Recently our dear friend Karu found out his father was dying on another island. He was supposed to spend two weeks with us in Santo but only managed to stay 2 days before he was called to go to Vila.

It was really really heartbreaking!

He spent the whole day with Stacey as they said goodbye to eachother. And then Josiah and I met them at the airport after school.

We sat and ate peanuts, exchanged plastcis flowers from the table decorations with eachother, and talked. We all knew it was coming but didn’t want to acknowledge it. Eventually though 5 o clock rolled around and Karu had to get on the plane. Stacey and I started bawling. And when Karu and Josiah hugged eachother they too started crying. You see, Karu and Josiah are like borthers and eachothers best friends, while stacey is essentially his girlfriend, and I am also like a sister to him. We were all hurting. And also because he was in so mch pain about his father. The experience was heartbreaking, and also made us realise that we don’t have that much time left. Parts of us just want to leave as fast our feet can carry us, and the other half wants to stay in this country as bestfriends forever. But then edn is nearing and find myself looking at everything as if I will never look at it again….

Life is horribly unfair that way. It will give you something so nice but then take it away to let you realise what you had now that its gone.

And so I guess I’ll just have to make what I can of this experience until, I’m leaving on a jet plane.

I’ve officially been to a hospital in a foreign country.

After coming back from the bush I developed some sort of….development on my abdominal.

It started out as three small patches on my stomach which were itchy as heck and then turned into 1/3 of my upper body. Spotting on my arms, reaching out my back. It even began heading up my neck and down my leg. … Neddless to say I was crazy sketched out. WHAT IS IT? I asked myself and everyone around me. I no longer trust anyones advice really. Everyone I spoke to gave me a different Idea. First I was told it was fungal. And to put cream on it. So I did. Then I was told it was scabees…. on my stomach. The knowledge excaped me but I’m no doctor so I did what I was told. I tried putting oregano oil on it. No go. I tried tea tree oil. no go. I eventually went to the hospital. They gave me pills. Lots of them. I took them for about two days, felt a bit sick, and stopped. I didn’t want to take PILLS for something that was visibly on my skin and not inside me. Also they were for inflammation, and while it was itchy, it wasn’t so much inflamed….

Later I just started giving up. I had this random thing all over my body and I also had a crazy sore on my ankle which was bandaged up and made me limp for a week. On top of that the pills were making me sick. My hutmate was suffering also, but from completely different things. She got sores on her calves which were infected cuts, and then later developed pink eye….

Overall we were doing REALLY well.

Funny enough though, I hadn’t been sick since my second week here when I got a stomach flu. Otherwise I’ve been a healthy horse…

I began showering with hot water. Which means boiled water in a bucket and scooping it out with a cup. It was my first hot shower since I’d been here these 5 months already. I practically have been burning the growths and its actually working better than anything else. They are drying out and are settling down in itchiness and redness. Now I’m just waiting for themn to disappear… its a beautiful thing.

Needless to say I’m fine. Had a small scare but am on my way to a full recovery!

MMmmmhm.

 

-CL

My digital camera officlaly broke forever.

It broke n November last year and I sent it in and got it fixed, but it never really worked the same again.

And then now after much hard use, I will admit, it has crashed out in the same way. It no longer takes photos, and won’t focus, and doesn’t turn off and on properly. Funny enough IM COMPLETELY DETACHED!

I’ve become fairly detached from electronic things. I guess also because my roommmate has acamera its not the end of the world.

Just thought that was blog worthy in memory of my dear camera, My Olympus Haha

 

RIP

Lesson Number One:

HUMILITY

Never say never. The minute you do, you set yourself up for failure and things go wrong.

The best thing to do is say, this might happen but I’m going to consciously try to avoid it.

The minute you think you’re above something God will hurl it at you as a test. So therefore,

HUMILITY.

 

Lesson Number Two:

Detachment.

When you are too attached to things you will inevitably a)lose focus

                                                                                        b) get hurt

                                                                                        c) be unhappy when it breaks or disappears

                                                                                        d) all of the above 

The things that are based in the material existance of this earth do not comprise the fundamental values and happnesses in our lives. They are mere factors attributed to this existance but do in no means fulfil our every need. The most lasting and true things in life are those based on your soul, and your spirit. Whether you see that in your religion, in your personal investigation of your own spirituality, or in your day to day existance in a broader circumstance, its all the same mark. Don’t get caught up in the things that don’t last. And just let it be. And it will al fall into place.

Which brings me to…

 

Lesson Number Three:

Trust In God…

This is one of the hardest lessons to learn. Or so I’ve heard from those around me, and am currently learning from my own experiences. We can create expectations and make plans to make a plan, but in the end its not up to us. We can do everything in our power to make something go our way, but if its not whats meant to be, or if you believe, if its not God’s will, then it will not be.

I am currently learning to a) not live off of other people’s expectations

                                         b) not be disappointed if someing I thought was right for me, isn’t.

                                         c) Trust. Trust that if I continue to work for something better and allow the

                                            natural things to happen, it will all fall into place.

 

Life Lessons ….. 

And the answer to life….. 42

Not trying to come across emo, but these lyrics were stuck in my head, and funny enough I thought of my sister Courtney because we used to listen to Great Big Sea all the time when I was about 10 or so.

So here they are. Life is so peculiar…

 
“How Did We Get From Saying ‘I Love You’…”

‘It was a cold day for September’,
was all I thought to say
When I saw you on the street the other day
Something’s changed between us,
all the talk we made was small
What do you say to someone when they’ve heard you say it all?
It’s an awkward conversation,
in a most peculiar way…

How did we get from saying ‘I love you’
to ‘I’ll see you around someday’

Seems like only days ago, we had so much to say
We’d take it all for granted,
then it all gets thrown away
‘It calls for rain this afternoon’, she finally replied
There was a stuttering silence,
that I felt my mouth go dry
So we’ll talk about the weather,
cause there’s not much else to say…

How do we get from saying ‘I love you’

to ‘ I’ll see you around someday’.

Has all the ice been broken,
all our surfaces been scratched
Have all our words been broken,
have we finally met our match?

How do we get from saying I love you

to I’ll see you around someday…

                                                Above are my two most favourite people, my hutmate

                                                  and bestfriend, Stacey, and our dear friend Josiah!

This is little Lucy, who gave me my custom name

“Voilof”, Kastom Nem blong mi blong Krepsoy, Santo.

                                                 Matavulu Blue Hole. Josiah was helpign me overcome my fear of heights.

                                                 It doesn’t look very high in picture but…. it is.

This is Austin. He’s an Awesome guy! He plays guitar

like nobody’s business, and has become my unofficial

guitar teacher. He’s our pal

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                       This is Jnelyn from class 3/4

                                                                                                                      She asked me to be in her school 

                                                                                                                     photo with her

Just wanted to say sorry to those of you who read this and frequently I spell things worng.

Learning a new language based on Borken english makes tings difficult at times. I haven’t lost my ability to spell or use good words but its just not actively practised so sometimes I don’t pay attention because here small things like spelling and words don’t matter as much

Just thought I’d mention

The bush was an insane experience. Basically walked the entire way without shoes. Because I was slow the walk was about 4 hours, which doesn’t reeeeally sound that long but when you’re doing it, its pretty intense. The steep incline of the mountains and the currents of the rivers are ahrd to handle. On top of that we had just had a huge rain fall the few days before and everything was ’sopmud’ aka soft mud. Stones are sharp when you step on them so you have to be careful not to cut your feet. As well as sometimes you’re walking in calf high mud and inside where you can’t see is stones and sticks that can stick your feet and put you in a lot of pain and essentially danger if you step worng. Thank goodness none of the seven of us who made the journey got hurt. I was part of the slow group and I needed assistance most of the time, so Josiah held my hand as week walked to lead me which way and to pull me up the inclines and whatnot. He’s very patient, which I was entirely grateful for! (GymJane; I’ve found your ultimate workout plan!)

Once we arrived at Krepsoy we were greated by Ebin, a baha’i lady, and her husband and daughter Lucy. Myself and the two other girls went to a small lagoon and took a shower. It was fresh runing water and kind of neat to just sit in a natural pool of water…

The food for the weekend consisted of Taro, soosoot and coconuts. Food selections in the bush is minimal. Lots of people complain or make the consistant diet to be really difficult but Stacey and I were loving it! Taro is a starchy heavy potatoe like vegetable…but different. Its a ground vegetable and its sticky because of its sap. You have to heat cook it under stones otherwise its too hard to eat. Its full of minerals and vitamins and therefore people can eat mianly that and not get sick. This one time they made taro laplap for lunch! Its was AMAZING! They mashed the cooked taro with a large stick. And then milked a coconut over it. Then we all just ate communally from this big wooden dish. Its incredible and tasted amazing!

The scenery there was also amazing. It put completely at peace. My mind would wander and I felt instantly in a prayerful spiritual place. I would jsut sit on this log ontop of a hill/mountain and look out over everything. It seriously was the scene straight out of a tropical national geogrpahic picture of rainforest mountains where they look really black and dark and ominous. But there is nothing poisonous in Vanuatu so really you never have much to worry abou that way. There are some snakes in the bush but we never saw any.

The weather was much cooler up there. Especially at nighttime. We slep on Coconut leaves and a pandanas mat on the ground next to a fire. It was nice, although definately a bit painful on the back the second and third night. Stacey and I had gone shopping for hoodies the day before we went to the bush so we were prepared for the chilly nights We bought these sweet bob marley hoodies. Everything here is bob marley merchandise. Its two catagories, okay maybe three, a) chinese merchandise b) vanuatu is;and dresses c) bob marley merch

So we found these awesome sweatshirts and bought them They came in handy definately!

On the sunday we made our children’s classes with the kids in the village it was really great. Big Lucy and Stacey had about 10 kids, and Josiah and I had two junior youth. It all went well though. Also we went exploring and found this INCREDIBLE waterfall, and yes, I climbed. I rock climbed down a wild waterfall. Without a harness obviously. I was scared at first but then I decided I would never have the opportunity again and I did it! I was so proud. I thoguht to myself, mom would be a bit owrried that I would hurt myself and dad would be proud that I stopped being a wimp! haha!

Another highlight was that Stacey and I were given custom names!

We now officially belong to the people of Krepsoy. We are their family. Stacey was given the name Voimpay, and the 4 year old Lucy named me Voilof. We are woman of Santo now It was really special. All wekend Ebin and Lucy would singout to me and call me Voilof.

“Voilof, kam kakae!”

“Voilof, yu pleiplei wetem mi!”

It was really nice I belong to a family here

We headed back on Monday morning. The walk back was much easier the second time We ate sugarcane on our way. Thats one thing that is beuatiful. Sugarcane. You cut the skin off the outside, then you chew off pieces of the fibrous stick, and you suck the sugar juice then spit the fibrous stuff into the bush. All in all its super tasty and lovely.

I’m not really sure what to say about the bush except that it was an incredible experience and we are going up again before I leave for the cluster meetingso thats exciting!

If you have any quesions jsut let me know and I’ll try to answer. I hope that answers some of them

 

Oh! Because I’m not used to the wetness and things in the bush I ended up getting a fungal infection. Its really itchy and kind of disgusting. Its on my stomach. Gah! Josiah bought me some cream for it though so hopefully it works. Its been about three days and some of it has spread to my elbow and my thumb. I’m working on it. Not a big deal, just uncomfortable!

OKAY overall the bush was great, things are generally well, and I love hearing from you guys. So drop me a line whenever you have time because sometimes its a bit lonely out here

 

Much love,

CL “Voilof”

I just wanted to say welcome to the world to two new precious babies!!

In July my new nephew Will Shoghi Hastings Heins was born the My brother Shane and his beautiful wife Juliet!

And most recently baby girl Fiona Zeynab Hastings AldeParvar was born to my extended family Chris and Erika!

A new neice and a new nephew! So many babies.

And now “Coming Soon”, my sister Courtney is pregnant! So in a bout 5 months? We’ll have another beautiful bouncing baby!

Just Sharing The Joy!

Okay, so I mentioned before I was going to the bush.

so you’re think, Which means what exactly?

The bush is like the Vanuatu experience, essentially. There are only two actual “urban centres” in Vanuatu, one is Luganville where I am, and the other is Port Vila. Luganville is sort of a joke as far as urban centre goes, but Port Vila is apparently one big shopping mall. Either way, my point is that the majority of the people here live in the bush. Rainforest imnmersed villages. The trek up to the bush is a treacherous one, very difficult. Because of the mud and steep slopes, you can’t wear shoes, which in itself is difficult when you’re walking through soft mud, over coral stones, and sticks. It has a degree of danger to it, but generally everyone gets through it fine and all is well. The bush people do it all the time, so..its just a way of life.

I’ve been told that some the things they eat in bush are raw bats, cooked lizzards and rats (diseases?) and sometimes raw lizzards as well. I’m not sure what they will offer us but hopefully all will be well I’ll eat what I’m given haha. Perservere.

We’re going up on Friday noon, and will reach Krepsoy village by the nighttime. All on foot except for the intial two hour drive to the drop off point. Saturday we’ll take a rest day, because we Will be tired, and on Sunday we are having Junior Youth and Children’s programs all throughout the day. Then monday morning we’ll head back down towards Boatmas where the truck will pick us up. Apparently there is a river there which is super fun to swim in.

Anyways aside from my specualtions and little things I’ve been told, I’ll just have to wait and see what to expect

This is the ultimate hike. (Shane, I’ll be thinking of you.)

Some of you may be surprised how “rough and tough” I’ve become. Haha! Only minutely I guess, but things like spiders and centipedes no longer phase me, I don’t mind walking in the pitch black darkness in bushy paths, I’m not so much afraid of dog because they are everywhere, and bees and hornets float freely infront of my face and other thenside stepping them they don’t bother me so much. I eat what I’m given, although I always have, and I walk everywhere. I also have begun overcoming my fear of heights by jumping into blueholes from a tall tree branch I think I’d give Indiana Jones a run for his money

Bush Talk Over and Out.

Updates to follow.

-CL