June 19-23

Us with Pres & Sis Granger...their backyard

Here are a few pictures while we were at Vanuatu.  It was a nice little vacation before we headed to the Solomon's.

from our hotel balcony

Our hiking group...Sis Stevens, E & S Glade (New Caldonia), E & S Stoddard (Vanuatu)

Lime Juice

While on Vanuatu, we went out to eat and were introduced to a drink called lime juice. It was so refreshing and served everywhere. It is just lime juice and sugar in water. I tried making some at our flat but didn't quite have the magic recipe. I am going to try harder to find the recipe because limes are sold everywhere and so refreshing.

Obadiah

As we were waiting in the New Zealand airport, a gentleman came an introduced himself to us. He was a member of the church, had noticed our name tags and came over to us. His name was Obadiah. He worked for the church in Vanuatu as assistant physical facilities manager and had just finished some training in New Zealand and was heading back to Vanuatu. He told us a little bit about himself and the area but best of all, he helped navigate us to the plane and then through customs when we landed. It was great to have made our first friend. When we attended stake conference there in Vanuatu, Obadiah was made a high councilman! We made sure we found him and congratulated him. He had his 2 year old son with him. What a great man he is.

Daniel

As we were waiting for our plane to Honiara, the Sampson's noticed an Elder there in line. He was returning home from his mission in Vanuatu and would ride the plane with us. He was so full of confidence. As we got off the plane, some of his family were there to meet him. It was a great reunion. We met his mother and ended up taking her and Daniel home. Home consisted of a small tin roof house with four walls. That afternoon, Daniel came to the Self Reliance Center and was asking about the returned missionary scholarship form. I felt the responsibility to take care of him but had no clue what to do. I remembered hearing about the scholarship but not what had to be done. Thank goodness for internet. I emailed Renee Solomon and she gave us some guidance. We needed to interview Daniel and find out about his mission and any leadership positions he had. Daniel had 14 companions and he was able to name them and where they were from. He had been a zone and district leader. We then asked about his previous schooling. (I am so foggy about the grades and ages here, I had no clue if that was good or bad.) We counseled him that he needed to attend institute, stay active in the church and do 6 lessons in My Foundation. He has been to the SR Center almost everyday, asking us about it.

Our new “flat”

We live on the church compound, which consists of the MLS flat, go down some stairs, the activity area (used to be the church and is open air) and then down more stairs to our flat. It had been painted before we came. Everything had been packed away...all of the kitchen stuff and the windows were bare. So when night came, Lynn and I just hung a few rods (pvc pipe) and threw some sheets over them for drapes in the bedroom. It worked pretty slick. Friday, we were shopping with the Sampson's and Sister Sampson took me to a fabric store to pick out material for new drapes. Later that afternoon, I found a box labeled “flat curtains”, opened it up and there were the curtains for the whole apartment. I felt so bad. If I had opened all of the boxes, then I would have found the curtains before buying new material.

Food Shopping

Wow what an experience this is. The Sampson's took us the first day. We went to the open market to get fresh produce. We bought a coconut, some strange looking green beans, limes, pineapple, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and green peppers. And then we went to another store and picked up some bread, and another store for a few things...cold cereal, hot dogs, etc. Then the next day, Sister Sampson and I went to the “bulk” store to buy flour, sugar, salt and pepper, juice. So shopping takes many stops to buy what you need.