We have touched down in a very cold Wellington. The team is happy and healthy, but I think ready for bed. We will no doubt have lots to share with you all about our experience over the next few weeks. Thank you for all your support in making this possible for the 14 of us to go.

God bless,
Brad

Hope You havn fun in the cold weather down in good old NZ, today i have to say would of been one of the HOTEST days  we have had yet.

Today we painted the water tank! yay fun stuff, it was very hot work but it was so much fun, we all got covered in paint … shows we were working really hard:)It was awesome to see  the whole team working together so well. It was my job (Laura) to design one wall and the side i got was the main one! i got help from others and we had great fun doing that in the end we did a flower type thing and it was back, purple and white !  it looks mint, im sure you will see some cool picz when we get back! after we had almost finished  we got called to a lovely lunch, we didnt know that we were going to be getting presents/gifts from them  which was so nice of them, again we will show you when we get back just how amazinthey look. we gave them 2 really big bags full of diffrent things including clothes and some balls! kai kai was really good!

(Jess)

Then we Relaxed under a tree for aout ten minutes, before we started the final touches on the tank paint. Erica was really good at painting!! we then wrote a bible verse in bislamic on the tank and took heaps of photos with all the kids and Sam and Emilie, and Wade, Erica and Dave. it was really sad having to leave Laura cried which made me cry a bit too.  when we drove down the road from Eratap, the kids thew leaves into our truck and we threw lollies back. It was really scary because some lollies landed in front of the truck and a kid named Jeremy ran out in front of it. he was ok though . when we got back toEfalfal, most of us swam or walked along the beach. Our dinner was COLD !!! it was great… Anyway, overall today was really fun and really exciting but sad too. and now we are sitting on Johns bed.

later fellas

Jess and Laura.

xx

So thats me say HI TO MUM AND DAD FOR ME XXX

PEACE YO!!!!!!!!!!

Antony’s account

Today I went to Eratap village and started to help with the building.  Me and Faye helped Sam (the builder) to put up the guttering on the church so that water can flow into the water tank.  Meanwhile everyone else sat there in the shade organising things. (Totally unfair if you ask me).  A little bit after that wade (YWA dude) got me, jordan and meg to go with him to pray for a woman.  So we went up to this house lead by my home dog karlo (a ni-van I have befriended).  He asked the people at the house if we could come in and then left.  Then a young ish woman (probably in her late teens) came and welcomed us in to her home. We sat down on these mat things. and then I saw this elderly woman make her way the mats from outside.  She was quite large and very frail.  Her husband then explained that she had had a stroke.  We  lay hands on her and prayed for a good ten min.  It was really sweet.  Had to have be my God moment for the day. Then we painted one of the walls.  Thats all we really did so yeah we should finish the tank by tomorrow possibly.

Antony

Alex, Anchor Youth Team

Well some of us have just arrived back at the camp from an awesome Church down the road.

Josh’s input-All the people there were so loving they welcome you so sweetly and are all ways going to be welcome at this place

Me again- So today was a day of rest (being Sunday and all), we woke up late to the most stunningly blue skies; looking out across the coconut trees to see the soft rolling waves lapping at the shore is a sight which I don’t think I will ever get over. It’s an incredible thing to experience the islands in this way, being surrounded by beautiful land, locals and dogs and roosters. We had late devotionals and breakfast and then headed down the road to Sam’s Church which is Petecostal, and boy from the moment you walk in you know it! Everybody greeted us with a handshake and there was a lot of shouting Hallelujah and Amen during the preaching as well. This service was AMAZING! We were singing and dancing and clapping and cheering and even though some of the service was in Bislama and we couldn’t understand it all it just felt like a family. It was absolutely BOILING but that’s ok because the people, the music and the feeling of God’s presence more than made up for it! Brad had to take Jeremy out though because he was sick and a few of our number are still feeling under the weather so we would really appreciate you keeping us all in your prayers.

After Church we all went to Sam’s house for lunch, all 17 of us were invited to have lunch in a house which only just fitted us all sitting down to eat-Sam’s generosity is truly overhwelming and we were treated like royalty with jiuce being brought around, a FEAST prepared, and leaves and flowers laid out on the floor for us to put our plates on (we ate sitting on the ground). We presented Sam and his family with a small gift when we left but please keep him and his family in your prayers, they have such a heart for the people in this area and are really seeking to show God’s love in practical ways but lack the funds to do as much as they would like.

We had a relaxing day together just chilling at the base, did a bit of planning for religious studies which some of our group will be running this week and practised for the musical item which we did at the evening service. About five of us went to the evening service which was similar to the morning one only with fewer people and more dancing praise God! Brad also did a mini sermonette (they had about five people doing short sermons) which was short and sweet and made us proud:) Before the service it was great fun just jammin with the band as well, the local people are very friendly and we taught them a couple of songs which was fun:) The songs they did at this service were AWESOME! one of them involves running around, jumping up and down and dancing-such a great way to praise God! It was amazing to feel the Holy Spirit in that little Church, through the songs, the preaching and the friendly attitude of the attendees, we were really warmly welcomed and some of the older children walked us back to camp afterward also:)

A relaxing evening ensued as we had to rest up for a full on week-o and now it’s Monday morning and we;re rushing off to a day’s work.

Love to you all!!!

Ruth and the team:)

The J-dog here (magic man). This morning I woke up, well everyone did and we all did our personal devotion which was awesome! We wake up so early here, for teenagers anyway. Today Meg and John helped out in the kindergarten at Eratap Village, while Jess, Karla, Faye, Polly, And I. Alex was supposed to but unfortunately he was sick and decided to stay at Eratap. Blacksand is a slum area made up of villages of people from all over the different islands of Vanuatu. Not many people there have a job and there church is made out of bamboo! There church is about the size of our kitchen at church. Small? I think so! I did some cards tricks for the kids in the church and they just crowded around and loved it! The children there are so happy and really appreciated us white fala (white men) there! We had  bag full of bouncy balls. We got all the children together and released all the balls near them and they went crazy! We also gave them stickers which they put all over themselves, they platted Polly’s hair and put hair ties in Faye’s and Jessica’s. 2 kids really liked me and all though I was only there for 2 hours I got really attached to them, and by the end I gave one of them my cross on my necklace because he already had  a chain, and gave the other boy my chain.

When we got back to Eratap we met back up with the other guys and had lunch. The water tank built 4 layers of bricks out of the 8 needed on the water tank today alone. They did a really mint job because it was raining most of the time and they were only sheltered by a ripped tarpolen and sticks; it’s so awesome how they improvise with what they have to get the tank done as fast as possible which is really cool! It was dumb in the afternoon because it rained so hard we were unable to coninue to work on the water tank or run the after school kids programme so we caught buses back to where we are staying.

Tonight we went to the communtiy night in the village where one of the Y.W.A.M bases are. It was really amazing, we were outside under a woven roof and we were sweating from danicing while singing worship songs! There are some other mission teams here staying at the base and for some of the night they were talking about the work they are doing here. Then some of the NiVans got up and did some dancing for us and then we got up! We all introduced ourselves in Bislama and after that Laura, Antony, Jess, and Meg an extremely funny skit, involving Antony getting covered in flour which caused the place to erupt with laughter. Then Polly got up and shared her testimony which was really moving and deep. She did a really good job as she said she was nervous, but you couldn’t even tell. After that I got up and did my linking rings trick and a guy (Jerry) from another team here helped me out. Then I juggled fire, which they turned the lights out for. Everyone’s attention was on me and I juggled for a while, then I got Jerry to try just juggling one club. He was American, and had a lot of trouble doing this. Then some Fiji men got up and sang for us, and we ended the night with the song ”We Are All One Bog Happy Family” which was awesome! Then we had cake after and chatted for a while, and then got into the truck to leave. We are now all back where we sleep, a few people are in bed because today has been a really long day.

God Bless you all!

Jeremy

Today our team split up to cover more ground and touch more lives. Meg and Jess woke up really early to catch a van (‘buses’ in Vanuatu) so that they could get to Eratap village in time to start pre-school at 7:30am. They we helping one teacher control and look after 30 plus balls of energy. By lunch time they looked exhausted but after dinner they were raving about the experience – Meg is going back tomorrow.

At 8am the rest of us set off for the day. In Port Villa four of us jumped off to go and run a kids programme in a slum community (Blacksands) for the morning. The team was Laura, Jordan, Antony and me (Brad). It’s hard to discribe the environment, let me just say it was not pleasant. However the people are still so friendly and content. Truly remarkable, it’s hard to understand how they can be living in such poor conditions.  Us boys rough-and-tumbled with the little pikinini (children), they were just desperate for the special attention and were climbing on us like a play ground. I had a great chat with a youth leader in the village about the work he does and struggles young people face.

The rest of the team had all gone on to continue building the water tank in Eratap. We joined them at lunch time and got stuck straight into sports day at the school – we ran football, rugby, cricket and volleyball. Alex and Josh did a great job running cricket – there were 30+ kids all wanting a turn and they managed to hold there attention the whole time. After school we spent the afternoon playing with the children.

We returned ‘home’ on the back of the YWAM truck; God showering us with beautiful, refreshing rain. Meg shared an emotional and heartfelt testimony after dinner. We then planned for another full day. And now they are hopefully getting to bed (it is 9:30pm as I write).

I am incredibly proud of our young people. The whole team continues to rise to every challenge that is thrown at them and each person is doing a fantastic job. God is doing some amazing things in the heart of each one.

Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Brad

Today was busy and fantastic! We got up early and went down to Eratap (The Village we’re working in) bright and early at 9ish oclock.

About half the team got to work on the water tank project, working alongside niVans and getting to know them at the same time, and it’s really starting to take shape.

The other half split into groups and went around the village, into peoples homes to pray for them. We were amazed by their openess, hospitality and generosity as they shared their lives. We left the houses with bags of fruit, a woven bag and even a bracelet. A humbling experience when we compare to our own standards of generosity! Some of us even met a national Vanuatu Football player. We went to his house. He gave us fruit.

After that we had a nice lunch in the village and a small magic show curtesy of Jeremy.

After the school day finished we ran an after school programme with the kids of the Village to do crafts, games, sports and hang out. Over 100 kids showed up from the football! Even the sudden downpour didn’t discouraged the hard core pikinini foIt was a really fun time and something we’re looking forward to continuing. By the end of it we were unsure who was most hyper – the team or the village kids sprinting down the road after our truck!!!

God Bless

The Team