13 May 2005 Greetings to our loved ones from Vila, Vanuatu! We hope that our May update finds you all doing well. We are slowly getting settled into our new home, and we consider it a blessing to be able to share with you some of our progress, as well as a few disappointments. THE WORK. I have truly been amazed by how quickly we have become close to the brethren here. We see at least a few of them everyday, and all of them on Sunday morning and Wednesday night. In addition, the ladies all meet together on Tuesdays for Bible study and lunch. We are still meeting in one of the brethren’s house on Sundays, but hope to have a pavilion-type structure completed on the church’s land within a few months. Having a dedicated location for worship and study will greatly assist our outreach efforts, as the ni-Vanuatu tend to be a bit too shy to enter a stranger’s house. We had our first men’s meeting here in Vila last Sunday. It went rather well, but the ni-Vanuatu men are very hesitant to speak up. Hopefully this tendency will pass some with time, as I think they are still getting used to working with us. We discussed [1] the possibility of seeking a new meeting place until the building is finished, [2] an area-wide youth camp that will be held on some land in a nearby village in August (planned by the church in Vila), [3] the upcoming Gospel Meeting with Wayne Burger from the States, and [4] classes for Mike, Aaron and me to teach here in town. They seemed especially excited about the Gospel Meeting (as they really want to “get their name out” in the community) and the Youth Camp (they have had these in the past, and everyone really seems to enjoy it). We are excited about these things as well. Mike, Aaron and I have met a number of folks in town that are interested in studying the Bible, which is very exciting. Most ni-Vanuatu don’t keep a tight schedule, so it is sometimes difficult to set a definite time and place for study. We know that once we become more established things will fall into place easier. It is so amazing that here in Vanuatu truth-seekers tend to find you, rather than you having to find them…what a blessing. The ladies continue to meet at a Christian’s house each Tuesday for lunch and Bible study. Shawnda and Cindy have really bonded with the ladies here. They tell stories and laugh like they have been friends for many years. The Christian women have already begun planning Ladies’ Days in two nearby villages (Epao in June and Eton in August) and will begin conducting classes for the children in June. Also, Cindy and Shawnda have a Bible study with a young lady named Yoland today in the park. I hope you all take the time to read the ladies’ journals, From Our Point of View, online each month at www.missionvanuatu.com/monthly/home.html. HOUSING. I mentioned in my previous update that we had secured a duplex along with the Bakers. We have moved in and feel much better now that we finally unpacked our suitcases. The house is still pretty empty, as the container we shipped will not arrive until 23 May. Shawnda and I hosted our first fellowship meal last Friday night, to celebrate the coming of Antony Raine and Todd O’Donnell from New Zealand. They came to Port Vila to assist the brethren here in planning their building project. Eddie Karris and Morris Felix, who both live in Eton Village, always stop by when they are in town to say hello. It is so nice to have local brethren in our home. We feel great about the house God blessed us with. It is in an excellent location (secure, close to town), the locals feel comfortable visiting, and we have extra room for visitors to stay in. Of course having the office in the back part of the house is an added bonus (and saves us money too). We have three bedrooms and one bathroom, a kitchen, and a living/dining room. The office has a bathroom (with a shower) as well. Rent for us is approximately $750 per month (this may seem a bit high to some, but we were actually expecting to spend $850 on house rental and $100 more for office rental), and utilities (gas, electricity, water, and trash) will run between $100-150 per month. We are told that Vanuatu has the highest electricity rates in the world! There are pictures of the house on the website at www.missionvanuatu.com/brandell/house.html. Aaron and I planted a small garden in the backyard a few days ago: tomatoes, beans, melons, onions, peppers, carrots, cabbage and peanuts. It is important to have fresh produce, as the ni-Vanuatu “thank you” is a gift of fruit or vegetables. Shawnda and I also have a banana tree in our front yard. We had a stalk that was ready to be cut down, so I had to go and buy a machete (Shawnda wanted me to just use a steak knife). After cutting down the stalk, I searched for anything else I might cut down, just for fun (I know, you are thinking “boys will be boys”). Having the stalk of fresh bananas came in handy, since one of the Christians brought us six pineapple plants to plant in our yard last Sunday (we are always going on and on to the ni-Vanuatu about how much we like the pineapple here). As a thank you, we gave him and his wife the stalk…I think they were impressed/surprised that we had it to give. SHIPPING INFORMATION. Some of the most exciting news I have to communicate involves shipping packages to us from the US. I have stated many times before that we would have to “test the system” before we really knew how much customs charges would be here. We received our first package last week and found out that any package with a value under $100 (USD) is duty-free and VAT-exempt when sent through the USPS to our PO Box. That means, so long as the contents of the package are valued at less than $100, we don’t have to pay anything to receive it from Customs. Yahoo! I do not know for sure, but I assume packages sent via UPS, FedEx, and DHL will be similar. We will let you know for sure when we find out. INTERNET. Many have inquired previously as to how we connect to the internet. Up until yesterday, we have been walking down to the internet café in town (about a 15 minute trip from our house) every other evening. We go in the evening because the rate is half price after 7:00pm (10 cents per minute). There is hardly such thing as “high speed” internet here, so it can be a bit expensive when we have lots of emails to send (though we are always trying to hurry). We were spending between $15-20 per week each, and $30 during weeks when I updated the website there. Nonetheless, we consider the technology a blessing, and we are learning patience too! The good news is that Telecom Vanuatu installed a phone line here at the house yesterday, which means we now have dial-up internet access in the office. Vanuatu is an interesting place to sign up for internet access, especially being from the States where unlimited dial-up is a maximum of $25 per month. Here, most plans are hourly (similar to a cell phone)…you prepay for the amount of hours you want to be online each month. Five hours (per month) is $15, 10 hours is $45, 20 hours is $65 and 40 hours is $105. They also have a plan in which you have an unlimited amount of access. The downside is that it costs approximately $190 per month. We went ahead and opted for the unlimited. Thankfully, we have the access in the office so we can all use it, which makes the cost much more reasonable (when split between five users). We hate to pay that much for internet service, but email and missionvanuatu.com are our major sources of communication back to the States. We knew all along that it would be this expensive, so our work fund was ready to absorb the costs. So, feel free to send us lots of emails, as we have plenty of time to read them now (whereas before we had to speed-read). Those who regularly look at the website can expect it to be updated at least once per week, and hopefully more often. DUTY-FREE, VAT EXEMPT. Vanuatu imports everything and therefore adds a duty tax to all goods. In addition, they have no income tax so they add 12.5% Value Added Tax to all purchased goods. Our team had come with hopes of receiving an exemption letter from the Department of Customs in order to purchase a photo-copy machine and a new truck for our mission work duty-free and VAT-exempt. Unfortunately, we received word two days ago that our request had been denied. Vehicles (35%) and electronics (30%) are in the highest tier of the customs tax rate schedule. We raised funds based on a worst-case scenario (no exemption), but it would have been nice to save the money, as some things have ended up costing more than we expected. We know that God will continue to provide for our needs as He has faithfully thus far. Please pray that we will be good stewards of the funds He has blessed us with, and that we make wise decisions in purchasing a vehicle(s) and the copy machine. CONTACT INFORMATION. We love hearing from friends and family and want to make sure you know how to contact us. Family email address: brandell@missionvanuatu.com Shawnda’s personal email address: shawndabrandell@hotmail.com Mailing address: Telephone number: (678) 51853 It is always fun to hear what is going on in your neck of the woods, so please keep in contact. The postage for regular-sized letters/cards is 80 cents from the US. Calling can be a bit expensive. When we have made calls from the States to Vanuatu in the past, we used a Wal-Mart phone card. If my memory serves me correctly (and it may not), it was about $1 per minute. For those who are computer-savvy, there are some programs available that allow you to call over the internet for much cheaper. Thanks again for your continued thoughts, prayers and financial support. Without you we could not be as effective as we are. As always, if you have any questions or concerns whatsoever, never hesitate to contact us. We love and appreciate all of you! Eric and Shawnda |
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