A time for updates

A week and some has gone past since Houghton and Jim left for North Ambrym.  (I write about these places so much that sometimes I dont explain where they are... SO if you are in any way confused by peoples names or places names...please dont hesitate to ask.)  It feels as if they have been gone a thousand years.  Well, maybe not THAT long but since I was going to exaggerate I thought I would go all out.
They have been able to accomplish all that they have set out to do!!!!!!!!!  How awesome is that!!!!!!  They have gathered numerous word lists.  SO WHAT THE HECK IS A "WORD LIST"?? ( wow I wish Hought was hear so I could just ask him to explain it... ) Well, before the guys left they gathered a list of words (hmm about 100 or so I think) and put the English in one column, the Bislama in another column and then had an empty column for that word in language (what we call the native tongue of whoever they would be surveying that day).  So throughout the survey of North Ambrym, they would go through this list with several people of varying language found just in North Ambrym and compare those words.  How close are they to each other if at all, do they use the same kind of vowels as a neighboring language, same kind of constants etc.  This helps us know if the languages neighboring one another are similar and could use the same Bible translation, or if they are different enough that it would be too difficult to understand etc.  WOW I sure hope all that makes since.  I will have to ask Hought to better describe these things when he gets back.  I am sure we will post a final update with pics and I will have him explain this better.
They not only are collecting linguistic type stuff but also giving some face time.  The more people see you, the more they know you and can trust you and what you are saying.  The people of Ambrym have no reason to trust Hought and Jim and believe that they really do have families that want to come in and learn their language and live amongst them!  So our guys are just returning to reiterate that we do indeed mean what we say and would like to come and live with them! 
Hought and Jim also are looking at land that would be possible for us to build on.  And trying to visualize what we could build (i.e. materials there and what is accessible etc.)
After they are finished gathering info in North Ambrym they are flying up to Santo, a northern island.  This is the possible location where we will base out of.  Luganville, second largest city ( there really only is two "cities" in Vanuatu , Port Vila and Luganville) has supplies that we may be able to tap into and it may end up being easier to be supplied out of Luganville and Port Vila.  They are checking into these things and hitting up some contacts in Santo before coming back home.

SO that is what they are up to.
Any questions?????  SHOOT!!!

houghton.richards@gmail.com