Snippets

This week many of the staff have been setting off for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu on Tanna with boxes and bags of paperwork, and two printers. You may remember we went to Assembly last year on Santo and it was an amazing experience, but this year we can't go due to Martyn's broken leg. It would be just too difficult to get around in a village setting, also getting on and off trucks to get to the village from the airport.

Before: pre-Assembly organised chaos ready to be taken down to the ship sailing to Tanna (These before photos were actually taken last year but it looked just the same this year)

The big Riso (yes Riso, not Ricoh 😂) printer is going too in a box made specially to fit.

After: most people have left and the office is very quiet and empty.

Thank goodness we have Ethel. Without her Martyn would be house-bound unless some kind friend could take us out in their car/truck. This is the state of our road, completely impassable on crutches. Our gate is just to the right about where that lady is passing.

Martyn is able to do a few hours work each day. We found a very convenient office chair missing its back which serves perfectly as a roller stool to support Martyn's leg and fits neatly under his desktop. In many offices around the world, broken furniture would be disposed of, but not here 👍😉. I have to give Martyn an injection each morning of anti-clotting stuff for his blood - because he is not getting sufficient exercise there is a risk of blood clots. Sometimes it results in a nasty bruise, but my technique is getting better.

Pastor Jung of Presbyterian Church of Korea is adding some Chinese and Korean messages to Martyn's cast. The cast also has writing in English, Bislama, and Greek (courtesy of  John Redshaw) plus several pictures. It is looking grubby after just 2 weeks, what will it be like in another 4? 😱

It has been raining here for the last 3 days - makes getting around even harder than it already was, but where there's a will (or a rubbish bag in this case) there's a way. 

We have been watching a block of shops being built down near the central market with some interest as the protruding roof trusses seemed vary random, both in spacing and shape. However all is gradually becoming clear now that they have been framed up as gable ends with natangora roofing being installed. Looking forward to seeing it a bit more complete before we leave.

Down at the market, the firewood needs to be covered from the rain or there won't be any hot meals tonight!