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Tweed Heads team strengthens Vanuatu links

Tweed Heads team strengthens Vanuatu links

Tweed Heads team strengthens Vanuatu links

12 December 2018

Lilyrose George (centre, giving salute) is leading senior and junior soldier classes for locals from remote Eromanga, Vanuatu, where a growing congregtion has sprung up.

By Simone Worthing

A small mission team from Tweed Heads Corps recently visited a large and growing group of Salvationists, and those wishing to become a part of the Army, in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.

Tweed Heads Corps Officers, Majors Darren and Leanne Elsley, visited the Army’s outpost in the capital, Port Vila, and the remote outpost in Aneityum, the southern-most inhabited island of the country.

Major Darren oversees the Army’s unofficial work in Vanuatu and led the team during this visit.

The Tweed Heads mission team in Vanuatu.

“It was all about connecting with and encouraging the congregations we have in Vanuatu and catching up with Lilyrose George, the unofficial leader of the work in Vanuatu,” said Major Leanne.

“It was also an opportunity for those who have supported the work and shown interest in it, to see all that is happening here.”

The team also visited a men’s remand centre to lead worship, share testimonies and minister to the men. Outreach to this centre is a regular part of ministry in Vanuatu.

Senior soldier Marion Dooley was also part of the mission team. Marion and her late husband Ian first visited Vanuatu in 2010 and were instrumental in the Army’s work beginning there. Aleasha and Taleah Yaxley, and Jeff Ellison, all from the Tweed Heads Corps, made up the rest of the team.

The group took school supplies, clothes and a range of items for the growing number of community children in Lilyrose’s care, as well as toiletries. The team stayed with Lilyrose in Port Vila and then enjoyed basic bush-style living, including bathing in the creeks, on Aneityum.

“We all loved this incarnational ministry, and just being around everyone,” said Major Leanne. “The people here are doing it tough. Conditions are not how they were before Cyclone Pam devastated the region in 2015. They are also the only Salvos on the island and often feel quite isolated.

“We wanted to show them that they are part of a worldwide Salvation Army. The faith of our people there is so strong. Even though we go to support and encourage them, being with them helps us get things in the right perspective.”

Aleasha agrees. “This trip showed me how cluttered and materialistic our lives are, and how happy people here are in basic conditions and the value they put on relationships,” she said.

“The visit to the remand centre was powerful for me. Only six years ago my life was in a different place, and I could not have imagined standing here giving my testimony in a remand centre in Vila and seeing people respond. I loved seeing Lilyrose in action, just sharing the gospel with everyone.”

New growth

Lilyrose also led a mission trip to the remote island of Eromanga in August to run junior and senior soldier classes there. She will return for Christmas, and to run additional classes for the 15 adults and numerous children who are taking the classes.

Major Darren is given a traditional welcome in Eromanga.

Major Darren visited the forming congregation of approximately 30 people in October.

“It’s just fantastic to see this happening,” he said. “This is a really remote place, accessible only by small plane landing on grass airstrips, and then by small boat, in the open sea, for an hour and a half.

“The people only have access to fresh water on low tide when a spring comes up through the coral near the beach. They use this for drinking, washing and bathing. Despite these conditions, the people are warm and friendly and the congregation is growing.”

Lilyrose is also planning a trip to Pentecost Island next year to again run junior soldier classes and minister to the people there.

“When I first accepted Christ I realised that there are many lost souls out there so I decided to help other people to come back to Christ, or receive him as their personal saviour, because he is the only truth in life,” she said.

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