Our near death experience!

Name blong mi Amber!

Our day on Thursday started at 5.30am once again and we were leading chapel. The team is struggling with leading chapel at such an early time but God is giving us strength to stay awake. Most of the team are struggling to get out of bed!

After chapel we taught one class before getting ready to head over to White Sands. Then it was onto the back of two Utes and off to White Sands. When we arrived at White Sands the team in the second Ute almost looked like locals because the dust and volcanic ash from the Ute in front had sprayed into their faces from all directions.

We were taken to the beach and had a look at the project that we were meant to be helping with. The team was ready for some hard labor. Unfortunately, the boat had not arrived with all the equipment (the boats are on Island Time) so there was actually not much for us to do. The team didn't mind because this meant a bit of sunbathing and swim on another beautiful beach.

Then it was lunch time which was an amazing experience because the local village invited us in and made us feel very at home.

After lunch the team wanted to make the most of a difficult situation (as there were not many practical jobs for us to do) so we went to the local primary school and did some games and activities with the students. This was amazing! The boys played soccer and Jeremy managed to score two goals!

After soccer it was time to head to the volcano but unfortunately the Ute coming to pick us up was also on Island Time. We waited an hour and a half before the Ute arrived. And only one Ute came for us - this meant 14 people on the back of a single Ute. It was a tight squeeze but we made it work.

The Volcano was magnificent. Words really can't describe the power and majesty of an erupting volcano at night and it really is testimony to our amazing creator God. Some of you might be intrigued about our title 'Our near death experience' and this is when we can share with you what probably was the most scariest moment of most of our lives. There was a HUGE explosion sound which lead to a magnificent eruption of lava in the night sky! Unfortunately, it was a lot going all directions which included our direction. All of a sudden our Tour Guides were screaming "watch out - watch out" as lava literally travelled over our heads. One huge piece of lava landed only five meters behind where we were standing. At this point our tour guides frantically tried to get us down the volcano as quickly as possible however some of our team managed to get a photo of the lava that landed so close to where we were standing.

As we travelled down the volcano we asked the Tour Guides if this kind of thing is common and apparently it is not - we were just very lucky (or unlucky). So thanks for prayers and kind thoughts because a scary situation has probably become a highlight for many!

Then it was back to Lenakel for a quick feed before heading to 8.30pm chapel once again.

Then bedtime for a VERY tired team!

Lata bol (Blake)

See ya on the flip side!

Amber and Jeremy