Greetings from New Zealand.
We are back on NZ soil, although the ship, floating in Tauranga harbour is still our home for now.
We departed New Zealand for the remote areas of the Pacific in April and returned in late August.
The past five months have literally sailed by (no pun intended), as we have facilitated five different groups on their mission outreach adventures in Fiji, Rotuma and Western Samoa.
As directors of the ship, Mike and Jeannie oversee all the teams and the outworking of Marine Reach’s vision as conducted from the ship to bring medical relief in various forms to the remote areas of these South Pacific island nations.
The outreach destinations were to the Lau group of island in Fiji, and the island of
Rotuma (a part of Fiji, however, very far removed from the ‘mainland’ of Fiji). The people of Rotuma have their own language separate from Fiji and as well are much more Polynesian than are the Fijian people.
We also travelled to Western Samoa for two outreaches over a six week period. It has been fourteen years since Marine Reach was last in Samoa.
Our medical staffs were comprised of medical coordinators who are full time with Marine Reach, as well as medical personnel who join us from various locations for two week commitments.
Medical professionals include doctors, nurses, wound care specialists, physical therapists,
Optometrists, ophthalmologists, dentists and dental hygienists. Many days our medical
procedures were routine, while other days were life changing…even life saving, as critical situations were found that if left untreated would have led to a funeral for the
family.
Check our website for stories from 2008 Outreaches
http://mearsfamily-pacific.blogspot.com
or http://www.marinereach.com
• Read the story of the triplets, and the subsequent saving of the mother’s life, the day our ship arrived unannounced into Cicia Island, Fiji.
• Read about Joshua Timo, who suffers with a rare facial skin cancer - immune system failure
• Read about the blind man who received his sight when one of our evangelism team members prayed for him in his home.
Personal Highlights:
For me, Jeannie, one highlight would be the 19year old girl named Lemaru from Rotuma.
Lemaru is a beautiful young girl the same age as our Havalah. Lemaru has had Cerebral Palsy since childhood and is confined to a wheelchair. She cannot speak, but can communicate with her mother. She has a beautiful smile, loves her dogs, who guard her vigilantly. She loves to have people read to her.
We met her and her mother, Teriko, when we came to help do repairs on their home. No one in the village would come to help this single mom with some necessary house repairs because months earlier a brother in law had come to assist, but stepped on a rotten roof rafter which broke. He fell off the roof onto a pile of cement blocks and died two days later from the injuries.
Villagers thought that the house and family were cursed. As a result no one would come to assist.
Mike led a small team of guys from the ship in building a veranda roof so Lemaru now has a shady, airy place to sit on the long hot Rotuma days. Other repairs were done to their home as well. We had time as well to visit and pray with their family, share morning tea and give the family a bible in the Rotuman language.
Medically there was nothing significant we could do to help Lemaru, but we could share the love of God and encourage them on in Christ.
While we were working on the veranda an estranged relative who had quite a long running dispute with Teriko saw our example of serving and came to assist us, as well as settling his disagreement with Teriko.
Jesus gave Christians the “Ministry of Reconciliation”, so it was exciting to see people reconciled to God, but as well to be reconciled to one another.
For Mike there are so many highlights as well. On the outreaches we looked for opportunities to minister to, “…widows and orphans in their distress…” Jeannie’s story about Teriko was one such story.
On our travels on Lakeba island, we came across an old man named Vula. Vula had been a missionary & church planter in the Fiji islands for many, many years and was now a frail, bed-ridden old man.
He owned very little, in fact the house he lived in belonged to a relative who had moved to the mainland in search of work.
We were going to paint his house and do some work on the yard etc., but since he was bed-ridden he would never see the outside of the house, so we decided to paint the inside of his one room home.
We spent eight hours cleaning up the walls, removing spider webs and ant mud nests and painting the exposed frame walls and the inside of the corrugated iron siding.
Due to his physical condition, Vula had not been able to be at church in several years. So, on Sunday afternoon we set aside an hour to bring church to him...honouring this man of God.
Many from the Marine Reach team joined with a handful of locals with guitars in hand to have church in this humble home.
We worshiped together, shared scriptures, prayer and communion with Vula.
Vula added to the service on several occasions, quoting his favourite scriptures in both Fijian and English. For communion he struggled and sat up on the edge of his bed to receive the elements.
The presence of the Lord was so thick in the room…it was truly amazing. In fact I heard the Lord say to me that at that moment all of heaven had stopped to watch as this ‘saint’ was honoured. [I don’t say that last statement flippantly…I really believe that that was the case]
We left some timber and corrugated iron with some of the local villagers to shore up Vula’s stairs and to build a wall around Vula’s outdoor shower and toilet. In fact several in the village caught the vision for what we were doing and promised to continue looking after the widows, orphans and elderly after we left.
An older family photo
M/V Pacific Link tied up to the wharf/jetty on Cicia Island, Fiji May 2008
Jeannie, Josiah and Mike will be flying to the USA October 2, 2008. We will be visiting with friends and family travelling from New Zealand through Los Angeles to: Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, Michigan?, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts and in Phoenix on our way back to New Zealand for Christmas. It will be a busy time but we are looking forward to seeing everyone and sharing some of the stories from the past few years of ministry in the Pacific Rim.
We are available to share at churches, homegroups, gatherings of mission minded people. Some of our dates are booked already, so if you would be interested in having us get in quickly.
Thanks everyone for your friendship and for partnering with us to reach the peoples of the S. Pacific. We couldn’t do this without your partnership. We love you all and look forward to seeing as many of you as we can.
Blessings in Jesus Name.
Mike & Jeannie Mears & Family
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