Beautiful Erromango - Day 1

I (Annette) had the privilege of accompanying Bron Croxford on her reconnaissance mission to Williams Bay on Erromango Island for 3 days this week. She is the youth and children's pastor at Howick Presbyterian Church in Auckland, and has been called by God to mission outreach into Vanuatu. We had only met a couple of days before, but she, Martyn and I hit it off right from the start.

We set off on a rather small plane, a Twin Otter 18-seater, to cross the ocean from Efate to Errromango,

landing on a grass air-strip at Dillons Bay Airport. The landing was surprisingly smooth.

We loaded onto the back of a truck along with some local men, and drove the 9km bumpy dirt road to Williams Bay Village. (The area used to be known as Dillons Bay but has recently changed it's name to Williams Bay, after a reconciliation ceremony in honour of the missionary John Williams who was killed and eaten there in 1839. It is harder to change the name of an airport though due to international coding.) We loved the ride, and finding out interesting facts about Erromango from the men on the truck.

It was a bit overcast but our first glimpse of the river valley where the village is was stunning.

We were driven down the very steep hillsides and across the river,

and welcomed to our bungalow, at Williams Bay Bungalows. They are brand new, we were only the 5th group to stay there.

We were given a very warm welcome at the school by the staff and students. Mike, on the left, is chairman of the school council and came to the airport to meet us.

There are about 200 students at the school, ranging from kindergarten (not present here) to year 10.

More to come tomorrow 😊