Seven dedicated young men and women graduated from JBI on Sunday afternoon, November 1. We are told it was a beautiful day and a wonderful service with hundreds in attendance. We certainly wish we could have been there. We were so glad that Jerry Jacob, our Oceania Director, flew to Vanuatu to be the graduation speaker this year.

From left to right: Clovis, hidden behind him is Alick, Rinett, Ronett, Jill, Flora and Jack.

Please pray for each one as they return to their home islands to minister or go elsewhere. One young woman is already headed to a southern island for evangelism. We believe that this is the first time JBI has graduated four women in the same class.

Some of you have contacted us concerning the reported earthquakes yesterday in Vanuatu. Thank you for your concern. According to the USGS website in just over 24 hours there have been 14 significant earthquakes hit the area between the northern islands of Vanuatu and the Santa Cruz Islands. The largest earthquake registered at 7.8 and the least at 4.1. There were probably many smaller after shocks but those will not show on that list. A Tsunami warning was issued but two hours later it was cancelled. 

Our missionary colleagues, Bryan and Renee Webb, live on the island of Santo, about 175 miles from the epicenter. We have heard from them and they are well. They felt five strong earthquakes in Santo. No one was hurt from the earthquakes as there are few buildings built over one storey. The newly built concrete mission house was not damaged and the local built huts are flexible enough to sway but rarely fall down from an earthquake. A tsunami wave would have caused severe damage but this did not materialize. Our medical missionary colleagues, Priscilla and Gary Ross live in a remote bush area of Santo and they are also fine.

Port Vila where Joy Bible Institute is located is about 600 miles farther south from the earthquakes’ epicenter. We have not received news from them yet but do not expect any severe damage reports. Though the number of strong earthquakes in such a short time is unsettling.

Thank you for continuing to pray for Vanuatu. Last week our missionary colleagues in the Pacific island nations of Samoa and American Samoa experienced a powerful 8.0 earthquake and the devastation of two tsunami waves. Villages were flatten and 170 people drowned. Pray for the missionaries, pastors and Bible students as they help during this difficult time in Samoa.

In another month, four young women and three men will graduate from JBI.  I believe that this is the first time JBI has had four women in a graduating class! All the young ladies are single and have been involved in children’s and youth ministries while at school. They represent the islands of Efate, Ifira and Pentecost. The three men in the photo are from the islands of Epi, Malekula and Santo. Pastor Jack, pictured in the middle, already pastors a church on the northern island of Malekula. Please pray for each graduate as they finish their studies and go back into full-time service across the country of Vanuatu.

For several months I having been working on print agreements, editorial proofs, photo shoots and answering innumerable emails and now the Gospel of John booklet has finally been printed in the Bislama language!

Since the four Gospels were translated into Bislama in 1971, it appears that this is the first time the Gospel of John has been available as a separate booklet. I do not have the words to express how I felt today when I received the first copies of “Gud Nius blong Jisas Kraes we Jon i Raetem” or as we would say in English, “The Good News of Jesus Christ that John Wrote”.

My partner in this project wrote a note inside one booklet saying,

“Who would ever think we would ever see the end of this project! I feel so amazingly blessed to have been a part of what God has done. I am reminded that when God’s Word goes out it doesn’t return void. As we have seen God work in this project let us also believe in prayer for the ground to be ready for the seeds to grow and bring forth fruit.”

Thank you to those of you who generously support “Light For The Lost.” We received $5000 for this project. I have shared with you in the past our concern about new converts not having the Scriptures in a language they can easily understand. The Bible is available in Bislama but at a discounted price of $22.00 per Bible, it is obviously not something we can hand out frequently. The new Gospel of John is a 48 page, glossy paper booklet (5 3/4 in. x 8 1/4in.) with a full color cover. This Gospel of John costs 35 cents a piece and we have 14,200 copies to give away!

I started this project alone and many have joined me to make this idea a reality. Thank you especially to Michael and my new friends at the Bible Society of the South Pacific offices both in Fiji and Australia who helped in so many ways!

In a few days these booklets will be arriving by ship in Vanuatu from the printer. Please pray that things will go smoothly and they will be released from customs quickly. Pray that as they are distributed people will understand that only Jesus can say, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life" (John 8:12).

The night before we flew out to go on furlough, the new JBI student kitchen was completed. This would have never been possible if several very generous donations had not been given and if Job (‘09 JBI grad) had not been willing to come back to Port Vila and spend a couple of weeks finishing the construction. The students were so excited to start cooking in this new space! A sincere thank you to all who helped to make this new kitchen possible!

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.