New Project Launched

We are now on the tropical island of Gaua, Banks group, Torba Province, Northern Vanuatu. This is an island 20km across, approximately square shaped, situated in the Pacific about 2000km east of Cairns, Queensland. To get to the nearest bank, gas station, or post office we must travel 100 miles south across a lonely stretch of the Pacific Ocean.

Volunteers for God

We are here on a mission bearing the name of Torba Adventist Health Education and Medical Services, as volunteers of Laymen Ministries, based in Idaho, USA. I am also an official missionary volunteer of the Vanuatu SDA Mission and of the Vanuatu Government, but we are being supported as volunteer missionaries by Laymen Ministries. Torba Province is only partially entered by the SDA church and there are large areas of the province which are not yet exposed to our message. In addition, I am the only physician in the entire province, so we have plenty to do here and the people are hungry for our help. Right now is a critical period for this group of islands-including the Banks and Torres islands, because they are opening up to our message. Our work is to do what Jesus did: To mingle with the people as those who desire their good, to show sympathy for them, to minister to their needs (physically, educationally, and spiritually) and to win their confidence so that we may bid them follow Jesus.

Cyclone Season

Northern Vanuatu is a hot place right now. We are in the middle of the cyclone season, and the days are hot and humid. There are many insects at this time of year. But in spite of the heat, we have many beautiful days and some cool breezes and sunshine. It is not as bad as it may sound. We are thankful to live near a beautiful fresh water river with waterfalls and pools we can swim in at any time. The ocean right now is mostly very calm, with occasional storms and the possibility of a cyclone. But we have not had any cyclones since we arrived. We are told that cyclones are likely to form here so they are less damaging than after they leave here and head south.

Receptive People

The people are friendly by nature and easy to work with. In general, they are very receptive and appreciative of our efforts to help them. They have given us many formal and traditional evidences to say we are welcome on their island so we really do feel welcome here. We were told that SDAs were not appreciated when the very first ones arrived here, but we have been treated very well. It seems that the Lord has given us influence with the whole island. We are well known to everyone, in spite of the fact that we dont know them all yet. Everywhere we go we are greeted with smiling faces by people who know who we are.

Food for Treatments

The patients who come to us for help are mostly seeking help for tooth problems, skin problems, and a large variety of tropical infections. We dont charge them but we ask them to bring food instead which most of them do. Although we have had to say no to the large amount of grapefruit we are getting, we generally get a reasonable spread of good food and are living quite OK on it, along with some wholemeal flour and peanut butter "imported" from Santo. We have had some bush knife injuries to suture up and lots of teeth have already been pulled out. Some Albinos here have been coming for help with horrible skin problems.

Shopping in Gaua

Shopping on Gaua island is as basic as you can go. There are 5 very small stores on the island, which sell the real basics of life, like salt, kerosine, rice, mosquito coils, matches, batteries etc. So we have to order our supplies from Santo. We are just now getting into the routine of how to do this. We have discovered a SDA guy who owns one of the stores and he is able to get us stuff about once or twice a month. We are very thankful for his help.

Water from the Crater

Naomi and Kay do the washing by hand - often in the stream as it is a lot cooler and quite enjoyable to swim while doing the washing! Fortunately we have plenty of clean water. We have put a pipe in the river upstream and so we have water in the house and garden directly from the stream. The stream pours down over a huge waterfall from the crater of a volcano which is about 10 miles west of us in the middle of the island. We are very blessed to live right on the edge of this beautiful stream and to have no limit to the amount of water we can use. Our toilet needs fixing up-we have only a pit toilet but soon hope to get a proper one. Our shower is cold water in the mornings and evenings, but can be very hot during the middle of the day, as we have not yet been able to bury the poly pipe completely. That's when we resort to the creek for a wash or just to cool down.

Coconuts at every meal

There are plenty of bananas, coconuts, pawpaws and root vegetables here like yam, taro, sweet potato and cassava. They make a traditional food called laplap from the root vegetables mixed with coconut and baked. Tastes OK most of the time but sometimes is rubbery, especially if you dont eat it right after it is cooked. We pay a girl $1 daily to bring us the freshly squeezed coconut flesh of 8 mature coconuts. After cooking this milk it curdles and becomes gorgeous cream which will make any food taste good. We don't have a fridge, so it has to be canned (bottled) to survive a max of about 20 hours, so we can use it for breakfast the following day. Vegetables like onion and tomato are more rare and greens are limited to island cabbage which is slimy and needs plenty of coconut cream to bring it to life. We hope that patients will start bringing us fresh coconuts. We thought that on an island covered with coconut plantations, it would be easy to get hold of fresh coconuts. But its taking time to get the message out about how much we LOVE fresh coconut water. It is really sooo refreshing.

Kay's interests

Aside from assisting with cooking and washing, Kay helps me in the clinic holding and cleaning surgical utensils and acting as nurse. She also makes time for homeschooling. Another timeslot is given to taking care of the beautiful kitten we were given before coming up north. He is a rat-cat to feed on all the rats who we were warned would move in with us at this new location. It turns out they did move in with us, but the cat is a wonderful hunter. He eats every spider, lizard and mouse he sees. Not much gets by him. Another timeslot is for Kays interest in cooling off in the creek, which happens many times in one day.

Naomi shows her colors

Naomi is always busy with homemaking and gardening. Everything grows so fast here, that it can take a lot of time to keep up with all the weeds. We had a lot of mud being tramped into the house, but Naomi and Kay have been busy making a stone pathway to help keep some of the mud out of the house. Naomi also finds time to co-ordinate a home-study course on health which is proving to be a good starter for youth interested in learning more. We will inevitably end up training some of them as health educators-some of them are super, superkeen! She also is getting into sewing and teaching sewing for some locals. Life is tough for her considering how basic the kitchen is but she is not complaining and makes the best of the situation. To save gas (we do have a gas cooker) she bakes bread in a camp oven on a fire outside. But she needs a bush kitchen to make that an easier job. Most Australian women could not handle what she is taking in her stride with courage and cheerfulness.

Plenty to do

Every day our breakfast is interupted with patients rolling up before clinic opening time, and although I have many things I would like to be doing, I am spending a lot of time seeing patients. My goal is to use free time when available to develop a training course for youth initially and to facilitate local and overseas volunteers in pushing forward a work which is wider than my own sphere. Part of my agreement with the government is to visit health centers all round the province to help them with big or difficult cases and with surgical procedures - something I have barely started doing. I am already running out of some important medical supplies and have had to reorder from Santo. I could really use an ultrasound machine and some basic blood test equipment. Although I have a Ham radio license now, I don't have a radio yet. If and when I do get one, it will enable me to stay in contact with health centers in Torba so they can call me for help with emergencies, as nearly all of the bigger health centers have HF radios. So a ham radio is on my prayer list now. Another thing I am praying about is an aircraft so I can use my pilots license to maximize the opportunities that have fallen into my hands here in Torba as the only medically trained doctor in the whole province. Right now, transportation between islands is a considerable problem, but a plane would give us wings to really get around. We are thankful to have a 7m fiberglass banana boat - funded through Laymen Ministries - which is ideal for going shorter distances and enables us to get right into the coral reefs around these islands. We brought it all the way from Port Vila across the water, but it is not built for such long distances across open ocean without lots of preparation and good timing. It is more ideal for local work around the islands in our vicinity.

Philip the Evangelist

The SDA church here is coming alive now. My Vanuatuan companion worker, who is also a volunteer for the SDA mission, is Philip, the local minister of the small church on the top right hand corner of this island near the airstrip. He arrived on the island at the same time we did and is doing a good job in getting the church into gear for progress and growth. We enjoy fellowshiping with them, and we are always involved in the services, singing, preaching, teaching and sharing. We are learning Bislama quickly, and soon I hope to be able to preach at least partly in Bislama. But meanwhile Philip translates. The services are quite formal but meaningful to the people. We spend the whole day at church since they always have fellowship lunch and an afternoon program. Getting to church is a challenge. It requires a fast walk for 70-80 minutes, often slipping and sliding on the muddy track, and then changing clothes when you get there-because you sweat a lot while walking. The church is basically made up of one large extended family where almost everyone attending is a family member. Currently about 70 are baptized SDAs, but some of them live in more remote places. I envision being a facilitator to get more 'Philips' into these islands. We work very well together. Last week we visited a very remote area together and ran a medical clinic. This has already opened up the opportunity for Philip to return there as an evangelist. In fact there are lay ministers like Philip waiting to be utilized in this work. My hope is that we can sponsor up to about 12 Philips in these northern islands of Vanuatu, and perhaps stretch over into southern Solomon islands. This would combine well with my work in medical lines, because while visiting various places I can support the lay ministers and help them enter new areas. They in turn help me with translating and with reaching the people.

Reefs and lagoons

The coral reefs around these islands enclose large lagoons full of coral and some beautiful fish. The surf crashes on the reef about 200m out to sea making a beautiful scene and sound. So far we have not had much time to actually enjoy this beautiful water. The beaches here on Gaua are not spectacular white and sandy beaches, but up north in the Torres islands the beaches are breathtakingly beautful. Although the sound of the crashing ocean is constant here, the rapids from our little river are quite noisy and sometimes make conversation at our dinner table difficult unless everyone speaks clearly.

No shortage of Mud!

The countryside on Gaua island is either coconut plantation, vegetable garden or dense tropical jungle. The soils are as rich as you can get. Deep red volcanic soils with lots of humus. You can grow anything here. Just spit a seed out on the ground and in a few days it is growing. The only road on the island which is about 10 miles long is extremely rough in places and even walking on it with bare feet can be dangerously slippery when wet. It pays to wait until it dries up before riding a motorcycle on it. We have a 110 cc australia post honda motorcycle which is good for this kind of terrain-very reliable, economical, and light enough to pull out of deep mud! There are no snakes, frogs or poisonous insects here apart from mosquitos with their deadly poison-malaria. There are few beaches on this island.

Communication Difficulties

Making a phone call is possible from one of only 5 phones on the island which work on solar power via radiophone towers. The phones are always busy or the batteries frequently flat. So you have to be patient and wait for the lines to come good before you make your call. All public phones use no coins-only phone cards which you have to purchase in Santo. But we are blessed to have a satellite phone which enables us to stay in touch with the world through simple text emails. We can connect and check emails for about US$1.50 and if necessary we can leave it switched on for people to call us-noone has done it so far. The cheapest way for people to call us on this phone is to dial a special number in the US (1-480-768-2500) and at the prompt dial in our satellite phone number (8816-3156-2243). Email us any time at hope@go777light.com and warn us a few days in advance when you will be calling us. We would be glad to speak to you. If you can get a cheap deal to the US number above, you can call us at a reasonable price.

A Dead Laptop

On the day we were packing the boat to leave Santo on our long journey here to Gaua, a friend dropped our laptop computer in the river. Fortunately, it didnt get too wet, but the hard drive got sick and died a few days ago. Praise God we have a very old sorry-looking spare laptop with us which is able to send and receive emails on the satellite phone, so we are still in touch with the world via email, which we check regularly.

Travel

Travel between islands is possible at a high cost with Air Vanuatus twin otter passenger aircraft-air fares have just gone up again. The only other option is to get a copra ship-cheaper but a very rough way to get around. Because we have the luxury of a fiberglass banana boat with two outboard engines, we have special privileges, and are among the very very few who can go to other islands whenever we like-but we havent exercised that privilege yet. But to travel to Santo in it is a big undertaking-a trip to prepare for and pray about because it is a long and lonely stretch of water to travel-we know from experience because we came all the way from Port Vila to Gaua in this boat, a distance of over 300 miles! But the banana boat really comes into its own in territory like this-because it is small enough to get accross shallow lagoons and across the reef where bigger boats cannot get in. What we anticipate by faith is an aircraft which would enable me to put my pilots license to use and to get around much easier.

Mail

Mail to us is redirected from our mailing address (PO Box 777, Killarney, QLD, Australia 4373) to the SDA Mission at PO Box 85, Port Vila, Vanuatu, from where it is sent to us in the churches internal mail system to the local church minister here on Gaua-which we hope will be once a week or so. But to date we have received mail only once since leaving Australia almost 3 months ago! Mail from us has to be dropped off at the airstrip building on the days that the plane is due in - but that sometimes changes at the last minute. The airstrip is located at the top of the island, which is about 1 1/2 hours walk from our house. There it enters the mail circulation and who knows how long it will take to get delivered to you!

Jeff's Visit

Recently we had the privilege of a visit from Jeff Reich, director of Laymen Ministries, who was involved in some camp meetings in New Zealand before coming to Vanuatu. He spent a week with us, and managed to get bitten only 7 times by mosquitos during his whole visit. The local people here liked Jeff and went to great efforts to help him get some good video footage-although Satan played some games with Jeff's camera battery. But he left with a good amount of footage, and the camera battery stayed alive for a long time after threatening to go flat. We were able to discuss and formulate some concrete plans for the future. Jeff was also able to take the hard drive from our dead computer, in the hope the 20 Gigabytes of priceless data on it can be retrieved on his return to the US. Please join us in praying that the Lord will help us to get our data back. We feel so privileged to be a part of Laymen Ministries. It is our hope that we will be able to replicate here in Vanuatu some of the very good work this ministry is currently doing in other countries.

The Journey from Santo to Gaua

Before finishing this newsletter of our experiences in Gaua, I must relate the story of our travel from Santo to Gaua in our fiberglass boat.

It was in Santo that we sensed that Satan was trying to delay our departure for Gaua, and after a while we decided to set a time and just leave. So many things where apparently delaying us and we felt we had to move out in faith. But on the morning of our planned departure, the weather was not suitable, and we feared to leave. The next morning we rose early, again to discover the weather was not right. Finally the 3rd morning we set out for Gaua. But as we came into the broad open ocean, the waves rose to 2 or 3 meters, and rough winds were against us. We started to get afraid, and turning back towards Santo, decided to head up the coast and wait for better weather. As we turned, a large group of dolphins swarmed around us, as if to escort us to safety. What beautful creatures they are! Perhaps they were led by angels! Later that day, as we approached a safe harbour to spend the night, we were particularly fiercely hit with big waves which we found frightening and disheartening. So the next three days were spent recovering in Port Olry, North East Santo. On the last day which was the Sabbath, we prayed earnestly for good weather for the following day. That afternoon we took a walk along the beach, and the Lord gave us a brilliant colored rainbow which was in the direction of our destination-Gaua Island! The rainbow didnt linger for merely a few minutes or even an hour, but all afternoon. Finally as the sun went down, the rainbow still lingered over Gaua. That was enough for us. We knew that our prayers were answered, and we could leave the following morning for Gaua. So wakening very early, while it was still dark, I called the Meteorological Office, who confirmed fair seas, and we set out in a rainstorm, by faith, accross the mighty ocean. We didnt fear rain, because rain is no problem when you have a GPS. We feared only big waves and the absence of God's protection. But out we went, until finally we could see the island, while Santo behind us was barely visible on the horizon. As we approached Gaua, we were thrilled to realize that God had finally brought us safely accross the wild ocean to our destination. Ahead of us the mighty volcano of Gaua stood out steaming above us. As we came up the east coast of the island, another difficulty loomed over us. The large reef outside the island makes entry to the shore dangerous. Although I knew that Kaska Bay had a good opening in the reef, we feared that we would cross the reef at the wrong place and our boat would be dashed to pieces. But our fears were needless. As we approached the aread of Kaska bay, we saw 3 boys in dugout canoes who seemed to be there just waiting for us. After talking to them, they confirmed that we were in the right place and could safely go into the bay, our final destination. So in we came, unto our desired haven.

"He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them unto their desired haven." Psalm 107:29,30

Thanksgiving

The Lord is blessing us so much and in spite of inconveniences, we are living very well. We have very basic furniture, a crude pit toilet, inadequate mosquito protection, terrible roads or lack thereof...but we are praising the Lord. We think things have turned out very well considering we have only just got here. In time, we will get our lives a little more comfortable-but not too comfortable, we hope.

The things we especially praise God for include the following:
Safe arrival from Santo accross the long stretch of ocean to Gaua
The full support of the Vanuatu Government's ministry of health
The full support of the local SDA mission
The full support of the local custom chiefs and village elders
Incredible opportunities to help the people of Torba province, including all the Banks and Torres Islands
Plenty of needy people around us who appreciate our help
Youth everwhere who are hungry for knowledge and encouragement
A mission field that is opening up right now to the 3rd angels messages
A tightly knit family unit with common goals and beliefs, plus a mandate from the Lord to work for others
An inspired vision and calling to put every talent we have into the Lord's work
A wonderful opportunity as missionaries of Laymen Ministries to share our work with many, many people via newsletters and videos/3ABN programs
Encouraging words from many supportive friends who anticipate coming over to help us from Australia and the US in the future
The history of our own experience in faith through which God has completely proved His faithfulness in launching this project
Health of body, mind and soul and currently, protection from serious illness or harm
Great freedom in choosing a pathway of ministry that fits and promises to fulfil our personal callings
A wonderful opportunity for our daughter to get heavily involved in selfless but satisfying ministry during this important time of her life
A beautiful, dramatic and healthful place to live and work with evidences all around us of God's mighty creative power

Standing at the Threshold

Right now we stand at the threshold of our future work in Torba, and we are now thinking seriously about how this project could be developed. But we know for certain that the possibilities are great for working with local people to reach their own people-a proven method that will most certainly yield fruit. We know that medical ministry is a incredibly powerful means of reaching out to a world of sin and darkness, rapidly paving the way for people to share in the light of the gospel and to be prepared to meet Jesus at His second coming in peace. We feel that in future, we will inevitably be facilitating young zealous lay ministers and teachers and health workers around these islands to build up the work of God in Northern Vanuatu. Who knows whether we have come here for such a time as this? Maybe we were born for this. We have some needs, but we know that our God shall supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Pray for us.

The Turnbull family-your friends, Mark, Naomi and Kay