God has increased my awe for Him, and my faith in Him

To start with, our planning stages for the trip had a good many problematic obstacles: we didn’t have Priscilla’s (aka Cilla) passport; one of our main teammates, Susie Shellenberger, wasn’t able to acquire the funds in order to make the trip from the US to here; we were unsure where we would get our funds; to name a few, but God always provided what we needed. Then at Brisbane Airport we met with another problem: my passport had less than six months to its expiration date. The five of us had gone up to the desk to check-in. The lady took our passports and papers, but after a few moments said she had to go check on something related to our stuff. After a bit, Aunt Becky decided that she would go see what the issue was. A couple minutes later she returned and said that it was what we had surmised: it was my passport. Mom, Aunt Becky, and I went to the counter where our check-in lady had gone. They told us that it was Vanuatu who had the strict policies on the expiration date. We asked if there was anything we could do and at first they said no; then they said that we could apply for an emergency passport, but we would have to fly to Sydney to do that. That was definitely out of the question since our flight to Port Vila was scheduled to leave in less than two hours. Aunt Becky took my passport and then headed to a phone to try and contact someone who could help, like the Potters (missionaries in Vanuatu) or someone back at Kudjip. Mom soon followed to lend a hand (or two). That left Cilla, Aunt Steph, and me to watch the bags that we had pulled from the scale to a place close to but still removed a bit from the counters. As soon as we three got situated, I asked if we could pray. Before I was a little nervous, and the full reality hadn’t sunk in that I might not go; after we prayed, I had no qualms and was smiling and even laughing a bit. We decided to go ahead and get breakfast and eat. Before long, we were praying again. A couple guys at the counter came and asked questions, which gave us the feeling that they were trying to come up with some alternative. When Mom and Aunt Becky came back they said that they hadn’t accomplished anything. They returned to the counter to see if there was anything else that could be done. Mom, Cilla, and I went to get breakfast for Mom and Aunt Becky. When we got back, Aunt Becky and Aunt Steph had put our bags on the scale and were checking-in. They said that the people at the desk had got a hold of Vanuatu and were given the OK. That is where my faith grew.

My increased awe for God came on Thursday night. We had a church service at our small Nazarene Church there in the village of Ikaokua on Aniwa, Vanuatu. Pastor Peter Isaac (He and his wife are PNG Missionaries to Vanuatu) preached. Just before he stood up to preach we sang a song with a lot of action to it: running, jumping, and dancing. It really awakened my spirit and readied me for Pastor Peter’s message, like I have never felt before any other message. It was on Noah and his building the Ark. Pastor said that Noah’s family and friends probably gave him a hand, but they didn’t really believe in his reason until it was too late. Pastor paralleled that with us and how we are willing to help build the church building and doing good things for people, but we have to believe in the Reason and not wait until it’s too late and expect that all the good we’ve done will pay our way to Heaven. I loved this message and the fact that I was able to understand it almost completely despite the fact that he spoke in Bislama (even though it is similar to Pidgin here in PNG) made it even more special. Afterwards, Pastor asked for those who wanted to commit their lives to God to come forward so that they could be prayed for. Then he asked if those apart of the mission team would stand and put hands on those who came to the front and pray for them. I hesitated only a moment and glanced over my shoulder at my friend, Cilla, before I stood and began to pour out my heart to God on behalf of those believers. It felt so natural, but at churches here in PNG I have never stood to pray before. After praying we sang a song as we left, shaking hands with each other. That act too felt wonderful. It was the most amazing experience in my life.

These are the two areas that I grew in on my trip to Aniwa and I hope to return there some day.

article by Jessica Myers photos by Sylvia Potter and Susan

The 5 FOBS go to Aniwa

If you haven't read the last blog below, written by Dr. Jim Radcliffe, you should take a moment to do that now in order to get a little background for this entry.

Our journey really began months ago when Dr. Becky Morsch wrote to Jessica asking if she would be interested in joining her on a special CBHC (Community Based Health Care) mission trip along with Susie Shellenberger, creator of Susie magazine. I, of course, pretty quickly had a great idea! I could go with them!! Becky agreed and guarenteed that if I went she would put me to work! Well, it ended up that Susie would not be able to go. Becky, though, was still interested in us going if we were willing. And we were!

Ever have one of those experiences where there are so many roadblocks in your preparations for something big that you begin to think you should change your plans? This was one of those times for us. Susie needing to decline, problems with scheduling at work, planes being full, passports needing renewed, finding finances enough to cover costs and being turned away at the check-in counter at the airport in Brisbane were among the roadblocks!! But, in every situation, God made a way!!! It has been awesome to see Him at work!

After 3 days of travel and 4 flights we made it to Aniwa! Aniwa is a small coral island and is part of Vanuatu (years ago known as the New Hebrides Islands). There are about 500 inhabitants amongst 8 villages (according to Wikipedia there are only 5, but we were told by some of Jessica's new friends that there are 8). We rented the only vehicle, a small pick-up truck, that is on the island to transfer us and our supplies to Ikaokao, the largest village, about a 15 minute drive down the dirt road.

Jessica, Cilla, Sylvia Potter, Dr.Steph and I stayed in a hut together. It was very clean and nice. It has a cement floor which was covered with woven matting. The walls are of woven bush material and were covered with pieces of colorful cloth. I did not see even one cockroach (Steph reported one was in her suitcase, on at least two different days! Sorry Steph!) and did not hear or see any little furry creatures!! The flies, however, were ridiculous! Not in our hut but outside. During meals you had to balance you plate on your lap and eat with one hand while constantly shooing flies with the other. They were the worst at lunch time. Evening was fine, guess they all went to bed early! Actually, we did too as there is no electricity on the island and when the sun goes down it is as pitch black as it can possibly get!

For the three full days that we were on Aniwa Steph and I did health teaching, about 6 hours each day. We gathered in an Apostolic church that was a bit better equipped for this than the small new Nazarene church. I don't know for certain how many total participants there were but during one of the afternoon sessions I counted around 28. We covered health topics for children and men in the mornings and women's topics in the afternoon. There was a lot of participation which made it fun. We started each new day asking what topics the participants wanted us to cover and then tried to get a good feel for what has been done in the past. This allowed us to learn about traditional beliefs on the island and when appropriate we praised and re-enforced them before presenting some new ideas. The people seemed very receptive and so we are trusting that at least some of what they heard will translate into better overall health. It was especially neat when we shared about HIV/AIDS. It lends itself very well to teaching about sexual purity and God's intent for sexual relationships being shared only within the context of marriage.

For me personally, I felt most challenged in seeing every lost soul through the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's real easy being here at Kudjip Nazarene Hospital, where we are very busy caring for the sick, to lose sight of the most important aspect of our ministry, which is not healing the body. I am praying for a renewed, burning passion for God's lost children. Pray for me and our team in this regard.

Pray for the people of Aniwa. There is a cargo cult there called the John Frum cult. More than half the island are followers of John Frum. They are so convinced that John Frum is going to come back and bring them earthly treasures that they discourage their children from going to school since it won't be necessary and Christianity. The pastor of the new Nazarene church, Pastor Keithly, was a part of this cult as was his father, one of the chiefs. A few years ago shortly before his death this chief gave his heart to God as did his son Keithly. He needs your prayers as well as he leads others out of darkness and into the Light! He also needs a good Christian wife!!

On the lighter side, pretty early in the trip to Aniwa we became the 5 Fabulous FOBS! Dr. Steph gets the credit for initiating this designation! FOB stands for "Fresh Out of the Bush"! We have to laugh at ourselves at the things that really get us excited. Things like clean bathrooms..with toilet paper... running water...and paper towels! (In PNG if you are going most anywhere in-country it is best to have your own supplies with you!) We are thrilled too with clean places to eat, sit and sleep. Being able to get around a city after dark is great too! (This is a no-no in PNG for safety reasons.) Clean restaurants and stores with lots of variety are a special treat! We were so excited about our meals out that we took pictures of the food! That is soooooooo FOB!!

Thanks to all of you who prayed for us during this very special opportunity to witness and be a part of what He is doing in Aniwa! God blessed! Please keep remembering the people of Aniwa!