I am not sure where the last month has gone but I know it has been a very busy one for us! Classes started at JBI on February 8 and we were so excited to see returning students and freshmen arriving on campus from so many different islands. Several were delayed because Cyclone Yasi and Vania had interrupted inter-island flights and passenger ship schedules but by the end of the first week everyone had found an alternative way to get to Port Vila. The highlight of the second week was Spiritual Emphasis with Rev. Joe Pyott, from Washington State, followed by yet another cyclone called Atu.
Then came the all-island combined service to celebrate the newly constructed church at Fresh Wind, a JBI back to school party, a four day missionary field retreat and the visit of several special chapel speakers! We were so pleased to have our missionary colleagues, the Webbs and missionary associates, the Jaegers and Thomas’ all in town for our missionary retreat. They all live on the island of Santo in the northern part of the country and we rarely get together. As I write, we are under another tropical storm warning which has delayed their flights back to Santo. Please pray this storm does not become a cyclone. This has been a particularly turbulent cyclone season and we have so many islands already experiencing hardship and severe food shortages because of storm damage!
Things are going well at JBI. Gary is busy in his new role as principal and he continues to teach and preach. I teach four days a week at JBI and oversee the homeschooling of our children. Our work schedule is substantial. The new students are settling in and adjusting well to campus life. We have two great national pastors teaching with us, Pastor Philip Naias and Pastor Kiel Maimai, who is also serving as campus pastor. We do have some challenges so thank you for continuing to pray for us and the school.
FYI – If you have been consulting our Joy Bible website/blog you will see that it is not updated. We have a technical problem and have been locked out of it for quite some time. We are hoping to get this resolved soon or else we will set up a new site.
Vision for Vanuatu 