VANUATU

We finally arrived in Vanuatu on Wednesday (3/16/16) afternoon and were greeted  by President and Sister Granger and some of the missionaries.  We went to the office where we were given root beer floats--a treat reserved for incoming missionaries.  It was a hot day and they tasted good. President Granger gave me a big bouquet of red torch ginger the next day.

We will always feel a bond with our traveling companions

Our first night we had dinner with the senior missionaries and the Grangers at the mission home. Next day we drove around the beautiful island of Efate visiting the building sites of the humanitarian couple who are building homes since the devastation of cyclone Pam.  

Met this young man and later took a few minutes
to wade in the ocean.  We had some training and instruction at the office Thursday afternoon and Friday. 

We had our first P-day on Saturday. We took a boat to Hideaway Island with another couple and went snorkeling. 

Pictures courtesy of Elder Glade

After all that snorkeling we were very hungry.  Vanuatu is known for having very good beef.We decided to try a hamburger.  It came with beets on it.  A new way to eat our vegetables. We only had ice water to drink--I promise.

The senior couples in Port Vila go out to dinner together many Saturday nights and watch a movie at one of their apartments. We had dinner at a very nice resort.  There was Ni-Van (Vanuatuan or born in Vanuatu) dancing at the restaurant.  

(Elder Glade and I had already seen some dancing when we ate "Curries from Around the World" at our hotel restaurant. Because so many Ni-Van villages were so isolated for centuries each village developed its own language and culture.  Vanuatu is the most language dense country in the world with the highest number of languages per population and geographic area.  Most Ni-Vans can speak Bislama which is a pidgin English that came about as masters tried to communicate with Ni-Vans who had so many different languages. I gathered that something that sounded like "He no talk talk" means "He doesn't speak Bislama." "Pickaninny" is the word for "child." One of the missionary couples in Port Vila has learned it and said that, even though they were sad that the people speak a language that came out of a period of slavery on European plantations, it is a very rich language. Until Vanuatu gained its independence in 1980 it was ruled by France and England together. Most people learned either French or English depending on what school system they attended.  I think today more people learn English.) 

We were at dinner longer than we planned because we watched the dancing.  We didn't watch a movie, but we did visit the apartment complex where the senior missionaries live.

They have studio apartments and are quite crowded.  President Granger has told them to look for new apartments, but they don't want to give up being neighbors, having a pool, and having a balcony over the lagoon.  While we were there we saw bioluminescence which is when little tiny creatures in the water light up for a minute when the water is disturbed. We saw it a little bit, but one night there was so much that the missionaries decided to go swimming at night and they said it was like swimming in milk the water was so white and alight. 

Sunday we decided to go to church right by our hotel instead of with the other senior missionaries. We got to church a little before it started at 8 a.m. only to find out that the President of the country was visiting church that day.  Church ended up starting at nearly 9:30.  President Lonsdale was an Anglican minister and talked about the importance of Vanuatu remaining a Christian country and being united as Christians and citizens of Vanuatu.  He is visiting all of the different denominations in Vanuatu.  An Area Seventy from Fiji flew over for the occasion and also gave a very powerful address. For some reason none of the missionaries seemed to know--not even Grangers.  We didn't get a picture of the president, but we did of his car.

As we were checking out of the hotel a man was checking in who told us he was one of the four original missionaries in Vanuatu.  He has done a lot over the years to try to help this country.  We felt fortunate to run in to him and learn more about the history of this mission.

After a delayed flight and a long wait in a hot airport with the Grangers and Elder Stevens, the mission finance missionary, we were finally on the last leg of our journey to New Cal.

Our stay in Vanuatu gave us a chance to get some guidance and get acquainted with and be inspired by the other senior couples.  Our impression:  it's hot, it's beautiful, the food is good, the people are extremely friendly and kind, and the church is thriving.