Vanuatu Mission Trip
St Andrews Mission Awareness Trip 2016
St Andrews Christian College have just returned from our fourth trip to Tata School. It all started in 2012 when Mrs Wansbrough visited Vanuatu and met with the Educational Director and selected Tata for an initial visit. Since then we have had four visits with students, parents and staff all playing their part. This year Mrs Wade and I took seven students from Years 9 and 11, three alumni and a teacher to be an encouragement to the staff and students of Tata School.
The theme for the trip was “Showing Compassion & Kindness” and we based our teaching, songs and activities around Ephesians 4:32,
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as Christ Jesus has done for us.”
The students from St Andrews were Olivia Rowland, Chloe Chandraraj, Audrey Ang, Ann Xia, Jerry Cheng, Isaac Cheng and Joel Julian. The teacher was Mrs Sires, and the alumni were Elise, Jess and Sophie Wade. The St Andrews students were wonderful with the way they interacted with all the students of Tata. They ran around, played games, shared stories, did amazing craft activities and had so much love for all the primary students. They also shared and built high levels of trust and friendship with the secondary students. We had terrific fun teaching them games, playing soccer and volleyball, singing choruses together and generally developing our friendships.
We all felt God surrounding us with His peace and protection, and we could see His hand at work in so many situations. The trip was an amazing time and in so many ways the team had to rely upon God. We learnt so much from the people in Vanuatu.
Elise Wade: God has taught me how He uses us for His glory. Our baptism was so amazing, but even more special was how He used it to teach the Vanuatu people more about Him and bring the bond with St Andrews and them closer.
Sonia Sires: God has taught me to rely on Him – like when I had to teach a Year 8 class about essay writing. He's also taught me to rest in Him and to be still and know that He's in control. He taught me to relax and enjoy “island time” rather than worry about doing things at a fast pace like in Australia.
Isaac Cheng: Upon reflection, my favourite part of this trip was going to Tata school and
helping teach the younger classes. Seeing their happiness was amazing. God taught me
money and monetary value can't bring true happiness.
Ann Xia: God has taught me that even though the people in Vanuatu were not as wealthy as us, their heart to serve God is still the same.
Joel Julien: Meeting the students at Tata school was one of my favourite parts. It was great to build relationships with the boys and learn about their culture. My buddy was amazing and educated me on how life was. God has taught me to have faith in Him when things do not go to plan.
Chloe Chandraraj: My favourite parts were teaching the children, building relationships with not only the secondary kids, primary kids and our buddies, but also our team. I especially loved teaching the primary students and doing the Tabloid sports day with the secondary and primary classes. Some lessons I learnt on this trip were to be flexible when put in awkward situations and to rely on God.
Jess Wade: My favourite parts of the trip were teaching Class One and singing with them, and getting baptised with the amazing Pastor Yosef.
Olivia Rowland: My favourite part of the trip was chatting with the girls on the sleepover and really connecting with them over the little things - one girl wrote me a beautiful letter and it really showed how profound an impact a simple conversation can have on someone. God taught me to rely and trust on Him. Despite all our planning and preparing things some things still didn’t go to plan. I learnt that we need to trust that God has His own plan and that His plan is much better than ours.
Sophie Wade: A favourite experience was having extra nights at Tata when the team
went back to the resort. And then having the Pastor ask me to share in their high school
assembly. God taught me that when I am lacking, God will provide eg. I lacked energy and He gave me times of rest, I lacked time to prepare and feel confident in making the devotions, and He led me through the preparation and gave me confidence in sharing it.
Jerry Cheng: My favourite part of the trip were the baptisms of Elise and Jess on Tangoa Island. I was also very touched by the beautiful singing of the children at Tata school – what amazing worship! Vanuatu’s motto is ‘Long God yumi stanap’ which means ‘In God we stand’. For myself, I highly respect and value a strong relationship with Jesus by faith, hope and love. God has taught me to be confident in my faith.
Audrey Ang: I loved building relationships with not only the team, but everyone we met
especially our buddies. God taught me that serving Him in a different environment can
make an impact on different people. He also taught me that I have a purpose to share the word of God.
Sally Wade: There were so many firsts on this trip like an earthquake, a new lunch location on our sightseeing day and a new Primary Principal at Tata. But the most amazing event for me was seeing our daughters being baptised and seeing how this act has strengthened our relationship with the community at Tata. The Pastor and Principal were most excited about this history making event, being the first adult baptisms on the Island. God’s glory was evident throughout the day.
Andrew Wade
Vanuatu Mission Trip Coordinator