Our Mission Experience in Vanuatu

Greetings Family and Friends!! Here we are again!   Did a week actually pass by already?   This week was actually less busy than the week before.   It was nice to have a little reprieve.     That doesn’t mean that we were less engaged.   I love switching off with writing these updates because I love seeing through the lens of Elda Lovelace.   So, it’s my turn again. A picture of the two of us from a few weeks  ago.   Relaxing on one of our Saturday's. Have I said how amazing my Mission Companion is?!! He inspires me every day!!   Elda Lovelace shared with you last week that we taught a class on setting goals.   This is the 2 nd time we have taught this particular topic.   Mark shared with the class the importance of daily tasks and how he has always made a list.   We were here about a week and my list making companion was on the hunt for a large white board to hang in our apartment.   We found one and ...

This week felt like it would never end. Each day was packed with activities—preparing lessons, teaching, running errands, helping with missionary apartment issues, attending training meetings, driving others home, buying food for events, visiting the mission office, teaching piano, participating in ward council, and attending Stake Conference. I can’t do justice to everything we experienced, but here are some highlights from the week: We continued our weekly "Success in School" Monday math class, which is always a highlight for us. It’s a fun way to interact with some of the high school youth from our church. Usually, I teach, and Darleen assists. Over the past few weeks, we've had around 4-5 students, but this Monday, nine youth showed up—two of whom attended for the first time since we've been teaching. We’ve been focusing on word problems and fractions, and continually encouraging the students to work out answers on paper rather than guessing. We also revisit bas...

Hello Family and Friends! Mark and I look forward to sharing our experiences with you each week.   We also love your responses to our letters. They lift and encourage us and remind us of who’s work we are actually engaged in. I have to begin by sharing one response that changed our week.   But, 1 st a quote. There is a quote regarding words I’d like to share: "KIND WORDS are a creative force, a power that concurs in the building up of all that is good, and energy that showers blessings upon the world.”   (Lawerence G. Lovasik) As most of you know through the letters we have been sharing, we are working on the committee that is organizing a conference for the young single adults.   Mark has been working on gathering passports and has shared some of the other details, experiences and concerns.    I admit that somedays we wonder if it’s all going to come together. The theme of the Conference is taken from a scripture, “Then shall thy confidence wax stro...