Progress in Vanuatu
“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.” Isaiah 45:22-23
Before my third trip to Vanuatu I was glad that I had a chance again to see my brethren in Epi Island, Vanuatu, thinking of my wonderful experience where we first established our church in Vanuatu two years ago. Since that time I was glad to keep in touch regularly with Br. Tony William the leader in our new established church in Vanuatu. During that period of time he was very active in the Lord’s work not only around Vanuatu Islands, but for the starting of the True Reformation in Solomon Islands as well. Now after my return from Vanuatu I am thankful to our Lord that our church there is not only standing firm on the foundation of Christ, but progressing very well also. It bears exactly the meaning of the name “Vanuatu”. Vanuatu’s name is derived from the word vanua (“land” or “home”), which occurs in several Austronesian languages, and the word tu (“stand”) which means “Vanuatu is standing”.
It is not so simple to reach or depart from Epi Island. From Sydney I had to travel to Port Vila the capital of Vanuatu and then to catch the very rare flights to Epi. For these flights the airline usually uses very small aircrafts. Some of them are for 6 – 8 passengers! It is more exciting to be behind the pilot during windy and rainy weather, not only to fly but to land on very wet grass and to see how the pilot struggles to stop the aircraft just a few metres before the very end of the landing strip. It is good that we have so wonderful Saviour who takes care for us, so we do not need to worry for such or any circumstances.
The second part of the trip we travel by four-wheel drive, which is more expensive than flying. After few hours passing through beautiful beaches, rivers, plantations, jungles and villages we reached the land of Br. Tony William where is our church. I was surprised to see the property around our church which was much improved. There were extra buildings for guests and there is a plan soon to build a nice new church building as well.
I was happy to see not our brethren only, but additionally many new precious souls who I hadn’t seen before. Some of them were brethren from another Island named Malakula. One of the brothers is one of the main chefs in Malakula. He took a stand to be baptised and is eagerly awaiting Br. Tony William to baptize all his family later on. So we have started officially with two groups in two Islands of Vanuatu.
It was very rainy weather, but we felt the rain of the Holy Spirit and blessings were outpoured during our spiritual activities of preaching on different topics, seminars, spiritual discussions, spiritual examination and baptisms of 8 new souls and surprising for me one church wedding, Holy Communion & reorganization of the Vanuatu field etc. All these activities were accompanied with many, many songs and spiritual gladness.
At the end of our meeting, very early in the morning I travelled to another airport in Epi. I was so thankful to our dear Lord for His great blessings, kindness and care for His honest children in Vanuatu, in the Pacific and all over the Earth. Vanuatu is a new field for our church, but is well established place – a centre from where the last advent and reformation message will be spread around to other Pacific Islands which are located at the ends of the earth. Now is the time when God clearly appealing “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth…” Now is the time to awake up, the turning point of the nations and of the church.
“There are periods which are turning points in the history of nations and of the church. In the providence of God, when these different crises arrive, the light for that time is given. If it is received, there is spiritual progress; if it is rejected, spiritual declension and shipwreck follow.” Bible Echo, August 26, 1895
Anton Salavyov