Off the island we go ... visiting, training, and to see the active volcano

Family and Friends,

The weeks continue to move faster than we expected. April is quickly coming to an end, and here in Vanuatu the days are starting to feel shorter as the sun sets earlier and rises later. It has been another meaningful and full week for us.

This past week, we had the opportunity to travel to the island of Tanna to help train Seminary and Institute teachers and leaders. It was a special experience and one we won’t soon forget.

Monday – Preparing to leave the island

We also spent Monday preparing for our upcoming trip, as well as organizing “Succeed in School” (SIS) snacks for the two locations we support on Efate.

Darleen wanted to bring something to our Wednesday morning In-Service meeting on Tanna so she spent several hours making some yummy chocolate cookies, which I had to test to make sure they were worthy of the teachers on Tanna.   I have to say they passed the taste testers strict requirements, although he had to test a few just in case one was an anomaly.  

We taught that afternoon our normal SIS regular intermediate math class for the 15–18-year-olds. We wrapped up our unit on sets—though just when we think they understand, they remind us they’re still unsure! Darleen suggested we give them a fun review test next time. Unfortunately, with the upcoming school holiday, we won’t meet again for another week. It will be interesting to see how much they remember after the break.

Tuesday – Flying to island of Tanna and Visiting Seminary classes

The front of the Tanna airport after exiting

On Tuesday, we flew to Tanna, a quick 45-minute flight south of Efate.  There is also a ferry, but it’s a 20+ hour trip, which we’ve been advised to avoid.  I’m up for an adventure, but when the locals tell you fly if you can, we will take their advice.  The airport there is one of the smallest we’ve ever seen. Instead of a traditional baggage claim, they simply unload the bags onto a small wooden platform for you to grab, very different from what we’re used to!

Offloading luggage in Tanna airport

I had arranged for President Korisa, the 2nd counselor in the Stake Presidency, to pick us up and serve as our driver during our visit.  He works as a taxi/bus driver on the islands, and past visiting senior missionaries have used him for transportation.  There are no rental car services on Tanna, so you either arrange private pickups or depend on local taxi or bus drivers to get around the island.

His Land Cruiser only had a front cab, so Darleen and I squeezed in together. By the end of the first day, I realized my white shirt had paid the price—it was completely covered in dirt from the seat! By the end of the trip, I joked that I had helped clean his seat with my shirts. 😊

Tanna is quite different from Efate. While Efate has more stores and development, Tanna is much more rural or what we like to refer to as “bush”. Most commerce happens in small “mama markets” where locals sell produce and goods. There are very few stores and only a handful of small gas stations.  The roads, however, are in better condition—likely because there are far fewer vehicles. It’s a quiet, peaceful island. Darleen said she could get used to living there, whereas I think I’d miss some of the conveniences of Efate.

Tanna is also known for its famous active volcano, one of the few in the world with a visible lava lake. (More on that later!)

After checking into our hotel and grabbing a quick lunch, we spent the afternoon visiting Seminary classes organized by the local Seminary & Institute Stake Supervisor, Marie Kapalu.

Sister Serah teaching seminary at Lemtavekal Branch

Our first stop was in the Lemtavekal Branch, where we met Sister Serah, who teaches in a simple building that houses the Lemtavekal Branch. While waiting about 30 minutes for students to arrive, we took the time to visit with some of the local branch leaders and get to know Serah better. When students arrived, Serah taught them about Moses parting the Red Sea, after which we were invited to share our thoughts and testimonies. The Spirit was strong, and it was a meaningful experience.  The Branch President also stood up and shared his testimony, having joined the seminary class a few minutes into the lesson.

Serah's seminary class, with Serah right 
next to Darleen.  That's a good view of what the
inside of the branch building looks like.

Marie, Darleen, and Serah after class

We then traveled several miles to another class in the same branch, held at Sister Mary’s home. While waiting for students to gather (which took about an hour), she kindly brought out food for us to share. Darleen and I shared the food that Mary brought out from her home, as it was too much to have a plate a piece as it was piled up with rice and pork mixture.   Also, I was quite full after eating earlier.  President Korisa had also stopped at a roadside stand and bought us some fried kamala (similar to sweet potato). Darleen was in the back of the truck with Marie, and they shared it.  She said to me “I loved it”.   I was meanwhile in the truck cab with President Korisa trying to eat the one he gave me by myself.    I will say I’m not a very adventurous food eater, so I was only able to eat about half of what he gave me.   I honestly tried!  😊  

Mary and her seminary class getting ready to be taught.

When the students finally arrived at Mary’s seminary class, we sat on mats outside her home.  Her lesson was on trusting God, again using the story of Moses and the Red Sea. Students shared testimonies, and we were invited to do the same. Darleen taught how we need to trust the Lord.  To go with her testimony, she used an object lesson.  She asked me to come up and stand behind her.  She then said like trusting the Lord, she must trust that Elder Lovelace would catch her, then she put her arms out and fell backwards into my arms.   Luckily, I caught her before she hit the ground.   Then she had several of the students come up and try it.  We had three willing takers who fell back, but they were not so sure if I would catch them as they did some stutter steps before falling.

By the time we finished, it was completely dark, and we used our phone lights to see. The Spirit was incredibly strong in these humble settings. We left wishing we could visit every class on the island.

Wednesday – Seminary & In-Service Training and Getting SIS Started

Wednesday morning, we held our Seminary and Institute In-Service training at the Tanna Stake Office. As we arrived, we noticed a group gathered outside. Once we set up and began, those waiting came in—and to our surprise, we had 21 teachers in attendance. It was a touching moment for us to see such dedication.  Darleen had stepped next store in the Stake offices to help a fulltime sister missionary take an English proficiency test to get into the BYU Pathway course.  When she came back into the room, and saw the room full of teachers, she about cried.

We had President Korisa conducted the meeting, and Darleen had asked Marie a week before to ask two teachers to share brief messages (a spiritual message and a ministering moment, respectively). Marie gave a 10-minute lesson on how the Savior prayed for others and how we should do the same as explained in the manual “Teaching in the Savior’s Way”. 

The Seminary & Institute teachers on the island of Tanna

Darleen and I then taught the teachers.  Darleen took about 45-minutes teaching on: 1) Helping Students Become Diligent Learnings by resisting the tendency to respond to every comment or question and inviting students to respond; 2) Focus on what the learner can do in the class that the teacher typically does. As always, Darleen does a fantastic job.   I followed with practical examples of how to apply those principles in teaching.  I referenced a future lesson from the lesson manual to try and give them practical ways to apply these principles.  It was a wonderful experience, and we felt great love for these teachers. Many asked if we could visit their classes, and while our schedule didn’t allow it this time, we hope to return and do just that.

Darleen teaching the In-Service meeting... All were so engaged with her discussion.

That afternoon, we went to the White Grass Ward to meet with the bishop about starting the Succeed in School (SIS) program.  We got picked up about 30 minutes late to meet with the bishop, which seemed to be a theme every time we needed to get picked up for our meetings.  Luckily the bishop arrived even later, not getting to the building for another 30-minutes.  Island time is a real thing on the islands of Vanuatu. When he finally came, we discovered no one had a key to the church building or gate to get us into the property, as he had given his to his Ward Clerk. So, we held our meeting on the side of the road sitting on wooden benches, that we had taken out of President Karisa’s truck bed.

White Grass Ward building that was all locked up 
and we discussed SIS with the bishop right near the fence.

We had a good discussion with the bishop, who is a principle in a local secondary school up the road.  He wants to get SIS going in his area and wants to actual be the teacher for the Foundation students.   He is going to discuss potential teachers and timing to actual kick-off the registration of students.    We will follow up with him in a week to see how things are going.

In a humorous twist, just as we finished our discussions, the ward clerk appeared from inside the building—he had been asleep the entire time and hadn’t heard the bishop trying to reach him. 😊

We then rushed back to our hotel to teach our weekly Institute class via Zoom. There was no internet at the hotel, but thankfully, we had brought a portable hotspot. We crossed our fingers that the hotspot would work for our Zoom meeting, which worked just well enough, and we were able to complete the final lesson of the term without losing connection.

Thursday – Adjustments, Progress, and the Volcano

On Thursday, we had hoped to meet with the Stake Education Specialist, but we were unable to reach him—he wasn’t home, and the phone number we had was incorrect. Thankfully, things worked out well. After speaking with the stake clerk the day before, he agreed to meet with us and Marie to help resolve several registration issues we hadn’t been able to complete.

We had planned to meet at the stake offices, but when we arrived, we discovered the power had been turned off—which meant no network access. We later learned the power bill hadn’t been paid. Because of this, we went up the road to our hotel lobby to use their internet, which thankfully worked out well.

Me, the Stake Clerk, and Marie looking for correct names.

We were blessed to make good progress. With the help of the stake clerk, we verified the correct names for over 35 individuals whose seminary and institute attendance hadn’t been recorded for the past three months. Many people go by names that don’t match what is listed in the Church records, which made the process more challenging than expected, but it was rewarding to get things corrected.

Darleen helping to keep Marie's 5 year old daughter busy playing 
dominos.  It was fun watching her gain confidence in numbers as 
Darleen asked her to find one with so many dots.

That evening, we planned a trip to the famous Mount Yasur, located about an hour away. We arranged for a driver through our hotel, though we were warned that recent rain might make the shorter inland route impassable due to river conditions. Instead, we traveled along the coastal road, which turned out to be a beautiful drive.

However, as we continued, the weather steadily worsened. Rain and wind picked up, but our driver assured us the volcano would still be visible. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

When we arrived at the base welcome center, it hadn’t started raining yet. But as our guide drove us up the mountain to the final walking point, the rain began, and it came hard. As we stepped out of the truck and made our way up the final path, we were hit with what felt like 50–75 mph winds and pouring rain. At times, it honestly felt like the wind could lift us off our feet.

Darleen starting the climb up to the 5-minute walk to the top of the volcano.
The ground all around looks like what the moon may actually look like.

When we reached the crater’s edge, we couldn’t see the lava at all, only steam rising from rain hitting the crater and thick clouds of ash. The one blessing was that the strong wind pushed most of the ash and smoke away from us. We could still hear the deep booming sounds of the eruptions below, which would suddenly cut through the wind and make you jump.

Darleen and I posing on top of the volcano.   We both
didn't have jackets, so we used what we had.   You can
tell it is windy if you look at the bottom of Darleen's pants.

It was incredible to stand on the edge of an active volcano, but also a bit unsettling not being able to see what was happening below. While we were grateful for the experience, we left hoping to return someday when the weather is clear.

What you can see when it is clear - NOT OUR PHOTO

Friday – Travel Delays and Teaching Opportunities

Our Tanna trip came to an end on Friday as we prepared to fly back late in the morning. While waiting at the airport, we were told the plane hadn’t even left Port Vila yet, and there was a chance it might not come at all. With only one flight per day, that could have meant being stuck for several more days.

Darleen and I waiting in the Tanna airport to head back to Efate.

Fortunately, the plane did arrive, though we were delayed for about three hours getting home.

As we boarded, I received a call from Katimal, who was also experiencing travel delays returning from Malekula. He didn’t think he would make it back in time to teach his Institute class and asked if Darleen could cover it. However, she was already scheduled to teach a class on “Seeking to Understand Same-Sex Attraction and Loving Our LGBT Brothers and Sisters.” So, I agreed to teach his lesson on the “Accepting Jesus Christ as the Promised Messiah”.

Unlike the previous week, we had about 1.5 hours to prepare. I studied on the plane and for 30 minutes after we got home before heading off to Institute class.   The classes went well, 17 students attended mine, and Darleen had 5 in hers.

Weekend – Preparation, Reflection, Remembering Agie and one final Teaching Opportunity

We had a rainy Saturday, which gave us time to prepare for our upcoming trip to Espiritu Santo (Santo), scheduled from Friday through the following Wednesday. We’re excited to visit this island for the first time. In addition to travel planning, I sent out several documents to Seminary and Institute supervisors on both Tanna and Efate. Aside from that, it was a quieter day, though we did manage to get some shopping done.

Sunday began very early for us. As we mentioned previously, our Aunt Agie passed away on Good Friday. Her funeral was held on Saturday, April 19th, which was 4:00 a.m. Sunday morning for us. We were grateful for the technology that allowed us to watch the service via livestream.

It was a beautiful tribute to her life and the selfless love she showed to others. Our Aunt Susan gave a wonderful eulogy, and we felt both gratitude and sadness, gratitude that Agie is no longer in pain after many difficult years, and sadness in missing her, especially her Scottish humor. We were also grateful that two of our children, Nic and Patrick, were able to attend in person.

Later that morning, Darleen and I taught Sunday School for the young single adults. We had nine in attendance, and interestingly, many were individuals we hadn’t seen before, highlighting just how many YSAs are on our ward records and typically rotate in and out of our classes.

The lesson focused on Exodus chapters 14–18. Darleen taught about Moses parting the Red Sea and having to Trust the Lord as well as how He can make bitter things sweet. I followed by teaching how the Savior is represented in the Old Testament—through the manna (Bread of Life), the water from the rock (living water), and the support Moses received from Aaron and Hur. I emphasized how we all need help at times, and how we can also be that support for others.

I am starting to enjoy the opportunity to teach more frequently (I underline “starting”). While I’ve taught many times before, this experience is taking it to a new level. Darleen says I’ll be an expert by the time we return home, I’m not so sure about that, but I am learning a little more each week. The best part is learning from such a great example, Darleen.

Sending our love from the islands of Vanuatu,

Nana & Papa, Mom & Dad, Sista & Elda Lovelace, Darleen and Mark

Additional pictures from the week:

Beautiful Bannon tree in front of the Lemtavekal Branch building... it was huge

Got to love the pigs just running around outside the Lemtavekal Branch building

Sister Mary's house where we held seminary
outside down the hill from this.

The food Mary served us.

Short video up on the top of the Mount Yasur - the volcano