Joy Bible Institute – Page 6 – Vision for Vanuatu

November 25, 2011April 16, 2012

JBI 30th Anniversary & Graduation

2011 is a special anniversary year for Joy Bible Institute. The JBI property was purchased in 1979 and the first building to be built was the chapel which was dedicated in Sept. 1979. The other buildings quickly followed and the school opened its doors to students in March 1981. Twelve students began their studies that year and seven of them graduated in 1983. Missionaries Ron Killingbeck and Wayne and Jean Guge, both served as principal and teachers during the first two years of the school’s existence.

Two months ago, in a faculty meeting, I reminded everyone that this was the 30th anniversary year of the school and it would be nice to plan a special celebration at graduation. The idea caught on and though we had very little finance or time, everyone was excited and got busy planning!

The first major decision was to rent a tent and have the graduation ceremony on campus. We normally have graduation at a local church because our school chapel is much too small for such events. Next, we contacted former missionaries who had served at JBI and asked for old photos. Immediately, letters and photos started arriving and everyone got excited! The end of August is regional church conference time so word was sent to all the island conferences that JBI was inviting alumni back for graduation on Oct. 30, 2011.

Here are some photos of the special day:

In the photo to the right (pictured left to right) are: Pastor & Mrs. Robert Laumai, honored for 30 years of service to the school. Pastor Robert came to JBI in 1979 and helped build all of the first buildings. He remained to serve as a teacher and then later as maintenance and grounds manager. His wife, Edna, served as school cook. They retired from JBI in 2009. Pastor & Mrs. Tom Ierongen, were also honored as they served on the first school faculty when JBI opened in 1981. They went on to pioneer churches in Vila and on the island of Tanna. Pastor & Mrs. Youen Atnelo, were honored for their 23 years of teaching ministry to the school. Pastor Youen is currently the General Supt. of the Assemblies of God Vanuatu and pastors Evangel temple in Port Vila. Pastor Willie Naias served as campus staff and cook when JBI opened in 1981, with his wife Mary (not pictured). Their son Philip Naias was just a toddler then and today he is a pastor and a JBI faculty member. Also pictured are current JBI principal, J. Gary & Lori Ellison.

We would have never been able to host such an event if it had not been for the help of so many friends. Local churches donated food, Women’s Ministries groups from four villages came to cook and served a delicious buffet meal to over 500 people. A big thank you to everyone who helped make the day a most memorable graduation and anniversary celebration. Thank you also to all the former faculty and students who came and celebrated with us!

October 4, 2011April 16, 2012

JBI 2011 Class Photo

We have been so busy this year but today we paused for a school photo. Not everyone was present but we went ahead anyway. Graduation is coming up on Oct. 30, 2011 with 4 students graduating each returning to a different island for ministry. Thank you for your prayer and financial support this year.

September 28, 2011April 16, 2012

Lafayette Team

The Lafayette team has been very busy doing the electrical wiring and ceiling work now that the roof is on! Today they also went to English class and gave the students some practice with conversational English! The students were quite nervous at first but quickly the room was buzzing with friendly conversation! Thanks everyone for your willingness to help out in other areas!

September 27, 2011April 16, 2012

On Your Mark! Get Set! Go!

Pastors Randy Blankenship and Pete Campbell of New Life Church, Kokomo, Indiana (USA) are about to get started on a 400 mile (640 km) bicycle trip to raise money for our new classroom building!

Some of you may remember that Pastor Randy walked 250 miles a year ago to raise money for our project. Well, he is at it again and taking Pastor Pete along for the ride! They plan to start in Angola, Indiana, which is in the northeast corner of the state and ride all the way to Evansville, Indiana, in the southwest corner. Their FB page is called Ride For Joy.

They depart on their bicycle adventure today!!

I know they would really appreciate some pledges for their efforts so if you would like to encourage them and at the same time support our classroom building project, please contact them here.

UPDATE: Pastor Randy and Pastor Pete completed their 371 mile ride from Angola, Indiana to Evansville, Indiana, in just 8 days! They are still happy to take donations for their cycling efforts which in turn go to our new classroom building project.

September 24, 2011April 16, 2012

Classroom Building Progress Report

Since the New Life Church, Kokomo, IN and the Life Church, Fishers, IN construction team left in early July, we have continued work on the new JBI classroom building. Cement bonding beams, verandahs, and rafters were just some of the things done to prepare the building for the arrival of the next volunteer construction team.

A week ago, 12 people from Lafayette First Assembly, Lafayette, IN, arrived to finish the rafters and purlings and begin putting on the metal roofing. By Friday, half of the metal roofing was already on! So they have already made a big difference in the new building! Needless to say, we are all very excited to see the progress and looking forward to teaching in the new building very soon!

The Lafayette team has another week of work before they fly home so we plan to keep them busy until they get on the plane! We are so grateful to all of you who have supported this construction project. We have now spent all the money that has been raised. So we would appreciate your prayers and continued support. We need approximately $70,000 to finish!

July 27, 2011April 16, 2012

Campus Transformations

As I mentioned in a previous post, the ladies from New Life Church in Kokomo, Indiana, did so many wonderful transformations around campus. I thought you might enjoy seeing some of their handiwork. First of all, the back room of the chapel had been used for quite sometime as a storage area but we had wanted to see it cleaned out and used as a prayer room. Well, it was transformed from a dingy room to a lovely prayer retreat.

Next they tackled Gary’s new office. The stark white walls and bright blue trim were repainted in cream and brown. The girls moved all his office furniture and bookshelves from his old office to the new one. This was such an unexpected and welcomed surprise! We have been so busy since taking over in January that we have not had time to do these things! The campus pastor’s office and Gary’s former office were also painted and fixed up! Thanks so much ladies, you made quite a difference on campus!!

July 27, 2011April 16, 2012

JBI Teacher Gets Married

On Saturday, July 23, 2011, Pastor Kiel married Faith in the school chapel. Pastor Kiel Maimai is our JBI campus pastor and a teacher. It was so nice to have another campus chapel wedding! It was a beautiful ceremony performed by Pastor Bessie Fong. The bride was radiant and smiling and the groom very pleased. After the ceremony, the groom’s relatives serenaded and marched the bridal party up to the top of the hill where a wedding feast was laid out. Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. K. Maimai and a warm JBI welcome to you both!

July 24, 2011April 16, 2012

Construction Team From USA

On June 28, we welcomed 22 friends from Indiana and Pennsylvania, who flew to Vanuatu to put up the walls of the new JBI classroom building and do various renovation projects around campus. The team was the first construction team we have ever had visit us from our home district in 29 years of missions. So it was quite an exciting event for us! The group was from New Life Church (Kokomo, IN), Life Church (Fishers, IN) and one pastor from Pennsylvania. Even after 24 hours of travel, the team was eager to see the school and the building site so after a quick lunch we walked up to the campus from their motel.

Next morning, the guys started laying cement blocks. Bob McCauley, an electrician, began to fix the faulty electrical wiring as the school had been experiencing many power outages! The ladies got busy with plans to transform a dingy chapel storage room into a prayer room, renovate a new office for Gary, and numerous other renovation projects. What a boost to have so many helping hands on campus for 10 days! The two photos above show the building foundation BEFORE and AFTER the team had put up the walls!

Four different pastors were with the team, Randy Blankenship, Pete Campbell, Nathan Peternel and Dan Peternel. They preached in JBI chapel services, at local youth meetings and Sunday services. Many lives were touched.

The young people in the group came prepared to do a children’s outreach complete with black light puppet show, tricks, and songs. Black light has never been used for any church event here to our knowledge, so the glowing fluorescent signs and puppets were a real hit!! The kids of Blacksand settlement gathered at the church on a Saturday night and were totally enthralled by the puppet program. The puppet program clearly explained the Salvation colors and at the end every child got a bag of treats, a balloon animal and a Salvation bead bracelet.

It was a wonderful two weeks and we hated to see them leave!

May 13, 2011March 21, 2013

Breaking Ground

We have broken ground and the new classroom building site has been leveled! This happened while JBI students were on their Easter break so everyone was excited when they got back to campus to see the progress! The old classroom cannot be used during the work so the 2nd and 3rd year students are now meeting in the living room of a campus apartment. It is a bit of a squeeze for them but we are hoping that funds will continue to come in so the new building can be finished as soon as possible.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this project! If you made a “Walk For Joy” pledge last year, you can send your donation any time, it is never too late!

April 17, 2011March 21, 2013

JBI First Term Ends

The first term of classes at JBI is coming to a close with final exams starting tomorrow. We have had a great term, good classes, great chapel services and a committed group of students. The four teachers are definitely worn out and looking forward to the 2 week break! We usually have six teachers so it has been a heavy load academically and administratively for four people to carry. Two students dropped out due to illness and we hope they will be well enough to return after the break. Quite a few students have also had difficulties paying their school fees this term. Thank you for praying for the students that the funds will come in for their school fees and that we will all have a productive break!

March 27, 2011March 21, 2013

All-island Youth Meeting

On March 18th, we were so pleased to host the all-island youth meeting on the JBI campus. Several hundred young people from churches all around the island of Efate gathered for the second youth rally of the year. The young people showered the JBI cafeteria with fresh food, rice and a cash offering of almost $150. Our school cafeteria runs solely on donated food and offerings so their generosity was a blessing to the students. Three youth choirs and the JBI student choir sang. Gary was asked to preach on I Timothy 4:11, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” Many stepped forward to the altar after the message. It was a wonderful night.

March 18, 2011March 21, 2013

Going to the small, isolated places…

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 couple 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?

February 17, 2011March 21, 2013

Spiritual Emphasis Week at JBI

We are so happy to have Rev. Joe Pyott, from Washington State (USA) with us for spiritual emphasis. So far it has been a great week with messages from God’s Word on prayer, purity & marriage, faith, soul-winning and the Holy Spirit. Pray that this will be a life-changing week for JBI students.

February 1, 2011March 21, 2013

JBI Installation of New Principal

On Sunday, January 30th, an installation service was held in the Joy Bible Institute chapel to officially install Gary as the new principal of the Bible school. We want to thank Rev. Edgell Iolopua, General Superintendent, for allowing us to serve in this capacity for the next four years. Our missionary colleague, Bryan Webb, graciously flew in from the northern island of Santo and preached our installation service. We thank him for coming and enjoyed having him stay with us. Unfortunately, it ended up that he could not fly back home on Monday as Cyclone Yasi was passing over the northern islands. His family weathered the storm alone and are all well. Thank you also to all the pastors and friends who attended the service and the ladies for the refreshments.

Looking forward to the students arriving for registration on Monday, February 7th. Pray with us for a great school year!

February 1, 2011March 21, 2013

Daily Challenges

It is great to be back online and have internet service again! Getting a house, unpacking and moving has not been as easy as we had hoped…never is really. Things take much longer than you hope they will. We moved into our rental house and five days later had our first robbery which resulted in the loss of Gary’s new Apple laptop and my mobile phone! It was such a shock to us to have this happen! We are so thankful that Gary had everything except a most recent Bible study backed up. Unfortunately, his computer cannot be replaced here and this is really hindering him from getting his work done. The thieves came again two weeks later and damaged windows and a door but did not get in. UPDATE: Our landlord has just installed security bars on the windows. Thank you for praying for our safety and good rest.

Two weeks ago, we were sitting out Cyclone Vania, which actually formed near the southern Vanuatu island of Erromango, about 100 miles away. It was a slow moving cyclone with high winds which uprooted trees in our yard and all over the Joy Bible Institute campus. The campus still looks like a war zone as so many large trees have come down. We are thankful that no buildings were seriously damaged but we lost the bananas, papayas and much of the avocado crop which the students eat.

The southern islands of Vanuatu were harder hit by Cyclone Vania with food gardens and huts destroyed. For people in rural areas this means food shortages until the next crops can be planted and harvested in 4 to 6 months. We know of four AG churches on Tanna which were heavily damaged. The damage reports are still coming in from other rural areas. Plans are underway for a shipment of food to be sent to Tanna with the assistance of AG World Relief. Thank you to those who have given towards this. Pray that things will go smoothly and a ship will be going south with space to take relief supplies very soon.

UPDATE: Yesterday a second cyclone called Yasi passed over the northern Vanuatu islands of the Banks. All domestic flights were cancelled due to the high winds. Our missionary colleague, Bryan Webb, who was down in Port Vila with us over the weekend and unable to fly home yesterday. His wife and children went through the cyclone alone. I am happy to say he was able to get on a flight home today. We have many churches on the small Banks Islands and are waiting for damage reports. So please pray for the people in the Banks who have just gone through this cyclone. The meteorological department has predicted four cyclones to hit Vanuatu this season.