The mission work of J. Gary and Lori Ellison
Today the guys dismantled the old iron roofing over the outside cooking area. The structure was not very safe as many of the wooden beams were termite-eaten and the wood under the eaves was quite hollow in places! Once the area is cleared we can begin the new concrete floor and wall.
The guys got off to a great start! When I got over to school today, they had already demolished the old bread oven and surprise, there was no concrete floor under it! They will tear out the whole area and begin to rebuild. We appreciate your support with this project!
Almost all of our JBI students are at school by faith. The school has a policy that students must pay their school bills before they are allowed to take final exams at the end of each term. Recently, three students have been on my heart and I would like to present them to you.
Classes are out for two weeks and it is time to tackle the school kitchen problem. We really need a whole new cafeteria and kitchen building but we do not have the funds at this time. So we will begin with a new outdoor cooking area, a more modern version of what is locally known as a “bush kitchen” and eventually we hope to attach a whole new cafeteria to it!
The photos above show the roofed in area where students were preparing and cooking meals. The concrete “oven” at one time was used to bake bread but the interior is rusted out and has not been used for many years. Students have been cooking meals on an open fire on the ground. This situation has led to several problems, too much smoke in nearby residences and classrooms, a continuous search for firewood and a growing rodent problem.
The photo above is of the kitchen woodpile which is directly across (right photo) from the storage cupboards for the root vegetables that are often donated to the school cafeteria. As you can see only a small part of the area has a concrete floor and it becomes very muddy when it rains.
At this point, we are planning to build a new concrete side wall, a larger concrete floor, a built-in concrete barbecue and cooking area, and an outdoor sink. We have designed a small roof and chimney above the cooking area to capture the smoke and hopefully direct it away from the nearby houses. Job and two other students, Jimmy and Clovis, are going to spend their vacation tearing down this area and building the new structures.
In the future we would like to renovate the inside kitchen which has the remains of the original cupboards from 1980! The whole building is in disrepair but a closed in ceiling, fresh paint, new kitchen cupboards and a gas stove would really help!
We are so grateful to Faith Assembly, Orlando, for purchasing the new chest freezer for the kitchen. Thank you so much! All gifts, great and small, are so appreciated! The project number is still 5619!
July 24 is Children’s Day, a national holiday in Vanuatu. Ekoftau Assembly organized a fun day for the neighborhood children and our children were eager to join in the fun. They had sports competitions, coloring contests, verse memorization, food and lots of fun!
Thank you to those of you who were praying for us concerning the marriage seminar we led on Saturday at JBI. We had such a busy week with many extra commitments, unexpected visits and car troubles that by Friday night we were not feeling as prepared for the next day’s seminar as we had planned to be. But the Lord knew all about that and greatly helped us.
The seminar was sponsored by the AG Shefa district for couples in ministry. We entitled it “Together in Marriage, Together in Ministry” and 35 pastors and wives attended. One pastor and his wife had to walk three hours down to the main road to catch transportation into town. It is humbling when people make this kind of effort to attend. We had a great time sharing with them about God’s plan for marriage and ministry. Please pray for each couple as they go back to their homes and churches around the island of Efate.
Pastor Willie David Saul preached at Ekoftau Assembly of God church on Sunday. Though he could have chosen a quiet retirement, Pastor Willie resigned his city pastorate a couple of years ago and has been traveling as an itinerant evangelist. He goes to the remote places of Vanuatu to encourage pastors, to preach revival services in churches of any denomination and to evangelize unreached peoples. This has been physically demanding for a man of his age, as he has hiked through dense bush, slept along the trails and experienced God’s provision in some very difficult circumstances. He was initially financed by a group of Christians from the island of Paama but now others are wanting to share in this vision. Pastor Willie just finished a tour of each of the southern islands of Vanuatu in the Tafea province and is planning to head to Malampa province next. We thank the Lord for pastors like Willie David Saul and his wife who continue to serve the nation of Vanuatu.
The JBI students held a fun day fundraiser on Saturday. Youth groups from around town came to the JBI campus for a day of soccer, volleyball and ping pong competitions. Lunch and baked goods were for sale. The day was a great success and everyone had a lot of fun. The JBI students were very grateful to everyone who came and participated. The proceeds of this fundraiser will help finance a group of JBI students on a missions trip to the Banks islands, the most northern Vanuatu islands in November. The school has never sent a ministry group to the Banks islands, as it is an expensive trip, requiring both plane and boat trips. The students have been doing odd jobs and hosting events to raise enough money for their trip.
After this morning’s service at Ekoftau Assembly of God, everyone walked down to the nearby lagoon for a baptismal service. It was already a cold day and then it started to rain. Three brave young people, Susanna, James and Pascal, were baptized in very cold water by Rev. John Railau.
Susanna is the daughter of Rev. and Mrs. John Railau, Fijian missionaries assisting at the Ekoftau church. We first met John and his wife in 2002, when they were students at the South Pacific Bible College (Fiji) and we were interim directors at the school for 5 months. Just a few days after our arrival in Port Vila last year, we were walking downtown and had the great surprise of finding the Railau family in Vanuatu!
It has been a busy week at Joy Bible Institute. The students have finished their mid-term exams and the teachers are busy grading them and organizing the last remaining weeks of the school term. Several students are needing financial assistance to enable them to pay off their school bills and this is a prayer concern for them. This afternoon though the students were out of class and back working on the foundation of the new campus guest house. This means a lot of hard physical labor and some fun along the way.
Vision for Vanuatu 
