By Joe Widick
In the heart of Chicago’s business district in a major building there is a plaque with a very intriguing thought: “The Value of a Leader Is Directly Proportional to That Leaders Values” When I read this and began to consider it, I found it to a very intriguing statement. I considered first of all that it was in a prominent place. I thought about who might have came up with this wording and I also thought about how many would ever stop to consider what is actually being said. For after all, what you and value shapes our character and will ultimately define how we lead, or whether we can effectively lead at all.
The plaque was in a business setting and I would think that, that is how most would apply these thoughts. Let me ask; are you a leader in your school? Are you a leader on the sports team you compete on? Are you a leader with the people you golf with, or hunt and fish with? Are you a leader in your home? You see as a follower of Christ, values are even more significant. When the apostle Paul wrote to the believers at Colosse, he said, “ Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” Colossians 3:2. I would imagine that one of the things that was on Paul’s mind was that only as we allow our values to be motivated and shaped by the eternal (not temporal) will we be effective ambassadors of Christ in the world. It is in the understanding that we are pilgrims in this world, not tourists, that we can keep a clear perspective and an undistracted heart. By doing this we can more effectively lead and serve the Savior.
One philosopher noted that we live in a world that knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing. We seeming in a world of the “here and now.” It is important to note that as followers of Christ we are called to build our values around what will last forever. We should all be encouraged to hold tightly to what is eternal, but loosely to what is temporal. In doing so we will find our values to be in the right place and in turn we will be the leader God wants us to be. Perhaps we could take the plaque and alter the words just a little, making them more significant to us in our Christian walk. “The Effectiveness of a Believer Is Directly Proportional to That Believer’s Values.” Since we know that God sees what’s in the heart we should be nothing we can hide from him so let each of us practice what is honest, good and true.
By Joe Widick
Dear Brothers and Sisters at Maple Hill,
We had the opportunity in January to make a 4-day trip to Jinotega,
Nicaragua to view the work of Misión Para Cristo. The founder and
director, Benny Baker, had asked Dwight on several occasions to visit
a few sites which had requested water-powered energy sources. The
perfect opportunity presented itself when 2 students sponsored by
Predisán and 2 students sponsored by Baxter needed to travel to MPC to
study at their DentalSavers program. Kyle Huhtanen from Predisán, and
his wife were over for dinner when he mentioned that he had spent much
of that day working on the logistics of the transportation for the
students. We volunteered to guide them since we had been planning on
making the trip soon. Joanne quickly worked out the travel
arrangements for the group, and very early Monday morning, the 10th,
we started for Nicaragua.
Dwight had the pleasure of accompanying a former Vice-Mayor of the
town, Porfilio, to two beautiful locations and has spent considerable
time this month investigating water power on the Internet. Both sites
have good potential for water power. Joanne visited with two women of
the ministry and brought back sample lessons of Sunday School
materials for children that were written by one of the women, Ann
Faris. She also had an opportunity to be a translator while there.
There was a group from Kilgore, TX (near where Dwight went to high
school) while we were there, so it was nice to hear some deep east
Texas accents.
Some impressions from our first trip to Nicaragua were that the roads
in Nicaragua are good and well-maintained. Also, it appears that the
police have more control over the lawless element than they do here in
Honduras. Jinotega itself, a city known as the Ciudad de Neblinas or
City of Mist, is a little higher in altitude than Tegucigalpa and was
a very pleasant temperature, if a little on the cool side for us from
Catacamas. It was also very windy while we were there. It took 12
hours travel each way. We both returned with colds from the trip.
On Jan. 3rd, Joanne met with Amanda Madrid, Medical Director at
Predisán, and from that meeting set up a schedule to shadow a Health
Promoter, from one of Predisán’s satellite clinics, on home visits so
she can see first hand what the true public health issues are at the
community level. Friday was her first day to shadow Paola and it was
a wonderful experience that she looks forward to continuing weekly.
Last week, all 12 of the patients that were visited in their homes
were being told that “the test results from your recent lab sample
have come back and you need to come to the clinic Monday to find out
what they were.” All of the patients had tested positive for a
sexually transmitted disease.
On Jan. 5th Joanne started meeting with a personal Spanish tutor in
his classroom that is a five minute walk from our house. She is
meeting with him from 1-3pm Monday through Thursday. Hector lived in
Virginia for 14 years and speaks English fluently. His full time job
is teaching English at one of the private bilingual schools. Today
they will start reading the Bible in Spanish during the second hour of
every session.
Dwight has been spending a lot of this month updating the lab at Por
Los Ninos and preparing to begin teaching there in early Feb. This
past Saturday, and again tomorrow, he has been assisting some visiting
North Americans with transportation to distant locations where they
are teaching seminars. Also on Saturday, we had opportunity to open
our home to a choral group of 7 who needed a practice location.
Joanne also entertained 2 young Honduran girls who were born and
raised in the U.S. and are trying to keep practiced in English. They
baked cookies and watched the movie Babe in English.
We are gearing up to begin uniform purchases for the 15 or so students
that we will sponsor this year. Classes begin on Tuesday, Feb. 7th.
Blessings and laughter in Jesus, our Lord, Dwight & Joanne Tomkins
Los Sabios todavía buscan para Él. [The wise still seek Him.]
By Joe Widick
It is hard to believe that another year is almost spent. They seem to go by faster all the time. 2010
has gone by particularly fast for us. We started the year off by reporting for two months. Then immediately
when we came back to Pohnpei we were visited by Craig Ressler who worked with us for two weeks teaching
Pacific Islands Bible College courses. That was followed by a trip to Kosrae,
which was followed by a trip to Chuuk, a visit from Steve Vice, another trip to Kosrae,
a visit from Bill Benton and another trip to Kosrae. All of that resulted in much
good being done for the Lord this year. We saw seven people added to the Kingdom
of Christ, many people returned to the Lord, much contact was made with the lost
and many Bible studies were conducted. We are looking forward to an equally productive
and blessed 2011.
Rebecca and I hope and pray that you have all the best that this season has
to offer. Pohnpei is in full, “Christmas mode” which means lots of traffic, people everywhere,
palm trees decorated with Christmas lights, excited children and lots of fun.
This is always a fun time of the year to be in Pohnpei, but it is the one time of year
when we miss cold weather (it’s just not supposed to be 85 degrees on Christmas!).
We hope and pray that all of you are richly blessed this holiday season with health,
good spirits and lots of time with family and friends. Please know that Rebecca and I
feel richly blessed every day because of the work that we are able to be a part of.
We know that this would not be possible without people like you. Please accept our
heartfelt thanks for all that you do.
Land Update
We are happy to report to you that as of this writing
(12/28/2010) all but 500.00 has been received towards our
land fund. The last $500.00 has already been pledged and I
just received an e-mail stating that the check is on its way!
The couple that currently owns the property has already begun
the paperwork to transfer the property to the congregation.
This is very exciting news as it means we can get
started on building a church building for the congregation in
Mand. For the last two and a half years the congregation
has met in the homes of the members. This has made it nice
for fellowship, but growth has been hindered as a result. The
congregation in Mand will use money from their contributions
to buy the materials for the building and members from
both congregations will pitch in and help build it. Lord willing,
in the next two months or so we will have a building for worship.
We want to thank all of you that generously donated to this cause. We love you all and could not do this without
you!
Abandoned Children
Rebecca and I have had the privilege over the last five years to work with and get to know a very large family of
outer islanders living in Pohnpei. We have become very close to this family even to the point where we were invited to
attend and I was asked to speak at a funeral for one member that I have never met. Within in this very large family there
are many good people, a few very faithful people and unfortunately, as with any large group, a small amount of very
flawed people. We, of course, love all of them and do our very best to
show the love of Christ to them at our every opportunity.
Within this large family there is a thirty-ish woman that has had
many problems. She has had eight children, four of which she has
given away or have been raised by her mother. The other four children
currently live with her and are all under the age of six (a five year old
son, twin boys that are three and a eighteen month old daughter). She
is the daughter of a member of the church currently living on Guam and
has four sisters who are also members of the church. Rebecca and I
were very excited recently when she attended worship for the very first
time. Because we have gotten to know her a little over the years we
thought it would be best to not rush right over to her and try and set up
a Bible study. However, our plan was to let her know how happy we
were that she joined us (which we did) and then try and set up a study
with her within the next week or two. One Sunday when we went to pick
up the family her five year old son, Tristen, and her daughter came
along, but she was not with us. We were surprised by this because she usually does not allow her children to come to
church with us, especially not the baby. However, we went on our way and the children behaved just fine in worship and
Bible class.
Later, the woman’s aunt approached Rebecca and said, “She ran away.” It turns out that this woman just up and
left one night leaving the children with two of her sisters (aged 18 and 20) and had not returned for more than a week.
This aunt discovered this one night when, from down the street, she heard her daughter screeching and nobody was doing
anything about it. She took the child to her house where she finally fell asleep and brought her to church with us the
next morning. Rebecca and I knew that the woman had problems, but we were shocked to hear this news. That shock
turned to great concern as we learned that the woman had gone, “to the ships.” This means that she went out to some of
the fishing boats anchored in the harbor where she likely spent the week selling herself to the fisherman. Her family was
angered with her, but we did our best to let them know what she needed most was our prayers (anything could have happened
to her out there and no one would have ever known). We did our best to visit with the children and the aunts that
were taking care of them as much as we could and helped out with groceries for the children. One of the aunts told us
that the reason they had not all come to church was because they had no clothes for the children. We asked where their
clothes were and we were told, “She does not like to do laundry so she just throws their clothes away when they get too
dirty.” We had decided that if something did not change soon we
would offer to look after one or some of the children until the family
could figure out what to do. Unfortunately, the boys’ father is in the
Philippines trying to get his visa renewed and the daughter’s father
is, “crazy” and has nothing to do with her. Also the grandparents are
in Guam which made the situation that much harder on the children.
We enjoyed visiting with the children and they seemed to
enjoy having us with them. The three boys had a ball giving us five
and jumping on me and the oldest is fascinated with our hairy arms.
One day we went over to see how they were doing and they were
outside playing. The three boys came running up to us and we
played with them for a while. They were laughing and having a
great time. You never would have known that they had been abandoned
by their mother. While we were there a vehicle pulled up with
their mother in the back seat. She had been found by one of her
cousins and they brought her back home. The boys’ uncle saw her
and said, “Tristen, mommy’s home.” He went from smiles and giggling
to very stone faced and turned to his brothers and said, “Let’s go.” He walked away with his head low and shoulders
slumped. Unfortunately, at the tender age of five he was all to aware of what was happening.
It has been a few weeks since this happened and the woman in question has been staying home with her children.
The boys have been coming to worship and Bible class and seem to be well adjusted, however, there is no way that
this had not effected them. We ask that you will please keep them in your prayers.
Benevolence Calls
Since Rebecca and I moved to Pohnpei we have had many people to ask us for financial assistance. Sometimes
the amount they ask for is very low, but there are many times when we have been asked for very high amounts of money
(up to $500.00). The fact is that many people living in the third world believe that all Americans are millionaires. It does
not matter if you are not, they know you have more than they do. Because of this it is often the case that you are the first
person that they turn to in a time of need. Rebecca and I, as well as the congregations here, do our best to help people
that are in need. There are times when we have to tell someone, “No.” It is always easy to plan to tell people, “No”, however,
it can be very difficult when you are looking the person in their eyes and they tell you that they have not had anything
to eat that day, or that they have to go to the hospital and they don’t have money to pay the bill. There are those
that are just looking to use us and in fact we suspect that more than a few have come to church just because they
thought we would take care of them financially. We have gotten fairly good at keeping these things to a minimum, but for
some reason the last month or so has gotten very out of hand.
Recently, a woman, who is not a member of the church, came to our house to ask for money. She owes another
person money and that person needed the money for an upcoming family gathering. I explained to her that we were not
able to help at this time and she left. I should tell you that just a couple of weeks before this happened the Mand congregation
gave this same woman $60.00 from their funds. This did not seem to stop the woman from speaking very badly
about Rebecca and I to everyone she came in contact with after she left our house. Fortunately, I am rather thick skinned
(and thick headed at times) so it did not really bother me.
Not long after that the wife of a member of the church contacted us via text message and asked if we could help
her. This almost always means, “Can you give me money?” The reason she needed money was to provide something for
her children in regards to a Christmas program they were going to be involved in. We explained to her that we could not
give her any money at this time. She sent another text back that said, “Please can you give me money. If you do I will
start coming to church with you.” Of course, we would love for this woman to join her husband in attending church services
and become a Christian, however, this would be for all the wrong reasons. I sent her a message back telling her
that we would like to help her and we understand that she needed help, but we cannot at this time. You should probably
know that her husband has been a member of the church for right at one year and within that one year the church has
helped him a great deal with buying food and medicine. Also the church built a house for this particular man not long ago.
I received a text back from the woman not long after that which said, “Ok, but if you do not help me my husband and
daughter will no longer join you for church. If my husband joins you he cannot stay at my house any more.” As you can
imagine this hurt us a great deal. We called her husband who said that she could not make him do anything and he would
decide what he was going to do. After that the husband started to get involved asking us for money. I explained several
times that we would love to help them, but we could not. I also did my best to explain the difference between a need and
a want. I told him that I know his children want to participate in this program, but if they do not nothing will happen to
them. He responded by saying, “I cannot make my children sad.” The next day he told me that he contacted a denominational
church and this church promised to give him some money only on the condition that he attend their services. I became
very angry at that. I could not believe that a church would stoop to that level in order to gain a member. I told him
again that I wanted to help him, but we simply could not at this time. I also explained that going to this other church would
not be the best decision. The next two service times (Wednesday night and Sunday) he did not join us. He said he was
sick. It does not appear that he joined the denominational group either.
We are not sure what will happen with this particular Christian. Just a few hours ago I got a text asking me to call
him. I did and he mentioned that he needed to go to the hospital and get some medicine. I went to his house to pick him
up and he said that he was not ready. He then asked if I could just give him the money ($34.00) for the medicine. He did
look quite sick and I am sure that he needed the medicine. However, I explained to him that I did not have any money to
give him. I then asked him to wait and I went to the hospital. I asked the administrative personnel if he could come to the
hospital and I could pay the bill for him afterwards. They said that this would be no problem. I went back to his house and
told him what happened, but he said never mind he was not going to go to the hospital. I asked why and he said because
he did not trust them to give him the medicine. I told him I could go with him which he refused on the grounds that people
would gossip and say he is just using me. I talked with him for a while longer and encouraged him to go the hospital, but
eventually I had to leave him. I do not know what to expect next.
Brethren, as you can see this is a very difficult aspect of the work for us. It can take a very big toll on our morale.
We ask you to please pray that we will have the wisdom we need to deal with these situations, especially what I have just
detailed for you.
We hope and pray that all of you had a safe and happy Christmas and that you will have a happy new year.
Scott and Rebecca
By Joe Widick
“Brethren if anyone among you wanders
from the truth, and someone turns him
back..” James 5:19
We hope that this month’s newsletter finds
you all in the best of spiritual and physical health. It is
hard to believe that Thanksgiving and Christmas are
right around the corner! Not exactly sure where this
year went, but I know that it has been filled with
blessings for us. One blessing has been the opportunity
to witness the restoration for three erring
brethren in recent weeks.
First, In our September newsletter we told you
about Urusula Johnny’s baptism into Christ. You
might remember that she is the wife of Eliezer. At
that time Eliezer had been away on his home island
of Kapingamarangi for several months. While we
were studying with Urusula she mentioned to us that
she was concerned about Eliezer because she heard
that he had been getting drunk while he was away
from home. It was hard for me to believe because he
has been a very faithful man since we have known
him. He returned to Pohnpei a few weeks ago, but
did not attend worship with his wife for several
weeks. Rebecca and I were traveling so I asked
Charley and Valerio to visit him and find out what
was happening. Much to our delight these two faithful
brothers in Christ went out of their way to visit with
(Continued on page 2)
Eliezer and encourage him to return to the Lord. It turns
out that Eliezer had been embarrassed because word of
his behavior had made it back to Pohnpei. The Sunday
after they visited with Eliezer he requested the prayers of
the church and has been faithful since. What is most exciting
about this restoration is that Charley and Valerio
took the responsibility of visiting with him and encouraging
him to return to the Lord. This was difficult for them
as they both live far from Eleizer’s house and neither one
of them has transportation.
Another member that has been restored recently
is Sheila. Sheila is one of Charley’s daughters. She was
baptized in June of 2007 at the age of 14. Like most
teenagers Sheila has struggled with her faith. Rebecca
and I consider her to be one of our favorite teens at
church. She is super sweet and is almost always well behaved.
We were really concerned with her because we noticed that she had stopped taking the Lord’s Supper.
One of the common misconceptions in Pohnpei is that you have to be, “good enough” to share in the Lord’s
Supper. Rebecca and I had noticed that most of the teens and a few of the adults had stopped taking the Supper
so I preached a lesson on it. During the lesson I mentioned that some people may have sin in their lives
and that is the reason they stop taking the Supper. I then said, “However, this is not a wise choice. If you have
sin in your life the answer is not to stop taking the Lord’s Supper. The answer is to repent!” During the invitation
Sheila came and asked for the prayers and the forgiveness of the church. We were very happy that she made
this decision. Thus far it seems that she has been doing well. I am sure because of her age (and because of
the fact that she is human) that there are still many struggles that she is facing, but I know that she has: a good
attitude, a good family and a loving, merciful and powerful Lord on her side. Please keep her in your prayers as
she continues to grow.
Finally, we saw our sister Mayleen restored this month. Mayleen was one of the first people we met in
Pohnpei when we came on our survey trip. She was close friends with Kali who used to live here. One night in
2006 Kali came to our house with her son and Mayleen. She said that she had been studying with her for a
long time and she was ready to become a Christian. Mayleen was baptized that night, but almost immediately
fell away. We have had some contact with her since that time, but not much. The Sunday after Urusula was
baptized Mayleen came to worship with her. We were very excited to see her and the whole congregation did
their best to help her feel welcome. Three weeks ago (as of this writing) Mayleen came to worship again. After
the lesson she came forward and, with tears in her eyes, said, “I want to confess that I have not been faithful
and I want to live a faithful Christian life.” We were so happy for her. The brethren really poured out their love
that day and let her know that they had been and would continue to pray for her. Mayleen really wants to do the
right thing, but as always it is a struggle. Just a few days after returning to the church her oldest son tried to
commit suicide (it was not related to her return to the Lord). Also since that time she has been nearly bedridden
with pain from childhood injuries. We ask that you keep her and all of these others in your daily prayers.
(Continued from page 1)
Charley baptized her into Christ as the sun was setting.
Marcy is already off to a great start as she was able to attend Wednesday night Bible class for the first
time. Please keep her in your prayers as she has a lot to learn. We would ask you to say a special prayer this
Saturday evening (11/20) as it will be Sunday morning here. We ask that you will pray that Marcy will make
the right decision and join the congregation for worship.
Raymond has not yet put on Christ, but as he and Charley were riding in the back of the truck from the
baptism he said, “Maybe one day I will do this too.” Charley responded by saying, “Do you know the story of
Noah’s ark? Only 8 people were saved and the rest were lost. By the time the flood came it was too late.”
Charley’s point was do not waste your time. We are so glad and blessed to have a strong mature Christian
like Charley that can share things like this with those who need it.
By Joe Widick
Hello all, we hope that this newsletter finds you well. Things in Micronesia are great! The Lord
continues to bless us with many more opportunities to share His word with others. Rebecca and I recognize
that without you we would not be able to do this work. We want to thank you for your continued and faithful:
investment, prayers and words of encouragement. We pray that God will continue to bless each of you so that
we can continue to be co-workers for Him in Micronesia.
In July Rebecca and I made one of the most important trips to Kosrae that we have ever made. As
many of you know we have made many trips to the island, but have seen few results. In July we gave away
over 500 English Bibles in an effort to gain more contacts for Bible studies. The Bible give away was a huge
success in that we did make many new contacts. This
month we made our follow up trip. Typically, when we go to
Kosrae we spend our days door knocking, passing out
tracts, visiting with people, having one or two Bible studies
and trying to get new studies. This trip we spent the entire
time in Bible studies. We had so many studies that we were
not able to do any door knocking and did very little tract distribution.
Some of the studies were new, some were with
people whom we have told you about in the past.
Our first day began with a visit to Stirkis. He was the
first person to invite us into his home for a study when we
first started going to Kosrae. You may remember us telling
you that he is a double below the knee amputee. Stirkis is
very interested in learning what the Bible has to say and is
always very complimentary of our lessons. He constantly
says things like, “I have never heard this before, but it is exactly
what the Bible says.” On this trip we were able to
study with him everyday and he seemed to want to learn
more and more. However, when it came down to whether or not he would obey the Gospel he chose to wait.
This is not at all surprising because Micronesians are typically very slow to change. Also I believe he is a little
intimidated about being the first one to be baptized in Kosrae. I
am not sure who the first in Kosrae will be, but it will have to be
a very brave person that is not afraid to go against their family
and tradition. Stirkis continues to invite us to study so we ask
that you will please keep him in your prayers. We really have
grown to love Stirkis, especially his willingness to study and his
good attitude. During one conversation about him losing his
legs he said, “You know Scott, I really am giving thanks to God
because of my situation. Now I get to stay in my house with my
kids and grandchildren everyday.” Many people may see losing
both their legs as a handicap, but Stirkis sees it as an opportunity.
He has already asked us to come back in January (on our
next trip) and try to study with his nephew.
Also on our first day we went to the Kosrae state hospital
to give out toiletries and tracts. When we went into one of
Stirkis Abraham
The hospital where we met atalie.
the private rooms we met a little girl named Natalie. She
was with her father, Arnold, and was in very bad condition.
The doctors were not exactly sure what was wrong
with her, but they were confident it had something to do
with her kidneys. We were able to visit with her and pray
with her father several times during our ten day visit. The
night before we left we stopped by and Arnold said that
things with Natalie were looking much better and asked
us to come back and visit with him again on our next trip.
However, the next morning while we were meeting with
one of our contacts he told us that his wife could not be
there because their niece was in critical condition. Rebecca
asked what the child’s name was and he said,
“Natalie.” Our hearts sank and immediately after that
meeting I went to the hospital to see what happened and
if we could do anything to help (Rebecca would have
come, but we were flying out about that day and we needed to pack up). It turned out that Natalie had take a
turn for the worse around 5:00 AM and started having seizures.
She had recovered a little by the time I got there, but things were
not looking good for her. Unfortunately, there is no way for me to
contact Arnold so we prayed together and Rebecca and I returned
to Pohnpei that afternoon. At this time we still have no
idea how it turned out.
We were also blessed to catch up with another good contact,
Martha. She is another that has invited us into her home for
Bible studies many times. We always enjoy visiting and studying
with her. She is one of the most friendly people I have ever met
and very welcoming toward us. She is also a great cook and
feeds us yummy Kosrae soup on a regular basis. We had several
studies with her over the ten days we were in Kosrae. She
had a few questions, specifically about instrumental music. We
answered her questions and Lord willing we will be able to study
with her again on our next trip.
During the Bible give away I met the speaker of the Kosrae
state Legislature, Lyndon Jackson. I was able to visit him in
his office early on in spite of his busy schedule. Mr. Jackson was very happy to see us and invited me in for
a meeting right away. We spoke for a long time about many things, especially about the fact that he is running
for governor (the election is November 2nd). He told me that he was doing his best to run a clean campaign
and said that he refused to speak badly of his opponents publicly or privately (not that I was trying to
get him to). I told him that I thought that was the best way to run a campaign and we prayed together for a
while. He also needed some help with a sermon that he was preparing for the next Sunday. His topic was
grace and I was glad to be able to give him a few Scriptures and points to use. We arranged to have a
study, but we were unable to due to his busy schedule. However, he did come and have breakfast with us
before we left on Thursday (He is the one that told us about Natalie). We had a very good meeting together
and breakfast and were able to tell him a little bit about the church and what we believe and teach. He
seemed pleased with what he heard. Lord willing, we will also be following up with him in January.
Some other exciting prospects are Alokoa and his wife, Judy, and another man named Lydon Nena.
We met all of them during the give away and we were able to have studies with Alokoa and Judy almost
nightly during our visit. We also had two studies with Lydon and he joined one of the studies with Alokoa,
since they live in the same village and are distantly related. The studies with them went very well. Alokoa
and Judy are very interested in learning the truth and can see it quite clearly when it is presented to them.
They ask many good questions and almost always have some prepared when we arrive. They also made us
some great soup (Kosraeans love soup!) while we were there. It was very tasty. They have a son that lives
here in Pohnpei and Lord willing we will be visiting with him very soon. Also they are eager to continue our
studied when we return to Kosrae in January.
Rebecca with Martha and Sebrian.
Lydon ena.
Lydon is also interested in studying, however, he is not able to study much because he works two full
time jobs. It was difficult to meet with him because of this, but we eventually did have some studies. Another
missionary from the church met with him around 15 years ago so he has learned some about the Bible, the
church and salvation. He has many questions and Lord willing we will be able to study with him again when we
go back in January.
You probably remember us telling you about George George. He is a
young man that we met on one of our first trips to Kosrae. We have not had
very many studies with him, however, we have visited with him many times
and gotten to know him quite well. On this trip we were able to arrange more
studies with him and they went extremely well. George probably has the most
Bible knowledge of anyone that we have studied with in Kosrae. He also has
many good questions and seems to enjoy studying with us. However, he is a
little shy about being seen with us. He always assures me that he does not
care who knows we are studying together, but he does not ever want to study
in a public place and always makes sure the curtain is drawn when we study
together in the hotel room. George is not yet ready to obey the gospel, but he
is still interested in studying so if the Lord wills we will continue to meet with
him and have studies on our trips to Kosrae.
We were also able to have studies with a woman named Shrue.
(pronounced Shoe-way). She is the wife of a man named Keston that we met
last year. You may remember us telling you about him. He was in the hospital
and thought he was close to death and was very interested in studying. He
recovered from his illness, but unfortunately his interest in studying has since
gone down. However, his wife was very interested in studying and had us
over to her house several times for studies. She does not
speak English very well, but she does speak Pohnpeiian
(she grew up here) so we conduct the studies in Pohnpeiian.
We were able to study with her four times while we
were there and she invited one of her neighbors and
daughter in law to the studies. All of them are interested in
continuing the studies when we return.
Another person that we always try to make time for
is Maheta. He is the mayor of one of the municipalities of
Kosrae and has always shown a lot of interest in learning
more about the Bible. Unfortunately, he is also very busy.
Not only is he mayor, but he also is the chairman for many
different groups in Kosrae. Maheta’s wife is actually related
to one of the church members in Pohnpei named Linter.
When we went to their house to see if we could set up studies
the first day we were very surprised to see Linter’s son,
Glen, at the house. In fact at first we did not recognize him
because we were not expecting to see him there. Glen has
been sent to Kosrae because the education system in Kosrae is better than Pohnpei. It seemed like he is very
homesick though so we ask that you please keep him in your prayers. We were not able to have any studies
with the family because of scheduling issues, but we did have some very good and encouraging visits with
them.
As you can see the Lord blessed us with many good opportunities on this trip to Kosrae. The seed has
been planted in many hearts and we continue to water praying that God will give the increase (1 Cor 3:6). The
church has yet to be planted on Kosrae, but Rebecca and I feel that the planting and watering that is happening
will one day lead to the church on Kosrae. It can be frustrating sometimes when you try so hard without seeing
the results that you want, but we must remember that our only job is to preach the word (Mark 16:15) and it is
up to the hearers to accept it or not. We ask that you will continue to pray for us as we labor in Micronesia. Also
please pray for all of those that we are studying with that they will eventually obey the gospel.
We want to thank you again for all that you do for us on a daily basis. Thanks to Rebecca for giving up
her page this month, she will be back next time. Scott
By Joe Widick
I first met Bill Benton in July of 2001. I was on my way to Fiji for my first ever campaign. With my fellow campaigners, I was sitting in
the international departures lounge, fretting about what I was about to do, when a very old couple entered. The husband was rolling
his wife in a wheel chair. It turned out to be Bill and his sweet wife, Vida. At the time they were 79 years old. On that trip Bill earned
the nickname, “Bill the baptizer” because it just seemed like every five minutes he was in the hotel swimming pool baptizing someone
into Christ. Two years later I returned to Fiji with my brand new wife (that’s Rebecca in case you didn’t know) and Bill and Vida,
now in their 80’s, were right there with us. The next year we made the first ever campaign for Christ in Pohnpei and there were the
Benton’s still going strong. By that time Vida had gotten some weak, but she managed to have as many, if not more, Bible studies
as the rest of us. In 2006 we had another campaign in Pohnpei and yet
again the Benton’s were in full swing. Bill was out door knocking and conducting
studies on a daily basis while Vida was conducting personal Bible
studies in her hotel room with any and every person that was in the vicinity.
Sadly for us, but fortunately for Vida, she was called to be with her
Lord in 2007.
Fast forward to this year, after great trips to Chuuk and Kosrae it
was time for some good work to be done on Pohnpei. Bill was just the
man for the job. He arrived on Saturday August 7th after a grueling trip
from Atlanta, which included a nine hour layover for which he did not get
a hotel room, ready to work. We spent the day fellowshipping, visiting and
making plans for the next two weeks. The next day we worshipped together
with both congregations and set up studies with some regular visitors.
The members of the church were impressed that Bill, at 88 years
old, made the trip to Pohnpei to see them and work with them. In Pohnpei
88 is ancient. Very few people live to be in their 80’s and those that do are
not normally able to get around at all.
The very next day we started our personal evangelism work. We
had five studies that day with 13 people. These included: faithful Christians;
unfaithful Christians and non-Christians. Bill lead all but one of the
studies. Charley and Christian were able to attend some of the studies
and help translate which was good training for them. Also that day we set
up a study with Urusula. She is married to a member of the church named
Eliezer. Eliezer was first taught the gospel by Bill in 2006 and has been a
faithful Christian since. Urusula has attended worship with us some, but
was never able to study before now. What a great blessing it was for her
to be taught by the same man that taught her husband. We studied twice
with Charley translating. They are from different islands, but their languages
are similar so it was a very big help to have Charley with us. The
next day we studied with Urusula again, but Charley could not be there.
Her understanding of English is not very good, but she does speak
Pohnpeiian so I was able to translate for Bill and we made it through the
study answering some very difficult questions. The next day we got together
again with Charley translating to make sure she really understood everything
we had studied the night before. She told Charley that she was sad
when we left our study because she wanted to keep learning (we had been
studying for over and hour and a half and had to go to midweek Bible class).
That day we went over the plan of salvation again and Urusula said she was
ready to become a Christian. We went straight to the ocean where she declared
that Jesus is Lord and Charley baptized her into Christ. We had some
great follow up studies with her and she is starting off on the right foot. Unfortunately,
Eliezer has been off island for several months, but he is due back in
two weeks. He is in for a great surprise!
The two weeks went by quickly with many great studies and opportunities
for the Lord. We stopped a store on the way home from a study where
the store keeper was very kind and spoke English. Bill, not wanting a great opportunity
to go to waste, asked her is she would like to study. She said we could stop
by anytime and study. We had two great studies with her and her husband (during
one study two other friends sat in). We stopped by the next day to have another
study and, with tears in her eyes, Bennita told me that they could no longer study
with us. We were crushed! The studies had gone so well, what could have gone
wrong? It turns out her and her husband’s family put pressure on them to discontinue
the studies. She was very upset to have to tell us this, but this sort of thing
happens all the time in Pohnpei. Lord willing, we will be able to get back with them
very soon and get an opportunity to study with their families as well.
There were other great opportunities. We studied with several unfaithful
brethren five of which asked for prayers for restoration. When we were not in already
scheduled studies we went door knocking. As a result we got studies going
to with two separate families and passed out many tracts.
There is much more to report, but I am running out of space. God truly blessed us
with a great co-worker in brother Benton. While he was here he conducted or assisted
in 46 Bibles studies with 45 different people, went door
knocking and stayed busy encouraging brethren. As a result one
soul was added to
the Lord and five
were restored.
Thank you Bill for
making your way
out here and thank
God for this great
blessing!
“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your
soul prospers.” 3 John 1:2
What if someone prayed that prayer for me? If my physical health was the same as my spiritual health would I be strong,
healthy and vibrant? Or would I be weak, decrepit and sick? I am not sure what the answer is for you, but I can say with full confidence
that if Salter’s body had the strength of his soul he would be the healthiest man I know. Salter first came to us last year after
hearing the radio program. He told me that he was just 35, but that he had a stroke when he was 31. We studied several times
and then he began coming to worship. He was baptized into Christ in December of last year. Salter has had a million struggles
since that time. He is by far the weakest bodied Christian in Pohnpei. He can barely walk, if he falls down it is very difficult for him
to get back up and he has numerous health problems. Lately he has another problem, food. Salter used to live near his family
members, “in the jungle.” His family would usually give him enough food to eat every day. However, it was very difficult for Salter
to get to and from the road. In fact, it was nearly impossible. When Salter became a
Christian he decided to move to another location so he could come to every service.
He seldom misses services, even though with his condition he has no obligation to be
there. He also reads his Bible everyday and constantly invites others to worship and
tries to set up Bible studies with everyone he knows. All of this is great, but it has
made it very difficult for him to get help with food. The family he lives with now will
feed him maybe once a day, if that. We give him food when we can which is often, but
he hates asking us for it. When Bill was here we visited with Salter, who was feeling
very depressed one day. We told Salter that with his condition if he had to move back
to the jungle and miss services that God would certainly understand. Salter began to
cry and told us that only his body was weak. He said his heart and spirit are strong
and he just cannot stand the thought of not going to worship.
Brethren, what would the church be like if every Christian had the attitude that
Salter has?
By Joe Widick
Rebecca and I feel blessed to work on the island of Kosrae. However,
thus far the work on that island has been going very slow. We have made
many trips to the island and conducted several Bible studies and a workshop,
but we were looking for a way to jumpstart the work. Most of the Kosraeans
we have met speak English well and love reading the Bible. As a result we
had the idea that if we had a Bible give away we might be able to make more
contacts for Bible studies. We contacted one of our investing congregations,
the Maple Hill church of Christ, and they very generously donated funds to
purchase over 500 Bibles! The Bibles were shipped in June and the owners of
our the hotel we usually stay in were gracious enough to pick up and store all
23 cases of Bibles for us.
We arrived on Monday July 19th and got right to work. First we
posted advertisements at stores in each of the four villages on the island.
Then we went to the radio station and asked if they could announce the details of the give away. Fortunately, they did and they
did not charge us the usual fee for making an announcement. Next, we had to prepare the Bibles. In Pohnpei we wrote an introduction
to the church of Christ page along with the plan of salvation. A Kosraean lady living in Pohnpei translated them for us
and the next step was to insert them in the Bibles. We were able to
find full sheet labels in Pohnpei which made these permanent attachments
to the inside front cover.
The next morning we woke up and set up some of the Bibles
in the gazebo across the street from the hotel. The 23 cases of Bibles
looked like a lot. As we waited for people to come and get their
free Bible I started to think that maybe this was not going to work
out. Maybe the people were afraid to approach us. I was remembering
a time in Pohnpei that we planned a gospel meeting and nobody
came to it. I was thinking that this was an awful lot of money to
spend if it did not work out. Fortunately, Rebecca was there to encourage
me and remind me to put my trust in the Lord. After a little
while people began to stop and ask about the Bibles. The most common
question was, “How much are these Bibles?”
or “Are these really free?” The answer
was “yes, these are really free.” We initially
told people to fill up the
registration card to receive
their Bible, but we saw
right away that this was
intimidating
to them. As
a result we
shifted gears
and asked
them politely
if they would
do us a favor
and fill up
the card. We
let them
know that
they were
(Continued on page 2)
Micronesia
For The
Volume 6 Issue 8 August 2010 Master
The gazebo where we conducted
the give away, the governor’s office
and the bible insert and tracts
used during the Bible give away.
under no obligation to fill up the card and they could give as much or as little information
as they wanted. Much to our delight the vast majority filled up the cards which had check
boxes for Bible correspondence courses and personal Bible studies. Most everyone
checked that they would like a course and several people asked for in home studies.
When the people saw that they were getting a Bible, a DVD and Bible tracts that got very
excited and word spread quickly. Many people simply could not believe that we were giving
these away free.
After two days in the gazebo
we figured we had just about given
away all we could in the area we
were in and decided to go out to
where more people were. Our first
stop was the hospital. We met the
director and asked him if he would
object to us giving a Bible to each of
the patients. He had no problem with
that so we took them to the wards, where we gave Bibles to the patients, the
nurses and the other staff
members. One of the
doctors told us that he
was the chief of medicine
and asked if he could
have a Bible for each of
the doctors on staff. He said, “I know they will want them.” So we gave him 14
Bibles for the doctors. Everyone seemed grateful to receive their Bible.
After the hospital we went to the Kosrae state government office to
see if we could give a Bible to the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor.
Unfortunately, both of them were tied up at the time so we gave their Bibles to
their secretaries who also each wanted a Bible. While we were there we were
seen by the head of the Kosrae EPA, whom we had already given a one to,
he was conducting a meeting and asked if we could give Bibles to the people
in attendance. We said “yes” and word started to spread again. Before you
know it everyone in the building was coming for their Bible. They were so excited
and appreciative of what we were doing.
Everyday we
were in Kosrae we gave away Bibles, tracts and DVD’s. The people were
overwhelmed with gratitude. Several people approached us after they had
received their Bibles and thanked us again for giving them a Bible. Many said
things like, “Thank you so much for these Bibles, but also for the papers and
DVD you gave. These are very interesting and I want to learn more.” One of
the people that we met and asked to be taught more is the speaker of the
State Legislature. He asked me to please correspond with him so he can
learn more about the Bible. At the airport on the way home we also met a
man that asked for us to visit him our next time in Kosrae so he could learn
more. We signed up over 200 people for correspondence courses and at least
25 indicated that they would like and in home study.
We did this give away with the hopes that the Lord would open more
doors to us in Kosrae. Well friends, that is exactly what happened! Thank you
to the Maple
Hill congregation
for making
this possible
and most of all
we want to
thank and
praise God for
this great
blessing!
By Joe Widick
What a tremendous month it has been in Micronesia! We have been enjoying God’s blessings of great opportunity
to share His word and have been blessed with witnessing great increase in the Kingdom.
First up is Keith, We first met Keith when we visited Chuuk last year. At that time he had already met and
studied with Joey Treat. During the campaign Keith studied with Stacy Ferguson
everyday. When Stacy left Dick Weber and Phil Glisson continued the studies.
However, Keith was not ready to become a Christian. For the last year Joey has
followed up with Keith when he has visited Chuuk. I remembered that Keith had
been so diligent in his studies and wanted to follow up with him when we arrived
in Chuuk. We arranged a study with him our first Sunday evening. The study
went very well. The next morning we studied again and Keith said that he was
ready to be baptized. We took him to the ocean immediately and he had all his
sins washed away (Acts 22:16). Since that time we have had many follow up
studies. Also Joey and Steve Vice have had the opportunity to study with his
wife. Please pray for Keith that he will remain faithful and that he will be able to
influence his family for Christ.
The next baptism was Anthony. When we had our first study with Keith,
Anthony was there. He has been living with Hermes Cholymay, one of the leaders
of a congregation in
Chuuk. Hermes has been
studying with Anthony for a while and they both asked for us to
continue to study with him. We had several studies together. It was
clear in those studies that Anthony loves God and wants to do the
right thing. The Saturday night before we left Anthony said he was
ready and we went straight away and he was baptized. Following
that he went to Steve and Joey’s hotel room every morning for follow
up lessons.
These two baptisms are classic examples of the above
quoted verse. In Keith’s case there were at least seven individual
Christians that planted and watered. With Anthony it started with
Hermes’ good work of planting. We were blessed to be able to water,
but it was God that gave the increase. Both of these cases are
good reminders that: “Neither he who plants is anything, nor he
who waters, but God who gives the increase.” (1st Cor 3:7).
I first told you about Mitchuo and Berihna Daniel in the
early part of 2006. Mitchuo had heard our radio program and
was interested in learning more. We began a friendship that has
lasted our entire time here in Pohnpei. During the last four
years we have studied off and on with Mitchuo and his family.
They have attended worship a few times and they have welcomed
other visitors to come and teach them. During the last
four years they have been taught by: Don Wilson, Russel Digiorgio,
Robert Martin, Craig Ressler and me among others.
This month Steve Vice came to spend a weekend with us (you
will read more about that next month) and I decided we
would visit Mitchuo again. As many of you know the last
time we had studied with Mitchuo he indicated that he was
closer to becoming a Christian. Steve taught him and his
wife about different conversions in Acts. After the lesson
we sat very quietly while Mitchuo and his wife thought over
the lesson. Finally, he said, “Can we just walk over to the
river there and I will be baptized.” I could not believe it! In
fact, on the way to the river I told Rebecca, “I am not going
to believe this until it actually happens.” Well it did happen.
After several years of many people patiently sowing the
seed Mitchuo and his wife, Berihna, were baptized into
Christ! One of their daughters, Jacqueline, has been
studying with us during this whole time. She came with us
to the baptism, but she has a personal problem that is
keeping her from obeying the Lord. We are working with
her to overcome that problem. Mitchuo has nine other
children all of whom he wants us to share the gospel with.
He is also a very high titled man in his village and was at
one time a state senator. As a result he is a man of great
influence in Pohnpei. There is no telling what God can do
with that great influence. Please continue to pray for this
new Christian couple as they grow in the Lord. Also
please remember them as you wait on your loved ones to
obey the Lord. Sometimes it takes a while, but God does
give the increase!
By Joe Widick
K aselehlie maing ko! Greetings to all of you in the name of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus! We hope that you all are in the best of spiritual and
physical health and that you are richly blessed. It certainly has been a
busy month with many blessings and opportunities from the Lord. Craig
Ressler visited for two weeks teaching Pacific Islands Bible College classes, we
helped Salter build a house and have had daily personal Bible studies with
around 15 different individuals, plus preaching school classes, first day of the
week worship services, Wednesday night and Thursday night Bible classes and
Rebecca’s ladies class. It has been a month filled with opportunities to teach the
word of God. We are so very thankful to God for
all the opportunities that He has blessed us with.
We are also thankful to all of you for making this
work possible. Without our faithful investors,
prayer partners, encouragers, family and friends
we would not be able to do any of this.
We first met Craig Ressler when I was a student at East Tennessee.
At that time Craig was a recent convert at the Karns congregation.
In 2004 Craig was a part of the first ever campaign to Pohnpei. We
have always been impressed by his zeal and ability for the Lord. Since
that time he has graduated from ETSPM, gotten married and begun a
great work with the Oak Hill congregation in Covington GA. In the late
part of 2009 Craig was invited to come and teach the PIBC course on
John. He arrived on Saturday May 15th and got right to work preaching
Sunday morning and beginning the workshop in Kolonia. He taught the
book of John for
one week in Kolonia
and then for
another week in Mand. During the days we were busy with personal
Bible studies.
Craig did an outstanding job teaching the PIBC courses. This
was his first time to do it, but he seemed like a veteran. The brethren
enjoyed his classes and absolutely loved Craig. He made a sincere
effort to get to know
them, learn a few
words in their language
and make his
lessons easy to understand.
The brethren
notice these
things and greatly
appreciated Craig’s
efforts.
There were 19 total students between the two congregations and
it looks like 15 will receive credit for the course.
We want to thank Craig for the outstanding job that he did and we
hope and pray that he will be able to make it back to Pohnpei to work
with us again. However, next time we hope that he is joined by his wife
Amanda.
