Blog#4 DST Script : Mssion trip to Vanuatu

Have you heard of the country, Vanuatu? I think this country is quite unknown to most people. I also was curious about this country; therefore I decided to participate in a mission trip to Vanuatu for 7 days.

Vanuatu is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. It is located east of Australia and west of Fiji. The languages spoken there are Bislama, English, and French. The capital is Port Vila, which is where I flew to. The climate is sub-tropical. I went there in summer in Korea, so the weather in Vanuatu was winter. It was around 82F, with both rainy and dry days. I liked the weather when I went there because it was my favorite weather, not too hot and not too cold. The nature was so beautiful and I could see so many palm trees. The nature was conserved very well. I recommend you visit there.

I prepared a variety things for them and for traveling. In our church, I had 40 days of early morning prayer. I came to church around 2am and made sandwiches. It is like a fundraising activity. It was worthwhile to make sandwiches with others before service starts so I could forget my sleep. While spending a lot of time at church, I could learn Taekwon-do, dance, worship songs, and other group activities. The most challenging thing was that through having so much time to pray for others and for myself my faith could be spiritually matured.

When we started our mission in Vanuatu, we had to travel a lot by using many forms of transportation to reach villages. We climbed over mountains and went through the jungle for 8 hours back and forth. It was the most adventurous trip in my life. We also took a ship to travel to other islands, and also just took buses or walked on foot. When I met village people I could feel the pureness of their mind. I think it is because they are living within nature. After our mission services, they also sang their worship songs in their own language. The rhythm was one I'd never heard before and it was beautiful to see them. We also played with kids and I read the Bible story of Noah's ark and demonstrated Taekwon-do. I was so glad and thankful to God because everything we had prepared went as planned.

During the mission trip I stayed at a missionary's house who was one of member's uncle. We could eat Korean food every time we came back to that house. I was so thankful because I was not used to Vanuatu's healthy native food. Also I could have a nice rest. Finally, we went to a Christian high school. One day I met and had a talk with a student on the way back to the house. He was really eager to learn and he also wanted to be a missionary in another province. I thought that the chance to go to school is important for them to learn something until they can teach each other.

I felt that they had very peaceful lives, and not as many worries in their mind as I do. They seemed to be just happy with their life.

When the mission trip was finished, I dreamed of visiting again someday. Once I'm ready, I hope I can go.