God is faithful and He answers our prayers in powerful and sometimes surprising ways. Early this week we asked you all to pray for our last-minute trip to Raiatea, about 100 miles northwest of Tahiti. Namely, we asked for a clear gospel presentation, crowd management, and connections. He began to answer our prayers before we arrived at the island!
As we arrived at the baggage drop-off we saw our friend Sindy, one of the presenters for the big effort. With her was her dad, Albert Richardson, a pioneer church planter and pastor in the Society Islands going back to the 1980s. Albert did not have a roof over his head for the first months of his ministry there while he was evangelizing and organizing his local church. Albert and I have been Facebook friends for some years but we had never met face to face until that moment. As we waited for our plane, Albert told me that he had been wanting to meet with me about training pastors together and that he was glad we were finally together. The conversation continued through our three days together, also focusing on how to follow up the evangelism effort on Raiatea.
We had yet to arrive on Raiatea, and already God was answering our prayers in big ways!
There were three child evangelism events on Raiatea this past Wednesday, where more than 1,300 children received a clear Gospel presentation. At our location on the west coast town of Tumaraa, there were around 450 children. Indeed the municipal and school staff had the event very well organized, for transportation, seating, and security. As I took photos and videos of the event, I saw a great many of the children and adults paying close attention to the message, and I have no doubt that a good number of those believed in Christ for the first time.
Again, God was faithful to answer our prayers in powerful ways.
Please pray that we are able to follow up with effective discipleship in the coming weeks and months. Already Operation Christmas Child has trained a small number of teachers for their Greatest Journey 12 lesson course for children. It is basic but very solid. There is currently no pastor on this island of more than 16,000 people who is capable of teaching God's Word and leading a congregation to fulfill His will.
We also had a nice day on Thursday with David and Carolyn, two Americans who came to see the effort. He and Edualdo Cicero likened Wednesday's evangelistic events to the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944. Raiatea has truly been a stronghold of the enemy, resistant to church planting and evangelism efforts. Pray with us that our beachhead turns into a strong base for future operations.
Last but hardly least, pray for Tauana, our AirBnb hostess. Thursday night she asked us why we were on Raiatea, and the conversation developed into a full explanation of the Gospel. We think she may have believed for the first time that very night. Pray we may be able to follow up via email and phone in the coming days and weeks.
We are full of thanksgiving for your partnership in prayer. The Lord truly gave us many wonderful answers this past week. Please continue to pray for our upcoming ministries with short term missionaries from the USA. Rachel Musser and Amber Walker will be here for children's ministries in February and a team from Village Ministries will be working with women and children in April.
Please check out our updated website!www.evanelia.org. It has NEW stories with photos and videos of our ministry in these islands!
Our Local Mailing Address:
BP 121403
98712 Papara
Polynesie Francaise
As always we are grateful for our amazing support organization, Village Ministries International. If you want to support us beyond prayer, click below: