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


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Sing a Song in Whitesands

We spent the last six weeks learning some of the 'Whitesands' language spoken on the island of Tanna, Vanuatu. As part of the summer school wrap up, there was a bbq/social where we all had a chance to share a little bit of something or other. So Peter, our language helper, taught us a song in Whitesands, and we sang it. Or... our fellow Whitesands learners did anyway. Jim and I were away at the kids' school for a school family night. We thought you still might like to see the video of rest of them singing it though.

At the end of summer school, Peter headed back to his village, Whitesands, to begin a Bible translation project.


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Wahoo - Summer Course Graduation!

It is official, summer school has come to an end! We had a special graduation/closing ceremony today, and a BBQ/social last night. Now we get to relax for a few days before it all starts again. Tonight, we are ordering pizza, playing cards, and watching 'LOST'! I have some pictures and videos I want to share with you. I will try to get them posted sometime in the next few days. Until then...


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Fire Update

The fires are pretty much under control. It is still smoky but most of what has been going on is controlled burns to create buffer zones. The general attitude that we have been seeing on the news now is moving forward, rebuilding, and making sure that people are getting the help they need. Thanks for praying with us even if you spent only five seconds bringing the needs of the people here before our heavenly Father. I dare compare what this community is going through to their own version of September 11th. Thanks also for praying for our safety.

School update...
One more test and then the summer course is pretty much over other than closing events. Then we have a one week break before first semester starts. Monthly update coming soon!


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Care Packages...

Before we left the States we told many of you that we would let you know things that would be good to send in care packages. Well, we have been gone for six months now and we have a good idea of what we can and can't get, what we miss, and what is just super spendy here.

So, for those of you who wanted to know what you could send, there is now a link to the right >>> that says 'Care Packages', click on it and you will find a list of ideas. Thanks for asking.

Love,
Jim, Tania, Grace, and Josh

(I've realized I haven't posted many pictures (of us), I will work on that!)


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A Quick Fire Update...

It is very smokey today. Every now and then we hear a helicopter roar overhead. However, the fires are not very close. A web page has been set up for fire updates around the Wycliffe / Equip grounds which we are keeping an eye on.
Thank you to all who have emailed. We will keep you guys posted.

Oh, and...
Happy Valentines Day!!!
Love, the Kenners

Here is a picture I took later in the afternoon as we were driving home.

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Our class picture...

Here is the lot of us (save for those working in sensitive countries - they are not in the photo)

We are an international bunch. There are students and teachers here from all around the world... Australia, US, Canada, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Vanuatu, Asia, and more. Such a mix makes classes really interesting.

I believe you can see an enlargement of the photo by clicking on it.

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Pictures of Victoria's Fires...

It looks like we are out of danger for now. Fires are still burning, but the wind is not blowing them in our direction. Here is a link if you want to see more pictures >>> Click here



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Suffering in the aftermath of the Firestorm

The worst bushfires in Australian history have left families all over Victoria grieving. Please pray for them. The fire stormed so fast that some people had no warning to escape. Many only had 5 minutes from the time they saw the fire was coming until it engulfed their homes. Homes were burnt to the ground in a matter of minutes and all that is left is corrugated tin roofing, and brick chimneys. Many were caught on the road trying to escape the fires. So far we know that hundreds of people have lost their homes, 108 have lost their lives, and the hospitals are full of burn victims. Fire crews that have been working around the clock are finally getting relief.
We are fine. We thank the Lord the fires did not reach us here. They were close. We saw the smoke was not very far off, but we didn't think much else of it other than to make sure the we all knew where to go if the fire came. So many people were caught by surprise. Our hearts hurt for them.
We will be praying for the families that have lost loved ones, lost homes, for the crews that are still fighting fires, and the support personnel that are caring for the people that have lost so much. Please join us in praying for them. The Lord has brought cool weather, and for that we thank Him. I pray that in the midst of this tragedy that people will be drawn to Him for comfort.
Ok, I have to go... I am going to be late for class. - Thanks for praying with us.

Under His Wing,
Tania


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Bushfires

Just in case the U.S. stations are reporting on what is happening here, we want to give you guys an update and let you know we are okay.

Bushfires have been ravaging the state of Victoria where we are living. The fires were very close today. Huge clouds of yellow, gray smoke filled the sky to the north of us. There are fires burning within 15 - 20 miles of us in several directions. Some nearby communities have been evacuated. Fourteen people have died, there may be as many as forty. Many people, at least 100 families, have lost their homes.
Equip has a fireplan in place. We are keeping an eye on the alert system and the news. Please pray for favorable weather, that the firefighters can get these fires under control, and for the families that have lost there homes.

An interesting note -
Today was the hottest day on record EVER in this area (since they started keeping records anyway). It was insane hot... 116 degrees. Just standing outside felt like standing next to a bonfire, except the heat was on all sides. The wind was hot, like a convection oven. The heat has been wreaking havoc on this area. It isn't normally so hot.


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Grace & Josh Start School

Can you believe, the school year starts with camp! I don't know about you, but that was not the way it worked for us. Bright and early this morning we took Grace and Josh to the school grounds just down the road. There was a short Monday morning assembly and then they piled their stuff on a bus and were off. They will be gone two nights at a place called Camp Rumbug - canoeing, swimming, and abseiling (Aussie for 'repelling'). What a great way to start the year and make new friends!

As for Jim and I... we have been slammed with classes and homework. As a matter of fact, I have a case study I need to get to work on, audio files and data books that need to be submitted, and a language research project I need to think about. Not to mention dishes and laundry (Grace and Josh are such great helpers, what am I going to do without them?) Just wanted to give you a quick update.

Thanks for your much needed prayers! =) I will try to post some pictures next time.

ONE MORE THING BEFORE I SIGN OFF...

The Anthropology staff has arranged for us to make a trip to observe the prayers at a local Mosque this Wednesday afternoon. As part of the this course we have been observing the culture of other religions. Last time it was a trip to a Coptic Orthodox Church - very interesting and we learned a ton.

We would especially appreciate prayers for this trip. Please pray - above all for a good testimony, also that we would be received well, and that this would be a productive learning experience.

Thanks, we will try to get a chance to tell you how it goes.


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