Tract Ministry Yielding Fruit for Harvest
From a very small beginning in translation
ministry, our first translated Bislama tract on the Sabbath is silently at work
on Gaua island. Literature is a powerful way for reaching these
people. Brad Warden, a student missionary, brought the
first 500 or so tracts while we await a larger box of these tracts to
arrive in Vanuatu. We decided that 500 was enough for a beginning, and 2
volunteer literature evangelists have now almost finished distributing them far
and wide. The results of these first-fruits of our tract ministry has been
very promising. Many enquiries have led to more discussion and interest in
the Sabbath. Surely we sense that the islands are "waiting for God's law".
We are now working on our next tract, dealing with the topic of the law of
God-another very high yield topic here in Torba Province. These tracts are
destined to fulfil the prophecy in Isaiah 42 verse 4.
Student Missionaries Leave Blessings
Behind: Decisions for Sabbath
Brad and Jared Warden, of Toowoomba, Queenland,
Australia, spent a fruitful 3 weeks here recently helping with this project, and
have now returned to Australia. At the close of their time here, many youth from
our classes bonded with them. They got close to some
special young people here and the fruit of their efforts is multiplying
daily. One special blessing that has resulted has been a family
of one of our students, who have been particularly open to us since Brad and
Jared's visit. The whole family have become our friends and now feel convicted
that they should worship with us every Sabbath, which they are doing. Last
Sabbath our 20 foot banana boat had 17 people on board! (We expect
more next week.) We really enjoy the company of this family and have a
special bond with them. We have learned that to reach one soul often leads to
many interests and contacts-the network of lives touching other lives is a never
ending source of new social connections. From this one student, a
family and even extended family members now are starting to show interest in
joining God's remnant Sabbath-keeping church. Thank you Brad and Jared for
your short but fruitful visit!
Persecution Spreads the Gospel
Seed
Recently our work in South Gaua has been opposed
by a priest of the predominant Christian Church in this area. However, his
efforts to spread lies about us have only served to expose his dishonesty
to the community, who can see clearly that our work has been done in
a transparent and charitable manner. The community secretly
resents the priest's oppressive spirit. We have discovered that
when a significant religious leader deliberately creates evil false reports
about Sabbath-keepers, his efforts tend to foster interest in Sabbath keeping!
As in all ages, persecution spreads the gospel seed very rapidly. As a
result of this persecution, we have a lot of work to do in following up these
many interests in multiple places around our island. Pray that God will give us
special wisdom to deal with those who would fight against God.
Healed by a Dream from
God
A female patient of mine who has been struggling
with many health problems for years now recently became quite overwhelmed and
depressed about her illness. As I worked through a few things with her, it
became obvious to me that she was suffering also spiritually, and perhaps
because of her own inability to explain why these trials were happening to her,
she had come to desire death as a release from her trials. She began to pray
every day that God would release her by taking her life. After sharing
my concerns with minister Philip, the whole church decided to fast and pray for
her. As a result, the Lord gave her a dream, in which she realized her
condition. She related this dream last Sabbath. She dreamed that she was in
a forest where all the trees were dead and had no leaves. She heard strange
animals singing eerie songs, and then people singing, but it sounded strange and
she was unable to understand the music. She then saw a deep hole full of dead
bodies, and as she looked down into the hole, she began to think that
she was going to go into the hole and started moving towards it. But as she
peered into the hole, a voice kept calling her away from the hole. She then
heard the voice of Philip the Evangelist preaching somewhere high up in the sky,
and as she looked up she saw a bright light. She then felt a strong force
pulling her away from the hole, a force that pulled her backwards almost in
spite of her self, like a strong magnet. Then she awoke, but while awake,
she had a strong impression in her dreamlike slumber, like a vision. As she
lay on her bed with her eyes closed, she could see herself
surrounded by every church member, with minister Philip standing before
her, and with Dr Mark at his side. She was vividly impressed that we
were very concerned for her, and felt amazed that she was so loved by her
church family. She then wept and wept over the love that she sensed, and
after calling her husband and relating her dream, she and her husband
prayed and gave thanks to God. This dream has had a dramatic influence on her.
As she related this experience to us, her face shone with a new light. She
seemed to be given a new peace and assurance that she has not experienced
before. She still struggles with health problems but has received spiritual
healing that only God can give. We are very thankful that a member of Pacific
Yacht Ministries kindly offered to pay for her flight to Santo where she will be
having some blood tests.
Suturing at
Midnight
Last Sabbath was a 'walking' Sabbath. That means
we have to walk an hour north to church, due to low tides clashing with Sabbath
hours. (When the tide is high, we may use our banana boat.) During the one
hour walk back home, we met a man from a remote village in South-East Gaua,
which is a 3 hour walk South from our home. He told us that I was urgently
needed to attend to a serious bushknife injury. We rushed back
home and assembled an emergency kit. We walked another three
hours in the dark and found Chief Simon in a smoky hut full of
people. Simon had severed a large artery in his left foot earlier that day.
There was blood on the dirt floor of the hut. Not the best place for a
surgical procedure, I thought-but its a great opportunity to emphasize
Bible hygeine! He related how he had lost a lot of blood and then
temporarily lost consciousness-he must have been in hypovolemic
shock earlier that day. Fortunately someone had put torniquets on his leg
to prevent the blood flow, and when I arrived, he was weak and drowsy, but
in a stable condition. The local approach to wound care here is to plug the
wound with pulped leaves and paste boiled bark over it. I washed all this away
and located the severed artery, tied it off and sutured his foot
back together by torchlight. As it was very late at night, and I had
walked for 5 hours that day (certainly more than 'a Sabbath day's walk'!), I was
feeling happy but tired. I had no idea where I would be sleeping that night,
but I was given the privilege of sleeping in chief Simon's bed, which was
relatively comfortable. In the morning I was able to spend time befriending
Simon and letting him know more about my work as a volunteer. The timing was
perfect, because Philip the Evangelist had been asked the same Sabbath to
make arrangements to come down to Simon's village to follow up an
interest who had read one of our Sabbath tracts. (Our Sabbath tract has
penetrated everywhere on this island.) We have had some opposition from Sunday
keeping churches recently who can see that the Sabbath message is spreading
around this island. But it seems that God had allowed Simon to be
ministered to by myself to prepare the way for Philip to make an evangelistic
visit. This is a good example of how a combination of medical ministry and
evangelism are so complementary. Later in the week, Philip walked to
this same village with a singing group of young men and was surprised
to find a gathering of people who were determined to know the truth about the
Seventh-day Sabbath. After some meetings there, 7 adults made a commitment to
keep Sabbath, and one of them showed Philip a piece of land where they plan to
build an SDA church. On the following Sabbath (yesterday), one woman left
home at 3 am with her two daughters in order to make the 4 to 5 hour
walk to worship with us at the church on the north of the
island!
Video Vices and
Victories
We have never been any place where videos are
more keenly watched than here in Torba Province. Unfortunately, some of the
videos being watched here are very unsuitable for a Christian to see. The
excitement of watching these videos has even caused problems among youth in the
SDA church, who have found the temptation to watch these videos overwhelming. It
has come as a surprise to us that of the 7 video/DVD players on this island (all
powered by gasoline generators at a high cost) 5 of them are owned by SDAs. But
the videos available here are very limited-mostly of an objectional nature, and
they get watched over and over. Recently we have been able to share with the
SDAs who own these DVD players that these videos are destroying young people and
leading them into many vices. Serious spiritual warfare
and victories have followed (We will give details at a later
time). A few key people have responded to our appeals,
and we have pledged that we will try to get good quality DVD
videos for them, to help support them in their stand in getting
rid of wicked movies. We have also tried to encourage supporters in
Australia and the US to help provide us with good quality DVD videos to
substitute for these bad videos, and received some help from a few people, for
which we are very thankful. But we would like to encourage more support. If you
want to help by providing Bible based, health or nature DVD videos for this
project, please read about this
great opportunity to become involved in our DVD video project in
a very constructive and effective way by clicking here. Whatever videos
we provide, will be watched-of that we can be certain! We urgently need
quality DVD videos.
Delay is Part of the
Process
Living on this remote island has its
difficulties and trials. One of them is delay-delay in almost every form and of
every description! Recently we have had extensive delays of building materials
for our church building, and of fuel and other much needed supplies to the
island. Mail has recently taken up to 8 weeks to arrive here, making
communication through that means very difficult. Phoning is difficult
enough as it is, but recently all the phones in Torba were out of action for
more than a month. As I write, the entire island's total fuel supply has
now been reduced to less than 20 liters (5 gallons). The only 2 trucks
on our island are grounded as a result, and our boat is the only boat still
functioning-we are down to our last 10 liters and will use most of that taking a
large group of people up to church on Sabbath. Today we strained and
filtered 2 liters of dirty fuel to extend our fuel
supply a bit further. We purchased fuel in mid July on our return from
Australia, and it still has not reached us. This kind of delay is quite
frustrating, since it prevents us from being effective in our work. We feel so
cut off from civilization here. But God is allowing these experiences to
teach us patience. We believe that many will not be able to tolerate delays in
the time of trouble, such as never was, when all will be tested on 3 points:
weariness, hunger, and delay. Our prayer is that God will use this experience to
teach us some valuable spiritual lessons:
"The season of distress and anguish
before us will require a faith
that can endure
weariness, delay, and
hunger,
a faith that will not faint, though
severely tried."
Spirit of Prophecy,
Volume 4, page 438
11th Hour Students
Our Health Educator course is progressing
steadily with new interests in the course applying fairly regularly. We have
recently heard from Vanua Lava and even as far north as Torres Islands of
youth who have heard about our course and want to know if it will be operating
next year so that they can come to study here in Gaua. We are surprised and very
thankful to God for this, because it is a very basic course, which has no
accreditation, but is evidently quite popular. It seems that there is positive
feedback spreading around these islands about our Health Educator program. We
are praying that God will help us to improve the course and also spread our
influence into other islands of Torba, where the need for health education is as
great as any place on this planet. (Our great need now is better transportation
facilities so that we can do health education on other islands-in short, we need
a plane! See our aircraft project
page here.) As we approach the end of our first year, 11th hour students are
joining. We are aiming to keep this course flexible, as the community we are
working with are much more likely to be helped by a course that is adapted to
their needs. Thank You Jesus for blessing this incredibly simple approach to
winning souls:
...Teach the Teachable to
Reach the Reachable...
Put an IV line in...your own
arm?
Recently I had a 48 hour illness which was
quite severe. Initially I tried some andrographis paniculata-a wonderful
immuno-modifying herb which seems to ward off many infections. I am not sure if
it helped in this case. Soon I had the worst headache I have ever experienced in
my life, and was unable to hold down an ounce of food or water. At the time I
feared becoming dangerously ill and very dehydrated. I decided that
Kay and Naomi would be better able to care for me in my very sick
condition if I at least had an IV line in place. Neither Naomi or Kay had
placed an IV line before, and I decided it was as good a time as ever to teach
them. I started out trying to demonstrate on myself-but discovered that putting
an IV line in your own arm is quite difficult! Fortunately, Naomi gained the
necessary skills quickly and on our 5th attempt, an IV line was in place. Kay
then administered an anti-nausea intramuscular injection-[which she seemed
to enjoy doing!]-and within a few hours I was feeling much better. We
feel that God has blessed through experiences like this, as all of us are
becoming a little more 'hardened up' and experienced as missionaries with every
week that goes by...!
Tidal Wave Now Headed
for Vanuatu
During our recent visit to Australia, some very
generous people decided they wanted to help provide clothing for the needy
people of Torba Province. Others teamed up with them and the decision was made
to send a whole 20 foot shipping container of used clothing. When we arrived in
Australia, the possibility of putting some much needed supplies in the container
became a reality. Soon we had made some significant purchases of very needy
items, such as a generator. Word spread and donations of other needy items came
in, including some kindly donated medical supplies from an emergency doctor at
Sydney Adventist hospital, hundreds of pairs of reading glasses, Bibles and
other goods and a 4 wheel motorcycle for our work in Torba. That initial
tremor of blessings turned into a tidal wave of blessings! During the past week,
the container was finally packed, and will soon be on its way to Vanuatu. We
have recently received news from Vanuatu Customs that this container has been
approved for import duty and VAT - exemption. We hope they will hold to this
decision, which will save us hundreds or thousands of dollars in taxes and
duty. Soon that tidal wave of blessings will hit Vanuatu. We especially thank God for the initial
'motivators of benevolence' who started these
blessings flowing. We believe that those who exhibit
generosity and unselfish sacrifice will be blessed even in this life. (Read Mark
10:30.) God is well able to multiply and bless our humblest
efforts for the good of others, and He will demonstrate to us the
fruit of our love and kindness. We especially appreciate all those who have
contributed and assisted in a variety of ways for this container to come to
Vanuatu, and in particular Vic Trosky of
Volunteers in Action, for carrying the heaviest
organizational burdens. Soon the work of getting the clothing and other
supplies up to Torba Province will rest upon us also. We are praying that God
will impress others to assist with the cost of shipping clothing up into remote
northern Vanuatu, so that the gifts that have been sacrificially given will
indeed reach the people who need them. If you want to contribute somehow,
please contact us here.
Vanuatu Project DVD aired on 3ABN &
Hope TV
We still havent seen the video which Laymen Ministries has
produced about our project, but this is what we have heard:
"Copies of the DVD went fast!" (Terri Prouty, Laymen
Ministries, following ASI convention, Houston, Texas)
"It was very good." (A friend from Queensland,
Australia after watching on Hope TV)
"I have just been watching a TV program about Dr Turnbull
& his family & their work at Gaua Island." (A friend of a friend in
Cooranbong, NSW.)
"We saw the Vanuatu program on 3ABN last week." (A friend in
Queensland, Australia.)
"People flat out love the new DVD on Vanuatu!" (Jeff Reich,
Director, Laymen Ministries, Idaho.)
"It was wonderful." (A friend in Queensland,
Australia.)
If you dont have a copy of the Vanuatu Project DVD, then
please email us your regular mailing address to:
A Call for 'Wet Feet'
Missionaries
Friend, the blessings we are experiencing are on every side,
left and right, before and behind, as we go forward at God's command into the
waters of difficulty ahead of us. God needs more 'wet feet'
missionaries. The more we get our feet wet in the Lord's work, the
more our cup seems to overflow. It seems to us that God's work is exploding
around the world, and now urgent calls...last day calls..., are
going forth to clear the highway for the soon coming of King Jesus. How
about you? Are you actively involved in a project for God? If not,
why not? Why not give it a try, and run the risk of
completely failing-but I doubt that you will fail. What can you lose in the
process? Think logically about it. Even if you lost everything, do you
really think that God would forsake you? Make a small beginning. Do
something. It may be that somehow through making a small start, you will
find some joy that you have never known, and you might find some souls who
will become very precious to you...forever. And who knows? You might even
find eternal life!
Thanks for your support and interest in this project. May God
bless you.
Mark Turnbull
Laymen Ministries Volunteer
Vanuatu Mission of Seventh-day Adventists
Passing
On The Torch
Here in Gaua we
often see people walking down the road at night with torches made from
Nalele. Nalele is the frond to
which the coconut is attached at the top of the coconut palm. When a coconut falls to the ground this
woody frond drops down with it. The
locals gather these up and store them for future use. They can be used as
kindling to get the cooking fire going quickly, and they also make excellent
torches.
Last Sabbath we
were coming home from church later than we had expected, and were only about two
thirds of the way home when darkness fell.
We hadn't expected to be so late, so had not brought our torches with
us. As we stumbled along the path
with our friends who had accompanied us to church, we were wishing that the moon
would rise earlier than usual to help us see our way home. As I was carefully walking around the
edge of a big mud puddle, I didn't notice the uneven surface, and down I fell,
just managing to miss the puddle and tightly clutching the precious laptop
computer in the bag I was carrying.
Fortunately, no damage was done, and I was able to make it safely
home. Shortly before we reached our
home, we came across some people sitting on the side of the road in the dark.
When we stopped to speak with them we discovered it was an elderly couple we had
passed on our way to church earlier that morning. They had gone to their garden
to work and were now heading home.
They too had been caught without lights for their journey home. So they
had gathered some Nalele and were just preparing to light them when we came by
and offered to give us one to see our way home.
Torches,
lanterns, and candles take on a new meaning when you live without electricity
and must get around in the dark along muddy tracks. It's not until you have to
live without electricity that you realise how much you depend upon flicking a
switch to get the light you need.
Since coming here to Vanuatu we have been so thankful for the wind-up
flashlight-torches* that we brought with us. This saves us buying batteries, and they
are very sturdy and reliable. These wind-up flashlight-torches are a coveted
item here, and many people are asking us if we can get one for them too.
Recently we have been able to share a few extras that we brought back with us
from Australia, and how pleased the new owners of these items
are!
This made me
think about the opportunities we have all around us to share the light of truth
with those in darkness. The few
tracts, Bible studies and other small items we have shared with people have been
like little matches setting the Nalele aflame. Now as we see our friends walking around
proudly with their wind-up flashlight-torches, not afraid of stumbling on the
rough pathway in the dark of night, we pray that the light of God's truth that
is being spread here in Gaua will help the people to have the courage to break
free from the customs and traditions that have held them in the darkness of fear
and confusion.
Please continue
to pray for us that we will be faithful to pass on the torch of truth to every
needy soul we meet, so that Gaua will become like a lighthouse whose beams reach
across the waters to the other islands.
"No man, when he hath lighted a
candle,
covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it
under a bed;
but setteth it on a
candlestick,
that they which enter in may see
the light".
Luke.8.16
Naomi
Turnbull
Volunteer
Vanuatu
*Please bear
with our international terminology: 'Flashlights' in North
America are 'Torches' in Australia and vice
versa.
NOTE: Some
families and individuals have shown interest in helping with small gifts, such
as flashlights/torches and watches. If you want to
assist with our 'Small Gift Project', please click
here.
Wonderful
Opportunities for Witnessing
It is a wonderful
experience for me to be here in Vanuatu. Never before have I
experienced having so many opportunities to witness to Adventists as well as
non-Adventists. It is very encouraging to put forth so little effort and to
see a fruitful result very quickly. Recently we have been having prayer meetings
every Wednesday evening in a nearby village called Barevit. We have been
worshiping at the home of a back-slidden baptized SDA church member.
His wife, kids, brother, and parents have all been coming along with two of our
students, John Foxe and his sister Jelia, and their family. Another SDA woman
also brings a few village kids with her and her young child. These people are so
keen to learn and are very sincere in their worship. They sing with all their
hearts and have very nice harmony. The last two times I have invited a couple of
the kids from our village to go with us to the prayer meeting. It is amazing to
invite someone to go with you and then ten minutes later, to be walking with
them to prayer meeting! Most of the people that have been coming to prayer
meeting have also been coming with us to church, including some of the kids from
our village. Last Sabbath our boat was really full. We had more new
contacts come with us than we have ever had so far, including three children,
three youth and three adults-17 of us in total! Please pray for this group
of earnest Christians who are searching for truth.
This is my first
time to be involved in a church that initially was very small and dull and which
is now growing very quickly. It is incredible to see how things are changing and
to see the progress on the church building. When we first got here the
membership was small and things didn't seem to be going so well. Last Sabbath it
rained (it actually poured down!) and we heard that some members were sick. We
thought that very few people would come. Then the Sabbath school leader stood up
and said that we should be thankful for the rain because the tanks were getting
very low. He also said “Let’s pray that the Lord will ease the rain so that this
church may be full of people.” As Sabbath school progressed the rain eased and
the church soon filled up. Soon it was overflowing and the children were all
sitting on the floor. The adults and youth tried to find a small corner of a
hard wooden bench to sit on. Some were standing at the back and others were
standing just outside holding umbrellas to avoid getting too wet! A lot of the people that came to church
are new contacts, some of which have recently been convicted about the
Sabbath after reading a Sabbath tract and having
a minister’s visit recently. We were absolutely amazed when we heard that
some of them left their houses at 2am in the morning to get to church on time.
Despite the rain they walked for over five hours in the dark to get to church,
walking over slippery, muddy tracks. In spite of the fact that it was such a
miserable day, the church was actually the fullest it has ever been since we
were here! God can turn things that seem like definite failure into a great
success!
Kay
Turnbull
Volunteer
Vanuatu
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Would you like to help...?
God
has entrusted to us so many advantages and
opportunities! We feel the time has come to use all of
them to push His work forward!
If, after prayerful consideration, you
also feel impressed to help out in some
way with this project,
then for your own benefit, we encourage you
to decide now
to run the risk of being richly
blessed!
We have found that the spirit of generosity
brings about a 'reflex blessing' on the giver,
and we want you to experience this, just as
we have-so we can all become part of the channel of God's grace &
blessing together!
Why not claim Luke 6:38, take the
risk, and see what might happen to you?
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