Alo, olsem wanem? (that means hello, how are you in Bislama)
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
