A Team Member's Perspective

Chris, Jeff and Sue, and I (Emma) went out to a village named Turtle Bay to show a video of "The Jesus Film" in Bislama, the local dialect. Although the TV and video worked perfectly well in the morning, they refused to work on location. God had other plans! We prayed and quickly decided amongst ourselves what to do. I started off with a children’s song and a mime sketch (which Sue learnt in 30 seconds to help me!). Sue followed by picking up the theme of the mime which was "hiding behind a mask". She went on to share her testimony and preached about our value in God’s eyes. Jeff then spoke and made an appeal for salvation. 20 adults gave their lives to Jesus, including the chief of the village! 15 children also responded to the invitation when I presented it in terms they understood. It was wonderful to see so many come forward to repent. Chris then shared a message of healing and many people were prayed for. 2 ladies who each were blind in one eye were healed. They covered the "good" eye and we asked them to follow our noses with their finger which they thought was hilarious! They also could count how many fingers we held up. Jesus healed them. Best of all was the healing of a deaf and dumb girl. The Ni-Vanuatu are very shy and although the girl could hear she would not speak. As we were driving away from the village, however, she heard the other children shouting and ran after the minibus clearly calling "Bye, Goodbye, Bye!" It was awesome.

Two events during the Vanuatu mission will remain with me for a long, long time. The first happened during the ministry time at the main campaign. A father brought his 3 year old son, Willie, to be prayed for. Willie was completely deaf in both ears. His father had faith that Jesus could heal his son, so I laid hands on the boy and prayed. I clicked my fingers behind his head to see if he could hear and he turned around to see what it was. When he turned back to me Willie had a huge grin on his face from ear to ear. He was healed. I asked and signed to him to tell me if he could hear me. His answer came as a typical Vanuatu response – he raised his eyebrows for "yes" and then shyly buried himself in his dad’s arms. His dad spoke to him several times and Willie could hear. I will never forget that huge grin!

The second awesome moment for me came after a night working with the children in the chief’s nakamal (hut). After singing with the children for half an hour I was due at the main platform to give my testimony. We wanted to give children who made commitments to Christ the opportunity to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. As I was leaving, I told the children that they were welcome at the main campaign in the park after their meeting had finished. It was the last night of the campaign and we knew there would be plenty of dancing!

Many came over and Julie gave me a few minutes to speak to the children over the sound system. I quickly explained what had happened on the day of Pentecost and how the Holy Spirit was for them, too. I asked them to come forward ... I led them in a simple prayer... There were so many of them responding I could hardly stand up for kids pressing forward!

I laid my hands on about ten kids at the front and they began to praise God and speak in tongues. Then I asked them to lay hands on the kids behind them and they spoke in tongues. This went through the crowd of children like a wave. It was wonderful to see. Team members were praying for teenage boys who then prayed for younger kids who got filled with the Spirit. And the noise was incredible!!! ...every few minutes there was a crescendo of praise in the park amongst the children. About 120 kids were baptized in the Spirit and speaking in tongues that night. I cannot describe the joy that it gave me to be part of what God was doing – "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord".

Emma McPhail works with Youth and Children at Souls’ Harbor Assembly of God in Cornwall England.

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This page was last updated on 26 November 2009.