  I couldn't hear very well because the plane was getting ready to take off (no aviation rules around here) a voice said something like, "tell driver take you to Edna's."  What did that mean?  I guess we would find out when we got there.

President Vanu, the District President, met us at the plane.  He is such a nice man.  He asked us where we were staying.  I told him about the message about "Edna," he said, "oh yes, I know where to take you."  He took us to these bungalows, and there was Edna to meet us.  She was a really nice lady.  The place we stayed was nice too.  A little more rustic than we were used to, but it was clean. The funnier part about all this is that Edna works for the tourist bureau and is able to"steer" people to her villas.  Both of the places we were trying to book were available after all.  We caught word of this through the grapevine.  I guess there can be competition everywhere, even on the islands.

After we checked into our little bungalow, President Vanu took us to the District Office to meet five of the seven branch presidents and clerks who had traveled from their different villages around the island.  They all gathered into a small office where Greg was able to do some training and perform the audits of their records.  During the training and audits he felt strongly that they were doing the best they could for the situation they are in, and were keeping pretty good records.  They don't have internet which makes things difficult, so their record keeping is all on paper.   

I sat outside while the work was going on and visited with these men.  Although there was a language barrier, we could understand each other well enough.  This one sweet, humble, president asked me how many children we had.  I  told him that we were unable to have children.   He was so sweet as he told me how sorry he was, but that we would have them one day.  I was touched at the love and concern he had for us.  It brought tears to my eyes as that subject always does.  

I decided to go for a walk while I waited, so I  headed down the dusty, dusty, road.   Most of the vehicles driven on these islands are trucks.  No matter what island you are on, the roads are the same, HUGE pot holes.  Every time a truck passed, everyone would wave that was piled in the back, and you wave back. It truly is an island life, laid back.  When I got back from my walk, they had a table full of cookies and an orange drink.  They were some of the best packaged cookies I've ever had.  It may have been more that I was starving!  

Soon President and Sister Granger showed up, they had been to another part of the island to some baptisms.  While the Grangers were there, they gathered the presidents together and talked to them about how important it is for them to continue to be self reliant and to learn what is being taught to them by the missionaries, because one day we will all be gone, but they will still be there and they need to learn how to operate in the church themselves.   I'm sure it was an exhausting day for them.  They were there from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm.  All but two of the audits took place that day, the other two presidents weren't able to make it so those were go be done on Monday before we left to come back to Port Vila.  After the audits, we all (including me) piled in the back of a pickup truck and headed down the bumpy road.  We got dropped off at the place where Pres and Sis Granger were staying and had dinner with them that night.  They stay in a bungalow on a beautiful beach.  That's where we hope to stay the next time we go because we will be there in December time frame, during the HOT, HOT summer.  The breeze from the ocean will help to make it more bearable to be there.  The owner of the resort also fixes your meals.  Dinner that night was sooo good.  We had yam puffs, which are deep fried pieces of yam, curry chicken, beef strips, cucumber salad, and rice.  For dessert we had slices of fresh pineapple.  DELISH!   Rona is a wonderful cook.  After dinner, Pres Vanu sent a driver to take us back to our bungalow.  It is so dark at night, no street lights here.  We just bumped along down the dark road with jungle on both sides.  It's amazing to be here.  What an adventure! 

 We woke up Sunday morning to this scratchy little meow.  We opened the door and in walked a little kitty.  He was very friendly, we let him hang out with us while we stayed there.  He had a little brother that came around too.  Cats and dogs run wild on the islands.  They were brought to the islands by the first European sailors that came many years ago.  It's so sad because there are so many of them.  You can hear the dogs barking and fighting during the night.  They run the streets looking for food.  It breaks my heart to see them struggle and try to survive.  Very few are pets to anyone.  There are shops around town that will have a cat sleeping on the counter by the register, so I think they have a home.   We are cat lovers so it's hard to watch.  

Remember when I was feeling sorry for the missionaries that don't have hot water?  Well, WE DIDN'T EITHER!!   We did have a bathroom though, with a cold water shower, toilet and sink.  We also had a little kitchen, living room and bedroom.  When we first walked into the bedroom, there on the wall was this HUGE spider.  This thing was probably 3 inches in diameter with it's leg span.  How creepy is that?!!  It looked like a giant black widow.  Greg just scooped it up in a container and threw it outside.  We were told they were bug eating spiders and not poisonous.  That's great, but he wasn't staying with us!! The kitchen had a propane stove so when we showered, we warmed water up,  soaped up in the shower and rinsed with cold water.  It wasn't too bad.  

That  morning we got ready for church.  Edna had prepared a nice breakfast for us.  It was a fried egg, bread, home made papaya jam, fresh grapefruit, papaya slices, and milo to drink.  Milo is their hot chocolate. It tasted great.  We had a little balcony and ate outside.   Pres Vanu had us picked up by his son.  He took us to what they call a "bush chapel."   This is where Pres Vanu attends church.  It was the Norsup Unit.  If a congregation is too small be a branch, it is a unit until it can grow with more members to become a branch.  I can't tell you how humbling is was to be there.  It was just big enough to hold about 25 chairs.  It had a sand floor, thatched roof and walls.  I think church was suppose to start at 9:00, but started at 10:00 (island time).  

One thing special about the church is that it's the same where ever you go.  As we sat and waited, we visited with the members as they came.  Greg brought his ipad because it has the scriptures and hymn book.  He opened the ipad up to "angry birds."  He was showing the kids, who probably have not seen anything like this, how to play the game.  It was so fun to see them get excited as they watched this amazing computer game.  

When we got started, they asked Greg to help pass the sacrament.  One elder blessed it, and Greg passed it.  They also asked him to bless a baby boy that was named Spencer.  Of course the meetings were all in bislama, but you could still feel the spirit that was there.  "Papa God" loves all of this children.  The hymns are in English so we could at least sing.  They use the same hymn book we do.  When it came time to separate for class, I went outside with the Primary.  We brought chairs outside and placed them in a circle.  The teacher talked about different bible stories and had the kids tell what they knew about them, and then sang primary songs.  Because of the language barrier, it was hard to teach them anything new, so we sang what they were familiar with. They loved; Once there was a Snowman, Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree, The Wise Man Built His House upon the Rock.  With my squeeky, untrained voice, I sang them other primary songs that I knew.  It was great.  I would sing slow and they would try to sing along.  What a wonderful day. It was so nice to be with our brothers and sisters in the South Pacific.  

After church we went back to our bungalow,  the Grangers told us to bring a little food in case we couldn't get to a restaurant, or got stuck at the airport.  So for lunch we had sliced apples, crackers and peanut butter, with oreo cookies for dessert.  Edna made arrangements with a restaurant down the street for our dinner since it was Sunday and things aren't open.  At 5:00 we hopped in Edna's truck and went to the restaurant.  When we walked in, no one was there.  Edna called the owner on the phone, she had forgotten we were coming. She was so sweet, she made us dinner that night.  We paid her well for her efforts.  She was a good host.  

Monday morning we went back to the district office so that Greg could train and audit the last two branches.  Three young elder missionaries live across the street from the district office, so I went over to visit with them.  One elder is from Highland, Utah, another from Idaho and the other was from South Africa.  They have been to the Port Vila mission office before so I recognized them.  We had a nice visit.  After the audits, President Vanu took us to the airport.  We had to check in two hours before the flight because if it comes early, they just leave.  The airport is a riot because it was burned down over a land dispute.  So, it's just a shell of a building.  It's basically a cement foundation and walls.  There's a little tin shed next to it where they check you in for the flight.  As we sat waiting for our plane for about 2 1/2 hours, two young ladies who were working for the Peace Corp. came and sat next us.  Their names were Mercedes, she was from Montana and Liz, who was from New York.  They were there on Malekula helping the people.  Liz was getting ready to help open up a little library there.   Mercedes was going to Port Vila to meet her parents for a little vacation.  I pulled out some crackers and apples, and Mercedes pulled out some cheese.  We put it together and had lunch.  The girls were telling us about their work there.  I asked them if I could join them for the day when we come back in six months.  They loved the idea, so we exchanged phone numbers.  While Greg's doing the audits, I'll see what's going on with the people and see if I can help.  When we boarded the plane, we took off down this half grass, half asphalt runway.  A little while later we landed on a grass runway on the other side of the island to pick up a few more passengers.  What an adventure.  

When we got back to Port Vila we took Mercedes to a little apartment that the Peace Corp kids stay at.  She is a darling girl.  She isn't a member, but she said she's talked with the missionaries.  We'll keep an eye on her.  

On the way back to our apartment we stopped at a little French restaurant for some dinner.  When we walked in, there was a kitty asleep on a chair inside the door.  I reached over and scratched its ears.  It woke up, hopped off the chair and followed us to our table.  When I sat down, I motioned for her to get up into my lap and she did.  She curled up in my lap and went to sleep.  She stayed there all through dinner.   I was loving it because I miss my Zoe.  The owner of the restaurant came over and said, "I feed this kitty every morning, but she doesn't sleep in my lap."  He was a great guy and had a nice restaurant.  We had a really nice, productive time in Malekula.  We loved it!  This Sunday we fly to the island of Tanna.  We'll get there in time to attend church.  I'll close for now, but I'll be sure and write about that adventure as well.  We love and miss all dear family and friends.  We are sooo blessed to be on this mission here in Vanuatu.  

May God bless you all.   Love, Elda and Sista Robison

Hot pads

I've been doing a little bit of sewing these past few days. As I've mentioned before, Sister Tucker is the mission nurse.  She also inspects the young missionaries apartments for cleanliness.  She was finding during the inspections that they needed hot pads.  They have these big iron kettles that they use to warm water on their stoves.  Many of them don't  have hot water (yikes!), and they don't sell hot pads here.  So, we decided to make hot pads.  We just took a piece of an old towel, sewed it between two pieces of fabric and sewed a big X in the middle to keep the fabric from bunching up.  They turned out quite nicely.  I'm a quilter, and it felt good to get back at the sewing machine again.  Before we came here, Sister Davidson sent us emails about things to bring with us, and that was one of the things.   I wish I would have brought my spices too.  They're really hard to find, plus they cost (you guessed it) a fortune.  I have spices that I am picturing right now, sitting in my kitchen cabinet at home.  I could have the spices sent to me, but it's not worth the $95.00 it would cost to send them.  Isn't that crazy?!

Last Saturday we went to a private beach to swim and snorkel.  The area was managed by Elder Rices' apartment manager.  It was beautiful, I'll attach a picture.  I dropped our beach bag down on the sand, not paying attention to the tide, and in it came.  I learned my lesson on that one, I ruined my camera.  Luckily, I take most of my pictures with my phone.  It was such a beautiful beach, where ever we go, we love to collect shells.  We all have baskets with our shells in them on display in our apartments.  It's a fun hobby to have here.

Today, we all went to the airport to welcome our newest senior couple, the Collette's.  They are from New Mexico, and will be working in education.  They will be setting up english and math classes.  They are a really nice couple and will be fun to associate with.  We had a welcome dinner at the mission home for them, and had a really nice time.

Elder Robison and I are leaving tomorrow for the island of Malekula to do some training for the upcoming audit season. We will be there from the 15 - 17 July.   It's one of the four major islands in Vanuatu that we will be traveling to.  The District President will be meeting us and taking us to the church where we will do the training.  I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.  We've been told that the island is a little primative, not sure exactly what that means, but we're going to find out.  Our mission president and his wife are also going.  They will be visiting and doing training with the missionaries that are there.  I'll close for now so that we can get a good nights sleep.  I don't think they have the internet there, so I'll check back with you all when we get back.  We love you all very much, and of course you're always in our prayers.  

Love, Elda and Sista Robison XOXOXOXO

This was taken at the mission home during the seniors conference.

Family Night

Monday night we attended a ward family home evening at our Black Sands Ward.  When we left our apartment it was raining super hard.  We were betting that hardly anyone, if any, would be there since they have to walk in the rain to get there.  We were dead wrong!  There was probably about 50 or 60 members as well as inactives there.  The young missionaries gave a message and a fun object lesson about being happy.  It was all given in bislama, so we didn't understand most of what was said, but the  members were participating and having a great time.  They also played a church video with a great message about the diversity among all of Gods children and that he loves us all.   After the meeting they played games and played a Disney movie for the kids.  After the activities they served dinner.  They handed us each a HUGE plate of dinner!  There was about 2 cups of white rice with a curry juice/sauce with carrots, potatos, 2 chicken wings, 2 legs, salad, 2 big chuncks of yam, 2 chunks of taro (ick) on one plate, and we had dinner before we left home!!  We asked them for a smaller amount, but they wouldn't hear of it!  Elda Robison gave part of his plate to another man.  I couldn't begin to eat mine.  Sister Mahit, our bishops wife, told me I could take it home.  PHEWWW!  They are the most generous, loving, people and you would never want to disappointment them.   I think the reason they get a good turn out a these evening activities if because most of the people don't have electricity. At night when it gets dark, they sit outside of their homes and visit until bed time.  As I mentioned, the people here are so poor and don't have alot of money to buy things.  They do have gardens, chickens, and some have pigs, so they have good healthy food.  Their housing is really poor, but they do have a place to sleep.  Their homes are basically tin and wood shacks.  Some of the people that have a little money have a home made of cinder blocks and even have one line of electricity with a light bulb if they're lucky.  You know though, they seem to be just fine with what they have.  They are so soft spoken and humble, and I think they get it.  They know what's really important in this life, and that's to live a good life so that they will be worthy to return home to our Heavenly Father.  We've learned alot from them.   

We're expecting a new senior missionary couple next week.  They will be taking care of seminary/institute classes.  It's hard to get programs going around here.  It seems like they start to come and then fizzle out.  It's hard to keep them motivated.  We all just do the best we can.  

Juliette, the Relief Society President asked us if we would be willing to teach  English to the women in our ward.  Their children learn English in school, and they can speak it a little, but they can't read or write.  We told them we would be happy to.  Our plan is to hold a short class after church on Sundays since they're already there.   

Elda Robison and I will be heading to the island of Malekula this next week end.  We're approaching the new audit cycle, so we're going to do some training with the good people there.  The mission president and his wife are going to visit the missionaries that are there.  We asked if we could tag along  and have him introduce us to the District President and audit committee.  We'll be spending three days there.  We're looking forward to seeing the different islands.  I'll close for now, but know that we love and miss you all very much.

  Love, Elda and Sista Robison XOXOXOXOXO!