Setting Sail once again

Sniff... sniff... I can’t believe that tomorrow morning I will once again be setting sail and leaving Tanna and the Stapleton’s. I’m very thankful to Erik and Michelle for bringing me under their caring wings, for feeding me, for teaching me so many things through their example and through talking with them, for the opportunity to work on the construction project with Erik and Joseph and half the boys in the village, and for so many other things. I’m thankful to JohnMark for teaching me to shoot birds and making me a slingshot to take home, and for teaching me an easy bread recipe. I’m thankful to Sierra for the many Rummikub games and for putting up with my silly teasing (and for washing my dirty socks!). I’m thankful to David for adding fun to whatever we were doing together, whether it was shooting birds, carrying timber for the building, climbing trees or sitting on the couch during devotions every night. I’m thankful to Joel for waking me up many mornings with his cheerful voice and for bouncing on my lap so many times, Oh! And for asking why every five minutes, hehe. Joel is so cute (3 years old). I’m thankful to Nika, for being a best friend and buddy this last week, encouraging and supportive in so many ways and also for adding one more great smile to the Stapleton bunch. I’m thankful to Sniper (their dog) for the licks and smiles (his tail wags a lot so he must be smiling, right?).
The last few days have gone really well! The construction has been going smoothly in the times we’ve worked on it. Though a few of the days we couldn’t work because we had to wait for more boards to be cut or various other things that came up. But for the most part it’s been going great and has been a huge blessing to be able to work on. Here’s a pic from today of Erik and I nailing the perlins (for the roof) in place. On Sunday we went to church in another village about 20 minutes down the road (the church rotates which village church they meet in every week) and it was really small but also fun to be cramped in with so many people. It’s always fun to follow along in my English Bible as they read from the somewhat similar Bislama version. And they sang in Nafe one song that I like a lot so I sang the chorus part in English as they sang in Nafe which was really, really neat. And then afterwards I thought even more about the lyrics which were “O yes, I’ll sing the wondrous story of the Christ who died for me, I’ll sing it with the saints in glory, gathered by the crystal sea.” And realized how the words were coming to life. We were singing together the wondrous story of the Christ who died for us. I was singing it with saints of other languages and we were literally gathered by the sea! I know that it is symbolic of future worship in heaven but it was special to be able to sing it with them. Another great song was one that they had a hymn book for that I shared with another boy. Since the phonetics of the written language are similar it was fun to sing in Nafe along with everyone.
One last highlight from the last few days that I’ll leave you with has been the five or so chances that Erik and Michelle have given me to drive their truck on the bumpy (really bumpy) roads as we went various places around the villages here. It’s a manual and has been a great refresher in driving with a stick. Never thought I’d drive a manual for more than 20 minutes without ever shifting past 2nd gear. But it was great fun! And you’ll just have to check out the pictures on facebook to see a bit more of the activities we did this week. Here’s the link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112973&id=559771287&l=4562c93c68
Praise the LORD, all nations; Laud Him, all peoples! For His lovingkindness is great toward us, and the truth of the LORD is everlasting. Praise the LORD! - Psalm 117