Solomon Islands District Newsletter (Volume 4, Issue 8)

Solomon Islands District

NEWSLETTER August 2021 Volume 4, Issue 8

Inside this issue:

Ministry Trip to East Areare After a successful ministry trip to North Malaita last month by Envoy Wency Ramo’oroa, Majors Robert and Vanessa were scheduled for a ministry trip to the east coast of Malaita this month.

This trip was eagerly anticipated by the Moscom congregation, who were looking forward to seeing the District Officers following the loss of their congregation leader, the late Miriam Panai, in February.

Travel to East Areare is a long and remote journey by sea that is difficult to plan, due to the infrequency and unreliability of domestic shipping schedules and very limited mobile cover.

This proved to be the case with the intended vessel, Mala Mai Mei, scheduled to depart on Tuesday, 17th August. The ship was cancelled the night before due to a last minute charter to transport a dead body to another province. The same ship was rescheduled for Thursday, 19th August, but was

again cancelled the morning of departure; this time because of maintenance issues. With no clarity about the Mala Mai Mei’s readiness to sail, an alternative pathway was sought

on the Gulatatae, which was scheduled to depart Honiara the following Tuesday evening.

No sooner had these change of plans been confirmed, Major Robert came down suddenly sick making him unfit to travel,

resulting in the decision to send another ministry team to avoid disappointing Moscom Fellowship from missing out on this anticipated visit. Envoy Wency Ramo’orora willingly stepped into this space to accompany Festus Ganiomea on this trip. They successfully departed from Honiara on Tuesday, 24th August, arriving in Moscom 24 hours later.

Over the following two days they conducted Soldiership Classes with six recruits who were enrolled on the Sunday, along with the dedication of five children and marriage of three couples. The Sunday Service was joined by members of neighbouring SDA and SSEC churches who witnessed these Salvation Army ceremonies and were deeply blessed by the message—’Built Up in Christ’.

Despite the loss of Miriam, the congregation continues to grow under the leadership of Peter and Susan.

More Soldier Enrollments

2

Reusable Sanitary Kits Handover

2

10th Anniversary Fundraiser

2

Newman Legacy— Gateway Corps

3

Newman Legacy— Honiara Corps

3

CRC Support

3

Personal Reflection

4

Special points of interest:  27 New Soldiers  Women’s Dignity  Fundraising  Community Care  Legacy Funds  Church Partnership

More Soldier Enrolments Last month, the Solomon Islands District celebrated the enrollment of 39 new Soldiers from Gateway Corps and Kafomauri New Opening. This month, a further 27 new Soldiers were enrolled from Rauai New Opening and Moscom Fellowship. These newest members of The Salvation Army reflects the growth and development currently being witnessed across the Solomon Islands, contributing to a vibrant mission and ministry that is serving the needs of the most vulnerable through their village churches. These new Soldiers have embraced the ‘Heart to God—Hand to

Man’ philosophy that characterizes the work of The Salvation Army and see their enrollment as much more than passive church membership, rather “a radical call to action against the enemy of our souls.” Despite their own life challenges their active desire and willingness to serve others as “a good Soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3) is a significant expression of their identity as a part of The Salvation Army, putting their faith into action; living to transform the world around them. It is exciting to see this passion for mission emerge through The Salvation Army Solomon Islands!

Reusable Sanitary Kits Handover afford or have limited access to sanitary products. These ladies have generously contributed their time and resources while living and working in the Solomon Islands to respond to this need by improving the health and dignity of local women.

Over the past few years, Major Vanessa has been involved with a group of expat women who have been engaged in making and distributing reusable sanitary kits for vulnerable women in the Solomon Islands who either cannot

project, that will now include the participation of The Salvation Army Home League ladies alongside the continuing group of expat women.

Together, they will work to ensure these reusable sanitary kits reach where they are needed most.

With the high turnover of expat women and the desire to see this vital service continue to empower local women, the group selected The Salvation Army to take on the responsibility for this project.

This included the handover of sewing machines and materials purchased by the group to support the continuity of the

10th Anniversary Fundraiser In the lead-up to the 10th Anniversary Celebration weekend in November, Honiara Corps has been engaged in a number of fundraising activities to offset the cost of these celebrations.

One popular form of fundraising in the Solomon Islands is a kind of variety concert where church members bring contributions of cooked food that is divided up onto plates for sale during an evening of music and dance items. While the audience enjoys the food and performances, items are interrupted with offers of money for an encore, a photo or other requests made of the

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performers, adding a lot of fun and laughter to the evening. The funds raised at this event contributed $2,642 SBD to the overall fundraising effort, with a later $1,000 SBD being donated by Solomon Motors Ltd, when photos of the evening were posted on Facebook.

Honiara Corps is taking the lead in the fundraising for the hire of the venue, with the village churches engaged in their own fundraising activities to cover the cost of fares for these congregations to travel to Honiara to share in this momentous celebration of ten years in the Solomon Islands.

Solomon Islands District

Newman Legacy - Gateway Corps The Solomon Islands District is very blessed this year to receive a grant from the USA Eastern Territory via PNGSI Territorial Headquarters to support local Community Care Ministries. This grant was allocated to village churches across the District, empowering them to provide

practical care to vulnerable people in their areas of ministry. Gateway Corps packaged up food and personal care items for their Home League to deliver to the elderly and widows living in nearby Kolofi Village in North Malaita, which they identified as a place of high need.

After receiving their parcel, an elderly couple expressed their deep gratitude to The Salvation Army for this practical care to people in their area. The photos provided by Gateway of this ministry in action show the joy of both givers and receivers of this generous grant provided

by USA Eastern Territory.

Newman Legacy - Honiara Corps The Community Care Ministry Team from Honiara Corps began assembling 50 personal care packages and 30 packs for children from the Newman Feeding Legacy funds for distribution to victims of domestic violence staying at Seif Ples (Safe Place) and the Christian Care

Centre in Honiara. These packs will be delivered along with bags of rice to provide much needed assistance to these under resourced programs. Domestic violence and sexual abuse in the Solomon Islands is epidemic and services like these are very limited. The support these funds will provide are certain to be an enormous blessing to those seeking refuge from violence. The ability to be able to assist in this manner is facilitated by the internationalism of The Salvation Army that gives access to resources for mission and ministry in developing countries like the Solomon Islands.

CRC Support While preaching at the CRC Graduation Program last month in Henderson, Major Robert was greeted by Pastor Paul from the CRC Church in Ngalifalisi in Falaleka, Malaita. Pastor Paul sought a follow-up meeting with The Salvation Army before returning home to discuss how his church can support The Salvation Army New Opening in his village. Pastor Paul is good friends with congregation leader Seth from The Salvation Army and is very happy for his church to be serving alongside this new congregation. His kingdom perspective and heart for mission is inspiring, as is his desire to be

Volume 4, Issue 8

supportive of Seth in his ministry and leadership role. At present, this support also generously extends to the shared use of the CRC church building while the small Salvation Army congregation works on the construction of their own. While the CRC and The Salvation Army churches worship together in the village, they each understand that God has placed them alongside each other for a reason and are committed to discovering their respective mission roles within their shared community. Pastor Paul is a true example of a partner in ministry and a blessing to The Salvation Army.

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Support Needs:  Building funds for new Officer Quarters: You can support by donating funds to contribute to the construction of Officer Quarters at our village churches in the provinces.  Purchase of furnishings for Officer Quarters: You can support by donating funds to purchase furniture and appliances for Quarters at each of our village churches.

The Salvation Army Solomon Islands District Officers - Majors Robert & Vanessa Evans PO Box 323 Honiara, Solomon Islands

 Purchase of additional equipment for SAES: You can support by donating funds to purchase a deep freezer to store food for Emergency Services and Disaster Relief.

Please contact Major Robert Evans at robert.evans@png.salvationarmy.org for more information if you are able to help with any of these needs.

Phone: (677) 30344 Fax: (677) 30344 Mobile: (677) 749 4524 Email: solomon.islands@png.salvationarmy.org

Prayer Points:

Website: www.png.salvationarmy.org

 Sponsorship for construction of Officer Quarters  Land for Honiara Corps  New Envoy and Opening Applications submitted to THQ  Leaders & Nominees Training Weekend in September  Preparations for 10th Anniversary in November

Personal Reflection…

This month has been a time of ups and downs, a time of relying on God and knowing that He is there and that no matter what I face He knows better than I do. Rob and I recently were planning a trip to East Areare to visit our Moscom Fellowship, which is a 24-hour boat trip from Honiara to the east coast of Malaita.

We had purchased our tickets to go on the Mala Mwai Mwei on the Tuesday which was cancelled and then on the Thursday our trip was cancelled again.

We then planned for the following Tuesday on another ship, however, Rob became extremely ill on the Friday and there was no way we would be travelling.

We were fortunate that Wency went on our behalf.

As I look over the last week and a half, I realise how much I rely on Rob for emotional and physical support, seeing him sick was a reminder that I need to

continue to rely on God for those things.

I was also reminded of Psalm 121, “I look up to the mountains, does my help come from there?

My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth!”

This was certainly one of the down times this month.

easy in the midst of life to focus on the things that get me down, however, I am becoming more and more grateful, aware and acknowledging that great things are happening not only in our ministry but also in my own Christian walk.

The up side of this month has been the amazing things that God is continuing to do here in the Solomon Islands. We have had a total of 27 soldiers enrolled, 3 weddings and 5 dedications as well as many of our congregations have been utilising and caring for their communities with the help of the Newman Feeding Grant that we received. This type of engagement across the Solomon Islands is what excites me, seeing our village congregations wanting to minister to others. The congregation members in our churches really do live out the motto “Heart to God, Hand to Man”. It is so

Greater things are yet to come, Greater things are still to be done in this Country.

Major Vanessa Evans