Merry Christmas!

> > >

Christmas in Vila

Merry Christmas everyone!

Well, in case you haven't been getting our emails... we are here in Port Vila, Vanuatu. We are pretty well settled in. Our visa applications have been lodged (we should hear back after the first of the year), we have a mailing address, phone, and finally an internet connection (which explains why we are just now getting a post onto the blog). We have even put up a Christmas tree. It is a bit 'Charlie Brown' but we think it is just perfect decorated with seashell garland and paper snowflakes. It makes a great centerpiece for our coffee table as there really is no other place to put it =).

Yes, the traditions look a little different here. Instead of stockings, we do beach towels and instead of a roast feast and Christmas cookies, it is cold salads and no-bake cheesecake. But the celebration is not about the traditions. It is about the celebration of our Savior who loves us so much that He was willing to come to this earth to dwell with us in the flesh, to reveal the Father to us, and to die for us so that we could be reconciled to Him. What greater love is there? Let us not keep it to ourselves but share it with the people God brings into our lives.

Much like back home, Christmas in Vila is a very busy time of year. Town and the market are packed. School is out for the summer holiday. Just about everyone we talk to is planning to leave Port Vila to go back to their home island to spend time with family. This was the scene in the harbor yesterday...


The place was absolutely packed as this cargo ship was being loaded with people on their way. They were taking with them lots of rice, watermelons with delivery/owner information carved into the rind, and pigs. As we were walking by I noticed one pig lying on the ground (just like all the others his legs were tied so that he couldn't run off). He wasn't squealing or anything, he was just looking up at us and wagging his little piggy tail.

Right now is typically the hot season though this year, to our delight, the weather has been very cool. It is still humid, but not smothering hot. I take it as the Lord being gracious to us and allowing us to adjust slowly.

We are settling in and working on learning Bislama and culture. Lord willing, after the holidays we will be able to make arrangements for language helpers to meet with us on a regular basis for more in-depth language learning than what we have been able to do so far. In the meantime, over the next few days, we are going to relax, celebrate Jesus, enjoying being together as a family, eat some good food with some good friends, and generally just be thankful for the abundant blessings the Lord has been so gracious to lavish on us.

Check out the contact page for our new mailing address and phone numbers. We may not get it updated right away, but we will get to it very soon.

Merry Christmas!

> > >

Here we go...

Well, this is it. First thing in the morning we are headed out. We are excited to get there. As soon as we get settled and get back on the internet we will be in touch with you guys. Until then... thanks for praying with us. Lord willing, you will hear from us soon.

Love,
Jim, Tania & the kids

Here we are with the Richards and Laura after our 'farewell for now' pizza party... Lord willing, they will be joining us in Vanuatu in about 2 months.

> > >

Packing and saying 'Good-byes'

In case you didn't get the email...

Five days to go (now only four days) until we depart once again for Port Vila, Vanuatu. We are packing the last of our things, starting on the cleaning job that always goes along with moving out, and enjoying the last days we have with friends and teammates before we head out.

Grace and Josh had their last day of school today. It went well. It is a bittersweet thing for them, no more school, but also saying good-bye to friends. Thankfully they have been able to exchange email addresses and will try to stay in touch. Plus, they have friends they are looking forward to seeing in Vanuatu so that is just a really great blessing.

God has been blessing us with relative peace up to now which we are really thankful for. As you would expect there are a lot of things we could get really stressed about, but we are just making sure we have all our ducks in a row, and trusting God for the outcome.

All of you that have been praying... thank you.

We are not sure what the internet situation is going to be once we get to Vanuatu so this is your last chance to email us ;0). Hopefully we will be connected soon enough.

We will write again just before we leave.

Love,
Jim & Tania

The Finish Line

November 20th marked the end of our school year....






Classes are over, graduation is behind us! We praise God for all we have learned and how he has grown us over this past year. It feels really good to being moving on to the next phase of the ministry.

What now –
We are spending the next 2+ weeks getting ready to head back to Vanuatu.

What next –
Settling into life in Port Vila. That will include…

• settling into and enjoying ‘normal’ family life once again,
• resident visa and work permit applications,
• getting back into learning the national language (Bislama) and the local culture,
• getting ready for the coming year of homeschooling for Grace and Josh,
• and last but not least, anxiously looking forward to when the rest of the team will be able to join us (likely in February, but, Lord willing, it will be sooner).

You can pray with us…

• Praise for the training we have received this year
• Praise for the personal, family, and team growth we have experienced this year
• Pray for our last couple of weeks in Australia be spent well – preparations, relationships, closure, rest.
• …and this is a big one… Pray that God would put the right people in the right place at the right time to make shipping, travel, resident visa applications, etc. all go smoothly and without complications.

Love to all,
Jim & Tania

> > >

30 days and counting...

As of today, November 9, we have 30 days to go before our departure to Vanuatu. Tickets are purchased, housing is arranged.

This coming week we are visiting the police station for Australian law enforcement clearances, and the doctors office for medical clearances. All this is paperwork needed for our resident visa applications. The Vanuatu immigration department has cracked down over the last year and even deported some missionaries, so we are being careful to 'have all our ducks in a row', so to speak. We appreciate those of you who are praying with us about this matter.

This weekend, amongst the essays and other homework, we started going through our belongings to decide what goes and what stays. We are being allowed half the baggage that we came here with, anything over that we have to pay extra (plus duty). So we are being very selective, going through every item of clothing, and every piece of paper, to pare down to the essentials.

We'll stay in touch!

> > >

Class of 2009

Here we are...
Not a bad lookin' bunch if I don't say so myself ;)

Equip Training Class of 2009

I think you can click on the picture to see a larger version.
Days to graduation.... 14!

> > >

It's an Echidna!

Too bad the kids weren't around when I was taking the pictures. They did get to see the Echidna later though. This little guy was obviously not shy. His quills are not like a porcupine, but more like a hedgehog. What a cool thing to get to see before our time here in Auz is up!



Thank you Lord =)

> > >

How Its Made - Bible Translation

You know the TV show 'How Its Made'? Well, even if you don't you'll get a kick out of this video. It was made by Wycliffe translator friends of ours who are working on the island of Tanna. This would be a great video to share with kids. Plant the idea of Bible translation in the heads!

> > >

New Family Pics...

We had an awesome day yesterday! We went in search of a Koala reserve, didn't find any koalas, but found an amazing picnic site, and a beautiful view. And, we got lots of new family pictures! Here is a link to the album... Click Here

Earthquakes & Tsunami Warnings in Vanuatu

Thankfully, it doesn't sound like there was much damage.

Here is a news article...
Powerful earthquakes off Vanuatu trigger warning of tsunami


> > >

Team Vanuatu - 2009 Video

The blog is good, emails are nice, but what is better than a video? We put this together recently to share with you guys. (Really, Gretchen did all the work - didn't she do great?) It is amazing to look back and see what God has allowed us to be a part of over this past year, all that He is provided for, and the direction that He has given.

To our support team - all of you who are praying for us, giving financially, sending packages, and writing notes and emails of encouragement - we hope this video will serve as an encouragement to you about the work God has called all of us to be a part of. Thank you for being a part of this mission with us. We are humbled to be allowed to serve our great God with you. Thanks for 'holding the ropes'.

With love in Christ,
The Kenners


> > >

7 Weeks, Homeschooling, and Care Packages

Hi, thanks for checking in. We are doing well, better than yesterday anyway. There has been a bit of a stomach bug going around - Josh had it a couple days ago and I (Tania) had it yesterday. Hopefully it will skip right over Jim and Grace. Thankfully it is just a 24 hour thing. Today is a beautiful day, the house is clean, and there is a cool spring breeze blowing through the windows.

We have a couple days of our final break left. Back to school on Monday for the last 7 weeks of classes - wahoo! We will be working on Field Methods, Translation, Training Across Cultures, Phonology, and Program Planning. Your prayers over these last seven weeks will be crucial as we are feeling a bit stretched. We praise God for His grace that sustains us.

Over the last several weeks we have been working on preparations for the kids' homeschooling for next year (I love this time of year!) The kids have had a great year at school here, even so, they are really excited to get back to homeschooling, and especially homeschooling in Vanuatu! Making preparations has been a challenge though. In the past we have relied so much on the library, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.com, etc., but obviously we wont have that luxury in Vanuatu. We don't really even have those luxuries in Australia. I think we don't realize how good we have it in America until we go somewhere else. There is just so much available to us in the States. Still, after lots of prayer and research, and the help and advice of others that have homeschooled in the upper grades, we have a plan - and we are really excited about it. I can't wait! Believe it or not, the other day I had the kids do some placement tests and they were loving it! Josh was begging for more. I felt like we were playing 'school', and for one day it felt like we had our family norm back!

A couple of days ago we received a 'complaint' ;) that our care package page is out of date. Ya, it has been a while since we have updated it, but really we have had all that we need. Now would be a good time to add some things though. We have updated it with new things, particularly things to help with homeschooling and other things we need as we get ready to head back to Vanuatu. There is the link on the right hand side of the blog >>>, or you can click here.

Well, I think that is all for now. Would love to hear from you =)

Tania, for the crew.


For fun, I will throw in a picture...
This is Jim and I on a date at the Queen Victoria Market



> > >

Update the blog... check

I have had 'update the blog' on my to-do list for quite a while now. Really though, there is just not a lot happening around here these days.

We have 88 days until graduation and we are excited to be getting ready to head back to Vanuatu. The plan (read that 'our' plan, the LORD may well have other plans - He knows best) is to leave Australia shortly after Christmas. It seems so far away, yet so close. We have been working on trying to make arrangements for housing accommodations in Port Vila so that we have some place to go to when we get there. We would be very grateful if you would remember to be praying with us about that.

Thanks for checking in. We will keep you posted =)


> > >

Little Big Day Out, a.k.a. VBS

Kids, puppets, memory verses, games, crafts, Bible stories... FUN! Our team got invited to help with a vacation Bible school over our break. Everyone had a part to play... Jim and Houghton were on games, Laura, Gretchen and I (Tania) got the year 1 & 2 boys and girls, Grace was in creche (nursery), and Josh was in class. It was great! We shared with the kids the story of the crucifixion from the perspective of Simon's two sons (he was the one who helped Jesus carry the cross). Here are some pictures -

Our class, 1st & 2nd graders, had games before they came to the lesson...

Laura had fun playing games too!

Who doesn't love playing with a parachute?

We made sea-scapes and surfboards (beach theme) with the memory verse -
"Jesus told them, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'" ~John 14.6

Memory verse time... we came up with motions to go along with the words and the kids had a blast learning them.

Our self-portrait ;)

> > >

Our Friends in Vanuatu

Our B-Lodge-mates are spending their break in Vanuatu (yes, wish we were there) and from time to time they are posting fun stories of their adventures on their website. Check it out... http://bradandelyse.com, they are really fun writers. There are also some bits about life here at KG (Kangaroo Ground), and a bunch of pictures of all of us. Anyway ...just in case you had some time on your hands and were wondering where to surf next.


> > >

Internet Update

Hey there! We have been enjoying a few days of unexpected internet use =). We heard the other day that the network turnover was rescheduled to start on the 13th. Wohoo. We still want to be praying for a quick easy turnover. But in the meantime it has been great... especially nice for Grace who has been enjoying her new laptop. That girl saved for the past 2 or 3 years and bought it all on her own! We are so proud of her. The rest of us are getting some good 'net stuff done too, however I will spare you the details =)


> > >

No internet

This is just to let you know that starting June 29 we will be without internet until further notice. We are praying for a quick, smooth network changeover, and will let you know as soon as we are back online.


The Kenners


> > >

Karen Writers' Workshop

In one of our classes, Introduction to Literacy, we have been learning how to develop a literacy program and promote literacy in minority languages. As part of that class, we facilitated a writers' workshop for a local Karen (Burmese) Community. Here are a few pics from the afternoon...



It was really cool to get to spend some time with the people of this community. Most of them have immigrated to Australia after living several years (for many, most of their lives) in refugee camps. Just the thought of that is enough to cause one to rethink their worldview. This was a great learning experience in more ways than one.

> > >

Final Week of the Term

We are in the final countdown. It is Monday of the last week of the semester, three major assessments still left to complete. Then, a much needed break. If you have been praying for us during this time, thank you.

Below is a picture of us just before participating in a writers workshop last weekend. This was part of our 'Introduction to Literacy' class. We spent the afternoon with some people from the Karen community (refugees from Burma/Thailand) encouraging them to write stories in their language. We will most likely do workshops like these in the villages in Vanuatu as part of the literacy program.
More pictures to come...





> > >

Some more pics for you...

> > >

A friends pictures...

Elyse is our neighbor and fellow student. She takes beautiful pictures and is sharing them on a blog. So, if you are curious what our part of Australia looks like this time of year, check it out...

http://elysianeyes.blogspot.com/



I love this time of year. I love fall. God is so great, His creation is so beautiful. I get such a bittersweet felling though, as the last of the leaves fall.

Tania

> > >

> > > Pictures...

In case you have been keeping your eye out for pictures, we updated the family album link with some pics from Mother's Day. What a wonderful refreshing day! > > > The link is over to the right =)



> > >

It has been a while!

Tools for Analyzing the World's Languages
Houghton and Jim at the board working out their grammar homework...

Hello all!

It has been a busy few weeks. We have had visitors the last two weekends in a row. First was BMW general director, Paul Seger, and his wife Joan. They came to share some things with us and generally just be an encouragement. Then last week our area director and his wife came (they have asked us not to post names on the 'net due to work in restricted areas). We are back into the regular swing of things now, you know... classes, homework, and more classes. It was nice to have visitors and we were blessed by their encouragement, especially in the area of prayer.

The kids have been doing 'inter-school sport' and having lots of fun doing it. Josh qualified to represent the school at the district cross-country event. He and his friends have been spending a couple hours after school every day in 'training'.

Grace is trying out for the school play which will be put on in September, 'The Wizard of Oz'. As a young girl of 13, drama is right up her alley. =)

Oh, and, as many of you already know, we recently celebrated Gracie's 13th birthday. Thank you to those of you that took time to share a special note of encouragement with her. I had a friend take pictures of the party and I hope to get a few minutes to get them uploaded for you to see this weekend.

Well, before this gets toooo long I should wrap it up. One last piece of awesome news though... we had been secretly praying for the use of a car and the Lord has provided!!! We are so grateful! Not only that we now have wheels, but also for the laughter that it provides... If you guys have ever wondered how small of a car Jim could fit into... we have learned the answer. Just wait, I will get a picture of that up soon too. Seriously, we are just happy to have the freedom to be able to run to the store when we need to and to maybe get to see a little more of the area while we are here.

OK, signing off for now.

Tania for the crew


> > >

Just saying hello...

Hello everyone! We are having a great mid-semester break. True, much of our time is spent on assignments, but we have gotten out a little bit. Last week we spent a day in the Dandenongs with the Richards and Thulesens. It was nice to get away from the campus for a little while, very refreshing. Josh has been having fun playing 'pirates' with Jesiah and Zoe, and both Josh and Grace have been busy working on a 'clubhouse' with the other kids on the grounds.

Here are a few pics, and just for fun, we've posted the video of the kids' reaction after Jim shaved his beard off. He has had one for almost nine years! ...ever since he left the military.

Josh and Si on the way to Dandenong National Park. It was a great day in spite of our party getting separated along the way (we were in two cars). All of us were excited when we actually ran into each other again after a couple of hours apart!

Pirates Si, Josh, and Zoe

Who doesn't need a good tickle every now and then?

Here is the video of the kids' reaction...

> > >

Dark Cloud With a Silver Lining

It was a dark and stormy day…the unwilling participants ventured into the dreaded lair of the GRAMMAR TEACHER. Little did they know, which was apparent by the test they were so fiendishly tricked into taking. Their only hope – that God would show mercy on them and their fellow captives in the linguistically diverse places they all would find themselves. Tragically, they all passed and would be forever relegated to developing formal generative grammars for peoples the world over, tortured by phrase structure rules, nightmares of verbal subcategories and plagued by cold sweats from fear of morphological infixes.(Sounds worse than Malaria or Dengue Fever!)

Totally just kidding… we love grammar – believe it or not.

Today we are officially starting a two-week mid-semester break. (yeeeeaaah!) The Richards' parents are coming for a visit during this time, and we are looking forward to seeing them. Familiar faces in unfamiliar places go a long way towards renewing one's spirit. There are a lot of activities in Melbourne, many of which are free with a student i.d. card, which we hope to take advantage of. Please keep sending the wonderful emails of encouragement and know that you are always in our prayers.

I am writing some very exciting articles which we will be getting to you soon - whether in print or blog format - so be looking for those over the next couple of weeks.

for His glory-
Jim


> > >

Our new email address...

jim.n.tania@gmail.com

Be sure and make a note of it and add us to your 'approved senders' list!


> > >

Australia Wildlife

I dont know the names of most of these things but they are interesting pictures anyway. These are from an afternoon at Australia's Dandenong National Park. I went for a walk there with a couple other girls last Friday after class.

this is a small kangaroo type thing about the size of a small dog. I have asked around but still dont know what it is called...

Austrailia's famous Kookaburra Bird...

the forest was full of tall straight trees and these big tree fern things...

this is a Liar Bird (about the size of a chicken), evidently they copy the sounds of other birds...

We also saw Black Cockatoos but they took off before I could get a picture. That will have to do for now. Must get to bed, morning comes early.

Love,
Tania


> > >

What is Literacy?

As one of our first assignments we were asked to write up a personal belief statement answering the question - What is literacy? Does it necessarily have only to do with reading and writing? What about 'computer literacy'? There are no wrong answers, it is basically just a survey of the understanding of literacy.

So, what do YOU think... How would you define literacy?


> > >

What We Learned in Summer School

This post doesn't have any photos,
but the previous one does...
scroll down to see it

We've been wanting to give you an update to let you in on what it is we learned during our first six weeks here. The summer course was hard work, but we learned so much. I don't know how interested you are in the details but in case you are, here goes...

The six week course mainly gave an introduction to linguistics and cross-cultural work with a focus on language learning. In 'Language Learning' we learned strategies and methods of learning any language but particularly helpful if the only resource you have is a language helper and nothing else, even if you and the language helper do not know the same language. It was actually a lot of fun. For our practice language we worked on 'Whitesands', one of the languages of Vanuatu. It was very interesting. At the end of six weeks (12 sessions) we were able to carry on a conversation talking about things we had learned and eliciting new material too. Can you believe it?! I would never have thought it was possible. This was also a great chance for us to get to know our language helper. We will be working with him in Vanuatu as he is the chairman of the Vanuatu Bible Translators (VBT).
Another of the courses was 'Language Awareness/Intro to Linguistics' (aka Grammar). Using languages from around the world we learned how to break down and analyze language data to figure out how the language is structured - clauses, phrases, words, morphemes, tense, mood, aspect, pronouns, noun classes, and so on... I don't know how they did it, but they made this class very interesting. By the end of the six weeks, we were taking what we learned from this class and eliciting material in 'Whitesands' to analyze. We found some very interesting stuff including either four or five noun classes, and a very complicated pronoun system.
Another of the classes was Phonetics. We learned the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). It was like learning another language. We learned to read, write, and produce it. This was tied into our language learning in that we transcribed what we were learning in 'Whitesands' in IPA, and we were also assessed by transcribing some longer discourses. What we learned in Phonetics and Intro to linguistics was further applied in a research paper on our target language group. We each had to make a presentation about the language we would be working in. Because we don't know exactly which language we will go to yet, each of us on the team either picked one of the possible future languages, or a neighboring one.
So much of what we learned in the past six weeks are things we had never even thought about before.
So there are the highlights. Of course there was more to it than what is here. We also had a course in Anthropology. As part of the course we had two field trips to make cultural observations. We visited a Coptic Orthodox Church for the Epiphany service, and we also visited a Mosque to observe prayer and interview people. The focus of this course was to help us know about aspects of culture that we should keep in mind in cross-cultural ministry.
We definitely feel like we have a much better awareness of the complexities of language than what we came here with. We also feel like this course is practically equipping us for the work to be done. It isn't just head knowledge, but practical skills.

Our one week break before the first semester starts is just about over. First semester will include Introduction to Literacy, Phonology, Grammar/Structure of Languages, Ethnology, Sociolinguistics, and Orthography. We are told it isn't as treacherous as the six week course because it is spread out over more time. They tell we will actually have weekends and evenings free, but we will see.

Thank you for your prayers and support that make it possible for us to be here.


> > >

Summer School Memories

Well, summer school has come to an end and we have a bunch of pictures and videos to share with you. So come along while I give you the tour...

First of all, welcome to our abode...


We live in 'B' lodge with two other families...

You know the Jones family - (L-R) Piper, Amber, Zoe, and Brad
they are our teammates from Michigan

and

meet Brad & Elyse...

they are from Sydney and are lots of fun.
This is a picture of them with Josh on his birthday (plus Zoe).

Our little pad doesn't have a kitchen so we share the kitchen and lounge area with Brad & Elyse.

This is where we do our laundry...

The picture is a little fuzzy but you get the idea. Grace is hanging laundry out on the line. we've never done laundry on the line before but I actually like it. I find it quite relaxing, and truthfully, it gets done a lot faster when you don't have to wait for the dryer.
I hope when it comes time to settle in Vanuatu Jim will set up an area like this one for us. There is plenty of line space, but the best part is that it is covered. I cant tell you how many times in Vanuatu we had to race out to rescue the laundry from getting soaked in the rain. It was not uncommon to hang the same load three times before it was dry! We don't have to worry about that any more =).

Okay, moving on...

From where we live, we walk maybe 500 meters to the offices/classes/dinning room.

Here is Jim and Houghton on their way to dinner, or 'Tea' which is what Aussie's call the evening meal...

Speaking of Aussie names for meals, here is a little bit of culture for you...

Breakfast
Morning Tea
Lunch
Afternoon Tea
Tea (evening meal)
Supper (cookies before bed)
hmm....

Here is Laura and our friend Sophia at morning tea. Sophia was able to join us for the summer course but is now back in Vanuatu continuing work on a commentary for the Bislama Bible.

During summer school, all of our meals were prepared by these fine men John and Chris (plus Anita, but she wasn't around for the picture)...

These guys were wonderful.
They also hooked up school lunches for Grace and Josh - and spoiled them!
I don't know how we would have survived without them. We barely were able to fit in time to sleep, I don't know what we would have done if we would have had to cook.
Now that summer school is over, we are on our own. Supposedly (depending on who we talk to) the rest of the year isn't supposed to be quite as intense - still intense, just not as bad.

Meet a couple of the lovely ladies at the EQUIP office...

Robin & Lyn

(there are more but unfortunately I didn't catch them for pictures)

And this is Mary from the Wycliffe office (pronounced 'Meery' like a real Aussie.)

All the ladies have done an awesome job at helping us settle in and making us feel welcome.

This is where we spent most of our time, in class...

Here we are in 'Phonetics' class...

and Anthro...


Language Learning - As part of the course Peter taught a bunch of us some of his local language 'Whitesands' from the island of Tanna. Some of the other groups learned 'Indonesian', 'Urdu', or 'Karen'

We made a couple of field trips. One was to an Islamic Mosque to observe their formal prayers. Us girls were required to wear the customary dress for women...


As the course wrapped up there were a lot of tests.
Here we are waiting for our turn at production assessments...


If you have been keeping your eye on the blog, you know we have had some serious fires around here. It got really smoky, and scary at times.

It was also VERY hot...

Grace and Josh's school had a family picnic to raise funds for some of those that were affected by the fires. I took the chance to get a few pictures.

This is what the kids see as they ride their bikes to school every morning...

looks sort of like Eastern Montana...

until you see a kangaroo...


Josh's uniform -

the hat is part of it, but the stick is not =)

we got to meet the kids' teachers

and eat some traditional Aussie food - grilled sausages and onions on a slice of bread with BBQ sauce or tomato sauce (aka ketchup)

More pictures from around campus...

Brad P. & Brad J.

Jim with Peter
He was here just for the summer course, and is now back home in Vanuatu and will be working on a Whitesands Bible translation project.

It wasn't all work...

One the last night before 'graduation' we got a chance to let our hair down, so to speak, and just have some fun. Here area couple of videos we thought you would like...

This is an Australian Bush Dance - sort of like square dancing with out the funny clothes

Here is a video one of our phonetics tutors made for us. After an intense six weeks of learning, we thought this was just hilarious. It could be that we could finally just take a break and laugh, or more that we actually understood what the video was all about - I don't know what it was, but it made us laugh so hard we cried...

Well, that is it. Hope you enjoyed the 'tour' =)

Love,
Tania for the crew


> > >