In the summer of 2022, we moved back to Vanuatu. What a blast into the past! It was like the twilight zone because we left the house in pristine condition, and we come back and everything has degraded over the three years we were gone. But it's been pretty glorious.
We came the first week that Vanuatu had opened up since COVID, but Hyrum did not come with us because...of COVID..... But he LOVED being left behind! He was able to spend more time with friends at home ant then went to Hawaii with cousins and then he went to Fiji with Josh and Teyvin who travelled with him from Hawaii to Vanuatu.
And Teyvin and Josh ended up staying with us for quite some time, and that was just the best. They are awesome kids...I guess they're not kids. I mean awesome young men....or young adults...whatever. They're awesome.
Then Dan and Shi came too! We loved that as well, and as far as school went, Dan taught us how to sew up wounds. It was a pretty scary lesson actually when I thought about how I might actually need this skill in the middle of the ocean. (Honestly the more real this whole thing gets, the more I am terrified and overwhelmed. NOOOOOO I want to scream, but we are in over our heads. We have the boat. This is happening. )
And it was really special that they were here, because ABRAHAM WAS BAPTIZED! He wasn't taught by missionaries, but by me because there are so few missionaries because of COVID and the ones here are not specifically english speaking missionaries anyway.
We invited the branch and we had a roast pig that Matilda and Ezra cooked in the ground, and Maxwell baptized him. It was really special.
As you can see, Pat came as well.
And we have done educational things. We have done things that are not too formal like painting the pool, Abraham making paper sculptures, and painting murals on the walls of local schools:
And we have done formal things. In fact, Hyrum got finished with Level C in his math program, and Daniel finished Fix It Grammar.
And we have been doing at home seminary under the guidance of our local church leaders. That has been a great thing and I'm grateful that the Proffitts are here to help with that. Yes, the Proffitts came shortly after the Leavitts left, so you see, we have been blessed with visitors.
And that would be the end of this post, but I want to talk about this kids right here:
No, not William, the other kid. That's a bad picture of Nicky, our neighbour. He came to our house and started talking perfect English in a Boston accent. My mind kind of broke. Who was this kid?!? What Nivan talks like that?
It turns out, he's adopted by a Bostonian man, so yeah, Nicky isn't your typical boy.
He's at our house practically every day, and it came to my attention that he couldn't read. He's seven. He's been going to a local school, but getting terrible marks. I finally (at Dustin's request, funny enough) had him take the Barton student screening. He failed pretty bad. I went through teaching him lis letters, and he didn't even know all his letters.
We started with Leap Frog, and then started in on Foundations in Sounds. FIS was hard work for him. I could see him trudging through the mud in his mind, but he did it! It was so so hard for him, but he made it through the program.
I realized that I only have a short time with him, so I've tried to make teaching him a priority, but I've worried that I won't have enough time to actually make an impact anyway.
So then I started Barton level one, and it was a little easier for him, which was incredible, but I still wondered if I would have any impact over all since my boys took years of effort to learn to read.
Then I taught him the first lesson in Barton level 2 which ended up to be the most rewarding tutoring session I've ever have. HE WAS READING! Small words, but hey, he was doing it, and not only that, it seemed like it was fairly easy for him! Nothing like this breakthrough ever happened with my kids, so I didn't even know it was possible.
I'm only here for a few more weeks, but I feel like I actually have made a difference, and that's such a good feeling!