2018 has been an incredible year of strength and growth for our work in Vanuatu, below is just a brief snapshot of some of our work…
Community Outreach Works
We have almost completed our affordable housing project, with another 30 homes built this year for widows, people with disabilities and other families in need. This program has provided homes to over 230 families. We have also been able to send our drill truck to new communities, providing water to families who have never had local access to water. The drill truck is currently on Tanna island doing bores for another 20 families. We have been able to work alongside the local churches in delivering a successful Christian Music Festival at Freswota stage (a cyclone rebuild program we completed in 2017). This December we will once again host the Port Vila Carols by Candlelight event, which will reach several thousand people with the Good News of Jesus.
LifeChanger Christian College
This year, our main focus has been on building systems and developing our local staff. As the school has grown and developed, with a growing list of volunteers and contributors from different Australian schools, it has become important to build a clear picture of our vision and mission of LifeChanger in the community, and develop the behind-the-scenes systems, checks and balances to ensure that our whole college is moving in a clear and focused single direction. We have an excellent local staff base, with a care for our students and community. Our local leadership team are actively involved in the daily decision making and long-term planning for the college. We have been able to invest time into classroom repairs and an office re-fit, and by the end of the year we are needing to complete a new preschool building ready for the 2019 intake.
2019…
We go into 2019 with excitement and enthusiasm. We have great plans in the pipeline for events to support the local church, building projects in the school and local community, agriculture and fish farm projects at the college, water bores and further opportunities to work alongside the local community and Government in bringing real help, in Jesus’ name to communities in need. We are also planning for a large nationwide youth prayer and worship event.
Family
Our plan is to spend the first half of the year back in Australia, with our fourth child coming in April, then move back to Vanuatu for another block of time. Part of the challenge of long term mission work is creating a balanced family/work life. This is incredibly difficult with living onsite, surrounded by need. Our plan is to build a new family home on our personal land across town from the ministry. This will also free up the main mission house facility on site for short-medium term volunteer families. This is of course a large undertaking, and involves us needing to sell our Australian home to free up finance, but we know in God that this is an important step to ensure we can continue to serve between Vanuatu and Australia in the coming decades.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support of our work.
Jon, Abi and the kids