Assembly Days 2, 3 and 4

Day 2, Sunday 27th

Everyone joined together in the hall after breakfast for worship - about an hour of vibrant singing followed by the church service of about an hour. The seats are all made from coconut timber and not very comfortable - hard on the bottom and the back. All the women wore white dresses and the men white shirts and dark trousers.

The hall is beautifully decorated inside with woven panels, woven tassels, fabric and flowers.

After church we had more free time to explore and swim, although we didn't see any adults swim until the evening, and even then the few women we saw went right to end of the beach behind some rocks.

Days 3 and 4, Monday 28th and Tuesday 29th

A temporary office has been set up for the PCV office staff so they can deal with all the Assembly registrations and selling the thick book of the all the business to be dealt with during the week (see the stacks of books on the left).

Our bedroom was quite comfortable. We were put in a house right beside the nurses' clinic up the hill at the back of the village, so we had a great view, and there was a toilet/shower block just metres away.

We visited the cook house where vast quantities of food was prepared and cooked over open fires.

There were beef and chicken stews, lots of taro and yam, and a few vegetables and fruit at every meal, except for fresh bread with jam at breakfast.

This chicken was destined for the pot - the people tie them up for a while before they need them so they know they don't have to catch them just at the right time.

Loads and loads of food was brought into the village by boat from further up the coast, and there are always plenty of hands to help unload it.  

Baskets of delicious juicy mandarins, sacks of peanuts, also very heavy, smelly sacks of copra to be transported to Luganville and then on for processing and export.

 At the end of the beach there is a natural spring discharging fresh water out of the rock. The children go in with bottles and kettles to fill up.

While the pastors and elders are having their business meetings, the PWMU women are having their meetings in the village church up the hill at one end of the village.

The Marine Reach vessel Pacific Hope arrived in the bay to bring a team of dentists, doctors, nurses, optometrists and physios to provide treatment for local people. Marine Reach is a NZ trust but the volunteers come from NZ, Australia and many other countries. We already knew some of the crew who attend the International Church when the ship is in Port Vila. (see if you can spot Phil King)

The business sessions were generally very tedious for us although we could understand quite a lot of what was being said in Bislama. We missed quite a bit too, especially when someone got quite passionate and started speaking very quickly. There were a few highlights for us though. Here is Phil bringing his greeting from the PCANZ,

and two of the decisions voted on were important to us:
1) that Pastor Allen was re-elected for another 3 yr term as Assembly Clerk which we and Phil are very happy about because we have a really good relationship with him which we want to continue,

2) that 50% of the Yumi Kivim (We Give -the annual offering from every church member, man, woman and child of 1,000 vatu) was to be set aside for the new office building project.

Looking back at the village from the Pacific Hope's dinghy. Because we know some of the crew, we got a guided tour of the ship (second time for Martyn as he went before with the ICC men's group, first time for me). You can't see much of the village because of the trees, but the yellow church is on the left, and the clinic is dead centre with the aqua roof, the meeting hall is just below that, and our house is the white wall on the right of the clinic.

On Tuesday evening we were formally thanked, farewelled, and given gifts - a local handmade bowl and basket for Phil, a bowl for Martyn and a finely woven bag for me. There is great appreciation for the work Martyn is doing to sort out the finances.

 Heading back again
All too soon it was Wednesday morning and our truck was ready to leave early, so we didn't get a chance to say goodbye to all the wonderful people we had met for the first time or those we had already met and got to know a bit better. The Assembly carried on without us till Saturday. We had a great ride back to Luganville on the back of the truck with Elder Job telling us about things we saw along the way. A bit windy and dusty but fun! We sat on our bags so it wasn't too uncomfortable.

Luganville main street was very hot and we arrived about 10am for a 6pm flight! We hung out in a cafe with a nice shady area out the back all day until check-in time, using their wifi to catch up on messages.

We got to see the Healing Waters of Santo while we waited though. Just a short way along from the wharf is a natural spring where several people have experienced miraculous healing since January this year, and now many people come to visit hoping to be healed.  There are people who will pray with you if you want, and there is no charge.

Martyn had a small drink but as he is currently healthy there was no obvious effect. Some drink the water and some bathe in it.

The flight home to Vila was uneventful, back to our flat with hot showers and a fridge 😉. But what wonderful memories we have of Tasiriki: the beautiful village, stunning sunsets, the stars at night! and most of all the wonderful hospitality of the people.

It was wonderful having Phil come to visit us too, a real morale boost. Thanks for coming Phil, we look forward to seeing you back in NZ in a few months.