Faith, Trust and a Little Pixie Dust

Last week I returned from my 15 day mission trip to Vanuatu! What and where is Vanuatu you might ask? It is a series of islands off the east coast of Australia. DISCLAIMER- This is going to be long!!

I am going to do two posts about this trip! 1 with the details and 1 with my videos and pictures!

We left on May 29th at 8pm from San Francisco. We flew to LA and met up with the rest of our team. From LA we flew to Sydney. Our flight left at 10:30pm. 15 hour flight to Sydney! I was really worried about being on such a long flight but it really wasn't bad! I waited a couple hours and then took my sleeping pill from the Doctor and slept a good chunk of the flight! We landed in Sydney about 7am their time. We had a 3 hour layover before our flight left for Port Villa, Vanuatu. We browsed the Sydney airport which was SPECTACULAR and got food to eat. I got a short mocha for $10 American and Chinese food for $21 American. Crazy expensive!

We then took the 4 hour flight to Vanuatu. We arrived in Vanuatu around 5pm Vanuatu time on May 31st. We completely lost a day! Traveled for about 20 hours. The missionary, his wife, daughter and some church members met us at the airport and greeted us with Lei's that they had made! We piled into a van and checked into our hotel for the 1night we had to stay in Port Villa.

The next day (June 1st) we got packed up and headed to the airport to fly to the island of Tanna where we were to spend 5 days. Checking in to fly domestic was interesting. No security, They crossed our names off a list in pencil. We also saw a lady carry on an ax! It was only about a 40 minute flight. We arrived right at sunset. It was sprinkling and warm when we landed. We waited for our baggage which came through a window. Our luggage was drove to the Village and we set out to walk there! Dirt Road. No one around. Culture shock! We arrived to a big greeting from the Village. Song, Dance and they sprinkled baby powder on us as a way of giving their best to us. They stood us in a line and welcomed us. Sang us a song and also welcomed us with handmade lei's. They presented us with a chicken and pig tied up. After the ceremony, we got to work setting up the boys tent and getting settled in our concrete house.

Staying in Tanna was an experience I will never forget. We were told this was going to be a really rustic part of our trip. And it was. We had no electricity or running water. To take showers we went into a concrete room and bathed with a bucket of water. My least favorite part was that we had to wear long skirts to fit in with the customs there. The skirts that I bought were SO hot and it was incredibly humid there so if I don't wear a skirt again for a long time, I won't be complaining! The 11 of us had to fit into a king cab Toyota truck. That put 4 in the cab and 6 in the back of the truck. I am a stickler for wearing your seat belt etc so it took a lot for me to be okay with all of us piling into the bed of a pickup truck, that didn't run that great! The roads were AWFUL. We literally were 4-wheeling in the dirt pretty much everywhere we went. That was fun!

We put on 4 VBS services on the island of Tanna. This would consist of us playing games with the kids, usually some relay races and parachute and then preventing a lesson/craft with salvation bracelets. The message of the salvation bracelets if you have never heard of it before is that each bead is a color that represents something. You start with the string that represents your life. The first bead is Gold. This represents heaven, the streets of gold, where Jesus lives and where we want to go. The 2nd bead is Black. This represents Sin, and our black hearts and what prevents us from going to heaven. The 3rd bead is Red. This represents Jesus' blood. He died on the cross to make a way for us to get to heaven. His blood covered our sins. The 4th bead is white. This represents what happens to us when we accept Christ. We are made white as snow and now have a clean heart. The 5th bead is green and represents Growth. This is what happens after we are saved and we start going to church, praying, reading our bible, telling our friends about Jesus. We grow as Christians. The final 2 beads are Blue/Purple. These represent Royalty. Which is what we will all be when we go to heaven with King Jesus.

It absolutely amazed me how much these kids ATE up this message. It was the most awesome thing to hear them repeating the meanings of the beads. We would ask what red meant and they would yell "BLOOD!" we would respond with "Who's Blood?!" and they would scream "JESUS!" it was just absolutely amazing. Each Village we went to greeted us with songs and lei greetings. They would come and EACH person would shake our hands. The first Village that we visited had never had any sort of organized group come in to talk about Jesus. What a blessing to be a first for that community!!

That Sunday we had church in the Village we were staying at. We sang songs in English, and Bislamic, their native language. Gary brought the message and our friend Jeffery translated. It was great! Sunday night Marcus preached.

While on Tanna we got to go visit the beach. Seriously the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. We got our workout walking to/from the beach! The water was SO blue and clear!! We got to go swimming and check out the coral reef. Quite a few of us were attacked by the coral! That stuff is intense! We saw blue starfish and blue fish and it was gorgeous.

We also got to go to Mt. Yassur one day. Mt Yassur is the worlds largest active volcano! I was not thrilled about this endeavor. One of the villages we visited was close to the volcano and we could see/feel/hear it erupting from a distance and that was close enough for me! However everyone was going so I didn't have a choice! I got more and more nervous the closer we got. Once we paid and were on our way up to the top we saw Steam coming out of the ground from the heat of the volcano! I didn't really know what to expect with this. I held Marcus' hand as we climbed to the top. I was out of breath from the steep hike and we got to the top and it erupted and all I saw was lava flying everywhere and I totally had a panic attack!! Marcus was able to calm me down and after it erupted a few more times I was able to get used to what it felt like and actually enjoy it! It was so humbling. It had SO much power and yet that is just a glimpse of what our God is capable of!! The heat and eruptions were incredible!

After the Volcano it was our last night in the village. We came home to a feast. Complete with a roasted pig and all! There were flowers stuck in it's eye sockets! I was really fortunate with the food on this trip. I didn't really know what to expect. There wasn't anything too over the top at all! Some meat that I didn't ask what it was. Interesting potato/yams. Fruit that I have never heard of before. And the best Banana's and Pineapple I have ever tasted! Lots of white rice!!

After the feast the Villagers wanted to say goodbye to us. The chief came and spoke kind words to us. Thanking us for spending our money to come and see them. They presented us with gifts. Seashell necklaces that the women made. Feathers and baskets. They came around and shook our hands with many of the women crying. So of course I was crying too. I was so sad to leave the women and children. Even though we couldn't have very deep conversations because of the language barrier we formed some awesome bonds with them. I felt so unworthy of everything they did for us. They were so quick to serve us and I felt like we did nothing to deserve that! The women even made us "Island dresses" like they wear there!

We left Wed June 6th to return to Port Villa. The women from the Village walked to the airport to say goodbye to us and stood at the fence and waved until we boarded our plane. We were sad to leave!

It was amazing how when we arrived in Port Villa the first time it seemed so "rustic". Then when we arrived back from Tanna it seems like a big city! It was very nice to take a shower and put shorts on!

While in Port Villa we did 3 VBS services. One was at a school and it turned out to be Mac Trips biggest VBS! We had about 250 kids! It was a little trying with only 11 people but we worked it out and it was great!

We went to a VERY poor village to do a VBS. This broke my heart. The kids were playing in piles of garbage and it was so sad. We saw lots of cuts that were fleshy and infected. Lots of runny noses and sick kids, But the one thing I learned while visiting Vanuatu is that these people have SO little but are SO happy. They have no clue what they are "missing" out on but are so content. They don't need iphones and computers and microwaves and tv's and xbox's. The kids were happy to kick around a deflated ball or play with a Stick that has wheels on the end of it. They were content to not wear any shoes and to have their clothes be dirty and not match. They were HAPPY! It made me really thankful for the things that I have and not to take them for granted. Also to not be so attached to these things.

We went to 3 marketplaces to do some street preaching and present the salvation bracelets. This was probably the thing I was most nervous for. I hate speaking aloud. I hate speaking one on one with people I don't know! Working with kids was a piece of cake for me but this was completely different. But I took it by the horns and watched God work in me! When it was time to go out into the marketplace and talk one on one I teamed up with a fellow team member, Chris. I let him do the first couple presentations and then I said I was ready to do it. It just exploded after that. We had so many people coming up to us that we had to split up and present by ourselves and it was quite the rush! The people were so HUNGRY! They just ate it up and I didn't have a single person tell me no. It was amazing.

On one of our afternoons we got to go to a resort on Erekor Island and do some kayaking, snorkeling and relaxing on the beach! I snorkeled for the first time and saw Nemo, Dory and Gil fish (Finding Nemo if you didn't get those references!)

Our last Sunday was spent on the Beach in Port Villa. The two churches in the area combined and we had service together. While on our trip, our 12 year old team member, Faith, who came with her dad Russel was saved! Kerry was able to lead her to the Lord 1/2 way through the trip. So at our last service, Gary baptized her in the ocean. How awesome! Marcus preached and then the church members presented us with necklaces.

Satan tried to work on this trip but we didn't let him. Kerry woke up with horrible hives one morning in Tanna. They wouldn't go away so she went to the doctor when we returned to Port Villa. They diagnosed her with an intestinal parasite and gave her 5 different medications. She had to stay behind a few times and I know that was hard on her! There were no major rifs between team members. Everyone got along really well. We also had 7 first time people on our trip! We did really well for it being our first time! We each had to give a devotional and share our testimony every night. I was nervous about this because of my lack of liking to speak aloud, but I did really well. Wasn't nervous and I know God worked through me that night!

Our last night in Villa the missionary and his wife had us over for dinner. She made us pot roast and vegetables and it was SO nice to have a home cooked meal!!! We were able to share with Danny and Janice our thoughts about the trip and they were able to share with us. They need our prayers. They live there on $1500/month and $1000 of that goes to rent. There is SO much that Bro Danny wants to do and has a vision for and they just don't have the means. They really need someone to lead out in Tanna. He can only go visit so many times/year. They need teachers to come and train up the men in the villages. You really don't understand what missionaries go through until you have lived it for yourself. The next time we have a missionary come to present at church I think I will view it very differently. I cannot even express in words what this trip did for me personally and spiritually.

Our last two days of the trip were spent in Sydney, Australia. We went from 90 degree 100% humidity (YUCK) weather to 60degrees and RAIN. LOTS of Rain! We checked into our hotel and decided it would be nice to spend some time Inside and go to the mall. Well we had to walk about 2 miles to get to the bus stop... in the rain. We were all SOAKED. Emma and I borrowed jackets from some friends and both of ours ended up NOT being waterproof! Some of us were wearing garbage bags. It was quite humorous. We ended up at a mall in downtown Sydney. It was a "Westfield" mall and quite possibly the nicest/most expensive mall that I have ever seen or will ever see in my entire lifetime!! We were significantly over dressed! It was fun to browse around though!

The last day we took a double decker bus tour around Sydney. It was sunny! (yay) and not too cold. We got to see the awesome architecture and of course the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge! SO Spectacular! We hung out and ate in China town and got souvenirs!

We left for the airport to go home at 6:30 am. Our flight to LA left at 10am. This flight was MUCH worse!! It was daytime to us so we hardly slept at all. My tailbone hurt for 2 days after I got home! The worst part of traveling was waiting 3 hours to fly home to San Fran after we landed in LA! SO close yet so far from home. I cannot tell you how awesome it was to see my family waiting for me outside of security!! Those hugs felt so good! My girls were adorable and it was so good to see my hot hubby! I had forgotten how cute he was! ;)

It took a good 4 days to recover from the jet lag. It is still weird to me that we are home. It went by SO fast even though we were half way through June when we got home! I got a nice tan and lots of mosquitto bites and a life changing experience that I will NEVER forget!

I'm sure I have forgotten stuff and props to you if you are still reading at this point! I would like to take time to say a special thank you to those who financially supported me for this trip. God truly provided the funds and I am so grateful to those who donated! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers and support! Now, Enjoy my pictures!