Lori Ellison

May 1, 2009March 21, 2013

Health Care Team to Visit Tanna

By world standards, Port Vila is a small capital city. But it is certainly the center of comings and goings to Vanuatu and the outer lying islands. Since we live in Port Vila, we are privileged to meet many people and do many airport welcomes and farewells.

When literature or medication are urgently needed by missionaries or national pastors on other islands we send them by plane. When larger shipments of food, building materials or church supplies are needed, we ship them by small boat.

Doctors and dentists work primarily here in Port Vila so many people have to come to town for treatment. Small commercial planes and a private helicopter are sometimes used in emergency cases to evacuate people to Port Vila for medical treatment. Good medical care is not available to many people.

Our missionary colleague, Bryan Webb, is currently organizing a Health Care team which will be going to the southern island of Tanna. Bryan works on the northern island of Santo so he shipped us the necessary camping supplies of tents, toilets, portable shower and even an electrical generator which we then put on another ship headed to Tanna to be used by the team.

At this point, everything seems to be falling into place for the medical team, except the AIDS awareness kits which are needed for a community health seminar. These were shipped from Fiji in February but have not arrived. Please pray that these parcels will arrive in time to be used in this outreach.

April 24, 2009June 24, 2012

Youth Ministry Class

This week was final exam week at JBI. The students are now on a two week break. The photo below is of the Youth Ministry class which Lori taught. The course challenged them to look at youth ministry through a new lens, to re-evaluate their current efforts, to re-focus on the real needs of young people within our local context, to set ministry goals and then to move towards content-driven rather than just multiple event programs. The purpose youth ministry being TRANSFORMATION rather than just passing on information! Lori used Andy Stanley’s “Seven Checkpoints” as an example of content-driven youth ministry. The whole idea of youth discipleship and re-shaping worldviews was re-affirmed in hearts. To make this practical the students worked in groups and wrote chapters for a small new converts booklet in Bislama. I know we all felt like we had a productive term! Pray for this group of influential young people as they work with youth in their home churches!

April 18, 2009June 24, 2012

Royal Ranger Field Day

Today the first “Royal Ranger Vanuatu Field Day” was held on the church property of We Care Assembly of God. Thanks to the hard work of Australian colleagues, Russell and Robyn Harbour, Royal Rangers is getting a new lease on life here in Vanuatu. Eighty boys were in attendance from 4 different Assemblies of God churches. They had a great time learning new skills and competing in games. Lori was invited to come out and give a devotional at the end of the day since her mother started the first Royal Ranger troop in Vanuatu in the mid-1970’s.

April 16, 2009June 24, 2012

JBI Students & Faculty

All term we have been trying to find a time when all the teachers were available and the weather would cooperate for our official school photo. It was high noon today but we found a shady spot in front of the chapel to pose. As we gathered in front of the Joy Memorial Chapel, I could not help but remember that 30 years ago we were mourning my mother’s passing and that today would have been her 71st birthday! I am so glad to be back in Vanuatu!

April 12, 2009June 24, 2012

Easter Sunday

Pastor Youen preached this morning on “The Power of the Resurrection”.

One of the laymen is an instructor at the Police Academy. This group of new cadets came and sang for Easter. Recently the movie “Fireproof” was shown at the Police Academy. Pray for the police and law enforcement here in Vanuatu. A recent rise in violent crime and inadequate prison facilities are difficulties that these young people are going to face.

April 12, 2009June 24, 2012

Easter Week

Saturday night, Pastor Joseph John, a well-known local watercolor artist and assistant pastor at Evangel Temple, choose not only to speak about Easter but to conclude his sermon with a quick painting! There was a hush in the building as he turned and faced the blank canvas, his wife softly singing in the background. Within 10 minutes he was finished and no one will forget the message!

April 6, 2009June 24, 2012

Newest Addition at JBI

The JBI Dean of Students, Philip and Serah Naias are happy to announce the birth of their first child, a son named Russell. He is a beautiful baby and his grandmother came all the way from Tanna for his birth. We have all been so excited to have a baby on campus!

Pastor Philip himself was born while his parents were on staff at JBI in the early 1980’s. Blessings to the happy family!

April 5, 2009June 24, 2012

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday is wonderful celebration here as everyone picks a fresh palm frond from their garden on the way to church! The youth and children were involved in the service at Evangel Temple this morning. They sang with gusto and performed a wonderful skit about Christ’s triumphant entry in to Jerusalem. The photos speak for themselves.

March 16, 2009June 24, 2012

Ladies’ Meetings

I just got back tonight from speaking to a group of ladies at Pango village. We had a very good service and I enjoyed being with them. Three young women came forward at the end of the message.

Last Wednesday I spoke for the Shefa province WM combined meeting where several hundred women were gathered. The planned speaker cancelled so I was asked a couple days beforehand to take her place. This is not easy to do with my teaching schedule at the Bible School and homeschooling our own children.

The WM combined meeting takes place three times a year and brings together women from our AG churches all around the island of Efate. The church was packed and ladies were sitting in the adjacent prayer room listening and on mats at both doorways. Many responded to the altar call. After service the national WM leader told me that I had just preached the opening theme for an upcoming national WM convention scheduled for later in the year. Please pray for our Christian ladies, that they will be true salt and light! Their faith or lack thereof so greatly affects their homes and children. Vanuatu is facing growing social challenges, escalating crime in urban areas, growing delinquency and unemployment. We have the answer, so pray that our Christian women will step out and speak up!

March 14, 2009June 24, 2012

JBI Cafeteria Blessed by WM Ladies

Joy Bible Institute runs on a very limited budget. Any cash income pays the important monthly bills of electricity, water and local salaried staff. The school cafeteria functions “by faith” and depends on offerings or produce given by local churches. There are times when the cupboards are bare and this school year has been one of them. Today we were so blessed to be visited by ladies from several Women’s Ministries (WM) groups who came to the school with garden produce, groceries and a cash offering. A short service was followed by refreshments with JBI students serving our guests.

February 22, 2009June 24, 2012

Combined Service

The Assemblies of God churches in each province meet several times a year for a combined Sunday afternoon worship service. The first one this year for Shefa province was held today at the Assembly of God church in Mele village. The church was packed and many people were sitting on the lawn outside the building. There is no problem hearing as island churches are very open and the Mele church building is still under construction and there are no windows or doors yet. The window sills were also used to seat people. Pastor Johnny Lava came from Tanna to preach and many choirs from around Efate island sang. This is always a good time to give literature and church materials to pastors working in remote areas. One pastor filled his briefcase with the new Pentecostal Evangel in Bislama for his church members – to get home he will have a 40 minute bus ride and then a 3 hour walk.

February 22, 2009June 24, 2012

Family Worship Center – Pango

Gary had the privilege of preaching this morning at Family Worship Center at Pango village. His text was Ephesians 4:7-16 as he challenged the church to understand that Christ gave a diversity of gifts to the Body of Christ to bring about the unity of the faith.

At the closing of the service all the new ministry leaders came forward to the altar to be prayed for.

After service everyone went outside for the baptism of two young ladies. Several JBI students, Jimmy, Manson, Keith and Cedric are involved in ministry at this church. Please continue to pray for Pastor Berry and the growth of the church in Pango.

February 21, 2009June 24, 2012

Back-to-School Picnic

The weather was perfect today for a picnic! The JBI students and faculty spent the day at Honeymoon Beach for a fun day of getting acquainted and welcoming the new freshmen class! A great day was was definitely had by all!

February 21, 2009June 24, 2012

Spiritual Emphasis

The new school term at Joy Bible Institute started February 9th. It was so good to see upperclassmen return and the new freshmen students arrive on campus. Students have shared many wonderful testimonies of ministry opportunities back home during their “summer” break – yes, it is summer, very hot and humid on this side of the Pacific Ocean! We rejoice with them as they are excited about being able to share Christ in their villages and islands.

This second week of school is our Spiritual Emphasis week and we were so happy to welcome Missionary Steve Slater from Fiji as our special speaker. It was a wonderful way to start off the school year!

Please pray for some of our students who have financial needs and several married students have left families back on home islands.

January 24, 2009June 24, 2012

Shipping

We have been packaging and shipping boxes of the new outreach magazines, tracts and Sunday school materials to the outer islands. From where we are located on the central island of Efate, the ships are headed either to islands north or south of us. Inter-island shipping is by no means a tightly scheduled affair, ships come and go, ships don’t come and don’t go, ships are on time and most are repeatedly delayed! The ship which took the boxes that Jeremy is seen carrying, stayed an extra 6 days in dock before leaving! Though it can be a challenge sending church supplies to the outer islands, our outer island pastors are grateful for any literature and church supplies which come their way.

Thank you for supporting LFTL and helping us to produce and distribute literature to the many islands of Vanuatu!