Captain’s Blog

#73 - Vanuatu work & witness

July 6, 2008 on 2:48 pm | In Uncategorized | Comments Off

LOST PASSPORTS

We explain to the airport security officer at the airport at Port Vila;: “We have lost one American passport together with airline tickets - this is where we last remember seeing it!” From there we proceed to dig through the airport trash bins in the slim chance someone found it and threw it away. Makes for a good picture…  missionaries digging through the trash at the airport. One challenge that we’re now facing is that there is no U.S. embassy in this Island nation of Vanuatu. Actually no U.S. diplomats here at all and this nation falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S.Embassy in Papua New Guinea, which is a long ways away. The W&W team member who is missing the passport has looked everywhere and it is gone. As we left to go back to the airport to see if we could find the passport, we had stopped the vehicle and prayed that God would help us. An hour later the passport and tickets are found back where we started. This is an exciting, but not an unusual part of W&W

KANSAS
This team has traveled about 37 hours to get here from Kansas, 13 hour layover in LAX, etc. etc….   they try to use that as their excuse for their behavior - but we tell them we think it’s because they’re from Kansas. We like them all anyway. They come from all walks of life. Most have worked very hard to make this happen! Before long each person has introduced themselves and one by one we share where God has us on this journey. No exception - God is at work! What an amazing God who goes to these lengths to do His next work in each of us. That’s my theory. A critical aspect of all this is about God at work personally in each of us. MUCH of this is about that. We can fight it or embrace it. If we embrace it, He might even be able to do something through us as well!! Starting with me I hope. Nothing could be more exciting than being thrown together with weird people like this, all on the same journey. All members of the same incredible family!!  I’m the only one that’s not weird.     really.

MISSION HOME/LOVE

The project we’ve targeted is building the missionary home for the Potters, two of our Nazarene missionaries to this Pacific Island nation. Specifically, this team gets to dive into much of the tedious finishing work on the house. The requirements for everyone are simple but profound, if we are to succeed!! There is no question that this will require on everyone’s part…     patience, kindness, no envy, no boasting, no pride, no rudeness, no self seeking, no-one gets to be easily angered, no-one can keep any record of wrongs, no-one can delight in evil, everyone must rejoice in the truth, everyone must protect, everyone must always trust, always hope and persevere to the end!!!  That’s all…   and that’s exactly what we watch happen each day.  People who are not familiar with this family of God’s, would shake their head in wonder. If we understand the Gospel correctly, it is our selfless LOVE for one another that is key to reaching a lost and hurting world that is always watching.

YOUR PRAYERS

On the first day that the W&W team got to Vanuatu, we watched God answer specific prayer in relation to a passport and tickets. It really does move God’s hands. It really is powerful. Please keep praying for this team under the leadership of Eddie Fowler and their huge impact these days on the Nazarene mission work in Vanuatu. Pray for David and Sylvia Potter, who call this place home and who spend their days passionately pursuing God’s calling on their lives among the precious people of these islands! The team will be there in Vanuatu another week and then we catch up to them here in Fiji, where I’ve returned. We covet your ongoing prayers!

Blessings, Harmon