Bibles for the Poor Society

Vanuatu Mission 2005/2006

We are now back home in beautiful British Columbia and we thank God that he has granted us safety to the ends of the earth and back. Through snow storms, ice, rain and fog in Canada and very hot & humid days in Vanuatu along with crazy Christmas drunks (who God loves and wants to save), a broken front tooth, infected leg, food poisoning, ear infections, rats, malaria carrying mosquitoes, poisonous centipedes, swarming wild honey bees and a white knuckle landing on the island of Tanna in turbulent winds (everyone on the plane was praying for safety). Would we go back again? Abby dreams of Vanuatu every night and I am ready to go as soon as we have the bibles to give, because experiencing all the mighty works of God makes it all worth while and any loss of comfort or adversity has faded because of the joy of the Lord. I was advised by a friend before leaving for Vanuatu to meditate on the verse "The joy of the Lord is your strength" Nehemiah 8:10. So we focused on this verse and we found it really made a difference; you can have joy in any situation. God will even remove fear. It is also interesting that this passage of scripture in Nehemiah is about people receiving the Word of God in a language they could understand. Another verse that we memorized is 1 Cor 16:14, "Do everything in love". That's easy to memorize and powerful when applied.

We were able to give out 368 Bislama (Vanuatu's common language) Bibles this trip making the total over the last four years 2035 bibles. Praise The Lord! This is God's mission and He has motivated many people (including many youth) to pray and be moved to action by joining us in prayer and finances, supporting our efforts in Vanuatu. I am often reminded of how this ministry began with just 25 cents and a prayer, asking God to multiply the resources like the fish and the bread and He did. We go, and God has the success. If we listen to the Holy Spirit He will show us the way, we make plans but they are all subject to change as the Lord leads. The 2005/2006 bible distribution started on Dec 25th, Christmas morning. I had the day before, passed by the old wornout french prison in Port Vila riding in a mini bus. I felt sad that human beings were imprisoned because of their sins. A few minutes later when I arrived back to our accomodation the phone rang. It was a lady who wanted to give me the name of a man who was having services at the prison. I quickly phoned him and he said he was going tommorrow which was Christmas morning. So the next morning my wife Abby and I along with our two children, Chad 23 years old and Sher 20 gave the prisoners bibles and the Message of Eternal Hope. Eight of the prisoners had recently committed a murder over a land dispute. They felt remorse and pain over their crime and now realized the consequence, years in that awful place. Jack Reuben Titek, the coodinator for the Bible Society of Vanuatu gave them each a bible and prayed with them. Is God's grace able to reach even them? Yes, the bible tells us that if we come to the Lord Jesus with true repentance we will be forgiven and be reconcilled back to God, inheriting eternal life (John 3:16). Abby had tears in her eyes as she watched our children giving out the bibles on Christmas morning. Our son Chad later told us he felt unworthy to be there and giving out bibles. Everyone could see that he gave out the bibles with compassion, he said that through this experience he wants a deeper relationship wth Christ.

The bible distribution continued on Jan 7th/06 as Abby and I went to Aniwa, a small island about 12 km long and 4 km wide. We arrived on a grass airstrip in a small 8 seat twin engine plane and gave out 72 bibles over the next five days. There was much singing, speeches and rejoicing because the bibles had come. The John Frum cargo cult people asked for bibles too. So we had a service in a field for them. I was reading from Isaiah 55 in the Bislama Bible when it started to rain. We were asked to come inside their church and we were able to tell dozens of men about the free gift of grace through the Lord Jesus Christ in a closer more personal setting. Later some native Christians told us it was the first time cult members had invited Christians into their church. One afternoon we were guided to the historic sites where the missionary John G. Paton landed in 1866, where he built his home and dug the first well (even now rainwater is the most common form of fresh water) and built the first church on Aniwa. But it did not come without sacrifice, he buried two of his small children and grandson on Aniwa (Helena Paton born 1873 died at 5 days old, Walter Paton born 1878 died at 2 1/2 years and grandson Frank Paton born 1898 died at 1 1/2 years). He also lost his first wife Mary-ann Paton and infant son Peter on Tanna in 1858. Jesus said in Luke 18:29,30 "No one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and in the age to come, eternal life" (NIV). Their reward awaits them.

On Jan 12/06 we left Aniwa knowing that the distributed bibles would greatly impact this little island. God promises us in the bible: "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it". Isaiah 55:11 KJV. After our dramatic landing on Tanna we were greeted at the airport and taken to our accomodation, a small, old vacant pastors house which was completely overrun with rats. Before turning in we noticed a hole in the bottom of the wall near our bed. So our friend Pastor Silas who was staying with us, stuffed the hole with an old sack. In the wee hours of the morning we were awakened to a humming sound coming from the kitchen. As we cautiously approached the lit room (we'd left the light on to deter the rats), we discovered the huge swarm of wild honey bees who'd been attracted by the light through the open window. We later found the enormous bees nest on the side of the house. After returning to bed we quickly learned that periodic pounding on the wall would temporarily keep the rats from chewing on the sack. At first sight of daylight, we were up! Later that day we were fortunate to find other accomodation, rat and bee free.

That morning as we prepared to visit Chief Isaac Wan's village we met our Fijian friend "John". John was a bible school graduate sent from Suva, Fiji. Last year I spoke briefly at his home church (First Assemblies of God Church in Suva, Fiji) sharing with them the need for bibles in Vanuatu. They immediately responded with a generous donation. John accompanied us to the Yashur volcano area and to meet with the cargo cult leader Chief Isaac Wan. As I talked with the chief, John passionately interpreted Chief Isaac's words to me. We were all amazed later when we learned that John didn't know Bislama and had only been exposed to the language for 4 days. We concluded that indeed God was with us. Chief Isaac is still involved with the cargo cult but is not opposed to Christianity and is happy to see bibles come to his people. Please continue to pray for his heart and his people that they would see the love of God and accept His free gift of salvation.

In another remote area we gave out bibles to ex-John Frum members. They recently built a memorial showing that they have died to John Frum and have now come to Christ. We were told that the name of their new community was called "The Cry Community" because they were crying for a bible. Last year we gave out bibles there and now this year their name is changed to "The Grow Community" because the Word of God has now come. We thank God that so many people are coming out of the darkness and into the light. Our friend Pastor Silas Iou, who has been a pastor for 53 years, is shepherding over 1250 people there. He is now an old man and yet works tirelessly for the Gospel. Pastor Silas gets paid nothing and considers it a privilege to have a cup of tea and sugar at Christmas time.

Another highlight of the mission trip was when we went to a new "mission" village. Late last year a kustom village allowed a church to be built for the first time and the gospel to be preached. The first service took place on a Sunday and on Friday (5 days later) those that opposed the work, burned it down. When we arrived with the bibles this village was jubilant and gave us a warm welcome ceremony with speeches, singing and gifts. I told them the story about David and Goliath, how God used a boy to conquer a giant who was mocking the armies of the living God. Even though we have giants in our lives, God is stronger. I encouraged them with the fact that today God's Word is coming to them. Man may destroy what is seen but if we put the Word of God in our hearts, it can never be destroyed. At the close, the village chief said that he would 'eat' the Word of God and put it in his heart. I asked him if he would like to pray. After some discussion we were told the chief did not know how to pray. I suggested to him that some of the best prayers are 3 simple words, "Thank you God". Discussion continued, then the chief came to the middle of the village and said he would try to publically pray. With both hands he held his bible high above his head and began (in his own language) praying, "Thank you God.........." and then kept praying. Once he had finished his people responded with joyful laughing and clapping. The chief looked surprised and was amazed that he could pray. I encouraged him by saying that now he could pray anywhere and at anytime. God was always listening. As we drove out of this village there was great happiness.

The joy of the Lord is our strength. We count it a privilege to witness the joy when God moves in people's hearts and together with many others thank Him for allowing us to be a part of His mission. Prayer and action accomplishes much. Those now with a bible need discipling. There is a great need for pastors to be trained and to learn how to be accountable shepherds of God's flock. Most people are like sheep without a shepherd. Senior pastors have requested help in developing a training center on Tanna to help educate, encourage and equip pastors. Please be in prayer for this and for how Bibles for the Poor Society can help. Thousands more still do not have a bible of their own. We thank all those who have contributed in any way to this work and give all the glory to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We have already received donations for bibles for our next trip and will wait on God to decide when to go again.

'Bibles are affordable to most of us, yet some are too poor to buy one. None are to poor to receive freely!' The Preachers Homiletic Commentary

'Great Bible readers are great reformers. Spread the Bible, let all men read the Bible so they may understand it, spare no expense in circulating the book. Those who can explain it, devote yourselves to it day and night : turn the book of God into the language of the people, and thus create in them, under the blessing of Heaven, a true spirit.' Joseph Parker

In His Service,

Dave Dever  (Founder)

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