Where in the world is Vanuatu?!? That's a question we hear all the time when we tell people where we live and work. The Pacific Island country of Vanuatu (formerly the New Hebrides) is located east of Australia and north of New Zealand. It is made up of over 80 islands, with the majority of its 202,000 population living on 12 of those islands. The country was settled by both the England and France back in the 18th century, and therefore both English and French are national languages. Additionally, every village has its own distinct language or dialect (some estimate that Vanuatu has the highest language density in the world). Bislama, or pidgin English, is the third national language and serves as the most common form of communication. Vanuatu's main industries are tourism and agriculture, with a majority of the locals engaging in self-sustenance farming. The government is an independent parliamentary democracy, and a member of the British commonwealth. Port Vila is the capital city of Vanuatu and has a population of approximately 36,000.

The ni-Vanuatu constitution recognizes no state religion and protects freedom of religion and other basic civil liberties. The majority of the population claims Christianity as their religion, with Presbyterian, Seventh Day Adventist, Anglican, Neil Thomas Ministries having the largest groups. Starting in the 1970s, churches of Christ in the United States began making occasional missionary trips to follow up on Bible correspondence courses. In 1979, the church was started by John Hall in Port Vila. From 1980 to 1983, the Ed Crookshank family lived in Port Vila as resident missionaries. From about 1997 to 2002, the Tobey Huff family lived in Port Vila. As of September 2001, there were five congregations comprised of approximately 150 members on the islands of Vanuatu. Before the mission team's arrival in April 2005, there had not been any foreign missionaries residing in the country since 2002.