Zone Conference

We had a great zone conference last week.  President Granger is closing in on his 3 year committment as our mission president.  He talked to the elders and sisters about the transfer of the keys that he holds as the current mission president, that will be transfered to the new mission president in July.  He explained to them that there will be changes made by the new president and that they must abide by those changes.   He told them how much he and sister Granger loved them and that he would never forget them.  I haven't seen any other mission president in action other than President Granger, but I will say that he and sister Granger give their ALL.  They work tirelessly to make this the great mission that it is.  They have three countries to cover and it seems like they are alway gone to a zone conference or on a mission tour somewhere.  The new mission president might be a little overwhelmed at first with all the traveling involved, but he'll have some good assistants to help him out.  We will be starting our last audit cycle when they arrive, and will be traveling ourselves.  We'll be happy to help out too.  As I sat there listening at the meeting, I looked over and saw a cute sister that we were with in the MTC.  Her name is sister Koroso.  She is from Port Vila, and just got transferred here from Santo.  It was so good to see her.  It's amazing to see her a year later, and know how shy she was then, but to see how outgoing and confident she is now.  I asked her if she sees her family now that she's here in Port Vila, she said that she sees her mother in the market once in a while.   It's not uncommon to see Nivans (people from Vanuatu) serve their mission here.  It seems like they serve here or in Papua New Guinea.

As I mentioned before, elder and sister Davidson are leaving on April 23rd.  Sister Granger asked me to make arrangements for their farewell dinner with the other couples.  We always have the dinners at the misson home.  Sister Granger takes care of the meat and we do all the side dishes and dessert.  We're going to have roast beef, augrautin potatoes, green salad/fruit, rolls, and carrot cake.  Doesn't that sound yummy?  I went with sister Davidson to the mamas handicraft market the other day to help  her look for souvenirs to take home to family and friends.  I've already started accumulating those things.  Australian Aid built a new handicraft market building in town.  It's perfect for when cruise ships come in, they support the local mamas by purchasing their crafts.  I noticed that the rental spaces weren't filling up very fast.  Apparently the rental fees are too high for most of them.  The government is so corrupt here.    They just make sure they get their cut.  Hopefully they will soften so the people can afford to sell their goods.

Last week Prince Charles came to Port Vila for a brief visit.  Up until 1980, Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides) was a colony jointly administered by England and France.  It was a real big deal while he was here, they love him.  He met with the chiefs of Vanuatu and was given priceless gifts.  Prince Charles brought gifts to them also.  They dressed him in their ornate custom dress, (however, they let him keep his clothes on), and during a lavish ceremony made him an honorary chief and gave him the name of Mal Menaringmanu. The name was chosen to reflect his high rank in the world.  They presented him with a nalnal, a customary club, and sign of authority.  Normally, a newly designated chief would be expected to use the club to kill at least one pig.  The pigs were present at the ceremony, but their sacrifice was omitted in recognition of the Prince's stance against animal cruelty.  Chief Tirsupe and the Prince shared a coconut shell filled with kava, an intoxicating, hullucinogenic beverage made from a plant grown in Vanuatu.  The people drink this stuff every night.  They have kava bars all over in the villages.   It used to be that it was used only during custom ceremony with the chiefs, sadly it is in the regular population now.  He was then led in a procession to a near by park where crowds of thousands stood by to welcome the Prince.  The park is by one of our chapels.  He was treated to custom dancers from the island of Tanna.   Sister Collette happened to be there at the chapel and walked over to watch the festivities.  She said the people started hugging and kissing her and pushing her out in front of the festivities.  I guess maybe they thought she was from England or because she is white??? She didn't know why they were doing this!!  So funny.  She told us all about it later that evening.  She said it was so embarrassing!  The rest of us had gone snorkeling that day.  The people are still talking about it.  It's fun for them to have special events like this.

The education couple, the Collette's, are teaching older kids an english/math class out in an area called Etas.  After a while younger kids started showing up wanting to learn.  The Roundy's, the humanitarian couple, volunteered to teach some of them.   Soon they had more coming, so I told them I would help teach.  There are planned lessons ready to go for these classes.  I just hand out the lessons and help them if they have questions.  There is always a picture for them to color and they love that.  It's obvious who attends school and who doesn't.  The kids are not required to attend school at any age.  I was watching them as they did their math problems, they were using their fingers and their toes to count.  They are such sweet girls.  It takes about 40 minutes to get there, and by the time we leave to go back home it's starting to get dark.  We drive on a bumpy, dirt road to get there.  It is literally through the jungle.  The Roundy's  don't see well at night, so Greg comes as our driver.  I wouldn't go if he didn't drive!  The weather here is starting to get really nice.  We don't even need our sweat rags!  We hope all is well with you at home.  We love and miss you!  Take care.   Love Greg and Ann