Progress In August

We have had plenty going on lately. While our house project has been at a bit of a standstill due to funding, Nate has been keeping busy helping Bryan Webb with building the SBTC (Sanna Bible Training Center) chapel. We have had an exciting month so far. I have been to the hospital here on Santo a few times and am looking to start a hospital ministry while Nate works out at the land. We also celebrated our very first wedding anniversary on the 8th of this month.

In addition to our blog page, we have unveiled our very own website at unpluggedliving.net, from which you can visit our blog spot directly by clicking on "experiences". There is also information on our current projects as well as lots of pictures of our time here so far. Special thanks to Tim and Connie Rich for all their hard work in putting this together. What a blessing!

We have spent today painting Pasta Dick’s house, and are excitedly preparing for the Assembly of God National Convention coming to Santo for the first time in years. Nathan and I will be telling the Bible stories in the morning children’s services. I will also be helping with some face painting for the children. Cannot wait to see their smiles! We will get pictures up on our website of all the August events as soon as we can.

Thanks to all of our blog followers for taking interest in our lives!

Jennifer

7.5 Earthquake

Just wanted to let everyone know that Nate & Jen are fine after the 7.5 earthquake yesterday. I skyped with them this evening and they sheepishly admitted that they didn't even feel it!! They were out in the garden, so maybe since they were outside it wasn't that noticeable?!?! I'm from California and I can't imagine not feeling an earthquake of that magnitude.

Trica

Grocery Shopping

We went grocery shopping in town today. They had HUGE cow tongues in the meat market, and a bag of, I kid you not "Small Black Fungus" in the store! Mmmm . . . . Yummy!

Out of flour, eggs, potatoes, and onions at that store, but they've got our fungus needs covered!!

If you look around at some of the smaller stores you can find the stuff you need. I just thought it was funny!

They will have more eggs tomorrow (which, by the way are 40 cents each), but I have not seen potatoes and onions in a while! We managed to get all we needed in nine different stores.

Jennifer

The Teacher's House

Nate and Jen haven't been able to get on the Internet much lately (connection problems in Vanuatu), so not much blogging has been going on here! They told me I could go ahead and post these pics of their house to show what progress they've made so far.

The house is being built on the land where the college will eventually be built. I believe work has already been started on some of the other buildings.





This is the front view, I believe. A screen porch will go across the front, with a door on each end.





This one shows the woven bamboo "siding."





Not exactly sure what this one shows - except that maybe Nate's really tired????? ( I believe he has collapsed in the kitchen. Or it might be the living room. Not sure!) He could be resting his back - he fell backwards into the 7' hole for the septic tank the other day. Never a good thing to do!





This is the view they will have out of their bedroom window. Can you say "jungle!!" The large windows will help let air flow through during the hot summer season. No air conditioning here!!

At this point, construction has slowed due to the lack of funds. Please help us pray that the needed money will come in so they can get the house finished.

If you would like to help with this project, follow this link and note that it is for the teacher's housing.

Trica

Diary of A Missionary's Wife - Part 2

April 14, 2010

. . . The village children saw us looking for a place to swim and began to lead us to the right place. Pretty soon even more children came and we had about twenty children all ready to go swimming!

Welsin, the chief's son, had been teasing me a lot earlier during freeze tag, so when he and Trevor (another village boy) wanted to take me and Nathan out in the canoe, I was a bit hesitant. I was afraid of sharks or of getting stuck somewhere, but Nathan and I decided to enjoy the adventure. I teased Welsin that he'd BETTER not tip the boat because I didn't want to be shark food! He kept teasing back that he was going to. I would tease back in Bislama, "You better not!", with an authoritative tone and he would just laugh so hard! Both of the boys found my fears hilarious. As luck would have it, after we got a ways out the canoe broke and we all fell in the water!! Welsin thought it was hilarious, and I have to admit, after all the teasing it was pretty funny.

Later, after we climbed into a bigger fishing boat, Welsin asked Nathan to tell them a story. Nathan told the story of David and Goliath, and then about an ice storm in Missouri. Then he had to explain snow to them! They asked Nathan if he had a truck in America and when he told them that even I had a car, they could not believe that I, being a woman, could drive!!

Before we left, I told Welsin that I was going to tell all the kids at school tomorrow about how he tipped the boat and tried to feed me to the sharks. All the kids laughed until they almost cried.

The day Wesin and Trevor took us out in the canoe will forever be one of my fondest memories of Vanuatu.

Jennifer



I don't have any pictures of that day, but Wesin is the blonde boy on the second bench. Trevor is sitting beside him.



A couple of the village children.

A Plea For Prayer

I hear their cries, I see their eyes, silently as they pass by.
Is there anyone? Anyone who will pray for me?

The theme is raised, the experience seems but lost,
where are the men and women who will pay the cost?

I have felt, I have seen,
I know the power of a life redeemed.

I have prayed, hours spent, cries for the lost
but will I do it again?

Where is the burden? Where is the fire?
For more than just our own heart's desire.

What is passion without prayer?
Am I alone able to save truth through my opinion cast?

A thousand times I say no,
without prayer it shall not come to pass.

Oh that I would find time throughout my day to give in prayer
for the loss of truth in a world full of despair.

My meager efforts are from one alone, but by chance
God might grant, and revive us again.

Perhaps the world may continue at this pace,
but as for us, if only revival would visit this place.

Breath of God, breathe even now, that those who have not known
may find your presence in its fullness shown.

Change has come but You change not.
Oh, that truth would once again be sought!

Give us a hunger that cannot be filled,
for true righteousness revealed.

Oh, that we would love truth, and live in a way
that changes the world because we took the time to pray!

Jennifer

If I Could Speak From My Heart . . .

Revival is not something you can really tell someone about. It cannot even be shown to someone. It is something that has to be experienced for oneself. In the same sense, a burden for revival cannot really be explained to someone. As fervently as you may try to put it into words, it cannot really be expressed to its fullness. The only way to truly express a burden for revival is by crying out to a Holy God in prayer. He most certainly understands. He is the one who placed the burden in your heart.

The last couple of weeks here in Vanuatu, my burden has seemed to heighten. It is as if I cannot rest fully at night. I cannot think clearly during the day. My heart is crying out to my mind the desperate need for revival in this place.

I have felt the Spirit of God in the services. I have also grieved at the lack of tarrying in the altars. I ask myself, “Have they ever really experienced revival?” or “Do they even know how to seek for it?” My husband was kind enough to remind me of the Topeka, Kansas revival and how those young people had not experienced it, and yet sought for it.

A new thought entered my mind. Every year since I can remember, I have had an oasis. Be it Straight Paths Youth Camp as a girl, or OBI’s Convocation in later years, there has always been a place where I knew men and women of God were seeking for revival. In these times, I knew that if I could just get to those meetings then maybe, just maybe, I could glean from their experience and walk away with an experience of my own. Although I always prayed for these meetings, I knew that men and women of God far superior in dedication than I had paid the price through tears and time on their knees for me and others like me to experience revival.

These were men and women with a burden and a passion for my soul. How much I owe them!
Now God has called me to the ministry, more specifically, to the country of Vanuatu. I am in a place where I cannot pray for a people to experience revival once again, because I don’t know if they have or have not really experienced it the first time.

So here I am without my usual oasis. If I am to experience revival this year, I will have to find it on my own, without the camps or convocations. However, it is not enough for me alone to experience personal revival. I long, I crave - there is not a word to even describe the way I desire to see the Ni Van people captured by the presence of the Almighty God.

In all of this, I realize how many missionaries have spent a lifetime in one place and never had the opportunity to see revival in their country. It may not be during this two year term that I see God move in the way I so desire. But it is it with great rejoicing I can say, I know that the God I serve is able!

God is not bound by man, so I ask God: “If it is possible, let me see your Spirit fall here in a way that, not only they have never seen, but in a way we have never seen. For truly we are all in need of revival, and if you should wait to pour out your Spirit in this place when I am no longer here, I still want to thank you in advance, for You are the One who gives the increase, and You are the only One who can do the work in the hearts of your people. I ask that we never be afraid to ask for a mighty move from You, because I know it is but a small thing for You to do. I thank You for bringing me here, and ask that I may be a light to some hurting soul today. It is in Your name I ask this, Jesus. Amen.

Jennifer