It doesn't hurt...

or does it?!! Last night Mike kept complaining that his foot hurt. He said it felt like he had a needle in it. I said oh- it's a hair sliver of course. I have had many of those and Mike always makes fun of me for being a baby- because they can't hurt that bad!! Well, I looked at his foot and sure enough...it was a hair sliver!! We had to take some skin off to get to the hair and then pulled the hair out!!! It was at least an inch long!!! His foot felt a lot better after we got it out! He said that he will NEVER make fun of anyone with a hair sliver ever again!!!

Tuesday 20

We finally made it to Vanuatu!! We left SLC at 5pm then went to PHX, then LAX, then Fiji, then arrived in Vanuatu Tuesday at 9am!! No one was at the airport because they were all working. Pres. Savoy was there with his taxi waiting for a parcel. He drove us around to find a hotel. Once we unloaded we went to the church and then to town-the first thing we did in town was ate tuluk at the market!! Then we went to end of airport, blacksands, and just saw a bunch of people and had a great day!! We ate dinner with Rachel that night and made plans and caught up on everything!!
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This is the hotel we stayed at. It was a perfect location, close to the church and to town!!

This is our room! It had everyting we needed...bed, shower, and toilet. It was great!

The church house in number 2.

The river we crossed to get to end of airport. Isn't it beautiful!!!?!

Us in front of a waterfall on our way back to the hotel!!

The food at the market!!

The flowers at the market!!

Wednesday 21

We slept in today until 9:30!!! We went to town and saw some people!! We got a few things and ate lunch at the market! It was really hot in the afternoon so we went and swam for a few hours and took a nap. We had jet lag pretty bad and were trying to catch up. We had to buy Mike some flip flops since he just brought sandals. That night we ate dinner with the Kauns and some other friends!! It was such good laplap sasor!! And even better company! It was a great night!! Although their were a ton of cockroaches flying everywhere!! I hate those!! But it was a good night!

Mike and I in town!

Our lunch we had at the market!! The mamas here make the BEST fish ever!!

Mama Rachel making the finishing touches on the laplap!! She's so good to us!!

Precilla, Kati Kaun, Mariella Kaun, Olive, and Pauline eating dinner!!!

Thursday 22nd-Our Thanksgiving Day!

This day we got a late start and went to the end of the airport to go on a hike with some friends! We took some meat and while we were out hiking following a river, mama made some tuluk for us!! It was a little rainy but not too bad!! I forgot about all the grass with thorns on it!! I got a little cut up!! It was a lot of fun!!

Mike and just about the cutest boy ever!! He could breakdance and ran around naked and was such a stronghead!! But oh so cute!! We wanted to pack him in our suitcase and bring him home with us!!

Me swinging on a rope vine!! I'm glad it didn't break!!!

Mamik, Mary, Pier, Madeline, and I.

Mike and I in a waterfall!!

After the hike we went and got cleaned up and went and ate in town. We ate by the ocean! It was such a nice night!!

Friday 23rd

We woke up this morning after a terrible night of sleep- it poured all night long!!! We decided that we'd better go snorkeling before we ran out of time. We got to Hideaway island after a bus ride and a short boat ride. We got our gear and headed for the beach. It didn't look like it was going to be that great but as soon as we got under the water- WOW!!! It was AMAZING!! There were fish everywhere!! Red ones, blue, yellow, turquoise, orange!!! It was so incredible!! There were huge bright blue star fish and sea cucumbers!! The coral was everywhere!! If you got in a school of fish's way they'd swim with you!! They would come up to your mask to get a good look!! It was so so so awesome!! We snorkeled all day long with a little lunch break inbetween!! The water got a little rough but it was so amazing!! After about 6 hours of snorkeling and it was pouring rain we decided to go home and get ready. We realized that we both got so super sunburned on our backs and our calves!! That evening we went to the Tokalolo's for dinner!! They made us our favorites!! Mike-
laplap sasor with tomatoes!! And me- tuluk!! It was so good!! We had a lot of fun with the kids and giving them treats and stickers and stuff!! It was a great night!!

Me trying to walk on the coral!

Mike and I after snorkeling!!

The Tokalolo clan, Mahits, and some friends!!! We has so much fun!!

You can see the laplap in the bottom right corner and I'm showing how the stickers work!!

Saturday 24th

Today Rachel and Reisan came to our hotel and we all went to breakfast in town!! Then we went to Iririki Island to swim-in a swimming pool!!! I asked Rachel if she'd swam in a pool before and she got so excited talking about the time she went- we we decided to take her!! This island has a resort pool! It's really nice!! We swam forever (5 hours) and then ate lunch at the resort!! I ordered a salad and got raw fish-yuck! Then we went home and got ready for our dinner appointment with Sandy Suele and his wife. He is another one of Mike's favorite people! We had a nice visit with them!

Rachel, me, and Reisan at the pool!!

Mike and I on the waterfall!

Sunday 25th

We went to 3 branches today. It was really rainy all day but still hot! We got to see a lot of members and friends!! They had a primary program in branch 1 and it was amazing!! I've never seen a better one in my life!! The spirit was so strong! We walked around Blacksands for a bit and saw a bunch of people! Then that evening there was a seminary and institute graduation that we went to!! It was really neat to see all the wonderful members and their accomplishments!! The church is really growing and doing really well there!! It was exciting to see it!!

Elda Saksak's family!! He's in the MTC preparing to go to the Phillipines! The girl on the very right was one of my companions- sista sur and her baby! His family is so proud of him even though they aren't members yet!

Me and some members that lived in Tanna that I had some FHN and discussions with!! They are now married and baptized and he's the 1st counselor in the branch now!! YAY!!!

After the graduation we went and visted a family and then went home. We hadn't eaten for 9 hours so we went to town to find something, anything to eat. While walking we saw this crab crawling on the side of the sidewalk!! We never found anything to eat so we went to bed hungry!!! I think if we had a stove we would have eaten this crab!

Monday 26th

That morning I got up before Mike and his sunburn itched all night so I went to get some medicine for his back and also some food for FHE that we were having that night. I went to town to the pharmacy and then dorked around...got a basket-purse, got some icecream, went into some stores, went to the market, then headed back to the hotel. Mike stopped me in a taxi looking for medicine!! After we put the medicine on Mike's back we got ready and went to Mele falls! We hiked up to the top and then swam in every pool!! It was a gorgeous day and so much fun!!!

Mike and I in front of a beautiful waterfall!! We has so much fun that day!! Everything around us was so beautiful!!

More waterfalls!!!

Me eating a papaya (popo)- it was so sweet and yummy and only 50 cents!!!

Mike swimming in the falls!! The water was so warm!!

Yes, those are my beloved black 6 year old flip flops. They broke. I cried, then bought some new flip flops that gave me blisters.
We ate lunch at Cheng Tim's-it was as good as we remember!! That night Mike organized a kind of missionary reunion/FHE. There were quite a few return missionaries that came. The first missionary from Vanuatu was there and told some stories! It was really neat! And fun to see everyone!!

The group of return missionaries that came!! And their families!!

Some of my companions I served with. Antolyn (Taribala) and her boy, Madeline (Tari-Lua), Me, and Rachel (Susurup)

Last day-Tuesday 27th

This was our last day in Paradise. We got up and checked out and went to town to do our last minute shopping. We ate at the market for the last time and talked to the people!! The longer we walked and the hotter it got the more we started to feel bad for the people who had to sit next to us in our dirty stinky clothes!!

These boys were so funny!! They would go off this slide and we would take a picture and as soon as they got out of the water they would have to see their picture!! They are one reason we love this place!!

This is Rindo, Rachel Susurup, me, and Madeline Tari-Lua at the airport. It was the worst thing and so hard to say goodbye.

This is Mike and one of his favorite people in Vanuatu, Christian Savoy at the airport.