20080624 Tuesday Our June Newsletter!

Dear Family and Friends,

It is another scorching hot day – good for the drying of laundry but taxing for the humans. The smoking volcano in Rabaul has shifted with the change of the winds so that has been a relief. We still have jolting earthquakes when we are in Kokopo but we can breathe!

As part of Alex’s school we have been studying the ocean and animal of the sea. We have seen animals with feathers for mouth pieces, starfish that look like cookies to be eaten, and an octopus hunting for lunch. God has been displaying his creation and protecting us from hidden dangers. We are grateful.

Victor has been busy presenting the most recent medical/evangelistic outreach via slideshow to the different Foursquare churches each Sunday and preaching. We take a small generator with us so we can share what God is doing with the people even in the remote local jungle churches. The people really respond to the slides as they are well done and move smoothly via computer along with worship music. There is laughter and excitement as they point out friends and pastors they know that are in the pictures. Victor also just completed teaching the pastors and continues to work with the Bible school board as they are finished with the bathrooms and now are working on building dormitories and preparing logistics.

I have been busy with people coming for prayer. This just sort of happened. I used to pray with one of the Americans that lived and worked at SIL but after she moved I started praying weekly with one of the PNG lady Pastors here and it has just kind of expanded from there. Now, it is a surprise who “happens” to show up. Last week a young mother with her two children dropped by and so we just included her in our prayer time and it was very powerful. I think it was a divine appointment.

I was able to visit a new mother at the hospital to pray with her as her little baby was born early and wasn’t doing well. The baby was so ill she was almost unresponsive. The mother was hanging on to God to heal her little girl. So I agreed with her in prayer and we asked God for a miracle. God healed this little one and she is small but alert and growing. The mom named her Aimee after Aimee Semple McPherson, the founder of the Foursquare movement, because she believes that God saved her to become a woman of faith. This is a small example of the stories of the way God touches lives here in PNG because of your prayers and support. You have a part in this. Isn’t it great?

Most of our work this past month has been administrative for the medical ministry and the Bible School. We have medical outreaches scheduled for the next four months and we continue to be active in Leadership Training. Please pray for our upcoming medical outreaches, especially, in July, August, and September.

On a sad note, our Regional Supervisor Pastor Jonah Horis passed away a few days ago. He had a stroke about a week ago after a long battle with malaria. We worked closely with him and he was our friend. Pastor Jonah was always so kind to Alexander and he was going to teach us how to fish in the ocean with just a line like all the local PNG people do. We will miss him a lot. Please pray for his wife Lydia and their nine children.

Blessings,

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon
Attempt Great Things For God.
Expect Great Things From God.
William Carey

20080624 Tuesday Our May Newsletter!

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello. This month has really flown by hasn’t it? We have been in PNG for a year now. I think sometimes that I understand the culture less now than when we first came. It is very complex. Our relationships are growing deeper with the people and with weekly prayer with leaders we are beginning to see real movement forward. God is alive and working here.

Thank you to all of you that participated in the prayer time at NWC for PNG and medical outreaches. We are seeing some fruit despite some heavy spiritual opposition.

As many of you know, our original plan this month was to go 100 miles via banana boat on the open ocean to a place in remote East New Britain called Open Bay. But we were unable to do this twice due to stormy seas and boat operators who never showed up. So, we went to God and asked Him what He wanted us to do. Was He protecting us? Preventing us? Or, were we to press on and not give up? The answer came as a couple of Pastors from an area called Lassul Bay (which is halfway to Open Bay) approached Victor and told him that they felt we should go to Lassul first as it is a hub on the North Coast for many remote areas. The plan would be to do an outreach and establish relationships and network with the people in Lassul. Then, later on in the year, the health workers in Lassul could go with us to the even more remote Open Bay. This plan resonated with Victor and I and was later confirmed through another believer that didn’t even know what we had been praying about.

So, we headed for Lassul Bay. The pastors asked us if they could accompany the medical team with an evangelism team and we replied yes! First, we had to drive to the North Coast and then board two boats and sail to Lassul. After a bumpy ash filled truck ride through Rabaul, the driver had to use his windshield wipers just to clear the black ash from the windshield. We then unloaded all of our equipment and supplies and climbed into the banana boats. Then, after sailing for a couple of hours, we crossed a large bay and went around the point to the “hub” of Lassul Bay.

We were in Lassul Bay North Baining for four days May 1^st-4th. In addition to the daily medical outreaches, evening evangelism services were held. This was the most difficult area we have been in. It is the land of the firewalkers. As part of the traditional beliefs, the people invite spirits to possess them and then walk through fire. There were a few people that would follow us from a distance and stand behind trees or thatched buildings always watching and staring. They would not respond to smiles, waves, or the greetings we would call out to them. But, we just called out to them anyway and smiled at them. It was if there was a covering over the people which seemed to make them resistant to the gospel.

Our trip was a ground breaking of sorts in which the ground was plowed and the people softened more and more each day. The Pastors and worship team we brought with us really jumped in and helped with wound care, intercession, and translating when needed during the medical outreach. Each day, the pastors opened the clinic with worship and preached the gospel. It really was a team effort. The Pastors are really taking ownership of the ministry now. Only Victor saw patients as I helped in the pharmacy with Alex. We also worked with three local community health workers who took the history from people before they saw Victor. There was even a PNG Medical Doctor Health Educator from the area who helped us with logistics at the outreach (see attached pictures). He also did a talk on TB and malaria for the people during the outreach. Victor even helped manage a mother in labor and deliver at the old condemned Haus Sik. Both mom and baby did fine.

All in all, we saw 370 patients over two days. We really had an opportunity to talk and pray with them. Victor and I want to see God do whatever He wants and we are praying for miracles. We prayed for deafness, blindness, chronic back pains, huge tropical sores that won’t heal, infertility, and a clear case of mouth cancer. One man refused to let me pray for him and was afraid to let me touch him, so I shook his hand. Iam praying for him whenever I think of him. One man with hearing loss was even fitted with a hearing aid at the outreach (see attached picture),

One of the team members had a dream of black funnel clouds that kept multiplying. The clouds were following us and trying to shower debris down on us but God protected all of us from any harm. So THANK you very much for praying for us and this outreach. I believe that God did protect us on all sides and that we may never know all that was happening in the spiritual realm around us. Like David in Psalm 61, we have the assurance of God’s eternal protection.

On the administrative front, we do have exciting news. God is helping us. We had a government official come to us and ask for Victor’s more recent diagnosis and medication/supply statistics on the outreaches. We were also given the final paper work for us to submit before we could begin ordering medications and supplies from the Local Area Medical Store in Rabaul. This is a huge step. We had submitted a formal proposal for the Medical Ministry some time ago and now, government officials are coming to us. Thank you so much for your prayers in this area.

Finally, we were sad to say goodbye to the last of our American friends here who managed the SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) in Kokopo. They attended the Kokopo Town Foursquare Church and so we opened our house for the church to come and do a traditional Tolai goodbye and feast. Children and adults were upstairs and downstairs and inside and out. Eating on the floor, giving traditional gifts, and lovingly saying how much they loved them were all highlights. We all cried. They physically left the same day we left for our 4 day medical/evangelistic outreach to Lassul Bay.

Anyway, that is all for now. Thanks again for your support and prayers. We love being here and serving for God’s glory. We couldn’t do this without you.

Blessings,

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

Attempt Great Things For God.

Expect Great Things From God.

William Carey