Great Things Happening in Aniwa!

"We thank you, God, we thank you -- your Name is our favorite word; your mighty works are all we talk about" (Psalm 75:1, The Message).  That's how we feel too!  God has done great things and we want to tell you all about it!

Because you were praying Priscilla Radcliffe received her passport from the US Embassy in PNG just in time for her to join the group who was flying to Vanuatu to offer the Community Based Health Care workshop from March 23-April 3. God worked a mighty miracle as a result of prayer as Jessica Myers was given approval in Brisbane Airport to check-in and board the plane headed to Vanuatu.  To read more about her exciting story, click here.

The international team of Nazarene missionaries boarded the twin otter early in the morning on March 23.  Dr. Becky Morsch, Dr. Stephanie Doenges, Dr. Susan Myers and Jessica, and Priscilla Radcliffe (daughter of Jim and Kathy) all haled from the Nazarene Hospital in Kudjip, PNG.  Rev. Aseri and La Quraivalu are Fijians serving on the island of Kadavu in Fiji.  Our own Rev. Peter Isaac (missionary from PNG to Vanuatu) and Sylvia accompanied the team.

Steph and Susan taught classes on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  The classes were very well attended, and some folks from the north of the island even came.  Children and women's health issues including instruction in how to do a breach delivery were the topics of discussion for the first two days.  Friday was dedicated to general health teaching that included hypertension and diabetes (common illnesses on the island) as well as teaching about HIV/AIDS. 

Some of the teaching sessions were translated from English to Bislama and then to the local language.  Since PNG Tok Pisin is quite similar to Vanuatu's trade language called Bislama, the PNG missionaries were able to communicate fairly well without translation.  God really blessed in the area of communication, making it possible for the message of Christ to be shared by every member of the team. 

On Friday afternoon, Jessica and Cilla organized a Kid's Klub and Sylvia was thrilled to be asked to join them.  We had a great time playing games with the 25 children, then Cilla shared the message of the Gospel using the 5 colors on the Evange-Ball.  The children participated in a drama about the Good Samaritan which was followed by an opportunity for the kids to make "salvation bracelets" that they proudly wore home to show their families. 

Jessica and Cilla had some great times with the girls in the villages.  Here's what Cilla shared about it: "...we went with some of the girls from the village to the island's "Sports Day" where we watched the boys play soccer and taught the girls how to make friendship bracelets.  They were all very shy, but that was a perfect opportunity to learn their names and get to know them a little bit.  Over the next few days, God kept providing opportunities for us to get to know them better.  Pretty soon they were teaching us how to make Vanuatu's staple food, lap-lap (not to be confused with wrap-around skirts), braiding our hair, and showing us their favorite place to swim in the ocean."

The Lord intervened in so many ways to bring this team together so that they could come.  Then, he intervened again and again to bring us close to people in the village.  Each of us on the team had many opportunities to share Christ's love and the Gospel.

Sylvia was delighted that she was able to pray for a lady who became her friend during the health teaching sessions, Magia.  She was raised in the John Frum Movement and married the son of the man who brought the cult to Aniwa.  Her husband disappeared many years ago leaving her with the responsibility of raising her children and providing for their needs.  She continues to hold to her belief in John Frum, but allowed Sylvia to share about Christ's love for her and then to pray for her and her family.  Please join us in continuing to pray for Magia, her family and the others who remain in the John Frum cult.

Susan, Steph, Jessica, Cilla and Sylvia left Aniwa on Saturday afternoon after a torrential rain storm that delayed the arrival of the plane by several hours.  Rev. Jenny Isaac met us in the Tanna Airport as she boarded the plane for Aniwa.  She would join Dr. Becky and the rest of the team to assist with translating for the final Community Based Health Care workshop.  Becky shared about an unexpected blessing that happened on Thursday of that week, "The chief of the northern village of Imale invited us to do health training in his community on Thursday. While I presented a sample lesson, more importantly I introduced the Ikaukau Health Volunteers who were trained and ready to do the training themselves in Imale and throughout the island. The chief invited them to return and arrangements were begun for the health volunteers to extend their knowledge and influence beyond their own village."  That evening "a graduation ceremony was conducted and certificates given to the nine individuals from Ikaukau, one from Port Vila, and two from Fiji who completed the health volunteer training."

In addition to the marvelous health training that occurred during those two weeks, Pastor Peter offered membership classes and eight people joined the Nazarene Church on Friday night.  We praise the Lord for all that He has done to extend his kingdom in the hearts of people here in Aniwa!


To view more pictures of this story, click here

Mission Trip to Aniwa

There are some very exciting things happening these next two weeks that we wanted to let you know about so that you can be praying with us.  On Tuesday morning, March 23rd, an international team of Nazarenes will be traveling to Aniwa, the island to the south of us where we have a Nazarene Church established.  Rev. Aseri and his wife, La, from the island of Kadavu in Fiji arrived yesterday.  Another five team members from the Nazarene Hospital mission station in Papua New Guinea will be arriving tomorrow afternoon.  Dr. Becky Morsch is coming to complete the Community Based Health Care teaching that she began about 16 months ago.  This time she is bringing Nazarene missionaries Dr. Susan Myers and Dr. Stephanie Doenges to do some additional health teaching.  Susan’s daughter, Jessica, and Priscilla Radcliffe, MK teens, will be coming to assist with Good News club for the children and friendship evangelism.  Rev. Peter Isaac and Sylvia will be flying with the team on Tuesday.  Rev. Aseri and Peter will be preaching in evangelistic services each evening and La is planning to minister to the children.  Sylvia will be assisting with translation when needed.  She will return with Dr. Susan, Dr. Stephanie, Jessica, and Priscilla on Saturday as Pastor Jenny flies to join the remainder of the team for a full week of ministry.  There will be lots going on and we would appreciate your prayers for these days.  David and Sylvia will be taking care of the Isaac boys during the second week while their parents are on Aniwa.

If you visit our Nazarene missionary website, www.OceaniaNazarene.org, you can get better acquainted with the PNG team members that are arriving tomorrow.

We are so thankful for this opportunity to join together in ministry with our colleagues from across our two fields!  We are praying that God will use each of the team members as we reach out with the love and good news of Christ Jesus!

In case you haven’t heard, our twin granddaughters, Dora and Sylvia, are both at home now keeping their parents and Grandmama Kathy very busy with feedings and diaper changes.  Kathy will be returning to PNG in about a week, so please pray for safety during her flight.

Dora Is Home!

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.  His mercies never come to an end.  They are new every morning. 

Great is your faithfulness, O Lord!”

Dora (left)                      Sylvia (right)

We praise our faithful, loving, heavenly Father that today (just 2 ½ weeks after the twins were born), Dora Katherine Potter was discharged from the hospital to go live with her parents!  Dora’s sister, Sylvia Irena, is still in the NICU in Buffalo, recuperating from the necrotizing enterocolitis that set her back when she was about one week old.  We praise the Lord that he is healing her and restoring her tiny body!  Sylvia is just a bit bigger than Dora is, but both girls are well over 4 pounds now!  We are praying that she will be able to join her sister at home soon.  We are thankful that Kathy Radcliffe, Bekah’s mother, was able to fly to Buffalo to offer support and encouragement for them during these days.  Thank you for your prayers lifted to God on our behalf and for these precious twins!  God is so very good to us and is answering our prayers so faithfully and lovingly.

Skype has been such a blessing to help us feel connected with Joel, Bekah, and the twins when we feel so far away.  We marveled as we looked at our son, now a papa!  It did not seem possible that the little guy we held in our arms could be old enough to be holding his own precious daughter!  We could see through the webcam, Dora’s tiny fingers wrapped around his thumb.  Her wrist is smaller around than his thumb!  The “virtual visits” are great, but we are really looking forward to the real thing in May when we actually get to visit them in person!  We love being grandparents!  Regarding the picture of Dora (above left), mothers in Papua New Guinea carry their babies in a string bag called a bilum (bee-loom).  It is a warm, snuggy place for a baby to spend their first 12 months (or more).

David and Sylvia are both currently teaching a class for SPNTC.  We have re-structured our teaching schedule for some of our classes from intensive 2-week block courses to classes on nine successive Saturday’s.  Sylvia teaches Old Testament Survey for 4 hours in the morning, and then David instructs the students in Biblical Theology in the afternoon.  This gives the teachers a little more time to prepare, and the students more time to reflect on what they are learning.

In less than three weeks, a great team of missionaries will be arriving in Port Vila from Papua New Guinea and Fiji.  They will continue their travels the next day to Aniwa (island to the south) for two weeks of health teaching, kids club, discipleship, and revival services.  Please be in prayer for Dr. Rebecca Morsch, Dr. Stephanie Doenges, Dr. Susan Myers and Jessica, and Priscilla Radcliffe from PNG, and for Rev. Eseri and La Quraivalu from Kadavu Island in Fiji.  Pastors Peter and Jenny Isaac and Sylvia will join them on the trip.  Dr. Becky clearly voiced our desire for this trip when she said, “We're praying for a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit in all that is done resulting in transformed lives and the building up of God's kingdom,” and that the Nazarene pastor on Aniwa, Pastor Kidhly, will be encouraged and strengthened in his faith.  You may remember that the Chief Rena Memorial Church on Aniwa is located immediately adjacent to the John Frum cult headquarters.  Please pray that the truth and light of Christ will shine brightly for those who are lost in the darkness of the John Frum cult.

We are eagerly anticipating and preparing for another team’s arrival in late May or early June.  Three university students in the States have committed six weeks of their summer break to come on a Youth in Mission team to assist us in our work in the islands of Vanuatu!  Please be in prayer for Andrea, Lisa, and Jacob as they complete this semester of their studies and prepare for this life-changing opportunity.

Update on Dora and Sylvia

We wanted to share this e-mail update from Joel and Bekah about our little granddaughters.  Thank you so much for praying for them.  God is so faithful and loving to us!  We praise him!

Joel and Bekah said:
Things that happened today that we are grateful to God about:

• Bekah came home this afternoon

• Dora and Sylvia continue to have their bottle-feeding amount increased

• The nurses said that Dora may be able to go without an IV in the next day or so

• We were able to get a hospital grade electric breast pump today (on loan for as long as we need it) through WIC (Women Infant's and Children)

• Lindsey (Noonen) McFadden (Bekah's friend from Mount Vernon) arrived this evening to help Bekah until her mom arrives Friday 

• Bekah's mom was able to change her ticket and is arriving this Friday

• We met with a friend from Bekah's previous place of employment (EPIC) at the hospital who educates new parents. She offered for Bekah to use her office space as a place to rest in the hospital between visits to Dora and Sylvia. She offered that we use the extra space in the office to set up a cot or blow-up twin mattress.  

Thank you for your prayers!

News update: We don't know when the babies will be able to come home or when Bekah will be able nurse. Right now we just have to take each day at a time. But the babies continue to progress: they are eating, pooping, and causing trouble (Dora took her IV off and lathered her hair in sugar water (She's fine, grandmas.)). Bekah will be going to the hospital each day to be with the babies. There are rooms in the NICU where Bekah can pump and the NICU is open to parents at all times.

Requests:

• Sylvia is under bilirubin lights for high bilirubin levels (jaundice) and Dora may have to soon.

• Bekah is still recovering from her C-section.

• Joel and Bekah are sad to be far away from the babies.

• Joel is trying to keep up with teaching and classes.

Our Granddaughters are Born!

Our little twin granddaughters have safely arrived into the world, Saturday morning, Feb. 13, 7:50 AM, New York time.  They were delivered by C-section under general anesthesia because Bekah's labor was so fast and one of the babies was transverse.  We were very thankful for Skype and email so that we could get the messages quickly.  We were thankful for our PNG friends and missionary family who joined with us to pray for Bekah, Joel and the babies.  We were very grateful that the doctor decided to perform a C-section since he found upon delivery that Sylvia's cord was around her neck.

Joel didn’t get to be with Bekah, but was able to see the twins right after they were born.  They both weighed exactly the same – 3 pounds 14 oz.  They were about 6 weeks premature.  Both babies were breathing okay on their own, but little Sylvia Irena had some fluid in her lungs so they hooked her up to C-PAP to assist her.  It was taken off later in the day and she is breathing fine without assistance now.  We praise God for his goodness to us and them!  They will be in the hospital for a while.  They are anticipating that Bekah will be able to go home from the hospital on Wednesday, Feb. 17th.

Joel and Bekah named the babies, Dora Katherine and Sylvia Irena.  Both babies are named for their two grandmothers and also have a name that comes from the Greek – a language that Joel has studied lots in his Master’s and doctoral programs.  Dora means “gift” and Irena means “peace.”  The scripture that was their inspiration is James 1:17, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights…”

Kathy, Bekah's mom and our dear friend in PNG, will most likely be going to be with Bekah and Joel on the 18th, a week earlier than planned.  David and Sylvia will be going in May.  We are singing with the Psalmist…God is good!  His love endures forever!  Give thanks to the Lord for He is good!  For his unfailing love and wonderful deeds, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! (Psalm 118:1, 15-16, 29)

These little girls are surrounded by a loving Christian family.  We feel so blessed!  Dora and Sylvia have 4 living, godly Great Grandmothers and 3 living, godly Great Grandfathers! Psalm 127:3 says, “Our children are a present from God, a good thing that he has given to lift us up.”  Our hearts are lifted and soaring high!



This morning, Valentine's Day in the US, Joel and Bekah took us on a trip down to the nursery to "visit" our two little babies.  We were able to hear Sylvia Irena cry for the first time and watched as the babies waved their arms.  Technology is so amazing these days! 

We would appreciate your continued prayers for Joel and Bekah and the babies – that they would not have to stay long in the hospital, that Bekah will recover fully and quickly, that the babies will continue to gain weight and be strong. Please pray also for the details of Kathy's travels and for Jim and the children staying at Kudjip.

Wedding Bells X 3

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,
and they will become one flesh" (Genesis 2 :24).

We were thrilled that of the four couples that attended the marriage retreat, three decided to go ahead with plans to get married on December 19th. Oftentimes the financial burden of a wedding keeps couples from going through with wedding plans. The "bride price" in Vanuatu has been limited to the equivalent of $800, not a small sum of money even for people in the US. Not all the islands of Vanuatu require the groom to pay a bride price, but the expense for the wedding reception is also a daunting amount for most people here. Everyone that comes to a wedding in Vanuatu expects that afterward a large meal will be served, including the meat from at least one cow, several pigs and chickens, lots of "laplap" and rice, drink and cake. We had never organized a wedding in Vanuatu before, not to mention a multiple wedding!

We found out that pre-planning for an event like this is not as much a part of the melanesian culture as it is in western cultures. We had lots to learn, and we were so thankful for wonderful ni-Vanuatu Nazarenes and family members that took the lead in getting things organized. The wedding reception was to take place at our yard which has lots of grass and trees. The young people helped by making a large shelter where the food would be served. The Black Sands Church of the Nazarene financed and arranged the purchase of the cow and also prepared the traditional "laplap" - a food made from cassava and coconut milk. Several men from William's family came to prepare the soups and stews. A large tent was secured from Air Vanuatu. A temporary kitchen was put together in one corner of the yard. It was a little funny to find 4 cow feet nicely arranged over the fire pit after the reception. (If you look closely, you'll see them.)

Meanwhile the brides and grooms were getting ready at the sanctuary where we had met the month before for our annual assembly. Try to imagine three brides with their "flower girls" getting dressed in a tiny 2-stall church restroom in the tropics! At the wedding practice the previous night, only one bride had prepared to have flower girls. Somehow, by the next morning the other two brides had found flowergirls and dresses for them! Rona had asked a lady to make her wedding dress; Janet was wearing her mother's dress; and Aline was to wear a borrowed dress. We're not sure when or why it got started, but it is "traditional" for the grooms to wear black suits and ties. Suits and ties are not common items in stores here in Port Vila. Peter and Gideon were able to borrow suits. William was dressed nicely in a long sleeve white shirt, but alas, he had outgrown his suit coat.

The brides and grooms marched in as the congregation sang in Bislama, "To God Be the Glory Great Things He Has Done!" The brides were escorted in by men from their families. Pastor Peter led the service and David preached the sermon. One of the most meaningful times of the service was when the "flowergirls" placed a large ring of flowers around each bride and groom signifying the sanctity of the marriage relationship. This is not a usual tradition in Vanuatu, but Pastor Peter introduced it at a wedding several years ago and the ni-Vanuatu liked it. Each couple exchanged vows and rings and shook hands to seal the deal. Then we all piled into trucks and vans to drive through town, honking and hooting as we cruised along.


The wedding reception was perfect - plenty of food for everyone! One of Rona's family members was able to get a huge tub of crushed ice for the cold drink - a cool blessing for the tropical heat. The brides and grooms sat together and shared their first meal as husband and wife. The couples all cut their cakes together. There were lots of digital cameras flashing as hand in hand the couples made their first slice through the cake. And then, they sat down. We discovered it is not traditional to feed each other the cake like we do in the US.
William took a few minutes to present Rona's family with part of the "bride price." It is customary for the bride's family to respond with gifts for the groom's family as well. Not only are the bride and groom united, but the families are joined in friendship. This is the traditional way of making the marriage public and also for establishing the marriage commitment.

It was the end of a perfect day and the beginning of a new life together for these newlyweds who have invited the blessing of the Lord into their lives and marriages!

We're Gonna Get Married!

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together! God is the author and initiator of the marriage relationship, and he loves it when people do marriage HIS way and follow his plan! In Vanuatu, cultural taboos prevent parents from discussing marriage and "friending" (dating) relationships with their children. We never hear about a marriage enrichment retreat or any marriage type workshop being offered at the churches in Vanuatu. This has been a burden on our hearts for most of the six years that we've served as missionaries in this country. There are a number of couples in our churches who have never married, either in a traditional way or in a church wedding. They have come to know Christ as their Savior, but for a variety of reasons, have never gotten married. With this in mind, we proposed that the local Nazarene Churches come together to help provide a wedding for those couples in our churches that wanted to step forward to publicly unite their relationship in a Christian marriage ceremony.

We decided that any couple who wanted to participate in the wedding would need to attend a marriage retreat that we would offer the weekend prior to the wedding. We found some great Christian Melanesian marriage resources that we could give to the participants, and Pastors Peter and Jenny joined us in teaching God's plan for marriage. It was interesting to watch the couples when they first arrived and took their places in the church to listen to the first lesson. Not one couple was seated together! So, before we got started we had everyone shift around so that they were seated next to their partner. Although they giggled and seemed embarrassed, it was delightful to see them begin to talk and consult with each other. This retreat was a small step in helping these four couples begin to see marriage as a gift from God with truths from his Word that will bring blessing and joy to a relationship that was previously characterized by conflict. We look forward to offering more classes on Christian marriage and family relationships in the coming months.