Images of Gaua-A Very Limited
Collection
We are just begining to collect pictures of the
Vanuatu project-many were lost when our hard drive crashed.
More pictures will be posted here so revisit this page
some time...
Current Gaua SDA ('HotBox')
Church
Views of church outside and inside. Philip
the Evangelist-a night meeting. Dr Mark and Minister Philip working
like brothers.
The time is fulfilled-the current church building is too
small and too hot. As work progresses in Gaua the time has fully come to launch
forward and build the house of God.
Whole Church Turns up to
Build
Minister Philip & church member
digging foundations. Young men help with reinforcing wire. Young girls and women
bring (coral) 'stones'.
With a little encouragement, this church has decided to apply
the "use what you've got" principle. As a result, suddenly the church
has sprung to life. The entire church body has given themselves to the work of
building-including even the very young girls, young teenage men, and
women.
Building Makes Rapid
Progress
Joseph, the chief builder or foreman of
the building project. Sand from the beach. Our extremely helpful Banana boat is in the background.
Precious sand for building is in short supply on Gaua. This
particular sand is 'owned' by two contending parties who both have
been claiming to have sole ownership over the past couple of years. Due to
this disagreement, noone has been allowed to use the sand. But after speaking
with both parties who claim to own the sand, the SDA church was given the
go-ahead from both parties to obtain the sand-the first people to use it
since the disagreement began! Praise God! Here church members are putting sand
in bags to take it to the church building site.
Note: The church has made a lot more progress since these photos were taken. New photos will be added soon.
Precious Faces of Tomorrow's
Church
Some of Minister Philip's Children outside
their humble home. A boy holds laplap ready to eat. Kids in canoes.
Precious are these children to the Lord. The young people of
these islands hold great potential, being so very receptive to our efforts. It
will be interesting to see them develop into tomorrow's leaders and
soul-winners.
Thanksgiving for Spitty the
Rat-Cat
Our home. Kay with others and 'Spitty' the
cat-a cat who swims in the ocean!
We were advised that rats would be a real problem in Gaua and
were given a very special cat for this purpose, whom we named 'Spitfire' because
of his lively personality. Captain Spitfire came with us accross the broad ocean
to Gaua. What he doesnt realize and what we have only recently discovered, is
that cats here are believed to bring big waves and bad weather when carried in a
boat! Spitty is an amazing cat in that he has on several occasions swam out to
us in shallow saltwater to get to where we are. We are yet to hear of a cat that
will do such a thing. He came from the wild forest on Aore island, but is the
most affectionate cat we have ever known. Also the best rat hunter we have
known. Also kills spiders, cockroaches, bugs, lizards and other annoying insects.
(Except for mosquitos, unfortunately!) Judging by the quantity of rats
he brings home (-up to 7 in a day!) we would have been overrun with rats if we
had not been given this incredible cat. ThankYou Lord!
Praise God for Coconuts!
Women preparing Laplap-a unique national
food prepared from coconut and root vegetables. Island singing
group.
Vanuatuans are event oriented people. Big events always
include laplap and island music. Laplap is made from a variety of root
vegetables including sweet potato, casava, yam, and taro (and others). The roots
are mashed and mixed with freshly grated coconut milk. Then they are wrapped in
"laplap" leaf and cooked in hot stones in the ground. The result is a variety of
different kinds of laplap-some are very plain flavored, and others that are
absolutely delicious! We thank God that we have adjusted surprisingly quickly to a new diet here, which includes one of nature's most amazing foods, the coconut. Coconut has amazing health giving properties, is rich in many nutrients, and enables us to live on a surprisingly simple diet.
