Funeral of Simi Tome

Funeral of late Simi Tome

{Apologies, this was started and in the draft for a long time}

Simi Tome, a 74 year old double amputee, went to be with the Lord or Saturday Evening 21st of September.  Simi welcomed the Jesus Film showing in his place and was instrumental along with his children in the establishment of the Petra Church in Iriiri Pasapasa village in the Vonavona Lagoon.

Saturday night when I received the news from Pastor Fred, Simi's son-in-law, it was not unexpected as he had been ill for a long time.  Pastor asked if I or another pastor would be available to come for the burial.  The shipping schedule travels to the western Solomon's every Sunday morning.  The timing worked out great.  There was a former pastor of the Petra Church, Pastor Revelation, who is now in Honiara for other church business.  He was the right one to go and conduct this burial service.

Thank you for your continual prayers for the work in the Solomon Islands.  Pray for Pastor Fred Safe, the pastor at the Petra church and his continued effort to bring the healing love of Jesus to the people in the Vonavona Lagoon.  The Petra church is also operating a school teaching reading to the children of the village.

Prayer update for 6 August 2013

6 August 2013

Return to the field Prayer update,

Introduction:

Thank you for your prayers during our home assignment and our return to the field.  It was good to see many of our friends and prayer supporters while home and then we met many new friends along the way.  We serve an awesome God and have a huge spiritual family.

I apologize for not posting this sooner.  I am trying to figure out how to post photos.  It has to be simple, but they changed the blogspot and I'm having difficulty navigating through it. We need your prayer support, as that is so crucial to what is happening. 

Highlights from Home Assignment:

Touring and Deputation Praises:

We crisscrossed the USA, mostly by air.  Every home assignment we vow that we will not schedule a service for the first Sunday back.  And we don't unless someone asks.  We are so passionate about what we do that it is hard to refuse a service.  We arrived in Dallas on Wednesday and our first service was Saturday in Westminster, Maryland.  We hit the ground running.  The Lord was faithful in meeting our need there.

We toured the following districts or spoke in conventions: NE Indiana, Indianapolis, Upstate New York, Los Angeles, and North West districts (includes Eastern Washington, Idaho panhandle, and few counties in NE Oregon).  In addition to the district tours and services mentioned above we had deputation services in Smyrna, Delaware; Woodson Park, OKC; Carnegie, OK; Spencerville, OH; Miami, OK; Everett, WA; and Camp Creek, OK.  We shared in a missions class at SNU, Caravan class at Choctaw, OK; and led the Solomon Islands delegation after General Assembly to share in a children's camp on the Dallas District.

Thank you for your prayers.  Our schedule was considerably lighter than last time.  The Lord knows exactly what is needed as we spent more time than usual visiting doctor's offices.

Family Time:

We don't see our grandchildren too often, so when home on their birthday we like to take them on a date.  The way it works is we go wherever the grandchild wishes and spend a sizeable part of the day just hanging out with them.  We went out with Raina to the Orange Leaf, a frozen Yogurt place and shopping, took Addie to a science museum, and grandpa took Geoffrey to the toy section in Walmart, where he purchased some of the latest toys that I had never heard of before.  We will have a lot of cultural adjustments when we return to the USA to live as the world has really changed since 1989.

We had a week (Monday to Saturday) off while in Upstate New York and so we flew down to Washington DC and met our family (Geoff and Churie and girls; along with Wendy and her 4 children.)  

We enjoyed visiting the capitol and our time together in Washington and then in New York.  Fortunately we love each other as the house we rented in DC, advertised to sleep 16, was crowded with our 5 adults and 8 children.  We had fun but there is always more to see than time allows, and the time just flew by.

General Assembly was another large family reunion.  We saw a lot of people we hadn't seen in years, and there were others there that we so wanted to run into but did not manage.  We rode in two vehicles to Indianapolis with Gloria and her two youngest along with Churie and her 4 daughters.   Also our son Gary was with us as well as Hannah, our SI 'daughter' who flew into LAX and traveled with us from there to General Assembly.  Rex and Ezra, two young men from the Solomon Islands who attended the convention traveled back with us to await our return trip to Solomon's.

Health Concerns:

While on HA necessary things we have to take care of are the medical exams and procedures not available on the field.  I (George) was diagnosed with liver cysts in 2012 and as most of you know I needed further evaluation in Australia.  But in Australia they felt it nothing serious but advised me to follow up once back in the USA.  I had a lot of lab tests to verify there wasn't a pathogen causing the cysts on my liver.  All lab tests came back normal or negative except the Iron, Iron Binding Capacity (IBC), and serum Ferritin.  These tests were really abnormal and indicated too much iron stored in the liver.  The diagnosis of hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) was confirmed by MRI and genetic testing.   Some of the tests performed on me I had never heard of before, in my former life as a Medical Technologist.

The treatment for HH is frequent blood donations.  The doctor gave me an order to have a therapeutic phlebotomy performed weekly as we travelled.  HH has other associated symptoms which I had begun to notice, mainly muscle weakness.  In most places in the USA this procedure was a challenge as we travelled.  But in the 8 weeks from the diagnosis to our departure I successfully donated 6 times, and my lab tests were almost within the normal range when we departed for the field.  I was praying about the monthly donation once back in the Solomon's.  Incidentally HH does not disqualify one from being a blood donor as long as one is otherwise an eligible donor.  Within days after our return I went into the blood bank and inquired about this and the blood bank director knew exactly what was needed and no trouble at all.  I even forgot my doctor's order, but that too was no problem.  Tomorrow I am scheduled for the second donation.  It looks like I am going to supply the blood bank here and bless a number of people with my iron-enriched blood.

I (George) also had a stress test to check out my heart.  The cardiologist that examined me was a quiet/contemplative sort of guy.  He carefully and meticulously searched through the cardiogram and sonograms in complete silence and then turned to me after 20 suspenseful minutes going over the graphs and images as with a fine toothed comb while I watched in silence.  Then he stated in his stoic manner, "I don't see anything here.  It looks completely normal to me."  That was good news (no great news) considering my brother died suddenly from a massive MI.  I also had a colonoscopy exam that previously I had avoided like the plague.  But now at 62 years old I was told by a doctor, friend of mine, "It is time."  After the exam the doctor told me there was no significant findings and I didn't need another one for 5 – 10 years.  Of course I heard the 10 year part.  PTL

Prayer request:

Kenoly Akoeasi – Our pastor's son has a real puzzling illness, that has left him weak.  Pray for him.  When we returned he was in the hospital, and after I donated my first unit he was given a unit and his blood type is same as mine.  We have a medical team visiting the Solomon's now and Kenoly went to see them.  They treated him and he shows improvement. 

Note: At the time of this posting he is much improved, but does need your prayers.

Pastor Barnabas and the Kwalaitutu Church 

– The Kwailatutu church started a preaching point at Ote, about a 4-hour walk up the mountain and in the bush. Barnabas rang me and told me that they were returning on 23 – 25 of this month and they have 16 new believers to be baptized including 6 from the Kwalaitutu congregation.  Barnabas wants you to pray for good weather [rain free] for that weekend.

Note: Malaita where he is have been having lots of rain.  With too much rain it will be difficult for them to go.  Honiara has had not rain and our water tank is dry.

Bible College Block Class: Pray for our block courses coming up in Sept 18 – Oct 4.  In this block course, two of the classes will be taught by graduates of our Bible College as we are training potential teachers.  Pray for our chancellor, Dave Kerr and family as they come and visit in the Solomon's.  Dave taught a course to our graduates to train teachers and this is their practical experience.  We will have something for his wife Dr. Rosie Kerr to do while here.

Additional Prayer requests for our Solomon Island District:

• ·      Pray for unity.
• ·      Pray for the Lord of the Harvest to call people into the ministry.
• ·      Our churches and members to get the vision to plant churches.
• ·      Our District Secretary, Brother Alick, as his job is reassigning him to Renell Island.  Pray that God will help him there.
• ·      Our youth and district president, Pastor Revelation, who is touring Vella la vella Island that God will bless his ministry there.
• ·      Our two Bible College students, Gibson and Kendrick, that will soon be going on practical, and preparing to graduate this year.
• ·      IBOE (International Board of Education) review process looking at our Bible College.
• ·      Pray for a Holiness revival to sweep through this nation and region.

As I conclude this prayer letter, I want to thank you for your prayers.  This letter has become quite large.  I will try to keep the letters shorter in the future.

If you do not want included on this mailing, or you receive duplicate mailing let us know.

Your partners in His Ministry,

George Miller 

Report of return to Solomon's

Dear Friends,

(This is excerpts of a letter sent to churches that hosted us on our last HA) 

Summary of our Home Assignment:

We visited 11 districts and had district tours on 5.  We shared the story in 45 venues (mostly churches) and held 59 services.  This was somewhat down from last time, which was providential because we needed the time for medical checks [the 100,000 mile check-up].

Thank you for your prayers and generosity.  We were able to bring 20 e-readers back to the Solomon's to use in the Bible College.

Please continue to remember us in prayer.  Some of you have been our prayer partners for a number of years while some are new and we welcome you.  We can stay connected through Christ and email.

Travels:

We had an enjoyable time in the states, . . .   We have many fond memories, reconnecting with old friends and making many new ones.  This was our 8th home assignment in our 25 years of ministry.  During our home assignment we travel lots of miles, and have seen a lot of accidents, but God has been good to us and kept us safe again as we traversed one of the most dangerous places on earth, the US highways.  Thanks for your prayers for traveling mercies.

Our return trip took longer than expected.  We were almost home to the Solomon Islands when our aircraft developed a "minor" mechanical problem and we then returned to Nadi, Fiji to sort the problem out.  We then arrived 7 hours or so late and after the stores were closed and it was dark.  Minor inconvenience as we had packed our house up preparing for 4 months away and there was no food in the house.  But we were safe, and praising God to be back in the Solomon's.

New Computer:

We purchased a new computer (for me, George) as our old one was processing slow (kind of like me somedays).   I think I'll like my new Apple but it has been a while getting my address and mailing list straightened out.  If you do not want to get our letter please let us know or if you see this letter and would like one delivered directly to your box let us know that too.

Update on the Some of the Stories:

You know when I was with you I told you to pray for those I talk about because Satan will work hard in the Solomon's to destroy their testimony.

Patricia:

I shared about Patricia who had tragically lost her son right before our last District Assembly.  Pastor Patricia and Pastor Phillip from Vella la vella Island and their group of 22 from their island are still here.  They came to attend the district youth and then followed by the district children (Sunday School) camp.  They are doing fund raisers to earn money to return home.  It is an expensive trip and quite a sacrifice for them.  It was awesome seeing them make the sacrifice to come and in such number.

Patricia was encouraged when I told her that I had shared her story.  I assured her of your prayers. She thanked me (and you) as she relayed how she almost died.  She credits the Lord for healing her.  The ministry in Vella la vella is going strong.  Continue to pray for her.

White River Church:

I showed a photo of the baptism in White River and about the church that was started by Pastor Osborn among the children.  I want to report the church is growing.  They lost their uncompleted building where they were meeting and moved the church into a homemade tent, using a plastic tarp covering a frame.  The church is continuing to grow as people are coming to the Lord.  It was exciting hearing Osborn and others attest to what God is doing.  They now have a number of adults.  Osborn shared that he is beginning a membership class and hopes to start construction of a church building soon.  It sounds like this church will soon be organized.  They are still carrying on with their Saturday night prayer.

I mentioned in some services about a woman who was led to the Lord through the testimony of her daughter.  Prayer is requested for her as I am sad to report that she has backslidden.

Kwailatutu Church:

I told you about the Kwailatutu church where daddy Jacob lived.  Their new pastor shared with me how the Lord is moving there and he has over 20 that are ready to join the church.  Their attendance has now outgrown their building.  What a wonderful problem!

Delegates to General Assembly:

Our Solomon Island delegates had a wonderful time at General Assembly.  Our GA delegate was Alick Hagi, and then we had two NYI convention delegates Ezra Kuki and Rex Dagga, and we had one visitor, Hannah Konainao.  The delegates traveled to the USA on $20.  The banks ran out of US currency and so they went to the airport to wait their flight when someone from the church was trying to exchange their funds.  The plane departed before their treasurer returned.  They have numerous stories of miracles along the way to meet their needs. 

Hannah, met up with us in Los Angeles and toured with us for 3 weeks prior to General Assembly.  She had a wonderful experience and I know she was a blessing to those churches she visited and sang a special.  She made lots of friends along the way.

One incident that I'll relate concerning God's provision for the delegates - We were together in OKC eating lunch at a Golden Corral and a Maury man from New Zealand, seeing the Melanesian Neighbors talked with the boys and asked if they were from the Solomon's, then he shook hands with Ezra and passed through his handshake $40. This was a gift from a stranger.  Thank you for praying, as they were supported through your prayers.

Health Checks:

We had extra complete physicals while home this time.  

I have been experiencing weakness and also had the liver cysts diagnosed during last term.  I am 62 yo and have never had a colonoscopy done.  Our Nazarene Physician said, "It's time."  Then my brother died suddenly from presumably a massive heart attack, so I was advised to have my heart thoroughly checked out.

I had my stress test and the cardiologist looked intently at the cardiogram scan and sonogram images for a long time in complete silence, before turning to me and exclaiming, "I don't see anything at all here, it looks completely normal."  That's good news! 

After viewing my colonoscopy the doctor said, "There was a small polyp but it was nothing to worry about, you don't need another one for 10 years".  More good news!

The liver was checked out by every lab test imaginable to see if there was a pathogen causing the liver cysts.  All tests returned negative.  Good News!

In the battery of tests they did Serum Iron level, and Iron Binding Capacity [IBC], and ferritin level.  The Iron level was really high, IBC nearly zero, and Ferritin level 5x normal.  Then I had a DNA test and MRI.  I was then diagnosed with Hereditary Hemochromatosis [HH] (DNA tests showed I inherited the gene from both parents)  This means I have too much Iron stored in the liver, confirmed by the MRI.  Therefore I had to do a weekly therapeutic phlebotomy or donate one pint of blood weekly to reduce the iron.  In the USA this was not an easily obtained procedure, for a traveling/transiting man.  Some places it was expensive and most places I had to jump through lots of hoops.  The easiest place, prior to returning to the Solomon Islands, was in Spokane, WA.  I was unable to get this done weekly during our travels but successfully donated 6 units of blood during the last 10 weeks of our HA.  Then on my lab exam prior to return the values were back to almost normal and doctor ordered a monthly phlebotomy.  Some things about the developing world is much easier.  I went into the Hospital (Red Cross) Blood Bank in Honiara yesterday to try my first monthly draw in the Solomon's and discovered the tech here knew exactly what I needed and I didn't even show her the doctor's order.  Thanks for your prayers as over the next term I'll be a regular blood donor.  HH does not make the blood unsuitable for transfusion, as long as the donor criteria are met.  HH does have symptoms of weakness, which explains some of what has been going on.  One of the problems in the US is my recent travel overseas.  Thanks for your prayers.

Nancy did not have the extensive tests.  However, as many of you witnessed she has a chronic cough.  She was under the care of an ENT as he tried various things.  The cough comes and goes.  We do not really know the cause of this cough.  Please be in prayer for her.

Health checks were done and nothing serious enough to keep us from returning to the field.

All Authority:

As you remember my theme for the deputation message was Jesus was given all authority in Heaven and on earth and we are under His authority to make disciples we are not alone.  Thank you for partnering together to build the Kingdom and make disciples under HIS authority.  

God Bless and Keep the Prayers coming.

George Miller
PO Box 712
Honiara, Solomon Islands

Phone: +677 7468920

blog: http://georgeandnancymiller.blogspot.com

Web: http://oceanianazarene.org

Devotional Thought - Holiness or Hypocrisy

Holiness or Hypocrisy

Words of Holy living to encourage and inspire

From Uncle George

Throughout the past two millennia Christians have attempted to live a holy life before God.  In order to accomplish this holy life style and therefore be a “Spiritual Person” some have isolated themselves from the world.  Others have adopted outward standards of dress, behavior, and customs. 

            Jesus cautioned against hypocrisy in Matthew chapter 23 when he spoke of the seven woes.  Jesus said that some try to clean the outside of their cup but leave the inside dirty.  If the heart is cleansed and full of the love of God and His light, the outside actions will be a reflection of that light and love coming from within.  It is impossible for one to purify the heart by just cleaning up one’s outside actions.  The Pharisees during Jesus’ time lived this double standard and there are Christians today who are acting the part of a servant of Christ without having the Holy Spirit reigning within.

            On the outside the actions of a person living with Christ reigning and one living a hypocritical life will be similar and in fact it may be difficult to tell the two individuals apart.  The difference is the motivation toward holy behavior.  If the motivation is due to the love in one’s heart, that person is truly a child of the Savior.

            I am certainly not advocating disregarding the standards of behavior within the Christian community, for we need these standards.  But if we are merely performing a certain way because of the church’s rules or customs we do not have the spiritual freedom Christ died to give us.  If we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves, as Jesus instructed, the church rules will give us no problem because we will be living a higher standard.

            Many times our rules exclude sinners from church, because they do not fit in.  They cannot live that way or match up to the standards.  Some want to become “good enough” first and then come to worship.  Others who are trying to live the double standard just give up and backslide because it is so hard to live righteous.  Hospitals are for sick people to make them well and churches are for sinners to heal them spiritually.  The first thing a person should do is to seek God and after the sinful heart is replaced with a heart of love, everyone will notice the difference in attitude and actions.

            If you are living a life based on outward works, God has a better way, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6.  God is waiting and ready to fill you with his Holy Spirit and purify your heart.

            May God bless you this week as you draw closer to Him.  If you need spiritual counsel, contact a Bible believing church.  You can also contact me at address below.

Uncle George Miller, 

A servant of our Lord, serving in the Solomon Islands

PO Box 712, Honiara, Solomon Islands

 

email: george_nancy@reachone.com

For other information about our ministry - http://oceanianazarene.org

Christmas Letter from the Millers

Merry Christmas to all,

2012 in Brief.

·       Nancy served as principal of ZCA for her fourth and final year.  She has now resigned, retired, or been dismissed by the Government (a little of all of those).

To explain, She did submit a letter of  resignation as I need her at home more; retirement age in the Solomon’s is 55 (she qualifies) but you can be considered year by year after that; then also the labor department said this would be the last year for them to issue a work permit.  Principal in the Solomon’s is a position filled by local laborers.

This was a tough year for Nancy as she had excessive teacher absenteeism and tardiness.

The water supply for the past four years only arrived at our location every other day beginning at around 1-2 a.m. and it goes off by 7 a.m. so Nancy had to get to school by 6 a.m. on the days the water came to fill up the tanks and drums so they would have water.

·        George served as District Superintendent and Principal of our Solomon Island’s campus of the SPNTC [South Pacific Nazarene Theological College].

·      SPNTC – Solomon Islands offered 10 block courses this year.  All the teaching this year was performed by Nancy (3 courses) and George (7 Courses).  {For more info about this check out our blog http://georgeandnancymiller.blogspot.com or our field WEB page http://oceanianazarene.org. or www.SPNTC.net.

·    Visitors to the field this past year.

January our Field Treasurer, Joani Goossens and husband Randy visited for 5 days from PNG, to audit and help our Solomon Island treasurer (Nancy) with the books.

During the USA summer we were overjoyed to have our Son, Greg, and family (Wendy, and children Justus, Ransom, Addie, and Elisha) visit.  Their two month visit passed very quickly.  I had the privilege of baptizing our grandson Ransom during their visit.  Ransom got sick during that trip and so we took a trip to the hospital.

We went to the airport to say good bye to our departing family, heading back to the USA via Fiji, and also to pick up another visitor, Dave Kerr, our new SPNTC Chancellor stationed in Fiji.

·      Trips in 2012.

In March we (Nancy and George) travelled to Papua New Guinea.  We attended and took part in the 20^th wedding anniversary of Baru and Christina Dirye, dear friends of ours.  Baru was one of my (George’s)  first students that I helped train in our Medical Laboratory Assistant’s school, during the first year of our work in the Nazarene Hospital, Kudjip.

While in PNG I (George) had a routine medical exam which revealed some liver cysts and so we took an unexpected detour to Brisbane, Australia.  We were well looked after by the generosity of our friends Bruce and Jacque Allder, at the Nazarene Theological College, Brisbane.  

While Greg and Wendy were here, I (George) took them to Malaita to attend the Malaita Circuit youth camp, visit a church, and visit with Hannah’s uncle and family. 

In September Nancy and I went to Nadi, Fiji to attend the SPNTC Board of Trustees meeting.

In October I (George) made an emergency trip to Vella la vella Island to comfort one of our pastors and family who lost their son.

·    Nationally 2012 was a busy year
Solomon Islands hosted the Festival of Pacific Arts (FOPA).  There were over 20 Pacific Nations represented.  This was the largest FOPA ever and was a tremendous success.  The country benefitted by better infrastructure development in preparation for this event.  Greg and family were here during this time.

We hosted a major soccer match involving several Pacific Island countries.

We hosted royalty this year when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge came to visit.

The US Marines visited for the 70^th anniversary of the battle of Guadalcanal.  A Coast-watcher Memorial was erected to show the valuable partnership between the Marines and the local Coast-watchers.

Family Update:

·     Nancy’s mother, is still living by herself in a retirement home.  We praise the Lord for helping her through some health issues and no doubt healing her, so she did not have to undergo a scheduled heart procedure.

·    Gloria and Scott, with their 3 sons (Zach, Geoffrey, and Joshua) live in Nevada, TX.  Zach has really grown tall and has filled out.  He took after my Grandma Miller “Bigler’s” side of the family.  He is a star football player in his high school.  (That is American Gridiron Football, for my non-American friends.)  He plays on both sides of the ball (offense and defense).  He is active in his church’s Bible Quiz team.  Scott has his Podiatry practice and Gloria assists her husband in the practice and is busy with their active family.

·     Greg and Wendy and their children, (3 daughters and 1 son, named above) still live in Spencer, Oklahoma.  Greg is a High school teacher and Wendy is a home school mom/teacher.

·    Geoffrey and Churie live in Bethany, Oklahoma.  In September this year Churie gave birth to our 11^th grandchild, a girl named Kyla.  Kyla was welcomed into her family by her three sisters Raina, Felicity, and Tessa.  Geoffrey works as a paint contractor and the bulk of his work is at SNU (Southern Nazarene University).  Churie is the children’s pastor at their church and homeschools her children.

·     Gary is still single and working weekend security at SNU and the rest of the time he is working for his brother, Geoffrey.

Anticipating 2013: 

·     General Assembly:  Pray for our Solomon Island Delegates as they are raising money to go to the USA for General Assembly.  The dates of the General Assembly and convention to be held in Indianapolis are June 17 – 28.  We plan to return to the Solomon Islands soon after this assembly. 

·      30^th of January we begin our Bible College Block courses with Bruce Allder from Brisbane coming as our guest lecturer.

·   Looking Forward to Bible College graduation in February and our Chancellor attending and staying for a week or so to teach a class for our former graduates to train  teachers for our campus.

·     Home Assignment:  Our Home assignment begin March 5, 2013.  Maybe we can make contact with many of you.  Our schedule up to this point is printed below.

2013 Tour Schedule   Mar. 8, 2013 -June 9, 2013

March 8-10, 2013 Westminster, MD  –

March 17, 2013 NE Okla. district –

March 24, 2013 Carnegie Oklahoma, Church of the Nazarene, -  

March 26 – 8 a.m.  Southern Nazarene University – Introduction to Missions class –

March 27 p.m.  Woodson Park, OKC

April 7-14, 2013  NE Indiana District  

April 17, 2013 Spencerville, OH

April 20-28, 2013 Indianapolis District Tour 

May 12-16, 2013 Upstate New York Convention 

May 19-26, 2013 Los Angeles District Tour

May 29 – June 9  Northwest District (Eastern Washington State, Panhandle Idaho, & Small portion NorthEastern Oregon)

If you are on one of these districts listed and would like for us to speak in your church please contact your district’s deputation secretary.  If we are in your area but you are on a neighboring district or a non-Nazarene church and would like for us to share in your church, school, club, etc, please contact us directly. 

Free Dates on Home Assignment Schedule:

11 – 15 March: Reserving for Medical Checks.  Available for evening services in Dallas area, assuming the medical checks go well.

18 – 23 March: Available for services in Oklahoma/Texas or within 3-4 hour drive of OKC

25  & 26 March  (26^th Evening only) in OKC area.

28 March – April 5:  Available anywhere in USA for Faith Promise or District Tour with easy airport access.  For a one night service needs to be 2 hour drive from OKC or Dallas.  March 31 (Easter Sunday) is available.

15, 16, 18, & 19 April -  Available to speak Northeast Indiana, Northwest Ohio, or Southern Michigan.

April 29 – May 10: Available anywhere in USA with easy airport access.  May 5^th is an available Sunday.  We are reserving this time for a district tour or faith promise. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

George and Nancy Miller

Updste on Solomon Island District Assembly

I tried to post this with photos, but the photos did not come through so now I’m posting the text and later I’ll try to get the photos on there.

 

The 18^th district assembly closed the final service on November 4^th.  Nothing like promptness in posting.  A frequent comment that I received and I agree with this statement is, “This is the greatest assembly ever.”  No one attended from the International Headquarters or the Regional office.  The field strategy coordinator called the day before his scheduled arrival with the news that he had a crisis situation elsewhere, preventing his travel to the Solomon’s.  We were so looking forward to Harmon’s visit, but we our pastors filled in his preaching schedule.  This is the first assembly that I fill rested after its conclusion.  All the district leaders performed their jobs superbly.

 

What made this assembly so great?  I am convinced it was a direct result of the prayers of God’s people and an answer to your prayers.  Usually the afternoon workshop sessions of the assembly are not well attended, but not this year.  We had the largest attendance of delegates ever to attend an assembly and they stayed there throughout all the workshops.  The theme of the District Assembly was, “Equipping and Empowering the Saints to Live a Holy Life.”  The workshops were on Spiritual Formation and a lot was drawn from the book “The Upward Call” by Wes Tracy et.al.  We emphasized, prayer, fasting, Bible Reading/Study, and Accountability with others (Accountability partner, spouse, small group, and within the community of faith).  We also held a peace-building workshop.

 

Our Evening worship services began on Wednesday evening 31^st of October.  [Note: We do not celebrate Halloween in the Solomon’s, so the 31^st was just another Wednesday night for us.]  The Wednesday night was for the Sunday School emphases.  The district Sunday School/Discipleship Ministry International (SDMI) director asked me to preach that service.  I had an object lesson where I involved the congregation.  I first took two 4 year old children a boy and girl to help me.  I talked about the importance Jesus placed on children.  These two small children named Graeme and Sandreth were my ushers and they went to the audience and ushered to the platform other people (a male and female of all ages from young to very old).  These were to represent all ages and people the SDMI were to reach and disciple.  It was a simple message to illustrate that each age group has different needs and challenges.

 

Each ministry had a different service.  The Nazarene Mission International was in charge of the Thursday service and Alick Hagi, the NMI President, preached for us.  The presence of God was really felt as he preach from Mark 1:16-20 on the call of the fishermen to become Jesus’ disciples and the need to follow the right person, to have the right preparation, and the right process. 

 

Friday was the Nazarene Youth International service.  God blessed the service through Pastor Osborn’s message of Hannah from 1 Samuel 1.  Of course during the youth service the music was way too loud for me, even after they turned it down for me, but I just need to get over it, or get use to it. 

 

The District Advisory Board led the Saturday night service and I again preached.  I preached a sermon that came to me one night in a dream.  February 5, 2012, I awoke after having a dream and in the dream I was preaching this message during district assembly.  I got up in the early morning went into my office, took down my journal, and wrote this dream that I feel was given to me by the Lord.  The title of the sermon is, “The 4 Heresies of the Post Modern Evangelical Church.”  This sermon has been posted on our blog if you are interested.  As in my dream not many responded to this holiness message, but there were 10 seekers at the altar.  I was thrilled to have 5 children come for prayer.  In Solomon Islands normally children do not respond to the invitation.

 

Sunday (4^th) we had an 8 a.m. baptism service where we baptized one young lady.  Saturday night after service I went to bed without knowing about the baptism.  Lois came to the Saturday night service.  She testified that she was the “prodigal daughter” but even though she did not plan or intend to come to District meeting, but through God’s prevenient grace she came.   She was one of the adults who responded to the invitation and gave her heart to the Lord at the altar on Saturday night.  It was 5 a.m. on Sunday morning while I was in my office having my time with the Lord that the phone call came informing me of the baptism.  We had a baptism service scheduled on the program but we canceled it due to no one ready to be baptized.  We took two vehicles (25 or so people) to the Lunga River, the place where we usually baptize people.  Upon arrival at the baptism site, I noticed a gate across the road and unbeknown to me, the people have started charging money for access.  I drove up to the gate and told them what we were going to do and they opened the gate.  I had no money in my pocket but they allowed us free access.  We arrived back at the church, where the women were preparing to lead the worship.  The 9 o’clock service was ready to begin when we arrived back at church. I went to the house to change out of my wet clothes and get ready for the service.  When I walked to church I was met at the door by someone with wonderful news.  “The church is really packed out”, then the pastor who was the usher added, we have saved you one chair.  Pastor Patricia brought a powerful message on the healing of the lame man from Acts 3 and the altar was packed especially with the women.  Her message brought tears to the eyes and really resonated with the women as the response to the invitation was instant.  Then the final service last night, Pastor Jeremiah preached a powerful message from Romans 8:1-17 about their being “no condemnation” to the one in Christ. 

 

The district assembly issued 18 minister licenses.  As soon as the District Secretary tallies up the statistics we will know about the numerical growth of the district. 

 

By George Miller

 

 

Sample schedule for the 3-weeks (Nov 6-23, 2012)

Schedule:

I am frequently asked, “What is our schedule like on the field?”  To which I reply, “What do you mean?”  and I get a response such as, “What does your average day look like?  What do you do?”  I don’t have a clue where to begin, but for the three weeks (Nov 6-23), we had a rigid schedule, so I thought I’d list it for your curiosity.   Keep in mind we do squeeze in time for the essential things like, preparing the coffee, visiting the restroom, showering, and brushing tooth, etc.

 

Here is George’s schedule: Week Day Schedule, weekend schedule is different.

3:30 a.m.  Get up to begin my day. This is without help from an alarm and so is from 3-4, but usually around 3:30.

3:30 – 4:30 Prayer and devotions

4:30 – 6:00 Work on Class Preparations, preparing for teaching.

6:30 Breakfast together,

7:00 – 8:15 Grade class work, do laundry if needed, etc.

8:30 – 12 noon Teach Bible College Course - Johannine Literature Class

12 – 1 Lunch prepare for the next class.

1 – 2:30 Teach Bible College Course - History and Polity Class

2:30 – 4:30 Take a nap

4:30 – 5 Time together

5 – 8:00 Writing lesson (With District Assembly and then trip to Vella la Vella I only had 7 of the 15 lessons written prior to start of class.)

8 – 10 Supper/relax/ time with wife/ or time for students to talk with.

Goal is to get to bed by 10:30, earlier if possible, so I can get an early start the next day.

 

And now here’s Nancy’s

4:35 Get up to begin my day after the snooze goes off one time.

4:35 – 6:00 Devotions, preparations for teaching

6:00 every other day I have to go to school and collect water before the city water goes off at 7 a.m. or so. (The water only comes every other night from about 3-7 a.m.)

6:30 Breakfast together,

7:00 – 3:00 Zion Christian Academy where I am principal.

3:00 I Take off early from ZCA to prepare for teaching at the Bible College.

3 – 4:30 Preparation for teaching

4:30 – 5 Time together

5 – 8:00 Teaching of Bible College course - Life and Teaching of Jesus Christ.

8 – 10 Supper/relax/ time with husband/ or time for students to talk with.

Goal is to get to bed by 10:30, earlier if possible, so I can get an early start the next day.

 

I trust you enjoyed that one.