Day Four

I’m in a bit of a predicament because I’m wondering if I can find the English words to describe what we experienced today – it was probably more than I ever expected form this trip and I feel that if I do try to describe it I probably won’t be able to do justice to everything that has happened!

The simplest way to describe it would really be that today our team ‘dwelt among’ – in fact; as we reflected on today Carlton had us reflect on how ‘dwelling among’ in the school impacted us today.

In the afternoon our team had ‘unscheduled time’ and we all ended up breaking up into different groups and doing different things with the students. Everyone in the team has different stories and amazing experiences to share and I wish I could tap into their brains and share them all with you (because I got to hear them at our team debrief), but I can only share with you from my experiences.

After trying to connect to the internet to put on yesterday’s blog and realising my computer and the internet at Tanna don’t seem to be compatible I went outside to try and track down the team. I heard some of the team had gone to the school gardens so I went to find them and soon saw Robyn and Natalie Clark with a group of the students. As I moved closer the students called out to me; “Jeremy, Jeremy, come and see our gardens with us.” I had a deep sense that something amazing was going to happen and I realised I didn’t have my camera so I quickly ran back to the school to grab my camera before walking back to the gardens.

As I started climbing up the steep hill to the gardens I could hear my voice again; however this time the children were hiding in the trees so I couldn’t see them; “Jeremy, Jeremy, can you see us?” Then the children would erupt in laughter knowing that I had no idea where they were hiding!

Robyn, Natalie and myself began by watching the children work in the garden; planting different plants; chopping up bigger plants to become wind shelters for the smaller seedlings; different things like that. Before long we were joining in and learning how to do it; we were excited to be learning new and different skills and the children were excited to be able to show us the world that they live in and what they do on a day-to-day bases. It was truly unbelievable.

Watching the boys use these big machete type knives was amazing and being a ‘boy’ myself I had to join in and very soon the boys were teaching me how to cut different plants out with this big knife. I soon learnt however that to chop something down (like a weed) was the easier of the jobs I would be doing with a big knife. I told the boys that I would love to try cutting a coconut open and before long the boys were climbing up a coconut tree to get some coconuts and soon they were teaching me how to open them using the big knife. They made it look easy and I really struggled but after some agonizing minutes and a few close swings that almost took off a few fingers I was drinking fresh coconut milk and eating fresh coconut flesh. Then it was time for me to try and climb a coconut tree and the boys couldn’t stop laughing as my tall lanky frame tried to get up a coconut tree. After getting a couple of metres of the ground I decided to give up mainly because I didn’t think my knee (after surgery) would hold but to be honest, even if I never had a knee injury I still don’t think I would have got much further!

Then three of the boys started showing Carlton, Trevor and myself around different places and telling us about life in Tanna. They took us to a local primary school which had the most amazing views of the ocean ever!  We then moved to the very first Presbyterian Church that was built on Tanna Island by the missionaries a hundred years ago. As I looked at the grave sight of three of the missionaries and looked at this church that was slowly falling to pieces I couldn’t help but thank God for the lives of these missionaries. We are following in their footsteps; their work has not been forgotten and because of their work we are able to come in and continue to share the love of Jesus with the people of Tanna as they in return share the love of Jesus with us – it really is a true partnership!

The boys then took us to the local soccer stadium showing us many different things on the way; then it was down to the beach for this amazing walk along the rocks! Once we were back at the local markets we decided these boys deserved a drink so we bought them a drink before heading back to the school for a much anticipated soccer game (they are very very good).

Today our lives were impacted in such a huge way; we learnt so much about the students and their lives here, we were able to experience it with them and help them along the way; I know my life has been forever changed because of the experiences I encountered today! But as I reflect, I couldn’t help but realise that it is not one sided – we have been able to share our lives with the students and I know they have enjoyed showing us their Island as well as learning about our lives back in NZ (they all loved one of the pictures that one of my friends took of Auckland city at night which I have on my phone – they couldn’t believe the bright lights of the city). I know when I leave Vanuatu I will have thousands of stories to share with the people at home but I also believe as we leave, the children will also have stories of their experiences here with us – it is a two way street and I believe the team will all be going to bed tonight praising God for all that we experienced today. I think I am safe to say that our team is buzzing after our experiences today and are eagerly awaiting our 5.30am start tomorrow morning (never thought I would say that about a 5.30am start)!