The Sights of Vanuatu

We apologize for taking so long to publish these posts, but our Internet access last week in Vanuatu was a bit sketchy.  On this post we hope to show you some of the beautiful sights in Port Vila.

We arrived in Port Vila, Vanuatu on Saturday afternoon.  We were met at the airport by Elder and Sister Larsen.  The Larsens are Perpetual Education Missionaries.  They complete their mission in December, so after having spent about 17 months there they were quite knowledgeable about Vanuatu.  It is great to be met at a strange airport by friendly faces.  After picking us, they took us to our hotel.

Sister and Elder Larsen

Back side of our hotel

View from our balcony

Elder and Sister Duke

Sister Duke is the mission nurse.  Elder Duke takes care of missionary housing, the licensing and maintenance of cars and anything else President Brewer needs done.  The Dukes were a great support as they drove us around  to our various meeings on an island without formal addresses.  We would never have been able to find our way around by ourselves.  In Vanuatu they do drive on the right side of the road, but there are also no street signs.

Port Vila, Vanuatu is a stop for cruise ships. The harbour is quite active with fishing boats, yachts and speedboats passing between the various small nearby islands.  Across the bay was an small island with a restaurant resort.  You could purchase ticket for a shuttle and then receive a voucher you could exchange for food and other things.  Not sure why, but we never did go over there to eat.

Restaurant across the Bay

Return of the afternoon cruise

Return of the Sunset Cruise

The view from our room was great.  Every time we were in our room we were drawn to the balcony and the magnificent view.  Now, we did have to work while we were there, but there were some great sites along the way.

Downtown Port Vila, Vanuatu is like Salt Lake City was in the 1950's  President Brewer told us it reminded him of the Sugarhouse area in the "old days".  We think that he is right. 

Vanuatu Market Fresh

Produce is abundant in Vanuatu.  The people come to the market early Monday morning and stay until early Saturday afternoon.  The market closes each day, but the people stay with their produce all week.  The Ni-Vans (pronounced knee-vans) the name for the local people, sleep on the floor.  It is a very busy place.  You can buy fruits and vegetables of every kind as well as flowers, chickens and bats (that's right, bats!).  There are locations in the local market where you can buy food and sit down to eat your lunch.  Pictures tell the story best.  We did not feel comfortable taking pictures of all the people, but we shot a few photos on our iPhone as we walked by.  We will start with flowers -

Next we have produce -

Bananas and Coconuts - the bags are full of kindling to start their fires

This lady is deciding which bunch of coconuts to buy 

The price is marketed  - 100 Vatu is about $1.00

Each morning the ladies prepare their produce for sale, which someone else brings to the market

We did not get any pictures of the live chickens or bats (fruit bats), but take our word for it, we did see them.  The most interesting thing we saw was the peanuts.

We could not find my picture of the peanuts, but we borrowed this one from Sister Larsen

Welcome to Vanuatu; Meeting President and Sister Brewer

Vanuatu was formally known as New Hebrides until they gained their independence from Britain and France in 1980.  Vanuatu is a beautiful country with a great deal of rain forest and quite a bit of WWII history.  The populated and accessible areas tend to be around the perimeter of the islands.  Port Vila is the capital city located on the island of Efate.  There is one paved road that circumnavigates the island.  You will find several paved roads in Port Vila, but many roads out of the city are primarily dirt and mud.  Vanuatu consists of 83 islands; 13 larger island and about 70 smaller ones, some of which are not inhabited.  Most islands are mountainous and covered in rain forests.  The map below will help you understand the geography a little better.  

The Mission Home is in a beautiful location with a pretty spectacular view.

President and Sister Brewer are from Utah.  They opened the Vanuatu mission in July, 2012.  They have about 130 young missionaries as well as several senior couples.  President Brewer had invited us to come and help with some humanitarian work.  He was delighted that we had made the trip because as he said: "you have to be in Vanuatu to understand it."  We understand a little better now, but we are certainly not experts.

We had a delightful evening with the Brewer's.  Our hats are off to them as this mission is one that keeps them constantly on the move.  They have to fly to numerous Vanuatu islands as well as the island nations of New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands - different languages, different customs and lots of ocean in between.  They were out of town the weekend we arrived; flew in to Port Vila on Monday and flew out again on Wednesday.  Then they were back again on Friday.  If you remember from our last post, some of the branches are not your typical meetinghouses and the young missionaries are located is some fairly remote places.  But does this stop them?  Absolutely not!  An additional bit of information for our home ward; Sister Brewer is Fred Anstee's sister.

Vanuatu

We are enjoying our visit to the island nation of Vanuatu.  We flew from Auckland, New Zealand to Port Vila, Vanuatu on Saturday.  On Sunday we attended church at what they call "Branch 1".  Before going to this branch we briefly visited a few other branches.  We particularly enjoyed visiting a "Bush Chapel". As we entered this meeting location we passed the "welcome sign" and then a group of Young Women meeting under a tree.

Next we entered the pavillion where the Relief Society was meeting.

Near the pavillion under some nice shade trees priesthood meeting was being held.

 Close by the Primary was enjoying their meeting under yet some other tall trees.

During the short time we were there, each group was singing their opening song.  The Young Women were singing "Because I Have Been Given Much", Relief Society sang "I Am A Child of God",  Priesthood were raising their voices with "Ye Elders of Israel" and the Primary was singing and doing the hand actions to "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man".  It blended terrifically well and all was done a cappella.

The video is a little dark, but a short video is worth more than a thousand words.  

As we left, the Young Women were receiting the Young Woman Theme.  

Elder and Sister Larsen were kind enough to drive us around to see all the chapels.

  

Shakespear Regional Park and Halloween

Before we left Utah this is the counsel we were given by a dear friend:  "Go everywhere you can! Anytime you've got a half hour or so, you can hop in a car and go.  Go up the coast a little, one way or the other.  It's amazing what a beautiful place New Zealand really is.  See every bit of New Zealand you possibly can.  Don't be afraid to go places and do things."

We have been following that counsel and try to go somewhere each weekend.  On November 1st, we jumped into the mini-van and drove north toward the Whangaparoa Peninsula to a nature park.  It was a bit overcast, but we had a delightful time exploring this country.

Rangitoro Island in the distance

This one is for you ADM

Fish Limits

In one part of the park there was a large picture frame.  A gentlemen told us to stand in front of it and it would look like we were in the picture.  After getting home and looking at them, we really think we should have stood behind it, but it does make a beautiful picture. 

Our children had a fun-filled Halloween.  We enjoyed seeing them via FaceTime, Instagram and pictures which they sent us. 

Here are a few of their costumes

Frankenstein and his Bride

One costume was not enough for these two - Wayne's World

Our Wizard

Army guy

Just like his big brother

Heatwave, You Tube with antenna and Miss Kitty Kat

Add Devin SuperTramp and Lindsey Stirling

It is hard to say which one is our favorite, but this video did bring a smile to our faces.  A HUGE shout out to Julie Marie Burns https://www.etsy.com/shop/juliemarieshop for making this 3 year old very happy.