Humanitarian Work in the Islands Continued . . .

As promised, here is a brief report on the other wonderful missionary couples we work with.  The couple called to Vanuatu is from Germany.  They arrived on the island nation of Vanuatu on Monday, March 9, 2015.  Just four days later, Cyclone Pam hit the islands of Tanna and Efate on Friday, March 13th with 180 mph winds.  Our couple have been up to their eyebrows with the recovery on the two islands receiving the most damage.  Many people question why it is taking so long to rebuild.  The answer:  This is a complicated, large dollar project.  The humanitarian project provides materials and training for those who's homes/shelters were damaged so they will be able to rebuild a stronger, safer family shelter.  Some of the homes are totally gone.  Those people will receive basic training and material to help rebuild a safer structure.  Others will get supplies to make repairs.  Teaching people to "help themselves" and become self-reliant is a big part of the project.  Our couple has been visiting and making assessments of all the homes that are in need of repair.  This has been done on both islands.  There are no street addresses, so a local person has to go with them to help locate the people and do the assessments.  It has been an arduous task.  The assessments are now complete and technical specialists have helped to streamline the project with a few changes here and there.  Several "model" shelters have been built and it looks like things are starting to move forward.  Needless to say, they have not had a lot of time to think of anything but the Cyclone Pam rebuild.

We actually have two couples doing humanitarian work in Fiji, a missionary cople from Switzerland and couple from Calgary, Canada.  When we were there in August we visited a village which wanted help improving their community hall.  This community building was also use to hold church meetings.  A humanitarian project was approved and the before and after pictures tell the story.  Local people did the work themselves.

In Samoa we had a couple from Redlands, California.  They helped to provide clean water to many communities.  They were also instrumental in distributing used school furniture shipped from New Zealand to needy schools in Samoa.  They also helped build a walkway so children could more safely cross a stream to get to school.  This couple finished their mission the end of January.  Our new missionary couple replacing them are currently on the job.  They are from Las Vegas, Nevada and have just arrived in Samoa after a few days of training in New Zealand.

On the tiny island nation of Kiribati (Tarawa) we have a couple from Kaysville, Utah.  Since Tarawa is a very flat atoll (a coral island) there is always a problem with flooding.  This missionary couple have helped several villages build seawalls to protect village families from flooding; a constant threat.

In the Solomon Islands, our couple does double duty as self-reliance and humanitarian missionaries.  They have been helping people to secure and install rain-water catchment tanks as well as helping teach dental hygiene and assisting the young women to assemble maternity packs for new mothers.  They were also able to help provide local schools some needed badly needed sports equipment.

In addition, we also have two couples who operate the Church humanitarian dental clinics on the islands of Tonga and Samoa.  They are retired dentists who have been called to serve for 18 to 23 months managing the dental clinics and helping improve community dental hygiene.  Their wives help in the clinics as well as with community training.  The couple in Tonga is from West Viriginia and the couple in Samoa are from Calgary, Canada.  The clinics are on the campus of the Church run schools and the services are free.  Originally the clinics were started so that the young missionaries turning in their mission application papers would get a "real" checkup prior to their mission.  The dental services are on a first-come, first-served basis and serve the entire community of both Church members and friends of other faiths.  Their objective is to improve dental health and to help the local dental community increase their skills and expand their services. 

"When called to (serve), we should focus our efforts on being what we are called to be, not on what we feel qualified to do."  Dallas H. Oaks. "Life's Lessons Learned"

Rebuilding after Cyclone Pam, Part 1

On Friday, August 28th we flew to the island nation of Vanuatu.  We were met at the airport by Elder and Sister Leben, the humanitarian missionary couple in Vanuatu.  The purpose of our visit was to help them with the recovery plans to rebuild homes after Cyclone Pam.

We dropped off our luggage at our hotel and then went to the Leben's home for lunch.

Just as we were finishing lunch Elder Leben received a phone call telling him that the Saturday morning flight to Tanna island he and Gary were scheduled for was cancelled and they would book them for a flight on Tuesday.  That was totally unacceptable as the whole purpose of the trip was so that Gary and Elder Leben could work on Tanna for 5 days.  We immediately went to the Air Vanuatu office in downtown Port Vila to see if they could get on a different flight.  After standing in line for forever we finally left with one confirmed seat and one standby seat on another flight in the morning.

After our experience with the airline, we drove to one of the higher points on the island of Efate to relax and get an overview of Port Vila.

Early Saturday morning Sister Leben took the men to the airport.  Elder Leben took the confirmed seat on the first flight at 8:00 AM and Gary was able to get on a 9:00 AM flight with a stop on another island.  He arrived on Tanna island about 11:00 AM.  Meanwhile Susan and Sister Leben went about their part of the work on the island of Efate.  Things worked out well for Gary and Matthias and they had the 5 days needed for their work on Tanna island.  (More details on the next post.)

With the men safely off on their flights, Susan and Sister Leben went to the market and bought food for the week.  After their shopping they attended a baptism.  Following the baptism they went to lunch with Sister Stoddard, an education missionary on Vanuatu.  Her husband took the people (15) who came to the baptism back to their homes, an hour's drive away.  Pick up trucks are quite versatile.

Sunday they attended church at one ward and then went to another ward hoping to catch up with the stake president.  They were unsuccessful but were able to make contact with President Basil later in the day.  After discussing a pressing matter with him they went home and had dinner with Elder and Sister Stoddard who live next door to the Leben's.  After dinner Susan and Petra worked on their computers and made plans for Monday morning which began a full day and a busy work week.

Beginning Monday morning, Sisters Winters and Leben worked with local church members who helped them find the homes of people needing help rebuilding or repairing their homes.  When they arrived at a home, Susan would photograph the home and owner and assign a number.  She would ask them how many people lived in the home, if they owned the land and if they had water.  Meanwhile, Sister Leben and the local people would measure and assess the condition of the home.  Some homes were totally gone, while others just needed a few building materials to make them livable again.  

The plan is to have government approved building training courses at the local churches.  The training will teach the recipients how to build a stronger and safer, more cyclone resistant structure.  Each selected household will receive the specific materials that they need for repair or rebuild.  After the families complete the repairs or rebuild, the training the teams will go back and take pictures of the completed homes.  We call them homes, but they are far from what most people would consider a home.  They are really just a shelter, a sleeping area where the family can keep dry. Each home owner must attend the rebuilding training in order to receive the building materials.  The supplies will help to make a 4m x 5m (about 13 ft. X 16 ft.) sleeping area.  They are told not to try to build a bigger home as it will not be cyclone safe.  With the proper materials and building techniques the homes will be safe up to a category 3 cyclone.  This help and training is offered to everyone in the areas selected - members and non-members alike.  At this stage, it looks like there may be about 700 homes.

"Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, 'I'll try again tomorrow.'"  Mary Anne Radmacher, Courage Doesn't Always Roar (2009) quoted by Thomas S. Monson, First Presidency Message  January 2012 "Living the Abundant Life" 

The phone call

Gary went to Vanuatu with two others as soon as commercial flights resumed after Cyclone Pam struck the island nation of Vanuatu.  One of the top priorities for Church emergency response during a crisis is to verify that the young missionaries are safe and accounted for.  There were 11 young missionaries - 5 sisters and 6 elders on the island of Tanna, an islands in the Vanuatu chain where the eye of the cyclone passed directly over.  Port Vila, the capital city is on the island of Efate which is where the mission president is located.  When he arrived in Port Vila Wednesday, electricity was not restored in the city and telephone communications between the islands was not possible.  The number one question after a disaster is ‘Are the missionaries safe and well?’ President Brewer felt that his missionaries on Tanna were okay, but he needed to confirm that feeling with a phone call or direct message. Four days went by before he received the anticipated message.  The government had instituted a dusk to dawn curfew, so the team couldn't meet until the next morning.   

 The next morning President Brewer shared the following:

 “When Tanna Zone Leader, Elder Beynon, returned to Port Vila I asked him how he was able to make phone contact with me four days after the storm. Of course, we knew that Digicel and TVL towers had been severely dam-aged by the storm and communication through those services was impossible. The battery in my personal cell phone was nearly exhausted that morning. Elder Beynon said the Lenakel group leader, who is also a po-liceman in Lenakel, permitted him to use the police satellite phone to make that contact. We spoke for about one and a half minutes before my phone died, just long enough to direct him to take all of the missionaries to the airport the next day to board a chartered plane for their return to Port Vila. To hear Elder Beynon report that every missionary in Tanna was well and accounted for was the miracle we had prayed for.” President Larry E. Brewer 

 ---  Some things are hard to explain rationally, but the Lord is aware of His missionaries and by some means communication between a worried mission president and his missionaries were available for a short period of time.



The phone call

Missionaries before the storm

Tanna missionaries after the storm

Tanna Elders after Cyclone Pam

Tanna Elders

Tanna Elders on the plane

Missionaries at Mission Home

"Miracles are everywhere to be found...... When faith replaces doubt, when selfless services eliminates selfish striving, the power of God  brings to pass his purposes."
Thomas S. Monson

(Note:  Photos courtesy of Pres. Larry Brewer. - Susan's computer is being repaired, so we are using Gary's computer temporarily.)

Visitors from Home

Our daughter Sara and her husband, Jac, came to visit us on Sunday, March 15, 2015.

Jac and Sara arriving at the Auckland Airport

We had several mini trips planned to show them all over the North Island.  Unfortunately mother nature had other plans.  Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu on March 13, 2015.  That put a damper on all plans and adventures.  Being well acquainted with emergency response we knew what to expect.  Monday was filled with meetings and phone calls.  Tuesday morning was more of the same.  Tuesday afternoon we drove down to Hamilton and visited the temple.

Susan, Jac and Susan at Hamilton New Zealand Temple

Wednesday morning we rented a car since Jac could not drive our church vehicle.   Susan's hand is still in a cast so she cannot drive a car either.  Gary flew to Vanuatu while Sara, Jac, and Susan drove to Waitomo to see the glow worm caves.  On our way we had to stop at Pokeno for ice cream.  

Waitomo is about 3 hours South of Auckland.  The Waitomo Caves were beautiful.  We actually toured 2 different caves and then drove back to Auckland.

Inside the caves

The glow worms

The next morning we returned our rental car and headed out to Matamata with another senior missionary couple, the Bennetts from Boise, Idaho.  Elder Bennett could drive our church car so he could take Gary's place on the next part of our adventure.  Matamata is the home of Hobbiton.

After our tour of Hobbiton we were back in the mini van and off to Rotorua.  Rotorua is a town with lots of geysers and hot pools.  They have nightly dinner shows where you can learn about the Maori culture.  

We spent the night in Rotorua.  Then the next morning it was back in the van and off to Turangi.  Turangi is nearly 5 hours from Auckland, but only a two hour drive from Rotorua.   It is near the Tongariro National Park and home of some of the best fly fishing in the world.  Gary and Jac had hired a guide to take them fly fishing.  (This is why we had Elder Bennett along - to take Gary's place on the river.)  We stayed in a fishing lodge which backed the Tongariro River.  Jac and Elder Bennett had a good time.  All the fishing gear was included in the price.  We think Jac is ready to come back to New Zealand again just to go fishing.  

While the boys fished we went on a hike.  Sunday morning Elder Bennett cooked us french toast on the outdoor grill before we went to church. 

A Panoramic view of the Tongariro River with the mountain range in the background

We went to church at the branch in Turangi.  Some of the members did not show up that day, so they asked for volunteers to help in the Primary.  Sara did a wonderful job.

After church we drove back to Auckland and met back at our apartment with Gary who had returned from Vanuatu a few hours earlier.

"Often we don't realize that the trial is what enables us to reach the destination the Lord has in minds for us.  He will not let it destroy us, but He will let it move us in the direction we need  to go."  Emily Freeman,  21 Days Closer to Christ