In 2009, a young lady by the name of Flora graduated from Joy Bible Institute. She was a town girl and grew up in a comfortable pastor’s home. Before graduating, Flora got on a cargo ship and went on a missions trip with fellow JBI students to the small, isolated northern Torba islands of Vanuatu. I remember standing on the wharf back then as Flora told me that she was not a good sailor and would be sick before leaving the harbor! Gary passed her a cou
ple of cans of coke and off she sailed. Later she told me that she had actually fared really well on the long sea voyage.
This mission trip turned out to be a life-changing experience for Flora. When she came back to Bible school she could not forget the needs of the people and the small island churches she had ministered in. After graduation, Flora went back to the Torba islands for several months of ministry. In May 2009, she came home briefly, packed up and moved “permanently” to the tiny island of Rah, off the coast of Mota Lava island. (Rah is the tiny round island off the southern point of the larger Mota Lava island in the photo above).
On the island of Rah, she is known as Pastor Flora and pastors the Assemblies of God church. What a joy to talk to her on the phone today. This only possible due to an new expanded mobile phone network and solar-charged cell phones since there is no electricity on the island of Rah. Flora asked for Sunday school materials and any other kind of Christian literature we can send her. I cannot fully express to you the joy I experienced in speaking to this very courageous and committed young woman. Would you please add her to your prayer list?
Vision for Vanuatu 