Village outside Port Vila

Drove to A.P Missionaries home today to pick up a truck we will use until ours is shipped in probably in March or April.

More pictures!

Here are some random pictures.... First day landing at the airport and then our cute little sista missionaries from Tonga and Christmas Island that are leaving to go back to their respective homes. Another picture is from the mission home looking out over Mele Bay and a small island in the distance. It is such a beautiful country. We are in the process of deciding where to live. The last picture is of another sr. Missionary couple, Elder and Sister Wallace who are showing us around, taking us to the few grocery stores we will use and showing us different apartments and houses. We may just stay where we are because it is clean and comfortable. It would be a nice respite from when we spend weeks in the bush visiting outer islands of Santo, Ambae, Tanna and Malakula. These are all islands in Vanuatu. We will concentrate on them first and then later go to the Solomon's and New Caldonia.
We met with a woman who runs the service center in Fiji yesterday and we are just beginning to understand how primitive this area of the world is. The villages in the outer island are like the 1700 or 1800's. they really don't run on money.. So the church is thinking about tithing being collected "in kind"... Bishop van kommen, how would you like members bringing a pig or some bananas to your office, to give out to someone else in turn...
Well, we are off to work for another day in this beautiful land! Ale tata! Luvem yu

We made it to Vanuatu!

We just found a place where we can get some wifi coverage! We landed in one of the most beautiful places I have ever landed in and were met by the mission president and his wife. They took us to the mission office to meet the other missionaries and then on to the mission home. One amazing mission home, I'll post a picture later. There were two young sisters that were finishing up their mission and going back home to Tonga and another that was going home to Christmas Island that had dinner with us at the mission home. It was a most inspirational evening as those beautiful sisters shared some of their amazing experiences with us. I will show you a picture later of those girls. This country is in the "KirtlandEra" of the church and it will take time to bring things along. It is such a happy and innocent culture. We are going to have some amazing experiences. We love and miss you all but are so very thrilled to be here!

Arrived in Aukland, New Zealand

Arrived this morning at 5:30am! Tired but so happy to see this beautiful country. We are staying right downtown at the Stamford Plaza, 2 blocks from the harbor and shops. We slept a couple hours and went to explore and get some food. It is about 75 degrees and lovely. Great improvement from 5 f degrees high in Utah. We start our training at the area office tomorrow morning!

Heading to the airport! Goodbye USA, hello New Zealand for a week for more training and then on to Vanuatu to serve The Lord!

Our last week in the MTC

We had some amazing trainers at the MTC as well as tutors and volunteers helping us with the language. We learned our purpose is to Invite all to Come unto Christ no matter what our calling. We had an extra special blessing onTuesday night when the surprise guest speaker was Elder Holland. It was one of the most powerful talks I have ever heard. He commanded us to have at least one convert on our mission and that was us.
I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve.

Another quote from him is from a poem depicting how we need to have faith and stretch ourselves., "come, stand near the edge".the Lord said "No" I said. "Come stand near the edge". "NO" I said again
"Come stand near the edge"...... And I walked near the edge and The Lord pushed me over and I flew."
We miss you all. Have a good week

Our mission! A ways from home!

French immersion training at the MTC!

Here we are at the MTC! It is such an amazing place....a sea of white-shirted young men and beautiful young ladies (with a few old faces mixed in) all preparing to serve The Lord!
We began our first 3 days learning French (oui,oui). before we switched back to Bislama (olsem wanem). Don't know what we will be speaking when we return....
We love our tutors and all our foreign language volunteers that come and help us.

Good bye Gig Harbor!

We were set apart as missionaries to serve in the Vanuatu, Port Vila mission last night. A sweet experience! We will head to Utah tomorrow for one week of language immersion at the MTC and then another week in the MTC in preparation for our mission.
We love our family and friends! See you later! Ale tata, lukem yu!

Nolan called to Lubbock, Texas mission!