Mt Yasur

We went to the volcano last night. I think it was my 21st time. Every time is interesting. This time, an eruption shot a stone over the heads of the friends I was with. They got it on video, and I'm sure it'll be on youtube.

Yasur's four vent holes

Here's a pic of all four vents blowing up at once. This was done with a 1/13 sec exposure (3.5 aperture) and a 19mm lens.

via 2 satellites from Yanemilen, Tanna, Vanuatu

This message is our first from Yanemilen, Tanna. As I write, I'm watching the volcano explode and listening to a radio station in Ohio. The new truck! The suspension is beautiful. You barely notice the bumps in the roads! No noises except the reassuring hum of the engine. I didn't need a/c, because it's a bit cooler on Tanna. We have better tires than on the last truck, bigger ones, and the engine is 10% larger, plus we have the full use of it-- so I've made it up the two big hills every time, whereas I'm sure, because of the mud, I wouldn't ever have made it up those before in these conditions.
Getting the house ready: we have the water running, power on, septic tank in place, no rat problem, apparently.

ship is going

They actually got 13 trucks on the ship. Can you see ours?

Revelation, and comps

I just finished two of my four comprehensive exams. That went smoothly. Actually, translating Revelation has been a bigger challenge. We had difficulty with "I hold the keys to death and Hades." (Rev. 1:18). For now, we have it as, "I am in charge of death. And I can open up the room/space of the dead." We also found Rev. 3:2 to be too complex to fit into one congruent thought. The phrase that says "Strengthen what remains and is about to die because I have not found your deeds to be complete in the sight of my God" must have the idea of completion/perfection, and both Jesus and God need to be examining the deeds. For now, it says: "but you must work hard to lift up again the deeds you did at first, because I haven't found a deed that you started and carried out until completion that is straight in my God's eyes." But, I want to break the sentence up so it flows better.

Caleb's art

I don't know how Caleb did this; I know he did it with Picasa software. Now his sisters know how to do this too.

Mele Cascades

Mendy and Hannah at the highest pool at Mele Cascades.

Inside a fall in Mele

You have to swim underwater the falls to get here; it's one of the lower falls in Mele-- our kids' favorite place in Vanuatu. It's like Christmas getting to go to Mele! Note that we have an online photo album with many more pictures at picasaweb.google.com/nehrbassken