Captain’s Blog

Captain’s Blog #7

OF CURFEWS
Nighttime movement in Fiji ceased in the wake of the turmoil at the time of my last report. The freedom we had just celebrated, from curfew restrictions as we re-launched the JESUS Film team - was suddenly taken away with the attempted takeover of the military barracks within sight of where we live, as eight people died and very many more were wounded. You can only imagine what these things can do to the greatest of ideas and plans. Cindy and I met with the District Superintendent and his wife along with our JESUS Film team to regroup. I reminded them that we were not alone. We pulled out the growing list of ‘Plank Holders’, people who had signed on to pray for us, people we trust with life. I reminded these Fijian Nazarenes that we had committed to pray for those who would pray for us and maybe we should take our attention off of our own problems for a while and together read through the prayer requests. When I finished, the DS asked if we could pray right then and so we did. Well over an hour later, the windows of heaven had long opened up and God had reminded us in no uncertain terms of the great personal family of Nazarenes around the world that we belong to.

THE JESUS FILM
“Until the curfew changes, our hands are tied at least in this part of Fiji”, I told them. “We will just have to pray.” A person would have thought that the curfew could go on indefinitely - but guess what? Yesterday it was moved to midnight, imagine that! - so we’re starting the JESUS Film showings again tomorrow night and the next (Monday and Tuesday) at Navua, west of here. Please pray that God would do a great work and use the JESUS Film once more and also use the crusades that we are incorporating the Film into!

OF BOATS
Somewhere out in the Pacific right now there is a very large container ship, a freighter known as the ‘Direct Eagle’. She is huge. The containers, both 20 and 40 feet long, are piled high. They are the things that 18 wheelers are made of and they are stacked one on top of the other way up into the sky, far too many wide and high to calculate and count, looking like little matchboxes, belittled by that which carries them on its back to another world. The freighter is like a massive, moving giant, slowly rising and falling to meet the endless swells caused by the gravitational forces of the earth and her moon on the greatest body of water known to man. This freighter is of significance, because if by some ability you could find and watch this freighter, you would see that placed on two container skids, aft and on the port side, high on it’s open deck, is the motor vessel ‘GALILEAN’. Never has this freighter ever before journeyed in a blanket of prayer like the one she now rides in. If all goes well, two weeks from Wednesday (more or less) they will stop here in Fiji, on their way to New Zealand and Australia, just long enough to leave behind some of their cargo and the vessel we have been waiting for.

AND BREAKERS
When you run out of things to pray for, remember that as we unload the ’Galilean’, we are now in the middle of ‘Cyclone Season’ for the South Pacific and even this last week found ourselves under a ‘Tsunami’ watch for this part of Fiji because of an earthquake to our west that measured 8 on the Richter scale.

AND BABIES
Today, in a Nazarene church here that was packed to overflowing, I held a little baby girl and I prayed for her and I was reminded that God is not dead, He is alive and He is aggressively about the business of building His Kingdom and if we would just see it, Satan has already lost. This particular church was in crises only three months back. They had lost their pastor and I remember that I had preached to a handful of people back then on Gideon and what God wants to do with a few. Today, the baby dedication was great and it followed the Bible study, but it was certainly not allowed to distract from the worship time or the Lord’s Supper or the main message or the wedding or the church dinner. No one wanted to leave and I thought, “I have been asking people to pray - they have been!”
 
Please pray also for the Johnsons who have been pouring themselves out during their furlough, we are really looking forward to their return to Fiji in a few weeks. Also would you pray for the Bartles in the middle of intensive doctoral studies and translations, as they continue preparing for their assignment here, which begins next year.
 
Harmon and Cindy Schmelzenbach

Captain’s Log #6

YAHWEH SHALOM
One of the frustrations of reporting like this to you our family in Christ, is that obviously there are certain things that I cannot nor should I relay through this format. Let me simply say this, if you saw the CNN or <www.fijilive.com> reports over these last days or if for any other reason you are one of those who have been praying for us, then I especially want to say from this missionfield; ‘Thank you - Cindy and I are in debt to you!!’ I, for one could not be more convinced of the effect of prayer and the power of God this week. We have not only felt, but experienced the real and direct benefit of those prayers in a very personal way, especially while I was still in Thailand on Thursday and Cindy and the kids were here in Suva, Fiji until I was able to actually get home during last night.
 
Our God is so good! He knows and sees what we do not. He hears the shortest prayer from His youngest child and the longest from His oldest, or maybe it’s the other way around sometimes. Either way - our God hears and I want to tell you there is no question, OUR GOD REIGNS!! And He knows what we don’t know. He honors our prayer … simply offered in faith, when we don’t even really know what we’re praying for. What a GOOD, GREAT GOD! Nothing will ever happen that He does not allow; therefore He is our Peace!! Our ‘Yahweh Shalom’! Please pray, even when you don’t know what you’re praying for, for the battle isn’t ours anyway, the battle is the Lord’s!

THE ACTUAL BATTLEFIELD
Listen.. the growing ranks of the 1000 ‘PLANK HOLDERS’,  those who have committed specifically to pray for the FIJIBoat Project and the work of the Church of the Nazarene in the South Pacific, are growing by leaps and bounds each week. If for some strange reason you haven’t been able to register into or officially start one of these groups, then by all means get ahold of Cindy now, as opposed to waiting for a convenient time!! ( e-mail us ) We need you!

PRAYER MOUNTAIN
Nazarenes in Fiji are praying for you too. This last week those involved in the work here, once more went to the mountain to spend three days in prayer and fasting. They took with them your names. For them they are humbled to imagine that you care so much for them and that they have Nazarene family around this world on their knees. Once more, God came in a real way! Among many things, here are a couple highlights. 1) There was a woman who was against anything Christian; she had been very sick for many months with severe abdominal pain. The doctors could not find the cause. She asked if the Nazarene ministers would come to her bedside and pray for her. They anointed her with some coconut oil and prayed that God would heal her. They talked to her about a God who desires to do so much more than heal us physically. One who would heal us of the disease of our souls, heal us eternally. The next day they went to the top of the mountain to pray at 5 AM and on their way down in a few hours, they saw her walking toward them - she was well, she spent the whole day with them studying the Scriptures and praying. She is now among those who are asking if we would please consider starting a Nazarene church there. 2) The owners of this place, (used by many denominations as a retreat for prayer), have asked about becoming Nazarenes and the possibility of building a Nazarene church on the property and they tell everyone now, ‘the first few days of every month belong to the Nazarenes’. And so the plan is to hold a crusade right there, the first of December with the JESUS Film and lets see what God wants to do. You pray.

THE GALILEAN
We should know within two days if we will be able to get the Galilean onto the deck of a freighter leaving the USA next week and bound for arrival in Fiji by Dec. 6th. This is the culmination of what seems like a zillion days and weeks and months of work. Whatever you do, don’t stop praying for this now!

BANGKOK, THAILAND
The conference I was able to attend in Bangkok this week, focused on coming up with innovative solutions to the challenge of equipping new ministers, to meet the unprecedented demand being created by the JESUS Film movement in the Church of the Nazarene. Worldwide we are currently looking at half a million new Nazarenes; we need 25,000 new ministers. The conference with over 80 of us was incredible, with our church’s leading educational and evangelistic authorities  pouring out their hearts, offering real solutions and crying out for a unified effort among all of us to aggressively be about the business of moving forward with Christ’s Kingdom.

NO, NO, NO, NO… GOD’S NOT DEAD!
HE IS ALIVE!!
Harmon and Cindy, Danielle and Quinton

Captain’s Log #5

CHICKENS IN THE PREACHING
Have you ever wondered why some missionaries seem so dramatic? I think one reason is a passion for what God has got them pouring their lives into. Another reason might be the chickens. That’s what happened to me Sunday, I was preaching away and things were going great, then the chickens started in again! I don’t mean the chickens in the next village over. I mean the chickens in the ’sanctuary’. There was the one in the corner, sitting on some eggs, and I think she would have been ok except for the other ones that kept chasing each other around my feet. Personally, I think that’s what ruffled her feathers and got her excited and who can blame her?
 
You need to know none of this ever has any effect on the people, they don’t even notice it. But for us…   well it’s hard not to get a little more animated and turn everything up a notch or two, thinking that will be required to keep people’s attention. The truth is we don’t need to worry about it, God’s already been at work long before we get there and judging by the people, they are simply waiting for the chance to respond to Him! What a privilege to play a part!

THE GALILEAN
Within the last few days we have finally received word from the Naval Architects in California. For many weeks now we have been working through friends and contacts from half a world away to get the GALILEAN moved from Oakland to Richmond, CA, get the boat hauled out of the water, detailed drawings and measurements of the exterior and interior of the hull taken and then the boat returned to Oakland and the technical drawings and plans made for building the cradle that will hold the GALILEAN on the deck of the freighter as it crosses the Pacific. Each and every step necessary in getting the GALILEAN to Fiji seems painstakingly slow and complicated. Please pray that God would continue to bring about the vision that He has given. It has been humbling to watch the miracles unfold in bringing this ministry together.

FLOATING THE BOAT - FLORIDA
One such miracle was the incredible report we received this last week from Florida about the ‘Float the Boat’ day last Saturday at Cypress Gardens in which the young people of all three Florida districts came together having worked hard to help raise support for the FIJIBoat Project. By the end of the day the total raised by these young people was over $13,350.00 Matched by the Helstrom Foundation that translates into $26,700.00 real dollars toward this ministry to reach the lost of the South Pacific!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! And THANK YOU from Fiji, to the young people of Florida!! Your sacrifice and offering to God’s Kingdom work over here will have consequences that are eternal. THANK YOU!

WEST TEXAS VBS
Another huge group of kids that has been working VERY hard to help with this project all during this last summer, has been the young people of the West Texas churches. We are working at getting the final figures in on what God has been doing through them, but at this point it really looks like they too have done absolutely OUTSTANDING!! What a humbling thing to watch all these young people respond and sacrifice to see God’s Kingdom move forward on the other side of the world from where they live among people they don’t know! THANK YOU to the young people across West Texas, from the islands of the South Pacific! We will keep you posted as more information gets to us about the great way in which God is using the youth of Texas to reach the lost of Fiji and beyond. You’re involvement makes us want all the more to redouble our efforts!!

GOD’S HANDIWORK
Two days ago on Friday, Cindy and the kids and I, took the 4 WD and drove almost 500 km around the entire island of Viti Levu, Fiji. Following the coast, it took us eleven hours. The beauty of God’s handiwork was beyond this man’s ability to describe. At many places throughout the day we would stop high up on a mountain and look out as far as we could see. And beyond the millions of shades of blue and green, coral filled, crystal clear waters, what we saw was island after island after island disappearing beyond the distant horizon, with villages and chiefs and people that desperately need to hear about the Love of the One who made them, the Love of this One which is not abstract, but is personal. His Love for them which was and is so powerful, so real, that for them on a hill called Golgotha, He proved His Love so that they could be set free! Thank you for praying for us and the overwhelming burden God has given us for these people. Thank you for allowing us the privilege of representing you here as we live to introduce these precious people to Him!

the Schmelzenbachs