Port Vila School News.

STUDENTS.
While i was in Vila, we received word that 2 more of our students were accepted into vocational training. Nerrie will be training in tourism at Epule college, Talom has been accepted into construction at INTV technical college. Some of you may remember Talom from North Tanna school, where he started his education many years ago… He has been in our Vila school the last 2 years preparing for technical college and we are so proud of him as he continues into a trade. We had already received acceptance for 4 more of our year 9-10 students for external training this year.

Staff at our Port Vila school… Our Port Vila school is flourishing. We have 220 students on the books, and have had to add desks to some classrooms just to fit everyone in. We welcome Winnie (white skirt, front row) to our team. Winnie has worked 11 years in christian schools and has just started with us this week. We still have immediate need for sponsorship funds for our staff in Port Vila.

SUPPORT REQUEST:
We need to find around $250 support per month for each full time staff member. We also have part time staff, and live in staff at different support levels ($80 - $160 per month).
Please contact us for information if you are able to help.


First day of library…
As was reported a few months ago, we have had the opportunity to prepare a beautiful library for the Vila school. Thank you to all of those who helped build the building, unload and build the furniture, provide, ship, sort and stack the books and now teach the students. This is a great facility that will allow us to build the comprehension skills of our students, giving them a much broader scope of opportunity for their future.

OTHER SCHOOLS: This year we have stepped back into more of a role of a facilitator and support organisation to the schools, giving more responsibility back to the communities and local management. This has required growing our network of support for each school, fostering long term partnerships and relationships between schools and supporters.

Bethany CCS, in North Efate has had very hands on assistance the last few years, with a small group of Christian supporters. This has included analysis of educational needs, resourcing to these needs and dramatically improving teaching standards. The group has now taken on the responsibility of raising finances for worker support and we are very thankful for their efforts. This is a school where intense involvement is already reaping results.

Our Tanna schools are still finding their feet. I have been able to talk with key people in the schools and provide advice and encouragement. We have sponsors for some staff and are building a relationship with a ministry who will be sending volunteers to assist in the future. These are still early days for our Tanna schools, and we need to keep their communities, staff, leadership and PTA in our prayers as we help them make the decisions that will shape the future of the schools in their communities.

It is a blessing to be able to continue working in Vanuatu. It felt strange to fly back for a quick ‘visit’ to my old home. I will be back again in May to visit Vila and Tanna and then with the whole family in July for 3 weeks. The July trip lines up with our next intensive staff training week in Vila (more news on that to follow)

remember to check our facebook page for micro-blogs…

Jonathan shared about the recent remarkable achievements at the Port Vila school. Also, he shared about the family’s move back to Australia to work from our base here. Jon has spent the past 10 years working in Vanuatu. We spent time in prayer with Jon, for him and Abi and the children.

It’s a big transition for them all. Jon is now at work, making improvements to our networking and running things in Vanuatu from here, through our team there. It is fantastic to have Jon’s capabilities and dedication, helping this ministry to flourish.

We also prayed for Kent and Ruth Hodge and the ministry of Christian Faith Institute in Jos, Northern Nigeria. This ministry is a Liberty Partner ministry. I am on the international board of CFI. We are praying for PROTECTION over Kent, who is there at Jos at present.

There is a large intake of young Islamic converts, all hungry to learn the Word of God and return back to their hometowns to start churches. Many thousands of leaders and churches have been raised up through Kent and Ruth’s work, throughout Nigeria and sub Saharan Africa. This is a CRITICAL TIME for Nigeria and neighbouring nations.
 
We took note of those at the meeting who have recently been away on trips and those who are involved in other programs. Sam Hines and Serah Hoffmann both recently returned from the Wototo project in Uganda. Nick and Heather Smith have just returned from India. Peter and Yolanda Watson recently returned from Kenya. Wal and Kaylene Korotkich are building a medical facility in Kenya. Dr Colin Kable is heading back to Vanuatu this weekend. Several others at the meeting are planning to be overseas ministering this year. It was also nice to have Terianna Tuprik (Abi’s sister) with us, visiting from Port Vila.
 
We enjoy the friendship of the wonderful people who PRAY with us, WORK with us, STAND with us and BELIEVE with us. We received a good offering for the work in the Philippines and also for Kent and Ruth Hodge. Generous gifts were given to others personally as well. Thanks to all who GIVE. God’s rich blessing be on you.
 
I shared about the last trip in 2011 where Helen and I ministered in EGYPT, CYPRUS, BULGARIA and TURKEY. Then we prayed for the trip to PHILIPPINES coming up this Thursday.
 
The new Miracle Haven Children’s Learning Centre is now under construction in Samar. I will be overseeing the first stage of the work with Mark’s help, during this coming trip. We’ll also make final plans for the refurbishments to the Gandara District Hospital. Our visit to Oriental Mindoro will be where we planted a great church, Bible School and children’s ministry program 20 years ago. There is need for us to complete a new church building in a neighbouring town, so plans will be made to get this work finished.
 
Liberty Nights are a great highlight for us. We enjoy the opportunity to get together and PRAY.  Prayer changes things.
 
Blessings also to those who were “with us in spirit”. We love you all.

‘Liberty nights’ are held in the Newcastle area every 2-3 months. If you would like to be kept informed of upcoming meetings, please CONTACT US.
 
Steve

The new home for children and widows completed in March last year is a wonderful facility. It has been kept immaculately and the children are still proud of their new home. We walked up the path and a small girl greeted us with “Welcome to our orphanage.” Children who have been saved from extreme poverty, abuse, child trafficking, abandonment and whose parents have been murdered are now in a safe home which offers Christ's love and a brighter future.
    

 
We met with the new Miracle Haven Community Ministries Board of Directors and discussed more ways we can assist them with sustainability projects. All were enthusiastic about purchasing another rice field, and setting up a fish farm to provide for the Children & Widows’ Home, community feeding program and other newly emerging ministries. The property has a small creek, perfect for fish farming. For a small outlay it can be dammed and produce over 10 tonne of fish a year. This will make it possible to increase the quality of food for our widows and children, at a saving of $600 every month. The Fisheries Authority will provide the small starter fish for free, and the fish will feed on the inner husk which is removed from rice at the time of bagging. A church member has a lot of experience with fish farming and will begin this work in the coming weeks. We are excited about the concept of helping the ministry towards more sustainability.
 

 
Some of you have met Ismael and Josephine Ramos, the Directors of the Gandara ministry, on their recent trip to Australia. Josephine is a registered nurse in the local hospital, and discussed with us some of the needs they have as the only Emergency Care provider in the community. The facilities are in quite bad disrepair, and they don’t have basic equipment. We toured the hospital (which is located right next to Miracle Haven) and spoke with the head doctor about renovating and equipping the maternity wing. The delivery room has very old, broken tiles, no windows for ventilation or air conditioning, and very old equipment. Of the about 50 babies who are delivered every month, many are born by candle light at night, so we are also planning on installing a large diesel generator which will feed both the hospital and Miracle Haven backup power during the frequent blackouts.
 
The long term vision of the Miracle Haven Community Ministries is to provide an increasingly effective base for refuge and outreach. The local pastors are enthusiastic towards growth and further church plants, however the area has no ministry training to help young people develop as the future leaders and pastors. We have evaluated the old run down facilities for what would be needed to get ministry training running, and are working towards a Church Leaders’ Training School starting in June 2013. The future of the Church is in the young people and with no available training the older generation of pastors is spread very thin (some lead 4 churches). Again this is a program they want, understand and need but have no means to make it happen without our assistance.
 
There is a lot to be done in support of this work, however we have come away excited about the future and comfortable that the people and processes are there on the ground to achieve a lot with our support, and to have a real impact on the community.
 
Jon

 
The new 5 acre rice field in Samar      Miracle Haven – home for 50 children, widows and staff

 
VANUATU. Our CCSV schools are anticipating several building teams, youth & school teams, strategic educators and ministry teams coming to help this year. The school in Port Vila has grown to 200 students, and there are many more children on the waiting list. Our focus this year is on spiritual growth in the personal lives of our staff and growth in their ability to impart that to the students, and equipping and training our staff so that they can be better educators. 
 
In January and February we hosted a 5 week holiday and educational visit to Australia by our Tanna schools senior administrator, Dorias Markson and his wife Joyce. Thank you to all their Australian friends who made their stay so remarkable! They visited tourist and historical sites in Sydney, Parliament House and other national sites in Canberra, Christian schools, several churches, coal, wind and hydro power generation systems in NSW & Victoria, the Victorian High Country, fruit orchards and factories, and dairy and other farming areas.
 

 
    Dorias with AJ from St Philips        At Steve’s family’s church in Victoria
 

CYPRUS. We will be in Cyprus again in late March, ministering to a large gathering of Filipino migrant workers at the International Christian Fellowship’s combined conference weekend. These dear friends are winning new people to Christ in great numbers. They are so alive in Christ, and so passionate about preaching the gospel. It is a great privilege for us to be a spiritual “Mum and Dad” to many of these lovely people. Continue to pray for Northern Cyprus (under Turkish Islamic control). It is so desperately difficult for the believers there.
 
POLAND. Our partnership with the churches in the Glogow region of Western Poland is a joy. We will be with them again at the beginning of April, with Pastors Mark and Roz Zaia from Macquarie Life church in Newcastle, sharing in a vital period of leadership and church planting training. Pastor Andrzej in Glogow whom we work with heads up a great church and leads the church planting ministries in his region. Poland has a population of 38 million people, and is the least evangelized country in Europe.
 
BULGARIA. Messiah Church in Stara Zagora is celebrating their 20th anniversary with a conference, 11th-15th May. We will be there, preaching and celebrating God’s faithfulness in this great church. Our friends Lyubo and Tanya who founded and lead the church now host Bulgaria’s only weekly National TV Gospel Broadcast, screened Bulgaria wide on the National TV network! It gives us great joy to see those we have supported flourishing. Lyubo and Tanya will visit us here in Australia in August this year.
 
Roger and Gail Dine, our dear friends from Taree, are moving to Bulgaria this month. They will work alongside local churches there in their ministries to desperately poor gypsies and other needy communities. Roger and Gail have invested a lot of time in Bulgaria in the past, and have now achieved being freed up to go on this term of full-time service in Bulgaria.
 

 
Roma in Bulgaria are desperately poor     Jesus makes all the difference!

 
NIGERIA. What a great joy it is to be helping Kent & Ruth get young evangelists and pastors trained and sent out into North Nigeria and other parts of the African continent. Our sponsors have enabled us to give very generous help to the Bible College needs in Jos. As well, last month we were able to purchase 10 motor bikes for evangelists and pastors Kent works with, who lead remote Christian outstations (photos to come!)
 
We love to identify key people in different nations and get behind them. They then do the work from a blessed position. We have seen incredible success in Belarus and Bulgaria, where in the past we have identified great potential and calling on particular leaders and invested into them financially and spiritually. Very large and significant soul-winning churches with community impact have grown from this.
 
Last Sunday, Pastor Anatoli and Nadia in Soligorsk, Belarus celebrated the 20th Anniversary of their great church. We sent the church a message of love and encouragement! We feel privileged to have been able to help them in their formative years, with ministry visits and financial support. Belarus’s doors are once again shut to most foreigners, so they need prayer.
 
This year is a year for 20th Anniversaries! In August we will celebrate the 20th anniversary of LIBERTY FOR THE NATIONS! Listen out for more news.
 
Steve and Helen

Students have filed in and taken their seats for their first day of school in our new premises.
After 2 months' solid work we have been able to complete the first 2 classroom blocks and the caretaker's residence as well as much clearing, a nearly complete toilet block and preparations for the kindergarten building.


The parents in the surrounding villages are excited for the new school and the opportunity it presents. In the past, most families in the vicinity can only afford to send 1 or 2 of their children to school, leaving the other 4-5 with no opportunity for learning and dramatically limiting their chances for a bright and positive future. The inaccessibility of other schooling options is a mathematical reality. The cost of fees, uniforms, materials and then transport to and from the city based schools add up to nearly $1000 per year per child - local wages are $12 per day ($3500 per year) and unemployment is over 90%. Most families have 4-6 children.

We are excited to have the opportunity to assist these families with affordable, means assessed fees and a solid education based on Godly principles and values and show God's love to the community through our school.

Whenever the opportunity arrises we will provide further community assistance including health and nutrition training, life skills, practical parenting training, etc. using the school facility as a tool to assist as many people as possible. We will be seeking opportunities for adult education and skills training, finding the right people to come and share their skills. Having a school placed inside the community allows us a very solid entry into people's lives and allows direct impact on their day to day existence.

After 3 weeks solid work all concreting is completed. 80 cubic metres of concrete have been laid as foundations for the 2 classrooms, toilet block, kindergarten and caretaker house.
We have had 2 church teams visit in the last weeks, joining with our team of local workers forming slabs, leveling, shoveling, mixing, pouring and finishing the concrete, as well as framing the toilet block. We thank everyone for their assistance.

Our second container of materials was delivered on site this afternoon and teams arrive next week for the beginning of construction. It is encouraging to see volunteers from more than 6 different churches flying to Vanuatu and joining together on this building job... In 3 weeks we plan to have both classrooms built, ready for students to move in for term 3.
More to follow...

Some of our teachers, students and parents helped us with initial clearing, preparing for a bulldozer to level the land. It was an exciting morning for all involved!

Pastor Youen Atnello, Port Vila Community Christian School Chaplain and member of CCSV board, was with us and prayed a dedication of the block, the building process and the students who will benefit from the new school in their community. We are in an exciting time of favour and provision and thank all who have been involved with finances, team assistance, materials, supplies and prayer. The coming months will be very busy, demanding and expensive - but also very rewarding. I look forward to filling you in with our progress - check back every few weeks for team updates and building progress.


Jon Blake. General Manager CCSV.

Feb 2009 - Jon Blake

Abi’s sister Lena has joined our Port Vila operations, moving from Tanna into our house at the CCSV Headquarters. Lena will be working in administration both at the headquarters and also within our Vila school. She will be studying computing and learning accounting software. Having someone we trust training into an administrative role in Port Vila allows Abi and I to be coming and going between Australia and Vanuatu knowing that office procedures and systems are in place for the work to continue in or absence.

Dad was able to preach in Evangel Temple in Port Vila on Sunday’s morning service. This vibrant church has a big impact in the Port Vila region and the packed building enjoyed Dad’s message.


We had the chance to visit our school at North Efate, assessing classroom furniture needs and work required to complete the building. Last year’s building team in North Efate also opened the door for one of the team members, Jamie, to help the local pastor with a small egg farm to provide for his family. Jamie manages a large chicken farm in Australia and came to Vanuatu volunteering to build, not knowing that his area of expertise would open this door to work with the pastor and develop a sustainable small business model. Jamie’s trip coincided with our visit so we were able to take him there and get some photos of him working in the new chicken farm. It’s always great to see friendships and relationships continue to grow between our communities and visiting team members.



The trip also gave me the chance to get the house ready for March, when I will return with Abi, Alyssa and Jeremy for a more extended period.