In a week we will be flying to the States for our deputation. I can tell you that it is never easy to pull up roots, pack the boxes and put everything in storage for a year. We also have a beautiful cat needing a new family. Some of the JBI students spent their free day helping Gary move the furniture. They may be sitting down in this picture but they worked very hard! Thank you guys for all your help!
We are so thankful for LFTL funds which enable us to provide many different kinds of printed materials for evangelism and new converts. Last year we were also able to purchase 200 Sunday School teachers books (a book of 60 great lessons) from the AG of the Philippines in English. English is spoken here but our goal is to eventually translate this curriculum into Bislama so it can be easily understood and used by all. So far the feedback from teachers is excellent.
We have now given every book away and I am still getting phone calls from pastors on outer islands wanting copies for their church. I thought you might enjoy seeing some Sunday School teachers in action today at Evangel Temple. This is a town church but it has no special classrooms for Sunday School activities. Every class finds a corner of the sanctuary or outside to gather. What I was glad to see was the teachers using the new curriculum and everyone enjoying themselves.
Our JBI principal, Pastor Edgell, celebrated his 40th birthday today! Could not let that special date go by without a party and some chocolate cake! After some speeches, a dowsing talcum powder and a few laughs, we had a wonderful dinner and desserts. Happy Birthday, Pastor Edgell, and God Bless You!
We have had four earthquakes in the last 24 hours. The largest one was 6.5 and gave us a good, long shake. It went on long enough that I told the kids to head for a doorway. Vanuatu gets about 1000 earth tremors a year because it is situated on the famous Pacific “Ring of Fire” and of course, we also have several active volcanoes in the country.
Sunday morning phone calls do not always bring good news. This Sunday morning, Pastor Mendor was standing high on a hill in the middle bush on the large island of Espiritu Santo with a cell phone and had good news to share. He was so excited because today a man from an influential family in an unreached village was going to be baptized! This is an unreached village that Pastor Mendor has trekked by while evangelizing other places but this particular village had remained closed to him. What is hard to imagine is that this village among others in the dense jungle of Santo has resisted the Gospel of Christ not because of traditional animistic beliefs (which they still adhere to) but because a Baha’i believer had previously been there and “claimed” them.
How can I share with you Pastor Mendor’s passion to reach the people in remote villages on Espiritu Santo? How his heart breaks when he hears that villagers who have never had an adequate presentation of the Gospel of Christ fall prey to foreign cults. He asked us to share this testimony with the JBI students and challenge them to take the Gospel to the hard unreached places of Vanuatu. He said, “While Christians stay in the easy coastline areas, foreign cults are going inland and claiming villagers by business contracts and development projects. They are doing this right under our noses.”
Last year Pastor Mendor and Terry, a young Christian man, were trekking by this village when they were stopped by a torrential rainstorm. They were given shelter and Pastor Mendor took advantage of this opportunity to share the message of Christ with his host family. They listened but the head of the family said that they had already agreed to follow Bahá’u'lláh. But the Holy Spirit was working in hearts and one man asked Pastor Mendor to pray for him. Pastor Mendor promised to stop by again in a few months on his next trip.
Today, that same man, Philip, is being baptized in this village as a testimony to his claiming Christ as his personal Savior. Someone had claimed Philip for another prophet but Philip experienced Christ in his life after Pastor Mendor’s visit and has made his own decision.
Pastor Mendor asked me if I could send 10 Bislama Bibles and writing notebooks for the literacy class he is giving to help the villagers read the Bislama Bible. He is not interested in “claiming” people but rather in making disciples who will follow Christ and understand God’s Word. Please pray for Pastor Mendor and others as they trek through the bush taking the Gospel to the isolated places.
Thank you also for supporting LFTL literature projects. We are currently in the final editorial stages before we print 20,000 copies of the Gospel of John in Bislama. A Bislama Bible costs US$22.00 but the Gospel of John will cost about 60 cents and will be more readily available to men like Pastor Mendor who are taking the Gospel to those who have not yet heard.
Thank you! We have the new roof installed on the student kitchen and paid for! Thank you so much to everyone who responded to our request for $7,400 on May 13th. Only a $1,000 more is needed to completely pay for this new kitchen.
Gary is standing on the hill above the kitchen which gives a good view of the new metal kitchen roof (and the rusty cafeteria roof in the background). The new cement floor was poured since the photo above right. The finishing touches on plumbing, electrical wiring and the chimney are the only things remaining to be done! Thank you so much to everyone who has given sacrificially over the months to complete this new kitchen for the Bible school students!
Job has been busy ever since his arrival in town, assisted by two JBI students, Cedrick and Clovis. Here they are getting the beams up so that the iron roofing can be installed. We need US$7400.00 to cover the timber already purchased and the remaining roofing materials, chimney, concrete floor and labor. Gifts should be labeled project #5619 so they are directed to our JBI construction fund. Thank you for your generous support in this project.
On Mother’s Day in Vanuatu, the Women’s Ministry ladies lead the Sunday morning service. They wear lovely red and white island dresses as a group uniform and gifts are given to the widows of the church. This year at Evangel Temple, the children’s choir sang, the men and then the ladies’ WM choir. Sister Oriva preached.
Happy Mother’s Day to all!
What happened – the JBI kitchen renovation is not finished? Well, Job, our JBI student and talented construction worker graduated last year and went home to his island. We ran short of funds and could not find anyone reliable to continue the work. But the new JBI school kitchen must be finished before we leave for furlough in June!
Job graciously agreed to come back to town and got on a small cargo boat and travelled 14 hours to Port Vila last weekend. This week he and two JBI students have been working. So we have the workers, now we need some more funds!
We need to purchase wood for trusses, iron sheet roofing, cement for the new floor, rain gutters and a custom aluminum chimney. This can no longer be delayed as the students need the kitchen and we will be leaving for a year! Thank you for any size gift you can send to help us finish off the new JBI kitchen! Project #5619.
By world standards, Port Vila is a small capital city. But it is certainly the center of comings and goings to Vanuatu and the outer lying islands. Since we live in Port Vila, we are privileged to meet many people and do many airport welcomes and farewells.
When literature or medication are urgently needed by missionaries or national pastors on other islands we send them by plane. When larger shipments of food, building materials or church supplies are needed, we ship them by small boat.
Doctors and dentists work primarily here in Port Vila so many people have to come to town for treatment. Small commercial planes and a private helicopter are sometimes used in emergency cases to evacuate people to Port Vila for medical treatment. Good medical care is not available to many people.
Our missionary colleague, Bryan Webb, is currently organizing a Health Care team which will be going to the southern island of Tanna. Bryan works on the northern island of Santo so he shipped us the necessary camping supplies of tents, toilets, portable shower and even an electrical generator which we then put on another ship headed to Tanna to be used by the team.
At this point, everything seems to be falling into place for the medical team, except the AIDS awareness kits which are needed for a community health seminar. These were shipped from Fiji in February but have not arrived. Please pray that these parcels will arrive in time to be used in this outreach.
This week was final exam week at JBI. The students are now on a two week break. The photo below is of the Youth Ministry class which Lori taught. The course challenged them to look at youth ministry through a new lens, to re-evaluate their current efforts, to re-focus on the real needs of young people within our local context, to set ministry goals and then to move towards content-driven rather than just multiple event programs. The purpose youth ministry being TRANSFORMATION rather than just passing on information! Lori used Andy Stanley’s “Seven Checkpoints” as an example of content-driven youth ministry. The whole idea of youth discipleship and re-shaping worldviews was re-affirmed in hearts. To make this practical the students worked in groups and wrote chapters for a small new converts booklet in Bislama. I know we all felt like we had a productive term! Pray for this group of influential young people as they work with youth in their home churches!
Today the first “Royal Ranger Vanuatu Field Day” was held on the church property of We Care Assembly of God. Thanks to the hard work of Australian colleagues, Russell and Robyn Harbour, Royal Rangers is getting a new lease on life here in Vanuatu. Eighty boys were in attendance from 4 different Assemblies of God churches. They had a great time learning new skills and competing in games. Lori was invited to come out and give a devotional at the end of the day since her mother started the first Royal Ranger troop in Vanuatu in the mid-1970’s.
All term we have been trying to find a time when all the teachers were available and the weather would cooperate for our official school photo. It was high noon today but we found a shady spot in front of the chapel to pose. As we gathered in front of the Joy Memorial Chapel, I could not help but remember that 30 years ago we were mourning my mother’s passing and that today would have been her 71st birthday! I am so glad to be back in Vanuatu!
Pastor Youen preached this morning on “The Power of the Resurrection”.
One of the laymen is an instructor at the Police Academy. This group of new cadets came and sang for Easter. Recently the movie “Fireproof” was shown at the Police Academy. Pray for the police and law enforcement here in Vanuatu. A recent rise in violent crime and inadequate prison facilities are difficulties that these young people are going to face.
Saturday night, Pastor Joseph John, a well-known local watercolor artist and assistant pastor at Evangel Temple, choose not only to speak about Easter but to conclude his sermon with a quick painting! There was a hush in the building as he turned and faced the blank canvas, his wife softly singing in the background. Within 10 minutes he was finished and no one will forget the message!
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