Sunday was my first full day back in New Zealand. I arrived in Auckland at around 11am local time, after about a 3.5 hour flight from Port Vila, Vanuatu.
In total I spent 4 weeks of my Outreach in Vanuatu, on land, off of the M/V Pacific Hope. The first 3 weeks were spent on the island of Tanna, where my team loaded all of our bags, food, medical supplies and ourselves (10 team memebrs, plus the driver and 2 porters) into a single truck for a 2 hours ride to our hosting village.
We stayed in the host village for 2 weeks, doing a number of ministry activities, both there and in neighboring villages. We were placed in an old missionary house near the church. The house had some of the most stunning views of Tanna's active volcano, Mt. Yasur, right from the front porch. Warching the sunrise over an active volacno? Simply amazing!
Some of the other villages we visited were really remote, one of which had never had "white" people visit it before. At least two were over 2 hour walks one-way but, it was so worth it to help spread the gospel.
The first weekend one of the missionary doctors joined our team. Once she arrived, were able to run a clinic in our host village, my job was to run the pharmacy.
After the two weeks in the village, we return to the main town of Tanna, Lenakel, where the ship first dropped us off. A church hosted us for this last week before the ship picked us up.
In Lenakel, we did street evangelism, prayer walks and shared sermons at local churches. We also got to share our testimonies at a local trade school and pray for the sick at the hospital, even attend a custom Period Party as team.
One of the days we went to the hospital to pray for the sick, it was at full capacity, particularly the children's ward. We came back 2 days later and the hospital was at only about 50% capacity and many of those there were new patients. God is good!
After our alotted time on Tanna, the ship picked us up and took us to Port Vila to prepare for our return to New Zealand. Though we were soon to return we still made time to do street and prison ministry.
Looking back I can only be amazed at God's faithfulness to, and grace for my team during our Outreach. Through spiritual and emotional tiredness, as well as physical sickness my team stayed the course.
Now back in New Zealand winter is in full swing and I am loving the nice cool weather. It feels so nice after sweating half to death on Tanna. Also, it has been nice to recover from worms in such a comfortable environment. Yes, due to a number of side effects it is believed that I was one of a few who contracted worms. At least I did not get the lice.
At Base, we're getting back into the flow of things as we wrap-up out school with "Re-Entry/Debrief Week" lectures. However, there is a sadness in the air as most of us prepare to leave this weekend and part ways after almost 6 months of communal living.
This has been an amazing chapter in my life journey, I have so many good memories to remember and tools to use in the future. Doing this DTS has been the best decision of my life yet and I am so greatful to God for this oppertunity. God is good!
