Visit to Futuna and Tanna Islands

Ben and I (Jon) have had the wonderful privilege of a brief 10 day visit to the southern islands of Futuna and Tanna.  I was invited to lead the Bible studies at the “Southern Islands Presbyterian Youth Convention” hosted by the people on Futuna Island (from the 9^th to the 16^th of October).  The general theme of the convention was “Worship in Spirit and Truth”, and also included electives designed to help the youth in their leadership of their home communities.  It was fabulous being together with Albea Nalisa (our SU Coordinator) as he used his music and worship-leading gifts all through the week. 

A colourful celebration dance

Futuna is Albea’s home island and it was obvious both he and his community really enjoyed the reunion! It was a tremendous convention, with about 100 participants (not including the Futunese hosts) from the scattered islands of southern Vanuatu, with the majority of the young people coming from various parts of Tanna Island. Even more youth were ready to come over to Futuna for the convention, but the ever-typical transport problems (the engine of the “plan A” ship broke down), meant that quite a few had to stay home.  Anyway, for those of us who could be there, it was a fabulous week.  Ben took heaps of photos, so lots of memories.  Thank you so much for those of you who have been praying for us!

 
More about Futuna ...

Jon and Albea

I take my hat off to the people of Futuna! Their island is only small compared to most of the others in Vanuatu, and the feeling of being “out on your own” in the middle of a huge ocean is really quite something!  These guys are the genuine survivors.  Along with their faith in a great and faithful God, the Futunese people have developed a wide range of skills not only in order to survive but also to thrive in their local environment.

A single track leads you on a 4 hour walk around the island, connecting all the villages.  In between (and up the big hill in the centre of the island), food gardens are cultivated on slopes that have to be seen to be believed!  Water is gravity fed to villages from a couple of permanent sources. But so much of this and other ‘island infrastructure’ was destroyed (or at least severely damaged) by two powerful malingering cyclones in January this year. The connecting walking track was also made impassable in several places by rock falls or landslides.  Food gardens are just now starting to produce as normal again, but it has obviously been a very challenging year.

 The people of Futuna necessarily have to live independently from other islands and from town resources. They haven’t had a visit from a cargo boat for over a year now! Village stores generally don’t have much in stock.  There has never been any mobile phone coverage from either of Vanuatu’s telecommunication providers, and there is only one landline telephone on the whole island, which was only working for a part of one day while we were there! The twice weekly twin-otter plane link is the only regular connection with the rest of the country.

The Fish … !

People on Futuna live off the sea.  Our main food for the week-long convention was fish – and man, it doesn’t get any better than that!  When the local men and boys go fishing, you know that they will bring something back – because they know exactly what they’re doing!  Wahoo, tuna, barracuda, flying fish, poulet (deep-sea red fish) – you name it, they find it!   

Ben and I had the special privilege of going out on a fishing trip with two fisherman friends at 4am one morning – and we struck with instant success.  Trawling with only hand-lines, we caught 2 nice sized wahoo and one tuna, and were back in the village in time for breakfast!  Again, it doesn’t get much better than that!  What an awesome privilege to go out with two blokes who know the water, currents, tides, wind and weather, baits and lures, etc – like the back of their hands! 

I can’t take credit for any great skill in catching my first ever wahoo, but I do have the fishing line scars on my hands to prove that it did actually happen!  Man, what a workout!

  

 Over to Tanna …

Ben on the edge of the ash plain

Only a brief visit to Tanna this time, but it was totally worth it. Albea and I had the opportunity to stay with the local SU volunteer boys, and check out the work they are doing on renovating their new SU office and bookroom, as well as visiting Secondary Schools at Ienaula, Lenakel, and Isangel (French).  Ben and I shared the talk with the students at Ienaula, and with the youth group at Iarkei village, who live over near the active volcano. 

At the crater

  Of course we had to spend an evening with Yasur Volcano too. You can’t come over to this side of the island without ‘dropping in’.  As usual, Yasur put on a great performance – we loved it!  Ben got some great photos, as well as some good stories and local information for a subject he is studying at school on volcanoes.  These things are truly amazing.  It’s so cool to be able to see a real volcano up close (in 4D sen-surround), rather than just studying about one in a text book!

 

‘til next time.

Jon and Ben.

Memory Verse challenge #3

Today we had a small celebration to recognize the effort put in by Ben and Joel and 6 friends who all learnt to say the 24 verses of Psalm 139 off by heart.  Well done guys!  That was a great effort.  May the truth of these verses which reflect the greatness and goodness of God be with you forever.

Ben, Corey, Anthony, Joel, Cassia, Tione, Jacinta and Sharyna

 

Psalm 139 (NIV 1984)

 ¹ O LORD, you have searched me
   and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
   you know it completely, O LORD.
 ⁵ You hem me in — behind and before;
   you have laid your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
   too lofty for me to attain.
 ⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
   Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
   if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
   your right hand will hold me fast.
 ¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
   and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
   the night will shine like the day,
   for darkness is as light to you.
 ¹³ For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
 ¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
   were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.
 ¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
   How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
   they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
   I am still with you.
 ¹⁹ If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
   Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
   your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
   and abhor those who rise up against you?
²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
   I count them my enemies.
 ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting. 

 

Congratulations guys! What’s the next challenge?

Book cover designed by Ben

We’re really pleased to announce the long-awaited launch of the new book, “Wea nao Stret Rod?”.

It has been quite a long process, from the initial translating from PNG Tok Pisin into Bislama (done by Lilian, a local lady), and then checking, and re-checking of drafts, formatting, cover designing, printing, collating, publishing, etc. -- but it's finally all done! 

Remember the classic book by John Bunyan, “Pilgrims’ Progress”?   Maybe you read it some years ago.  Well, we now have an illustrated and contextualised version of this same story available in Bislama for people throughout Vanuatu to also read and enjoy.

A team effort. SU, SIL, VBT.

   

This is one of the fruit of the partnership between Scripture Union Vanuatu, SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) and VBT (Vanuatu Bible Translation).

 

You can read more about the book and launch in the following article, written for the local newspaper by Ross Webb ...

Wea Nao Stret Rod?

Good question! The Holy Bible of course works hard to answer that question. And many people have tried to make the Bible’s answer easy to understand. One of those clear thinkers was a man named John Bunyan who was put in gaol by leaders in England for asking too many questions about the corrupt nature of the church at the time!

He didn’t waste his time in prison. No, he spent his time writing an allegory called “Pilgrim’s Progress”. It is the story of a man who faces many hardships, persecutions and trials during his life. The whole story is a vivid and realistic picture of a person who wishes to live as a Christian and eventually end up in the “celestial city”.

That story was written almost 400 years ago. It turned out to be a very influential book – for nearly 300 years in England it was the most popular book next to the Bible. It inspired and encouraged many Christians in tough times. Unfortunately if you tried to read the original version today you’d have a tough time. The English he wrote in is difficult for us to understand clearly today.

But readers in Vanuatu don’t have to face that challenge. On Thursday 29^th September in a small ceremony, Scripture Union, Vanuatu Bible Translation (VBT) and SIL launched a version of Pilgrim’s Progress in Bislama. Its Bislama title is “Wea Nao Stret Rod?”. The language and the title isn’t the only thing that has changed. The story has been reformed and translated to reflect life in Melanesia with our particular challenges in focus so that it’s easy for us to relate to.

Lilian Navaika (SIL) and Albea Nalisa (SUV)

This version was written first in PNG’s Tok Pisin. Two years ago Lilian Navaika of SIL started wrestling with the Tok Pisin version to get it into understandable Bislama. Then a team of readers and reviewers from VBT and Scripture Union read it over many times to get it to sound as good as it does. Those involved in the editing agreed that it was a great story and one that should become very popular in Vanuatu.

Albea Nalisa, Coordinator of Scripture Union told those gathered that 300 vatu was very cheap for such an important book. The ladies who work in the SUV office and lending library on the top floor of Caillard & Kaddour in Port Vila will be more than happy to show you the new book, and all the other Bislama titles they have to help you find the Stret Rod.

Will “Wea Nao Stret Rod?” become as popular and influential as its parent Pilgrim’s Progress? Only time will tell.

Our magnificent multi-cultured Pajero

I have just had the most fascinating couple of days.  Two very full days working with 3 of my backyard bush-mechanic mates on doing a major work on the front suspension on our ‘new’ old Mitsubishi Pajero truck.  These guys are legends! At least two of these guys are very talented mechanics and know what they are doing. But what the other two (which includes me) lack in knowledge and experience, we make up with enthusiasm and brute force with a sledge hammer!  I only wish I had had my camera with me, there would have been so many classic shots.

Picture this: it has been bucketing with rain for the previous day and night, and the “woksop” is located just off a busy road, and is already half underwater. Only a very small area is on a concrete slab, and an even smaller area is under cover. The undercover area is occupied with stuff that can't be easily moved, so we work over a small patch of broken slab which is mostly earth (mud), with a torn plastic sheet strung overhead as an attempt to shield the front section of the vehicle (and the workmen) while the bonnet is up. We’re working right in the middle of a mechanical graveyard (or I should call them ‘resource heaps’). This is the ideal place to find that missing nut or bolt. Old carbies and starter motors and the like surround us.

Fortunately we had the use of a hydraulic jack that mostly worked, and we were able to get both front wheels securely mounted off the ground.  Then we got to work pulling apart the front suspension and steering mechanism, gradually revealing severely battered and worn joints and bushes, if indeed the old bushes could still be found where they should have been!  This is so common in Vanuatu.  Roads are heavily pot-holed, and any hole-patching only ever lasts a matter of days until the next deluge arrives (which this year seems to be all too frequently). Vehicle suspensions take an absolute pounding. It doesn’t take long for even the newest suspensions to show signs of fatigue.

Now the real ‘fun’ begins!  The search is on for all the necessary bits to do the rebuilding. I accompanied John (my chief mechanic friend) as we limped around town in his only-just-running old Corolla (complete with fractured windscreen and non-functioning windows) to visit the various spare-parts people.  Some genuine parts would be available from the Mitsubishi dealer, but certainly not everything for our older model truck.  And the price…!  A typical suspension bush, like the fat 20 cent diameter size you use for shock absorbers, well the genuine Japanese variety retails for $25 each!  Fortunately we found some others elsewhere for $4 each.  To cut a very long and involved story very short - our Pajero has become the epitome of a multi-cultural truck.  Of course some genuine Japanese parts, but a growing representation of Korean and Chinese parts too – depending on availability and price!  It is so good to know John, he knows exactly what can be found and where.

My mates are geniuses at improvisation. From modifying almost perfectly-sized new parts, to making old parts live again, to finding ways to do the job when you don’t have the right tool (or you don’t have your pockets lined with mega-dollars).  Next to our old Pajero they were lifting an engine with a block and tackle looped over a branch of the pamplemousse (grapefruit) tree. 

On our second day, John was busy multi-tasking, so I did a lot of riding around town on my old postie bike (getting thoroughly soaked in the pouring rain) gathering and negotiating for the parts we still needed. A long, tiring, yet satisfying day.  While we had the bonnet up we took the opportunity to fit new timing and balancer belts (important 100,000 km jobs), remove and flush the radiator, service the brakes, change the oil and fuel filters, do a complete front-end grease for all the newly fitted joints (once we got the grease gun working), and even fit new Hyundai injector nozzles into the Mitsubishi engine (now that’s improvisation!). 

It was dark by 6pm, especially with all the cloud and rain through the day, and so from then on, the tiny torches on our mobile phones become our light sources.  The last job was a front wheel alignment adjustment in the dark.  The only tools required were a spanner and a straight eye using the mobile phone torch shone from the front wheels onto a newspaper held behind the rear wheels to show a straight line.  Ever done that before?  It works!

We finally got the ol’ bus rolling again at 10pm.  Man, what a couple of days.  I loved it!  I learnt so much! Especially working alongside these fabulous young blokes as we shared our stories and jokes and biscuits.   

Anyone want me to service their truck?

The month that is ...

Tonight we have a group of 24 people arriving from PNG.  The group leaders for this mission team are our good friends Kevin and Numa Neuendorf who used to live here in Vanuatu (working with the ANZ Bank) from 2006 to 2009, but are now based back in PNG again.  They have brought a team of young people from their Church in Port Moresby and in the coming two weeks will be partnering with Scripture Union Vanuatu to visit High Schools and churches and share a Christian message about God’s plan for relationships.  It will be great to have their Christian young people to come and testify and encourage their Melanesian peers here.  As a part of this team visit we will have a camp next weekend at the SU Campsite for young people from the High Schools and Youth Groups in Vila to discuss more about relationships and Christian living.  Please pray for a good camp – that the youth will hear about it and come, that the multi-cultural dynamics will work well (PNG, Vanuatu and Aussies), and that the Holy Spirit will work in the lives of the young people.

Then tomorrow, Saturday afternoon, there is another Scripture Union group from SU NSW who are arriving for a week of ministry, mostly in Primary Schools and community settings.  There are 9 in this group, and we look forward to partnering with them also.

The SU Coordinator, Albea, and the Chairman of the National Council here in Vila, have just returned on Wednesday night from a brief visit to the Northern Islands to encourage the fledgling SU work there, and so this is a very busy time of year for Albea too.  Please pray for Albea as he will be very busy coordinating these two visiting groups over the next two weeks.

School continues to go well for the boys.  They are both working well, and getting good results, but the home based nature of their Distance Education does mean that it is fairly time consuming for us each day.  However ministry resource development continues on amongst all these other things.  At the moment we have a small ‘reading and checking group’ who are proof reading the draft of a Bislama version of Pilgrim’s Progress which we hope to have published and printed before too long.

Thanks again for your prayers and support. We look forward to getting back to you soon with the outcomes (and some pictures) from this busy season of the year for SU Vanuatu.

Lots of love from the four of us.

5 Years exactly

Went for a fabulous early morning walk around Port Vila today.  And I have just been reflecting on the fact that it is exactly 5 years ago today that I went for my customary gentle 6 km run on a chilly, foggy, drizzly Mount Barker evening and ... broke my leg!  Ouch!

I sure do appreciate the fact that I can still get around, maybe not as quickly as before, but at least I can get around!  Jon

Something to celebrate!

There were at least two special events worth celebrating last week ...

After seven weeks, we have just taken the cast off Joel’s right arm (which got the greenstick fracture at Easter Camp).  He has been very patient and accepting of the limitations it brought – no swimming or climbing trees etc, but now there are no more excuses for not being able to write his school work!   At this stage it seems that the fracture has healed well.

Having a free right arm also meant that Joel could join Ben and 5 other mates in a celebratory round of mini-golf at a local resort. Earlier this year we put a challenge to all these boys that if they could learn and repeat the whole of Proverbs chapter 3 (by memory), then we would shout them to a game of mini-golf.  35 verses all up – no mean feat.  But they all did an outstanding job!  Well done boys!

Joel, Corey, Ethan, Ben, John-Mark, Golf pro, David, Anthony