Well Parents, Ywamers, Campers
and Family we have reached the end of our 2007 Island Impact
Camp/Outreach and this will be your final event narrative by
yours truly. It has been an inspiring literary journey for me
and I hope these three postings have been encouraging and
comforting to you. Island Impact has been truly life changing
for so many students. We have not seen any camper who wasn’t
touched by their experiences at this camp. The Lord has moved in
powerful ways these last three weeks. AMEN !
Malekula:
The Melekula team was a team that had a ministry from hard labor
to teaching dances to the youth of the villages. In Lambubu Bay
they moved coral and sand from the bay area up to the houses to
be used as the foundation for a new water tank. In the
afternoons they went on many jungle walks, through rain and
cocoa trees, to neighboring villages to pray in the homes of
numerous families. They were able to play games with the
children and it was amazing to see how the whole village came
out and had a laugh at the team having fun.
They moved to another village after
finding out that the supplies for the intended water tank had
not made it due to a shipping strike. The village was named Bil
Mavis and it was only a 30 second walk to the ocean. They got to
lead a three hour church service with dancing, singing, praying
and preaching (just like the old days) the first day they
arrived. Through the next couple of days more coral was moved
and bush was cut down and cleared out. The Nivans got to teach
the youth of the village different island dances, which they
preformed at the final night of their stay. One morning the
elders asked the team to pray over a spring of water. The elders
said that missionaries had used it 150 years ago to heal people
and prove the power of God. The team felt a check on their
spirits as to why they needed this “healing” water if God could
easily heal without the use of the spring. This opened a long
discussion in front of all the elders about how faith is the
real power that causes healing, not water that had been blessed.
There was huge reconciliation between the group and the elders
asked for forgiveness for putting us in a strange situation. It
was a moving time for everyone.
“To see the interaction of everyone, at every chance they
could, with the children and the villagers was the crazy love of
Jesus ebbing out of our souls. Everywhere we went, we decided to
go hard out and reach everyone we could. Nearly 100 homes were
ministered to, 6 chiefs were met and over 150 children were
shown love though games and the smiles we gave them. Everyone on
the team came back knowing that this trip was an epic showing of
the Love of Jesus Christ!” –Jake
North Efate: Takara and Nguna
The North Efate Team was composed of a whopping 52 campers and
staff. They all packed themselves into vans like sardines and
took off on the bumpy road to the north end of Efate to a
Village named Takara. Takara is one of the poorest and most
structurally unsound villages in all of Efate. Living conditions
are rough but despite the conditions the campers maintained
relatively high spirits, and once ministry began the kids really
began to adjust to the surroundings. “The time in Takara was
very relational” said one of the staff members. The teams
broke into two groups: one focused on servant-hood and the other
organized kids programs. Both groups were supported throughout
the outreach with a strong basis of prayer. The first group
worked on finishing a water tank, which the art team then
painted. The rest focused on door to door prayer and impacting
the children of the Village for Christ!
The group then moved farther north to a small island called
Nguna (ing-u-na). Phonetics are to no avail if you are white…I
tried for a week and when I say it I sound like a have an
underdeveloped palate and severe overbite. We took boats from
the mainland and arrived at the most beautiful Island I have
ever seen. The whole time I was there I was trying to find the
torn edge from the magazine it was ripped out of. I felt like I
was a part of an advertisement for a five star resort. Needless
to say the team were very receptive to the new environment and
immediately jumped into the sea and took a quick swim in the
crystal clear water. Every morning began with a quite time,
worship and prayer before we began the events of the day and
every night closed with worship and a message. The ministry in
Nguna was composed of brick making, village outreach, and kids
programs. The locals were very receptive to our presence there
and kids swarmed the beach when kids programs started. Much of
the day was filled up with games and devotionals for the young
ones. Another chunk of staff and students was put in charge of
brick making. These guys worked extremely hard and deserve a
round of applause (clap clap clap) for their painstaking labor.
In the time we were their, a total of 240 bricks were produced
manually. There were no machines or pulleys just two old molds,
calloused palms, and an impressive work ethic. As the time
approached for our departure the entire village rallied around
us to show their appreciation. They prepared a delicious dinner
and invited a live string band to sprinkle us with a some of
celebratory island tunes. The staff and camp ate and danced the
evening away. It was an awesome send off and really confirmed
that the community was appreciative of our work there. As we
loaded the boat the next morning the kids, elders, and members
of the village gathered at the shore to wave us goodbye. We all
shook hands and set off for the trip home.
Art Team:
The art team was a huge blessing to every village they went to.
It had five extremely talented artists who worked well with one
another and all of the villagers. The focus of their ministry
was painting water tanks. Throughout outreach they painted a
total of five murals! Also, the art team was extremely
relational. They developed a strong relationship with the chief
and pastor of Takara as well as other members of the villages.
Every mural they painted drew a crowd of spectators and really
blessed the community. In Takara, the Lord spoke psalm 42 as a
message to the village. As the group leader put it, “We
really felt that this passage represented the spiritual
environment of the village.” The elders seemed to agree and
were well satisfied with the mural and its meaning. The art team
stayed in Takara three days longer than the rest of the campers
on the North Efate outreach in order to finish work on the newly
refurbished water tank.
The Five then traveled to Nguna where they joined the rest of
their family on the island. They jumped straight into ministry
there and during their time painted a total of three murals. Two
of them were based off of Psalm 117 and were wrapped around two
sides of a water tank. The image was a starry sky and moon, and
centered on the corner of the tank was a blazing sun. The tank
was absolutely gorgeous and the community responded with nothing
but praise.
Port Vila:
The Port Vila team was made up of a select few who felt
comfortable doing ministry through performance. 19 campers in
Total. They were blessed with housing at The Joy Bible
Institute, which is much closer to Port Vila than IDS. From
there they spent a few days learning new dance moves, becoming
unified and enjoying spirit filled worship. They practiced a
drama they had learned along with some traditional island dances
until they had it down and then took it out to the city of Vila.
The first outreach was in the local market in the middle of
town. They performed a mix of all they had learned followed by
preaching the good news and offering prayer for anybody who
wanted it. During this time one person gave their life to the
Lord and many more were prayed for. Over the next few days they
had more performances in the market and hospital and went on
prayer walks through the city.
The most inspiring trip was when they went to the hospital.
After performing and cleaning they decided to sit and visit for
a while. Soon they all developed new relationships with the
patients and got the opportunity to pray with them. Many of the
patients were children who were full of faith and very open to
prayer. One little girl was very sick and her parents didn’t
know when she would be able to come home but after the team
prayed for her she started to show signs of improvement. The
next day the team felt the need to return to the hospital and
continue prayer over the patients. Once again they prayed for
the little girl, and once again they saw improvement. By the
time the team had to go the little girl was doing so much better
that they let her go home early with her parents!
"Although there were tough circumstances, like performing
barefoot on hot concrete God always helped us pull through.”-Jayne
Last but not least,
The Media Team:
We have been so blessed by having the opportunity to visit each
team and be a part of everything they were doing. It was truly
amazing to see how God hand selected and used each person on
each team. We have been staying busy taking photos, videos and
journaling trying to capture all God has done and in turn
recording a ton of great memories. Our team was made up of three
guys and one hard core chick. We had Louis and Ricky as the team
leaders. Louis was our main photographer and Ricky planned our
travels and handled finances. Ryan and Gideon were our
videographers and Mandi was the journalist. Together we prayed,
planned, traveled and worked with the hope that we could give
something back to all those involved with Island Impact ;.(the
campers, staff and all their friends and family) for all they
have done!
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The Media Team Photos |
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