The Obregons - Foursquare Missionaries to Papua New Guinea

20101126 Our November Newsletter

2010-12-01T09:51:00.000-08:00

Dear family and friends,

As most of you already know we are back in the United States now. After arriving in the U.S. on November 13, we spent our first week back in Los Angeles debriefing with our missions agency Foursquare Missions International. During our second week back in the U.S., we attended the Autumn Leadership Conference at the Church on the Way in Van Nuys, CA. We finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest on November 13.

Before leaving the island region of Papua New Guinea, we had an emotional journey saying goodbye to the people we love. During that time of transition, we also completely handed over the three and a half year old medical and evangelism ministry to the local Foursquare PNG leadership. We recently heard that our main nurse Jennifer Matkale (see picture) and the rest of the ministry team are stepping out to do their first medical and evangelism outreach to a poor plantation area filled with displaced people on the 29th and 30th of this month. Please pray for unity, discernment, protection, and divine appointments. They need prayer coverage.

Last month, we hosted a visiting team from Northwest Church and had planned to do a medical outreach. After arriving at the medical outreach venue, we learned that there was an active tribal conflict and then a heavy monsoon arrived so we had to cancel the outreach altogether. After praying with the team, we felt directed to spend the time instead inviting specific leaders over to our house to hear their hearts and pray over them. While the team was here, we did participate with them in a children’s program at a very remote small Foursquare church. The team also participated in a youth outreach and even performed worship songs. The team also had an opportunity to speak to the Foursquare women at the Kokopo Town Church.

There were several divine appointments with people during the time that the Northwest Church team was with us in PNG and so, here are some of their stories. Two of the ladies we met with were widows. Their husbands had been Foursquare pastors and now they were struggling to feed and educate their children. When husbands die in PNG, as in other third world countries, their families often don’t have any resources because they already live below the poverty level. Northwest Church provided the funding for each of the widows to receive a sewing machine and supplies. It was so wonderful to be a part of helping entire families. Now the ladies can make clothes for themselves and their children and they can sell extra garments at the local outdoor markets – to pay for food, kerosene and school fees. They all were so very grateful and cried and thanked “Papa God” for providing for them (see picture).

The team also had the opportunity to meet with Doreen Nebif who is a young single PNG lady who has a heart for missions (see picture). She is preparing to go to Syria for 2-3 years to work with Operation Mobilisation. She is full of the Holy Spirit and regularly helps us on the medical outreaches as a pharmacy assistant. When I’ve worked with her in the pharmacy section, she would often gently motion to me that she sensed the Holy Spirit directing her to pray or talk with different people that passed through our line. So, we stopped and pulled that person aside and took time to pray over them and several of them gave their hearts to Jesus or poured out personal pain so we could join them in prayer. These were wonderful God filled appointments! Doreen has endured many trials and she has demonstrated humility in submitting to Pastors in a culture that often overlooks women. We ask you to join us in praying for her as she steps out to serve in the Middle East.

Pastor Willy is a young pastor we have mentioned before. He went to business school and then heard the Gospel message and gave his heart to Jesus. There was a great and urgent need to fill a position in a very remote area and he chose the pastorate over business school. He is the same young man who asked God what he could do to help his community and God directed him to start digging pit toilets. Digging pit toilets in a very hot climate is a daunting task and so people would come by and ask him why he was doing it. He was able to share that God loves them and wants the best for them. This attitude has given him great favor with everyone in his area including non-Christians. Now his heart is to go to Bible school and learn more. He wants to articulate the Gospel more clearly and possibly do even more children’s evangelism.

Our youth outreach consisted of inviting all the teenagers from Kokopo Foursquare district to come for an afternoon of competitive volleyball and then an evening service. The youth in PNG love to play volley ball. After playing, all the teams sit down together and share large vats of ice cream that we bring in from town. They used bits of bamboo and sticks to scoop it up with. Then everyone washes up as it is very hot and tropical and come together for a service at night. We, the Northwest Church team and us, sang two songs – one in Tok Pisin and the other in English – at the evening service and then other churches and groups of people did various dances and songs (see picture).

The next day we went to Wat Wat, a small and more remote village, to support Pastor Lydia and Pastor Willy as they did a children’s outreach. We took a teenager from the Kokopo Town Church named Natasha to help us. The children in Wat Wat were quick to respond to the truth about Jesus who loves them. You can tell they were hungry for God. It was great seeing Pastor Willy preaching. He has a real anointing to work with children (see picture).

The Northwest Church team was really helpful as we began the process of saying good bye. It took some time for the people to process that we were leaving and it took some time for us to process our leaving as well. The temptation is to withdraw your heart so you don’t hurt so much. With the help of God and our friends, though, we tried our best to stay engaged and really said goodbye to the people and let them say goodbye to us. We spent many hours letting people talk and cry and we cried with them. We also prayed for them and let them pray for us.

The day before we actually left there was a combined farewell church service for us that lasted 6 hours. During the service, Victor preached on the Great Commission and then he prayed out two Bible School students. All the Pastors and congregations we had worked with from all of the 18 churches in the East New Britain Foursquare Province came to say goodbye. There were many “items” - the so-called presentation of items in the service - of good bye songs, songs about the Rapture, and traditional songs changed to reflect the transformation of Jesus in their lives yet done in traditional garb with homemade bamboo instruments and dancing. Arms and legs of dancers had special leaves on them and feathers. In PNG, you say goodbye privately but also publically as they are tribal people. So, we would be called up and each church presented gifts to us and they acknowledged the church plants that grew out of the medical and evangelism outreaches. Then they would hug us and wail and cry. We ran out of tears at the end. After the service, we shared in a pig that had been cooked and we all sat down to eat together. People came to the airport to see us off and called us by phone for even a few days after we left just to tell us that they loved us and would miss us. Very gut wrenching (see picture).

Since coming back to the U.S., the most natural and common question we hear now is “What are you going to do now?” We want to do what God has for us. He has told us that He has another assignment for us and so we are praying and listening. We are re-entering the American culture and we have been radically changed from our time in PNG. We have been privileged to learn and work with the Holy Spirit and we have witnessed God’s faithfulness and constant provision along the way despite hardships. Also, we know that none of this could have happened without all of you who prayed for us and supported us. Anything that we have done for Christ, we have done it together with all of you. THANK YOU for letting us be your hands extended. Thank you too for your continued support.

Here are our prayer requests:

Please pray for the upcoming medical and evangelism outreach on November 29-30. It is the first outreach without us for the national team.
Please pray for the remaining 2010 and the 2011 schedule of medical/evangelism outreaches. Kindly pray for unity, Godly wisdom, and signs and wonders to confirm the Gospel message especially.
Please pray for continued discipleship and growth in the church in PNG island region and boldness to live the life of a disciple.
Please pray for re-entry for Victor, Alex and I and our relationships here as we catch up with those we haven’t had much contact with in the last 3 1/2 years.
Please for wisdom and revelation for us to know God more and hear and obey Him especially as we seek direction for our next step.

Blessings,

Victor and Lori and Alexander Obregon

Expect Great things from God

Attempt Great Things for God

William Carey

20100928 Our September Newsletter

2010-11-22T20:07:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been a busier than usual time here since our last newsletter.

The first item to report on is our last medical outreach to Pastor Willie’s village called Gar. We were planning to sail there by our “banana boat” - that is what the people here call our 23 foot fiberglass boat equipped with a 40 h.p. outboard motor – but before our departure we had a check about going by boat and so we drove there instead. The drive took us two and one half hours down the south coast here in East New Britain and we had to ford three rivers. One river was particularly deep at about four feet, but we made it through without incident. As we drove down the coast, the weather took a turn and there were heavy winds with lots of rain. The seas were as about as high as we have see them here with huge swells and big waves, and so God’s protection became evident once again.

All in all, we saw 425 patients during the three day medical outreach (see pictures). The weather wasn't that great and it kept many people from coming. The area is a hard-to-get-to remote area and vehicles hardly ever pass through the region. Nevertheless, there were some divine appointments in store for us. In addition to doing HIV/AIDS and malaria awareness teaching, we took the opportunity to evaluate twelve inpatients at the local aid post. The aid post was severely understaffed and there was not much to offer patients in terms of healthcare, so I (Victor) did “haus-sik” (hospital) rounds on each patient and made several suggestions for treatment. There was one youth “meri” (girl) who had an issue with bleeding and she was in shock and quite unstable with advance anemia so we aggressively treated her. Even though we started two intravenous lines, pushed fluids, and gave her several medications it was evident that she was not improving. So, I asked her if another pastor and I could pray for her and she agreed. We then we laid hands on her in front of her family and prayed that God would heal her and then provide some kind of transport for her to the Kokopo Town hospital. Almost immediately, her vital signs stabilized and “out of the blue” we found a vehicle already on the way to Town who would transport her. I found out later that she continued to improve at the Town hospital. Thanks so much for your prayers. God truly is a miracle-working God.

We also had the privilege of leading a water baptismal service both at Pastor Willie’s village in Gar last month and in Rabaul Town this month. The Rabaul Town church baptism was especially remarkable. After coming back up from being immersed in water 22 of the 26 people being baptized sensed God’s power and presence like never before. All of them need help getting back to shore at which point most of them spontaneously praised God in song and in prayer in heart-felt worship. It is kind of hard to explain what I am talking about because we are talking about God’s powerful presence and His awesome power, but suffice it to say that that service is something we will always remember (see pictures).

We also had a three day leadership training for pastors and leaders on “giving” (see picture). We had leaders on all levels – national, regional, and provincial – speak at the retreat. I had the privilege to teach on the biblical principles that guide our giving and it touched many who were in attendance. One of the things I shared in my teaching was how I learned to be content and trust God with the money that came our way. Before becoming a Christian, money controlled me so much that I used to hide money all the time. It was a secret life that I had and my little treasures (stores of money) could be found just about anywhere – under the mattress, in the glove box in the car, in the closet, etc. So, if you wanted to know where my heart was, all you had to do was look under the mattress or in the glove box or in the closet to find my treasure. Then, I shared how God showed me through his word (Heb. 13:5, especially) how to be content and trust Him in all money matters. After the teaching, the provincial supervisor told me that he thought that only people in Papua New Guinea hid money. As he spoke, you could tell that he had been especially touched by God through the teaching. He was now content with what he had and he now had had a trust in God with money that he didn't have before.

In addition to working as a nurse here, Lori has continued to be very active in ministry. On Tuesdays, she teaches two ladies how to read and write basic Tok Pisin. She was recently invited to speak at the year-end United Foursquare Women’s (UFW) provincial meeting. She spoke on discipleship. Alexander is doing well in home-school. Last month, we had to mail his 2009 school portfolio to the U.S. and even though the parcel had the wrong address on it, it made it to his advisor.

Family and friends, we are also writing you to let you know that we will be returning to the U.S. on 29 October 2010. About six months ago, we sensed that God was preparing us for some kind of change, but we did not know what that was at first. So, we began to pray and it became clear early on that the work that God had for us here would be completed soon. So, for some time now, we have been in the process of wrapping up things here and are doing our best to “finish well.”

We have already begun to transition the medical ministry to the leaders here. Ps. John Puia, our Provincial Supervisor, wants to continue the medical ministry that we have set up and so we have been working with all involved to bring about a smooth transition. We have been meeting weekly with our main nurse, Jennifer Matkale, and she will continue to staff the medical outreaches and update the medicines and supplies after we are gone. Jennifer now has an e-mail account so she will be able to contact us if she has questions after we leave. We have set up all the necessary relationships and networks – church, government, community, and medical - that are needed to continue the medical ministry. We also have an especially close relationship with the East New Britain Provincial Community Development office and the Governor's office.

The boat which Northwest Church and other donors so generously funded will soon have a canopy frame and canvas and it will stay with the medical ministry here in East New Britain. Now the ministry staff, worship, and medical teams will have some cover from the elements during future outreaches.

There is one last request. We would like for you to kindly pray about and consider supporting us financially and with prayer through the beginning of February 2011. The missions council at Northwest Church has suggested that we make this request and you can refer to them for guidelines if you would like. We will need some time to adjust and re-enter before we start a job and we are still praying about what God would have us do when we get back to the U.S.

Our prayer requests:

Pray for our next medical outreach in October and for our time with the visiting Northwest Church team.
Pray for our Provincial supervisor, Ps. John Puia, and for our head nurse, Jennifer Metkale, as they assume full responsibility for the medical and evangelism ministry.
Pray for us as we begin to debrief and as we begin the re-entry process.
Pray for wisdom about our next assignment and job.
Pray for provision for the next few months especially.

We wanted to thank you again for partnering with us and for the honor and privilege to work with the Foursquare leadership here in Papua New Guinea and in the PNG island region especially. We love the people here so much (see picture). We will be leaving here completely changed people compared to when we first came here. We look forward to seeing all of you again in early November 2010. It will be great to spend the holiday season with friends and family once again.

Blessings and love to you all,

Victor and Lori and Alexander Obregon

Expect Great things from God

Attempt Great Things for God

William Carey

20100718 Our July Newsletter

2010-08-02T02:40:00.001-07:00

Dear Family and Friends:

June and July are times of graduations, weddings and vacations in the states. Here in the islands it means that everything is at full swing. The school year, for the few fortunate ones that can afford school feels and uniforms, starts in February and goes until December here in East New Britain.

Thank you for all of you that labored in prayer for the large reconciliation service we had last month (see pictures). Many hours of preparatory work was involved with meetings to clarify and define what were the goals and responsibilities of each party involved. What a time of learning and modeling of humility to everyone involved. Many government and community leaders attended. At the actual time of publically repenting the Pastors began to hug and cry and a wave of wailing rose up from the attending congregation. All of us had tears in our eyes as God restored relationships here in a culture where relationship is everything. The rifts of relationships cause such great social disharmony here. It had been 10 years since the involved local Pastor became independent and broke away from Foursquare . Many hundreds of people were affected not only at the time of the split with splinter groups and fractured families but it also was like a unhealed wound that just kept festering. In the service, it was made clear that Foursquare and the pastor would respectfully remain separate as far as ministry was concerned but at least have a relationship with one another. We have witnessed people calling out to one another in the market when in the past the two parties would turn away in silence. So there is fruit from the reconciliation. The Pastors have told us that there has been a change up and down the villages on the affected “Bitapaka” road.

For various reasons, it is taking some time for the changing leadership here to catch the vision for a Bible school in our Province. So in the meantime, we have been helping some young people apply for Bible school in other parts of PNG. One young man, Tony from our Ralabung village Foursquare church, is sensing God leading him towards missionary work. He is in the process of raising money to go to the Bible school in the highlands Enga Province and he will have more contact with the national Foursquare missionaries there. There are two more people that we have identified that have a desire to go to Bible school but we are prayerfully waiting on God to proceed.

We had an intensive 3-day women’s conference for leaders and Pastors here at the Kokopo town church (see picture). It started at 8:30 am and went to 10:30pm. Almost all the women stayed on site sleeping on blue tarps that were made into makeshift bedrooms with bush mats for wall and additional tarps overhead on bamboo poles. They looked like matchsticks in a box as they were packed in so close. For breakfast, they had tea and hard “biscuits”. They would snack fresh peanuts from the gardens and later they all ate a meal together of; taro, tapioca and “cao-cao” (sweet potato). These are all root vegetables cooked over an open fire. There is one water pipe at the church and this is used for washing clothing and people. It was great seeing ladies from all over the many islands here. Some I hadn’t seen for a couple years due to the cost of travel. Three women from Madang, Lae and Enga towns came to speak and they included me as part of the national teaching team. I ended up speaking all three days. The Holy Spirit was very present and there was a breaking through of barriers of sorts. This is the kind of unity that we have been praying for. The women asked questions and continued to give feedback as to how God met them and was teaching them so many new things. So it was really wonderful to be a part of all that that was going on.

Victor and I had the honor helping to support a young Pastor. This really was a God appointment as we were part of helping with a very culturally sensitive situation. Some older people told this pastor that there was a lady that had asked God to show her who she was to marry. The young lady apparently had a long complicated dream, and then later identified Willy as the man she was suppose to marry. The lady’s “line,” or extended family connection, then presented this situation to the young pastor and then expected him to negotiate the bride price and marry this particular lady. Our young pastor, Pastor Willy, came to us originally for prayer about this. He was under the impression that he must do what older people told him to do or else he was disobeying God himself. So, he was in a crisis of faith. We spoke with him for a very long time, prayed over him, and counseled him that he must pray and hear God for himself in this decision. He must obey God and not even us. So, for 6 months he prayed and we prayed. The older leaders from the young lady’s “line” then brought her to meet Pastor Willy and finalize marriage plans. Pastor Willy came back to our house and explained that he had faithfully been praying, and that he just did not have peace about this marriage. We opened our home that night and invited all the parties involved. I cooked a large PNG meal and, then, over tea and banana cake we got to know the lady who had had the dream. She told us her dream firsthand and we strongly sensed that it was very much not from God but it was not the appropriate time to confront her on that issue. We explained to her and her line that we had been praying for 6 months about God’s will for marriage both for her and for Willy and that we wanted God’s best for both of them. Then, Pastor Willy was able to voice that he did not have peace about the marriage and could not in good conscious go through with it. This is very big in this culture where posturing and rituals take the place of honest heart talk. With the grace of God, the young lady and the men from her line who were present voiced that they were at peace about the outcome and the way it was handled. We gave each party involved some gifts and then Victor drove them back to the church. Pastor Willy looked very much like he was himself again and we have since then met with all involved and they seem content. What an experience.

We have had other experiences that have not turned out as well. One Pastor, who had to be placed on discipline for beating his wife, failed to be accountable under discipline and he stopped coming to the pastor’s meetings. He also would not return our phone calls and, so, we prayed and prayed and asked God to uncover and expose what was really going on. Shortly after that we found out he was having an affair. The affair has not been his first and it is now public knowledge. We thank God for protecting us and helping us and for all your prayers.

Last but not least, we finished a two day medical and evangelism outreach yesterday at a poor settlement in the area called Raniolo (see pictures). These are displaced people from all over PNG. There isn’t even any kind of a shelter available there so we set up under a very large tree to try to get some shade. We brought 2 nurses, Jenny and her brother Jerome, some Pastors for worship, and various youths for the wound station. Doreen, a young PNG girl that is going to Syria for 2 years next January to work as a missionary also came to help in the Pharmacy. Doreen is a great help and led two women to Christ as we were giving out medications. It was great! The people in this settlement do not have access to fresh water and so they have more skin infections, fungal, ulcers and intestinal worms. This is the place where we saw “elephantitis” 2 years ago for those of you that are interested in medical things. Elephantitis is when a specific parasite blocks venous return from the lower leg and the appendage swells to unbelievable proportions. We saw approximately 650 people. Many were children very sick with dehydration and malaria. On the first night of the evangelism outreach 35 people responded to the Gospel message and many where children. During the second night, spiritual opposition was especially heavy with equipment malfunctions, etc. During the worship time, a large snake traveling across the barren ground disrupted all who were present.

Here are our prayer requests:

For those who continue to walk out reconciliation.
Godly wisdom
Divine appointments
Protection physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Our next medical and evangelism outreach in Gar the end of this month (three days)
Nathan – our eldest son in Washington state

It is a real honor and privilege to partner with you to serve the Papua New Guinea island region. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Blessings,

Victor and Lori and Alexander Obregon

Expect Great Things from God

Attempt Great Things for God

William Carey

20100522 Our May Newsletter

2010-08-02T02:29:00.001-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been an exceptionally busy time here for us since our last newsletter.

One of the large mobile phone carriers here in PNG has recognized our medical ministry. Last month, their Board of Directors approved an 85,000 kina (30,000 U.S. Dollar) sponsorship package which will enable us to purchase advanced life support emergency medical equipment, medications, and outreach supplies like tents and a cooking stove for the medical and evangelism team. In addition to this, our vehicle will be outfitted with a sturdy commercial grade roof rack and basket to carry our outreach cargo and our 23 foot banana boat will be outfitted with a canopy.

We had a medical outreach last month to a poor and remote bush area (see pictures). The outreach to 341 patients was held in one of the more dangerous areas in the Province. In addition to seeing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in action, all who attended also heard about Jesus Our Savior and Healer. Three nurses from the Kokopo Town Haus Sik (hospital) accompanied us and gave hygiene and cholera awareness teaching (see picture). As usual, a worship and evangelism team of pastors joined us for the outreach. Signs and wonders continue to attend our outreaches. One patient was brought to us in a truck because she could not walk due to shortness of breath and we assessed her at the “truck-side” (see picture). We prayed for her and she felt better right away but still, we advised her family that she be taken to the hospital for further evaluation. We learned later that she was never taken to town that day because her shortness of breath completely abated after prayer. Another patient we saw presented to us with an active “fit” which did not medically look like usual seizure activity. Upon a quick review of her medical history, her long history of “fits” had been refractory to all kinds of anti-seizure medications. But after the pastors and Victor commandingly prayed for her, the “fit” stopped altogether. She re-dedicated her life to Jesus and is now attending church again.

After just a few months of planning, the Kokopo Town Foursquare Church had a “handover/takeover” service earlier this month. Pastor Timothy Tipitap, the PNG national Foursquare president, presided over the service and he appointed a new senior pastor to the Town Church. Our new Town pastor is experienced in re-developing churches and he is also the secretary of the PNG National Executive Council (NEC). His wife is the PNG National Foursquare United Foursquare Women’s (UFW) Director. At the service, the outgoing pastor symbolically hands a Bible to the incoming pastor as the President prays over them (see picture). It was also interesting to listen to Pastor Timothy speak about how Foursquare has been in the highlands and other regions of PNG now for over 50 years, but in contrast, Foursquare has only had a presence in the island region for the last 20 years. Our incoming pastors and outgoing pastors and the congregation really need a lot of prayer at this time so please lift them all up in prayer.

We continue to be heavily involved in leadership training and reconciliation work. At our last meeting with the pastors and their spouses earlier this month, we used the book of Lamentations to teach on the pastoral work of ‘”pain-sharing.” Here in Papua New Guinea, the family and community-oriented people have no difficulty expressing their pain and grief in public like at funerals, etc. but just like every where else even the leaders here often find it difficult share pain and grieve with their spouses and families in a more private setting. As we have written about before and after several months of prayerful planning, the Provincial Foursqaure leaders here in East New Britain will be reconciling with a former Foursquare pastor tomorrow. We will have pictures and write more on the reconciliation service next time, but for now we would like to thank all of you who prayed for the reconciliation. We believe that this is an important service that the Holy Spirit will use to bring much needed healing and revival to the area.

Here are our prayer requests:

That spiritual opposition like strongholds and idolatry would be broken down here in the PNG island region.

· For unity and love inter-denominationally.

· For continued protection from disease and violence.

· Help for Alex with his school load.

· Guidance for the future outreaches and courage and boldness to do what God asks of us.

· For Nathan, our oldest son, who lives in the U.S.

We wish you all a wonderful Memorial Day holiday. We join you especially in remembering those who gave up their lives so that we could have the freedom we have. Thanks for your prayers and your support.

Blessings,

Victor and Lori and Alexander Obregon

Expect Great Things from God

Attempt Great Things for God

William Carey

20100408 Our April Newsletter

2010-08-02T01:49:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s 10 am here. This is the first hot dry day we have had for a while so all the meri’s (women) are hanging their laundry outside to dry. Our neighbors are using a long pointed bamboo pole to knock coconuts out of the tree so they can use it for cooking. An 8 year old is balancing on a fence to reach the small round fruit from a nearby tree. You can smell outdoor fires and spices. Alex has had his pancakes and is working on his science test. Victor is in Kokopo town teaching at a Pastor’s meeting. A Pastor stops by for medical advice and prayer so I give her some food and we talk and pray. There isn’t anything I can do medically so I prayed over her. She smiled and told me that earlier this morning she was having pain and prayed and saw a picture of my face and that is why she came to the house. The two of us then worshipped God together and thanked Him for being our Healer. After worship, she told me the pain was gone and she felt healed.

Due to various circumstances, we had to prayerfully adjust much of our planned schedule last month. We had planned to sail down the south coast of East New Britain to do a water baptism and church dedication service and to do a combined medical and evangelism outreach at Pastor Willy’s church, but due to flooding in the area the church building construction was not fully completed. So, we have postponed the outreach until Pastor Willy is ready for us. That didn’t hold us back from continuing our medical ministry, however. We are now in the process of doing a community entry visit in a very poor and dangerous area and are planning a medical and evangelism outreach there later this month. A son of a Foursquare congregation member was murdered in the area on Easter Sunday. So, please pray for us as we prepare and go there to do God’s work. We will be partnering with Pastor Leonard and his wife (see picture from earlier).

God’s healing activity and His miracle work in the medical ministry we do here continues to amaze us. One of our main PNG nurses Jenny recently called us to come to a local health centre to see her gravely ill father. She sailed sixteen hours to go get her father and bring him back here to the health centre. When we saw him he looked acutely and seriously ill and nearly in shock. After a thorough physical examination and review of the medical chart, it appeared that the man had internal bleeding due to a perforated gastric (stomach) ulcer. After making some medication adjustments, we advised that he be transferred to the local government hospital in Rabaul as soon as possible. Before we left, though, we laid hands on him and prayed for a miracle healing of the hole in his stomach. Then we prayed for the other sick people in the ward. Two days later we received a call from Jenny who told us that her father was indeed transferred to the government hospital, but that his condition markedly improved shortly after we prayed for him. After we spoke to Jenny, we went to the hospital to visit her dad. When we arrived, everyone was all smiles (see pictures). Jenny hugged us hard and told us that a miracle had occurred. Her father was almost completely back to normal. We were quite taken back because two days ago we medically felt that the man would most likely die unless God intervened. But there he was sitting up smiling, happy to see us. Victor did a great job of explaining that all we did was to ask God to heal him – It was God who did the miracle and healed him.

There continues to be quite a bit of reconciling work for us here. As you may recall from our last few newsletters, we are working to reconcile with a former Foursquare pastor who caused a church split a while back. At the recent PNG Foursquare national convention in Goroka, we spoke with national executive council (NEC) members about our progress with the pastor and they gave us their input. We will be meeting with the pastor next week for another meeting. In addition to this reconciling work, the leadership here have asked us to meet with several married couples to counsel them and to teach on one particular aspect of marriage next month. One of the couples we are meeting soon are Foursquare pastors. Thanks for your continued prayers on the reconciling work we are doing here.

The leadership in Foursquare PNG Island region is currently in a state of transition. We have a new Regional Foursquare supervisor and member of the Foursquare national executive council will be coming here next month to pastor the Kokopo Town church. It is quite likely too that the current East New Britain Provincial supervisor will be replaced soon. So, needless to say, we have been quite busy the last two months helping the incoming and outgoing leaders with the transition. Most of the transition work we are doing has been mainly in the area of pastoral care-giving. God has used us to bring stabilization to the Town church and to the Province during the transition and to help with administrative details surrounding the transition. Some people here are quite anxious about the changes that are taking place and will be taking place but the Great Shepherd is reassuring them that they can trust Him, even with change.

Regular Leadership Training continues here and the pastors are strongly participating in the teachings (see picture). We continue to follow and monitor the progress of the pastor’s Leadership Training Groups (LTG’s) and we heavily emphasize character and integrity in the pastor’s personal, marriage, and family lives. One of the goals we have for the LTG’s is for the pastors to eventually disciple their congregations and their small home groups through the LTG’s. We also continue to have regular speaking and preaching engagements and our schedule is filled up for the next two months.

We have had some strange electrical problems. The electrical outlet for our washing machine stopped working in mid cycle, the refrigerator outlet stopped working, and the electrical box on the outside of our house quit working. Sometimes, we have no electricity what so ever even though everyone around us has power and at times the clock on the wall goes backwards. We have had some sort of water leak and have dribbles of water running down two walls of our bathroom but we haven’t been able to convince the owners to come and fix it. But in each instance God has helped us and now things seem to be working well. Even on Easter Sunday evening, and after praying and asking God for help, we had two men from PNG Power come to our house at 9pm to connect us to another power line.

Alex and I were recently issued new U.S. passports (as our old ones expired) but they remain in Port Moresby until our PNG visas are processed.

Here are our prayer requests:

That people would come to Christ through our work here and be healed spiritually, physically, and emotionally.
That the Kingdom of God would move forward in the PNG island area.
That there would be a smooth Foursquare leadership transition here in the PNG island region.
For Alex as he does his High School work. We are often interrupted by lack of electricity and other distractions persist.
For Nathan who remains in the U.S. and is still recovering from knee surgery.
That our PNG visa’s would be completed and returned safely to us as soon as possible.

Thanks for your prayers and support.

Blessings,

Victor and Lori and Alexander Obregon

Attempt Great Things For God

Expect Great Things From God

William Carey

20100229 Our February Newsletter

2010-08-02T01:14:00.002-07:00

Dear Family and Friends:

This has been an unusual month and we have had God work in unexpected ways.

Many of you know that we have been fasting and praying for the last three years for a spiritual breakthrough here in regards to a previous Foursquare leader who has continued to inflict much harm and damage in our area. Within the last two months God has opened doors for the process of addressing this unresolved conflict. We are praying for healing and restoration for all those that have been affected. It has been great to see our pastors respond so positively to the process. Our pastors’ countenances are changing and we are seeing more hope and confidence in the faces of the pastors that only God can bring about. We kept the minutes from the last two meetings with the pastor and recently presented the findings to the PNG Foursquare National Executive Council (NEC). The NEC was quite pleased with the work that is being done here. The pastor is ready to publically apologize to the Foursquare leaders here and we plan to hold a formal reconciliation service and in April or May 2010. Thanks for your continued prayers in this area.

In preparation for our next medical outreach in March, we went down the south coast for about three hours to do a community-entry visit in a place called Gar. Pastor Willy, one of our younger pastors, is the pastor of the church there (see picture). Earlier on in Pastor Willy’s pastorate, he asked God what he could do for his community and God directed him to dig twenty pit toilets in a few months time for the community. In the heat and the humidity here that is a heavy labor, but after that the people’s hearts were so softened that the church in Gar grew in number. Because of a recent influx of cults in the area, Pastor Willy’s church has been struggling a bit and so we are going there to do a medical and evangelism outreach. We will formally dedicate a new church building and hold a water baptism service at the beach as well (see picture).

We have also finalized the East New Britain Province Foursquare ministry calendar for the year. Papa God has so many exciting plans for the Province. Our ever growing medical ministry will continue regular outreaches to remote areas in the PNG island region. Other highlights of the calendar include the regional United Foursquare Women’s (UFW) meeting which will be held in Kokopo later this year and continued Leadership Training for the pastors and leaders. Sponsorship for a provincial radio ministry is now in place and our radio program will begin shortly as well.

This month was a busy Leadership Training month. Our focus for some time now has been on the leader’s spirituality and the need for healing through repentance and forgiveness in the life of the leader. And as we have given examples of how God has healed areas in our own personal lives, the pastors are becoming increasingly open to us about areas in their lives that need healing. They are personally seeing that God is their Healer and that He cares about their past wounds.

Finally, we just returned from the Foursquare National Convention in Goroka in the Eastern Highlands Province (see picture). It was great to be with the pastors and leaders from all over Papua New Guinea again. In addition to fellowshipping with the pastors and leaders at the meeting, several pastors and leaders accepted our invitations to participate in our youth and children’s programs in our Province this year. We had a great time “storying” with them and laughing with them.

Thanks for your continued support and prayers. We realize the sacrifice you are making to set aside time to pray and to support us financially even in tough financial times.

Blessings,

Victor and Lori and Alexander Obregon

Attempt Great Things For God

Expect Great Things From God

William Carey

20100127 Our January Newsletter

2010-08-02T01:07:00.000-07:00

Dear family and friends:

As we start this year it seems fitting to just mention a few of the ways God has watched over us and helped us through the last twelve months: He has protected us from injury and disease though it is all around us. The hot ash that falls over us from the volcano across the bay has stopped. Now the vegetation, and our lungs can breathe clear air. The airport is open and the airplanes are bringing in food, supplies and mail. The many drunks we encounter have not harmed us. God has frequently guided us in ways that we have been able to avoid dangerous high seas. We have witnessed miraculous healings and most of all people of all ages giving their hearts and lives to Jesus. These are just a few of the many ways God has cared for us and many of them are direct answers to your prayers. So celebrate with us as we celebrate with you.

Nathan, our son, had his right knee repair with hamstring graft one week ago and is doing well. He is slowly but surely recovering. We are grateful to have this surgery behind us. The Doctor told us he may have some excruciating pain after the surgery but because of your prayers he did not experience that and though is of course uncomfortable at times, he is managing well.

The work here in PNG continues with accountability groups and pastoral care teaching in practical ways like: conflict management, speaking the truth in love, forgiveness, letting go of offenses, loving your spouse, children and neighbors.

A very important reconciliation is now in process. Victor and I have been praying for this to occur for the last three years along with some of the local Pastors. There was a problem years ago due to an unhealthy leader in the one of the larger churches that caused fractured groups and difficulties within the community. This is very unsettling for the people as there wasn’t any resolution to the conflict. Please pray with us as this much needed restoration process continues. That God will be exalted, that the enemy will be evicted and that the people who have been hurt and affected by this would be healed and restored. It is time for a breakthrough and hope for all those that love Jesus and all those that are longing for the truth. I can’t stress how important this is for the island area of PNG.

In addition to holding another market evangelism outreach this month (see picture), we also held a medical outreach to our Foursquare youth and did many health checks for all those enrolling in vocational schools (see picture).

January also is a time to pray, plan, and hear God’s heart for His plans for the next year. We have been praying with the Provincial Supervisor and it looks as though there is an opening for a radio ministry, many more medical and evangelism outreaches, and strategic targeting of all people of all ages. Exciting times! This is going to be a good year.

We have some wonderful news and some sad news. The wonderful news is that Chris, the deaf mute man that was healed from Mandres, is progressing well and his speech is coming along quite well. The sad news is the Foursquare pastor from that area died. Pastor Felix was a man of integrity and often guided our banana boat when we went on our outreaches (see picture). He is survived by his wife Dorcas and two children Grace and Amos. Please continue to pray for Pastor Felix’s family as it is very difficult for widows and children in this culture when the father dies. At the funeral, Pastor Felix’s family wanted to thank you for praying for him when he was sick.

Kindly pray for the following:

· Nathan’s continued recovery after his knee surgery.

· The reconciliation efforts in the region.

· Smooth sailing and low seas for our community-entry visits and major medical outreaches this year.

· For safe travel to the national Foursquare convention in Goroka in February.

· For continued wisdom for the year 2010.

Thanks again for your e-mails, prayers, and support. It really is a privilege to partner with you to serve the people here in the Papua New Guinea islands (see picture).

Blessings,

Victor, Lori, and Alex Obregon

Attempt Great Things for God

Expect Great Things From God

William Carey

20091224 Our December Newsletter

2009-12-23T17:50:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy “Krismas.” We heard that a lot of you are “enjoying” cooler weather now. I emphasize “enjoying” because our seasons here only change by perhaps a degree. We have a “dry” season – where your pores really are cleansed with persistent sweat and the “wet” season where your pores are still weeping but now you have mud, dampness and more biting bugs. We are in the wet season now with moisture like fog, heat like an oven and the added bonus of volcano ash snowing on us. I hear the large monitor lizard scratching his way up the outside of the wall close to where I am sitting as I write this e-mail. He is back early today with his catch from the ocean. He has a habit of dining among my little flower garden and leaving behind the indigestible parts like little red lobster claws and buttery yellow clam shells. I am not happy with him though because he frequently chews one of the flower’s leaves – I guess to cleanse his pallet. Are you in the island mood now?

This month was busy. It started out with a Market Evangelism outreach in Kokopo town (see picture). The musicians and generator-operated microphones and amps were set up during the busiest market day on Saturday and hundreds of people were told about a personal God who loves them and is reaching out to them. The pastors were stretched because they were preaching to people who they grew up with; nevertheless, the pastors were encouraged by the people’s hunger for the gospel. The following Sunday, the Kokopo Town Church had several new visitors - people who had given their hearts and lives to Jesus at the Market. These new Christians have continued to attend the church and are now a part of local home groups.

The following week we were notified late one night that Pastor Mary Labet, one of the pioneering Foursquare pastors in the region had died. She was considered by many men and women here as their “Momma” in the faith. Her death was quite a shock to all of us. In our first year in PNG, we lived in the same village as Pastor Mary and, in fact, we lived right across the dirt road from her house. She had been a Pastor for 14 years and was the Kokopo District Supervisor. We are close to Pastor Mary’s family and they honored us by taking us by the hand to her house and up the narrow stairs to see her. We had to pass by a pile of flip flops by the door to view her body which had been placed on the bare floor. When we arrived an attendant removed a cloth from her face and then we said goodbye. We cried with the mourners in attendance and family members waved small thin bundles of leaves from a nearby bush to keep the flies away. The lack of air movement in the room was stifling. When the coffin finally arrived after two days, she was placed in a homemade box with relatives taking turns spraying the wood with a strong type of perfume and then she quickly buried in a deep grave after the “closed-coffin” funeral in front of her house. All the Foursquare pastors wore their very best white shirts and ties and the whole village came together to honor her life (see picture). She is with Jesus now.

Yesterday, a large three day overnight camp for 527 youth and children ended. It was located in a more remote bush area here in East New Britain. The road getting to the camp was covered with water and huge pot holes that seemed to swallow vehicles, but God was with us and no one got stuck. The focus of the entire camp was on the Holy Spirit (who He is, how He works, and how to cooperate with Him). On the first day of the camp Victor was a part of the teaching team and spoke on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Later that evening, 32 youths went forward to receive Christ for the first time, 23 repented and came back to Christ, and 13 received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. We so need the Holy Spirit in our lives!

Victor was a large part of the many planning meetings for the camp and child safety during camp was particularly emphasized. Camp counselors were assigned - one counselor to every 5 children. A sign-up sheet/and release forms were used for all children 12 and under. These are new and complicated ideas to utilize in this culture, but we are trying to build in safe-guards for everyone involved. It went well and the leadership here would like to incorporate even more child safety precautions in all future events. The people here are often open to new ideas, but are not sure how to implement them.

Alex and I taught a class of 23 kids aged 10-11 during the outreach in the mornings (see picture). In the afternoons Victor and Alex and I held a medical clinic for all the children of the camp and anyone else who needed care (see picture). We saw lines of people until the sun went down and until we couldn’t read the labels on the medication bottles any more. Victor arranged for 3 healthcare workers from the local haus-sik (hospital) to come teach awareness on HIV/AIDS and STD’s (sexually transmitted diseases) during the camp. This was followed by teaching on the biblical view and benefits of obeying God’s Word versus the world’s way of dealing with sexual issues.

Then yesterday there was a “combined” church service which formally closed the youth and children’s camp. People from all over the Kokopo district and the surrounding ones came to worship together. Victor led the communion service (see picture) and the pastors served their congregations as worship music was playing. As each group returned to their seats on the ground, a group of pastors would refill the cups for the next group. The camp was officially declared a success and the new Provincial youth pastors and leaders for 2010 were dedicated and prayed over so that they would continue a strong work with the youth and children and plan for future events. It was really wonderful to laugh with the other teachers and play with the children. They took ownership of us as “our missionaries” and it was a pleasure to be a part of the work God is doing there. Please pray for continued growth and maturity in the lives of the believers here.

Prayer Requests:

That the volcano would quiet down. I know you have heard this before, but it is a hardship that affects every part of daily living. The airport has only intermittent service now due to the ash and we haven’t received any mail for a long time. The PNG national convention is in February and we can’t even book any tickets as the airlines will not issue any until “further notice.”. We continue to trust God even when we are land-locked.
As a result of one of our medical and evangelism outreaches, there is a small Foursquare church now in Mioko, one of the eight small islands of the Duke of York chain located between East New Britain and New Ireland. This is where we had a difficult, but productive medical and evangelism outreach last October. Please pray for calm seas so that we can visit and encourage those in Duke of York islands. We also would like smooth sailing for our next community entry travel in preparation for future medical and evangelism outreaches.
For unity and maturity for the Pastors and leaders here and for their Life Transformation Groups (LTG’s).
For Godly wisdom and Spirit-led guidance – that we may speak boldly in the confidence of the Holy Spirit.
For God’s plan for 2010.
For Protection.
For our son, Nathaniel who is in the Seattle area.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. We wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Love,

Victor and Lori and Alexander Obregon

“Attempt Great Things For God.

Expect Great Things From God.”

William Carey

20091114 Our November Newsletter

2009-11-13T20:22:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and friends,

Greetings to you all. We are excited to report what “Papa God” is doing here in the island region of Papua New Guinea. Since we have been back from the U.S. the people here are really opening up to us like never before. From October 26 to November 4, we had the privilege to host a team from Northwest Church which included Mary Schell, Joan Allen, Chuck Paul, and Katie Duris. They stayed with us and it was so nice to be with our “wantoks” again. The team also bought us suitcases of medications and supplies and we are so grateful for this.

As we prepared for the team’s arrival , we prayerfully sought the Lord on many things including the medical and evangelism outreach venue. We have found that as we join the pastors and leaders to prayerfully seek the Holy Spirit together for direction, He is always faithful to guide us. For example, we were directed to do a land-outreach this time to encourage a struggling church whose pastor has been quite ill for some time. And as it turns out, there were high seas for most of the time that the team was here and it proved to be safer to travel by vehicle rather than boat this time. The anointing of the Holy Spirit was everywhere with signs and wonders, power encounters, healings, and decisions for Christ – just to name a few - during the outreaches. We thank you all for your prayers.

On Monday, the Kokopo Foursquare Town church welcomed the team with nice fellowship and wonderful worship led by the children. As we arrived at the church, we drove under a delicate flowered arch and then walked into the open air church that was decorated with freshly cut banana trees and fresh tropical flowers. The sweet smell of the frangipani leis was carried on the wind when the team walked around to greet people. Pastor John Puia, the Provincial supervisor of the area spoke lovingly of Northwest Church and warmly acknowledged Mary Schell and the team. The Tolai culture has predictable traditions of how to welcome others and is generally quite reserved, but on this welcome we saw how open, transparent, and authentic the Tolai people really are. The team wasn’t feeling completely well so after a brief “lunch” of cao cao,(sweet potatoes), mixed rice, taro, pit-pit (an edible flower that looks like a giant cattail), plantain, cucumbers and pineapple we left.

The next day Tuesday was the year-end Provincial United Foursquare Women’s (UFW) meeting, or “bung”. Women from all over East New Britain came and all three ladies on our team spoke. That went really well as did the ministry time praying over the women afterwards (see picture). Sitting down and spending time talking and getting to know them blessed all of us. The women stayed and although generally quite shy and quiet, they were very open and seemed to enjoy themselves. More relaxed than I have seen them with a team before. For example, one leader from one of our more remote churches was there and I went to her and asked her if she would go and sit by Mary Schell and talk to her. Her face turned a little rigid and then she looked at me and said “okay.” I watched her tentatively sit down and start talking. Later I asked her how it went. Her face lit up in a smile and she said in Tok Pisin, “It was good. I really liked talking to her.”

From Wednesday to Friday, we drove approximately 1 1/2 hours to and from a remote area called Mandres here in the central Gazelle peninsula of East New Britain. This is where we held the combined medical and evangelism outreach. This underserved area technically has an “aid post” but they lack medications to give out and most of the people that come for help leave without any help. The aid post community health worker who usually sees people was herself sick at home, and so we left a gift of a stethoscope for her when we left. Just about every community health worker we have met does not own their own stethoscope.

We brought 3 nurses from our local hospital with us and a couple of students home from break that wanted to help with any Kingdom work the church was doing (one young lady had only been a Christian for 3 weeks). In addition to seeing many patients, the three nurses also did HIV/AIDS, malaria, and cholera awareness training. The worship and pastoral team, who opened the medical outreach each day and held the nightly evangelistic services, also accompanied us. Over the three days, six hundred and ninety people were examined and given medication and most were individually prayed for by Chuck and Joan before they left (see pictures). Most of the people who had seen the medical providers and the pharmacy stood in line – sometimes ten people deep - afterwards to get healing soaking prayer. I have never seen that before, and the pastors and leaders hadn’t seen that before either. Now, the pastors want to staff all future medical outreaches with intercessors. Mary Schell and I staffed the pharmacy. One of the helpers we had in the pharmacy area is a young lady, Doreen, who is preparing to be one of the first missionaries sent out from the islands. She was very loving to the people and waited for the Holy Spirit to show her how to best distribute the Tok Pisin Gospel tracts we have. A station for cleaning and dressing sores was staffed by Katie and other young people and musicians. It was nice to hear laughter ripple through the groups of people waiting. Katie played the guitar for the kids and then Alex and Katie entertained them and played soccer with them (see picture).

One young deaf man named Chris at the medical outreach named received his hearing after Victor, Chuck, and Joan prayed for him and the miracle continues to be confirmed by his family and friends. He is currently learning to speak now and has given his heart to Christ (see picture). Also, just before our last evangelism service, a woman fell to the ground in a fit and no physical abnormalities were apparent upon evaluation and examination. The fit was also unlike a typical medical seizure, so Victor and one of our pastors prayed over her and she was delivered immediately. One hundred and twenty people gave their lives to Jesus at the end of the last evangelism service including the local level government official for the area. At the close of the outreach, the official came forward to publicly proclaim Christ. She testified that her daughter kept telling her that they should go to the meeting that night because God was going to do something special. She didn’t believe her daughter but something inside her drew her to the outreach. This powerful move of the Holy Spirit only continues to be demonstrated. We are now hearing, too, that many people who attended the medical outreach received their healing the same day and that the Lord continues to add the number of His church daily.

On Sunday, we had the joy of being part of a dedication service for a Foursquare Church plant in Rieit that came out of a medical and evangelism outreach we did last year. Victor preached and Joan and Chuck did the prayer of dedication (see picture). Rieit is located in a more remote area of the Gazelle peninsula here in East New Britain. The government local level government official, or “councilor,” named Justin got saved at the original outreach a year ago and is donating some land for the church building. Justin was all smiles as his son Gabriel spoke publically of how much God has changed their lives. Before giving his heart to Christ, Justin was a alcoholic and when he came home the family would scatter into the jungle to avoid contact with him. The first thing Justin did after becoming a Christian was to go to Kokopo Town and buy a guitar because all he wanted to do was worship God. Now the family that was fractured has been healed and there is peace. Sounds just like God doesn’t it? Pastor Emmanuel, the Foursquare pastor of the Rieit church, excitedly related that during the dedication service a man who was walking by on the road came into the church and gave his heart to Jesus. This man has a chainsaw and is going to help build a pastor’s house. Rieit is a unique area with a mix of tribes and the people are hungry for God’s truth.

After the church dedication, we went to a settlement village called Raniolo not too far from Kokopo Town. The outreach was the result of prayerful preparation with Pastors William and Lydia, our two children’s ministers (see picture). Victor and I met with them beforehand three times to help them as they decided on a program which included games, refreshments, music and songs, and Bible stories. The children responded to the Gospel messages and according to the latest reports, many of the children are still singing the songs they learned at the outreach. Pastor William and Lydia did a great job and they are looking forward to ministering at a Provincial youth and children’s outreach in December. They are also already talking about doing a children’s market evangelism program after that.

Prayer Requests:

· The pastors are well into their Leadership Transformation Accountability Groups. Please pray for them.
· The Foursquare Pastor in Madres – Felix – and the church there. Pastor Felix has TB and liver disease.
· The East New Britain Province Youth and Children’s Outreach December 17-20.
· The New Guinea Island Bible School here in our Province. In addition to needing dormitories, we need the full support of the Foursquare National Executive Committee and all Regional, Provincial, and District Supervisors before we can open it.
· For our son Nathaniel in the U.S.
· For the Northwest Church team still re-entering the U.S. from their visit with us.

Thanks for your prayers and your support. Have a great Thanksgiving this year.

Blessings,

Victor and Lori and Alexander Obregon

Expect Great things from God

Attempt Great Things for God

William Carey

20091001 Our September Newsletter

2009-09-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends:

Good morning. It is a windy sunny day today. That is a pleasant change as it has been muggy and hot with intermittent rain since we have returned. The smoking volcano usually drops it’s ash off away from us except when it is booming and shaking the house with its loud explosions and then we end up with ash covering everything.

We have all recovered from the Swine Flu we picked up in Australia in transit to PNG and I am finally over the pneumonia I had. We came back to our house covered in layers of ash, gecko droppings, and some suspicious larger sized scat that I don’t like to think about. After washing the floors, linens, walls and utensils we were able to get things back into place. Both our car and the boat are fine and the internet connection works most of the time now.

By the grace of God all of our luggage made it from Australia to PNG even though it was many pounds overweight largely due to home-school materials. . We did receive a partial “missionary” discount letter from the Air Nuguini office in Australia. However, later when we presented the letter at the check-in counter at the airport we were informed that “who ever gave you this discount didn’t have the authority and it doesn’t mean a thing”. So we prayed and asked God for a miracle. Then, “out of the blue” the lady decided to waive the entire overweight amount. And then, in Port Moresby there were two times where we could have been charged extra due to a flight cancellation, but each time Air Nuguini waived the entire overweight amount. Thank you for praying. It builds our faith to see God helping us in unexpected ways.

Alex has had a difficult time because a few days after we returned the stray dog he loved, named Blackie, was mysteriously poisoned. This dog had save both Alex and I. One day we were walking on the beach and a young man came up to us and held out his hand in which he held a 45 caliber handgun. As he was raising it to us, this old black stray dog just came out of nowhere and stood between us and this armed young man. The man was afraid of the dog and left. We high-tailed it out of there and the dog followed us home. We found out it was indeed a stray and from then on, we would feed it our daily scraps. After that, every time Alex would go for a walk the dog would follow him. When Alex would stop to sit down, the dog would sit down near him watching him. So, it was a painful blow to find out this wonderful dog had been poisoned. Then, about 2 weeks ago Alex was having a lot of itching on his scalp. Many things bite here so we screened him for the usual; lice, fleas, or other crawly vermin but there wasn’t anything. Finally he came to me and begged me to shave his head so I buzzed his hair down to the scalp and underneath his thick brown hair was a widespread maze of raised white itchy fungus. Victor prayed over him and we have been medicating him and washing everything in sight. It is now resolving. If you think of him please pray for him as he has had a rough re-entry.

There were many changes in the East New Britain Foursquare Church just in the few months we were away, but this didn’t surprise us. Before we left for the states, one of my prayer partners Pastor Francisca and I (see picture) had been praying and during one of those prayer times we had received a short vision. Another pastor couple had the very same vision at the same time. It was a map of the area and fires were being set where the Foursquare churches were located. The word “purify" came up and we had the impression that God was in the process of purifying His Church. While I think this is happening globally, it has certainly begun here. It would be easy to get discouraged and sometimes we do, but then we remember that God is at work and we are to continue hearing and obeying.

It is great to be back here to see all of our friends. We have finally adjusted back to the culture. Ministry-wise, we have been visiting the more struggling churches each week so that we can preach and pray for the leaders and congregations (see picture). Victor and the Provincial Supervisor are prayerfully seeking the Lord on how to best mentor the local pastors. Initially, the Holy Spirit is directing us to teach the pastors about Leadership Transformation Groups (LTG’s) and to implement the program. So, at yesterday’s leadership training time with the pastors, Victor taught on “The Leader’s Spirituality” and then broke up the group into twos – men with men and women with women. Each week, for the next three months, the groups will meet to confess sin to one another, to read 25-30 chapters of Scripture during the week, and to pray for the lost.

The medical ministry is also coming along. The Lord continues to give us favor with the government and He continues to bring local nurses to the ministry. For the medical outreach later this month with the U.S. team from Northwest Church, for example, we estimate that at least three nurses from the local “haus-sik” (hospital) will be going with us. The East New Britain Province Community Development office, too, continues to support our work especially the HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis awareness training that the nurses do.

We are so blessed to be with the people again (see picture). We share some of the most precious moments with them. For example, last Sunday we were praying for a Pastor and I felt a little hand on the back of my leg. A toddler was rubbing her hand on my leg and then looking at her hand to see if any of the white was coming off. A chicken laid an egg during the climax of the sermon just a couple of feet outside the open side of the church. There were also some young girls who had this unusual decoration on the collar of her dress. It turned out to be a huge, fat, bright yellow caterpillar that stretched out across my hand with delicate purple striping. The girl was using it as “bilas” (decoration) for her special “meri” dress (see picture). This is so different from the U.S. but after the service one of the elderly ladies that I really liked grabbed me and hugged me with a huge smile and started laughing. Very demonstrative for the usually reserved and careful East New Britain Tolai tribe culture and it was like being with a friend back home. We both love Jesus and that is our common denominator.

Please pray for the following:

The national PNG and island-region Foursquare church – the regional and district supervisors especially.
The pastors in the East New Britain Province who will be starting their Life Transformation Groups this week. Some of the pastors need emotional healing as well so please join us in praying for them as well (see picture).
For the Northwest Church team that is coming to minister with us later this month.
For our Medical Ministry Outreach and for the associated Evangelism outreach later this month. We believe that the Lord has shown us the venue but we need confirmation. Pray that many will be saved and healed and that the sharing of the Good News of Jesus Christ will be strongly anointed by the Holy Spirit.
For Alex and Nathan, our sons who are two of the most wonderful children in the whole world.

Well, that is it for now. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Blessings,

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

Attempt Great Things For God.

Expect Great Things From God.

William Carey

20090820 Our August Newsletter

2009-09-29T23:39:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends:

Good morning. It is Thursday August 20th 2009 and Victor, Alex and I are currently here in Cairns Australia preparing to leave for the PNG island region, specifically Kokopo Town East New Britain, in the morning. All three of us have been quite ill with the cold and flu and it has been a difficult “welcome back” to this part of the world. In addition to spending some time in prayer, we had hoped to readjust here and take care of some odds and ends before diving back into the PNG culture - but we can not control the circumstances of our lives. God has watched over us and we are on medications and slowly improving.

During our return to the United States a few months ago, there were a lot of things that happened. Victor graduated from school and received his Master of Divinity degree from the King’s Seminary in California. He graduated with honors and was awarded “Top Scholar” which always makes us smile because we know it was the grace of God that he was able to complete the last year of school via the the very sketchy and unpredictable internet in Papua New Guinea. Yet God used what we had - even after being disconnected from the internet multiple times we would pray and ask God to send His angels to keep the connection open – and each time God faithfully helped us. While in the U.S., Victor was also able to take his medical board Ob-Gyn recertification exam and renew his Washington State medical license to keep him medically up to date. Last but not least, while in the U.S. on break Victor studied and sat-in for his Foursquare International Pastor’s license which he acquired on August 7, 2009.

While on break in the U.S., God opened up several opportunities to share how faithful He has been to us. We had many opportunities, both in group and individual settings, to share and it was wonderful to see people drawn to God’s heart for the people of PNG. We saw old friends and met new ones. We visited family when we could and enjoyed Mexican food whenever possible.

We are not sure if we will have internet access when we return to Papua New Guinea, so we wanted to give just a brief update on our progress so far. We have heard that there have been several distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks in PNG that has halted internet service nation-wide and so we wanted to give you all a report just in case we did not have e-mail access for a while.

Thank you to all of you that have encouraged us, prayed for and supported us in numerable ways. Our hearts are touched and we thank you for your care. We will continue to keep in touch with you on a regular basis.

Prayer Needs:

Complete healing and strength.
For our re-entry back into PNG, into home-schooling, into the tropical heat, and to be ready and to deal with what we need too.
Prayer for our travel – especially that all the luggage will make it to our Kokopo Town East New Britain home base.
Working planes.
Grace to reconnect with the people at even a deeper level.
Wisdom to make Godly decisions – to hear and obey what the Holy Spirit is speaking to us.
Pray for Nathaniel, our son back in the U.S.

Blessings,

Victor and Lori and Alexander Obregon

Attempt Great Things for God
Expect Great Things from God
William Carey

20090417 Our April Newsletter

2009-05-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends:

We greet you from Minnesota, USA. A friend of mine asked us if we felt like we were in a washing machine with all the emotions and situations that you deal with returning from another culture but not really fitting into your own. It was a good analogy as I am not sure if we are on wash or rinse but sometimes it does feel like things are spinning.

Victor, Alex and I left PNG after talking to leadership and praying with the Pastor’s there. They understand that we are returning to see family, report back and reconnect with our sending church and family, and that Victor is graduating from Seminary. It was interesting how many Pastor’s came to our home right before we left to visit to receive council and for prayer. We left with their blessing and they know when we are returning. God helped us to secure our current accommodations here in PNG while we are gone so we didn’t have to move our books or supplies.

The ash was so heavy back in PNG that the first few days we were in Australia in transit to the US we were all coughing and Alex was coughing up ash after he would go running. We are very grateful for fresh air! In Australia, we received some books Victor needed for school and Victor took a final examination there. Now, we are in Minnesota visiting my parents and trying not to get lost in the huge grocery stores. Yesterday I went to the Mall of America and just about had a breakdown because there was so much merchandise and everything is so clean and it is like stepping into another world but it is my own culture. We have had actual American food and WOW is it good. I am on a banana hiatus.

We will be in the Pacific Northwest April 25th. Can’t wait to go to church at Northwest Church. We have attended the local Assemblies of God Church here in Minnesota with my parents and it was odd having seats with backs. There was also a noticeable lack of chickens running through the aisles and not a dog in site. And the service was so short. The Pastor was kind to us and invited us to share what God is doing in PNG during the midweek Bible study. It was really nice to be able to tell people I don’t even know that God is faithful and able to use anyone and always helps us and covers us with His grace.

Our schedule is already filling up it seems. We are going to the Foursquare convention in California in May– it will be great to meet the PNG Pastors here in America. Victor is graduating in mid June from the King’s Seminary in Van Nuys, CA and then he is working on fulfilling the requirements to be a International Foursquare Pastor. Victor also is taking his specialty medical board certification examination soon. And we hope to get to Texas to visit his family. Alex is having a wonderful time connecting with friends and I am trying to get all my ducks in a row about home school material that I need to take back to PNG with us.

Prayer needs:

protection while traveling
wisdom, guidance and anointing of the Holy Spirit
divine appointments
grace to handle situations with the love of God
softness of heart to hear and respond to God

I wish I could convey to you how grateful we are for your prayers and continued support. I remember one day before Victor and I left for PNG two years ago. We were praying about guidance and wondering how God was going to accomplish the things we felt in our hearts He wanted to do. It all seemed too big especially because of our personal past history. Then I saw a short vision. Victor and I were walking up a road. Ahead of us was a huge field of white as far as you could see and standing at a gate to this field was Jesus in a white robe. We walked up to Him and I heard myself say “What is our assignment?” He smiled and spoke to my heart to “come”. After that, God brought people into our lives and connected us and did the “impossible” to get us to PNG. So, I want to thank you for letting us be a part of your lives and for you being a part of our lives. With Jesus we are a team. We knew we couldn’t do anything without God or support.Looking forward to seeing all of you.

Love,Victor, Lori and Alex

Blessings,

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

20090309 Our March Newsletter

2009-05-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends:

Good morning. Sometimes I wish that you could hear the PNG people here praying for you and America. This morning one of the Pastor’s dropped by and we sat on the floor to pray together. She poured out her heart in Tok Pigin and quoted Bible Scriptures so powerfully that my own heart just rose up within me. How great is our God! Though we represent very different cultures and languages and are located on opposite sides of the world, when we pray in unity the Holy Spirit shows up and covers us with peace.

We had told you last month that we were planning to go to the Pomeo area for a medical/evangelistic outreach. After practical research and preparation, we had to put that trip on hold as it would actually take 12 hours to sail via our banana boat in the ocean. That is a very long way and time to be in a little boat on the ocean. The Pastor who wanted to go to this area was unaware of the distance. Here in PNG distance is measured very differently. If someone says a place is not too far, that could mean anything from just up the hill to 12 hours away. So, we are researching more how much diesel we will need for the trip and how the budget ought to look like. In the meantime, our medical outreach this month was held in the highlands of Enga Province PNG as you will read below.

The airport here in Rabaul opened just when Victor needed to fly out to go to the Highlands for the annual Foursquare Pastor’s convention in Goroka in Eastern Highlands Province. This represented a couple miracles as the airport had been closed for weeks due to the volcanic ash fall out. The airlines refused to sell new tickets and the people that held tickets couldn’t use them because of the ash, So, long lines of people wrapped around the Air Niugini building as everyone tried to get their tickets refunded. A couple days before Victor was supposed to go (we had been praying and asking God to help us) the ash changed directions and the airport opened up. Even though the ticket we had was old and weeks past the 24 hour hold – the airlines gave us a ticket at the cheaper fare. Amazing. Then, when it was time for Victor to come back home, God opened up a window and Victor was able to fly back home. The last few days the ash has returned and is covering the plants, cars, and my clean laundry. Alex usually likes to run at dusk along the beach near our house but has been unable to that as the ash gets into his eyes, mouth and lungs.

While Victor was in the PNG Highlands, Alex and I remained here in East New Britain doing home-school. During that time, I spoke to the United Foursquare Women’s Regional meeting on “Walking in the Spirit” to start off the church program for 2009.

In Goroka, Victor spent four days at the National Pastor’s conference (see picture). There, he met Jonathan Hall the overall Missions Coordinator and director at Foursquare Missions International. Pastor Hall and Dr. Jerry Stott preached some powerful sermons that impacted and encouraged all who were present. For example, at the end of one sermon, hundreds of Pastors and leaders went forward to renew their commitment to preach the gospel to all nations. Very powerful. People were spontaneously repenting and worshipping and drawing near to God. After the conference, Victor travelled by bus across several provinces to Enga Province to visit with the PNG Foursquare President, the Reverend Timothy Tipitap. Ps. Timothy had recently dedicated the U.S.K. Kuncumanda sub-Health Centre up in the Tsak mountain region near his home in Wapenamanda and it was now operational. The sub-health centre emphasizes women’s and children’s care. Victor had the opportunity to see many patients (many of them women) and to work with the two staff nurses and two community health workers (see pictures). One lady walked for two days to the health centre because she had heard that there was “a man of God” coming. Ten years ago she had placed a curse on herself to keep from having children and now no matter what she did she couldn’t get the “curse” off. The lady repented for not turning to God for help and cursing herself and then Victor and Ps. Salome (Ps. Timothy’s wife) laid hands on her to break the power of the curse off her in the more powerful name of Jesus. After prayer time, she was told that she no longer had to live with the guilt and shame of that curse – that Jesus had place the curse on Him at Calvary and that God had plans for a future and a hope for her. She left the clinic with peace on her face and a smile on her lips.

Ps. Timothy took this opportunity to share the PNG Foursquare Health vision with Victor. For example, Ps. Timothy shared that he wanted to build a nursing school up at U.S.K. where people from all over PNG, including the islands, can come and be certified as community health workers for the Foursquare Health projects throughout the nation. Later, there are plans for the school to be a nursing college as well.

While Victor was with Ps. Timothy, he also had the opportunity to preach at the Sunday service in Wapenamanda and share at the United Foursquare Men’s Ministry night on Monday. He also had the opportunity to hear Ps. Timothy’s heart for the new four year Bible School that is being built in his home town.

Well, that is our update for now. As most of you know already, we are planning to come back to the U.S. for a furlough for about three months in May-July and then come back to PNG. We are planning to visit family, reconnect with Northwest Church, and attend Victor’s graduation from the King’s Seminary in California. While back in the U.S., Victor will also sit in for the International Foursquare Pastors licensing interview. We are need God’s wisdom and guidance for His plans for us this next year. Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support. We thank you in advance for your continued prayer and financial support during the furlough. Please continue to pray for our protection and for our travel back to the U.S. We look forward to seeing all of you again.

Blessings,

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

Attempt Great Things For God.

Expect Great Things From God.

William Carey

20090205 Our January Newsletter

2009-05-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends:

Hello. As some of you know, we took a short family break in Australia for relaxation, medical care and yes, once again relaxation. The airport here in East New Britain was closed down due to ash fallout from the volcano almost the entire time we were gone (see picture). Then it opened up for a couple days and we flew back and it is once again closed down. The ash covers everything inside and out. You have to clean dishes and utensils before you can began to try to cook or you will end up eating grit. Every time someone comes into or out of the house a trail of black ashy footprints follow them. Nasty stuff. My PNG neighbor, Joanne, surprised me with planting some little blooming flowers in my garden and in front of our house while we were away. I had admired them once in her garden. It meant a lot to me and now I am trying to keep them alive! Everyday, we rinse all the vegetation and wash the car and boat to keep the hot acid ash from burning and killing everything. Please pray for us and the people here. It is a big health concern and without God’s protection asthma and all sorts of lung conditions are only going to continue to increase in this area. The PNG people live their lives outside and it is difficult to see the little children breathing all that sulfuric ash. We are praying that God would have the winds blow it out to sea or just plain put a cork in it. God can do anything.

People often ask us what a typical day looks like so I thought I would describe some things that happened yesterday. We got up in the morning with about 1/2 inch of black ash covering everything. So the first thing was to rinse off everything before the hot tropical sun baked it into place. Then at breakfast a Pastor came over and stayed about 4 hours. Meanwhile a young PNG girl came with her rake and asked if she could rake my back yard. I knew her Mom was having back pain so the little girl and I made a deal that if she raked my lawn I would give her some pain medicine for her Mom. She was smiling a big smile as she shook my hand on the deal. Then laundry was done but hung inside for minimum ash infiltration. It is so hot here that even inside our house all of the laundry dries in 2 hours. Sort of a natural built in dryer of sorts. During all this Alex is doing school and Victor is writing a term paper. Then I accidently cut my finger on a can while cooking, Victor prays over it, and the wound closes up without stitches. All of this before 1pm. We are busy like you- just in different ways.

We have started the preparation for community entry on the next medical/evangelistic outreach. It is an area that the Pastor’s have a heart for and the home village of one of the PNG nurses (Jenny) who helps us on the outreaches. Jenny’s dad has been dreaming of a Foursquare church plant in the area for some time. We will go by banana boat as it is 5 hours down the coast in the Pomeo district on the east side of our island of East New Britain. This area lacks medical care due to the isolation and difficulty of traveling there. We are very excited to have the Pastors take the lead in choosing the area as this is an answer to prayer for the people to take ownership of the ministry. We will be going on the “community-entry” visit next week.

Also at the end of February, the annual national Foursquare Pastors meeting is held in Goroka and Victor is planning to attend and then travel to Enga Province with Pastor Timothy Tipitap for a week to work in his clinic in the remote area of USK. Alex and I will stay here in East New Britain as Alex is back in school and it is easier for one to travel in the Highlands (see picture). Of course, that is all subject to our island airport opening up. It has been closed for four out of the last five weeks – yes, that is right, we are “land-locked.” To leave here now, we would have to take a boat to New Ireland and fly to Port Moresby and then out of the country.

Finally, we remain busy with Leadership Training. Victor is teaching the pastors about home churches and home-church based congregations. Next up, will be a series of teaching on the process of crisis intervention (see picture). We are also on the newly formed Foursquare East New Britain Province operational Board. We are helping the Province to set up an operations manual for the churches.

That is it for now. Please pray that our volcano will settle down and for the airport to open up again. We also need prayer coverage for the upcoming trip to Goroka and for the community-entry boat trip next week. We will be hugging the coastline the whole way and won’t have to do a big open seas crossing, but we are praying for calm seas nevertheless. We thank you very much for your support. One last thing is that Alex’s arm that was broken still doesn’t not have full range of motion - please mention this before our Father.

Blessings,

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

Attempt Great Things For God.
Expect Great Things From God.
William Carey

20081230 Our December Newsletter

2009-01-13T18:23:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-13T18:15:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-13T18:08:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-13T18:02:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-13T17:52:00.000-08:00

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

20080624 Tuesday Our June Newsletter!

2008-06-24T03:38:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-24T03:18:00.000-07:00

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

20080418 Friday Our March Newsletter!

2008-04-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends:

Good morning. We wanted to give you an update of our trip to the deliciously cool PNG Highlands. For our first week in the Highlands, we stayed with the PNG National Foursquare President, Timothy and Salome Tipitap in their home in Wapenamanda in Enga Province. It really was a blessing as we could actually sleep with the cooler weather than we are used to. We visited the U.S.K. Health Center overlooking the beautiful Tsak valley in the area and also visited the area haus sik (hospital) (see attached picture). At the end of the week, we drove to the provincial capital Wabag to visit with the health administrators.

We also spoke both in Pastor Timothy’s church and his wife’s Pastor Salome’s church. It is not unusual for many married Christian couples to have to individually pastor a church because there are not enough pastors to fill the need. This makes for busy lives. But we found the people open and hungry for the things of God and were privileged to see God move in powerful ways. I am always surprised that He will use us – we just have to be willing and available. At one venue, I was able to share about forgiveness and giving God time to work things out in our lives. At Pastor Salome’s church, Victor preached about the Great Commission and 6 people came forward to dedicate their lives to the work of world evangelism. It was wonderful to see the people committing themselves to do whatever God wanted so that His kingdom would move forward.

For our second week in the Highlands, we had to drive across four stunningly beautiful provinces (Enga, Western Highlands, Chimbu, Eastern Highlands) to attend the PNG National Foursquare pastor’s bung (meeting) in Goroka. There, we met many new and old friends (see attached picture). The bung was held at General Supervisor’s Pastor Kauga Balme’s Goroka Sunrise Foursquare Church where a recent church extension had been built. Northwest Church in Federal Way, WA previously and generously funded some of the extension and the facility looked great! While we were there, many pastors came to us there and formally invited us to their areas to do our combined medical and evangelism outreaches.

We returned from the Highlands to a drought here in the islands at the hottest time of the year. All the villages are out of water and so we are unable to wash clothes and have to haul water in our car for six pot-holed bumpy miles. It is physically very difficult.

On March 14^th and 15^th we completed our scheduled medical/evangelistic outreach to a very remote in the South Baining coastal area of Pomeo district here in East New Britain . After previously driving to the region for six hours to do a community entry visit, we decided to hire a boat and travel 3 hours and over 60 kilometers to the region instead (see attached picture). Driving there took us six hours and we had to cross rugged mountains and deep rivers to get there, so we took the shorter boat trip. We held the two day medical outreach at the old Mungou village aid post and the Friday evening evangelism service at the nearby Gar village where there is a new Foursquare church plant. We took 2 nurses, 2 worship leaders, 6 Pastors, 2 boat operators , medical supplies, life jackets, food and supplies, and additional fuel for the return trip. So including Victor, Alex and myself we had a very full boat. But, God provided a calm ocean and we followed the coast for the most part so it all worked out.

One of the PNG nurses, Jennifer, had a vision as we were traveling. As we arrived at our destination, she saw Jesus standing up in front of the boat in a white robe smiling. And along the coast were large angels celebrating that we were coming. This greatly encouraged the Pastors when she shared it later at the service.

We had asked God to point out the people He wanted us to talk to and to help us know what to say before we left. When we first arrived at the outreach , some of us began visiting with the group of children and Mommas that had come to see what was going on. One boy, about 10 years old, was sitting in the middle of the group and I sensed that I should talk to him. He refused at first to answer my questions in Tok Pisin saying “I don’t understand.” But I felt I was not to stop so I kept gently trying to talk to him and finally he just opened up and started talking to me. I noticed a open sore on his leg and told him if he came to the medical clinic I would clean and dress it. I felt I was to tell him that God knew his name and loved him very much. Then we had to quickly go set up the clinic so we left. Later I found out that his Momma had suddenly died 2 days before and he had been so upset the village didn’t know what to do with him. His father had died 2 years ago and he thought he was all alone. Isn’t that like God to reach out to the hurt and broken?

We saw many people. People from the surrounding villages, which included Gar, Mungou, Lat, Marc, and Merai, attended the outreaches. Some walked 12 hours just to come to the clinic. Between all of us, we saw 582 adults and children for medical care and we laid hands and prayed for many (see attached picture). All who attended heard and saw the Gospel of Jesus Christ “fleshed-out” before their eyes. During the Friday evening evangelism service, 26 people went forward to give their hearts to Jesus under the starry night. Many of those that came forward were people from villages very far away, and some were those we had prayed for at the clinic. What rejoicing we had. Victor spoke to the Pastors there about follow-up, water baptism, and discipleship for those who came forward so that these new little ones can learn and grow. Please pray for them. After the salvation call, many people came forward for prayer and healing – very powerful. Three ladies with cerebral palsy babies came forward and received commanding and healing prayer. God loves the PNG people!

Then it was midnight and we needed a bath. So the locals took us on a hike to a river and would intermittently throw rocks into the water to scare away the puk-puks (crocodiles). Alex made tree-sized shadows along the shore in the light of the kerosene lantern and the Pastors laughed and laughed as we quickly washed as fast as we could so we could get out of the water. But oh, did that “wash-wash” (bath) feel good! Then we returned to our village in the dark and tried to go to sleep as fast as possible as the house had many tenants which included rats. In the morning fresh rat droppings were all around our beds. We packed up and headed for our second day of medical clinic. We left that afternoon via boat and ran out of fuel before our destination so we were drifting in a current headed towards the smoking volcano. We prayed and somehow the operator was able to get the motor to run long enough on fumes to get directly to shore. It was God of course that helped us.

We thank you so much for your prayers. We believe that God continues to desire that we serve the people of the PNG islands. In addition to our medical outreaches, we continue to be very active in the ministry building projects here (such as the Bible School shower and toilet facility that Northwest Church funded), in Leadership Training, in the United Foursquare Women’s Ministry, in the planning and implementation of evangelism crusades, in preaching, and in the NGI Bible School planning and soon teaching, just to name a few.

We kindly ask that you will pray for the following:

Our next major medical outreach planned for Open Bay on the other side of East New Britain Island on April 18-20^th. We will hire a boat for the long sail and take an evangelism team with us to an area that is nicely suited for a church plant.

Our upcoming Leadership Training series for pastors and leaders. Biblical and Crisis Counseling will be covered and Victor will use curriculum from the King’s Seminary to teach the class. Please pray that God will anoint this class.

The New Guinea Island Foursquare Bible School planning for the next school year. A new fund drive is currently underway so that the Bible School toilets, showers, and dormitories will be completed before students arrive in February 2009.

We are very close to being able to order medications and supplies through the area medical store here in Rabaul. Please pray that we will continue to have good favor with the government, medical, and church community here.

The dust and ash from the nearby volcano has been especially heavy, and is now closing the airport and causing health concerns in the area. Please pray that God would quiet this volcano.

There has been a drought in the area for over a month now. Everyone’s rain water tanks are empty and food supplies are low. Please pray for rain.

We moved closer to town this past week where there is an actual water supply and more reliable utilities like power and phone.. Please pray for our transition and for the Malari family who kindly housed us during our first year here in PNG in Ralubang village.

Thanks again for your support and for sending us here. World evangelism is a team ministry and we are glad to be in service to the King with you.

Blessings,

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

Attempt Great Things For God
Expect Great Things From God
William Carey

20080416 Wednesday Our February Newsletter!

2008-04-16T01:37:00.001-07:00

Hello olgeta (hello “everyone” in Tok Pisin):

Our last medical outreach was a one-day outreach to the Kabanga plantation and surrounding villages in January 20th . It was a follow-up visit to an underserved area of East New Britain where we had previously held an evangelism crusade. We had something happen that was very significant. Five local nurses and medical workers from a local hospital, some of who were HIV/AIDS counselors, accompanied us on the outreach (see picture). They staffed most of the clinic and did some very important HIV/AIDS awareness teaching. We were able to share information and laughter and we saw the very hard-working people who were otherwise busy cutting and drying coconut for the market. It was good to see the medical ministry staffs almost entirely by PNG nationals.

A special memory I had of that particular day was when we were taking a break. I saw a little boy around the age of 5 slowly dragging his left foot along the ground. When I went to check him, I saw he had an infected big toe. He was a little afraid of me so I handed out some colorful stickers that Cindy had brought. All the bystanders crowded in to each get a sticker. They like to put it on their faces. As I was crouched down cleaning this tender toe, I felt a little hand stroke my hair from behind. Now, there wasn’t any way I could turn to see who touched me because I was concentrating on the boy. Even though we were outside in a large area, the children were packed all around me – I could barely move my arms to clean the sore. It was strange to be so moved by this gentle touching of my hair, but I felt like I wasn’t supposed to respond. Later, sitting on the ground and watching a skit being put on, I noticed the most beautiful perfectly formed miniature conch shell with a lavender interior strewn among the rubbish.. It reminded me of God’s heart. He is always moved by the heart that is reaching out to Him wondering and questioning much like the child who touched my hair. I pray that God will show Himself strong to this one.

Our village had a large funeral that we attended. The deceased was Pastor Komet’s father from the village we live in. Victor was called to see the man in the village just before he died. He rode with Pastor Komet and most of the family to the local hospital where he died. Victor was deeply moved by the care and love given to this elderly man by all of the family present and the hospital staff. Part of the family are Christians and part were not, so it was a traditional Tolei funeral complete with “dukduks” (men dressed in costumes who have asked the spirits of their dead ancestors to possess them – see picture) and a week of wailing and morning and the giving out of coils and coils of shell money. The heartbreaking part was the awful wailing of the people who have no hope yet.

Cindy and I went to the local hospital and distributed little packages to the labor ward (which is unlike any ward you could imagine) and prayed with some women. Then a couple days later, we went into the bush to check on a lady who was pregnant and I brought our Doppler so we could hear the baby’s heart beat. On the way home we prayed over a young girl named “Lucy” that had survived being struck on the forehead with a coconut. Many people often die as a result of a fallen coconut. We prayed hard and gave her some mild pain medicine, trusting all the while that God would heal her. She survived.

With regard to the pastor’s Leadership Training classes, Keith and Victor began a series in January on Spiritual Gifts which they finished recently. Victor handled the biblical basis and theology and Keith covered the practice of the spiritual gifts in the local church. The teaching was given at the newly completed Bible School classroom (see picture) and was well attended. We have Leadership Training scheduled through June already and the leadership here will participate in much of the teaching.

On a happy note, Alex’s bush cat had some kitties (see picture). On a sad note, though, a close friend Betty Bell and my Grandma Wagner died and their funerals were this past week.

We also wanted to let everyone know that Keith and Cindy Bickley have returned to the U.S. and we will miss them very much. We are praying for their re-entry into the American culture. We are grateful for all they did, both with us and for us, and we already look forward to seeing them again. As far as our future is concerned, we already have major medical outreaches planned through July. The regional and provincial supervisors here would like for us to continue to teach their Leadership Training classes and to be available to help the them in a variety of other ministry activities .

As we write this e-mail, we are in our second day in Mt. Hagen. Soon, we will be spending a few days with PNG Foursquare Timothy Tipitap in Enga Province. Then, we will be in Goroka at the PNG Foursquare national pastors bung (meeting) from 2/25-2/28/08. The PNG highlands are breathtakingly beautiful and the climate is great. Thank you again for your prayers, concern, support and love. We could not be here without you, and we are doing our best to represent you well.

Blessings,

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

20080215 Friday Our January Newsletter

2008-02-15T12:10:00.001-08:00

Dear Family and Friends:

For the first newsletter in the year 2008, we want to start out with some of the wonderful more recent things God has done.

He has protected us from:
· falling trees,
· falling metal sheets from roofs,
· angry mobs,
· raging river crossings,
· rascals (robbers),
· ocean crossings in small banana boats,
· airplanes with missing parts,
· innumerable earthquakes,
· malaria and,
· machine gun armed guerillas at jungle blockade checkpoints.

In addition, we have seen with our own eyes people healed of horrible eye infections, abscessed ulcers, and broken hearts after praying with them. We are witnesses to God’s Holy Spirit drawing people to Himself actively at work in lives. These are just a few of the supernatural things that God is doing here, just as He is supernaturally doing things in your lives. Isn’t He great?

We, Victor, Alex and I, and Keith and Cindy Bickley and Pastor Emmanuel here from East New Britain, went to the island of Bougainville for a medical outreach in the central area of the island called Nagovis (see picture). This remote area has been closed in the past due to civil war (the Bougainville Crisis) and the area we went to was the hardest hit with casualties. We flew to Buka, and after a one day delay, we crossed the channel in a banana boat and got on a truck and bumped along for about 100 miles into the jungle crossing 56 rivers (some had bridges – most didn’t). Because we went before some heavy rains appeared, the trip only took 5 hours. We were stooped, however, by some machine gun-armed thugs at the Panguna Mine “No-Go Zone” checkpoint who insisted we pay kina to them since we were not from Bougainville. We arrived just before dark and got situated in our bush house before darkness fell.

The PNG Foursquare Bougainville Provincial Supervisor , Pastor Dennis Lokonai and his wife Clara, had organized the building of a bush medical clinic in hopes of reaching out to their area. They lacked both medicines and medical officers. We brought two large suitcases stuffed with medicines and dressing supplies and a large garbage container filled with supplies and give-away items which we left for them to use after we were gone. Because of the transportation and weather delays, we were only able to have 1 and ½ days of clinic. There were two health officers, Margaret and Jocelyn (see pictures) who traveled quite a distance to help us staff the outreach. Most of the people didn’t speak Tok Pisin but rather their Tok Ples (village language) so we had to have pastors and elders interpret for us. Many younger ones had never seen white women before and they would stare, follow and run or sometimes cry if we got to close. One sick child I saw would not let me near her and finally I handed the mother the liquid medication and had her take the child outside and give the medicine herself. A remarkable older woman came dressed in her best. She wore a beaded necklace, her earlobes hanging low with large tribal piercings, and she donned a skin type close fitting cap complete with a tail that hung down her back (see picture). She had a chronic condition (emphysema) which we could not treat, so I gave her some vitamins – calcium, B6 and a few pain pills (Ibuprofen) for her joint pain. She became upset with me that I had given her too much. Even after I explained to her via interpreter that I was trying to be generous by giving her a few months supply knowing that she would not be able to get more medicine, she sat stiff and fierce. So, I removed the calcium from her hands and asked if she would be ok with the other medications. She sat and looked at the interpreter and he looked at me and made that universal face of “this is beyond me”. I prayed over her and she shook my hand and slowly left the clinic. I thought “ that didn’t go very well.” But the next day as we were piling in the truck to return home, she came quickly out of the jungle trail by her house and reached into the truck with a huge smile to tell me goodbye. I found out later that she was the mother-in-law of pastor Dennis.

There was a regional Pastor’s bung (meeting) going on at the same time and so Keith preached twice and Victor preached once. I was also given the opportunity to speak with Cindy about broken hearts and how our sin and the sin others do to us can really mess up our lives. Many people came forward for prayer afterwards. We were told that a lot of backsliders had been at that service and many had turned to God.

During our stay in Nagovis Bougainville, we bathed in a local river until it was too muddy due to the rain. So, when it was muddy, we did the next best thing and washed outside of our house in the dark for privacy sake just before going to bed. Yep, you lay out the water, soap, and then turn off your flashlight and start washing the best you can in the dark so no one sees you.

The last night there was a special thank you service. The Pastors thanked us by washing our feet. It was so humbling. We were thinking that we should be the ones washing their feet! Also, I think our feet were the dirtiest they have ever been due to the recent rain and mud. Seriously, the thick mud in the village kept ripping my sandals right off my feet and splattering mud everywhere. I had given up and was just walking around barefoot.

The return trip took 12 hours instead of five due to the heavy recent rain and subsequent swollen river crossings. We were seated in the back of a covered truck and were separated from the driver by a cargo cage. The windows were quite small and our baggage was strapped on the roof making the vehicle top-heavy. We could sense God with us, but it was disconcerting to have rushing water flow over the hood of the truck, rise up to the level of the windows. and seep into the back as we would move with the current. Some of the occupants of the truck looked a little green. Cindy and I moved from one side to the other to help counter-balance the truck as we encountered big river rocks. Of the 56 rivers, four were especially deep. Some trucks (not us – by the grace of God, we made it across on our own) paid up to 100 kina to be towed across these rivers (see picture). We gave God all the praise for getting us back to our base home in Buka just as it was getting dark. We were still able to climb into the banana boat and get to the other side of the passage to Buka before complete darkness. We had the additional bonus of sleeping very well that night.

Now we are preparing for a medical clinic outreach to Kabanga on Monday January 21. It is a remote area that will include 4 surrounding villages. It is a sort of follow-up after an evangelism outreach there 8 months ago. This area is so underserved that an elderly man recently died trying to get up to the road to catch a PMV (bus taxi) to get medical care. I believe he had a heart attack. So you see, it is a long way for them to travel to get any medical care. We will have up to three local registered nurses/health officers accompany us on this outreach. Two HIV/AIDS counselors from the local hospital (Vonopope) will also be present to do HIV/AIDS awareness teaching. A policeman from one of our congregations will also be present to do Domestic Violence teaching. We are finding that, more and more, local people are staffing these medical outreaches. God is amazing, isn’t He?

Thank you for praying for us and for the outreaches. Please pray for our upcoming trip to the PNG Highlands 2/17/08-3/1/08. The PNG Foursquare President Timothy Tipitap invited us to the area to visit Foursquare medical clinics and to share his vision with for PNG medical ministry. We will be with him in Enga the first week and then attend the national Pastor’s bung in Goroka the following week.

Blessings,

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

20071223 Sunday Our December Newsletter!

2007-12-23T20:33:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends:

We greet you in the Name of Jesus, the name above all names, along with all the new and growing believers here in East New Britain Province, PNG. Guess what? We prayerfully named the Medical Ministry “The New Hope Medical Ministry - Foursquare NGI.” The “NGI” stands for “New Guinea Islands.” Our heart’s desire is to share Jesus’ concern to restore every part of man – his personality, his health, his relationship with God – and to save him from ultimate death.

Last night at 11pm, we opened the Christmas box we had received from NWC and laughed with surprise at the Christmas tree and decorations. Thank you for remembering us and all the wonderful cards you sent. None of our Christmas things made it here in the shipment, so… we cannot express how special this is (see picture).

We wanted to give you an end of the year update so you can have a sense of how productive your prayers and financial support have been. Let’s celebrate what God has done and is doing together:

63+ children were examined and prayed for in a Ralubang village well-child check.
313 people were examined, treated, and prayed for in a 2 day medical outreach to the remote Lambom Island & Udam villages, both in New Ireland. All attendees heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
340 people were examined, treated, and prayed for in a 2 day medical outreach to the remote Ganai village here in East new Britain Province (see attached pictures above). We combined our outreach with an evening evangelism crusade and all attendees heard the Good News that Jesus brings.
Impromptu medical care has been given wherever we’ve happened to be (at home, along the road, at villages in the jungle, at remote schools, in town, after church, at the beach) that has included treatment for: head injuries (falls, domestic violence), infections (eye, skin, lungs, toes, insect bites, TB, tropical leg ulcers, boils, multiple fungal infections), dislocated shoulders, swollen extremities, and infertility etc.
We show the evangelism-based “Jesus Film” movie in Tok Pisin in conjunction with the medical outreaches. While we are at the villages, we encourage and pray for the leaders in the area.
We have preached and/or spoken at many area churches and other locations, including during youth services, giving our testimonies, doing child dedications, worship and prayer services, and communion. Many people have responded by coming forward for personal prayer.
Alex participates in children’s evangelism drama and skits and assists Keith Bickley with the dispensing of medications and general all around whatever is needed ministry.
We attend and participate in the monthly pastor’s meetings here, working closely with the Foursquare Regional and Provincial Supervisors.
At the Leadership Training class for pastors and leaders, we taught a seven week class on “Biblical Marriage”. Later, we co-taught a four week class with Keith Bickley on “False Prophets and Cults.”
Victor continues to be enrolled at the King’s Seminary in Van Nuys, CA as a distance student. He is completing his required Supervised Ministry credits in the field and he is almost finished with the Master of Divinity Degree Program.
Both the Governor of East New Britain and the Mayor of Kokopo met with us on World AIDS day here. They explained to us that churches are an important part of the government community development endeavors here. We shared the Foursquare Island vision with them and discussed our plans to partner with the government to deliver health care to the underserved areas here. We were well received and publicly acknowledged at the event.
Local Tuberculosis and HIV workers will be teaching at upcoming outreaches.
Currently, we are in the process of networking with the medical, government, and the church community here so that we can order from the East New Britain area medical store in Rabaul and thereby secure a long-term supply of medications and supplies, especially anti-malarial medications and childhood immunizations.
Local people are starting to ask to be a part of the ministry. This is a huge key. One young nurse from a local hospital said “I believe that God is calling me to be a part of the ministry”. A policeman we know wants to teach domestic violence awareness at the outreaches. We have had various pastors and others take over the wound care station during the actual outreaches.
After praying for direction regarding Bougainville, we received an invitation to go to the war-torn Bougainville island to attend a dedication and opening of a Foursquare Medical Clinic. We leave the day after Christmas for a 6 days and we will do a 2-day medical outreach while we are there. This is exciting because the village is a remote, poor area that needs everything we can find to bring.

We have been here since early May 2007, and not including the month of June 2007 (when we returned to the U.S. for Victor’s mother’s funeral) we have been here now for a total of seven months. Many of you, however, have supported us since January 2007. We prayerfully believe God wants us to remain here in PNG through April of 2009. Would you consider extending your prayer and financial support? We especially need your continued prayer support. For example, there have been many times that we have been physically protected and I know it is because of your prayer support. Here is an example: the day before the Ganai outreach, a sudden and howling gust of wind tore through our yard and knocked over a tree ripping a metal sheet off the roof which hurled straight at Victor. The sheet fell and landed only a foot in front of him tearing a gash in a metal water container that was head level with Victor. I believe that God protected and spared his life in a miraculous way.

If you decide to continue to support us either financially and /or with prayer support, please let Mary Schell, the Mission’s Director of Northwest Church, know by January 31, 2008 so that we can plan accordingly. If we remain, we would like to continue our scheduled combined medical and evangelism outreaches and continue to oversee the growth of the New Hope Medical Ministry. Before we leave the PNG islands, it would also be ideal to have the medical outreaches be self-sufficient and staffed entirely by PNG indigenous people. We would also like to regularly sail to the more remote PNG islands to reach those bush areas. Also before we leave here, we would like to help the PNG island people complete all the necessary networking that a ministry like this requires. Finally, we also desire to continue our participation in children’s evangelism, as teachers at the Bible School and the Pastor’s Leadership Training Institute, as teachers in small home and village groups, and as general supporters and encouragers of the believers here in the PNG Islands.

Thank you for letting us be your hands extended to the PNG islands We love the people of PNG. Often during a prayer meeting the people here will pray for the people that have sent us and it is very genuine. They are praying for their brothers and sisters in America – they are praying for you.

Here are the current prayer needs:

Health and protection (bug bites, malaria, fungal infections and upper respiratory infections).
For local God-called PNG people to continue staffing the New Hope Medical Ministry.
Continued favor with the medical, government, and church community here as we continue to set up the necessary networking for New Hope.
Unity, spiritual growth, wisdom, and for keeping in step with the Spirit.
Increasing Tok Pisin language skills.
A friend of the heart for Alex (he is 12 years old).
Nathan, our 25 year old son, who lives in Seattle and is working as a Marriage and Family Therapist.
A chainsaw as the new one we just bought was stolen from what we thought was a securely pad-locked storeroom (they cut through a thick pad-lock to get to it). It was actively being used to help the churches here build a missionary house.
A boat to sail to and reach remote villages in the PNG Islands such as those in New Ireland, Duke of York Island, and other parts of New Britain Island. Regular outreaches to these areas have been something that has been on the Foursquare Regional and provincial Supervisor’s hearts here for some time now.
We are looking at alternatives to our current housing – housing that will allow us to be live here more securely long-term. (It has also been difficult to live in a fishbowl).
Lori’s grandmother is very ill and has just had a diagnosis of cancer – please pray for the family and for resolution of pain and healing.
Our upcoming outreach to Bougainville. We will fly to Buca on 12/27/07 and then drive in previously war-torn country for several hours before we arrive at the village. After we help dedicate and open the clinic and do a 2-day outreach, we will then drive back from the village to Buca and return on 1/2/08.

Be sure to check out the slideshow of our latest medical outreach to remote Ganai in East New Britain on this blog-site!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Blessings,

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

20071116 Thursday Our November Newsletter!

2007-11-15T20:38:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends:

It is hard to believe that it is November already. The tropical climate and being so near the equator means that every day is pretty much the same climate-wise. It is almost always sunny in PNG with sunrise at 5am and sunset at 6pm. It feels like a perpetual summer. We have had a busy and exciting month since we last spoke with you. Keith and Cindy Bickley and Victor and I did a “well child clinic” here in Ralubang (the village where we live – see picture) as a sort of thank you to the villagers for welcoming us into their community. (Currently, we are the only “white people” that live in this village.) We examined 63 primary school aged children and even some teachers and their families. We prayed and spoke to them about how much Papa God loved for them throughout the outreach. Later that same week, we were invited to do a children’s evangelism crusade for about 400 kids in a large school Primary School (Malacuna) located in the jungle. As a family, we did evangelism and discipleship skits, and Keith and Cindy did an evangelism puppet show. We brought a local Foursquare pastor to help with worship and prayer. It was so wonderful out in the jungle, under the shade of that huge tropical tree, as we listened to the many voices giving their hearts to Jesus. It sounded like beautiful music. Afterwards, we saw some sick people that needed medical attention.

Later in the month, as most of you know we were graced with a team of two ladies from our sending church - Mary Schell and Kathleen Norcross. With their help, we were able to do a United Foursquare Women’s (U.F.W.) Provincial Retreat that started on a Friday night and ended the next day (see picture). After the Friday night session, many women stayed overnight to pray and fellowship. Many area Foursquare churches were represented. The Holy Spirit was very present and powerful and many women responded for prayer and the desire to go deeper into the things of God.

On October 22, our team of seven sailed to a remote area of New Ireland Island and stayed in a village for two days called Lambom (see picture). We did a children’s evangelism program and presented “The Jesus Film,”(a Tok Pisin film based on the Gospel of Luke) that night. Although the movie started late and was 2½ hours long, everyone marveled at the Person and Work of Jesus and all stayed until the end. It was amazing to sit in the back and see even the smallest kids totally involved with the film. Many responded to the Gospel after the movie ended. At night-time all of us slept on small mats on the floor beneath mosquito nets. Four women were in one room and three men in the other. It reminded me of that children’s song, “There was four in the bed and the little one said, ‘roll over, roll over,’ and they all rolled over and one fell out….” We four ladies slept in the space of a double bed, but no one rolled out because all we wanted to do was to stay under the mosquito nets! We had seen a huge brown spider earlier that evening which was carrying what appeared at first to be a white biscuit under itself, but in actuality it turned out to be her large egg sack full of hundreds of baby brown spiders. The spider was on its way to climbing into our room to make her deposit before Keith sprayed her and Victor squashed her. The egg sack broke and hundreds of little spiders came pouring out which Keith also sprayed. So, although we were rather grossed out, we were grateful that Papa God was watching over us and protected us from a spider invasion.

The next day we crossed the bay in our banana boat (see picture) and held a day-long medical clinic at the Lambom Island Aid Post. Before we saw the patients, the outreach was begun with worship and a Gospel message followed by prayer all in Tok Pisin (see picture). It was so good to see our old friends and new ones! Later that afternoon, Keith and Alex went fishing and Alex hooked a large mackerel and Keith reeled it in (see picture). That was a real blessing because not only did the guys have a great time catching the large mackerel and telling the story about catching it, we also were able to have protein that night with our rice. Keith and Alex were dubbed the “protein procurement engineering” team. That second evening, we were able to pray over the leaders and elders of the Foursquare Church in there. They have endured much persecution and it was a great privilege to lay hands on them and pray and encourage them.

The next morning we packed everything up and traveled further up and around the south end of the island to an even more remote village called Udam. It took us about 2 and a half hours sail there. We landed where we could due to the rough surf and traveled by foot about 40 minutes through a single dirt jungle trail up to the jungle village (see picture). Local people helped us carry our supplies and it was quite grueling at times traveling over large unstable rocks near the water’s edge. I was praying for God’s angels to protect the team as we were tired, our feet were wet and the terrain was rough. Thankfully, God did protect us and no one fell or hurt themselves. Then after a potty break, brief snack of various fruits, we set up for a half-day afternoon medical clinic. After worship and prayer, Pastor Keith explained about Papa God’s great love for the them in Jesus Christ. Then, we began the clinic. We were able to see 183 people in that long, hot afternoon (see picture). Later that night, “The Jesus Film” was shown and many responded to the truth that God sent Jesus to reconcile the world to Himself. Cindy and I went with a couple of local ladies and bathed in a cool jungle river under a full moon. I didn’t realize until later that the two women were guarding us from poisonous snakes that come out at night. One lady walked in front of Cindy and one lady walked behind me waving and looking around. The night was full of bright stars and God’s beauty. Early in the morning I woke up and saw the bright Morning Star – you know the star that comes out in the darkest part of the night, just like Jesus who is the bright Morning Star that comes to us in our darkest times with His light. Well, during early dawn it was so unbelievably beautiful that I went out and sat in the corner of a field not far from where we were sleeping and was quietly singing worship songs to God. As the dawn slowly came up, I opened my eyes and saw 7 men walking in different areas in the same field and all of them were worshipping and praying. It was so moving to see men praying to our God as the dawn light came across the field. We packed again, leaving our mats and what we could spare for the people there as they have very little. After a breakfast of tea and biscuits, we were able to pray for the leaders of that area including the Udam Foursquare Pastor Emmanuel and his wife Kathleen and their baby Sharon.

At our departure from Udam village, the people helped carry our things back down to the beach and we were off back to Kokopo Town via our banana boat (see picture). We had brought along a barrel full of fuel for the trip but due to the rough surf on the way over we actually ran out of fuel on the way back. But because papa God watches over us and your prayers (we really sensed them), we were able to land at an area not too far from Kokopo Town and disembark there. We are so grateful to have been able to go on this trip and that Mary and Kathleen were able to come with us. Thank you. Cindy and I are hoping and praying to be able to return soon to strengthen the contacts that were made. I really wish you could have seen what we did. Little girls scrubbing blackened bottom of pans that were cooked over open fires with the white sand by the ocean. Young boys getting into their homemade canoes to paddle to school. Mary Schell laughing as she is chunking kids into the ocean. A young women telling us her desire to be like “Deborah” from the Bible. Kathleen Norcross as she is sharing stickers and smiling at all the young people as she cleans their wounds. Leaders calling out to Papa God to move with power and change lives and hearts. Small children glued to “The Jesus Film” movie listening and not moving a muscle. The Holy Spirit drawing people to the Truth of God’s Word.

A few days after Mary and Kathleen left, Joan Allen came. Joan was a great help and shared her life story at a remote jungle church and many responded. One little girl in particular, name Antonia, was sobbing and sobbing after Joan related her heart’s desire to know her natural father when she was a little girl. This young girl came forward and gave her heart to Jesus and now is getting to know her heavenly Father who will never leave her or forsake her. Joan also spoke at a United Foursquare Women’s Provincial meeting that represented many different local churches. She was a real encouragement to trust in God as He is faithful and trustworthy. It was wonderful to both watch God flow through Joan and watch the women receive the encouragement that they so need.

Again, we would like to thank you all for your prayers and support. We also would like to give Northwest Church a special thanks to helping us with the medical outreach to New Ireland Papua New Guinea.

Blessings,

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

20071116 Thursday Our October Newsletter!

2007-11-15T20:23:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends;

Boina Malana (or, “Good Morning” in the kuanua mother tongue here). We had a 6.9 earthquake last night that lasted for a while. We were on our way out of the house when the rumbling and shaking finally stopped. The house was bending and bowing, and the window frames and louvers were really shaking. We praise God because there was no damage to the house or the water tank. One of our alarm clocks woke us up this morning; that is, one of the many local roosters who has been crowing every 10 seconds since last night, I am sure. And yes, believe it or not I actually counted the seconds between crows. We have been up early as Pastor Komet and Regina, who live below us, recently purchased a Dyna truck to take the villagers to the market and back. The whole village is happy and you can hear laughter all up and down the road as people come to get on the truck for its maiden voyage. Last night, Victor was asked to dedicate the truck which is named” Press On,” and pray for the driver Bernard. Pastor Komet and Regina invest their lives and heart in “pressing on toward the high calling” by buying the truck to use both practically for the village and for any other kind of kingdom work (see picture). The small fare proceeds will go toward the church, and outreaches. We’ve never met anyone like them.

Victor and I had the privilege of dedicating Pastor Lebet and Pastor Mary’s granddaughter “Victoria” here in Rallubong earlier this month. We did not realize the family connection when we were called up to the front during the service. We are still learning all the connections between people here. It really can be quite complicated, until you begin to learn the culture more.

We have seen God do amazing things. An example is Ruby. Ruby is a young single teacher that teaches in a poor very remote area. She was sitting in her house one day and a rascal (bad person), shot a gun into her house and the bullet grazed the top of her head leaving an open cut on top of her head. The wound became infected and the infection moved down into her right eye and filled her eye socket so that her eye was shut. By divine appointment, we met her at her house. Well as God so often arranges, we had to go to town and Victor found some oral penicillin and a topical ointment that could be used for both the wound and directly in the eye. We went back to Ruby’s house and I put the first dose in her eye and had to use a clean leaf to apply the medicine on her head wound. All the children were gathered around watching and talking. Then we laid hands on her and asked God to multiply the effects of the medication and heal her and show her how deeply He loved her. Then we left. A day and a half later we were at the airport waiting for Keith and Cindy Bickley to arrive and a young woman came walking quickly to our truck and I didn’t recognize her until Victor noted that it was Ruby. Her eye was completely healed and I couldn’t even see her head wound. I was so blown away. I don’t care what kind of medicine you give – only Jesus can heal like that. It was so wonderful! We talked to her about Papa God who loves and healed her and she was smiling and nodding her head. She knows that God alone healed her.

A couple weeks ago Cindy Bickley and I walked about a mile into the jungle to visit a man who we suspect is diabetic. I brought my glucometer so we could check his blood sugar. He wasn’t at home but the group of small houses where he lived had a lot of people and we were able to visit and pray for them. I could do that every day. The only difficulty was that on the way back we had to pass through a group of drunk men on the road. I had to take my umbrella down and hold it like a sword and we did a lot of heart-felt praying for protection as we safely and quickly walked between then.

Alex, our 12 year old is doing well and slowly adjusting (see picture). Just the other night, I sent him out to scatter food scraps for the chickens and free range pigs (the local village garbage disposal units), and he never returned. Victor and I heard scattered laughter at the back of the house and we saw Alex wrestling with two of the village boys that I think he had been chasing. Today, we are going to the nambis (the beach), to rest and play. It is an odd thing to swim in the ocean and watch a live volcano smoking across the bay.

We went to Pastor Leonard and Martha’s fellowship they began near a village called Ganai out in the bush (see family picture). Keith and Victor prayed out a young man named Jonas to pastor a fellowship there. Jonas is planning to attend the Bible School when it starts again in February 2008. We all had an opportunity to share at the service, and we all celebrated how the Spirit of God is moving mightily here in the islands of PNG. We plan to do a medical outreach in the Ganai area soon, and we are praying that God’s outreach there will accompany evangelism and ultimately church planting as an integrated activity.

The New Guinea Island Foursquare Medical Ministry continues to move forward here. We are continuing to network and partner with the both the political and medical community here, especially the administrators and the directors of the medical services at the local hospitals. Together with the Foursquare Regional and Provincial Supervisors, we have prayerfully planning for about 10 medical outreaches a year which will emphasize evangelism. Specific outreaches (including the one to the Lambon Islands in New Ireland with the Northwest Church team this October) have already been scheduled through July 2008 and most of them will require us to sail there. Some smaller local land medical outreaches will be scheduled as well, which will include HIV and TB (tuberculosis) teaching and training by the local hospital officers in charge (OIC) of these services. Domestic violence teaching will also be scheduled as well. Plans for the shell of the Medical Ministry Center building hub, which will be built next to the Bible School, are almost finalized as well (see the attached .pdf file site plan at the village of Birar). In all this, we do not presume to know how to do what the Lord has called us to do. So like Solomon in 1 Kings 3:7-14, we are cleaving to the Lord and depending upon Him for wisdom. Thanks so much for your prayers in this area. We can really sense them.

We thank you again for supporting us – for your prayers, your giving, and your relational support. We are you extended to the people of the Islands of Papua New Guinea!

Blessings,

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

20070907 Friday Our September Newsletter!

2007-09-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends:

Can you believe that it has been a month since we talked to you last? I’ve had some people ask what our typical day looks like so I thought I would briefly describe one. The Village wakes up at about 5:00 a.m. not too long after you can hear the 5:00 a.m. plantation bells ringing for the workers to get up. Sort of a communal alarm clock. Of course, it never really was that quiet during the night as the jungle is full of indescribable sounds of tropical birds and animals and the occasional coconut that crashes to the undergrowth unexpectedly. The sun is officially cooking at about 6:05 a.m. We are on a hill of sorts, so any breeze that goes by filters through our open fly screen. We get up, look out, and yep another clear hot day ahead. We eat breakfast together and then Alex and I start school and if Victor has meetings or needs to get supplies for the bible school, we send him off with: bug spray, water, and an emergency kit . We are back together mid afternoon. Alex plays with the village kids (see picture) from about 5-6 p.m. and then the sun goes down every day just after 6:00 p.m. and I am cooking up vegetables, that I may or may not know the name of, that we eat in coconut milk over rice. It is the “in-between” times that things really happen. The surprise visits from people when you have to greet them in your night gown, but thankfully they don’t realize it. Or the pastor that shows up to talk right as you were leaving to go somewhere. Or the swarm of bees that are in your house that need to be encouraged to evacuate. Or the day you wash clothes and get into the container because it is just cooler and a group a people appear out of nowhere to watch.

A few weeks ago we had a spirit of fear walk into our house. Victor and I took authority over it in Jesus' name and threw it out. A couple days later Victor preached here in our village about the Supremacy of Christ and shared our experience as an illustration and example of Jesus’ power over all. Later the head pastors (Pastor Mary and Labette) came to us and told us that they heard God speak during the service and that, for some time, they have sensed that the village has been under the attack of the spirit of death (fear, and illness). More people were sick then they could remember and people were afraid. A young mother recently died after eating a lime she bought from a man who deals in witchcraft and the people were uneasy. Well as you know, we have been frequently sick (we are well now), as have Komet (see picture of Komet voting at the recent elections) and Regena and their family living below us, so we spent time talking and encouraging Pastor Mary and Labette and praying with them. It was a wonderful time of sharing and reminding each other how great our God is and that nothing is impossible for Him.

The Wednesday morning marriage/pre-marriage counseling classes we teach are going well. The attendance has been good. In the classes, we are learning just as much from the pastors about the culture here and how they view their world. They have really opened up to us. They told us that they were closely watching us when we came and they laughed and joked about what they thought about us initially. It was nice to see them relax and talk to us. That was very encouraging.

This weekend we are going to a combined church service in the Tavui #3 village in Rabaul. A combined service is a quarterly service that is attended by all who are leaders in the Foursquare churches here in East New Britain Province. Tavui #3 is in an area that has suffered from volcanic ash and it doesn’t have fresh water or gardens as the ash has killed a lot of vegetation and the usual greenness is instead dry and brown. The people don’t want to move or they will lose their tribal lands so they commute to their gardens remote from their village and have to carry water long distances. The new church is a spiritual light in the area and it will be a joy to see our new friends again. We have several large containers and will bring them fresh water.

The Foursquare Medical Ministry continues to progress here. We continue to share our vision with government health officials, and we have been well received. We have written up a proposal for the Medical Ministry Center which includes the overall Church of the Foursquare Gospel Vision, the Medical Ministry Center Missions, Vision, and Values’ Statements, a Five-Year Project Timeline, a Project Description, a Cost Breakdown, a Medical Ministry Center Site Plan, and Acknowledgements. Pastor Komet Malari gladly accepted the position of administrator for the Medical Ministry Center, and we are listed as the Foursquare Medical Missionary Supervisors. When the final drafts are ready, these documents will be available for viewing on our website and blog sites. We are planning a medical/evangelism outreach in October to the Lambom Islands which are part of New Ireland (see picture of Warangoi Haus Sik).

The Bible School construction is nearing completion. The roofing is now complete as is the exterior wood siding. The interior walling and molding is now completed. We will put the fascia boards and badge moldings in place soon and install the window louvers. The doors will be made and the interior will be painted in the near future. The kitchen will be furnished with appliances soon. We are in the process of designing an interior floor plan for the Medical Ministry Center building, which we have estimated will cost between 3,000 – 4,000 U.S. Dollars. We have already identified where the wood for the project will come from (a couple of trees in a nearby plantation), and groundbreaking is planned for October 2007. We are still searching and praying for the right land vehicle for the ministry.

Thank you for your continued financial and prayer support. We can really sense your prayers. We could not be here without you. You are so…......vital for all that we do here and we share equally in the fruit that God gives the increase for.

Blessings,

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

"Attempt Great Things For God.
Expect Great Things From God."
William Carey

20070724 Tuesday Our July Newsletter!

2007-07-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends:

“Apinun,” or Good Afternoon (at least here right now).

It’s about 4 p.m. our time here and I thought it would be a good idea to let you know that we are adjusting again. We invite you read some more and come visit our beautiful PNG life for a few minutes. So take your shoes off and think hot. Take a breath through your nose and you will smell; sulfur from the ongoing volcano eruptions in nearby Rabaul (last week there was a special bulletin to be careful because the volcano was venting poisonous gases - but truth be told, I didn’t see any change in anyone’s behavior), a little rancid fume of coconuts being dried in homemade driers to sell at the market, an occasional sweet smell of flowers and or ripening fruit, and the smell of something burning somewhere. You will hear; rooster’s crowing (24 hours a day), grass being cut down with hand held machetes, different voices talking and laughing, children playing, birds calling to one another, a baby crying, someone is singing in Tok Pisin, a bell or drum being hit to signal a village meeting, and a PMV (bus) loaded with all sorts of people bumping along with gears always shifting. You will see: shy groups of girls talking together, Mommas calling greetings to each other as they walk along, families coming back from tending their gardens loaded with ferns, greens, banana leaves and root vegetables. They are still able to carry small children and are so pressed down that they can barely look up or even raise a hand in greeting, and a few naked children that will wave with both hands and smile like a beam of light through both face and eyes. You sense: that this is not the western Greek thinking world that you are familiar with, that relationship is the key to the culture, that most hearts are open but have been hurt and let down, that the enemy has enslaved and crippled much of the government and people, that God’s heart is still to destroy the works of the enemy, and that He absolutely LOVES the people of PNG.

We had a difficult time with this second reentry. Victor is, naturally still grieving the death of his mom but is doing well now. We are progressing well in our Tok Pisin language learning. PNG has national elections every 5 years and it was at a peak when we came back. Historically being a tribal nation, the elections has caused unique problems as fighting and deaths do occur. We are and continue to ask God for peace over this land. Last week, the tally of the new 1st, 2nd, and 3rd preference voting system was completed. This system was implemented to help curb violence and now the winners are being named and not everyone is delighted with the new system. Because of the importance of the elections, the schools have been closed, and even a holiday was called so it has been difficult to continue momentum on some projects.

We continue to build relationships and meet pastors and other leaders as well as local people wherever we go. Every Sunday we have been visiting different Foursquare churches, preaching and praying whenever needed. Last Sunday we had a sweet time in Warangoi with Pastor John and his wife Mary and the congregation. It is about an hour drive from here and it was very pretty country. The worship was so great. Even the little pikininis (children) were singing out as loud as anyone. There had to be some angelic voices in there. Then, Victor preached and there was a wonderful response after the messages. We laid hands and prayed for those who came forward. Some were slain in the Spirit and I thought for sure they may have a head concussion because they went down so hard but God was very sweet and very present. After the service, I was able to meet the little boy that was named after Victor. Five years ago, Victor was in Warangoi on a short term mission and he felt led to pray over Damaris, a very pregnant lady from the church for a safe delivery. She went into labor shortly after the prayer and delivered a boy. Her husband Fidelius and Damaris named the newborn Victor because they “wanted him to grow up and be a man of God” (see picture: From (L) to (R) Damaris and Paul, Zebulun, Fidelius and 5 year old Victor, and Victor).

Today Sunday morning, we went to Tabui 3 in Rabaul to visit Pastor Martin and Helen’s church. They have suffered persecution from other local “Christians,” but have reconciled with them and the Holy Spirit was very present. I felt like I was suppose to say a word of encouragement so I told God that if that is what He wanted that He had to give me an opening. Then, Victor went up to preach and he called me up and said, “I think that your suppose to say something first,” so I was able to share what was in my heart and then Victor brought the message which was on encouragement - which I didn’t even know beforehand, so that was a wonderful time to be working together! Then, we were able to pray over those who came forward for prayer.

Together with Pastors Jonah Horis (the Foursquare Regional Supervisor), John (the Foursquare Provincial Supervisor), and Komet (from Rallubong), we will both be meeting with the Head Government Health official here in the East New Britain Province. The idea is to meet with him to establish a long term relationship and discuss some ideas on how we can partner with the Health officials here. On one hand, doing heath outreaches and educating the people here more on things like malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV will only decrease the burden the health officials have here already. On the other hand, the government may feel so inclined to provide us with antimalarials, mebendazole, and childhood immunizations, etc. on our outreaches once we meet with them and share our vision with them. Please pray for this important area and that the meeting later this week will go well. Also, please continue to pray for the boat we’ll need to do outreaches in the nearby islands of New Ireland and the Duke of York, just to name a couple.

We are already beginning to move forward with our first medical/evangelism outreach in August. Together with the national Foursquare people here, we sense an urgency for the medical ministry to be established soon. We are identifying and asking for a commitment from nurses in the Foursquare congregations here in the islands of Papua New Guinea to partner with us on our outreaches. We have been visiting the hospitals in Warangoi, Kokopo (Vonapope) and Rabual (Nonga Base) and have met many nurses and other medical staff while there. We have even been by the PNG AIDS National Council Voluntary, Counseling, and Testing (VCT) Center in Rabaul, and we plan to go to the one in Kokopo (St. Mary’s Centre) soon. So, the Holy Spirit continues to help us as we establish relations with the medical people of the PNG islands.

Thank you all who prayed for shipment to arrive (see picture). Only nine out of 142 boxes of cargo were damaged and were held up in Port Moresby. We inspected these boxes on our return from the U.S. and, except for some chairs, there was only minor damage. The rest of the shipment is due in on 7/25/07. The secure storage space at Birar village (Keith and Cindy’s village) is almost done, and ultimately this is where the medications and supplies will be stored. In the meantime, one-half of the boxes are here with us, and the other half is being graciously stored at Pastor Mary and Labette’s house. These are the senior pastors here in Rallubong.

The Bickley’s returned to the U.S. in June for a short while, but plan to return in September. We look forward to their return. We miss them very much. In the meantime, we are meeting with the pastors once a week to continue leadership training. The pastors and the Bickley’s have told us that teaching on marriage would be good, so we are meeting with the pastors weekly and are teaching in this area with emphasis on premarital counseling. Teachings on Biblical and Crisis Counseling will also be integrated into this weekly training, especially in the exercises we will do with the pastors at the end of the meetings. The building projects are going well. The Bible School classroom is almost finished at the Birar village site, and the next project will be the building of the medical ministry center there (see picture). The plan is for the groundbreaking for the medical ministry center to occur at about the same time the Northwest Church team arrives in October. It has been amazing to see God at work as He guides the pastors and builders in His vision for the islands.

Finally, we have been given a heart for the youth here in our home village. After sharing our heart with the pastoral staff here, we are now working with the Rallubong church staff to start youth small-home groups. There are about 20 Christian (teen-age) youth here in the village, and so we are working closely with Pastor Komet and Regina to establish five host homes for the small groups who will meet twice monthly. We will be coaching (with Komet and Regina) the small group leaders once a month, and we will teach at those meetings as well. Please pray for this ministry to get underway without hindrance.

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

20070511 Friday Our May Newsletter!

2007-05-14T18:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends;

As you already know we are here in balmy, humid, and hot, but lovely PNG. From the time we left the airport in Seattle to the time we landed and up to now we have experienced every emotion known to man. We have lugged heavy suitcases all over Singapore and Port Moresby, but by the grace of God nothing was lost or stolen. In fact, no one in customs in any city did anything but wave us through even though we carried 3 times the amount of luggage as everyone else. I have found God to be endlessly kind. Keith and Cindy Bickley waited for 4 flights to come in before we did due to problems in Singapore and mechanical difficulties. But we met and made connections with a lady named Dorothy who works for the airlines and lives in PNG (Victor prayed over her in the waiting area of the airport about 3am for healing and she felt better and fell asleep, we later found out that she is a Baptist ), a catholic priest that works in the highlands, a wonderful nun from the Philippines who loved gadgets and we talked and shared about reaching out to those in need – she blessed us before we left. It was a crossing of religious boundaries and it was good.

We live in the village of Rallubong in the upstairs area of a two story house. Alex enjoys playing rugby football (see picture). The owners of the home, Pastor Komet and Regena are leaders in this community. Due to the tropical climate all the windows are screened for as much air flow as possible so while that is advantageous it is like a fish bowl and you hear all, and I mean all and they hear all. I am looking out the window as I type this and a slight breeze is bringing in the slight scent of Hibiscus, rice and drying coconut. Thirty feet away is a wall of palm trees, banana trees, a Lau Lau tree, a poinsettia tree and a lot of green that I haven’t identified yet. Then if you look closely there are quiet paths that lead off to other families that just are hidden in a few feet. It’s amazing that we can drive around and now identify roads through the jungle that just looked like a dirt path when we first came. At night the air is full of all sorts of sounds. Roosters crowing, rasping, clicking (actually that is the huge hissing cockroaches we have to spray with a can of bug spray in each hand),chirping, one bird actually sounds like a baby crying, and the geckos singing out to each other. But it is the people that capture your heart. I was trying to scrape out the meat of a coconut to cook vegetables in the other day and a whole group of villagers and children came to point and laugh. They can’t believe a grown woman doesn’t know how to do what they have been doing since they were five years old. I just laughed with them and said” Mi got easy easy”, which in Tok Pisin is;” I go very slowly”. They shook their heads in agreement, yes, you sure are slow.

We are learning so much. Did you know that that plastic tray under the hamburger (minced meat as they call it here), can double as a handy bed-side catch all after you bleach it? Or that tin cans are a hot commodity? I was washing my laundry on a board with a plastic brush and a bar of soap (although I think I was wetter with sweat than my laundry was), and I went to hang up the piece I was working on and by the time I returned someone had removed my soap and brush from the can and then they removed the can. Are you aware of all the uses of a wooden clothes pin? Right now 4 clothes pins are holding my one clock together that was accidentally knocked to the ground. It works, you just avert your eyes from the 4 strategically placed pins.

A few days ago some people from another village stole some cocoa from the people of our village. Apparently this has been a long standing frustration issue and so we just missed a group of men armed with bush knives and guns going to retaliate. One man was shot twice through the arm. Victor was able to pray over Pastor Komet before he went to try to be the peacemaker. Later Pastor Komet reported that as he and other men took a stance for peace they could sense God’s presence with them. The whole area was uneasy and fear in any language or culture still looks and feels the same. By the grace of God. The police became involved and there wasn’t any more violence. This tests the very heart of the Christians. Will they follow the way of Papa God or will they revert back to the culture of retaliation.

We met a lady who was trying to get herself and her family to the highlands to reunite with her husband who worked in the mines. I saw her standing not too far from me and motioned for her to come sit by me. She practiced her English and I practiced my Pigin. Her name is Jenny. She had 5 daughters and the youngest was only a month old but looked so small that I would have guessed she was only a week old. She began talking of her frustration and it was a opportunity to talk and lay hands and pray over her. God was so present. Please pray for her.

We helped Keith and Cindy Bickley put a 3 day evangelistic outreach in a village of Kabanga this last Friday, Saturday and Sunday (see pictures). It was by the ocean and we had to travel several miles through some "hard-to-believe" rut infested roads. It is so dark without electricity and then in the jungle that it seems you are on another planet. Then a generator was turned on and 2 lights shone out before the stars and moon rose overhead. I wish you could see what I have. People hungry for God. Coming forward for prayer. How the Father’s heart loves them. On Saturday Alex helped with the puppets (see picture) and Victor and I briefly spoke to the kids. But on Sunday I was able to teach a group of kids Jesus loves me in sign language and look at them and tell them Papa God loves them. Keith preached a great sermon that reminded me of Pastor Steve. Then Victor and I spoke briefly and then they prayed for us as most of you know we have been physically suffering; Victor with 20-30-festering weeping bug bites that were trying to turn into leg ulcers that he got the first day we came and my heat rash that covers my arms and keeps trying to spread. But then the most wonderful experience we’ve had there was a water baptism for those who had given their hearts and lives to Jesus. Cindy and I got to help baptize them in the ocean while the other believers sang praises on the shore (see picture).We were split into teams of two. We had the liberty to lay hands on them and pray our guts out. It was so awesome. It was worth all the problems just to be a part of them dedicating their lives to the king of Kings. I pray that I will get to do that again. I love baptizing.

Well I could go on and on but I know that your lives are busy also. Please write to us if you want. It’s so good to hear from home. We found Focus on the Family on our short wave radio last night so that was exciting. Please pray for our oldest son Nathan as he is graduating from SPU in June and we are not there. We have a lot of important decisions that are coming up. Please pray that we will be spirit led and not need driven. That we will have the mind of Christ. For unity, endurance, for love, love, love for the people and the grace to absorb the language and culture. We love and miss you, may God reveal his truths to you in a deeper way.

Blessings,
Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

Attempt Great Things For God

Expect Great Things From God
William Carey

20070428 Saturday We Arrive in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea!

2007-05-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

At 9:30 a.m. we finally arrive in Papua New Guinea at the Tokua New Rabaul Airport (see pictures)! We are all well. It was so nice to see the Bickley’s again. On the way to Papua New Guinea (P.N.G.), we had two unexpected “overnight” layovers in both the Singapore and Port Moresby airports due to aircraft mechanical problems. Otherwise, our trip went very well. Customs in both Singapore and Port Moresby allowed us to pass through without any baggage inspection! Praise God for His help and thank you so much for your prayers.

From the airport, the Bickley’s drove us to our home in Rallubong village. We are staying on the top flat of Pastor Komet and Regena’s home. Their three children are Shelley, Graham, and Irene. Our flat has two electrical outlets and Alexander is so…….. happy to have his own room! There is running water and we even have a flush toilet! On our arrival to the house, we found some start-up groceries and tuna sandwiches in the kitchen area all courtesy of Pastor Comet and family and the Bickley’s. We thank God in all remembrance of them.

This week’s schedule is an adjustment week. We will be welcoming Paul and Shari Kiffe soon and will be helping with a marriage and family seminar later in the week. Next week, we will be participating in a three-day evangelism crusade at a beach village. Alexander will be speaking and performing puppetry in an evangelism skit for the children’s crusade. Lori and I will be giving our testimonies and helping in any way we can. The leadership Training Institute is currently covering marriage and family counseling for the next few weeks. In addition to helping with the curriculum that is already in place, Lori and I will share our own experiences with marriage and counseling as the Holy Spirit directs. Victor may even share some of the King’s Seminary curriculum on marriage and family counseling with the pastors. Thank you all again for your prayers and support.

Blessings,

Victor, Lori, and Alexander Obregon

Attempt Great Things For God

Expect Great Things From God

William Carey

20070405 Thursday Our Shipment Leaves and Our Visas Arrive!

2007-04-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

Our shipment left for P.N.G. today and our visas arrived today! Praise God and to Him be all the glory!

The purchased prescription medicines from Blessings International (Tulsa, OK) and the medical supplies and medicines donated through Northwest Church (Federal Way, WA) and from several outside sources, including Cardinal Health (Auburn, WA), Providence International (Lacey, WA), Northwest Medical Teams (Tigard, OR), and Cost Plus Pharmacy (Tacoma, WA) were included in our shipment.

We rented a 17 foot U-Haul and filled it with our personal belongings and supplies and drove down to MacMillan-Piper, Inc. Container Freight Station in downtown Seattle where we palletized everything. We used a total of six pallets weighing 2320 kg. (5115 lbs.).

Shortly after we began palletizing our shipment, we received a phone call notifying us that our three year recurring-entry visas to P.N.G. had arrived. When we arrived home, we looked in our passports and confirmed that our visas had finally arrived!

Thank you all for your prayers and support regarding our shipment and visas.

We will keep you posted.

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

20070322 Thursday The Obregon Family 3/07 Update

2007-04-09T13:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all," (Philippians 1:2-4).

Thank you all, for your prayers and support for the New Guinea Islands. It is difficult to express the emotions of the last several weeks. We are humbled by God's care for us through you. We are trying to keep in step with the Holy Spirit as we tie up loose ends and details here in the U.S. before we go to P.N.G.

Here is our update:

We are still waiting for our visas. Please pray that our work permit and letter of approval will be released to the P.N.G. Embassy in Washington D.C. soon. Now, the bottleneck appears to be in the P.N.G. Department of Immigration. We will book a flight as soon as we receive our visas.

Many people from Northwest Church generously donated boxes of medicines and medical supplies. Then, volunteers gave an afternoon to sort and pack them for shipping.

Recently, some friends gave an afternoon and helped us sort and pre-pack about half of the original two truckloads of donations from several sources, including Providence International, Blessings International, Northwest Medical Teams, Cardinal Health, and Cost-Plus Pharmacy Tacoma.

Our home sold and we moved out on March 9th. We were overwhelmed when over ten families, even some that didn't know us, offered us a place to live. We now have a list of these families on our fridge. As we look at the list, we ask, how can this be that so many care for us? We can only answer that it is God.

An anonymous donor donated $1300 specifically for medicines.

We had a serious incident occur that was completely out of control. After worshipping with a close friend, we found that God had completely resolved the situation. Worship is a key to our deliverance.

We have had constant daily problems come up and everyday God consistently takes care of them one by one. Thank you for your prayers.

Finally, the King's Seminary continues to enroll Victor in a required Ministry Practicum even though we are not in P.N.G. yet.

Please continue to pray that our visas will be secured soon. Kindly let us know how we can pray for you also.

Blessings,

Victor, Lori, Nathan, and Alexander Obregon
Attempt Great Things for God.
Expect Great Things from God.
William Carey