Report on Trip to Vella la Vella Island (Aug19/08)

 Thank you for your prayers for this trip.

Dear Prayer Partners,

 Trip to the Western Province:

We took a Express Pelican ship to the Western Province, leaving Sunday Morning, August 10 at 7 a.m.  The trip down was uneventful and the sea was calm.  When traveling in the Solomon Sea, anything can happen and having a smooth voyage is in itself an answer to prayer.  The ship was really fully booked [Over booked by Western standard, in that many passengers did not have a seat.] and we only arrived 30 minute before departure and found two of the remaining few seats.  I certainly don't like to sit down on the deck with all the cigarette smokers.  The Pelican is a passenger ship and travels relatively fast.  Our trip to Gizo took 13 hours or so with 5 stops.

 Once in Gizo, we walked to the house of Hudson's (Caleb's) aunt and uncle [Kathryn and Samson].  They graciously extended hospitality to these two travelers.  It was Kathryn's outboard motor boat that we were going to hire for our weeklong trip to Vella la vella.  Kathryn is the sister of Rolland, Hudson's dad, and Kendrick (Joshua), the one who drove the boat.  Caleb and Joshua are two of our Bible College Students.  They gave us a good price of only SI $600 (US $80) for the week to hire their boat.  Travel in the Solomon's is expensive with the fuel price, and their help was so appreciated.

 It was good having the night and morning devotions and fellowship with this family too.  Kathryn has a house at Barakoma village where Joshua and his family are staying and she was thrilled that we would be using her house for our services while there.  Then on Monday morning when we walked to town we found Joshua who had just arrived with the boat from Vella la vella, and did some last shopping for petrol (gas), kerosene, and other supplies.  We were on our way by 10 a.m. 

 Fishing:

As we were leaving the reef we begin unrolling our fishing lines.  I'm primarily fishing for men, but I feel it is a good trip when I catch both kinds of fish.  It's just like God to humble a man.  I was anticipating catching some fish.  I gave Caleb one of the lures, a plain shiny silver one, that I didn't feel would catch as many as the "high-dollar" lure I purchased especially for this trip.  I wanted to be the first to use this lure and catch the first fish.  The lure looks like a fish and makes a little noise in the water.  We were only 5 minutes into the trip when Caleb hooked a nice size fish.  It was not long until he had landed 2 more.  So then

I said let me see that line, and a traded with him.  Then we caught nothing for a long while and finally Caleb had his fourth fish.  Then I did finally catch one.   Anyway we had fish to eat.

  [Holding two of the fish caught is Caleb and Sanette, the highschool daughter of Samson and Kathryn.  We took her back to HS on Vella la vella.  She had been home for a week sick.]

  

Malasova:          

Malasova is the first village we went.  This is where

Caleb's parents live.  His mother was from this village, but father is from Barakoma.  Caleb was miraculously saved.  He was a criminal and in his own testimony he says that he was worse than any of his family.  Due to his radical transformation his family member's who are unsaved are hungry, or at least curious.  They see such a difference in his life.  We held two services per day, morning and evening.  I preached and taught the holiness message, twice a day.  I was not sure why they wanted the Nazarene Church but I wanted to let them know what it would mean to totally commit their life to Christ.  Caleb's dad has the theology in his head, as he was a trained pastor in his church.  Many people who attended are what they refer to here as "backsliders".  That word typically means someone who was raised in the church or a "Christian" village, but many have never had a personal relationship with Christ.  Anyway most of the people attending our services were  pre-Christians or not truly born again.

 

While in Malasova I was feeling like we weren't getting through. They were listening and talking with us about the church and messages but they were not responding to the spiritual leading.  Then the last night there, Wednesday night, Caleb was sharing his testimony and he began to cry.  He explained his tears were for his lost family.  He said, "When I look out and see you and know that I was worse than any of you I just can't help crying for you."  Then as he began to sing a song, a strange thing happened.  We viewed this as a sign from God.  It began to pour rain on the house.  What was unusual about this rain is the sky was starry and clear.  Also when a rain comes you hear it approaching with the sound of falling rain in the surrounding Coconut and bananas before it gets to where you are.  With this rain it came from nowhere and just started over the house where we were meeting, and it really cut loose for 2 minutes or so and just stopped as abruptly and mysteriously as it came.  It was like God saying to us, "I too am shedding tears for this place."  Then the following morning as we were having our final message before our departure, the Holy Spirit descended upon the place in a very special way.  One man and woman began to weep uncontrollably.  Three came forward for prayer.  Then one family, as a family unit came forward for prayer and to commit their family to the Lord.  This began a chain reaction as every family came forward one family at a time and knelt at the front for Caleb and I to pray with them.  Fathers and mothers gathered up all their children in the service and brought them forward for us to bless them and to commit their family to the Lord.  The presence of the Spirit was so powerfully felt that I didn't quite know how to close the service and no one was in a hurry to leave.

 Land for Church Site:

After this service we went to an area where Caleb wanted to show me his land where he plans to build the church.  I can't go into detail about this but we met a lot of really stiff opposition there with the people, his cousins, who are currently living there.  I'm confident that he will have to find another place to build a church unless the Lord performs a miracle and these people are converted.  Pray for this need.

 Facilities:

The house where we stayed was on the mountain and the necessary facility was down the mountain.  Local people go for a swim in the sea to use the restroom.  I try to culturally fit in and tried that but the coral was sharp and I didn't do well at all with that and so found a really nice pit toilet that was no longer being used.  There was no door on it and it opened up facing a house, but my rain poncho serves as an excellent temporary door.  It worked good.  Anyway the hike down the mountain was good exercise every morning.  The problem was the mountain was steep and I needed help climbing down which kept me from wiping out.  The trail and stones are slick in the morning after the heavy nightly dew.  It didn't rain on us while there other than that two-minute rain I mentioned earlier.  Also I have always been directionally challenged and it is worse when there are no road signs on these trails and houses "look the same".  So for sure if it is dark I need someone to go with me so I can find my way back to the house.

 Barakoma: 

Thursday we travelled to Barakoma village.  The fishing was not good on the way.  In Barakoma, Caleb and I stayed in a small house that was built for their new school.  This is the village where Kendrick (Joshua) lives.  We held our services on the large veranda of Kathryn's home where Joshua and Ruth and their family are living.  When we arrived, word came that Kathryn, the lady in whose house we stayed at Gizo, had sent word that we were not allowed to use her home for worship services.  We knew that to be incorrect information because when we left Gizo she bid us good-bye at the wharf and blessed us with the assurance that we could use her home.

 School:

Grace and Rollingson, began a Nazarene Christian school in

the community.  I was surprised, because Grace came to our school at Zion in Honiara for 11 months, working as a volunteer, and for training (OJT) so she could begin a school in their village.  She then returned to Barakoma village and immediately began a school.  This is their first year of operation.  She told me that when she began there were less than 20

students, but soon they began to read and now she has 66 enrolled in her Kindy (equivalent to USA preschool) and ABC (equivalent to USA Kindergarden).  [The day a took this photo there were only 56 students present and there was no way I could fit them all in.  I'm not sure where the other 10 students would fit if they all attended the same day.  She says all the students crow

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onto this 6 x 12 ft. veranda for assembly.]  Then they conduct an afternoon tutorial reading class for students in primary school who can not read.  They have 13 students in this after school class.  Their school house I stepped it off and guess it to be roughly 12 x 14 ft.  The veranda of the house (6 x12 ft) is used for the Kindy class and then they have two ABC classes.  One class uses the room (8×12 ft) in the "school house" and the other class meets in Rollingson's front room.  The school is becoming very popular and people are really pleased with this school.  They plan to start fund raising in September so they can build a school.  Many parents are requesting that they continue with grade one.  Grace only has a grade 6 formal education, but the principal of the local primary school, noticing the difference she is making in teaching reading, has asked her about teaching for them.  Grace said that she wants to get the school going for her mission.  Many Solomon Island students do not know how to read even after completing Grade 3. All of our students learn to read before starting grade 1.  That is really a good advertising point.

   Victories at Barakoma:

At Barakoma as in Malasova, most of those who came to the service are backsliders, especially the men.  Some of their wives attend the local church faithfully.  Some were opposing their husbands going to this 'new church' while others were supportive and just grateful for the change in their husband.  Joshua is the lay pastor at Barakoma and he too was a backslidden man before recently being saved.  He has attended a couple of Bible College classes and has already paid his school fees for the September Classes.

Chris was a backslidden man and came to church.  He really found spiritual help during the time we were there.  He was one whose wife really opposed his decision to attend this new church.  His wife attended with him the last Sunday morning service, and she is now committed to supporting her husband.  Chris has grown children from a previous marriage and when his first wife died he married his second wife and has some younger children from this marriage.  Pray for this family as Chris is hungry to learn about God and plans to attend our Bible College block courses in September.

 J____ is living in the village.  She came to the altar for prayer and said she has had a couple of dreams.  She says that every night when she lays down in her bed she has very severe pain in her right leg.  It is so severe that she is unable to sleep at night.  She said that she dreamed that a snake bit her and ever since then whenever she lays down, in her bed, this pain comes.  I felt it to be a demonic attack.  I prayed with her and then helped her understand how to do spiritual warfare.  We remained in the village for two nights after that and she testified to having no more trouble.

 The women in Barakoma are very happy that their husbands have found Christ.

 Stanley walked to Barakoma from Sambora village and he was a backslidden man.  He now wants to begin a preaching point  in his village, about 1 hour walk from Barakoma.  He plans to attend the Bible College Class in September

 Other Activities at Barakoma:

I took my snorkel gear with me and went with Caleb out on the reef.  He had a homemade spear gun and was spearing the reef fish.  I was snorkeling around, watching him.  He only shot 3 small fish in the 1 hour or so we were out.  Caleb announced that he was ready to go in, and I said, "Before we go in I'd like to try that thing."  In about 5 minutes I saw a fish.  I'm not sure why, but I really struggle to go under water when swimming in the ocean.  I tried unsuccessfully to dive down and get a closer shot of the fish.  I finally gave up and just took aim from the surface and hit the fish.  I then turned to one of the young boys with us and asked him to dive down and retrieve my spear and get the fish.  He thought I was joking and laughed.  They were surprised when Caleb returned with my spear and a fish on it.  Then I quit for I didn't want to break my 100% average.  They said, "You are a sharp shooter."

 Saturday the men organized a fishing trip.  I wanted to go but it wasn't a tough choice because I had some souls on land to fish for.  There was a family that asked me if I would talk with their three daughters (teens

and one 22 years old).  The girls agreed to talk with me.  The 22 yo is married with one child and having trouble.   According to mom and dad they are "naughty girls".  I visited with this family and had prayer with them.  One daughter disappeared and wasn't around for the meeting but the two daughters that came, opened up and listened to me.  I trust my counsel and prayers made a difference.  I really am concerned for the young people in the Solomon's.  I know I can't be a Grandpa or Uncle to the whole world but I want to make a difference in as many lives as possible.Anyway the men's fishing trip was very successful as they speared and brought home a number of reef fish. On their return trip to the village they caught a large King Fish (nearly 5 ft long).  Saturday night after a long service, we enjoyed a time of fellowship, eating the fish and wonderful food they prepared.  It made for a long day as we retired at 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning.  I still woke up at about 4:30 a.m.  That's usual time for me when I get to bed by 11 p.m. but on this night I don't know why I woke up at that time but it sure is quiet that time of the morning for prayer and a time in the Word.  Other than the occasional crowing of a rooster and the rhythmic sounds from the ocean waves everything was very quiet and peaceful.

   Sunday Service:Sunday School and Adult discipleship classes began at 9:00. 

It was about 11 a.m. before the worship service began and it went until 2:30 p.m.  I want you to know the length of the services wasn't due to my long sermons, but rather people testified, sang songs, and we had times of prayer for those who wanted to pray.  Monday morning when Joshua took the boat to Gizo, he reported that in the afternoon after I left the village to return to Gizo, the church folks went around to different homes for sharing and fellowship.  He said they plan to have a house prayer meeting and fellowship every Friday evening in a different home every week.

  Trip back to Gizo:

Soon after boarding the boat bound for Gizo, I pulled out my fishing line and we had a conversation that went something like this:

Caleb said, "This is Sunday, we can't fish on Sunday." 

 George, "I'm not fishing, I'm just going to drag my lure behind the boat."

 "That is fishing."

 "We're not going to chase birds or fish or go out of our way, but straight home, maybe God wants to bless us and we will miss that blessing."

 "What if someone's faith is weak, we'll make them sin?"  [We had a couple passengers with us.]

 "Are you serious? I certainly don't want to do something to make someone stumble.  I don't even like to travel on Sunday unless I have to, but since I'm travelling I'd like to drag the lure.  Let's just drag the line for twenty minutes and then we'll pull it in and go home, besides Jesus told his disciples to gather corn on the Sabbath.  I told Kathryn to get ready to cook fish when we return, and I don't want to return and tell her that we didn't even try to catch a fish.  At least I want to give the Lord a chance to bless us."

We then had prayer asking the Lord to bless our trip, and then I concluded the prayer with something like, "If You bless us with one nice sized fish, I'd be grateful, but if not that's OK too."  I said amen and then laid back to take my usual Sunday afternoon nap.  There was about 5 minutes left of our 20 minute I'd allowed for fishing when I roused up and noticed the line wasn't following the boat real well.  I checked and we'd hooked a fish.  I had let out way too much line so it seemed like it took us forever (probably 2 minutes) to land this fish.  Once in the boat it was a nice one, around 1 meter or so long.  There's our supper.  Then I was ready to take off but now they wanted to fish some more, so we put in for another 5 minutes, then I said, "OK, now it's time to quit and pulled in and we sped on to Gizo.

 You have to realize we do not use pole, reels, and such.  We just tie a lure and swivel, etc. to the end of a fishing line (200 pound test).  Then we hold the line with our hand and can easily tell when a fish takes it.  This Sunday not wanting to appear to be fishing, I just firmly tied the line to an oar that I stood up in one of the holders attached to the boat. 

Here is the picture of the fish we caught.  George is pictured with Kathryn and some of her children.  They were happy to see the fish.

In Gizo:

Sunday night I wanted to go and visit the Wesleyan Methodist Church [Wesleyan Church in the USA].  This denomination has a small church in Gizo, and I had made contact with them during the Tsunami, but had never visited them.  So once we arrived at the home of Kathryn and Samson and left them the fish to prepare and sorted out our things, we walked to the church.  I wanted to find out their service time, and then attend.  When we arrived at 5:15 the service was in progress because they started at 5 p.m.  We had a nice visit with their church.  I talked with their Superintendent about pastoral training and maybe working together as it is expensive for our students from Western Province to travel to Honiara for Bible College classes.   Also the Wesleyan Methodists have just begun work in the Honiara area too and could take advantage of our Bible College too.

 After Service, I commented that I didn't hear the engine of the Pelican ship arriving at the wharf.  I had purchased tickets to return on the Pelican leaving Monday at 6:30 a.m. The ship should arrive in Gizo by at least 8 p.m.  Then finally after an excellent fish supper, we called someone who lives near the wharf to find out if the ship came and we were told the trip was cancelled.  Praise the Lord for the Satellite phone so I contacted Nancy and the next morning she had booked me a flight for Monday afternoon on the Solomon Airlines flight. 

 Monday I went to town and saw some people who arrived from Barakoma and they were happy to see me again.  Joshua, Caleb, and I went into a restaurant where it was quiet and we could visit until lunch and then we could eat our lunch.  It was good to have a little time of reflection.  Actually most of this letter is from things they recalled as being significant to report to you our prayer partners.  We had a nice visit together.  I would have missed this time if it had worked out so I could leave as originally scheduled.

 In the afternoon I went to the SolAir office and 3 p.m. we took our boat ride across the bay to the small island that has the airport on it.  Nothing else is on this island but an airport.  We got checked in and then the news came that the plane on the way had engine trouble and returned to Honiara.  They said they would change planes and fly to Gizo but they will be arriving in Gizo too late for us to return on Monday night.  The plane spend the night in Gizo and we got on it Tuesday morning.   Anyway I got a good night sleep Monday night and arrived in Honiara yesterday morning physically tired but spiritually renewed.

 JuniKo, a girl from Barakoma who spent a few weeks staying in our home before the youth camp, gave me a 20 kg bag of cooking bananas and sweet potatoes as a present to take and give to Aunt Nancy.  Since I was flying instead of sailing, I had to leave most of these back in Gizo with our gracious host and put some in a plastic bag that I could carry on the plane.  I was maxed out on weight anyway.

 Prayer Requests:

1.     Joshua and Caleb, both recent converts as they lead and pastor their own people. (Joshua 1 year in the Lord, and Caleb 2 years.)

2.     Land for the church and school in both these villages.

3.     Grace and Rollingson as they lead the school in Barakoma, and Agnes in Malasova.

4.     New worshippers that they will get strong in the Lord.  Many of these have been backslidden and out of the church for so many years.

5.     New Bible College Students preparing to attend Bible College.

6.     They are facing much opposition.

Malasova School:

Here is a picture of Agnes.  Agnes plans to begin her school this week.  She also came to Zion for the 11 months.  She is younger than Grace and didn't know how to begin.  Hudson is going to help her get things going.  Remember her in your prayers.

 

 

Thank you for your Prayers,

George Miller 

PO Box 712 Honiara, Solomon Islands phone: (677) 25 109

george_nancy@reachone.com