Modern day parable for Vanuatu

If Jesus were telling the parable in Vanuatu today, would he say, "Nobody puts new rice in old rice bags. If he does, the weevils from the old rice will spoil the new rice. Instead, they soak the old rice till the weevils float. And everybody knows that old rice is better."

Whale in Lenakel

We saw a whale that's been hanging around just off Lenakel's coast the past few days.

How to connect the nintendo DSI to a video projector

Caleb got the idea to project his nintendo DSi on the wall with our Elmo

Gas Station Prizes on Tanna

The gas station (well, there are two now), is holding a promotion. Buy 5 litres, get a raffle ticket. Here are the prizes:
1st prize: 1 50 gallon drum of diesel
2nd prize: 1 young cow
3rd prize: large foam sleeping mat
4th prize: small foam sleeping mat
5th prize: 1 carton beer
6th prize: 25kg rice
7th prize: a basin
8th prize: machete
9th prize: 2 mother hubbard dresses
10th prize: 2 mother hubbard dresses

Blowhole

This little video shows the lava bombs shooting right out of the blow hole.

Lack of a good definite article affects the meaning

A, or THE? This is how my Tom back-translated our translation of Mat 13:44: 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought a field.

It SHOULD have said, "...he sold all he had and bought THAT field (that is, the one that had the treasure box on it." But our definite articles aren't that clear in Tannese. So, we had to make it explicit: "he went and bought the field that had the treasure."

15th Anniversary

We had our 15th anniversary on Tanna (well, we had our 8th, 10th, 11th, and 14th there too). We had a wonderful meal at one of the best restaurants in Vanuatu, Tanna lodge: mushroom chicken, scotch fillet, pan fried poulet. The kids had their usual swim in the rough waves on the one of the only stretches of beach on Tanna that doesn't have a coral reef.

Best Buddies

Abby and Kate have a best buddy song. Here it is.

Our new dog

When Mendy and the kids came down to Tanna, we were met at the airport by Meriam and Eliud. They wanted us to take this doggy they'd promised Abby earlier. Its previous name is Sta (star), but we're going to call him Tobey, or maybe Toby. A good dog with just a little yapping. Should eat our unwanted leftovers (get the idea?) It's already getting fat.

Volcanic lightening on Mt Yasur Vanuatu

You've heard of volcanic lightening? Here's a (poor quality) video of it on Mt. Yasur. June 13, 2010.

Ash from Mt Yasur

The good news is 1) it stopped raining and 2) the wind is blowing the ash out to sea today. Here's a video of two eruptions.

Caleb edited in a lightsaber, into a video
See it here

Jesus Film in SW Tanna language

We dedicated the Jesus Film today, in the SW Tanna language. For the first time ever, people in SW Tanna were able to actually understand the film, since it was in their own language. See a brief clip on youtube here (It's of Zacchaeus- they love this clip here, it brings lots of laughter).