20081230 Our December Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends:

 

It is almost the year 2009 – hard to believe.  We wanted to touch base with you before the new year and tell you about some important things that happened in the month of December. We also wanted to share some of the highlights for the year.

 

We have had the privilege to encourage three young people that are sensing God’s call to be missionaries. One is a single woman and the other is a married couple who pastors one of the Foursquare churches in the area. Their names are Doreen and Pastors John and Margreth (see pictures). These are the first Foursquare PNG nationals that we know of here that are preparing for cross-cultural ministry through missions training and Bible study. Victor was asked to speak at their graduation from missions training and he gave them their certificates during the ceremony. It has been nice to share with them our experiences and what to expect and plan for. We are encouraging them to submit to leadership and open their hearts to the other Foursquare pastors in the area so that they will have prayer coverage and the blessings of all those involved. We are also helping them with other practical matters such as budgeting, helping them with their testimony, and networking.

 

We had a great medical and evangelism outreach earlier this month. We had actually planned to do a medical and evangelism outreach to Feni Island which is on the other (east) side of New Ireland. We were all ready to sail there, but we didn’t have peace and did not feel released by the Holy Spirit to go. As it turns out, a tsunami (the people here call it a “king tide”) wave turned up and flooded the whole region we were planning to go to. Thankfully, the tsunami wave spared our Foursquare Churches in the area. We praise God for His protection and guidance.

 

Our “plan B” this month was to minister at Raniolo village, which is a poor remote settlement in an old plantation here in East New Britain. For the last few months especially, the Kokopo Town Foursquare Church has been ministering to the area which has been plagued with crime and disease for some time now. We gladly obliged when we were asked to minister there. People from all over Papua New Guinea live there – most of them used to work the plantation and after it closed down they continued to live there. One lady who gave her heart to Jesus during an earlier Kokopo Town outreach was persecuted there for becoming a Christian. Her husband was so displeased that he took all her clothes and burned them so she “couldn’t go to church.” The ladies of Kokopo church lovingly responded by providing her with clothing and she continues to follow Jesus.

 

Most of the Kokopo Town Foursquare Church were present with us for the outreach and we began in the usual way with worship, a Gospel message, and prayer. Joanne, a PNG nurse from the local “haus-sik” (hospital) who regularly comes with us on the outreaches, joined us again and did HIV/AIDS Awareness teaching. Together with Victor, Joanne saw over 300 patients. Alex and I ran the pharmacy (see pictures). Many people were quite ill. Two babies in particular still stand out in my mind. One was so dehydrated that she no longer teared when she cried and she was barely wetting her diaper.  She was malnourished and honestly dying.  We had the pastors and women of the church gather round her and lay hands on her and pray for healing.  We gave rehydration medicine and vitamins and pleaded with the Momma to take her to the hospital.  It was difficult to go on to the next person as you just wanted to weep.

 

We had obtained a bale of used clothing from Australia from a Australian friend of ours and we were able to bring the children’s clothes to the outreach and the women of the church handed them all out. The teenagers from the church used the last of the colorful beads we had to make little bracelets for the children. We also had water containers to distribute and the kids had fun blowing the bubbles we gave them. There isn’t any water in the area and many children are covered from head to toe with a thick white skin fungus that is difficult to get rid of. We gave out 1000 tablets for fungal infections. Thinking back over all the outreaches we have had this last year- this area had the most children with skin fungus that we have seen.  One young girl who was 19 years old had “elephantitis” (that is what the people here call it) of her left leg (see picture for those interested in medical conditions). This tropical disease is from a mosquito bite that spreads a parasite which attacks the lymph nodes and blood vessels and is also very painful and difficult to cure. Joanne and Victor and Alex and I and the Kokopo Town church “mommas” prayed over this young girl for her healing.  It was so nice to have strong support from the “mommas” this time – some of them even dressed sores for some time. What we sensed was a real ownership of the outreach by the Town Church – just the way it was supposed to be.

 

With the end of the year 2008 at hand, we now review some of the highlights of the ministry here in the PNG islands region:

 

·         We had 10 monthly medical/ evangelistic outreaches.  Two new churches have started in two very remote areas after a couple of outreaches and they are continuing to grow and mature.  There is another fellowship that is growing and may very well be a new church plant soon.

·         We continue to see God heal people in the ministry on a regular basis.  He has shown Himself strong as Healer in our own lives as well. Just a week ago, I ( Lori) was in great pain in my right side that made me huddle on the floor but after Victor and I prayed (I admit to begging a little) for wisdom God showed us what to do and within 24 hours I was alright.  This is a serious concern as we would have had to fly to Australia for surgery if God hadn’t intervened.

·         We have especially seen God as Reconciler this year. He has used us to bring about reconciliation throughout the PNG Islands Foursquare Church. God has helped us to counsel marriages and bring many people together that had previously been on bad terms and at odds with one another. This is an ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit here and doors continue to open for us to minister in this area.

·         We continue to do Leadership Training for the pastors. Victor uses his Seminary training quite a bit in this area and will even do PowerPoint presentations using a generator. The sessions are well attended and received. We also continue to work with key leaders here in the area especially in the area of vision planning, goal-setting, and all kinds of administration. We are also advisors to the PNG Island Bible School Board here. All key Foursquare national, regional, provincial, district, and local-level people now understand the Bible School vision and there has been much better dialog between all involved . The new Foursquare Regional Supervisor here has taken charge of the vision and is working closely with the National Executive Committee (NEC) who has committed to sending us a Principal so that the Bible School can formally open in February 2010.

·         We continue to see God as Protector and Guide. He kept us out of harm’s way many times and this included protecting us from a tsunami wave. God also protected Alex and I as we were walking along the beach a few months ago. A young man approached us and pointed a 45 cal handgun towards us. Thankfully, a homeless dog that had been following us ran between the man and us and this sacred off the man. Many times the Holy Spirit will whisper to me and guide me to make a cake for someone who is sure to be stopping by the house, and sure enough the person stops by the house and we have a sweet time of fellowship. The Lord often makes a way for us to see key people at key times even though we have had difficulty contacting them previously.

 

Well, these are just a few of the examples of how faithful God has been to us day to day. We also know how critical your faithfulness has been as well. We thank you for your financial and prayer support, even in the midst of all that is going on in the world now. Please pray that God will give us wisdom for the coming new year. We have some important decisions to make. Thank you for the love and concern that you show for your for Brothers and Sisters in Christ here especially - you may not meet them here on earth but you will be sure to dine with them in heaven when we have Supper with Jesus before long.

 

Happy New Year and may God abundantly bless you in the year 2010.

 

Blessings,

 

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

    Attempt Great Things For God.

         Expect Great Things From God.

                 William Carey

20081121 Our November Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends,

 

What a busy time this has been.  One of the highlights this past month was ministering with the Northwest Church team in the Duke of York Islands region here in Papua New Guinea. We sailed in our own banana boat from Kokopo Town to Mioko Island which is a small island in the region. As usual, we combined our daytime medical outreaches with evening evangelism services. The pastors here were very encouraged with the response at the outreach. We must acknowledge the four people that came as a team from our sending church in the U.S. – Mary Schell, Becca Schell, Desiree White, and Kile Rury (see pictures). They were such troopers and together we endured many “third-world” hardships including intense tropical heat, lack of electricity, invasion of geckoes, rats, pit toilets, outside showers,  swollen limbs, and lack of sleep to name a few.  There was a strong sense of spiritual opposition and darkness when we were there and one couldn’t help but notice the hopelessness in the people’s faces. We thank God that we could bring the light of the Gospel and hope to them. Our best estimate and our statistics show that we saw over 700 people in the two days that we were there. Our PNG nurses had the opportunity to do HIV/AIDS awareness teaching and general hygiene and dental hygiene teaching. We have heard many good things since leaving the Duke of York Islands. There were many same day healings from malaria, musculoskeletal pain, and upper respiratory infections, just to name a few.

 

As noted above, the small island in the Duke of York island region where we ministered is called Mioko Island.  When we moved from the village into town earlier this year we did so primarily because we needed a dependable water source.  We sensed that God was really clear about where we were supposed to live, so we moved there. The PNG caretakers of the place where we now live are our neighbors.  They are Benjamin and Joanna and their four children. Whenever we have extra food, God will often direct us to go give it to this family.  As it turns out, this family originally came from Mioko Island. And when we went as a team to Mioko, we discovered that it was Joanna’s uncle’s house that we stayed in. And so, God provided a bridge of love for us to the island through this family.

 

The Duke of York islands are a very dark area spiritually and many practice a syncretistic mix of witchcraft along with some nominal Christian religious practices. Our medical and evangelism outreach was the first time that a Pentecostal church was allowed to come into the region. During the time we were at the outreach, we noticed that there were two funeral services held. One was for a young child and the other for an old man. Our pastors took the opportunity to visit the mourning families and present the Gospel to them in a loving and caring way.  Traditionally, those that are in mourning couldn’t come to the evangelism outreach so God opened a way for them to be ministered to in a very personal way.  Only God could orchestrate something so meaningful as this in their culture. When our banana boat left Mioko after the outreach, we sensed the pleasure of God as we encountered several pods of dolphins on the way back.  

 

In addition to the medical outreach, the U.S. team also ministered with us in several other venues – a two-day women’s meeting, a youth service, a men’s prayer service, and a water baptism service. At the water baptism service , the team for Northwest Church participated in the service where over 100 people were baptized.  It was a special time for us as Alex had asked us to baptize him. Pastor Labette, one of the pioneering pastors in the area, brought Alex out to the ocean to be baptized and he witnessed his confession of faith (see picture).

 

Alex recently broke his left arm. He was playing at the beach jumping from one log to the other and fell. We splinted and iced down the arm right away but it was obviously broken and so the next day we went to the “haus sik” (hospital). Thankfully, there was power and water and we were able to confirm the “greenstick” fracture by X-Ray. Before we could view the X-Ray, though, the film had to be hung outside on a bush behind the hospital to dry. Alex is now sporting a heavy plaster cast. He is doing well now, but suffers because of the heat and itching underneath the cast (see picture).

 

We send out a big thank you to all who sent us cards, soaps, candy, Costco’s “trailmix”, and all the wonderful things that arrived along with the team from Northwest Church.  It was amazing how much the team could bring besides the medical supplies we needed. It was overwhelming to be given so much. 

 

Victor and I continue to be involved in reconciliation work both between villages and within marriages.  This has been an unexpected ministry.  Anyone who knows  our  personal and marriage history would be as amazed at this as we are.  But God is clear that in our weakness He can shine out and be strong if we will do what He wants.  We are very dependent on the Holy Spirit.  Just yesterday, we returned from an hour trip into the bush to talk and pray with the Pastors and leaders of a remote church along with our Provincial Foursquare Pastor.  It is very humbling to be in a hard packed dirt floored bush church that doesn’t have electricity or running water - the thin walls of the building are made of peeled bamboo strips - holding hands with the Pastor and leaders as they repent and ask for God’s wisdom and help.

 

We realize that there is a lot going on in the states.  Markets are doing all sorts of things and people have lost jobs and homes.  We thank you so much for being faithful in your prayers and giving in the midst of all of this. Please know that we are praying for you and your families. We wanted to encourage you that your support does indeed go towards real people with real stories. One Pastor that we have been encouraging and teaching is Pastor Willy (see picture). He is full of the Holy Spirit and has been pastoring a new church plant that arose out of one of our medical and evangelism outreaches. His church started with two elderly women.  Then, at our outreach many people responded to the Gospel including many children. As a result, Pastor Willy has over 50 children in Sunday school.  Pastor Willy recently asked God to help him fill a need in his community. The Lord showed him that he was to begin digging pit toilets (these are deep wide holes in the ground that take a lot of manual labor in the heat here) for his community. The people have been so touched that he would do this for them. He has dug over twenty pit toilets so far, and so people frequently ask him, “Why do you continue to you do this?” and he replies, “I want you to know how much Jesus loves you.” God has a unique calling for this young man who loves the Lord very much.  Please pray for him. He is ready and willing to go to Bible School. In fact, he was accepted to business school but instead chose to follow his call to full-time ministry. He is also young and single who wants to be married and so please pray for a godly wife. Pray also that the Lord will give him a deeper understanding of how to live out his faith before people who tend to dismiss him due to his young age.  This is just one of the personal stories here that you are a part of. Thank you for letting us represent you.

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

 

Blessings,

 

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

    Attempt Great Things For God.

         Expect Great Things From God.

                 William Carey

20081017 Our October Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Greetings from our home in East New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

 

We have been quite busy since writing to you last.  We are very excited and are looking forward to seeing the Northwest Church team on the 23^rd of this month. Victor and the East New Britain Foursquare Church Provincial Supervisor went to the Duke of York islands to do a “community entry” visit and to establish relationships with the government and church community there. We will be holding a combined medical and evangelism outreach from October 27^th -29^th. HIV/AIDS awareness will be given by our national medical health officers at the medical outreach. We will be seeing patients during the day and our partner evangelism and worship team will be holding services at night. This was also our first time on the new banana boat and we are glad to say that the boat and motor and trailer tested very well (see picture).

 

We will also be holding a two-day women’s meeting (bung) and Kile Rury and Victor and Alex will be ministering to the men and youth in the area. There will also be a “combined” service on Sunday where a local church extension will be dedicated. Later on Sunday afternoon, we will head to the beach for a water baptism service. There will even be time for the team to meet with Pastor Lydia, the late Jonah Horis’ wife.

 

The Lord has also opened up some opportunities for us to play a role in reconciliation in the area. Our Provincial Supervisor could not attend a recent reconciliation meeting between the Provincial Government and Council of Churches, so Victor stood in and represented the East New Britain Foursquare Church. Until now, there has been a divide between the government and the church in the area mainly because there has been a lack of transparency and accountability. The governor was present as were all members from the Council of Churches. The Holy Spirit worked powerfully and mightily at the meeting and new relationships were established and there were several breakthroughs with repentance and reconciliation.

 

We continue to teach Leadership Training classes. We just finished a series on the Psalms and are now going through foundational teachings on The New Birth, Holy Spirit Baptism, Giving Generously, and Serving God (to name a few)– we draw from Pastor Steve Schell’s teaching on these topics quite a bit. The pastors really enjoy these teachings and pass them on to their congregations right away.

 

The Lord has also given us a preaching and a prayer ministry. Victor continues to regularly preach and Lori meets with pastor’s wives on a regular basis to pray. Alexander is doing well with his homeschooling and is growing in the Lord quite a bit (see picture). He caught a huge mackerel on an outreach a while back and is looking forward to fishing on the way (and on the way back) to the Duke of York islands.

 

We believe that this is a good time to let you know that our support has not come in fully the last two months, and we would like you to know that we really do need the additional funds. We do want you to know that we are aware of how the U.S. and global economy is coming along. We have been praying for our supporters and for your families very much. We will trust the Lord with you for all that you need. So, at this time, we would like for you to prayerfully consider your financial support and kindly let us know if you would be able to stay with your current gifts. We do believe that we are still supposed to be here and there has been much fruit in the ministry – churches have been planted (see picture for the new Rieit village church plant), there have been healed and changed lives, and there has been a deeper level transformation in the churches.

 

The last picture is a picture of a PNG wedding ceremony- very beautiful (see picture). Pastor Francisca, a pastor from the Bilada Village Foursquare Church married a man named Polycarp who will be attending the Bible School here. We thank you so much for your support. It is an honor to serve alongside you here in the island region of Papua New Guinea. Please continue to pray for us.

 

 

Blessings,

 

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

    Attempt Great Things For God.

         Expect Great Things From God.

                 William Carey

20080903 Our August Newsletter

Dear family and friends:

 

What a month.  We continue to meet new friends (see picture).  Victor continues to preach and teach (see picture).  Alex continues to be Alex which is a wonderful thing (see picture).

 

Unexpected things always happen. An example of this is last night about 9pm we heard a knock on our door.  A bush family we know brought their 12 year old son Jonathan to our house. Two hours earlier, he had been sitting in his house when a large sharp rock  flew in through the open widow and hit him on his upper abdomen.  He was in obvious fear, distress, and pain. The Momma and Papa, who speak little English or even Pidgin were very upset.  They also had a younger son in tow who had a raging eye infection in both eyes and couldn’t stop rubbing them.  So, we all sat down and between simple English, Pidgin and their own tok ples (village language) we got the whole story straight. Victor did a physical exam to rule out internal hemorrhaging and a spleen check.  Then, we  laid hands on both sons and prayed for God to completely heal them and remove any fear.  Within a few minutes the whole atmosphere of the room had changed.  Where there was fear – now it was peaceful. Jonathan and his parents visibly relaxed their muscles and started breathing normally.  After a small snack, we gave the boys their medicine and Momma and the family shook our hands and  looked into our eyes  with quiet smiles and thanked us.  Their return trip home was about 6 miles away.  Outside as they left, a tropical bird was singing in the darkness. 

 

A couple weeks ago we went to a Foursquare Service just outside of Rabaul Town that was a combination of two churches that serve people behind the gray curtain of the volcano ash.  They can’t garden or secure water because of the heavy ash fall so we brought a small amount of fresh water for the family. The Pastor said that the water  would last a month for his family of 5 – that’s right, a month.  Our family of 3 would be through that in 2-3 days.  I couldn’t believe it.  The tin sheets on the roof of the church, which were brand new a year ago, were corroded and rusted and had huge holes in them from the sulfur and ash fall. I shared a little on going after God with all your heart and Victor preached on Psalm 1.  Then a large number of people came forward and we prayed over them.  I am humbled by the difficulties these pastors and leaders go through  - how they worship and praise God.  If you could just see what it is like.  All the vegetation is just covered (see picture) with a veil of gray ash and is burning and dying.  We had to use our windshield wipers just to be able to see the road as the ash falls like snow and the road is only wheel marks of gray.

 

Due to  Pastor Jonah’s recent death a new Regional Foursquare Supervisor has been appointed and a large regional Pastor’s/Leader’s weeklong conference was held here in Kokopo (see the picture of our pastors).  The new Kokopo Town church was officially dedicated.  So in between meetings and teachings are the important “informal” meetings where you “story” and develop relationships.  We had many meetings with Pastors from all over the islands area. All the pastors here have heard about the medical/evangelistic outreaches we do and want to arrange a time for us to come and stay in their area.  We had some very sweet meetings with many of the Pastors and we were able to do medical exams on them and pray over them.  It was very powerful.  I think it encouraged us as much as it did them. It seems that we are being woven closer to the Pastors and their families. We are very thankful for your prayers in this area.

 

Finally, we just received word that our sending church has financed a boat, motor, and trailer for us. We and the pastors are very thankful for Northwest Church’s generous giving. We are looking forward to using the boat right away. We are already planning outreaches to Feni Island (which is on the other [east] side of New Ireland) and the Duke of York Islands in the very near future. We will also use the boat to do community entry visits before our outreaches and do the all-important follow-up visits after the outreaches as well.

 

Please pray for our continued protection here as we often sail long distances for our outreaches. Please pray also for the upcoming Northwest Church team visit in October. We recently found out that the team applied for medication and supplies and received a positive response. As a result, they will be bringing us many medications and supplies on the trip. We believe that the Lord is already anointing the team for this visit – in a mighty way like only He can.

 

 

Blessings,

 

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

    Attempt Great Things For God.

         Expect Great Things From God.

                 William Carey

20080723 Our July Newsletter

Moning olgeta (Tok Pisin for “good morning everyone”);

 

We just completed a three day medical/evangelism outreach to Riete in the central Gazelle peninsula here in East New Britain. It was great but exhausting.  This outreach came about because one of the elders of Riete had come to an outreach last March to receive medicine. He was prayed for and miraculously healed.  He then went back to Riete and kept asking if we would come to his area.  The pastors here also wanted to do an outreach there because there is no Foursquare Church there. Several of our pastors have envisioned a Foursquare church plant in the area for some time now. There are two other churches in the area, but sound doctrine is not preached in these churches. One church, for example, teaches that there is no Trinity and only the Holy Spirit.

 

The nice thing about the outreach was that we could get there by land vehicle and it only took 1 ½ hours to get there. It was a real blessing to be able to come home each night to sleep in our own beds.  Alex has been sick this last week so we were able to have him rest at home and yet check in on him over our two way radios.  He is thinner and paler but growing stronger now each day.  There were real spiritual battles before this outreach.  Alex was ill and there was an “out of the blue” infestation of mice in our house. There were also odd things like our bedroom door latch breaking right after we showered so we couldn’t get into the room to sleep. We really cannot express our thanks for those who supported us in prayer.

 

On the medical outreach, we worked well into the night and gave two full days of medical care seeing 615 patients (see picture). In the evening, we had evangelism services where the speaker is under a small makeshift tin roof in case it rains. The rest of the people sit in groups on the ground under the open sky.  Huge fruit bats (a.k.a. “flying foxes”) dive overhead and the stage is dimly lit by a couple of fluorescent lights that are powered by a small generator that we bring with us.

 

On the second evangelism night, 8 people gave their hearts to Jesus and on the last night 48 people came forward to receive Christ. One of them was “councilor” Justin, the local level government official of the Riete village.  Throughout the outreach, the councilor expressed his interest that a Foursquare Church be built in the area. Pastor John Uralai, our Foursquare church pastor closest to Riete, will assure that all those who received Christ will get proper follow-up, including an opportunity for water baptism and discipleship. Pastor John will also be working with the local church and government community in Riete to plant a Foursquare church there before long.

 

Two health officers from the local hospital (Vonopope) also staffed the outreach and held a back pain in-service (see picture). Two Foursquare PNG youth leaders manned the wound care station and one of the Pastors was our Pharmacy assistant  (we gave out over 1,000 small plastic bags with medicine in them).  Then two other PNG pastors helped with the village language (tok ples), calling out numbers and weights.  You should have seen the people get excited over receiving used glasses.  We had one pair of very thick used prescription glasses that no one previously could use. So, before we left the house I asked God to find the right person for these glasses. Then at the outreach, Victor saw a lady complaining of her vision and when she tried those glasses on her face light up with a shy smile and she just kept bubbling on about how she could “see now.” It really was wonderful (see picture). 

 

Here are our prayer requests;

·         Continued protection - physically, emotionally and spiritually.

·         Godly wisdom, open doors and discernment.

·         The August outreach to Duke of York island.

·         The September outreach to Open Bay.

·         The team from NWC that is coming in October – unity, divine appointments and fruitfulness.

·         Continued favor with the government, medical, and church community here (we are now receiving a small monthly contribution from the East New Britain Community Development Office here to do medical and evangelism outreaches). Please pray that the Provincial Health Department will soon allow us to secure medications and childhood immunizations through the Provincial Area Medical Store in Rabaul.

·         Please remember our oldest son, Nathan, who lives in the Seattle area.

·         Please pray for the Bible School and our Leadership Training classes.

·         Please pray for signs and wonders to confirm God’s word and attract hearers to the Gospel.

·         Please pray for Lydia, the wife of the late Regional Supervisor Pastor Jonah Horis, and her family as they are grieving.

 

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. It is an honor to partner with you here in the Papua New Guinea Islands.

 

 

Blessings,

 

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

    Attempt Great Things For God.

         Expect Great Things From God.

                 William Carey