Our first real stop in Vanuatu was the island of Futuna, where we lived for 2 and 1/2 weeks. Futuna's landmark is her mountain, which takes up most of the island, and Futuna is absolutely gorgeous! The views are breathtaking and to be taking them in is surreal. The island is only 3km wide, and there are 4 big villages on the island (with a few really small ones close by). Though the island is small, there aren't any roads to these villages, only paths to hike from place to place.
We stayed in one village, Mission Bay, the whole time we were there, and then hiked to the other villages to do various programs. Part of our team held a clinic in the village of Matongi one day, but I had stayed back at camp that day with Marisa who had injured her knee. When the team came back from that clinic, I was told of this little girl that had a bunch of terrible wounds that might be infected and need antibiotics. The next week we trekked back to Matongi for another clinic with me along for the ride.
During the clinic, Tayler pointed Laura, the little girl, out to me in her cute butterfly dress. We looked at her wounds, which looked so much better and not infected, and then she just sat with me for a while. As we talked, I found out that she is 9, and that she used to live in Australia (we knew she wasn't full Ni-Van, native to Vanuatu, due to her skin color and hair texture), and she has been in Vanuatu since last December. She loves butterflies and her favorite color is blue. She also doesn't want to be anything when she grows up (we were joking around). Through talking with her uncle, we discovered that there were some family issues, and her mom dropped her off with family in Vanuatu. Her uncle was there to pick her up, as he and his family were adopting her, and take her back to Australia where they live.
Laura and I sat together for a long time chatting, and I gave my role of taking blood pressures to another team member. As Laura was snuggled up next to me, at one point, I started talking to God and said how I felt bad that I just left my post. I wasn't contributing to the clinic. All I was doing was being motherly to this little girl, who may not have had anything like this since she left her home. God says, "Is this not what I do for you? I stop what I'm doing to be with you and give you care and comfort and love." Obviously, God doesn't have to physically stop what He's doing, as He can be in all places at all times, but it spoke so much to my heart. We like to constantly do, do, do, but sometimes, the best ministry is just stopping to sit and talk and in this case snuggle. The best ministry can be just to love how you would want to be loved.
Laura touched my heart in such a special way, and I loved being able to spend that time with her.
