A Good Excuse to Update
Earlier!
This update is being sent out earlier than
usual because I will be away in Santo & Vila for a week or two-but actually
I have been wanting to share the good news so much that I am glad to have an
excuse to share it sooner!
God is really blessing us here in Torba
Province, Vanuatu. We have so much to be thankful for. There are some very encouraging things happening in our lives
right now:
Cook on the
Roof
Since our arrival in Gaua, we have been
worshiping in a shack with partly open sides and with a low iron roof.
Its too small for our regular congregation, and in the past 3 months, the
congregation has grown and simply cant fit in any more. When the preacher stands
up, especially if he is 6 feet 2 inches tall, like me, he has to take care not
to hit his head on the rafters. The heat coming through the iron roofing is
oppressive. On a hot day, you could cook a meal on the roof without any problem.
But preaching leads to profuse sweating. You need to hold a towel to wipe the
sweat off your face. A hankerchief gets wet too quickly!
A History of Failed Attempts
The church has been talking about building
for several years. They have a small piece of land, some building materials, and
4 experienced builders in the congregation. But without leadership and without
encouragement, the church building project has been at a standstill for years
now. On several occasions, different ministers have talked about building, so
the building project area has been cleared and weeds removed-but the project has
always seemed too difficult to go forward. Over and over the weeds have
grown back again. Getting expensive building supplies up to Gaua has
been difficult, and SDAs have been discouraged by lack of good leadership and by
criticism from other church groups.
The Time is Fulfilled
"It is time." Hosea
10:12
But somehow the time has come. The
decisiveness of the new minister, 'Philip the Evangelist', together with
some encouragement on our part, and most importantly the conviction of the
Spirit of God, has impressed the congregation to arise and to
build.
"Let them make Me a
sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." Exodus 25:8.
Over the past few weeks, at great personal
sacrifice, church members have gathered to prepare and sell copra to raise funds
for the church building fund. Orders for timber and cement are coming on a ship
next week.
Lets Make it Bigger
This past Monday almost the whole church
turned up including men, women and children of all ages, and we dug the
foundations in one day! Already concrete reinforcement and other preparations
are being made for the laying of the concrete floor-which will be laid very
soon. The original plans for the church were a building 40 feet by 20 feet. But
because the congregation is growing, the decision was made to extend to a 50
foot building-small by some standards but a good sized church for this
island!
We just praise God for the work that is
going forward, and anticipate by faith the opportunity to request help from
friends in Australia or elsewhere-the greatest need will be a good quality
chainsaw when it comes time to put the roof on. (Believe it or not, timber is
prepared not with circular saws here, but with chainsaws.)
A Faith that Actually Works!
During our time in the Philippines, the
Lord allowed us to work with a group of people whom we were trying to pull
together to build a church-that one didnt work out. But we thank God that here
we are with people who have taken our encouragement so seriously and who have
shown their faith by their works in such a visible way. In a short time, an idea
has become a living reality in the lives of these people. This has been a
faith-building experience for us, and has given us perhaps a preview of what may
be possible with God's help in the future.
A Desperate Need for Teen-Age
Education
On our arrival in Gaua we quickly
discerned a desperate need for the education of school-leavers aged 13-20 or
older. Most young people cannot afford to finish school past their 10th year,
and many leave school after their 7th or 8th year. A smaller group dont get to
attend school at all, due to poverty and lack of educational advantages. Many
students have to pull out of schooling due to their very low family income.
No Information in the Information
Era?
Books here are very very few and far
between. It seems crazy to be in a world in which the "information era" is
exploding, but to live on an island which is almost completely devoid
of books or electronic media. Having travelled in various parts of the
world, including Africa and South East Asia, I can say I have never been
anywhere where people are so hungry for information. If we were looking for a
place to reach the most receptive students in the world, I think this may be
selected as the best place!
Another reason people desire education is
because it gives them an opportunity to learn and practice English, which they
generally believe will help them with further education and
employment.
With this in mind, we have felt impressed
that God wants us to teach young people. But the idea of institutional education
for this age group is a big undertaking-more than we are prepared to
do right now.
Supply Meets Demand
But because of the demand, (the supply
must meet the demand, right?) we started sharing a very simple evangelistic
health course (only 12 lessons) which has been quite popular-about 40
people have signed up and many have now completed it. That gave us time to think
about preparing another course.
A Plan that Cannot Fail
While contemplating the gospel commission
we noticed the following:
"Go ye therefore, and teach
all nations,
baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
Teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you alway,
even unto the end of the world."
Matthew 28:19-20
The Lord said 1/Teach them, then 2/Baptize them, then 3/Teach them
again.
So we decided on something very simple: we
should teach unbelievers to get ready for baptism, baptize them, then teach
them how to be missionaries to reach others! I dont think this plan can fail. Do
you?
Lets Keep it Simple
Our new course is very simple to operate.
It is called our Missionary Volunteer Health Educator course. In
the application form the student is told that the course does not
guarantee employment or a recognized certificate, but that it will prepare
them to do unpaid missionary volunteer work as village health educators in
their local communities. The lessons are prepared on our computer,
printed out, and they take them home to complete them. Modules include
anatomy, physiology, home remedies, nutrition, Bible and similar
subjects, most of which is still under preparation. We dont charge
them fees for taking the course-most of them simply cannot afford to pay for it.
So for each lesson, they must arrange to come and work for an hour at our home,
where we utilize their energies in a variety of tasks-some help in the garden,
some help Naomi with washing, some will be helping with translation (not yet
implemented), some assist me when seeing patients (and get hands on
training with patients), some with making mats... and the list will expand
with time. As students they also have the privilege of coming to read in our
'reading room'. We let them read any of our books (we have a small collection on
health and Bible topics), but they are not allowed to take them home. All of
these students will, in time, be studying through a set of studies leading
to baptism, and preparing them for volunteer missionary work as Health
Educators. Our plan is to select those who have ability and show dedication to
get further training either in the direction of medical missionary work or in
the direction of Bible work. We anticipate a 6 to 12 month course right now, but
it remains flexible.
They Come From Afar
We thank God for giving us
such a beautifully simple, and so far, amazingly successful
little training program. We have a very keen group of young people
participating, and daily the number is growing. Even students from other
islands (can you believe this?) have come here to take this simple
course! Yesterday a student from the west coast of Gaua made plans to
come to live near us to do this course. When I start holding classes with
visual aids using our data projector, we expect the interest to spread
even more rapidly. Books make these students happy, but digital presentations
leave them awestruck!
ThankYou Lord for Your Divine Wisdom!
God's ways are:
Beatifully simple, and simply
beautiful!
Persecution &
Discouragement of Sabbath-keepers
The small SDA church in the north-east
corner of this island has suffered a lot of persecution and bad press in years
gone by. There has been a staunch and intolerant Anglican presence for
some time here, and these people have not looked favorably on new Christian
'sects' coming onto this island. The first Sabbath-keepers to come here,
only a few years ago, were despised and hated for keeping the
Sabbath. Sabbath-keepers who have lived far from the church have mostly
backslidden and lost courage through a lack of fellowship.
Sabbath-keepers Come Out of Hiding
But it seems that the Lord has put us in a
place to facilitate a change in these things. We are based quite a long way
south of the church on the east coast. And now we are discovering a
surprising number of people who would like to keep the Sabbath,
and who want to study their Bibles and meet together. We ask you to pray for these people. Maybe the Lord will give us the
opportunity to help them. By God's grace we will do so.
Thankyou for your interest in this
project. Pray for us. Pray for the people of Torba Province.
Mark Turnbull
Laymen Ministries Volunteer
Vanuatu Mission of Seventh-day
Adventists