News Blackout!

Nate & Jen's computer cord that they purchased from Best Buy just before they left has decided to quit! So, their lifeline to us has been severed, so to speak!! I'm going to Best Buy today to see if they will do something about it, which I doubt, since I don't actually have the cord to take back. So until I can get another one to them, they won't be able to do much blogging.

The last box I sent took nineteen days to get there, so if I can get if off by Monday, it will be about three weeks before they are up and running again. I'm sure they will try to post on facebook whenever they can borrow the Webb's or the Jaeger's computer.

If any of you happen to have a power cord to a Toshiba laptop lying around that you're not going to be using, let us know!!

Trica

Where We Live

Here are a few pictures of the apartment where we are living as of now. If you are on facebook you may have already seen these. But, since some of our readers avoid facebook (yes, Uncle Bill, we're talking about you!! jk) we decided to post them here as well.

The apartment is furnished. It is actually in the downstairs part of the Webb's house. They use it for any visitors who come this way.

We will most likely be living in this apartment until our house is built on the new campus, hopefully by August. Our house will be much more native than the apartment, so we will enjoy living here while we can!! At last report, about one-fifth ($3,000.00) of the funds needed for our house has been raised.

Nathan & Jennifer

A Bat Experience!

I had to go outside to get a signal on the phone to talk to Nate and I kept hearing this hideous screaming noise. Then, out of nowhere, a bat flew up and dipped down right in front of me! I love my husband, but it was time to get off the phone!!

When Nate gets back, I'll post a picture of a Vanuatu bat. Nate, Bobby & Steven actually ate bat on one of their trips here.

Jennifer

Hurricane In Vanuatu

Here's something funny!!

We have had horrible wind and rain here and the apartment flooded at least ten times in one day. We had a tree blow over and some of the nattangora (thatch) flew off our roof. We kept checking, but couldn't find anything on the Internet about it, so we didn't worry. Well, come to find out, two days later, it was a hurricane and we didn't even know it!! We heard it was a category five, but found out later that it was only a category three when it went over us.

I'm thankful I didn't know at the time, with Nathan gone! It's not nearly as bad when you find out afterwards!! I guess that explains why we didn't have Internet for two days!

Nathan is going to be so upset that he missed it! It was like an extra windy-rainy, nonstop thunderstorm in the Midwest.

You want to know something even crazier??? I had our two bedroom windows open during the night and I told Nate that the wind was so bad it was shaking the bed. He probably thought I was just exaggerating! I guess next time I won't trust the news and will at least shut my windows!!

Jennifer

Nate's Trip To Tanna

Nate went on a 15 day trek with Bryan Webb to Tanna, another island in Vanuatu. Tanna is more of a mountain type island and is a lot cooler. Nate has been taking bucket baths and he says the water is freezing!

On the first leg of the trip Nate stayed in a house (it's spelled 'haos' here), with six other men. However, he did manage to get his own bed complete with a blanket, which he says smells like dog, but he is thankful for the blanket with the chilly night air. He hadn't even got his sleeping bag out, and when I asked him why he didn't cover himself with his sleeping bag, then put the blanket on top of that, he said it hadn't even occurred to him! Men!! He hasn't said much about the food there, though he did say that they've been eating mostly 'laplap'. I think he's afraid to say too much in case someone overhears him!

He says his Bislama is getting better everyday and he will either be speaking it after this couple of weeks or his head will explode!! They have been having classes all day and services at night, so I can imagine how bad your head would hurt trying to take it all in!

They are going to visit a waterfall and of course, before he leaves, he wants to go see the volcano (I told him I don't want him to!).

He says he is taking his supplements and silver and promised me he is taking good care of himself!

I think Nathan will be happy to get back to my cooking (bet you never thought you'd hear me say that!!). I think this has been a great experience for him! We are learning so much working under the Webb's.

Here is a weird thought: I asked if his beard was growing way out and he said he didn't know because he hasn't seen himself! I guess this is a girl's way of thinking, but can you imagine??? Those women have never seen themselves outside of seeing their reflection on water, and you have to walk down the mountain to get to that!! (They have some sort of homemade pipe system to get their water). Anyway, I'm definitely taking a MIRROR with me when we go to Malakula!! Glad he told me that or I might have come back with a beard!!

Keep us in your prayers.

Jennifer

Putting It In Perspective - Part III

We recently had the privilege of visiting the remote village of Fanafo. We drove for miles across bumpy terrain carrying a load of volunteers back to their home village. Upon arrival, we were greeted with smiling faces and shouts of welcome from people of all ages.

Right away, a little boy with a shy smile and big chocolate eyes climbed up into the truck. "Yu wanem drivem trak?" (do you want to drive the truck) we asked. He laughed excitedly and began to talk faster than we could understand.

Meanwhile, as a customary show of hospitality, some of the adults began collecting gifts to send home with us. With their long bamboo sticks they happily knocked down the "popo" or papaya fruit from the tall aging village tree. Three papaya and a pineapple was their gifts to us. As we drove away, they all smiled and waved as if we were old friends. We fought back tears knowing that they are the reason we are here.

Our burden has not diminished, but rather has grown stronger since our arrival in Vanuatu. Every face, every child's smile, every stranger we pass are all reminders of the burden we share. Every day brings new opportunity as we learn more of the language and culture. We long to minister to these people to whom God has called us. We are not so naive as to think we will do more than any other missionary who has come before us, yet we are not afraid to do our part. We do not always enjoy the sacrifice, but if sacrifice is what it takes to reach the people of Vanuatu, then it is what we are willing to give. We feel the pain of missing family and American society, and yet we labor together in His vineyard! We have counted the cost, yet with burdened hearts and willing hands, are ready to press on. With the sacrifice Christ has made for us, can we do any less?

During the next two years we would like to see God use us in many aspects. While in this culture there is little value placed on children, we want to show them how precious they are in His sight. We want to teach them all we can to help them grow both in academics and in their personal walk with Christ. Please join us in praying that God will use us over the course of these next two years to become more for the people of Vanuatu than even we thought possible.

Nathan & Jennifer

Putting It In Perspective - Part II

Have you ever had the feeling that you were being stretched? Not the stretch of muscle and tendons, but the tension that comes when your mind is forced to learn new things. Since I have been here in Vanuatu, I have had that feeling constantly!

Back in the States, there were so many things that I took for granted. Driving an automatic transmission vehicle being one of them! Now I know that this may seem trivial to some of you, but here in Vanuatu, where automatic transmissions are as rare as seeing snow, I had to learn to drive a standard transmission. This meant that I had to learn to drive all over again! Not only did I have to learn a new language and adapt to a new culture, but I also had to go back and re-learn something I thought I already knew.

Though my driving has smoothed out a lot in the last weeks, I am afraid I have already gained a reputation and stigma that will last for many years to come! But, through all of my stalls and missed gears, my lurches and jolts, I have learned one thing for sure: Fear not! If you live, things will get better!

When I first started driving the standard, I was a ball of nerves. There were so many new things that had to be done, and done just right, in a certain order! Then there was the clutch. Don't get me started on the clutch!! But soon, I learned that if I stalled, the truck could be started again, and all the weird and wonderful noises the truck was making were not all my fault. Some of them were perfectly natural!

Learning to drive a standard was stretching for me. In a way, it was a lot like learning a new culture. Mistakes will be made and people will laugh or look at me as if I am a complete idiot! I will reach those times where I feel I have stalled out and am afraid to restart the engine. The stretching may seem like too much at times. But in the end, I am still alive and I can still learn to do better!

God has been right here beside me, telling me to give it one more try. He has been that encourager in the passenger seat! I am sure that all of you who have ever learned to drive a standard know Him!! When we stall or lurch forward in backbreaking spasms, He is the one who, when the car finally rattles to a halt, hides His smile and says, "Okay, let's try again!"

All through my transition, God has been right here with me. He is the author of the stretching. He sees down the road so much farther than I can see, and He knows how much I need to stretch in order that I might fit His pattern later on. I am not afraid to be stretched, be it learning the ins and outs of a standard transmission, or adapting to a new culture.

Tonight when I drove home from church, without a single lurch or jolt, I realized just how far I have come. I am now free to drive wherever I need to without the fear of getting in over my head! Although the cultural adaption is not going as speedily as learning to drive a standard, I know my God is still right beside me, hiding His smile. Though I still have a few stalls and lurches to go through, He remains the author of the stretching. I know that He knows exactly which way I need to be pulled and pried in order to become what He needs me to be.

So, Lord, I am still alive. Stretch on!!

Nathan

Putting It In Perspective - Part I

We would like to take the next few posts to express our personal thoughts on what God has done for us, or spoke to us, since arriving here in Vanuatu. We would also like to share with you a little of the burden we share for the Ni Vanuatu people.

When I was a child growing up in my Grandpa's church, I can remember him singing "He Abides" almost every Sunday. Even as a child, I pondered the fact that Jesus, the Savior of the world, took the time to "abide" with me. As I grew older and attended Ozark Bible Institute, I can remember feeling the same awesome presence "abiding" with me still. Away from the church of my youth, in a place that did not worship the same as I was accustomed to, a place that had new faces and new preachers, and yet His presence still "abode" ever so strongly in my life.

It was this morning in church that I felt God spoke to my heart. Here I am, 25 years of age, on the other wide of the world, in an unknown place where few would dare to go, and His presence still "abides" in my heart! I began to see the pattern of Christ, a continual faithfulness that began when I was a child. He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us, and there has never been a time or place since my salvation that He did not "abide!"

As I looked around at the tear-streaked black faces, and the calloused, hardworking hands lifted high, I realized "He Abides" with these people also! I listened as they prayed in Bislama, thanking God for sending the missionary, and I realized that way back in my Grandpa's church, God saw a people in need, and God saw the heart of a little girl who welcomed Him to "abide."

When I thought of where God has brought these people from, the tears began to flow. Some of their ancestors were cannibals, and surely were considered "the least among these." What if no one had come? What if that first missionary to Vanuatu had not allowed God to "abide"? Where would these people be?

It was then that the Spirit spoke to me and said, "If it had not been for those who God placed in your life, where would you be?" You see, we are really the same. Different faces. Different cultures - but we serve the same God. We were both in need of a Savior to "abide" with us and in us, to teach us to live right and walk in His likeness.

Someday, we will all "abide" together in His presence throughout eternity.

Thank God "He Abides!"

Jennifer