Our team of 11 (including three children) spent 10 days in Vanuatu at the beginning of October.
This included time in Port Vila and on Pele Island. The focus of this trip was to provide primary health checks and health education for the communities at Blacksand and Pele Island.
It was such a joy to meet with and encourage the believers in both these places. We arrived right as the volcano on Ambae was erupting and the community in Port Vila were working hard to see how they could help with the evacuation and care of their family members living on Ambae. We were able to join our prayers with theirs and it was wonderful to hear that the entire Island was evacuated safely. It was also great to hear the activity of the volcano was settling down.
We loved our time visiting Victory School of Hope in Blacksand, providing health lessons for the children and treating wounds and ear infections as well as seeing adults from the community for BP and BSL screening. It was wonderful to be able to pray with each child and each adult and to minister the love and grace of Jesus into their lives.
What a joy to return to Pele Island and to meet up with the church there. Once again we were able to encourage the believers in their faith and to provide health checks and treatment for a number of children and adults on the island. Our doctor quickly realised the prevalence of ear infections in the children and was able to teach the children and their mothers how to help reduce ear infection by effectively clearing their noses. We had lots of laughs and lots of fun together! One goal of this trip to Pele was to provide first aid training for Colinette, a leader in the Pele community. It was wonderful to see her soaking up the training she was provided and we were able to leave her with some supplies to assist her in caring for the health of their community.
More than anything we are always grateful by how much our lives are enriched by time spent in a mission setting. We were so blessed by the believers faith, their love and care for us and the opportunity to simply serve and love on them with the love of Christ.