Prayer and Praise Report

Dear Prayer Partner,

Thank you for your prayers.

Scott and Gloria’s Visit:

It was great having Scott and Gloria and their family visit. We had a full house with their three boys along with Geoff and Churie and their two daughters. It was pretty noisy and active around here for a while. It was great. The house is much quieter now. We enjoyed showing them around and Zach, our first born grandchild, was born while Gloria and Scott were volunteering as MK teachers in Papua New Guinea. Zach wanted to return to see his birthplace. He made the comment several times that he would like to return. They enjoyed their time in PNG and Zach made friends with Josiah Radcliffe.

The week before their return to the states I took Zach and Scott with me on a 5 day trip to visit some churches. They read my stories and wanted to see what village life is like. They for sure got a taste of missionary life in the Solomon Islands. It was a long hot ride in the truck to Alisisiu. I’ll just say that Scott likes the air con, and we had none. We slept under mosquito nets which makes it hotter. After the first night, Scott was ready to return to Honiara. He would have left if one of the two trucks passing through would have had space. This is an area of limited transportation possibilities. It is time to practice patience. We had some good services and time with the very small congregation in Alisisiu. Pray for this place as they are really struggling.

From Alisisiu we traveled to Bethel by outboard motor boat. As you know when traveling I try to catch fish. It was not long into the voyage when I hooked something very large. I was too aggressive trying to pull it in and whatever kind of fish I had broke my steal leader. I couldn’t believe the steel broke before the line, I definitely need a heavier steel leader. After that I only caught one small fish. It would have been a pretty good size fish if I was fishing in an Oklahoman lake, but in the sea it was small. We were fishing along and Scott and Zach got a touch of sea sickness. We were going slow and trolling when Scott announced, “let’s go on in, I’m ready to get there.” The boat driver wasn’t interested in going faster until we caught something. Before I caught that small fish, I thought this was going to be the very first trip through that area without success.

We arrived at Kofiloko and walked across the rivers and up, and I mean up the mountain to Bethel. A few years back they built me my own lodge to stay in when I visit there. The small one-room house was full with us three, Scott, Zach, and myself. Scott brought with him some battery operated thing-a-ma-gigs that you clip to your belt. This small machine has a small battery operated fan and blows an odorless mosquito repellent out. With the heat we decided to forego the nets and hang these around the room. We saw no mosquitoes, so it worked.

We left Bethel on Friday, a day ahead of schedule, because there are no trucks that normally travel to Auki on Saturday. For enough money you can get someone to take you, but that was too expensive for just a few hours more ministry. Scott announced that he would pay for an “air conditioned” motel room, and so I called Geoffrey in Honiara (Praise the Lord for Satellite phones). There is a new motel in Auki that we booked. It is a “Super 8” quality at “Hyatt Regency” prices but hey it was air conditioned.

We arrived in Auki Friday night so I was able to put my family on the Ship Saturday morning for Honiara, while I went to visit Mage village. I needed to visit with them and be there for church on Sunday Morning, 9 August. We had an important meeting of all the Malaita Island churches the weekend of 15 and 16^th, and I had to talk with them about this and make sure all the preparations were in place.

Malaita Circuit Meeting:

I returned then to Honiara on Sunday afternoon 9^th, farewelled Scott, Gloria, and family on 11^th, and then on Thursday 13^th August, Geoffrey and I along with Osborn Fagea, our District NMI President, and Jimmy Kwaisui, our District Jesus Film Director, returned to Malaita to hold a Malaita Circuit meeting. August 14^th was the Malaita Day, a Provincial Holiday, and we rode on the plane with the

Governor General and his entourage. When we landed at the small grass airstrip in Auki we were greeted be a thousand people or more, complete with the Police band and Color Guard as they welcomed the GG. Friday we were schedule to start our meeting, but there was too much attraction, because not only was the GG there but the US Navy had two ships anchored in the Auki harbor, and there was a good contingency of US Naval and Marine personnel in Auki for the parade and festivities on Friday.

So we joined in and began our meeting with the Friday night worship service.

A few years ago I organized the Malaitan churches into their own island circuit, but I had to rethink that because there was serious disunity and jealousy among the members. They invited me to come and meet with them to reorganize them into a circuit. I knew though that the main thing they needed was a move of the Holy Spirit, not another tier of leadership. I prayed about it and invited my team to go. Osborn was going to share in the preaching. Jimmy took the Jesus Film Equipment to provide lighting and a generator so I could use the computer to do a power point presentation and project teaching notes using the JF data projector, and also we took some movies to show on forgiveness.

We did not accomplish what they initially wanted to do as far as elect circuit officers and organize the circuit, but the Holy Spirit did move mightily. Sunday morning services, Osborn preached a short but powerful message and there was a good time of prayer around the altar as people were weeping and crying out to God. Throughout the weekend we emphasized that we don’t primarily need another program but need a movement of the Holy Spirit. Once we follow HIS will, HE will direct us and help with a program to glorify HIM. I challenged them to prayer, obedience, and commitment.

Pray for the work at Mage and Malaita. Saturday, Jimmy received word that Lydia, his niece and mother in her mid-twenties with 3 children, became paralyzed just after she arrived to her home port from Honiara. Jimmy tried to go to his home on the other side of Malaita Island on Sunday 16^th but was unable to get there. Then Monday word was received that she passed away. Pray for Jimmy and his family during this time. Florence, the sister, works as a teacher at Zion Christian Academy. Florence and some other family members departed Honiara, yesterday (Tuesday) to catch up with Jimmy in Auki and then proceed to Beri village, their home to mourn with the family there and for the funeral service of their loved one. Pray for this our Nazarene family as this is their second young person to die within a week.

Water Well:

This is an update for those of you who wrote interested in the water project. Today I found the location where the one lives who drills the bore holes for the water well. The boss was away but the boys told me the cost is SB$450 (approx US $60) per meter to drill for water. I don’t know how deep they would have to go to find water, but they mentioned 30-40 meters. That does not include the pump and all the necessary plumping work etc. to finish it out. Soon I should be sending out a mailing just for those who expressed interest in helping with this project. If you are interested in updates on the water project, and have not yet written me about it, please write and I’ll make sure you receive these update. I want to thank those of you who have already expressed interest in this and one already sent in money. Thanks for your contribution in the Kingdom.

Bible College Class:

Bible College block course will be coming up next month September 15 - 29. Please pray for Rev. David McEwan as he travels from Brisbane to teach two course. Nancy will also teach one course.

New Church at Munda:

Pray for our newest church, Sovereign Grace Church of the Nazarene, in Munda. They were given an uncompleted building that formerly housed a church that vacated the premises. The landowner then gave it to The Church of the Nazarene. Termites were in the studs and trusses really bad and I sent the chain saw to mill timber for them and they rebuilt this building, replacing all the timber from the floor to the roofing iron. Someone who attends this new church in Munda has a studio and he made a video, free of charge, for our Solomon Island, Work & Witness team, who went down to help with this construction. This is exciting because the Munda church largely funded this project, with some assistance from the Honiara Church, and some funds were used from the Approved Specials to build new churches. I want to thank those who have contributed for this approved special. Pray for pastor Alick Hagi as he leads this congregation. He is planning on bringing a couple of students to Bible College.

New Church and School at Barakoma:

Pray for our church at Barakoma on the Island of Vella la vella. Pray for Kendrick, the Pastor, and Grace and Rollingson, the couple leading the school. Pray for unity and team work between the school and church. Communication is a challenge but they should have completed their new school/church building. Thanks for the Approved Special money to assist in this new church construction. Also pray for Hudson as he has taken the Jesus Film Equipment to the island of Vella la vella as he had two interested communities.

Bicycles for Pastors:

Thanks to a memorial gift, designated for approved specials we are able to purchase 7 bicycles to give to pastors. I have already purchased 4 bikes placed 2 bicycles in the hands of two pastors [Jimmy Olofisau, Kwailatutu Church and Barnabas Siru, Mage Church]. I’ll be placing some more in the following weeks.

Jimmy Olofisau and the Kwailatutu Church:

Pray for Jimmy and Mirriam and their work in Kwailatutu. Jimmy and his church have built a house for his family and they are preparing to build a new church. They have outgrown the small church that they initially built. This church has a good heart and a humble spirit. Many people attending this church have little prior Christian experience and are so hungry for the things of God. Nearly everyone in the SI have a “mother church” but in this church most were saved in our church and so their mother church is Nazarene. Before conversion, they were so into the witchcraft and worship of the evil spirits. [These people who worship the Devil are referred to as heathens in this country.] They had faith in the Devil’s magical powers, but when they turned to God they put all that faith in God. I have witnessed so many miracles of healing and deliverance in this place. When they pray, they pray with an expectancy and with tremendous result.

Geoff and Churie:

We really have enjoyed having Geoff and Churie here for this year. They have really been a great blessing and there is a lot of improvement around the mission as a result of their work. Churie has been doing the mission books and helping since Nancy is busy as principal of the Zion Christian Academy, our church’s K-12 school in Honiara. Geoff and Churie hosted the YIM team this past June/July, built a dorm room for the Bible College including bunk beds. Geoff is a work-a-holic and has a lot of energy. He has helped me in mowing the grass, driving to the wharf and town for supplies, keeping our workers going, and he has helped in a lot of other areas too. The project he has going now is building a retaining wall to prevent our drive way from eroding away. The driveway was so narrow that we could not get large trucks back to our house, including the fire truck. He hopes to get this finished this week. Our boys are back filling the hill one wheel barrow at a time and so it is taking time to fill the wall and build up the road bed.

This year has been difficult with Felicity’s frequent ear infections. They took Felicity to visited US Navy doctors that are here doing humanitarian assistance in the Solomon’s. The doctor reported that there was no infection but there was a lot of scarring and the tube put in recently in Australia had fallen out. We’re praising the Lord the infection was cleared up. Also they stocked Churie up on children’s meds that we were having trouble obtaining in the Solomon’s. Anyway, Geoff and Churie changed their tickets to depart Solomon Islands on August 25. Pray for them as they resettle in the USA. They have a couple of job offers in the USA. I’ll let you know what they decide on. Geoffrey stored his painting equipment so he can resume his private business too. We know that our God will supply all of their needs as they return to the USA next week.

Final comments:

There is so much I’d like to share. I apologize for the length of this letter and commend anyone who has stay through to the end. It requires a long time to send out my prayer letters. My server was returning my message then I finally heard that they have a limit of 20 addressees/letter and a certain number per hour allowed. This requires me to break up my address list into about 40 letters of 15-20 addressees each. I am so thankful for each one of you prayer partners and don’t want the SPAM filters to stop them. I want to thank each one of you that replies to my letter. Nancy and I are also on facebook, but we are not too active with it. You can check our Blog for photos. The Blog will be updated when I get to it, usually within a day to a week after the email goes out.

Your Partners in His Ministry,

George & Nancy Miller

PO Box 712

Honiara, Solomon Islands

Phone: (677)25-109

Mobile: (677)68-920

http://oceanianazarene.org/

Excerpts from Scott and Glorias Trip to PNG

Enjoy this.  This is some interesting things that happened during our kids recent visit to Papua New Guinea.   Sorry I'm just now getting it posted on the Blog.

 

This report written on July 31, 2009

By Scott Nelson

 

Okay, so I am on vacation so my brain must be too. 

We are having a blast though.  Yesterday we did something that is quite a bit of fun for the younger ones on the station.  We took inner tubes and floated down the river near the station.  Okay, on a normal day this would be alright and relatively safe.  However, the river was really swollen from the rain all night the night before.  That should have been the first clue right?  The temperatures have been really cool too.  It is their "winter" time here in the southern hemisphere.  The water you ask?  It was way colder.  I mean turn your feet numb…cold.  That was the second clue right?  Oh yeah, we talked our wives into joining us.  Third clue to not do this right?  After a safety briefing to Zach (one which was intently listened to by the wives) we get started down the river.  Jump right in and your breath is gone for a few seconds!  I can't feel the whole bottom half of my body at this point.   I look down stream and see Churie and Gloria both flip over at the same spot in the river.  Okay, I am not exaggerating this very much, but if you were to classify this river for rafting, it would be near a 2-3 (out of 5) on this particular day after an all night rain event.  Another clue not to do this, right?  Okay, back to the story.  Both of the girls are out of their tubes.  Churie is clinging to the rock she is by like a drowned rat.  My wife is being helped by the nationals.  I am starting out on the tube by sitting in it…oh shoot!  My big belly this time around is making it much more difficult to balance myself on the tube.  All my energy is spent balancing the tube and I can not navigate it in any direction.  Remember this thing is moving us pretty fast down the river?  We get the girls back on the tubes and Geoff and I decide to lay down belly first on the tube.  Okay much better, at least I can navigate the thing some.  However, the girls are not out of trouble yet.  Zach you ask?  He and the other missionary kid are downstream having a ball!  He has no clue the challenge he faces in this type of water.  The girls make it past the next couple of sets of rapids then comes the area of the river where we need to get out and walk around a man-made disaster (lots of rusty wires and concrete from a hydro electric project that was destroyed by a flood).  You guessed it the girls both get dumped out of their tubes.  Churie goes to the complete opposite side of the river and grabs onto reeds.  Gloria is tumbling downstream.  I stop to help Churie because Geoff has already made it down to get Gloria.  By the time we pull them out, they are telling us that they almost died and that their lives flashed before their eyes 2-3 different times coming down the river.  Oh and we are hearing about it too by this point!  "Why did we let you talk us into this…?"   We get to a relatively safe spot to tube (shallow) and the girls would have nothing to do with it.  We are walking the rest of the way back at this point.  I mean a long way back.  Oh, did I also tell you that they brought only flip flops to do this in?  Those shoes were gone the first dump (later to be found downstream).  We get to another part of the river that is very swift moving but the best and safest way to cross is to get on the tubes again.  The girls come unglued!  What do you mean?!  There has got to be another way of crossing?!  Nope, on they go, only this time we go first and get in a line to catch them as they come by.  Then we still have a long walk back.  Both girls are beat up.  Scratches on their legs, Churie has broken a toe at this point.  A slow, long walk back to the station it was.  BTW, Zach and Josiah jumped out of the river and said, "That was fun!  Let's do it again!"  Momma shut that one down real quick!

My brain is on vacation too, remember?  If that adventure wasn't enough, we get to the airport this afternoon for our return trip to the capital of PNG and then on to Honiara Solomon Islands where Gloria's folks are with our boys and Geoff and Churie's  young girls.  We've been looking at these itineraries for some time now.  We knew we were flying back to the Honiara on Aug 1-2.  What didn't sink in was that Aug 1 is this Saturday.  We are all packed and trying to check in the flight on Thursday.  The guy behind the counter was saying "I don't see your names on the flight."  "What do you mean?!  We reconfirmed this flight on Monday as we came through the capital!'  He says, "your flight is on Aug 1."  The color leaves my face and Geoff asks "Well what do you think today is?"  Then the realization of what we just did sets in.  Oh man!  No way.  We are two days early.  Okay, best plan at this point is to get back to the mission station and wait until Sat.  (We have already gone through all the food we bought earlier in the week and spent out money down to bare minimum to exit country.)  We were in a Toyota Land Rover though and that is where the next adventure gets started.   The original plan was to be in a 4 cylinder van. 

Right before we get back to the mission station we learn that the road is closed.  What?  They put that culvert in now?  While all the public transportation is still running?  Anyway, we are not getting through there.  We can see the mission station but need to get us and the car there and have just learned they will not be reopening the road until 10 p.m. tonight.  A couple of the locals walk up to us and tell us that there is a way around all of this!   The missionary that has been here the longest and was driving said, "I am not aware of any way around this."  But the locals insisted that there was.  "We have had 4 cars already go through here!  You'll be okay."  It ended up being right through the middle of the field!  Remember that I mentioned earlier that we had rain the other night?  Well, it has rained every night.  The first turn they direct us to, is across two 2 x 12 type boards.  Now, in America, I would never try this.   But the wood they have here is some of the hardest in the world.  So this missionary gets out and turns the vehicle over to another driver who has more experience 4 wheeling.  That was fine until the middle of the field when we are up to the axles in mud and get the dang thing stuck.  This is not a problem in PNG.  When that happens 100 guys will run out of the bushes to help push or pull the car through.  I have been in this predicament several times when I was here 13 years ago.  So the guys all get out and leave the girls in there.  We help the nationals push this thing through the field.  Only to get to another 2 x 12 type "bridge".  We barely make it over this one and get stuck again before coming to a third "bridge".  We drive up there in time to see 4-5 guys bailing out of the back end of a truck, the back of the left side disappear in the ditch, and the nose of the truck end up in the air.  Great!  How are we going to get around this?  He even broke that side of the bridge.  Well, all the guys I mentioned earlier jumped right in.  They unloaded the coffee he was carrying.  They then all got to the back of the truck and lifted it up and pulled it with another vehicle and managed to get it out of the ditch.  The next job was to then assess the damage to the bridge and "rebuild" it to make sure we could get the next two vehicles by.  The third vehicle made it over, then ours, after much more repair to the "bridge".  I've got pictures, some things you just have to see to believe.   I can't make this up. 

God was protecting us.  By us being stuck in the middle of the field, we were away from the shooting that was happening at the closed road.  We heard the shots but learned later that the police had shot someone because the crowd of people there was getting out of control.  They don't shoot too straight. 

Anyway, that's life when you choose the mission field as your vacation destination.  It has been fun!  We appreciate your prayers!  Please continue to do so. 

 

 

Between all of these moments though we are really enjoying the ministry we get to be a part of.  The Nationals that knew us before are really glad to see us.  It is like a family reunion in many ways.  Some of these were the ones to help clean our houses and change our baby's diapers from years back.  Geoff has been able to see a couple of the people that helped to raise him along the way.  There are others who we have adopted as family and they have felt the same.  It has been an excellent time of encouragement to me and I hope to them as well. 

 

Yesterday, after the not-so-bright river adventure, we did get the opportunity to go out to the bush to pick up one of the medical students here that was teaching at a CBHC (community Based Health Care) center.  When we got out there, we were surprised by the number of nationals we recognized from our time here before.  It was God's way of showing us some of the fruits of our labors then.  The relationships we developed and that Gloria's dad developed is just blossoming!  There is a pretty neat revival going on right now in PNG.  It is good to see!  The church of the Nazarene is definitely growing here.

 

Yesterday, I was sitting and church and amused that cell phones were going off during the service.  It just boggles my mind that cell phones are available here!  Many things have changed but many have not. 

 

Anyway, I'll let you go for now.  I'll try to send some more info in 2-3 days.

 

Love you all!

Scott Nelson

Felicity and her 3 year Birthday

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thank you for your prayers.

Water situation:

This letter was received from Churie:

Yesterday we sent out a prayer request for water. We did not know that you could do this, but this morning the pastor had the fire truck come in and fill up his tank. We quickly ran over and asked them if they could fill up our tank. They said it would cost 300 dollars. We were ready to have them fill up our tank. However, they would not take a check. We went to the bank yesterday but the line was at least a three hour wait and decided that we did not really need the cash that bad. So when I found out we were not going to get water because we did not have cash I was pretty upset. Geoff and I thought for a moment and realized that I had been cleaning out mom and dad's room and had found some cash. We quickly ran into the house and counted the money I had found and knew we would replace in on Monday when we could get back to the bank. As we counted it all there was 300 dollars. Thank you God for taking care of our need.

The water truck came and it filled up part of the tank. The amount of water pretty much gave us about a fourth of a tank, which might last us a couple days on reserve mode. It was great to flush the toilet and get the dishes washed. Later this afternoon it started to rain and I just sat in the chair and watched it and cried and praised God for the rain. We now have about a half a tank which should last us about a week.

On Monday we will be looking at options for a well. They have had water problems like this for 9 years. Pray for us as we make these decisions. Pray that God will show us which pump would be the best use and which way would be the best financially.

Thank you God for taking care of us! And thank you to all of your prayers for us. Please continue to pray that we will get some more rain and that our tank will be overflowing. I would settle for full as well. We love and miss you all

From George and Nancy

We are almost ready to return to the Solomon Islands. Vacation time is coming to a close.

Highlights from General Assembly and our trip to Orlando.

We arrived in Dallas late at night on Thursday 18^th of June. Saturday we went to El Reno for the Van Gundy family reunion (my mother’s side). Nancy and I have not attended this annual event for a number of years,

because our home assignment did not coincide. It was good seeing my aunt and a number of my cousins. It was a good time of fellowship and catching up. Our Van Gundy family has a long spiritual heritage and many are still really actively serving the Lord. It was just an enjoyable day.

We went to family reunion packed and ready to go to General Assembly. Then Saturday evening we left by car heading to Orlando, Florida, the venue for General Assembly. Gloria, our daughter, was our driver. When traveling on the Lord’s day, we always stop for worship services as we like to worship with other brothers and sisters. Through Internet I find a multicultural church in Little Rock Arkansas and checked their statistics and saw that they were a growing church, and so I felt that would be a church I would love to attend. We were not disappointed as it was a great service. I don’t know how many were in attendance but I’d guess 450 – 500. There was a Baptism service, Special children program, and recognition of fathers since this Sunday was also Father’s day. Then on Sunday night we attended a small church in North Mississippi, with probably 10-12 (not counting us) in attendance. As we walked in the church on Sunday evening and introduced ourselves, one man recognized our name and informed me that they had been praying for us. I was surprised but reminded that we are a part of a great big family. When the service was over in about 45mins my grandkids asked, “Is it over already?”

By Monday night we were in Georgia and about 30 miles from Albany, where the Sherwood Baptist Church is located. When I saw that, I wanted to go and visit the church that produced some of my favorite movies “Flywheel”, “Facing the Giants”, and “Fire Proof”. So on Tuesday morning we backtracked the 30 miles to Albany and had a great visit with the church folks there. The Kendrick Brothers were out but we met and visited with Tracy Goode, the one in charge of the media and an actor in 2 of the movies.

Wednesday we arrived at the Convention Center and we met many friends but there were also a lot of our friends and prayer partners attended the convention that we didn’t meet. It was great catching up with many of our prayer partners and friends. There were 54 delegates and visitors from Papua New Guinea. I was reminded of 12 years ago when I led a group of 20 PNGers to the Assembly in San Antonio, TX. Many of the District Superintendents in that first group were supported by mission funds. Now there are 54 delegates with very little travel expense paid by mission funds. I was so surprised to see this large number present. There was also one delegate from the Solomon Islands.

The following information is primarily for my host of non-Nazarene prayer partners. (For Nazarene prayer partners this is old news, so bear with me.)

This year we had 3 General Superintendents retire and had to elect 3 new ones to replace these. We made history this year by electing our first Non-Western General Superintendent. Eugenio Duarte from the Cape Verde Islands was elected as the 37^th GS. Rev. Duarte has served as DS in Cape Verde and for the past few years he has been the Regional Director of our work in Africa. The Nazarene work in Cape Verde began in 1901 when a Cape Verdean named John Diaz was converted while living in Boston and returned to his home country as the first missionary in Cape Verde. The Cape Verde story is very thrilling and exciting. The work in Cape Verde is nothing short of a miracle and a result of intercessory prayer. They prayed for water and God sent water out of volcanic rock, and as I understand this spring God opened up from the rock is still flowing today. This is the only country in the world where the Church of the Nazarene is the largest Protestant Denomination. Cape Verdeans have served as missionaries to other countries like Brazil, and this assembly one was elected GS. Rev. Duarte speaks a number of foreign languages. (I’ve heard different figures, but probably around seven.)

The other GS’s elected were 38^th GS was David Graves. Graves was the pastor of College Church of the Nazarene in Olathe Kansas. He was the third pastor in a row from College Church who has elected General Superintendent.

Then Stan Toler was elected the 39^th GS. Stan is a longtime friend of ours and was recently elected District Superintendant at our Southwest Oklahoma District Assembly. Prior to his election as DS, Stan has served a long time as pastor of the Trinity Church of the Nazarene in Oklahoma City. He didn’t even have time to get oriented into his DS position before going to the General Assembly. Stan has authored a number of books and I felt he would have a fair chance of being elected but as I saw how the balloting went, he did not receive many votes until near the very end. (In our church to elect the General Superintendent one has to receive a 2/3 majority, and all ordained ministers in good standing are eligible for election. So it requires a number of ballets until one candidate receives the required number of votes.)

Also elected as President of the Nazarene Missions International (NMI) was Jennifer Brown from Jamaica. She also made history as being the very first NMI president elected from a country outside the USA. It is exciting witnessing leaders being elected and coming from the areas that were formerly referred to “Foreign Mission Fields”. We no longer use that designation, as a global church now the entire world is a mission field and every country can deploy missionaries. Our church is now ministering in 155 countries, the newest country being Norway. We have missionaries on the field from 40 countries.

While at assembly I talked to some people from many other countries. I met a pastor from Cuba. This pastor shared some of his challenges and requested prayer for his work.

I talked to people from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Africa, and others in what is commonly referred to as the 10/40 window. I was told that Bangladesh is now the largest Nazarene district in the world. The work in Pakistan has really grown during the past 3 years or so. God is opening the doors among the least evangelized in the 10/40 window. We are in some creative access countries (I believe 9) we are unable to name for security concerns for those working there. Continue to pray for the Lord’s work in the 10/40 window among our Moslem, Hindu, and Buddhist neighbors, and for open doors.

We fly out to return home tomorrow. (Sunday July 12th, It took a while to post. I forgot to send to the Blog.)

Your Partners in His Ministry,

George & Nancy Miller

Here are two recent Prayer letters:

10 July 2009

I talked last night by Skype to Geoff and Churie in the Solomon Islands. We are out of water. We are in an el Niño weather pattern and there has been very little rain the entire time I’ve been in the USA. The public water supply has been a continually unreliable water supply for 9 years now. We are going to have to look into alternative ways of getting water including investigating the drilling of a well on our property. I don’t have an idea of how much that will cost but it is difficult without water.

******** Today we received the following letter from Churie:

Today we have officially ran out of water. Before when we ran out of water we could get some (very little) normally every night from the city water supply. Last night our tank ran out and we did not think a whole lot about it. Then, when the water did not come last night we thought a little more about it. We have been praying for rain for about four weeks. We have not had very much rain and we knew the tank was low so we have been filling it with the city water every night. Our whole mission stations is out of water which means that all five tanks are out.

We went to the city water supply this morning and asked them if they could please turn on our water supply in order to fill up our tanks and they told us sorry, but the pumps that pump the city water are broken and they do not have the parts to fix them. So we do not have any clue when water might come. Please pray for lots and lots of rain.

School is suppose to start on Monday and if we do not have any water we will have to cancel school. Today we had to buy a lock for our tanks because when the water supply runs low neighbors will come and take water from the tank. If the rain does come someone will probably have to stay up all night at the tanks to make sure and protect the water. Please pray for us.

Today we are going to look into the price to build a well. Pray that God would give us wisdom and knowledge so we can help here.

Thanks so much for all your prayers
The Millers

******* This concludes the letter from Geoff and Churie***********

Thank you for remembering us in prayer. We leave for the Solomon’s on Sunday and will arrive back early Tuesday afternoon local time. Pray for Nancy and her work as Principal, as she gets back on Tuesday. Hopefully we’ll be welcomed back by the “Showers of Blessing” (both physical and spiritual showers).

Your Partners in His Ministry,

George & Nancy Miller

11 July 2009

Thank you for your prayers.

Water situation:

This letter was received from Churie:

Yesterday we sent out a prayer request for water. We did not know that you could do this, but this morning the pastor had the fire truck come in and fill up his tank. We quickly ran over and asked them if they could fill up our tank. They said it would cost 300 dollars. We were ready to have them fill up our tank. However, they would not take a check. We went to the bank yesterday but the line was at least a three hour wait and decided that we did not really need the cash that bad. So when I found out we were not going to get water because we did not have cash I was pretty upset. Geoff and I thought for a moment and realized that I had been cleaning out mom and dad's room and had found some cash. We quickly ran into the house and counted the money I had found and knew we would replace in on Monday when we could get back to the bank. As we counted it all there was 300 dollars. Thank you God for taking care of our need.

The water truck came and it filled up part of the tank. The amount of water pretty much gave us about a fourth of a tank, which might last us a couple days on reserve mode. It was great to flush the toilet and get the dishes washed. Later this afternoon it started to rain and I just sat in the chair and watched it and cried and praised God for the rain. We now have about a half a tank which should last us about a week.

On Monday we will be looking at options for a well. They have had water problems like this for 9 years. Pray for us as we make these decisions. Pray that God will show us which pump would be the best use and which way would be the best financially.

Thank you God for taking care of us! And thank you to all of your prayers for us. Please continue to pray that we will get some more rain and that our tank will be overflowing. I would settle for full as well. We love and miss you all

From George and Nancy

We are almost ready to return to the Solomon Islands. Vacation time is coming to a close.

Highlights from General Assembly and our trip to Orlando.

We arrived in Dallas late at night on Thursday 18^th of June. Saturday we went to El Reno for the Van Gundy family reunion (my mother’s side). Nancy and I have not attended this annual event for a number of years, because our home assignment did not coincide. It was good seeing my aunt and a number of my cousins. It was a good time of fellowship and catching up. Our Van Gundy family has a long spiritual heritage and many are still really actively serving the Lord. It was just an enjoyable day.

We went to family reunion packed and ready to go to General Assembly. Then Saturday evening we left by car heading to Orlando, Florida, the venue for General Assembly. Gloria, our daughter, was our driver. When traveling on the Lord’s day, we always stop for worship services as we like to worship with other brothers and sisters. Through Internet I find a multicultural church in Little Rock Arkansas and checked their statistics and saw that they were a growing church, and so I felt that would be a church I would love to attend. We were not disappointed as it was a great service. I don’t know how many were in attendance but I’d guess 450 – 500. There was a Baptism service, Special children program, and recognition of fathers since this Sunday was also Father’s day. Then on Sunday night we attended a small church in North Mississippi, with probably 10-12 (not counting us) in attendance. As we walked in the church on Sunday evening and introduced ourselves, one man recognized our name and informed me that they had been praying for us. I was surprised but reminded that we are a part of a great big family. When the service was over in about 45mins my grandkids asked, “Is it over already?”

By Monday night we were in Georgia and about 30 miles from Albany, where the Sherwood Baptist Church is located. When I saw that, I wanted to go and visit the church that produced some of my favorite movies “Flywheel”, “Facing the Giants”, and “Fire Proof”. So on Tuesday morning we backtracked the 30 miles to Albany and had a great visit with the church folks there. The Kendrick Brothers were out but we met and visited with Tracy Goode, the one in charge of the media and an actor in 2 of the movies.

Wednesday we arrived at the Convention Center and we met many friends but there were also a lot of our friends and prayer partners attended the convention that we didn’t meet. It was great catching up with many of our prayer partners and friends. There were 54 delegates and visitors from Papua New Guinea. I was reminded of 12 years ago when I led a group of 20 PNGers to the Assembly in San Antonio, TX. Many of the District Superintendents in that first group were supported by mission funds. Now there are 54 delegates with very little travel expense paid by mission funds. I was so surprised to see this large number present. There was also one delegate from the Solomon Islands.

The following information is primarily for my host of non-Nazarene prayer partners. (For Nazarene prayer partners this is old news, so bear with me.)

This year we had 3 General Superintendents retire and had to elect 3 new ones to replace these. We made history this year by electing our first Non-Western General Superintendent. Eugenio Duarte from the Cape Verde Islands was elected as the 37^th GS. Rev. Duarte has served as DS in Cape Verde and for the past few years he has been the Regional Director of our work in Africa. The Nazarene work in Cape Verde began in 1901 when a Cape Verdean named John Diaz was converted while living in Boston and returned to his home country as the first missionary in Cape Verde. The Cape Verde story is very thrilling and exciting. The work in Cape Verde is nothing short of a miracle and a result of intercessory prayer. They prayed for water and God sent water out of volcanic rock, and as I understand this spring God opened up from the rock is still flowing today. This is the only country in the world where the Church of the Nazarene is the largest Protestant Denomination. Cape Verdeans have served as missionaries to other countries like Brazil, and this assembly one was elected GS. Rev. Duarte speaks a number of foreign languages. (I’ve heard different figures, but probably around seven.)

The other GS’s elected were 38^th GS was David Graves. Graves was the pastor of College Church of the Nazarene in Olathe Kansas. He was the third pastor in a row from College Church who has elected General Superintendent.

Then Stan Toler was elected the 39^th GS. Stan is a longtime friend of ours and was recently elected District Superintendant at our Southwest Oklahoma District Assembly. Prior to his election as DS, Stan has served a long time as pastor of the Trinity Church of the Nazarene in Oklahoma City. He didn’t even have time to get oriented into his DS position before going to the General Assembly. Stan has authored a number of books and I felt he would have a fair chance of being elected but as I saw how the balloting went, he did not receive many votes until near the very end. (In our church to elect the General Superintendent one has to receive a 2/3 majority, and all ordained ministers in good standing are eligible for election. So it requires a number of ballets until one candidate receives the required number of votes.)

Also elected as President of the Nazarene Missions International (NMI) was Jennifer Brown from Jamaica. She also made history as being the very first NMI president elected from a country outside the USA. It is exciting witnessing leaders being elected and coming from the areas that were formerly referred to “Foreign Mission Fields”. We no longer use that designation, as a global church now the entire world is a mission field and every country can deploy missionaries. Our church is now ministering in 155 countries, the newest country being Norway. We have missionaries on the field from 40 countries.

While at assembly I talked to some people from many other countries. I met a pastor from Cuba. This pastor shared some of his challenges and requested prayer for his work.

I talked to people from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Africa, and others in what is commonly referred to as the 10/40 window. I was told that Bangladesh is now the largest Nazarene district in the world. The work in Pakistan has really grown during the past 3 years or so. God is opening the doors among the least evangelized in the 10/40 window. We are in some creative access countries (I believe 9) we are unable to name for security concerns for those working there. Continue to pray for the Lord’s work in the 10/40 window among our Moslem, Hindu, and Buddhist neighbors, and for open doors.

We fly out to return home tomorrow. Pray for our safe return.

Your Partners in His Ministry,

George & Nancy Miller

PO Box 712

Honiara, Solomon Islands

george_nancy@reachone.com

Phone: (677)25-109

Mobile: (677)68-920

Dear Prayer Partner,

Note: I give up on this blog. I've tried to put photo in the script but the edit screen is nothing like the post screen and there is no way to may it look good. I trust you enjoy the photos.

I’m sorry I didn’t get many letters out in May. It was kind of a blur as we were very busy. Thank you for your prayers. Here is some follow-up of the Prayer requests mentioned earlier.

MST Training:

There were six couples from our mission team, serving in various fields on the Asia Pacific Region. This is the first time some of us had met. It was a good time of training. We had some times when we actually went out on the streets of Singapore to have intentional conversations with people. We visited a Hindu temple, as well as a Mosque. I love to talk with people so this was right down my alley. We went to Arab street and visited in some of the shops as we also did some shopping, but primarily we were talking and making friends. I met a lot of neighbors mostly from Pakistan and Iran. I had an employee years ago who worked for me from Pakistan and he taught me the Arabic greeting: Aselam Alayakum {or something like that} which literally means “Peace of God be with you”. The first person I greeted replied Alahkum selam (“And God’s Peace to you”) and then he went on in Arabic to which I replied, you have already used all the Arabic I know. But I was encouraged because I must have sounded authentic enough that he felt I knew Arabic.

On Sunday Nancy and I visited a very large, United Methodist Church. They had 3 or 4 services being conducted simultaneously. Their weekly program was a 20 page book. They held about 13 worship services every weekend, ministering to over 5,000 not counting the Children’s department.

Continue to pray for open doors and now the harvest fields are white, please pray for workers to go into the harvest fields. For those of you who are native English speakers and want to make a difference, the doors are open as there are many request for English teachers. Some requests are for those with teacher’s training but for other positions the only qualification is for a native born English speaker. Please let me know if you are interested in a position like this where you can enter as an English teacher but can show the light of Jesus and make an eternal difference in people’s lives. I would refer you to our Strategic Partners who would gladly assist you.

Felicity:

Thanks for your prayers for Felicity. They are back from Australia and she has new tubes in her ears and had her adenoids removed and appears to be doing fine.

Nancy and ZCA:

Thank you for your prayers for Nancy and ZCA. The workshop for teachers was a tremendous success. Continue to pray for Nancy as her platter is still full.

Bible College Class:

The Bible College Block classes were quite successful. We had 20 students attend the two week course. With this course three of our students completed their studies for a diploma from the Bible College. We are looking forward to the graduation in November.

YIM Team:

The Youth In Mission team is currently in the Western Province. Pray for this team and Geoffrey and Churie as they supervise their ministry.

This is their rough schedule for your prayer:

· Now through Sunday 14 June at Munda - Sovereign Grace Church of the Nazarene

· Monday 15^th – Travel by Ship to Honiara

· Tuesday 16^th and Wednesday 17^th around Honiara getting prepared for the Honiara Zion Church youth.

· Thursday 18^th – Sunday 21^st Honiara Zion Church

· Tuesday 23^rd To Auki, Malaita Province. Ministering near Auki 23^rd and 24^th

· Thursday 25^th – Sunday 28^th to Kwailatutu

· Monday 29^th back to Auki

· Tuesday 30^th June – Sunday 5^th July to Beri church in the bush of East Kwaio.

· Monday 6^th -7^th Travel back to Honiara

· Wednesday 8^th and Thursday 9^th In Honiara recovering and preparing for next outreach.

· Friday 10^th – Sunday 12^th at Macedonia Church in the Guadalcanal Plains.

· Monday 13^th – 20^th July around Honiara, helping around the mission, relaxing, and a day or two of sightseeing and fun.

· Tuesday 21^st depart for home. (One member, Tim Radcliffe, leaves on Monday 20^th for PNG to spend the rest of his summer visiting his missionary parents).

General Assembly:

Nancy and I will be leaving Tuesday 16^th June to attend the General Assembly.

We fly through Fiji and due to an airline schedule shift we will not be able to make our connection on Tuesday to travel on to the USA. Air Pacific is putting us up for two nights in Nadi. We are really looking forward to the time of relaxing in Nadi, Fiji.

We will arrive in Dallas, Tex on Thursday night 18^th.

Saturday the 20^th is our VanGundy family reunion in El Reno.

After the Reunion we will depart for Orlando, Florida and plan to arrive there sometime on Tuesday 23^rd

We will depart the USA for the Solomon Islands Sunday July 12^th and arrive here on Tuesday 14^th.

We would be willing to speak in churches during our time in the USA, so if you would like to have us share, just let me know and we will do our best to accommodate the request.

Thank you so very much for your continued prayers.

Your Partners in His Ministry,

George & Nancy Miller

PO Box 712

Honiara, Solomon Islands

george_nancy@reachone.com

Phone: (677)25-109

Mobile: (677)68-920

Field Team Web site: http://oceanianazarene.org/

Prayer requested for Nancy

Pray for Nancy:

 

Nancy needs special strength in the coming days:

She is the Principal of Zion Christian Academy.  Currently they are holding an ACE (Accelerated Christian Education) training at our church.  There are 60 enrolled and ZCA has 30 teachers and monitors taking the course.  The course begins at 7:30 a.m. and has been going late 5-6 p.m.  There is a couple Michelle and Graham from New Zealand, who have come and donated their time to conduct this training.  It looks like they will have to go through Saturday to complete it and the graduation will be on Saturday.  Then our teachers will all be ACE certified.

 

Nancy is also taking the training.  It involves a lot of work.  After this class Nancy is teaching a Bible College Block course, ‘Christian Worship’, from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m.

 

Sorry for those who have tried to contact us but our computer has been off most of the time during this past week.

 

Early this week two of Nancy’s teachers (husband and wife) left the training without telling her, and now today she received a letter that they will not be coming back.  The letter said that someone has worked magic on him to ruin his marriage and job.  So they went to his home village.  So now Nancy is short 3 teachers.  Pray that she can fill these positions before General Assembly.  This really makes her short in the High School and she may have to teach there.  If so she will get more exercise walking up and down the hill.   

 

Felicity:

Felicity had her surgery and is doing well.  Geoffrey and Raina are returning from Australia tomorrow 5 a.m. and Churie and Felicity will follow next week after Felicity’s final doctor’s appointment.  Pray that everything will be all right at this check up.

 

Thanks,

George & Nancy Miller

PO Box 712

Honiara, Solomon Islands

george_nancy@reachone.com

 

 

 

Prayer, Praise, and News from Solomon Islands

Dear Prayer Partners,

I request your intercessory prayers for all the things going on here in the Solomon Islands.

Mission Strategy Training (MST):

Nancy and I depart tomorrow for Singapore to attend the MST held in Singapore. We will be away until May 10^th. We will be exploring what it really means to “Make Christ-like Disciples in the Nation.” We have been reading 3 books in preparation for these sessions. The training is only for 4 days (4-7 May) but we have to be gone the 10 days due to airline schedules.

Felicity:

Felicity and Churie are back in Australia. The ENT doctor is going to put the tubes back in Felicity’s ears, as well as perform an adenoidectomy. The surgery is scheduled for May 12. Pray that her ear will clear up and remain clear so the surgery can proceed as planned. Geoffrey and Raina have their tickets to fly to Brisbane on Sunday, but are hoping that space will be available on the Friday flight. Following surgery Felicity will need to stay in Australia for another 10 days. Pray for them during this trying time. Geoffrey and Churie were able to get a great price on tickets. It was US $360 for a round trip ticket to Brisbane.

Zion Christian Academy:

Pray for ZCA and Nancy in her role as Principal. She has a lot of things on her platter. The 14^th of May there is a meeting between the School’s recently constituted Planning Committee and the government Education Dept. The purpose of this meeting is to work on a development plan for the school. There is work being done on getting the ACE curriculum recognized by the Government. ACE curriculum is an American curriculum and we are merging it with the SI curriculum esp. in the area of SI History and Social Studies. In May there will be a teacher’s training meeting with a visiting education instructor from New Zealand. Our classes will be dismissed during this time so the teachers can all attend this course. Nancy is staying busy now for sure. Please remember her in prayer. Now with Churie gone Nancy has lost her 5^th grade teacher too.

Bible College Class:

The 2^nd block will be held May 13 – 30. I will be teaching the course, “Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ” and Nancy, with the help of others, will be teaching, “Christian Worship.”

YIM Team:

Four University Students from Nazarene Universities in the USA will be coming to the Solomon Islands. I have not yet received their confirmed flight but due to our limited airline schedules, looking at what is probably the least expensive flight, they should arrive on June 2^nd. They will be here for 6 weeks or so. We are making plans for them to visit some villages and conduct Youth and Children Camps/rallies, do follow-up and training on the Proclaimer, and other work. {The proclaimer is a box that play a dramatized audio of the New Testament and is ideal for illiterate people} Geoffrey and Churie will be the main supervisors of this team because Nancy and I will be away for most of their time.

General Assembly:

Nancy and I are planning on taking our vacation to attend the General Assembly. We will fly out of the Solomon’s on June 10^th and return on July 14^th. My good friend and colleague Baru Dirye, the Papua New Guinea National Health Secretary, wrote me a nice letter, asking if I would be willing to help the PNG delegates and visitors with contacts to facilitate their trip to Orlando and General Assembly. I am praying about this. We have been the PNG delegate’s “tour guide” for two assemblies and really enjoyed it both times. They are planning on a month after assembly, and would like to speak in Churches and see a little of the USA.

Are there Missionaries or any of our Florida Prayer Partners that would like to help with this delegation? If so Please Let me Know and I’ll put you in contact with Mr. Baru Dirye. Maybe you could offer accommodations, give them an opportunity to share in your church, or drive a van chauffeuring them around. I am still thinking praying about this. I’m not share how I can help them. Please pray for all the overseas delegates as they obtain visa, make travel arrangements, etc to travel to the USA for these meetings.

Visit to the Solomon Islands by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu:

The last few days were filled with excitement and anticipation with the visit of Desmond Tutu. As head of our church I was invited to join with Government, Church, and Diplomatic Leaders as we met the plane welcoming the arrival of our Country’s invited guest, Desmond Tutu. The Archbishop came at the invitation of our Prime Minister to launch our Solomon Island’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). I had never been in the VIP lounge at the air port before. It was nice and a thrill to see a man of this global notoriety in person.

The Prime Minister hosted a dinner which Nancy and I attended as invited guests. Then there was the TRC launching on Wednesday morning and the combined service at Lawson tama stadium (The soccer stadium). Please remember our country in prayer and the TRC as there are many hurts, unforgiveness, unconfessed sins, etc. Pray that bitterness and hurt can be replaced by forgiveness; that those with hidden sins can come forward and confess these and experience God’s forgiveness. I was really impressed as Desmond Tutu challenged our people. If you are interested in this I’m sure you can get the full story through one of many Internet News sites.

Tomorrow when we board our full plane to Brisbane, Archbishop and his wife will be fellow passengers on this plane.

It looks like I’ll be able to slow down in August:

So far August looks like a slow month, but I will probably make my visit to the provinces and visit some of the churches during this time.

Your Partner’s in His Ministry,

George & Nancy Miller

PO Box 712

Honiara, Solomon Islands

george_nancy@reachone.com

Phone: (677)25-109

Mobile: (677)68-920

Blog: http://georgeandnancymiller.blogspot.com