The SPNTC Board of Trustees Meeting Comes to Vanuatu!

(L to R): Rev. Pau'u, Principal of Fiji Campus; Rev. Leilani, Chancellor; Joani, Field Financial Coordinator; Inise, Fiji lay delegate; Selina, Pau'u's lovely wife; and Rev. Ulisese, Principal of Samoa Campus

You may wonder who would ever get excited about a board of trustees meeting!! WE DO!! We really enjoy getting to be with the other leaders that make up this four-nation Bible college. It only happens annually, unless we happen to have a regional conference, then we might see some of them twice in a year! We have been attending these annual meetings for many years and have come to love and admire the people who make up this board. 

Samoa and Fiji campuses have hosted all the meetings for the last 10+ years, but at the 2019 meeting, Vanuatu leaders agreed to see if we could work out all the details of accommodations, meals, transportation, hosting, and venue for the group of approximately 20 people to meet in Port Vila for the meeting of February 3-4, 2020. With the help of a small committee of our Vanuatu pastors, plans were set in place for all the details and preparations were made. And together, WE did it!

L to R: Rev. Gideon (Welcome and Farewell Coordinator); Rev. Meriam (Guest Reception Coordinator); and Pastor Seul (Transportation Coordinator). Not pictured: Pastor Raela (Venue Preparation Coordinator); Pastor Anthona and wife Emmie (Meal planner and cooks).

None of us had predicted that COVID-19 was going to take hold in many countries at the very time when we planned to gather. Our own airport in Port Vila began to institute strict health precautions the very day that our first delegate from Solomon Islands arrived. Each passenger was screened by medical personnel as they arrived at the airport. A few days later, the Fiji delegates were delayed for hours because they found out at their airport that they needed a health certificate in hand before they were allowed to board the plane. The principal from Samoa departed from his airport and was detained in Fiji because he was required to get a medical certificate after landing in Fiji, and arrived a day late to Vanuatu. By the first day of the meeting, all the board members finally arrived!

Those that arrived on Saturday, were taken to various Nazarene Churches in Port Vila on Sunday morning to share the message and be hosted for a meal with one of our congregations.

Rev. Leilani shared the sermon with the Bellevue Park Nazarene Church and Sylvia translated to Bislama.

We were pleased that our small SPNTC classroom was sufficiently completed and large enough to seat everyone around the tables. It turned out to be the hottest days we had experienced in months! With Rev. Kafoa Muaror, Field Strategy Coordinator and Chairman of the board, the agenda was completed in just 1 1/2 days.

We were glad that Rev. Bruce Allder, Asia Pacific Regional Educational Coordinator, was able to join us from Australia.

Alice, first on the left side of the table, was elected by the Vanuatu SPNTC board to be the lay delegate this year for Vanuatu. Alice is a student in SPNTC-VU and a faithful member of the Malapoa Nazarene Church.

Most of the Board of Trustees: Back row: Inise (Fiji), Rev. Pau'u and Selina (Fiji), Rev. Dolasi (Solomon Islands), David (Vanuatu), Rev. Ulisese (Samoa); Front row: Sylvia (Vanuatu), Rev. Leilani (Chancellor, Fiji), Alice (Vanuatu), Mary Esther (lay delegate, Solomon Islands). Missing from the picture: Rev. Kafoa Muaror (PNG), Rev. Bruce Allder (Australia), and Rev. Peter (Vanuatu D.S.).

After the meeting was finished, there were a few hours for the board members to visit Port Vila downtown and do a bit of shopping before the final meal together. That evening, we had an amazing farewell with the Vanuatu teachers and students serving the meal followed by a beautiful program of giving gifts and songs. 

 The success of the meetings was celebrated with ice cream - four different flavors, because that's how David Potter celebrates! Needless, to say, there was none left over.

 One of the things we loved about this board of trustees meeting is the connections that were made and the friendships that were formed as the members of the board worked together for the best Bible college possible and as the members from the various nations got acquainted with the Nazarenes of Vanuatu!

Inise (FJ) and Mary Esther (SI) with their new friends, feeling like the time was altogether too short!