Back home !

It is so nice to be back with my noisy and energetic family again after two days in the confines of a hospital room.  We are thankful for the health system here in Australia, which is very thorough, and we are praying that the medicine they gave me against malaria will be effective in killing off every trace of the parasites which they found in my blood.  Although I wasn't constantly unwell with the malaria (just having bouts of high fevers and shakes/chills every second day) it seems that the lab technicicans found both vivax and falciparum strains of malaria in my blood, so they were keen to grab me and keep me in the ward until treatment was found to be effective.

But I am glad to report that I am home again now, with the family, at Jon's mum's place in Mt Barker, and enjoying catching up with the daily events of our family.  Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for us all, and we ask that you pray with us that we would be able to iron out all the health issues before we head back to Vanuatu in March.

 Love, Lyndell

Malaria -- again!!

Hi. It's Jon here. Lyndell has been feeling pretty awful for the last few days, and a blood test has revealed that she has malaria -- yet again! That's the third time she's been diagnosed with it whilst being in Australia sometime (let alone being diagnosed whilst in Vanuatu!) Lyndell was admitted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital yesterday afternoon for treatment and observation. We've really appreciated the exceptional health care on offer here in Australia, and are very grateful for the meticulous attention to detail. She's feeling much better today -- but wasn't too good overnight. Hopefully home again soon. Us boys miss her already! We appreciate your prayers. Love Jon & Ben & Joel.

Hapi Niu Yia !

Hi again everyone.  HAPPY NEW YEAR  2011.  We hope that you have had a good start to the new decade.  Our family are having a lovely 'wind down' as we house-sit for some friends in Mt Barker (South Australia).  It is nice to have a change from everyday life in Vanuatu, but we find that our thoughts and prayers are still very much with our family and friends over there as we hear news of earthquakes, and small tsunamis in the south of the country, and prison breakouts in Port Vila. 

We had a great SU Pacific Region Conference at the SU campsite in Vila from Dec 7 to 14.  It was fabulous to meet more of the SU Family from around the Pacific Islands (PNG, Solomons, Fiji, Tonga, NZ and Aust), and to worship together, and share together in bible engagement and in times of sharing our visions for SU ministry in the years to come in each particular country.  Albea did a great job of pulling together the organisation for the event, and it was good to have some local Vanuatu delegates, who have had a little exposure to SU in the past, but who now have a much bigger picture of the wider ministry of SU in God's world.

Delegates from 6 nations at the SU Pacific Region Conference held in Port Vila, December 2010.

Vanuatu delegates at the Conference

We spent our Christmas Day with Jon's family at Bridgewater. Only one nephew was unable to make it on Christmas Day, and Lyndell's parents, Allen and Val, have also travelled over from Melbourne to stay with us for a couple of weeks, so it was a special time of having all the family together to celebrate Jesus' Birthday.

Ben is off at a CE Camp this week (he's 14 now, so it's his first year at the Senior Camp!), and Joel will be at CE/SU Junior Camp next week - he is really looking forward to catching up with friends from last year.