(Aug6/08)

Dear Prayer Partner,

Pray for me as I leave Sunday Morning by ship to travel to the island of Vella la Vella in the Western Province.  I have a lot of loose end to get ready.  Hudson (Caleb is his baptized name) Vovikana, a recent convert from Vella will be my

traveling companion.  We will leave the 10^th and I will return by myself the 18^th as Hudson will remain behind to help strengthen the new church there.  Currently we have two new starts there, that as far as I know are still meeting in homes.   I do not know what I'll find when I get there.  This is the first time I've visited this island.  Pray also for Kendrick (Joshua, Baptized name) as he is the lay pastor of one of the new starts.  Kendrick is enrolled in our Bible College.  Pray for Kendrick and Hudson because travel to and from Bible College is expensive.

 

Bathe this trip in prayer because there is a lot of spiritual warfare that needs to be done on this island as they still practice sorcery to obtain healing, etc.  As with most of the Solomon Islanders they have become "Christian" as far as they have and attend a church.  There are many who refer to themselves as backsliders.  In many ways they combine and mix their worship with God with their traditional spirits.  So we have Joshua and Caleb there now, as they try to conquer their island for Christ.  We are thrilled that the Nazarene Church can be a part of this hopefully "New awakening".  Pray for a revival here so that those who claim to be Christian will truly develop a relationship with JESUS.  The transformation in Caleb's life has been so dramatic that his family are interested in what he has.  Everywhere in the Solomon's there are denominational barriers.  Our church is working to break those down so that the lost and backsliders will come to faith in Christ and have a dynamic relationship with HIM.  

 

During this trip we will be visiting two communities.  Our schedule roughly is: 7 a.m. Sunday 10^th depart Honiara for Gizo by ship,  7 p.m. Sunday, Arrive in Gizo,  Sunday night or early Monday we travel by outboard motor boat to the village of Malasova,  on Vella la Vella Island, Monday through Wed morning we have classes and evening messages.  The last message Wednesday evening we're planning for an evangelistic message.  Thursday 14^th we travel by outboard motor to the other side of the island, to the second village of Barakoma and will have the same program concluding Sunday afternoon.  Then following this program we will travel back to Gizo awaiting the Monday morning ship back to Honiara.   Pray for this program as I do not know what we will confront or what to expect on this trip.

 

Caleb recently attended a workshop with me put on by SITAG (Solomon Islands Translation Advisory Group-Wycliffe).  Pray for him as he returns and puts what he learned into practice.  Pray for us as we teach and preach at Vella.  I want most of all to build HIS Kingdom.

 

One of the New Ministry Tools that has arrived in our country is the "Proclaimer".  The Proclaimer is a box about the size of a radio and it contains a chip inside that contains the dramatized audio recording of the New Testament in the Pijin language.  The Proclaimer has multiple power sources {conventional electric current, and battery which can either be charged by electricity, solar, or hand crank}.  It is ideal for the bush where they do not have electricity.  Pray for this new avenue of ministry.  The Proclaimer was developed by a group known as FCBH (Faith Comes By Hearing).  If you want more information on their work I'm sure you can Google Search for them and find out what you need.  Our Nazarene Harvest Partners and Jesus Film works closely with FCBH too.  I just heard from our Harvest Partners that our church in the Solomons will receive 10 units.  That will get us started.  The plan of course is for everyone to hear the word of God in their own language.  Later we pray these will be available in the vernacular languages.  It takes 40 sessions of 20 min/session to listen to the entire New Testament.  This will mean that if done daily it could be accomplished in a little over one month, but say twice weekly it could be done within 6 months.  The idea is the villagers to meet together to listen to the word and then discuss it together and make applications.

 

I hesitate sharing the following testimony because I have those on my mailing list from various denominations and once it's in cyberspace you never know who will read it.  But here goes, no offense intended.

 

Sunday we had a visitor in our church, who was also from Vella.  This man is a well educated Bible Scholar, and was a head pastor in his denomination.  He even served as missionary to Papua New Guinea.   He shared his testimony with our church on Sunday and it really challenged and blessed our people.  His particular denomination emphasizes the importance of the Levitical law with particular emphases on the correct day of worship.  He was grateful to his denomination because it was through that denomination he found Jesus.  He was born and raised in this denomination and went through their Bible College training and was taught their beliefs.  He was taught how to argue for their faith and the right things to say and believe.  However, as he begin to diligently study the scriptures he began to question the beliefs he had been taught.  He shared with the church his spiritual journey and how he was led out of this denomination.  He said in 2006 he finally left his position with this denomination and renounced their belief.  Anyway, he has since been searching for a church that believed like him.  When I shook hands with him before the service, he told me, that he believed like John Wesley.  I don't think I've ever been told that by a first time visitor in my entire life before.  Pray for this man, but it is refreshing to me to see someone that visit our church because of our theology.  By the way Hudson had met him and was the contact that invited him to check us out.  He is currently living on the island of Rendova, his wife's place.  Many people in the Solomon Islands come and join a new church thinking they will get something. 

 

Your Partner in His Ministry,

George Miller

PO Box 712

Honiara, Solomon Islands

phone: (677) 25 109

george_nancy@reachone.com